Legit Reviews

Okay, big n00b here...

Finally took the plunge and overclocked the E2160. I got it up to 2.20GHz (9x245) at stock voltage using stock Intel HSF. I think it would have been Orthos/Prime95 stable at 2.30GHz (9x256) at stock volts but I wanted to get a bunch of encoding out of the way before doing another burn-in.

Not in front of my PC right now but iirc, settings were as follows:
BIOS: (based on pdf manual, as accurate as I can remember)
CPU Clock Ratio: 9
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency: 245
PCI Express Frequency: 100
C.I.A. 2: Disabled
Performance Enhance: Standard
System Memory Multiplier: Auto
Memory Frequency: ? (800 at a guess)
DRAM Timing Selectable: Auto
System Voltage Control: Manual
DDR2/PCI-E/FSB/(G)MCH Overvoltage Control: Normal
CPU Voltage Control: Normal
Normal CPU Vcore: 1.275V
RAM Voltage: 1.9V (Stock)
C1E: Disabled
EIST: Disabled

CPU-Z:
Core Voltage: 1.232V (occasional drop to 1.216V under load)
Stepping: M0
Core Speed: 2205
Multiplier: 9
Bus Speed: 245
Rated FSB: 980
RAM: 5-6-6-20 @ 490MHz, Divider 1:2

CoreTemp:
Idle Temp: 34-36C
Load Temp: 53-55C

Up to 258 FSB, Windows boots up fine although I haven't done any stability tests yet. However, when I try to up the FSB to 259, I immediately get a BSOD on boot. I'm assuming this means I'd have to increase the voltage if I want to reach my 2.40GHz target. At my temps, is it safe to increase vcore with only the stock HSF? I will be replacing the E2160 with a quad sometime soon but I don't want to suicide the chip as I'm recycling it for an HTPC I'm planning to build.

Also, for the quad (Q6600 probably G0 stepping, unless the Q9450 shows up at non-premium prices), on average, how hard is it to get it running at 3.0GHz? Is it, for the most part, doable on stock voltages? CPU cooler will be Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro per the suggestions on another thread. At my target overclocking speeds, is the RAM I have good enough? Newegg reviews weren't very favorable but it was recommended by a friend and I think I saw a couple of hardware review sites that mentioned it was quite overclockable.

Another thing I want to ask, I don't recall seeing an option in the BIOS to keep the PCI bus at 33MHz. Am I running any risks of damaging my HDDs? From some of the stuff I've read, they seem to be related somehow. Does the board automatically set the PCI bus to 33MHz static?

Specs for the rig are in the sig.

Lower your RAM Multiplier to something like 1:1. In CPU-Z, 490Mhz equals to DDR 980. That's probably one reason why you get a BSOD. Another reason why you're getting a BSOD is because you're not giving your RAM enough vdimm. But before you do that, lower the multiplier first.

At the moment, I think you're doing pretty well, but I'd keep the temperatures under 65C under full load just to be on the safe side. What Tjunction is CoreTemp reading?

As for the Q6600, I think it does 3Ghz pretty well on stock voltage. Even if it can't, I think it needs only a minor voltage boost in order to make it run stable at 3Ghz. I've seen many people overclock it to speeds like 3.6Ghz using around 1.4V.

Hope those information help. I'm not too good with overclocking Intel rigs since I own an AMD system, but that's about all I learned from reading CPU and motherboard reviews. You can read the overclocking sticky found in the Intel Processor Forum. Those guides are a big help in overclocking.

OT: Did you find the Bleach wallpaper that you wanted?

geokilla wrote:Lower your RAM Multiplier to something like 1:1. In CPU-Z, 490Mhz equals to DDR 980. That's probably one reason why you get a BSOD. Another reason why you're getting a BSOD is because you're not giving your RAM enough vdimm. But before you do that, lower the multiplier first.

At the moment, I think you're doing pretty well, but I'd keep the temperatures under 65C under full load just to be on the safe side. What Tjunction is CoreTemp reading?

OT: Did you find the Bleach wallpaper that you wanted?

