Overclocking E6700 with crucial ballistix ddr2 800 ram

[0_o-Roy]

Hi Im a newbie and I want to overclock my E6700 when it is up and running i am waiting on back order for the ballistix ram to arrive. I have researched the ram on the net and it can be overclocked to a maximum of 260 at the defult cas timmings of 4-4-4-12 and defult voltage 2.2V with my E6700 defult multiplyer being 10 does that mean i can not overclock this processor as 10x260=2600 again i do not know exactly how overclocking works and how cpu fsb and ram frequinceys work.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Sparky]

Please post your system specs......specifically your motherboard make and model.

[0_o-Roy]

sory specs are:

E6700
Gigabyte p35-dq6
250Gb wd caviar se
74Gb wd raptor
4gb crucial ballistics ddr2 6400
msi geforce 8800 gts 320 o/c eddition
enermax infinity 720 psu

[DMB2000uk]

What cooling do you have for your processor, that will play a vital part in how far you can push your processor. And what speeds are you aiming for?

OK, here we have a short (and hopefully non confusing lesson on overclocking (and general FSBness))

Intel overclocking generally works like this:

CPU Speed = FSB speed * CPU Multiplier
e.g. 2403Mhz = 267 * 9

Memory Speed = FSB speed * Divider
e.g. 400Mhz = 267 * 2:3

(The divider is FSB:RAM ratio, take your FSB speed, divide it by the first number and times it by the second, e.g. 267/2 = 133, 133 * 3 = 400)
(Note: DDR and DDR2 RAM works both on the rise and fall of the clock, so even though your RAM is only running at 400Mhz, it is effectively running at 800Mhz, so that is why it is rated as 800Mhz and not 400Mhz RAM)

As you start to overclock the CPU (by increasing the FSB) you also overclock the RAM. Most of the time to get a high successful (stable) CPU overclock you will have to change the memory dividers (there are usually 1:1, 2:3, 5:3 etc options) and reaching the CPU's maximum usually either means you have to overclock or underclock the memory.

Get back to us with the cooling setup and I'll explain more about how to go about overclocking your rig.

Dan

[0_o-Roy]

I am using a zalman cnps9500At cooler using artic silver 5. I would like to hit 3.2 Ghz -3 .4Ghz with my E6700 there should be enough cooling in the case it a thermaltake soprano cas with a 90mm fan on the side of the case blowing air onto the 9500 one 120mm reear fan one 120mm front fan and the 120mm fan in my psu so it should have good air flow for overclocking, the bios gives me 3.3 or 4 ratio on the ram oh and im running vista premium.

cheers

[Sparky]

I have a E6700 OC'd to 3.2ghz with the Zalman 9500 and you will be fine.
3.2ghz is mild from what I've read and it's capable of much more but it's all I need for now.

[DMB2000uk]

If your board has unlinked RAM overclocking then someone else will have to help you as i don't yet know how that works.

But for 'regular' overclocking you will have to do the following:

1. Drop your RAM divider from the 800Mhz setting to the 667Mhz one
2. Increase your FSB by 10 Mhz
3. Boot into windows
4. Run ORTHOS for 30mins while watching temps with coretemp beta (max temp needs to be lower than 60oC)
5. If this or bootup is not successful then add one vCore increment (usually +0.005v or something*)
5a. If was unsuccessful before the vCore increase try windows/ORTHOS again
6. If ORTHOS was successful, then increase FSB by 10Mhz again
7. When you get to 3.33 Ghz pat yourself on the back (FSB: 333Mhz)
8. run ORTHOS for a few hours to confirm stability, see 5 if there is a problem
9. Run memtest86+. Set test 5 looping and let that run for a couple of hours. This will check your northbridge is OK. If it fails (or hangs) increase the northbrigde (MCH?) voltage and try that test again.

*Don't put the CPU Vcore above 1.4v as higher will cause it will run too hot (and potentially damage your CPU).

You will probably be ok with just booting into windows within the first 30Mhz of FSB increments, if you can't be bothered to spend all that time checking for stability. And you might not even need to add more vCore if your E6700 is a good one. ^_^

Have fun!

Dan

[0_o-Roy]

sweet that helps. Will my overall performane be less if i underclock the ram? would it not be better to have faster ram? Hey sparky your setup is simmilar to mine are your ram timmings and how high does your ram o/c i think i should have gotten the corsair ram over the crucial stuff i have ordered

[DMB2000uk]

Actually although you have set the RAM at a lower divider, because of the increased FSB speed it will still be running above 800Mhz.

The 667Mhz divider is 4:5, and 333Mhz FSB in that ratio is 416.25Mhz (832.5Mhz effective) so your RAM is overclocked by 16Mhz (or 32 depending on how you look at it).

^_^

Dan

[Sparky]

I don't OC my ram as I don't really see much of a need to. I have found that it isn't as stable as the rest of the system, so I don't bother. The ram I have isn't really known for high end gaming or OCing as I just bought the Twin2X1024A. I do have my ram timings set to 4-4-4-12 my voltage @ 1.92v. I have OC'd it just to benchmark and yes it helps a bit but OCing CPU gives a pretty good increase in performance without sacrificing stability.

[dgood]

some motherboards ie the asus p5n-e can just set the ram speed to 800 and raise the fsb as you want and it will auto chance the divider to keep your ram at the speed you want it at, and you can just keep on ocing and just testing the processor.

[0_o-Roy]

yea my gigabyte p35 dq6 motherboard is like that! i got my ram today so turned on my new pc and started overclocking with a multiplyer of 10x320= 3.2ghz and ram at 2.50 divider=800 my E6700 would only boot if i upped the vcore to 1.37500 from the standard 1.3500 is this a big voltage increase or is it safe my temps seem fine? i got it up to 3ghz without touching the vcore voltage.

[kenc51]

yea my gigabyte p35 dq6 motherboard is like that! i got my ram today so turned on my new pc and started overclocking with a multiplyer of 10x320= 3.2ghz and ram at 2.50 divider=800 my E6700 would only boot if i upped the vcore to 1.37500 from the standard 1.3500 is this a big voltage increase or is it safe my temps seem fine? i got it up to 3ghz without touching the vcore voltage.

1.425v should be you max for air cooling, so 1.35v is perfectly ok.....

Nice job! Keep going :D

[DMB2000uk]

Congrats, nice job so far.

Like Ken says, keep going ^_^

Dan

[0_o-Roy]

well i got it up to 3.4 with vcore @ 1.38125V and its running stable ran the tat in monitoring mode and then ran orthos for an hour it idle temp was 24 and full load temp after an hour was 54 i think 54 is kinda hot is it safe to run 24/7 at that voltage? i am only planning to use this c2d until the 45nm quad cores come out and are priced resonably

[dgood]

now smp fold? team 38296