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Overclocking advice in ECS P45T-A

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DARKGuy

New Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2010
Hey :)

I'm looking for advice on how to pump my rig to the fullest without risking it too much. I've gotten it from 2.93Ghz (stock) to 3.2Ghz by increasing the CPU Core Clock to 295Mhz with an x11 multiplier. I'd also like to know the most optimum BIOS configuration, as there are some tips and tricks I'm sure I don't know and could make the system faster... it's mainly used for gaming.

For some reason the multiplier doesn't want to go higher than that and if I put the CPU clock to 297Mhz or more, it displays some warning after POST about a processor with a 267Mhz bus. WTF?.

The BIOS is also updated with the latest version found on the ECS website.

Specs:
ECS P45T-A Black Series
GeForce 9800GTX+ 512Mb GDDR3
Core2Duo E7500 2.93Ghz OC @ 3.2Ghz
2Gb DDR2 800Mhz Kingston Single-Channel mode
250Gb SATA HD
Windows 7 x64

These are my BIOS settings:

bios1.jpg


bios2.jpg


bios3.jpg


bios4.jpg


And this is the error it throws when I increase the FSB over 295Mhz :(

bioserror.jpg


Now, please, please, I wouldn't be asking in this forum if I had the money or means to get a (maybe) better motherboard/cpu/toaster/microwave, so don't try to solve my problem by saying buy X or get Y because if I could, I wouldn't be asking don'tcha think?

Thanks in advance! ^^
 
:welcome: to OCForums!

You should read through this guide, it has a lot of good info on OCing C2D/C2Q.

The max multiplier for the E7500 is 11, that's why it can't go higher.

As for the 267MHz message, that's just the BIOS resetting after failed OC settings. It's recognizing your CPU as 267MHz FSB, which it is at stock settings (1066/4=267).

You're going to need to increase your vcore by taking it off "Normal"
"Normal" just sets your vcore to your chip's VID.
 
:welcome: to OCForums!

You should read through this guide, it has a lot of good info on OCing C2D/C2Q.

The max multiplier for the E7500 is 11, that's why it can't go higher.

As for the 267MHz message, that's just the BIOS resetting after failed OC settings. It's recognizing your CPU as 267MHz FSB, which it is at stock settings (1066/4=267).

You're going to need to increase your vcore by taking it off "Normal"
"Normal" just sets your vcore to your chip's VID.

Thanks for the welcome! ^_^.

Yeah, I looked up info on my processor using the link to the guide you gave me and noticed the maximum multiplier is 11. Oh well :p.

Thanks for clearing up the error message for me, I thought it was some kind of weird configuration instead of a configuration reset :D.

Hm, I read (kind of) the guide you gave me, but the whole voltage stuff confused me a bit. Well, it was cool until I read about the quad-core getting fried so I kinda got scared about it.

These are the options I have in the BIOS on that section:

IMG_0047_512x384.jpg


And this is the health status running on Normal setting:

IMG_0048_512x384.jpg


I tried increasing the Vcc once to +097mV but that didn't seem to increase the Mhz/Ghz shown, and increasing the CPU core clock after the Vcc change by 10Mhz (to 300Mhz or 310Mhz) made it reset to the default setting. Also, judging by the info shown by intel about my processor: "VID Voltage Range: 0.85V – 1.3625V", the Vcc seemed to get -very- close to the 1.3625V value shown on there so I decided to go back to Normal setting. Just for reference, the link is here: http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SLB9Z

Am I doing something wrong?. What values do you suggest which I can try without frying my processor up? :p

Thanks in advance :)
 
VID range isn't necessarily the min/max voltage the CPU can take, it's just the range of voltage that a chip has to be in while running stock. Every chip has it's own VID, some lower, some higher, but it's always in that range.

The max Vcc suggested by Intel for E7xxx/E8xxx CPUs is 1.45v which can be found in the Official Data/Spec sheet released by Intel (See attached image).

Based on the 1.45v, this highest Vcc I would set would be +192mV, which would give you ~1.424v (I got this from the 1.232v in your SS and adding +192mV)

Before increasing voltage much, what CPU cooler do you have? What are your current temps idle/load?
 

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VID range isn't necessarily the min/max voltage the CPU can take, it's just the range of voltage that a chip has to be in while running stock. Every chip has it's own VID, some lower, some higher, but it's always in that range.

The max Vcc suggested by Intel for E7xxx/E8xxx CPUs is 1.45v which can be found in the Official Data/Spec sheet released by Intel (See attached image).

Based on the 1.45v, this highest Vcc I would set would be +192mV, which would give you ~1.424v (I got this from the 1.232v in your SS and adding +192mV)

Before increasing voltage much, what CPU cooler do you have? What are your current temps idle/load?

Ah I see, I thought that was the maximum all-time. Well that's good to know ^_^.

