# can i/should i overlock?



## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

I would like to overlock because it sounds like a fun challenge however i'm not sure wether it is possible or worth doing with my rig. I feel like my processor is the only thing holding me back, however i read that my particular processor has had a lot of overclocking success. My biggest concern is my powersupply.. i think it make be close to max capacity. Ill list out all my parts. If you all think its worth doing, then ill go and start taking temp readings and stress tests and stuff.


ABIT IP35 Pro LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
*Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 Conroe 3.0GHz LGA 775 65W* _(with a Rosewill RCX-Z775-EX 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler)_
*Rosewill RP600V2-S-SL 600W ATX12V v2.01*
Western Digital VelociRaptor WD1500HLFS 150GB 10000 RPM
Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200
GeForce GTX 275 FTW Edition
G.SKILL PI Black 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer 7.1

my case has
1 x 120mm Black Front Fan, 1 x 120mm Black rear Fan
side 1 x 140mm Blue LED Fan


hope i didnt miss anything. thanks for the help!


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

You should have this PSU.

Its most likely twice as good as your current PSU and it will last a long time even with overclocked components

Corsair 850w
$140
after rebate $120
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

This PSU out performs PSU's at the $200+ range.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

hmm okay i will definitely keep that in mind


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Definitely echo Mcninjaguy. I would replace the psu, the one recommended maybe a little overkill for now, but future proofing too. Rosewill is low quality and wouldn't recommend it for stock much less overclocking.

If you really want to oc. Start with a quality psu. Otherwise, forget about it.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

alright I definitely will buy a new PSU if i overclock. how about all my other components?


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

also how long would a nice power supply like that last? and how future-proof can i expect it to be?


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

A good power supply like the corsair one will last along time and can be pushed hard.

Unlike the one you have now a mere rumbling of a fart would destroy it. Those rosewills are one of the worst PSUs you can get so you definetly need to replace it.

When it comes to power supplies you should not skimp on it's quality as you can have all manner of faults that are hard to trace back to crap PSU.

I personally prefer seasonic but they are expensive but when it comes to power supplies you get what you pay for.

In my opinion anything less than £65 then your asking for trouble, unless its a special offer.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

haha okay okay im sold ill buy that corsair. this is my first build so im still learning. almost two years old now. recently updated the ram and gfx card. with the new PSU would i even see much performance increase through overlocking? i've read that you can get my CPU up to 4ghz.... but even if i got it up to 3.5, would i notice anything? i use my computer for gaming and graphic design


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

You could over clock your GPU to whatever its stable at. The PSU is not a limiting factor anymore with the corsair you should be worried about heat instead.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

You "can" OC but be aware that OC'ing voids CPU warranty.

DEFINITELY replace the Rosewill PSU.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

oh yeah i will definitely go through all the guides and replace my PSU before i do anything. thanks a lot


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## McNinja (Jun 22, 2008)

Keep us informed ok!


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

you will notice a difference from stock 3GHz to 3.6 or 3.7GHz but after that you would probably only get to 4GHz and from 3.7 - 4GHz isn't really that noticeable unless your a benchmark freak and difference of 1 point makes you happy


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

your cpu twisted up to 3.6 should take off the hobbles on that 275 GTX !


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

kk I ordered the PSU and some cable ties. I will post again when im all setup


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

alright sorry this took me so long! i ordered the psu and a new case, but the case came with a dent in it so i sent it back. with all my same specs plus the corsair 850w...

My temps are (in c):

Idle for about 1 hour: ~33 

Prime95 for 9 hours Max Temp: ~60


am i safe to go ahead and push my cpu?


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

Sure, you can push it a bit. Start by going into BIOS and increase the FSB by 10, then reboot and see if Windows comes up successfully. Repeat until Windows fails to boot, then increase your VCore (could also be labeled CPU voltage) by .02 or so and try again. When Windows successfully boots check your temperatures. If your idle temp is under 55-60C try running Prime95 to see if it's stable. If you get an error in Prime95 within an hour of starting it up go back to BIOS and increase your voltage another .02V. If it still fails Prime95 go back and decrease your FSB by 10-20 and your vcore by .02. Then try Prime95 again.

