Overclocking my rig...

I know my way around computers but some of the computer terms are, well, Greek to me.

I have read many sites that have basic guides for overclocking but I get more confused after reading them.

I am not afraid to fry my rig but I am better at following orders from someone that has done this before than me testing and trying various changes on my bios.

Do any of you, knowing my specs, want to take a gander at helping me OC my rig?

I am not looking for extremes, just something to help me play games better (ie: smoother visual and better fps's). I understand if you are reluctant but, we so love to test and what better way to do so if it won't break your rig, right? :D

Hi AstaLaVista.....

unfortunately no one can OC for you as every case is different, we can only point out how its done & the things to look out for, as for actual settings im afraid its trial & error my friend....

that being said you certainly have a capable setup, that chip can easily sit @ 3.5ghz + all day long....:D

just wet your feet slowly, leave everything auto except your RAM timings, you want to loosen these as far as you can & then start upping your FSB in 10 or 20mhz increments

i think your chip has a 9.5 default multi, & a starting FSB of 266mhz (1066mhz effective) so you only need to move the FSB up by 104mhz to gain your 3.5ghz...

you should be able to get that on the stock VCORE for your chip, if not it wont need much, that's the beauty of a higher multi....

also you will need to get ready to reset CMOS if your board does not have an automatic recovery system, having to do it manually can really start to get annoying

update (flash) the BIOS for your board before you start OCing, your chip is a lot newer than your board this may hold back your clocks or add extra voltage or memory options you may need later on.... (NEVER FLASH BIOS WHILE OVERCLOCKED)

just remember the MAX safe voltage for a 45nm chip is about 1.345v...

have fun, let us know how you get on.....


SK

skunksmash said:

just remember the MAX safe voltage for a 45nm chip is about 1.345v...

Click to expand...

Intel states for all 45nm C2Duo chips that the operating voltage should be between
0.85V – 1.3625V

I got my E8200 OCed to 3.73GHz 24/7 @ 1.3875V, got a good cooling and temps are really low

Thanks guys, the problem is, I have no idea what to start upping in the Bios, what to set to Manual, what needs to be Disable and what to leave on auto.

I know that as of a couple or few weeks ago, I had the latest Bios version but I would check if there is a new one before attempting the OC.

Oh well, I still appreciate the push you give me to try it for myself but, even though I am a not afraid to fry my rig, doing it blind is not my idea of fun

The simplest way would be to up your FSB a bit, test it, check how it affects other settings.

The greek becomes a bit more like English once you start

smarteyeball said:

The simplest way would be to up your FSB a bit, test it, check how it affects other settings.

The greek becomes a bit more like English once you start

Click to expand...

that's it, up the cpu fsb a bit, reboot and test... nothing else? RAM, timings, voltage?

I'm already shaking! :D


Edit 1:

Ok, after upping the CPU FSB's a bit, changing the RAM FSB to link and according to Nvidia System Monitor, this is what I got:

CPU 1 = 48C at iddle
CPU 2 = 47C at iddle
CPU V = 1.125 v
CLOCK = 2.65 GHZ
MULTI = 9.5 x
FAN = 2556 RPM

MEM V = 2.2 v
CLOCK = 697 Mhz

GPU = 45C at iddle
CORE = 399 Mhz
MEM = 297 Mhz
SHADER = 799 Mhz

Now, after about 5 minutes going back to the Monitor to check whether those setting were in Mhz or GHZ, the Nvidia System Monitor wigged out on me because it now gave me the following readings for the GPU:

TEMP = 45C at iddle
CORE = 300 Mhz
MEM = 100 Mhz
SHADER = 601 Mhz

Why would it do that?


Edit 2:

Is there any applet for the G15 KB that will show me CPU & GPU temps only? I know that there are a vast ocean of apps that will give me this but I would like to keep it simple and w/o having to use 3rd party apps, installing, hogging more memory just to have a couple of readings.

Aim for something like 3GHz as a starting point.

For this you need to get your FSB to 1260MHz with the 9.5 multiplier, so if you're computer boots fine at 2.65, it's a good start. Though are you using a stock cooler as them temps seem a bit high, though I'm not familiar with the E7xxx CPUs.

As a next milestone on your way to 3.0GHz, try 2.8. Get the FSB to 1176 and try booting. Have a look at the temperatures and try loading a few things. If it works well, then you could most likely go to 1280 FSB now for 3.0GHz. There's a chance you might need to increase the voltage, but don't do it yet unless your computer doesn't boot or it crashes when loading programs. Once you're at 3.0GHz, keep an eye on temps when running games. If you're using a stock cooler, then they might get a little high, which is why after market coolers are generally better for OCing.

The RAM shouldn't really need overclocking, unless you want it at 1:1 with your CPU, you're going to have to downclock it.