Yep, thanks. But I did find something I liked better on the same site which is what I'm using now. Miracle of miracles, my mom thought the wallpaper was nice, too. She usually doesn't like them... Then again, my wallpapers usually featured blood or something equally horrific. Although she did insist I not use the Death Note one (Ryuuk).

Can't recall what the Tjunction was. Will check the values when I get home. I've read graysky's guide on this site before I started overclocking anything. However, I'm still somewhat confused about the RAM multiplier, etc that's why I left it on auto while I played around with the FSB. I'll look at the available options for RAM multi/freq and if I can't figure out what I need to do, I'll make another post.

Thanks again.

Edit:
Quick question for the RAM, I did some calculations based on graysky's guide. Are the following ratios correct?

Yep, it was the RAM multi's fault. Changed it to 1:1 and no problems, so far. Tjunction is 85C. Got it to 2,394 MHz (9x266) at stock voltage everything. Didn't bother testing at higher FSBs as I've already reached my goal. Idle temps are at 36-37C. Load temps, we'll see when I check the CoreTemp log tomorrow, but it was around 55-58C last I checked.

*sigh* It's getting warmer here in Southern California... Hopefully, the CPU doesn't get fried in the middle of testing...

You need to read this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/2007/09/12/ ... index.html

Thanks for helping by linking the review pavemint, but can you say why hnzw_rui needs to read that?

It doesn't seem to offer anything in the way of explaining how to overclock the processor, and their overclock seems to be unsuitable for normal use, 1.5V is more than I would want to give the processor for normal use, even under water. 1.4v should be the max for air good cooling (less for the stock heatsink).

If anything, this guide would be better suited reading for hnzw_rui.

Dan

Hello Dan. On the lower portion of that page is a link to Next Page (for a total of 11 pages) that goes into detail about the procedures to follow to get the results they got. It's the same CPU as spoken of by hnzw_rui, it gives him another nice option if he has a motherboard capable of overclocking as they describe. I have one computer with the Gigabyte P35 DS4 series motherboard and an e2160 overclocked to 3.0 using this article. Mine ran a little too hot for me at 3.2. Works well as a gaming computer for my son.

Your link is a nice read, a good reference I'm going to keep a printed copy of to overclock a future quad core.

Thanks for all the replies. I've already read graysky's guide prior to attempting any overclocks. For a newbie, it was an extremely easy guide to follow. Much better than the other guides I've read.

I had the option of setting all voltages to auto on my board but I purposely didn't do so. My goal wasn't maximum overclock possible but to reach 2.40GHz (E2000 series' top stock clock) with as little voltage increase as possible. I'll probably try higher FSBs eventually just to check the max my chip will support at stock volts. In the meantime, it's got a couple hundred videos it needs to encode.

good for you!set a goal and meet it, thats the way to go.

maybe after you get those videos out of the way you'll get greedy, and the real fun will begin :D

i'm willing to bet money that you can get a significantly higher overclock (percentage-from-stock wise)
if you so desired to get there.

but congrats on your first OC!

pavemint wrote:Hello Dan. On the lower portion of that page is a link to Next Page (for a total of 11 pages) that goes into detail about the procedures to follow to get the results they got. It's the same CPU as spoken of by hnzw_rui, it gives him another nice option if he has a motherboard capable of overclocking as they describe. I have one computer with the Gigabyte P35 DS4 series motherboard and an e2160 overclocked to 3.0 using this article. Mine ran a little too hot for me at 3.2. Works well as a gaming computer for my son.

Your link is a nice read, a good reference I'm going to keep a printed copy of to overclock a future quad core.

Sorry if i seemed a little snotty in my previous reply The reason being, I kind of have a dislike for toms hardware (ask around on the forums, and its a view echoed my quite a few members here). Their testing methodologies leave a lot to be desired, and don't really give accurate representations of a lot of the products they review.

I actually had scanned through most of the pages of the tomshardware CPU review you posted, but i don't think it really gives enough detail in how to go about overclocking for a relatively inexperienced overclocker, and has a few bad practices in it (something its best to stop people doing from the offset ). Say like setting the CPU voltage to auto; this always puts too much voltage into your CPU and as a result raises temps. You can get much better performance if you take the time to tease out the max overclock a little at a time, or set a big jump and tune it down.

Peace!

Dan