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Author Topic: Contemplating overclocking  (Read 1734 times)

Offline ÐeviÑ

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Contemplating overclocking
« on: July 26, 2009, 07:37:21 AM »
Alrighty, well, when I bought my processor (Intel Pentium E5300 2.6GHz 2MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor) I had read in the customer reviews that someone had it clocked over 4GHz, which sparked my interest. I also read somewhere that with Dual-core processors, usually your memory is what limits your clocking.

I have this memory : pqi TURBO 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 667 (PC2 5400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory

Could any of you computer wizards out there calculate what speed I should stop at?  And with only fans cooling it, after running for 3 days, my computer is at 46 Celsius, could you possibly figure out at what point I would need to upgrade my cooling?

Thanks guys.
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Offline Nassor

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #1 on: July 26, 2009, 09:05:23 AM »
It depends what you are comfortable with the cpu temperature running at, but I'd stop when it gets to 55C. Now the E5300 being a good overclock should overclock a bit without even raising the voltages, but if you have a stock cooler on it then you won't want to increase the voltage much at all, because they just can't get rid of the heat. If you really want to get it overlcoked well (like 3GHz+) then you need to get an aftermarket cooler, a cheap, good one would be the OCZ Vendetta 2 which is about $20 I think.
The old 65nm processors are incredibly rugged so you can really thrash them without them breaking, whereas the newer 45nm can't take it quite as well.
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Offline Ediseye

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #2 on: July 26, 2009, 09:43:25 AM »
With every chip being different we cannot give you an accurate measurement to how high you can overlcock. Depending on your motherboard and cooling, that'll make most of the difference. But you could also just have a bad OCing chip. It's the luck of the draw.

While Nassor is correct in talking about voltages, he is wrong in saying that with a stock cooler, you won't want to raise the voltages too much. And let me explain why. Firstly, the process is cooled obviously by the heatsink coupled with a fan. Stock voltages usually range different for every processor, especially on low TDP chips. The VRMs (Voltage Regulator Modules) reside outside of the CPU, usually on the motherboard. The only way for these to get cooled off, is for air to blow across them, or a heatsink be placed on them. But as he said, watch your voltages. Your MOSFETs (Metal–Oxide Semiconductor Field-Effect Transistors) also tend to take a hit when you up the voltages, though higher end motherboards place a heatsink on them as well. Though getting an aftermarket cooler will help immensely for CPU temps, it will not decrease the temperature of the VRM's on the motherboard you have or the MOSFETs. Raising voltages will however raise your CPU temperature slightly, so stay on the safe side.

When overclocking, you're going to want to watch voltages as well as your multiplier and FSB, along with your northbridge voltage if you have that option. Your memory will usually limit you if it runs at a speed of 1066MHz or even 800MHz, though when it comes down to it, the timings you have the RAM set at are the biggest factor in limiting an overclock. You should be fine though with RAM running at 667MHz.

Concerning your current temperature, that's not too bad, if at around a fifty percent load. If by chance that is idle temp, that's probably a bit too high to start overclocking anything. Your load temperature (processor working at 100 percent) is probably nearing the mid 65C area I'm guessing, which isn't all too good. I would make sure my temperatures don't hit any higher than 70C with an E5300 if I were you, since your processor has a thermal specification of about 74C. While Intel recommends that you don't take the voltages any higher than 1.3625V, I would personally take her to 1.4V and call it safe with proper case air flow. Just make sure the cooling for your case is adequate.

Stability also counts. You'll want to monitor your temps with a program such as Real Temp or Core Temp, though I usually only use Core Temp to monitor AMD processors, and Real Temp for Intel based platforms. Once you have an overclock you feel comfortable with, run some stability programs such as Prime95 or OCCT. Even IntelBurnTest will allow you to test stability. I recommend running Prime95 for about 8 hours at first, and if you want to raise your overclock after it passes, then do so. If Prime95 fails the test and one of your cores stops working, that usually means either your RAM timings are set to tight, or your RAM is running too fast. Though it could also mean that either your northbridge voltage or CPU VID isn't high enough. But as always, watch temperatures, don't go crazy on voltages at all, and when you think you've got a final overclock, I'd let Prime95 run anywhere from 16 to 24 hours. I usually do a 24 hour test to make sure the stability is there for a 24/7 use.

Also, I'm not sure if you built the computer yourself, but if you have a motherboard that was in the computer when you bought it from a company such as HP, Sony, Dell, etc. you won't be able to overclock. Manufacturers lock those settings from consumers. But if you have a motherboard from building the system yourself, you should be able to tweak it a bit.

