First real OC, just checking

[ulterior]

Done abit of research around this, just though illd ask quickly a few questions that Im still unsure about. Im looking for a gentle OC to be running 24/7, dont really need anything more atm. Looking to hit ~ 2.5 Ghz, so planning on raising the FSB to around 280, pretty tame I know.

My questions are:

Im unsure about what voltage settings to use, and how you would tell when an increase/decrease is appropriate, esp for the DIMM/northbridge stuff. Any recommendations on what settings to start with?

My memory is 667 timed at 5-5-5-20, will these timings be all good or do they need a little tweaking? Most seem to run at 5-5-5-15

[inkfx]

Whenever windows wont load, that is your sign to bump up the CPU voltage a notch or two. I would set your memory voltage to it's rated stock setting. Since you are below stock FSB you wont need a memory voltage boost for a while. Once you get stuck at a certain FSB and you know your processor has more mhz left in it that's your sign to bump up voltages on memory. To find out your max memory clocks drop your multi down to the lowest setting (6x) and start raising FSB until it wont go anymore.

[ulterior]

Hmm, had some slight issues, ill take it from the top.

Basically went into BIOS, disabled some of the advanced features, then went into the tweaker. Changed the FSB to 280, and it said I needed to set the system voltage (or something called similar) into auto, and so I did that as well. One thing I noted is that my RAM timers seemed like they would be quite high with the auto setting still on, im guessing I shouldve set their timings to 2.0, otherwise they would be at like 925 or something.

After booting up i ran a Pi calc and 3dmark. The pi went well, but the 3d mark score was horrible, like half of what it normally is with stock. I then restarted and thats where the problems began. PC wouldnt want to boot up, tried restarting a few times, then after leaving it for awhile it worked. Seems the default bios settings have been restored. Should be running orthos before this other benchmark stuff aye

Any ideas what went wrong? Need more voltage or did the RAM clocks get buggered?

[ulterior]

Shameless bump. Pretty sure I know the answer, but better get some other opinions to be sure

[fordsierra4x4]

Well, i also have an E4300 and its running well at 1.36v - i get to 3Ghz bang on with it. And my PC5400 is running in spec at 4-4-4-10, which is pretty good for a 2gb kit that cost me £117 :)

Bump the voltage to about the same as me and see if you can hit 333Mhz FSB with memory at 1:1

I also have the same heatsink and fan as you - and even with the fan on low speed, it never gets above 56*c under load.

[ulterior]

Basically copied your settings, heres my results:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/4990/untitledhr7.jpg

My load temps seem quite abit higher than yours, also my 2nd fan (not sure whether its intake or outake) runs way hotter now, at like 60-70 when before it was like 30. Not sure if these are normal or not...This was during running orthos though, which might be abit more brutal than other stuff.

Also I set system voltage control to auto (it gave me big red warnings otherwise), not sure if this is what I was supposed to - but the voltage seems to come out as 1.36 anyways. Im not sure about keeping these settings - thooe temps seem like quite a jump for a performance increase I dont really need, might go back to maybe 266 FSB for now, any thoughts?

EDIT: sort update. after running 3dmark had some slight system problems. My 3dmark score seems to be half what it was, both under stock and these settings. Ive gone back to the OC, which so far seem fine. Need to run orthos for an extended period, but dont like the temps its making (80*C).