[Solved] New to Overclocking and need some help please

Here are my PC Specs:

Custom built by myself:
Corsair White Graphite 600T
MSI P43-C51 MS-7519 v2.1 Socket 775
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 2.83GHz
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 SC
Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 PSU
16Gb Corsair Dominator 1333 (4x4GB Quad Channel Kit)
Corsair Airflow Memory cooler (packed with Quad Kit)
Corsair H100 Liquid cooler on CPU (4 fans in push/pull config)

I would like to OC the system to get a higher performance than it provides stock. I'm hoping to get the processor to run at 3.4 or thereabouts. I have read that's about the max you can run for everyday stability. I just don't know how to do any of this. If someone can help me or can provide some links that will help I would be grateful. I know quite a bit about computers I have just never delved into the OC arena.

Edit: I would also like to OC the ram to match whatever I OC the CPU to so that it doesn't cause a bottleneck. I will also OC the video card in the Nvidia control panel.

Edit: I just purchased the Corsair H100 Liquid Cooler to replace the Antec 920. Since I have the Corsair 600T Case I can easily fit the H100 on the top of the case with room to spare. My question about this is this: Once I mount the radiator on the inside/top of the case and the fans on the top of the case under the Dust cover, both blowing up, do I need or could I mount two more fans on the bottom of the radiator also blowing up and out?

Message edited by etrnlxdarkness on 02-18-2012 at 10:25:10 AM

------------------------------

http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/2257940.png

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

I'm new to overclocking myself so I won't be much help but try reading the basic guide (http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/259899-11-core-overclocking-guide). That should get you started.
About overclocking the RAM I think it won't be necessary but,like I said, I'm new around this stuff too. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will help

Reply to akxpckwb

lol I am perusing all the OC stickies now. I think that one is next. I am hoping for someone with knowledge of my components to show up and help out. lol

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

The Stickies aren't really helping much. Does anyone have any suggestions on OC with my board? What should I try to overclock too?

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Best answer

I was able to check your M/BD at MSI website and it indicates a top memory speed of 1600. That would give you a top OC of 3.4 GHz which = a 400 FSB.

I see that you have 4 X 2G of memory. Unless they came as a complete matched set you will have problems. However, I recommend that you remove the ram from the DIMM slots 2 & 4, using the primary slots 1 & 3 only irregardless.

Next go into BIOS > Hardware Monitor and write down what the M/BD has set all voltages to for future reference. Some M/BDs tend to overvolt some of these like the CPU and memory. Also write down what the CPU Temp is.

Next find out what your memory specs are and enter them manually; i.e. 9,9,9,24 @ 1.5v (that may not be what your memory runs at) Go into Advanced BIOS Features > Advanced Dram Configuration to do this. Only change the main timings.

Next Disable Spead Spectrum, Intel EIST and D.O.T. Control.

Next go to Adjust CPU FSB Frequency (MHz) and set to 400.

Next go to CPU Voltage (v) and manually set to 1.350v. Intels max rec V is 1.3625v.

Leave all other settings as they are set by the M/BD at this time. What we want to see is if the M/BD will run with these changes by automatically adjusting the other voltages for your CPU.

These settings if they work will give you an OC of 3.4GHz and PC1600 to your ram.

Hit F10 > Enter to restart your PC. As it restarts go right back in to BIOS. DO NOT LET IT BOOT INTO WINDOWS! Yet.

Go to Hardware Monitor and compare your voltages to what you wrote down earlier. Also note your CPU temp.

We would like to see changes in NB, VTT and ICH voltages. Not major changes but slight changes in as higher voltages.

Assuming they are higher then F10 > Enter and see if it will boot into windows.

Remember that this instruction set is meant to get you to 3.4GHz but not maybe a stable OC.

Let me know how this works, if at all.