When Prime95 runs one hour with no errors, and your temperatures during Prime95 don't exceed 65C then you're probably stable at that clock.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

well i didnt need to bump any voltages and i got it to 3.5ghz from 3.0 and i ran a stress test with prime 95 and i got an error with worker #1. My temps are pretty low.. high 50's. do i need to lower the FSB?


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

I would slightly raise the VCore first, by .01 and see if you can run Prime95 with no errors then. You ideally want to be able to run Prime95 overnight with no errors.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

still getting an error pretty quick into the test  should i keep upping the voltage or go down on the FSB?


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Post where you are as far as ram and cpu voltage. 3.5 is a pretty good clock. Did it blue screen, freeze, or just show error in prime 95? Are your temps. high 50's under full load?


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

yeah i only get an error on one worker in prime95 that's it. My temps are high 50's under full load yes. Highest it ever gets is 58


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

redenvy said:


> yeah i only get an error on one worker in prime95 that's it. My temps are high 50's under full load yes. Highest it ever gets is 58


have you ran memtest86?

if you are getting an error message you need to change something possibly the voltage. You should get no errors whilst running prime the same goes for memtest.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

i also got an error in OCCT.. so something isnt right

so i tried using two temp programs and Core Temp has my CPU always 5 degrees lower than RealTemp.. so im not sure which to believe?

Also i have bumped up the CPU voltage through bios but it doesn't seem to be showing in CPU-Z?

in my bios it says 1.37, but in CPU-Z it never seems to go above 1.34


heres what i see:

the core speed does read correctly in CPU-Z.. it just dipped down when i took the SS.

http://img20.imageshack.us/i/cpup.jpg/

http://img20.imageshack.us/i/img1898j.jpg/

http://img18.imageshack.us/i/img1899u.jpg/


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

RealTemp is more accurate. As for the discrepancy between the voltage in BIOS and in CPU-Z that's because of something called v-droop, and it's perfectly normal.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

so should i keep bumping up the voltage? or start lowering the clock?


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

I'd say start lowering the clock.


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Just curious, did you SLOWLY raise fsb by increments of say 10-20 and then run stress test in between or quickly take it up? Cpu's have to get used to being overclocked and it should be a very gradual process. 

Also, what voltage is your ram running at? Yours is rated at 2-2.1V. I would set at 2.1V. Are you running it linked. If so you are oc'ing ram as well as cpu and this will effect stability as well.

I would back off and start again. It sometimes takes a few tries with different voltage, multiplier, fsb speed combinations to get a good stable oc.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

the spec's on my ram say 1.9v? im not sure about if im running it linked. I will reset the clock and the voltage and try again doing more stress tests in between the clock bump


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Specs. say 1.9V or bios shows 1.9V? 

Is this not your ram? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231211


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

heres my ram  800 not 900

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231209


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Ok, keep ram at 1.9V for now.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

kk i bumped it all down.. i put the clock at 3.2 ghz so i will start stress testing it again


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Definitely! Go slow. Raise fsb a little at a time and then stress test for an hour or so and post results. Delicate balance between cpu fsb and ram speed/timings. Oc'ing is not a quick process, but will pay off in the end. You may also try loosening your ram timings during fsb oc to like 7-7-7-20. We can tighten those up later after pushing the cpu.

Let us know when you reach a level of instability. Constantly monitor temps. during process. If you get over ~70C during stress test then it's time to start over.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

I agree with the above, do it slowly. Raising by alot straight away is worse for the CPU than getting a really high overclock built up over a period of time.