I'm running right now on stock cooler, I don't want to spend on a cooler (which are expensive in my country, at least the non-stock-like ones) without being sure I can push this rig up to something reasonable like 3.4 Ghz or more, maybe 4 is overkill?

Anyways, the idle temp is around 42ºC and on heavy load it increases to 54ºC. Of course, this is with the core clock to 298 x 11.
 
You really need to read that guide...

you need to be stress testing your CPU using P95 or Intelburn test and make sure the chips stays @/under 72C during those tests. They are also stability tests (which is covered in that guide).
 
You really need to read that guide...

you need to be stress testing your CPU using P95 or Intelburn test and make sure the chips stays @/under 72C during those tests. They are also stability tests (which is covered in that guide).

I did read it, but the whole voltage testing stuff confused me a lot, because it's against his processor and his values, and I couldn't figure it out that way.

Well I did run Prime95 for a few minutes, and also played PS2 for an hour or two with PCSX2 without hanging so it shouldn't be that bad, and the temp never went higher than 54ºC.

What are your options under the "DRAM Frequency" ?

Auto, 667Mhz and 800Mhz.
 
I did read it, but the whole voltage testing stuff confused me a lot, because it's against his processor and his values, and I couldn't figure it out that way.

I see where it could get confusing since you can't set a specific vCore on your board, just big +XXXmV increments.

Well I did run Prime95 for a few minutes, and also played PS2 for an hour or two with PCSX2 without hanging so it shouldn't be that bad, and the temp never went higher than 54ºC.

You need to run P95 for more than a few mins to get your load temps.

As for IntelBurnTest, it's faster than P95, but your temps will get much higher. For me, IBT gets my CPU 18C hotter than P95. For example, I ran both IBT and P95 on my bro's system with a E5200 at 3.812GHz (12.5x305) with 1.35v vCore and temps were 75C on P95, but 93C on IBT...I even got temps up to 99C at one point with IBT, I didn't get to the "magical" 100C before it froze up...
 
I see where it could get confusing since you can't set a specific vCore on your board, just big +XXXmV increments.

You need to run P95 for more than a few mins to get your load temps.

As for IntelBurnTest, it's faster than P95, but your temps will get much higher. For me, IBT gets my CPU 18C hotter than P95. For example, I ran both IBT and P95 on my bro's system with a E5200 at 3.812GHz (12.5x305) with 1.35v vCore and temps were 75C on P95, but 93C on IBT...I even got temps up to 99C at one point with IBT, I didn't get to the "magical" 100C before it froze up...

Well I'm a bit afraid to run it on such a high voltage setting, but I just increased it to +097mV and could pump the FSB to 310 giving me a 3405.90Mhz speed! I had to lower the memory frequencies to 667Mhz so it wouldn't BSOD, though according to CPU-Z they're running at 387Mhz which is close to 800Mhz, or am I wrong?

This mainboard supports FSB 1333, but I don't want to push it to such limit... yet. Is it good to do such, or should I stay with my current config? Highest temp value looks to be 68ºC and rising :/ I just stopped it in fear of burning it up running a Prime95 small FFT test.

Hm, what is you guys overlook on this?

Edit:

Well so far it's running P95 for about 20 minutes staying on 66ºC 100% load, Clock 300 (3.3Mhz CPU, +050mV, 1200Mhz FSB) and memory down to 667Mhz but it's running at 374Mhz making it 748Mhz. I'm gonna try to increase the FSB a little more so the memory reaches the nearest possible to 800Mhz and then I guess I'll call it the maximum OC I can do in safe terms, right?.
 
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it's a pretty weak board for OCing, I have it pair up to my q9550. i set the dram frequency to 667mhz. raised my FSB to 425Mhz. You have a higher multi than mine. try setting your cpu multi to 9x and FSB to 400Mhz, Dram to 667Mhz.
 
Whoah, but setting the FSB to 400 would make it 1600 FSB, wouldn't that harm the motherboard? I have no cooling on the mobo other than its default heatsink with the black series logo. Is it ok to do so?.

Though the idea seems tempting... 3.6Mhz ^^!
 
P45 motherboards should do 400MHz FSB easily. Some can even get to ~550MHz without much effort. The Q6600 will most likely be the limiting factor on the FSB, not the motherboard.

You shouldn't have to lower your RAM frequency to below stock to prevent BSoD, the RAM should run at stock without problems. Weird FSB:RAM ratios could cause BSoD though.
 
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I don't really like the options available under the BIOS.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the impression that ECS boards are pretty low-range as far as OC'ing is concerned?
 
yeah dont worry about it 1600FSB isnt anything, Im at 1700FSB with this board and it seems to be at the razors edge of stability for me, a few more mhz and it'll fail prime eventually. It's probably due to the fact this board doesn't allow modification of the chipset voltage.
It's a horrible board for OCing, but I dont want to spend anymore cash on 775 stuff.
 
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