I'm just a petty overclocker really, but this is the method I use when I overclock and it works for me.

Everlong18 said:

Aim for something like 3GHz as a starting point.For this you need to get your FSB to 1260MHz with the 9.5 multiplier, so if you're computer boots fine at 2.65, it's a good start

Click to expand...

That's my aim primarely but since I have heard a lot of people changing things on the bios I am afraid to just up it and blow something up.

Everlong18 said:

Though are you using a stock cooler as them temps seem a bit high, though I'm not familiar with the E7xxx CPUs.

Click to expand...

Well, I am not using the stock cooler but the Artic Pro 7 cooler, still though, I feel the temps are a little on the high side for it being at idle but I don't know what else to do at the moment.

Everlong18 said:

As a next milestone on your way to 3.0GHz, try 2.8. Get the FSB to 1176 and try booting. Have a look at the temperatures and try loading a few things. If it works well, then you could most likely go to 1280 FSB now for 3.0GHz. There's a chance you might need to increase the voltage, but don't do it yet unless your computer doesn't boot or it crashes when loading programs. Once you're at 3.0GHz, keep an eye on temps when running games. If you're using a stock cooler, then they might get a little high, which is why after market coolers are generally better for OCing.

Click to expand...

I will try that tomorrow as right now I am about to go to bed, to tired to deal with this. I know I can use Rivatuner to check my temps on the lcd of the G15 KB but I would love to get just a little applet that would do this w/o having to install yet, another software just to check my temps while in game... do you know of any?

Everlong18 said:

The RAM shouldn't really need overclocking, unless you want it at 1:1 with your CPU, you're going to have to downclock it.

Click to expand...

Hmmm, you kinda lost me here and this is why I am also afraid to go any further, only thing I did so far is UPPED the FSB and Linked the Ram, I left the option of 1:1 or 2:1 set to Auto in hopes the Bios would know more than I do as to how it would set this... was that ok or do I change something else in the bios?

Everlong18 said:

I'm just a petty overclocker really, but this is the method I use when I overclock and it works for me.

Click to expand...

Well, that's exactly what I want, a petty overclock, I can't really be bothered to continuosly be checking temps, this and that, I like to start the computer, play a game for a few hours and go to bed w/o the need to check, tweak or worry about heavy maintenance.

Thanks

another thing. is I'd start by looking up some overclocks of your same chip just to get some average clock idea's and try to see the voltage used while looking.

also when you do your own overclocking. make sure you keep a book with all the settings. or just write down what you try, and what happens. what fails if it crashes. and you will eventually work up an amazing overclock.

cool

xguntherc said:

another thing. is I'd start by looking up some overclocks of your same chip just to get some average clock idea's and try to see the voltage used while looking.

Click to expand...

I started to do this but it is truly overwhelming to see the amount of posts with OC'ed E7200 but different boards and hardware. Besides, none of them really say whether they are doing it for gaming purposes or just for show.

xguntherc said:

also when you do your own overclocking. make sure you keep a book with all the settings. or just write down what you try, and what happens. what fails if it crashes. and you will eventually work up an amazing overclock.
cool

Click to expand...

This I always try to do but, since the guides or how to are very vague or to general for my own specific specs, I am to afraid to touch things I don't understand the logic behind it.

I also don't understand why my temps go up so much with a simple OC if my case and room are well ventilated. this really takes the fun out of trying new things because, for the most part, I want my rig problems free. I love to work on my computer but I hate to do so just to gain a few FPS's here and there.

OH well, thanks for the tips guys, I appreaciate it... honestly.

OK, I did a little testing just to see where my temps are now that I have OC'ed to 2.8Ghz, nothing out of the ordinary really but I want to take it slow.

Well, to my surprise, not one of the temp apps I used was able to give me a concrete answer on my temps, they are all different... why do they vary so much? which app do I believe?

This was taken after loading Fireworks MX, IE7, windows Mail, all of the apps in the screenie and 1 game that I left on and minimized.




I also opened up 3 instances of CPU-Z just to show you guys something that I feel is not correct. One, my Ram is pc-8200 and here is calling for something different, it is supposed to be at 5-5-5-15 but according to the little tale tale sign, is not. It is worriying me a bit but not to the point of giving up on it.

any other suggestions?

Oh, also, I had this happened to me which I don't know if I should post here or start a new thread about it.

while I had all these apps open, I wanted to also make a screenie of Nvidia's Device Setting on its Control panel but as soon as I click on it, it hesitated a bit and the PC re-started on it own... spooky!

After getting to the desktop, I inmediately went to it (with nothing open) and tested again, this time it froze and I had to hit the Reset button for a hard boot... do I need to be worry here or this is Nvidia's own faulty control panel crapping out on me? I have heard others mention it doesn't really work well.