It like getting someone who has just passed their driving test and putting them in a formula 1 car, they will crash and probably die but if the go to formular 3 then 3000 then formula 1 they have more of a chance


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

hehe okay I will go MUCH slower i promise. I'm not sure how to manually change the ram timings, I was under the impression that they changed with the amount of voltage that was put into them. Maybe they are labeled something more technical that i don't recognize?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

the easiest way for the fellas to help you is to take digital pics of each bios screen tab which you are modifing to get these overclocks; post these pics on imageshack or other free hosting service (megaupload is very good but may not be free?) then supply us with a link to your pics

from there we can give you very precise advice which relates directly to your settings instead of the more generalized information


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

photobucket

imagecave


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

example


http://usera.ImageCave.com/linderman/MVC-002S.JPG


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

ram timings wont change but the frequency will, it could go up are down. When I OC mine to 4GHz my RAM was running at 1064 instead of 1066, when I had it at 3.6 the ram was 937 the trick is not to go below what your mobo can handle or too much over it if at all.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

i posted that screen only as an example of submitting his bios screens / sorry for the confusion


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

if you scroll up, i did post two pictures of my BIOS and one of CPU-Z when i was asking voltage difference questions . I will take a picture of my RAM information too though... i think i know where to look.


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

For the linking you would go into guru utility and select DRAM Speed (CPU : DRAM) and set it to 1:1 (My preference and if we achieve a good overclock will set your ram to at or near rated setting). I think the default setting would be unlinked.

For ram timings they should be under advanced chipset features.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

ohh i see.. when do you think i should change the ram stuff? once i get a stable clock on my cpu?


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Well it depends. I would normally start out with loose ram timings 7-7-7-20, ram linked 1:1, voltages at default, and fsb at stock speed. Then I would gradually raise fsb in increments and stress test while monitoring temps.

It really depends on where you are in the overclock. If you can get to 3.5 on stock voltage with good temps. then you can likely squeeze some more out of it with some voltage tweaking. 

For you:

I would set ram voltage to 1.95 just for comfort.

At the first BSOD or system freeze, go in and bump the voltage a little on the cpu vcore. Run test again. Just don't go upping the cpu voltage too high. It's unneccesary and will only increase heat. I would use 1.45 as a cut off point before we start looking at raising voltage any more on ram.

Post back with your progress.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

Ok heres my gameplan before i start it lol... Right now im at 3.3ghz stable.. ran a 9 hour prime95 test with no problems. stock cpu voltage and ram at 1.9v

so my plan is bump up ram to 1.95v and set it to 1:1, then stress test
then bump up clock by 10 and stress test a couple times

sound like a good idea?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

redenvy said:


> Ok heres my gameplan before i start it lol... Right now im at 3.3ghz stable.. ran a 9 hour prime95 test with no problems. stock cpu voltage and ram at 1.9v
> 
> so my plan is bump up ram to 1.95v and set it to 1:1, then stress test
> then bump up clock by 10 and stress test a couple times
> ...







yes thats a good idea; BUT dont leave your cpu voltage on AUTO that will often times send too much juice to your cpu


use core temp(free) it will give you your CPU VID number (thats a voltage setting) 

then you can factor what to set your voltage at

ALWAYS monitor your temps


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

Ditto on that. We don't want any voltage settings on auto or default. Set them manually.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

in the bios you will want to add about .03 volts to that number


example = my cpu has a VID of 1.25 so I set my cpu voltage in the bios to 1.28 to account for V-droop


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

i've found that core temp seems to always be 5 degrees under real temp but i do use both programs


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

what does core temp report your VID as ?


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

1.3500v


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

okay so far so good with RAM stress test. Now at 1.95v and 1:1 setting. temps never go above 58. Tomorrow I will bump the clock of the CPU up to 3.4 and see how it goes.

Heres some ram info from CPU-Z


Memory Type	DDR2
Memory Size	4096 MBytes
Memory Frequency	370.0 MHz (1:1)
CAS# Latency (tCL)	5.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD)	5 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP)	5 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS)	15 clocks


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

redenvy said:


> okay so far so good with RAM stress test. Now at 1.95v and 1:1 setting. temps never go above 58. Tomorrow I will bump the clock of the CPU up to 3.4 and see how it goes.
> 
> Heres some ram info from CPU-Z
> 
> ...





looking good; I think! what is your cpu voltage at; you set your voltage at 1.38 and that should get you to 3.6ghz as long as your stress tests dont exceed 60C your golden I wouldnt try for anything above 3.6