Good luck to you. :sol:

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------

http://valid.canardpc.com/cache/banner/1091644.png

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

I see that you have 4 X 2G of memory. Unless they came as a complete matched set you will have problems. However, I recommend that you remove the ram from the DIMM slots 2 & 4, using the primary slots 1 & 3 only irregardless.

Yes, I have basically two dual channel kits. They are the same numbers and everything. I will photograph all four sticks and post them for you to see so we can determine if they will work together.

I really need the ram because I do Photography. I generally have Photoshop CS5, Lightroom CS5, Nikon View and sometimes Nikon Capture NX2 open all at once if I am editing JPEG. I can only open Lightroom and Photoshop if I'm editing NEF(RAW) images because otherwise it's too much for the computer. My file sizes for a single photo can exceed 2-4Gb during editing which loads the ram to the max. And I can do nothing to change this. That's why I have the ram maxed out. I use it daily. So hopefully I can get the OC to work stable with all 8Gb.

I will post back shortly with the Photo's of the RAM.

Thank you!

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Here is the Photo. Should be high enough quality to read everything.

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

I understand your need for the extra ram, it is just much easier to OC on 2 sticks than 4. Just because they have the same product numbers and size does not mean they will work together when you start doing some high OC'n. They may work fine but now but not when highly OC,n your CPU.

If you can get a OC to work with 2 sticks you can always add the other 2 and see if that will work
as well.

However, those sets were matched sets of 2 sticks, meaning those matched sets would work very well together. You would actually be better off with 2 X 4G of ram for OC'n purposes.

I still would try what I out lined above for you to see if you can even OC your CPU.

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

I understand your need for the extra ram, it is just much easier to OC on 2 sticks than 4. Just because they have the same product numbers and size does not mean they will work together when you start doing some high OC'n. They may work fine but now but not when highly OC,n your CPU.

If you can get a OC to work with 2 sticks you can always add the other 2 and see if that will work
as well.

However, those sets were matched sets of 2 sticks, meaning those matched sets would work very well together. You would actually be better off with 2 X 4G of ram for OC'n purposes.

I still would try what I out lined above for you to see if you can even OC your CPU.

Alright. I see where your coming from and I now remember this being mentioned in the sticky's and on a few other posts. I will try it with two as you say and see if I can get some stable numbers. Then add them back and see what happens.

Also, I did some looking on Newegg and found a quad channel kit. Would this work better? Or does the two sticks only rule still apply even with a quad channel kit? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145312

Last question. Do I leave the OC Dip Switch on the board set at default?

Message edited by etrnlxdarkness on 02-13-2012 at 06:58:06 AM

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Quote :

Alright. I see where your coming from and I now remember this being mentioned in the sticky's and on a few other posts. I will try it with two as you say and see if I can get some stable numbers. Then add them back and see what happens.

Good.

Quote :

Also, I did some looking on Newegg and found a quad channel kit. Would this work better? Or does the two sticks only rule still apply even with a quad channel kit? =http://www.newegg.com/Product [...] 820145312]

Your link does not work and yes the 2 sticks are still easier to work with than 4, not impossible thou.

Quote :

Last question. Do I leave the OC Dip Switch on the board set at default?

I would try that first at default since now you are going to manually OC. I could be wrong thou on that.

Message edited by arthurh on 02-13-2012 at 06:25:12 AM

Reply to arthurh

Quote :

Also, I did some looking on Newegg and found a quad channel kit. Would this work better? Or does the two sticks only rule still apply even with a quad channel kit? =http://www.newegg.com/Product [...] 820145312]

Your link does not work and yes the 2 sticks are still easier to work with than 4, not impossible thou.

Link is fixed. I'll try to remember not to use the insert link button anymore. And ok. I shall see what happens.

I shall try this out over the next couple of days and get back to you. Thank you very much for your assistance and patience.

