I read the E6700 overclocking review here at TechSpot http://www.techspot.com/article/13-i...-overclocking/ and figured it was good enough for me to achieve 3.5GHz but cant get even close. My mobo P5W DH Deluxe and E6700 CPU are the same as in review and only the memory different being also Corsair is PC6400 XMS2 dual channel matched sticks 2x1GB.

This where I am at the moment and desperately wanting to figure out what is stopping me from achieving the 3.5GHz or better as achieved in the reviewed test.

• FSB: 330
• RAM: 825MHz
• PCI Frequency: 100
• PCI Clock Sync. Mode: 33.33MHz
• RAM Voltage: 1.95v
• RAM Timing: 5-5-5-12-5
• Vcore BIOS Setting: 1.5v
• Vcore as reported by sensor: 1.46-1.48v
• FSB Termination Voltage: 1.4v
• MCH Chipset Voltage: 1.55
• ICH Chipset Voltage: 1.2
• CPU Temp: 58-61 spiking occasionaly up to 63

Have rebooted the rig so many times with so many different combinations of FSB termination, MCH, ICH and it doesnt seem to make any difference at all. The only thing that has been resulting in longer stress test runs is increasing Vcore. This is why I am already at Vcore 1.5 which has increased my temps as well.

I stress test with Orthos and the above settings will normaly give me about 2-4 hours before Orthos fails.

This is driving me nuts. Any help would be much appreciated.

First, those temps are horrible. You should be BELOW 50C, not below 70C.

Second, not all CPUs are equal. Just because a reviewer's overclocks to 3.5GHz doesn't mean yours it guarenteed to be able to the same.

For example, my X2 3800+ reaches over 500MHz OC without any volt increase, others barely get 200MHz out of it before needing a volt increase.

Yea I know the temps are horrible. My rig is in a high temp environment. To cope I got a Ninja CPU cooler with 120mm fan, 2 front 80mm intake fans, 2 sidepanel 120mm intake fans, 1 top 120mm exaust fan, Back panel 80mm exaust. Did some case cutting to get these fans in and would do more if I can figure out how it would help. Anything else you can suggest is welcome.

Current CPU temp at idle is 42C and mobo 46C. The high temps are during stress testing only and has me woried enough so I dont run any demanding games under these settings.

I got about 300MHz out of it before I needed to overvolt.

I understand there is a difference from CPU to CPU and I expect the reviewer to know that as well when he says:

I am new to overclocking and posted this because I figured I was missing something or have done something wrong to limit my OC to less then the posted value and hoping that there are more experienced and knowledgable people out there who can advise what that could be.

Or do I just have a freak bad CPU with an unusaly low OC capability.

Maybe the RAM is just barely good enough to run at DDR800 MHz, and because it's at 825, it's becoming unstable. Try a different RAM:FSB ratio.

With RAM at 825 MHz I can bootup at FSB 330 and Vcore 1.425. Orthos fails after 2-3 minutes. If I only increase Vcore little by little this will delay Orthos fail time more and more to as much as 2-4 hours at Vcore 1.5. I assumed this meant RAM wasnt the problem but I will try your suggestion and lower the memory ratio to see what hapens.

Thanks

I think you were right. after almost 8 hours under Orthos still no issue. Think Now I try to increse FSB and lower the Vcore. One thing at a time though.

Are you positive you are getting a decent fit on your processor with your heatsink? What are idle and full load temps at stock speeds? Every big OC I've ever seen has been done while keeping the temps well below the max temps for the processor. The Core2Duo's max operating temp is 63C, that is going to be a big factor in the amount you can OC.

Having said that, that 6700 is blazingly fast without an OC, unless you are really pushing it with video transcoding you'll be better off at stock or a mild overclock.

The reviewer said this because he has overclocked more than half a dozen E6700 processors to at least 3.50GHz. The reviewer also thinks if your processor cannot go beyond 3.20GHz it is a serious dud!

Therefore, I believe it is safe to say anyone purchasing a Core 2 Duo E6700 processor can expect to hit at least 3.50~3.66GHz when overclocking.

Since the Core 2 Duo processors have been available I have helped numerous friends overclock theirs well beyond 3.20GHz, hell we have overclocked E6300 processors that far.

If you are sure the heatsink is mounted correctly and that the motherboard is giving you accurate temperatures then I suggest you run the processor at its default specifications and check the temps again. The only other suggestion I would make at this stage is to try giving the memory 2.2v of power.

I don't think you need so much Vcore. You probably don't need to add any extra Vfsb. You memory is the problem. For good DDR2 you need to have Micron D9GMH or D9GKK chips in the modules.

Here is a list of memory:
http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/
The link seems to be down right now.

Corsair only uses them on the most expensive products.

3.3ghz is not so bad. 3.4 to 3.8 seems to be the max for most people. I wish my E6300 could do more, but my ram is not any good and the P5W DH is only good to 430-450 with max Vmch.

I beleive the heat sink sits nicely on the CPU but I will get the temps up here for idle and full load at stock speed and you can tell me if it realy is or isnt. I dont have enough experience to be able to tell for sure.

Hi reviewer, thanks for replying. Exactly as I thought, that I am either doing something wrong or as you say I got a serious dud. I prefer the first option as it does give you guys the opportunity to fix me up with a decent OC insted of me whining to the retailer who is going to say that it isnt guaranteed to do that anyway.

Since the post about memory I managed to determine it realy is the memory that is messing with my OC. I droped the RAM to 660MHz and 680MZ at 1.9v and the Vcore to 1.475v and managed to run it overnight under orthos with temps reduced by 1-2 degrees. I was about 58-59 spiking very occasionaly to 61.

Thanks for the link Mirob. Will try to get some good memory this time. Hell I thought I did that with these sticks I have but guess you never know untill you try it or somebody tells you.