FINAL NOTE: DO NOT OVERCLOCK YOUR COMPUTER WITHOUT KNOWING EXACTLY WHAT YOU ARE DOING. WARRANTIES ARE ALMOST GARUNTEED TO BE VOIDED WHEN TAKING THE SPEEDS HIGHER THAN STOCK.
« Last Edit: July 26, 2009, 10:16:49 AM by BFM_Ediseye »




Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #3 on: July 26, 2009, 10:58:30 AM »


I'm curious: What to you hope to gain by overclocking?  4% CPU improvement? "More responsive" graphics?

The fact of the matter is: You're better off upgrading your CPU (when/if you can) than overclocking it, and in any event, you're better off WITH A WELL-BALANCED SYSTEM than an OCd one....  (To that end, pls tell us what MoBo you have.  Did the article you read have THE SAME mobo as yours? If not, what MoBo were THEY using???)

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Offline ÐeviÑ

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #4 on: July 26, 2009, 03:08:45 PM »


I'm curious: What to you hope to gain by overclocking?  4% CPU improvement? "More responsive" graphics?

The fact of the matter is: You're better off upgrading your CPU (when/if you can) than overclocking it, and in any event, you're better off WITH A WELL-BALANCED SYSTEM than an OCd one....  (To that end, pls tell us what MoBo you have.  Did the article you read have THE SAME mobo as yours? If not, what MoBo were THEY using???)



I see what you mean now. I never thought about it that way. I suppose I could bump up to a core 2 quad...if I really need to.

Mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157151R

And as for the article thing, no, they didn't use the same. Guess I must have missed that part....
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Paired with a Gigabyte EP45-UD3R I was able to overclock this to 4.01 GHZ stable on air
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Offline McSkittles

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #5 on: July 26, 2009, 03:30:08 PM »
 :LOL:, looks like between Nassor, Edison and Mxy, you've got it all covered.(they kinda said some of the stuff I would have said :neckbeard:)

I was about to ask the same Mxy, seeing as they OC'd a 2.6 into a 4, which can't be done on any old MoBo unless you know what your doing.

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Offline Ediseye

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #6 on: July 26, 2009, 03:49:46 PM »




Offline ÐeviÑ

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #7 on: July 26, 2009, 03:57:22 PM »
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Offline McSkittles

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #8 on: July 26, 2009, 04:25:55 PM »
...Edison...

 ::) :doh:
;D sorry Ediseye, I was looking towards your sigs when I was typing the name, and I saw Edison on one of them. I got kinda close though :neckbeard:

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Offline Ediseye

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #9 on: July 26, 2009, 05:17:09 PM »
...Edison...

 ::) :doh:
;D sorry Ediseye, I was looking towards your sigs when I was typing the name, and I saw Edison on one of them. I got kinda close though :neckbeard:

Even though "Edison" is no where in my sigs, I'll let you slide. :P




Offline MrMxyzptlk

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #10 on: July 26, 2009, 06:05:35 PM »


      :siderofl:



ANYWAY!...  NEVER go by the specs the seller provides!  ALWAYS go find the specs for components AT THE MAKER'S SITE.

In this case, here's a link to your mobo @ Asrock's site.

I was curious about seeing an Nvidia 740i chipset... and I wasn't alone!  Reviews of the board also wonder at where Asrock got such a thing!

I would read through some of those reviews before thinking about OCing this thing....

Especially given that it has an extremely SLOW memory bus (800MHz) compared to everything else (e.g. up to 1600MHz FSB.)

It seems to me you're always going to be held back by that memory speed.

But read the reviews (I didn't read more than a few) and see what they have to say about the mobo & OCing.  Most give it an 8/10 and say it's OC-able, but I didn't see any that tested with Quad-core CPUs, either?!?

GL!

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Offline ÐeviÑ

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Re: Contemplating overclocking
« Reply #11 on: July 26, 2009, 06:29:02 PM »


      :siderofl:



ANYWAY!...  NEVER go by the specs the seller provides!  ALWAYS go find the specs for components AT THE MAKER'S SITE.

In this case, here's a link to your mobo @ Asrock's site.

I was curious about seeing an Nvidia 740i chipset... and I wasn't alone!  Reviews of the board also wonder at where Asrock got such a thing!

I would read through some of those reviews before thinking about OCing this thing....

Especially given that it has an extremely SLOW memory bus (800MHz) compared to everything else (e.g. up to 1600MHz FSB.)

It seems to me you're always going to be held back by that memory speed.

But read the reviews (I didn't read more than a few) and see what they have to say about the mobo & OCing.  Most give it an 8/10 and say it's OC-able, but I didn't see any that tested with Quad-core CPUs, either?!?

GL!




I find it odd that they'd claim to not know a thing about the 740i SLI when I google searched it and found a bunch of info about it on their website XD

http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_nforce_740i_sli_us.html

Meh, I think I will just leave it at factory settings. I can't afford to replace anything XD

Thanks for the advice, though. :)

"Kltpzyxm"
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