Message edited by etrnlxdarkness on 02-13-2012 at 07:05:56 AM

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

I look forward to hearing from you. :sol:

Message quoted 2 times

------------------------------

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

I look forward to hearing from you. :sol:

ok. I apologize it took this long to get back to you. I have been pretty busy this week.

First off the mobo for some reason wont let me change the voltages at all.

I set the FSB to 400 and turned on XMP and set the FSB ratio to 1:2 to get a DRAM Frequency of 1601. I assume this is correct. My memory is rated at 9-9-9-24 1.65v. I am not sure what it's running at but I will post a handful of screenshots so you can see the results of the changes.

The CPU temp was 34 before and 32 after.

the voltages before changes were:
vCore: 1.176
3.3v:3.344
5v:5.003
12v:12.144

After Changes the vCore changed to 1.072 the rest stayed the same.

I was unable to set ram voltage either. I used the XMP to start with. I can set the timings manually but its tricky and I am not sure how to set the rest of the settings once I set the timings manually.

Message edited by etrnlxdarkness on 02-18-2012 at 11:48:54 PM

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

arthurh wrote :

I look forward to hearing from you. :sol:

Here are some screenshots with results during a run of Prime 95. These were taken after 20 min of Prime 95 before I stopped the testing.

I still don't understand what it is saying about the ram. I also don't know why the cpu vcore is now lower than it was at stock speed. The system seems to be perfectly stable so far. I'm just not sure if I did all this right. lol

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Quote :

I also don't know why the cpu vcore is now lower than it was at stock speed.

Check CPU-Z with your PC at idle and see if it is still @ 3.4GHz. If it is then you appear to have done as much as you can do so far and the M/BD is controlling the Vc. To your advantage so far.

If it is @ a lower speed then go into BIOS and disable Speedstep (EIST). That will keep your CPU from throttling down while under light loads and your Vc will be more constant.

The other thing I might try is to unlink your ram and set to async mode and set to 800 and then try a higher FSB just to see if that will work.

Otherwise I think you have done a great job of OC'n with the limited option available to you. You are @ 3.4GHz and with a lower Vc which means less heat, always a good thing.

I hope your still having fun. :sol:

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

Check CPU-Z with your PC at idle and see if it is still @ 3.4GHz. If it is then you appear to have done as much as you can do so far and the M/BD is controlling the Vc. To your advantage so far.

If it is @ a lower speed then go into BIOS and disable Speedstep (EIST). That will keep your CPU from throttling down while under light loads and your Vc will be more constant.

CPU-Z says it is steady at 3.4Ghz. I had already disabled spread spectrum, EIST and DOT. I googled the C-State and disabled it as well.

And temps are staying under 54c under full load. I am pretty happy with the H100.

arthurh wrote :

The other thing I might try is to unlink your ram and set to async mode and set to 800 and then try a higher FSB just to see if that will work.

I assume you mean to turn off XMP? Then to set the FSB Ratio to a higher value? It is currently set to 1:2 just to get it to run at 1601. I will take a photo or two of the bios screen so you can see exactly what options I have.

arthurh wrote :

Otherwise I think you have done a great job of OC'n with the limited option available to you. You are @ 3.4GHz and with a lower Vc which means less heat, always a good thing.

I hope your still having fun. :sol:

Sounds good to me. And yes it is fun. I can see how you guys get addicted to it. lol

I ran Prime 95 last night for a few hours. The fourth core had a fatal error an hour and 15 min into the run. I went to bed after starting it. So I got up this morning about 3 hrs after I started it and the first three cores were still running but Prime had killed the testing on core 4. Here is what the error said: "FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.4997558594, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file." I could not find the file it indicates. Does this error mean I am pushing the OC too far or was this just an anomaly you think?

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Also Just out of curiosity, I enabled EIST just to see if it would still run. I figure if I can save a little money on power and still get the OC I want while gaming it was worth a shot. Will EIST mess with the OC at all? I read somewhere that the Intel C-State could make even a modest OC unstable and i am curious if the EIST will do the same?

