Help Overclocking E6550

[jakebomenka]

Hi all. Long time reader, first time poster.

So I have an e6550 duo (multiplier is locked at 7x) and an ASUS 650i p5n-e mobo. I've overclocked to 3.0ghz, 4 hours of prime stable, and the FSBRAM is at 1:1, running 8GB of 800mhz Patriot mem, which I've heard/read can be overclocked to 1100mhz.

I've recently tried to push it to around 3.18ghz, and cannot even run 1 minute of Prime or any game without a freeze, crash, or very weird looking BSOD. The computer posts, logs into windows, and can run various applications, but any intensive operations will make a terrible yellow and black crash screen appear.


At 3.18ghz my fsb is 454mhz with my RAM running at 908mhz at 1:1. Ram and CPU are unlinked. My vcore is a very high 1.39v (1.365 at vdroop) and the ram voltages on this board are odd, but I've set it to 2.189v or something similar (above 2.1, below 2.2). Everything else is set to auto. My timings come up as 5-6-6-14 at 2T.

So what can I do here? Do i need to up my NB core? If so, how much? The voltages there are also weird, as there are only 4 different voltage settings, and "auto." I sincerely doubt it's the vcore, as at 3.0ghz I ran 4 hours of prime at 1.27v with a vdroop to 1.245v.


I would love to get as much out of my new 80 dollar zalman cooler as possible, and push my processor to 3.4-3.5ghz... but can I do that? Again, will I need to up my NB voltage, or have I hit a wall at only 3.0ghz? Is it the RAM configuration on this board? Again, I've heard it can be upped to 1100mhz +... but am I missing something in my BIOS setup to adjust that? Should I link the CPU and RAM and see what happens? I don't know what to do


Thanks in advance for any advice/help guys. Much appreciated.

 

[redduc900]

With North Bridge Voltage (SPP) set to Auto = 1.208V, so I would bump that up to the next step which is 1.393V. Your RAM may be capable of hitting DDR2-1100+, but the chance of hitting that frequency w/ 8GB installed is highly unlikely. If you only had 2 or 4GB installed, then there probably wouldn't be an issue. Unless you severely loosen the timings, increase the DRAM voltage to > 2.2V, and vNB to 1.563 or higher, hitting 550MHz probably won't happen.

 

[jakebomenka]

Thanks for the quick reply redduc.

Hmm... at 3.4ghz for my processor, I would only need like 485mhz. I will certainly up the NB Core, but would it be beneficial (for the overclock) to maybe take out 2 sticks and just use 4GB of RAM? I would think it's possible to hit that frequency with 8GB of RAM, as it's not even DDR2-1000... but if you've had better experiences with 4 GB and under, I will definitely try that out on my setup.

Also, what exactly does upping the NB voltage do? I assume it will make the entire computer hotter, specifically the chipset/mobo, right? Haha, thanks again man.

 

[redduc900]

The more RAM installed, whether it be in the form of more modules or size per module (2 x 1GB compared to 2 x 2GB for example), and the greater the effective DRAM frequency = increased strain on the memory controller (SPP). The same theory applies to any chipset (NB + SB / MCP + SPP), including newer processors w/ an integrated memory controller (IMC).