Newbie Needs Help on Overclocking (3.2/P4C800E)

Hello everyone! I've been reading this forum for quite some time now and I even got the nerves to set up a simple water cooled system. Now I am ready to start some overclocking and here begins my journey into my own personal hell.

I decided to build another system with water cooling and here are the specs:

P4 3.2GHZ
FPO: L326A793
ASUS P4C800-E DLX
Flashed to 1009
2x512 Kingston HyperX PC3500
MSI 5900Ultra 256
2x Raptors Raid 0

And here are the Bios Settings:

AI OC Tuner: Manual
CPU Ext Freq: 200*
DRAM Freq: 400
AGP/PCI: 66.66/33.33*
CPU VCore: 1.5500V
DDR Ref Volt: Auto
AGP VDDQ Volt: 1.50V
Performance Mode: Auto*
HyperThread: Enabled
Config DRAM by SPD: Disabled
DRAM CAS#: 2.0
DRAM RAS#: 2
DRAM RAS# to CAS#: 3*
DRAM PreCharge: 5
DRAM Burst Length: 4*
Performance Accel Mode: Enabled
DRAM Idle Timer: Auto*
DRAM Refresh Rate: Auto*
Spread Spectrum: Disabled

Now, here is my question. What do I need to change in my bios settings to overclock? The ones I listed above that has an asterick next to it means any changes on those particular settings causes either a bios fail or no post!

I feel like I am really close, but I have absolutely no idea how to overclock. I need some help here.

Set all the RAM timings that are currently at '2' to '3,' change that 5 setting to 6, then try upping your front side bus speed maybe 5MHz at a time.

Better yet, just use SPD timings for your RAM.

Hi WildCard

I have about the same system you have so give these a try.

Reboot your computer and get into your bios settings. Go to the ADVANCED menu and highlite the JUMPER FREE. Then highlite the AI overclock and change to MANUAL.

Then change these items:

CPU ex change to 232
Dram change to 320
AGP leave at auto
CPU Vcore change to 1.700v
DDR leave at auto
AGP leave at 1.50v

Anything I missed leave at default

Hit the ESC key and go down to CHIPSET

Change CONFIG DRAM TO DISABLED.

Set these settings:

2 - 2 - 2 - 5 - 4

Hit the F10 key and save.

If nothing else is wrong that should boot up at 3.48 ghz. If it won't boot at those settings go back to bios and change the 232 to 230 hit F10 and save for another try. Go back 2 each time untill it will boot. When you reach the point where it boots up to OS then you can try some tests like Prime95 or Sandra. Also try loading up your favorite game and seeing if it will play without locking up.

Once you get to a stable point then you can play with the ram timings like 2.5 - 3 - 3 - 7 - 4 and see if you can get higher. I wouldn't go higher on the vcore than 1.70v without some good cpu cooling like a water system or better.

3.52 ghz stable seems to be about the limit on mine with some water cooling. 3.42 stable on air.

If it boots ok for you at the 232 setting on the FSB then raise it to 235 which should bring you to about 3.52 ghz and see what happens.

what about the obvious

just go into the bios and go to the advanced setting and chang the AI to 5% exit and save, if that works then go to 10% same thing, then 20% and so on, and so on. that's what is ideal about the P4C800-E board is that it is a lot easier to overclock. you should only go to manual setting after you tried all of the above, and that is just ot get a couple of more MHZ out of the chip.

Good thought

Woops! I had taken for granted that he had already tried the auto over clocking. But if he had the same results that I did the 20% would not have worked either. 10% works fine on mine, but it never would do 20%.

Doing it manual I was able to get up to 3.42 stable, but was never able to get above that stable until I changed over to water cooling. Now my 20% auto does work, at least it boots to 3.6 now which is the 20%. I haven't checked it for stable yet. Using the manual I have made 3.52 stable.

Right now I am at 3.60 and so far it is doing ok. Next step is to load BattleField 1942 and see if it will run without lockups. If it passes Battlefield then I will run some Prime95 and Sandra on it.

sound like you got a good plan, what temp is your Chip and motherboard running?

my p4c800 deluxe/3.0ghz/2x256 ocz gold pc3700/rad 9800pro 128mb system is currently running at 3.6ghz in xp stable with stock cooling (well 2 stock lian li case fans for blowhole/exhaust, 2 white led coolermaster for intake and some system exhaust blower thingy that sits in a pci slot) and have a case temp of 35c and cpu 37-38c after running for 24+ hours.

i'm a newb so i'm not sure exactly what numbers i'm running (i'm at work) but i think the cpu fsb is at 245 or 250 mem is 400mhz and i havent touched the voltages at all.

edit... my 20% overclock doesnt work either.

