Want to Overclock, please help!!

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plsoft

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I just upgraded my system to X2 3600+ (Windsor :( ), Asus M2A-VM HDMI, Kingston 667 1GB*2. I would like to know how far I can oc it with the stock cooler. As I have no experience in oc’ing, I will post all the BIOS options and CPU-Z screenshots so that you guys can suggest as to how I should go about it.

BIOS Options [default value]:

1) +1.2VNBSB [Auto] (North Bridge & South Bridge Voltage)
Options: [Auto][+1.20V][+1.30V][+1.40V][+1.50V]
2) DDR2 Voltage Control [Auto]
Options: [Auto][+1.80V][+1.90V][+2.00V][+2.10V]
3) CPU Voltage Control [Auto]
Options: [Auto][100mV]
4) CPU Multiplier [Auto]
Options: [Auto][5x][6x][7x][8x][9x]
5) CPU Voltage [Auto]
Options: [Auto][1.550v][1.52v][1.500v][1.475v]1.450v]….[0.800v]
6) CPU Frequency [200 MHz]
Options: The Value ranges from 200 to 400.
7) DRAM Timing Mode [Auto]
Options: [Auto][Manual]
8) Memory Clock Frequency [Auto]
Options: [Auto][DDR2 533][DDR2 667][DDR2 800]
9) LDT Bus Frequency [Auto] (HT Multiplier)
Options: [Auto][1GHz][800MHz][600MHz][400MHz][200MHz]

I have attached the screenshots from CPU-Z below:
Please tell me if i have to post anything extra.
 

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some quick tips...
Set the LDT Bus Frequency to 800mhz
Set the memory clock frequency to 533mhz initially
Increase the CPU Frequency by 5mhz at a time after an increase of about 20/25mhz run orthos for 10 min to check stability
rest of the settings on auto
here's an example ...

stock
cpu - 200x10=2000mhz
ram - 200/200x667=667mhz
ht - 200/200x1000=1000mhz

oced
cpu - 240x10=2400mhz
ram - 240/200x667=800.4mhz the kingston ram should be able to do 800 at 5-5-5-12 if auto doesn't work select DRAM Timing Mode - manual and enter the timings you also increase the DDR2 Voltage to 1.9v
ht - 240/200x800=960mhz this should not be over 1000mhz

after ocing run orthos overnight to check the stability and run memtest to check for any memory errors.

use core temp to monitor the temperatures
 
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Thnx thexfactor for the reply. Nways could you please tell me as to how i should do it step by step?

Till now i've done the following:
LDT Bus Freq = 800 MHz
Memory Clock Freq = 533 mhz
CPU Freq = 205 mhz
DDR2 Voltage = 1.9v

Core Temp Beta 0.94 shows Core 0 @ 42 degree & Core 1 @ 29 degree.

I don't know wat to do after this initial setting. I mean, what i should do next and which values i should alter. Thnx again, n waitin for more suggestion :)
 
keep increasing the cpu freqency by 5mhz at a time until you reach 225mhz then run orthos for 10min and check the temps again you must be able to hit 240 odd easily ... btw 42 seems a bit high was this after running orthos or at idle ?
 
@thexfactor, the temp was during idle time, just opened opera.
Nways since i had to do some video editing in pinnacle, i hve switched back the bios settings to default for the time being. Will do the OC again after i finish with pinnacle. Now at system default with pinnacle running (converting to mpeg-1) Core 0 @ 52 degree and Core 1 @ 42 degree.

@deepak,u r rite, anandtech forum has a thread on that one. So does it mean the temps are wrong as shown by core temp? Any other way for this one?
 
OH @ deepak, mine is a windsor not brisbane :) .
Nways i think i should be able to easily reach 2.3 ghz at stock. Initially i reduced the DRAM frequency to 533. When should i increase this to 667 & wat bout the DDR2 voltage, when should this be changed?
 