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

My current CPU voltage is 1.36 and i've got it clocked at 3.4ghz running stress tests all day. 3.6 sounds awesome! my goal was 3.5 so thats great. I will post with the results when im back from work.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

I would try 1.36 volts and 3.6ghz ........if it fails stress test; then shoot for 1.38 volts



that will be about the end for "normal" overclocking; beyond that is the extreme stuff ...........ALWAYS watch your temps from now on


make sure your cpu fan is always running at 100% speed


a few more high rpm case fans would probably be a worth while cheap investment too!

you must shop by RPM though........common 120mm fans rotate at 1700rpm; but there are better models which hit 2800 rpms and more 

they are louder = cooler / quiet = hot


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

how do i go about making sure my CPU fan is 100%?

also i have this case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160

Would you recommend replacing maybe replacing one of the larger fans with 4 smaller high rpm ones?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

that case is well ventilated; plenty good as is 


BTW: thats one of my #1 fav cases


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

the cpu fan speed options are in your system bios / general under a section called PC Health & Monitoring or something similar


generally their is some sort of "Cpu fan speed" set that to "disabled" and the fan will run on high rpm's all the time


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

Yeah i love the case  I will check the bios settings once i get home and will post a SS if I can't find the option.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

BTW i re-read all the guides in the sticky that linderman posted and they make SO much more sense now that i have been able to play around with settings and terminology, so thanks to all of you i REALLY appreciate your advice and patience :grin:


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

so after 9 hours of prime95 running with voltages of 1.36 on the CPU and a clock of 3.4ghz i had no errors, however my highest recorded temp was 62 :\


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

62C is fine, that's about what I hit after 5 hours of Prime95.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

just been testing and playing with the clock at 3.5ghz and 1.37 voltage on cpu... the only thing ive noticed is that when i do a cold boot up the motherboard beeps 4 times with 2 tones (high-low-high-low) .. but then everything works fine


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

redenvy said:


> just been testing and playing with the clock at 3.5ghz and 1.37 voltage on cpu... the only thing ive noticed is that when i do a cold boot up the motherboard beeps 4 times with 2 tones (high-low-high-low) .. but then everything works fine





I would stick at 3.4 ghz chasing another 200mhz is not worth it


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

lol okay so it at its end?


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

try 1.38 on the cpu voltage and see if the motherboard squaks


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

well i bumped it to 1.38 and the alarm wouldn't stop haha.. so i had to loaded optimized defaults, reboot, then redo the clock to 3.4 and ram to 1:1. I take it im at my end here?


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

well im pretty stable at a clock of 3.4 ghz (prime95 2.5 for hours) with stock voltage and stock ram voltage with linked ram speed. 

are these my options?:

try pushing the cpu higher again
or
accept 3.4 and try and push the ram a little


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

stock voltage setting is not really good; it can overvolt your cpu

try setting cpu volts at 1.35 and ram 1:1 with ddr2 voltage at 2.0volts (as long as your ram is rated fro 2.0 volts?


if you got to 3.4 with auto settings you can get to 3.6 with some tweaking!


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

sorry by stock i meant the default setting. there doesn't seem to be any "auto voltage" setting. the default voltage is 1.35.... so since then i have reclocked it up to 3.5 ghz and it seems stable with 1.37v. the ram is 1:1 at 1.9v and it is rated for 1.8-1.9. it is stresss testing right now and i wil post results when i get home


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

looking good


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

prime95 failed im gonna bump it up to 1.38 for 3.5ghz


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## Kovacevic (Mar 30, 2008)

Can I ask something? CPU temp is the only thing you monitor during the OC process? In other words, while the CPU temp is below the "red line" we can keep pushing it? Thanks.


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

Kovacevic said:


> Can I ask something? CPU temp is the only thing you monitor during the OC process? In other words, while the CPU temp is below the "red line" we can keep pushing it? Thanks.


what red line?

as long as you don't go over 60 degrees c when the pc is on full load then you should be fine


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

so it looks like im stable at 3.5ghz with a voltage of 1.38 im pretty happy with that. i ran prime95 all night with no errors and the highest temp it got to was 58. im running OCCT right now to double check. :grin: so im wondering if you guys think it would be worth it to get that final 3.6? or should i just go to work on my ram and GPU now?