I went to 345 still ok even though I didnt run it for an extended period then I tried 350 and something went wrong with the mouse. Its now twitching and very jerky at even stock speed. Hope its just the driver or something similar.

Thanks everybody and will definitely let you know how I get on with this thing. May even ask another question or 2 if you dont mind.

I imagine your temps are accurate. But it would be nice to see them at stock speeds just for reference. Memory is going to be a factor, usually more than cpu temps, but I don't like seeing that high of temperature and hitting instability at speeds slower than you expect. I think there is a good chance they are related.

Here it is all at stock speeds and voltages. Left the PC alone for 2 days to let the frustration subside and when I turned it on it seemed a bit more willing to comply with my wishes. Even the mouse behaved normaly.

Did this at 5am when the ambient temps are only at 25-26C. During the day they will hit 30+ and significantly affect the operating temps as well.

266MHz
At idle for 15 min:

• Mobo 42C
• CPU 34C

Orthos on for about 30 min to get to 8K FFT where the temps normaly peak out:

• Mobo 43C
• CPU 48C

Next went streight to 340MHz with memory devider at 2 running it below rated at 680MHz. Vcore at 1.475:

At idle for 15 min:

• Mobo 43C
• CPU 39C

Orthos on for about 30 min to get to 8K FFT where the temps normaly peak out:

• Mobo 44C
• CPU 58C

No issues with Ortos yet. Runing stable for about an hour.
BTW this is without sidepanel fans. When I turn those on the temps will drop 8 degrees for the mobo and 1 degree for the CPU.

Thanks guys for pointing me in the right direction. Definitely looks like its a RAM issue. Have it absolutely stable at FSB 340 as per below. Orthos running for over 30 hours. All I had to do was to put all RAM settings to auto.

• FSB: 340
• RAM: Auto
• PCI Frequency: 100
• PCI Clock Sync. Mode: 33.33MHz
• RAM Voltage: Auto
• RAM Timing: Auto
• Vcore BIOS Setting: 1.4875v
• FSB Termination Voltage: 1.4v
• MCH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• ICH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• CPU Temp: Up to 58c

I am still having to run it with pretty high Vcore. Could this still be due to memory or is there something else I can do to reduce Vcore?

Unless someone can suggest what to do with my memory settings it feels like I will have to replace it to get any more out of my system. Any suggestions on what to do with this memory or which replacement memory to get would be very much appreciated.

Not sure why you need to give the CPU more power, I always just set the FSB to say 350MHz for example and the E6700 just goes right there (3.50GHz). So by reducing your memory ratio the system is now stable? Here is another article I wrote 6 months ago...

http://www.legionhardware.com/document.php?id=570&p=1

Check the voltages that I used in the BIOS screen shot on that page. Here I have gone with more voltage for the CPU as its running at 3.66GHz!

Your Vcore looks to be about average by this chart
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1138241

My memory has to be set to SPD to go past 365 1:1 or 4:3. After in windows I can tweek it with memset.

Yes, turned on SPD and auto voltage. The result as per attached CPU-Z screenshot. Ratio 4:3 resulting in 510MHz.

If I understand correctly you are saying that you leave SPD on in BIOS and then adjust memory setings in windows with memset. And that works without making the system unstable?

Attached Images

memat340.jpg (56.4 KB, 6 views)

You need to try out settings first to see how well they work. The G.Skill tech told me the the P5W DH sets the tRD to low to work at 4-4-4-12 1:1. At SPD it sets 5-6-6-18 like yours does with your ram. I can set 5-4-4-12 with the tRD at 10, but CL4 will just crash.

A temp issue or stability ,,, remember higher vcore goes,, the higher your temps get, and u need better cooling,

We have already sorted out temp issues, and we already know that the higher Vcore goes, the higher CPU temps go. The problem is just the RAM. Don't make this more complicated than it already is.

I am currently running my PC fully stable at 350MHz confirmed by almost 30 hours of Orthos and doing various things on on it during this time as well. Unfortunately I had to go toVcore 1.55v to achieve this. This has of course raised my temps even more. CPU is reported at 66c but I have discovered CoreTemp and Everest and Tjunction max of 85c. My cores max out at 76c giving me 9c to spare. The mobo runs very cool with the side panel fans on at 34c and the GPU is ok as well maxing out at 58c under stress.

What this means to me is I got to get the PC into aircon environment if I want to be able to get anything more out of it but what I am not sure of is the Vcore limit to which I can go. Is there a limit to Vcore, what is the limit or is it just about the temps?

Now for the memory. I will try different settings to try achieve minimum 800MHz that this thing is rated for or maybe a bit more if possible. If I cant then I will see if I can get it replaced by better sticks. I was thinking of the same used by Steve in his review. Any other suggestions if you know of proven good memory that would run close to 1GHz would be appreciated.

Got to thank all of you for your help. I was getting pretty frustrated there for a while and without you guys pointing me in the right direction I might have jumped out the window or it may have hapend to the processor.

After a discussion with the RAM GUY at Corsair support forums we identified stable RAM settings as:
Speed: 667MHz
Voltage: 2.1v
Timings: 5-5-5-15-5

I must admit I am not realy happy with this as this particular memory is rated for 800MHz with the above timings. Some more work is still outstanding for me to identify why it cant do more.

If I keep the RAM at about this setting then I can do quite a bit more with the CPU. Curently and until I aircon the ambient I am keeping it at 3.33MHz.

This normaly keeps the Tcase at about 43c and Tjunction at about 55c. When stressing Tjunction will max out at 71c which is still 14c to throttling temps. So I feel quite safe.

This was more of feed back to all you guys that helped then a question but if anyone knows the answer to my RAM issues I would very much appreciate to hear it. Thanks a bunch.