Oc'ing involves increasing the htt bus of the mobo(here cpu frequency), and that in turn affects three things, the cpu clock via the cpu multiplier, the ram speed via the ram divider, and the hypertransport speed via the htt multiplier..

in ur mobo, the ht speed and ram speed are controlled via dividers.

for ht speed, the default is 1000mhz. the default htt being 200, that translates into a multiplier of 1000/200 = 5. 1000 is the max u should go. as u increase the htt bus, the ht multiplier causes the ht speed to go beyond 1000 causing unstability. thats where the dividors come in. when u lower it to 800 mhz, the multiplier becomes 800/200 = 4, thus u can increase the htt till 250 mhz, while ht speed stays below 100 mhz. if u need to inc the htt more, u have got to decrease the multiplier even more.

similarly for the ram, the dividors are meant to keep ur ram speed below the rated speed while ur htt bus has increased.

the best approach to oc that i would suggest is first find out the headroom in ur ram. so what u do is drop ht multiplier to lowest to take it out of the equation, and cpu multi to 6x. set memory clock to ddr2 667 and timing mode to auto. now start increasing ur cpu frequency by steps of 5-10.download memtest86 and burn it to a cd before.boot with the cd after every increase and run 1-2 passes to see if there are errors. when you see errors, revert back to the last error free speed and run around 5 passes. that will give you an idea abt the highest ur ram goes.

now we know the max ram speed, test for max fsb. for that, drop the memory frequency to 533 mhz and again start increasing ur cpu freq by steps of 5-10. this time, boot into windows and run some dual core stability tool like orthos and run it for 5-6 mins. look for errors and keep an eye on temps, they should not cross 50C. when u see error or windows shows unstability/crrashes, revert back to the last stable frequency and run orthos for 15-20 mins.

now u know the max fsb and memory speed possible, set the fsb values and the dividers accordingly.u can increase the cpu multi to get a higher clock. decrease the cpu freq in case of stability issues.
just see that htt doesnt cross 1000. and one more thing, before doing anything with the cpu frequency, hunt around for settings to lock the pci and pci-e speeds and lock them to 33.33 and 100 mhz. most of the case they are linked to the htt and oc'ing them can cause serious damage to the peripherals..

Oc'ing needs lots of patience and lots of time to tune perfectly. best of luck..:)

Edit: u can increase the max ram speed and fsb by giving the ram or the cpu a little more volts, but i'll not suggest that right now. first check ur headroom at the stock volts
 
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Hey thanks for the help, really appreciate it. Just to check how hot my cpu is at default settings, i ran orthos for 6 mins and coretemp for the temp check, coretemp showed temp of Core 0 @ 54 (max) degree & Core 1 @ 48 (max) degree celcius. However, there was no error. This is way too high for OC'ing, for that matter, for any heavy application. Do you think there is somethng wrong with the temp reading? At this point, i'm not sure whether i should continue with the OC'ing.

Temp @ idle time: Core 0 42 degree (avge) & Core 1 @ 29 degree (avge).
 
PSU is Zebronics 400W.
As for ventilation, i have attached a photo of it.
 

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how much is there on the 12v rail?

also, is that the only case fan? try putting one at the front part to pull in air from outside. that will improve the circulation.

other than circulation, the higher temps may be caused by improper seating of the heatsink. check for that.

If q fan is enabled in the bios, disable it. qfan can cause the fan to rotate slower till a predefined temperature is reached.
 
tirthankar said:
how much is there on the 12v rail?
Click to expand...
20A

tirthankar said:
also, is that the only case fan? try putting one at the front part to pull in air from outside. that will improve the circulation.
Click to expand...

Yup that's the only case fan. I'll put the extra fan as soon as i can.
As for the heatsink and qfan, i'll check them out.
By the way how much temp should a normal system be showing at default settings and load? Moreover, y are the temp not equal for the two cores, core 0 is always higher than core 1.

Edit: I don't thnk the problem is with ventilation, the temp stays the same even after opening the cabinet cover.
 
under normal usage and load the temps should not exceed 50C, idle should around high 30's, depending on ur room temp.

a temp abt 10-12c higher than ambient is normal.

another possibility is that the mobo is reporting the temp wrong. u can check that by flashing with an updated bios from the asus website.
 
Bios is the latest one, there is an update but it is a beta so m not going to flash it.
But don't u think 41 & 27 (idle) are OK for Delhi temp?
Could anyone from delhi post his cpu temperature please?
 
I mean 41 & 27 are the temp of Core 0 & Core 1 during idle time. 54 was the temp of Core 0 when i ran orthos (at system default settings).
 
in that case, i think something's wrong with the core0 temp reading.

47...no way!!!

just touch the heatsink and feel if it's like 50C

and if the temp readings are correct, what might u be running that would be loading just 1 core so much..:S
 
Well the heatsink doesn't look to be that hot. Even when i'm not running anything, core 0 temp is always higher. LOL i really don't know what to do now, thnx for sticking around man. This really s***ks.
 
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