Hey everyone, I wanted to tell everyone my situation so maybe together we can figure out what happened.

My former specs are were

e2160 @ 2.8ghz
320GB Samsung Drive
Biostar 945GC Micro 775
2 gigs of generic RAM 667 (Cybertech brand) (timings 4-4-4-12) running 1:1 with cpu
HIS HD 3850 256MB

With that setup, I was not able to overclock past 240 FSB, that being 2.16 ghz
My motherboard does not allow changes in CPU voltage so I thought that was it.
Anything beyond that and the computer wouldnt get to post.

Later I found out about the BSEL mod, and tried the 533 BSEL mod making my cpu run at 266 fsb, that being 2.4ghz.

I tried overclocking further and got to a whopping 2.8ghz on stock voltage (people on forums say they've reached 3.0ghz so I guess Im stuck with an average chip). temps 35 idle 45 load
I also fixed the PCI express frequency to 100. A FSB mhz further and the computer would not get to post, and would emit long beeps every other second, (according to the manual, it didnt detect the ram).

I sold my HD 3850 since I just ordered a 8800GT Zalman edition, so I am currently
on the onboard graphics which are INTEL 82945g.

Yesterday I heard about tweaking the FSB termination voltage to reach higher overclocks. I tried for 2.9ghz and I tried 1.3, didnt get to post, 1.4 no post, and suddenly at 1.5 the computer booted perfectly. temps 37 idle 45 load

I didnt have any benchmarking software on hand so I ran 3dmark06, my cpu score effectively increased by 400 points.

Later on I read at a forum that the FSB termination voltage at 1.5 fried a Core2duo extreme chip, so I reduced it to 1.4, it booted, 1.3 it booted and then at the default 1.2 and the computer still booted. Other changes I made was setting the pci express bus at AUTO instead of the fixed 100.

So at the moment I currently ignore what allowed my chip to reach 100 more mhz. (actually it can get to 2.943 ghz, a fsb of 327. A single mhz more and the computer wont post and will make that beeping sound like if no ram is installed.)

So here are my questions.

Was it the fact that I removed the Graphics card?
Was it the fact that I changed the freq of the pci bus to auto?
Maybe the chip got accostumed to 2.8 and 2.9 was a breeze?

Maybe you can illuminate this issue with your knowledge.


Also, will I ever be able to get 3.0ghz without changing the voltage? maybe changing the ram for better quality sticks, Or other settings that might stop me from increasing the fsb by much. Maybe relaxing the ram timings. Thanks for any replies.

What did you discover?

Thaaaanks everyoooone for their helpful replies, I found out it was the ram, bought some crucial ballistix and now I can hit 3.0 ghz stable with stock voltages, might need a voltage bump to get any higher but I dont have a cooler asides from the stock cooler....