Overclocking C2D - NS4Sale

Sabeen · 06-04-2007, 12:25 AM

Just recently built a C2D E6320 basically completely from RNT (except for case.. little does he know.. lol) but I am running this beast at stock speeds, which is plenty fast for its intended purpose (media center server) but I KNOW it can do much more than that - especially with the watercooling kit it houses.

So any guideline or recommendations on what to do to overclock? the beginning steps, what to look for, how to get more speed. I messed around with 300MHz celerons and K6's.. but since then I gave up. Here are the specs:

C2D E6320 @ 1.8GHz
(working) Asrock 775-DualVSTA mainboard
2GB DDR2, 533MHz (I think)
8GB hard drive with 250GB storage
Gforce FX 5500 DX9 compatible Vid card (don't care about graphics, MCE wants DX9 support tho)

The board has lots of support and can vary voltages and multiplier frequencies by 1MHz - but I rarely if ever overclock.. I am thinking I should be able to hit 2.5 - 3GHz with this system easy, which would be great for re-encoding HD-DVD and blu-ray dumps as video editing likes MHz more than anything.

at idle, it sits at between 20-24C and I can barely hear it.. wanna keep the 'barely hearing it' to that - but can increase the fan another 2000RPM before it maxes out.

Let the suggestions fly and I will see if I can completely kill this board too

Elisha · 06-04-2007, 09:48 AM

is it a VIA chipset, if so not sure how well it will OC.
but try this, up the FSB to 300-350.
Lock AGP/PCI-E to 66mhz/100mhz or 67mhz/101mhz.
Lock PCI to 33mhz
Raise the chipset voltage just a little and ram voltage to about 1.9v or 2.0v
Also try raising the CPU voltage to 1.35v-1.375v or so.

Willy_Weed · 06-04-2007, 05:15 PM

I think most people are only getting about 330FSB out of those boards.

Rednecktech · 06-04-2007, 08:10 PM

Yeah it doesn't look good for you on that board

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/377/14/

sswilson · 06-04-2007, 09:39 PM

I just finished running a 4CoreDual-vsta (same board with 4 core support) for a couple of months and I can tell you that you'll be lucky to get FSB of 300 with it which severly limits OC of the 1066 fsb (quad pumped) chips.

You're also running DDR 533 which means that your mem can't be downclocked, so best bet is to raise your fsb in 5 point increments until you hit a wall from your mem.

I had my E6420 running @ 2.34 with a FSB of 295 and ddrII 800 mem running @ ddr 590 speeds.

Rednecktech · 06-04-2007, 09:46 PM

His memory is 667mhz but regardless the boards are terrible for OC'ing. I just built a system on the 4coredual as well and it sucked. The earlier version he has is a little better I think.

I'm have a bit of success on the lower end Asus P5LD2 though. Mind you it's about $35 or so more but still not much over $100

sswilson · 06-04-2007, 09:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rednecktech

His memory is 667mhz but regardless the boards are terrible for OC'ing. I just built a system on the 4coredual as well and it sucked. The earlier version he has is a little better I think.

I'm have a bit of success on the lower end Asus P5LD2 though. Mind you it's about $35 or so more but still not much over $100

They wouldn't OC too bad with one of the 800 FSB E43/4400 chips (wouldn't scream, but it'd probably get up to 2800+), but they really only shine as a "bridge" board between S775 and older DDR &/or AGP.

I ran mine for a couple of months with OCZ PC4000 @ DDR 460 speeds until I could afford DDRII and a new mobo.

Just installed my DFI Infinity Dark 965-S.

Sabeen · 06-05-2007, 11:17 PM

Hmm... Arrite, I will mess around and see what this is capable of doing (which looks like not much :X).

Sabeen · 06-05-2007, 11:23 PM

my memory is?? *quickly and swiftly kicks side of case*
guess i better adjust that bios as its only showing up as 533MHz.. miserable board, just keeps getting more disappointing.

So, onto the next question - which is the best board to get the most speed out of? (I know I sound like a 12yr old l33t hak0r or something now.. fell out of the hardware loop so long ago)

Also, thanks for the step by step Elisha - don't look like much has changed in methods since the old days.. good to have a general wall to stand behind.

Also - whats the best burnin/benchmark software? someone on here must know.. I got sisoft sandra engineer crap and it just locks the system up when I do anything.. well, don't lock the system up but the program locks itself up.

enough said.

Elisha · 06-06-2007, 12:24 AM

best board for high fsb now is probably any of the P965 boards from Asus or Gigapuke although the new P5K boards seem very promising. DFI released a new 965 based board as well thats doing pretty well. or you can go for the 680i/650i based boards if you want to stick with your ram.
as for stress testing.....Orthos which is basically Prime95 for dual core is pretty much the standard.

Sabeen · 06-16-2007, 01:37 AM

well, my AMD crapped out - taking your advice elisha.. gonna get a C2D from RNT hopefully and I will likely get a 680/650i board like you said, unless I can find a decent deal on a 965. no sense getting a fast system and bottlenecking it with ram speeds.

Elisha · 06-16-2007, 01:45 AM

the 680/650 boards are not the best for FSB overclocking so you will need a cpu with high multi such as e6600 or above.
P965 boards will hit 500fsb easy so you can settle for e6300 or so.

sswilson · 06-16-2007, 04:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elisha

the 680/650 boards are not the best for FSB overclocking so you will need a cpu with high multi such as e6600 or above.
P965 boards will hit 500fsb easy so you can settle for e6300 or so.

Many of the newer chips (like my E6420) don't like high FSBs (above 450) so 500FSB boards are moot for them.

If ultra high OC is the goal, I'd suggest something with at least a X9 cpu multi otherwise the X8 seem to hit a FSB wall between 3400/3500 (I've got my E6420 up to 3560 stable).

That said.... 3400/3500 isn't too shabby.