Temps & such

Raaaaa

After it has been on awhile and everything is warmed up I usually get from 31 to 32C idle and when playing my BattleField it usually runs at 40 to 43 C. When I was on air it would run 47 to 49C. The mb tem usually runs about 31C

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Ciqala

That is fantastic performance on air for that system. Only difference between yours and mine is the ram, I have Corsair 3200. I was never able to get 3.6 on air and I had 3 80mm intake fans and a 120mm exhaust out the top, not to mention the copper heatsink and TT Volcano 7+ on the processor. The best I was able to do stable was 3.42

On the FSB it is probably at 240, that is where 3.6 is for me anyway. I guess the big difference is in the ram settings, I can't get over about 212 at 400, I have to use 320 to get the FSB up to 240.

Sounds like you have a really nice set up. With a little water you could probably crank her to 3.7 or 3.8. What ram timings are you running. I have mine at 2-2-2-5-4

very impressed

I think I might venture into the water world, but need to know if it is cost effective.
For 10 degrees C difference it will cost me $250.00 for the water cooled systems.

I must say though they have come a long way, you can now mount them into one of you bays and the seals are very professional looking too.

James, my ram timings are still on auto so i'm not sure.
and yes you are right it is at 240fsb.

i'm pondering the idea of watercooling but i wonder if vapochill might be a better way to go. (i started modding my lian-li case but i can always give it a nice linux box transplant later to stop it going to waste)

Welcome to the forums!

I wouldn't run the cpu vcore over 1.6v and you usually don't need to up it any more than default (1.525v) for a bit of o/c'ing.

One thing that wasn't mentioned was to raise the DDR ref volt. You should have that set to 2.75v. Cas to Ras shouldn't be lower than 3.

So basically, from your above settings, I would change the cpu ext freq to 250, then drop the dram freq to 320 (5:4 cpu/mem ratio), raise the DDR ref volt to 2.75v, then for the dram settings from top to bottom 2.5-3-3-6-8.

Then you can slowly up the ext fsb to get better o/c'ing. With these settings, you can theoretically use 275 fsb with that memory but mem timings at 3-4-4-8-8. When you get it stable, try lowering the first one to 2.5, then the others by 1.

At 250fsb with dram freq set to 320, you'd be running 4ghz and DDR400 (not the memory rated DDR433).

Good luck!

Re: very impressed

raaaaaa said:

I think I might venture into the water world, but need to know if it is cost effective.
For 10 degrees C difference it will cost me $250.00 for the water cooled systems.

I must say though they have come a long way, you can now mount them into one of you bays and the seals are very professional looking too.

Click to expand...

Your certainly right about coming a long way. But "cost effective"? I guess that would be a matter of personal opinion. If cost effective was the way all hobbies were judged, there would be very few involved wouldn't there. There is no way I could ever justify spending $250 on water cooling for a toy. My oldest system, an old Compaq with a 1.3 amd will run everything I have quite well, yet here I am water cooling a P4 3.0 so that I can squeeze a couple more numbers out of it... cost effective? I think not, but it sure is a lot of fun and I keep learning more and more about computers.

Do you really have a NEED to make your computer run at 3.6? Or is it that your like most of us and just want to? And you probably would like to see it running up around the 4.0 mark wouldn't you? The question is, are you willing to pay to do it? If your really willing to pay, how much? And if your serious enough about it, forget a standard water cooler, start thinking Pelter or some other sub zero system cause that is what your going to need in the long run.

The only car I need is about a 51 Chevie 6 cyl, yet I drive a 70 SS Chevelle running at 533 horsepower. Cause I like it!!

Hey, it's only money, what else you gona do with it? If your anything like me, go for it....My wife would a heck of a lot rather see me doing this than down at the local pub drinking and *****ing...

Depends

Ciqala said:

James, my ram timings are still on auto so i'm not sure.
and yes you are right it is at 240fsb.

i'm pondering the idea of watercooling but i wonder if vapochill might be a better way to go. (i started modding my lian-li case but i can always give it a nice linux box transplant later to stop it going to waste)

Click to expand...

Like I told Raaaa it just depends on what you want and what you will be satisfied with. If your into it and want to be up in the top levels of the hobby then you need to go with the sub zero type of cooling cause you ain't gona get there on air or regular water.

Myself, at this point I am fairly happy. I want to do some more changes to see how high I can go with what I basicly have, but one of these days I would not be supprised at all if I didn't go buy be something in the subs...