E2180, E4500, or wait for Penryn?? I need your help guys!

Miahallen that was one hell of a reply! thanks again! and also thanks to the guy below him for the Core temp program.

I will have to wait to try out the ram timings until i get home, however my question now is... How can I tell when I need to increase CPU Vcore? what type of symptoms will my computer display letting me know i need more... and how can I tell those symptoms apart from say over heating??

I'm asking this because i want to use the lowest possible vcore to keep the temps as low as possible.


Thanks Guys!

To isolate the CPU, keep your RAM as close to (or under) it's rated speed as possible. That way, when you have a failure, you'll know that (most likely) it's the CPU. And trust me, you'll know. After every bump in FSB, boot into Windows and bring up CoreTemp and Orthos. Run Orthos for a while to test for stability.

Keep an eye on your temps. As long as they stay below 75c, you're safe. Keep in mind that is the maximum. Less than that is preferable. However, also remember nothing will stress your CPU like Orthos and Prime and you won't see those temps during normal use.

What my system does if the OC is unstable is one of two things. If I had a small bump in FSB, Orthos will beep at me when it has a rounding error. That's unstable and Vcore must be raised. If I made too big of a jump in FSB, the system will simply crash and restart itself. On the way back in, I raise Vcore and retest.

hokiealumnus said:

To isolate the CPU, keep your RAM as close to (or under) it's rated speed as possible. That way, when you have a failure, you'll know that (most likely) it's the CPU. And trust me, you'll know. After every bump in FSB, boot into Windows and bring up CoreTemp and Orthos. Run Orthos for a while to test for stability.

Keep an eye on your temps. As long as they stay below 75c, you're safe. Keep in mind that is the maximum. Less than that is preferable. However, also remember nothing will stress your CPU like Orthos and Prime and you won't see those temps during normal use.

What my system does if the OC is unstable is one of two things. If I had a small bump in FSB, Orthos will beep at me when it has a rounding error. That's unstable and Vcore must be raised. If I made too big of a jump in FSB, the system will simply crash and restart itself. On the way back in, I raise Vcore and retest.

Click to expand...

Very good explaination This is also the method I use (but since I got my quad I use prime95 instead of ORTHOS)...most of the time ORTHOS will stop running if it gets an error to prevent your system from crashing. When it does this, it either means you need more voltage (assuming your temps are under control) or you need to back off your OC!

hey thanks for the help guys... So far, I have it at a STABLE Orthos tested 3.2ghz! I had to crank the Vcore upto 1.48, but the temps never go over 70C.

now with that in mind.. you think If i had a better cooler, I could get more out of her? I mean it seems as though she may be maxed out because I already have the Vcore pretty high. I know less vcore = less heat... but does it work the other way around?

If I had a better cooler, could i turn the vcore down? Or is my little e2180 maxed out?

I also have the ram now at 4-4-4-12 @800mhz. will i get more FPS if i were to raise up to somewhere in the 900's?

More cooling might let you go a bit higher. But, if you're at 70c with speedfan 4.33 that's really hot.

More cooling would let you run the same overclock a lot safer for sure tho.

MIAHALLEN said:

Very good explaination.

Click to expand...

Thanks!

JD-Stallions said:

If I had a better cooler, could i turn the vcore down?

Click to expand...

In theory, cooler temperatures will allow the same overclock with lower Vcore (from what I've read on here, no personal experience). It seems to me that in order to gain that benefit, you'd have to go from air to water or water to extreme.

JD-Stallions said:

I also have the ram now at 4-4-4-12 @800mhz. will i get more FPS if i were to raise up to somewhere in the 900's?

Click to expand...

You may see some difference overclocking your RAM, but it will mostly be in benchmarking. How much FPS you'll see I don't know, but it won't be much. I choose to run mine as close to their rated DDR2-800 so I can keep lower voltage and tighter timings. They go to DDR2-900 with the good timings, but it requires too much Vdimm for my tastes. It's a personal preference thing. To get it to run with less Vdimm at higher speed, you'll likely need to loosen the timings a bit, which offsets some (or all) of your speed benefit. Whew, that was a mouthful...sorry.

JD-Stallions said:

So far, I have it at a STABLE Orthos tested 3.2ghz! I had to crank the Vcore upto 1.48, but the temps never go over 70C.

Is my little e2180 maxed out?

Click to expand...

Anyway, great clocks there! On a sub-$100 (I think) CPU too!

You're probably not quite at the limit of your CPU, but you are at the limit of your cooler. (Before continuing, know that you have done a great job with your CPU and should not be disappointed at all...Great work!)

Now, I've had my CPU up to 1.56Vcore (1.53 after Vdroop) with no ill effects (yet) for short periods to benchmark (see this thread). I wouldn't run >1.5 (top of Intel's official range) for 24/7 use though. At this point, it's a cost/benefit equation. Do you want to get better cooling and spend more money on a budget chip or just be satisfied with your already great OC?

rommelrommel said:

More cooling might let you go a bit higher. But, if you're at 70c with speedfan 4.33 that's really hot.

More cooling would let you run the same overclock a lot safer for sure tho.

Click to expand...

If you use Speedfan 4.33 and don't have an M2 stepping chip, keep in mind you need the +15c offset on the cores. Use the Speedfan 4.34beta36 and it will display the core temps correctly or you can use CoreTemp.

If the 70c you're reporting is with Speedfan 4.33, this is WAY too hot (85c) and you should back off.

hokiealumnus said:

In theory, cooler temperatures will allow the same overclock with lower Vcore (from what I've read on here, no personal experience). It seems to me that in order to gain that benefit, you'd have to go from air to water or water to extreme.

Click to expand...

With my current setup I was able to drop my Vcore from 1.50V to 1.45V when I switched from the Zalman CNPS9700 to the TRUE.

MIAHALLEN said:

With my current setup I was able to drop my Vcore from 1.50V to 1.45V when I switched from the Zalman CNPS9700 to the TRUE.

Click to expand...

Allrighty then, I was clearly mistaken in my assumptions. Oh well, you know what they say about assumptions... Glad to hear about the drop. Maybe my fancy incoming uber-high-speed-fan will help.

EDIT: Darnit, I accepted your sneaky acronym...without pause or snarky comment. You and your brainwashing!

Miahallen and Hokie you guys are the ****! we should go to the pub & crack a beer sometime!

I'm actually using a program called Core Temp to monitor my temps, which i hear is pretty darn accurate.

Miahallen I know you stand by the TRUE.. (you should copyright that).. If you know where I can get one cheap let me know..

otherwise.. I think my job is done here men.. a 3.2ghz Core 2 Duo for $89 is nothing to sneeze at gentlemen!

Now all I need is to replace this ****ty X1800xt with one of those 8800GT beasts .

Let the games begins!

good times JD!