Screen Shots of the Bios Cell Menu:

Message edited by etrnlxdarkness on 02-19-2012 at 10:11:46 PM

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Quote :

Will EIST mess with the OC at all?

In my experience...., no. However I chose not to run my CPU that way so it would not see any voltage spikes while OC'd. My thinking is it was designed to work great at stock freqencies but when OC'd who knows. May not be true at all and as far as saving electricity your only talking a few tenths of a volt to the CPU.

Thanks for those screen shots. Your CPU Vc adjustment is just called "CPU Voltage (v)" and it is set to AUTO. Click on that and you should see a sub-menu with different voltage settings, allowing you a higher OC via higher voltages.

Your 4th core dropped out in Prime 95 because the settings you are currently using are not allowing a fully stable OC.

You are at a point now where a little more voltage, v, might help. Check your Hardware Monitor in BIOS to see what the M/BD has actually set that voltage to. As you OC higher you will also have to adjust the NB and VTT(keep below 1.32V) voltages, so be sure to make a note of what the M/BD has them set to as well. One other setting I have that you do not is PLL. I hope for you that the M/BD will adjust this good enough, because it is surely there, just not available to you.

Leave all GTL voltages set to "AUTO" for now. You probably will not need to adjust them any way.

Just some info about this CPU. These Q9550 are not true quad core CPUs in the sense of 4 indidual cores. They have 2 dual cores on the same die. If they get out of sync with each other just a little bit you will drop a core or worse case not even boot up. But once you get them dialed in a 3.83GHz OC is where these babies like to run best. That happens to be my 24/7 OC.

Quote :

I assume you mean to turn off XMP?

Only if it gives you the option to run unlinked. The 1:2 and 1600 settings should stay the same. That way you will not be OC'n the ram.

Remember that if you decide to go for a higher OC it will take time and patience. Make adjustments to your FSB of no more than 25 at a time then test for stability. Short cuts will cost you more time and effort and lots of new experiences.

The hardest problem to trouble shoot is the one we put in there ourselves. :whistle:

Good luck to you my friend, it looks like you are well on your way to a really solid OC! :sol:

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

Quote :

Will EIST mess with the OC at all?

In my experience...., no. However I chose not to run my CPU that way so it would not see any voltage spikes while OC'd. My thinking is it was designed to work great at stock freqencies but when OC'd who knows. May not be true at all and as far as saving electricity your only talking a few tenths of a volt to the CPU.

Thanks for those screen shots. Your CPU Vc adjustment is just called "CPU Voltage (v)" and it is set to AUTO. Click on that and you should see a sub-menu with different voltage settings, allowing you a higher OC via higher voltages.

Your 4th core dropped out in Prime 95 because the settings you are currently using are not allowing a fully stable OC.

You are at a point now where a little more voltage, v, might help. Check your Hardware Monitor in BIOS to see what the M/BD has actually set that voltage to. As you OC higher you will also have to adjust the NB and VTT(keep below 1.32V) voltages, so be sure to make a note of what the M/BD has them set to as well. One other setting I have that you do not is PLL. I hope for you that the M/BD will adjust this good enough, because it is surely there, just not available to you.

Leave all GTL voltages set to "AUTO" for now. You probably will not need to adjust them any way.

Just some info about this CPU. These Q9550 are not true quad core CPUs in the sense of 4 indidual cores. They have 2 dual cores on the same die. If they get out of sync with each other just a little bit you will drop a core or worse case not even boot up. But once you get them dialed in a 3.83GHz OC is where these babies like to run best. That happens to be my 24/7 OC.

Quote :

I assume you mean to turn off XMP?

Only if it gives you the option to run unlinked. The 1:2 and 1600 settings should stay the same. That way you will not be OC'n the ram.

Remember that if you decide to go for a higher OC it will take time and patience. Make adjustments to your FSB of no more than 25 at a time then test for stability. Short cuts will cost you more time and effort and lots of new experiences.