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## Phædrus241 (Mar 28, 2009)

Nah, you should be fine where you are. Just get your RAM to its rated speed and leave your GPU alone. You'll only see a mild gaming performance boost from an overclocked GPU, it usually isn't worth it.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

bump the speed to 3.6 .......and leave the gpu alone


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

welll after a second round of OCCT and prime95 i got errors. I'm still at 3.5ghz with voltage of 1.38 and ram at 1:1 with 1.9v

Should i keep upping the voltage? It seems like the jump from 3.4 to 3.5 is difficult for my processor. I promise i wont touch the GPU lol. When i work on the ram, do i keep it at 1:1, set it at default again, or try a higher ratio...... and then tighten the timings?


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

I would back it down to 3.4 and run stress test again. If you are stable there then leave it.

Also, I would leave the ram at 1:1. This would be underclocked speed wise, but will likely deliver better performance as fsb and ram clock speed are the same.

After stress test you can tighten up ram timings.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

hmm interesting... my ram speed is going to be down from 912 to 760.. seems like a lot


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

is there anyway i can check which gives better performance? 1:1 memory underclocked VS. 1:2 memory stock clock


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## greenbrucelee (Apr 24, 2007)

that seems like alot, have you ran memtest86? if you have and gone through a few passes then your safe. When you raise the FSB your memory frequency will go down or up depending on your settings.

Your motherboard manual should say what the lowest frequency ram your motherboard can handle, I would never go below or underclock it as this as it makes the system unstable.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

well when i have it set to 1:1 it lowers my memory speed from the default speed, but as i raise the FSB the memory speed goes up, however i cant seem to get a stable clock above 3.4ghz so im stuck with underclocked memory?


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

redenvy, If you are impressed by a number on a screen then set the ratio to something different. You can then overclock your ram to as high as it will go. 
Result: your ram will be running at a faster clock speed than fsb and will wait for instructions from the cpu. Net gain zilch, other than being able to brag about overclocked memory.

Underclocking ram will not cause system instability, the system if anything would be more stable.

Run some bench tests. Futuremark makes some good BT tools that will give you an idea of your system's capabilities. Try it with different ratio settings and see what you get. 
A 1:1 ratio is commonly considered the best way to go. Try it with different ratios and bench test. 

The whole point of oc'ing is to obtain results. Usually better performance with games, video tools. A high clock number for ram does not necessarily translate to better performance in actual use.


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

okay sounds great I was just confused about what i was actually doing.. im not doing this to show off to anyone lol.. just doing it for fun and trying to get some performance boost :grin: but it seems im at my end for whatever reason. I'd say i had a successful first try at this and i will definitely do it again with my future rigs. Thanks for all your help guys


Final results:
*CPU*
Core Speed	3419.5 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed	9.0 x 379.9 MHz
Rated Bus speed	1519.8 MHz
Stock frequency	3000 MHz
Voltage: 1.36

*RAM*
Memory Size	4096 MBytes
Memory Frequency	379.9 MHz (1:1)
CAS# Latency (tCL)	4.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD)	4 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP)	4 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS)	12 clocks
Voltage: 1.9

Last questions.... I'm going to be getting windows 7 64bit and i have vista 32. I will be doubling my ram to 8 gigs. Will going from 32bit to 64bit affect anything? Will adding more ram affect anything?


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## HD_Monkey (Apr 16, 2008)

If you are going to fill all ram slots then you will likely have to increase ram voltage to compensate. You may have to start over with your overclock as well. Nothing you will run will require 8 gigs, but that is your decision. You may want to save your money.

I am all for the 64bit os and WIN7 looks to be everything vista wasn't. Good luck!


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## redenvy (Jun 27, 2009)

aw well thats fine now i will have something to do in october!  will be back if i have any problems. thanks again


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