# A fresh start: overclocking advice wanted



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

:wave:

[Before I start, you may refer to 'My System' under my profile for my hardware specifications]

I have recently installed EVEREST Ultimate Edition in order to monitor the CPU temps for both idle and load (amongst a dozen other tasks), and this is when I realised that it's running quite hot under my usual load - more precisely around 60-65C. The processor had already been overclocked to around 3.6GHz, but at the time it was set to auto voltage in the BIOS and had been increasing to 1.24V when in use according to EVEREST. Considering the processor only goes up to 1.25V, this is probably the cause of the high temps.

Hence why I've decided to be a big boy and start entering the voltages manually to try and get as much speed as possible with as low a voltage as possible, and therefore produce as little heat as possible. I'm starting out small at the moment, I'm on 3GHz and counting as I write this.

I have a couple of questions to ask though:

- EVEREST has CPU stress test features built-in, which simultaneously stresses the CPU, the memory and the FPU among other things. Is there a recommended amount of time I should be running all of this for to determine stability? Would 2 hours, for example, be sufficient?

- What should my idle/load temps be ideally?

- [Same question for voltage]

If you want more info let me know and I'll post it here. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Your idle temps should be around mid 30s. My E8400 @ 4GHz idles at 37 degrees c and you need to aim for not going above 60 degrees at full load however yours is ok but I would personally want lower than that. Mine never gets above 52 degrees c.

When making adjustments in overclocking every 60MHz or voltage increase (can do them at the same time if you want) you should stress test for an hour.

Personally for an hour stress test I use OCCT and use real temp to monitor the temps. When you get to the overclock you are happy with you need to stress test for 6 hours + with prime 95 using the maximum cpu stress test whilst monitoring the temps with real temp. Some people stress test for 24 hours but I think this overkill. 7 hours should be enough to determin stability.

As to the voltages you do not have to do every single one but vcore is important as you will get better results by doing this manually and also important is the ram voltage which should be set to the manufacturers stated voltage, also with ram enter the ram timmings aswell i.e 5-5-5-15.

I also set the northbridge and southbridge voltages and I usually set them as low as I can get, my current set up has them at the lowest possible voltage. Apart from that I leave all other voltages on auto.

I also enable load line calibration and disable C1E and intel speed step.

Good luck with your OC


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

Hi,

Thanks for your input. I've used OCCT in the past, and I'm now using it again for my stress tests. I forgot how the linpack test runs your CPU temp around 10C higher than the standard OCCT CPU test. I'm guessing this stresses the FPU, is that right? Also what is it about FPU stressing that makes the CPU run at a much higher temp under load, is it simply the sheer amount of number-crunching that takes place or is there some physical property that makes it run hot under such conditions?



greenbrucelee said:


> I also set the northbridge and southbridge voltages and I usually set them as low as I can get, my current set up has them at the lowest possible voltage. Apart from that I leave all other voltages on auto.
> 
> I also enable load line calibration and disable C1E and intel speed step.


I'm assuming these are optional, is that right (to get even more still from an overclock)?


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Yes the FPU is the floating point numbers i.e crunching more numbers gets a higher heat.

With regards to the NB and SB getting their voltages right can help you get a better overclock but getting their voltages as low as possible can help reduce the heat that is produced by the system.

disabling c1e and intel speedstep stops the cpu throttling down to a low speed when it isn't doing much this is best for when you stress test however you can re-enable them when you have the overclock your happy with if you want. This just means your cpu will only run at the overclock speed when it is being pushed such as when your playing a game.

loadline calibration should be enable whatever you overclock to.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

UPDATE: I'm now running an OCCT stress test at about 3.5GHz and the load temp is currently hovering around the early to mid 60s as before. You're probably right greenbrucelee, this might not be the end of the world. I'll probably end up with roughly the same overclock as before (3.6GHz) but with a lower voltage, which seems reasonable for air cooling I guess.

Also I think when I had the CPU voltage on auto it was idling at around the early 40s, but now I think it idles closer to what you idle at last time I checked. Not much difference then, but still a difference.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

if the difference is lower then lower is good. 63 degrees at full whack should be a good temp for your cpu if you start going passed this then you either need better cooling or lower the OC.

72.2 degrees c is the cpu shut off temp however you need to aim to be well under this.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

Hi,

Just a quick question: would lowering the clock multiplier help at all? From what I've read some people reckon it does, but I'm not sure.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

some people do it and it can help in some cases to get a better overclock however I never do it and I build and overclock PCs for a living.

I can tell you though that if you had a better make of power supply you may or may not get better results sometimes you can. Wattage has nothing to do with anything when your overclocking its to do with how good the 12v rail is and the amperage the psu can put out.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

UPDATE: Just finished another 1-hour OCCT stress, this time whilst running at 3.4GHz since the 3.5GHz overclock was running a bit too hot and produced an IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL BSOD error. The below shows the peak temperature at the time of the screenshot, but it hovers between 60-65 which I'm not too disappointed with:










I'll run an overnight stress test last thing before I go to bed tonight and see what happens in the morning. I'll post back here with the outcome.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

The error message you recieved relates to your ram.

what type and make of ram is it?

have you set it to the manufacturers stated level?


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

greenbrucelee said:


> The error message you recieved relates to your ram.
> 
> what type and make of ram is it?
> 
> have you set it to the manufacturers stated level?


My memory is listed under 'My System'. The two closest options I had in the BIOS for memory speed were something like DDR2-721 and DDR2-865 (don't remember the exact values). I chose one of these at one stage and it threw up the aforementioned error, so I put it back on auto setting as it was previously and I've not had problems since. As you can see from the above screenshot it appears there is a 1:1 ratio between the memory clock speed and the CPU bus speed.

I've also set the memory timings manually if this makes any difference, currently running at the timings shown in the previous screenshot, and the voltage is set manually at 2.1v.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

looking at the screenshot of everest your temps are far too hot, that is probably why you got the bsod. you shouldn't be going much over 60 degrees c


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

UPDATE: It was supposed to be left on overnight, and yet staring back at me is this:










If only I delayed my bedtime just a little bit :sigh:...I guess I'll need to adjust it again.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

greenbrucelee said:


> looking at the screenshot of everest your temps are far too hot, that is probably why you got the bsod. you shouldn't be going much over 60 degrees c


I'll try lowering the bus speed in that case and see what the temps get to.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

jonf said:


> I'll try lowering the bus speed in that case and see what the temps get to.
> 
> 
> Regards,
> ...


yes that is what you need to do.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

UPDATE: I decided to reload the BIOS defaults and use that as a starting point, and I'm on 3.3GHz so far. Just finished an OCCT stress test at that speed and the temp averaged out at 55 or so, although it fluctuated a lot in the 50s range. I'll run an overnight stress test for stability and see what happens.


Regards,

Jon.


----------



## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

good idea.

When overclocking never jump to a high setting straight away as it can cause problems. you should up the fsb 10MHz at a time save and re-boot. Once you have upped by 60MHz that is when you stress test for 1 hour whilst monitoring the temps. After you get to the overclock you want then you stress test for atleast 7 hours.


----------



## jonf (Jul 30, 2009)

UPDATE: I think 3.3GHz is about right for me, I'll stick with this speed. Idling at late 20s to early 30s and loading at early to mid 50s seems reasonable to me.


Regards,

Jon.


----------