The hardest problem to trouble shoot is the one we put in there ourselves. :whistle:

Good luck to you my friend, it looks like you are well on your way to a really solid OC! :sol:

As far as changing the core voltage the "auto" selection is greyed out. I can't change it. I've tried everything. I am thinking this is as far as i can go with this mobo. I have been trying to get my hands on an ASUS Striker II Extreme but everytime i find one they get bid up like crazy. lol

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Maybe if you go to their web site they will have a forum that you ask about if there is any way to enable that function.

I think the ASUS Striker II Extreme was the best M/BD made for OC'n these CPUs and then they quit making them. I did find a link for them. LINK

However, if your willing to spend that much how about this LINK.

That will easly OC to 4.5GHz.

Message quoted 1 times
Message edited by arthurh on 02-20-2012 at 05:42:37 AM

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

Maybe if you go to their web site they will have a forum that you ask about if there is any way to enable that function.

I think the ASUS Striker II Extreme was the best M/BD made for OC'n these CPUs and then they quit making them. I did find a link for them. LINK

However, if your willing to spend that much how about this LINK.

That will easly OC to 4.5GHz.

Your shopping kart link didn't work.

And yea I have been watching for them on Ebay. Just trying to find one at the right price. I was finding them all over for $140 a few months ago but I was broke. And now that I can afford it they are over $200. Go figure.

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Quote :

Your shopping kart link didn't work.

??? I have no idea what is going on with that. It works for me. Basically I picked a 2500k, M/BD and 16G of ram priced at ~$575.00 for you. Mine run @ 4.5GHz 24/7.

Quote :

And yea I have been watching for them on Ebay. Just trying to find one at the right price. I was finding them all over for $140 a few months ago but I was broke. And now that I can afford it they are over $200. Go figure.

Bummer

So are you just going to use your PC as is for now? :??:

Message quoted 1 times

------------------------------

Reply to arthurh

arthurh wrote :

Quote :

Your shopping kart link didn't work.

??? I have no idea what is going on with that. It works for me. Basically I picked a 2500k, M/BD and 16G of ram priced at ~$575.00 for you. Mine run @ 4.5GHz 24/7.

Quote :

And yea I have been watching for them on Ebay. Just trying to find one at the right price. I was finding them all over for $140 a few months ago but I was broke. And now that I can afford it they are over $200. Go figure.

Bummer

So are you just going to use your PC as is for now? :??:

Yea i thought about uping to the 2500k. But just don't have the money to sink into it just yet. Maybe later this summer. I am still watching the Striker Mobo's. Maybe I will get lucky.

For now yes. I am researching how to unlock the voltages but having no luck so far. Not too many people care about these older systems anymore. lol But I will keep on trying. It's running great at the settings we reached so far. I'll just keep it here for now. I don't wanna test my luck just yet.

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Best answer selected by etrnlxdarkness.

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Well so far I am stuck at an OC of 3.4GHz. With the FSB at 1600MHz. I can't find a way to unlock the voltages for this Motherboard.

I tried OC'ing the GTX 460 but performance in Furmark actually went down so I decided to leave it at stock OC settings. I am going to upgrade to a GTX 580 or one of the new 6xx series cards later depending on available funds.

So for anyone with this setup, it seems this is as far as we go. lol If anyone else finds useful info on pushing the system further please let me know!

On a side note, this system runs Battlefield 3 on High graphics really well in the SP Campaign Mode. It doesn't lag or hang but for brief moments once in a blue moon. I haven't tried multi-player just yet.

------------------------------

Reply to etrnlxdarkness

Forum Overclocking : Intel [Solved] New to Overclocking and need some help please

General Discussion

CPUs

Motherboards

Graphics Cards

Memory

Chipsets & Bios

Heatsinks & Air Cooling

Water Cooling

Intel

AMD