Piece of cake e6850 @ 3.6ghz? Using P35 Neo mobo... any starting point?

[MoonQuake]

Hi everybody!

Like the title says. e6850 @ 3.6ghz is my goal. (I know, should be a piece of cake, but the semi-noob here has problems!)

I'm an amateur, so I understand basic OC concepts, I just never had to tinker with voltage that much in the past and I feel like I'll need to for this.
I also never toyed with memory timings. Anyways...

What's in the modest box:

Intel e6850 (G0) @ 3.0ghz (idle 22c - Load 55c)

MSI P35 Neo mobo - PDF Manual link, BIOS settings at page 38: (http://download2.msi.com/files/downloads/mnu_exe/E7360v1.0.zip)

4GB DDR2 Ram: 2x 1GB Corsair and 2x 1GB Kingston (PC2-6400 - 5,5,5,18)

MSI N250GTS GPU

1x 250Gb SATA HDD(boot) + 1x 120Gb IDE HDD

550w Antec PSU

Air cooling (decent)

22" Samsung monitor

Win 7 - 64bit Ultimate

==============================

I'd like to have some settings to start with if any of you guys have a similar setup.

I've tried a few settings based on other e6850 users, but I've had crashes (had to repair OS, lol) or freezes so I'm looking for a little help to get to that 3.6 with as few crashes as possible

With stock settings I can run Small, Large FFT and Blend tests in Prime for 24hrs. No problemo.

==============================
OC attempts so far:

All mobo settings set to "auto", SpeedStep disabled Max 9x multiplier):

3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4ghz OC's were successful. 3.5 is stablish, but behaves like 3.6 below.

3.6ghz @ 400 fsb - no vcore changes: BSOD or freezes at desktop.

3.6ghz @ 400 fsb - 1.3125v: stable for at least 5 min during Prime's Small and Large FFT stress tests, but FAILS after 5 seconds during Blend.

EDIT: I used a ratio of 1:1 for the memory so it stays below the stock 400mhz no matter how high I set the fsb. Well, It's at 400mhz when I reach 3.6ghz though.

I tried raising the Vcore, the FSB, NB and memory voltages bit by bit, without success, most of the time I couldn't even POST.

I also tried to disable Spread Spectrum.
Some suggested to disable CPU Halt CE1, CIA2 and TE2, but I can't find these in the BIOS, which is the latest (v.1.10) for this board.

Load temps never go above 60c.


That's where I am.

Thanks in advance for any pointers about ideal voltages and/or other things I might need to disable/enable for this to work.

MQ

 

[xfxchilde]

You and me are having the same problem, i dont see why you cant hit those numbers on that chip, ive managed to reach 3.4ghz on a E6300 which factory is 1.86ghz lol im also using a Water cooling setup though.


::EDIT::

i noticed you said auto settings i have an xfx MB, and i had to UNLINK the fsb from the cpu and the ram to achieve what i did. maybe that might help ya a bit

 

[MoonQuake]

You and me are having the same problem, i dont see why you cant hit those numbers on that chip, ive managed to reach 3.4ghz on a E6300 which factory is 1.86ghz lol im also using a Water cooling setup though.


::EDIT::

i noticed you said auto settings i have an xfx MB, and i had to UNLINK the fsb from the cpu and the ram to achieve what i did. maybe that might help ya a bit

How do you Unlink the fsb? Didn't see anything about that in the BIOS (or maybe It's called something else) I posted the PDF of my Mobo and the BIOS
settings are at page 38 if it's of any help.

I did forgot to mention that I used a ratio of 1:1 for the memory so it stays below their stock 400mhz no matter how high I set the fsb. It's at 400mhz when the fsb is at 400 though.

 

[xfxchilde]

yeah our mbs are different, see when i moved my FSB on my cpu it would scale it with my ram, i have the option to leave it like that or unlink it so it doesnt scale.

your load temps not oc'd are my load temps oc'd 1.5ghz over factory on my E6300 if your serious about overclocking it i would look into a water cooling setup, my first one i bought was a TT Bigwater 735 Lasted over a year.. i believe i paid about 135 or something in that range for it.


P.s says file not found on that mb pdf

 

[MoonQuake]

Thanks for the replies BTW!

PDF link fixed.

I'm expecting temps to raise to around 65c tops which is not bad I think.

I'm wondering what are the ideal voltages and settings for a e6850 @ 3.6ghz.
I want to try to avoid many more crashes and OS repairs.

MQ

 

[xfxchilde]

i've had my vcore set at 1.500 volts. maybe you need to up the volts alot more then what you've done.

 

[MoonQuake]

I finally have it stable at 3.6ghz with a vcore of 1.350v Passes the Small and Large FFTs, but fails at Blend instantaneously.

I tried upping the fsb a bit, but it didn't prevent the insta-freeze during Blend.

My ram is set to "Specify by SPD". Should I turn that off, and manually enter the 5,5,5,18 timings? Could the OC mess with this when set to SPD?

UPDATE: I tried setting the memory timings, and it now crashes Prime95 instead of freezing during Blend. System keeps on running.

UPDATE 2: Upped the fsb to 1.3 and it BSOD on Blend. Trying 1.35... and system crash.

Since system is stable during small and large fft, CPU voltage could still be the problem with Blend freezing?

 

[xfxchilde]

not sure to be honest with you im new to messing with the vcore myself, i just used to raise the fsb and call it a day wherever it got to. lol

 

[xfxchilde]

atleast we got it @ 3.6ghz and 2/3rds stable =P hopefully someone else can chime in here and help this fellow out!

 

[MoonQuake]

Finally have it stable during Blend.

I had to up the vcore to 1.5.

I do get load temps of 75c+... is that too much for a e6850?

 

[CompuTamer]

If blend is freezing, either your RAM is set up wrong, or the FSB voltage is too low.

Try giving the FSB a bit more voltage and see if that helps you any.

 

[xfxchilde]

65nm Desktop CPUs Model
E6000 and E4000 series
Target Tj (B2/B3/L2) Target Tj (G0/M0)
70°C .80°C


Your temps are too hot now.

Look into water, its worth it, ive read reviews of people getting 4ghz+ on your chip on water...
Make sure you get non-conductive coolant My block leaked a while back (cheap one) and nothing in my system was ruined.
it ran with the liquid pumping out all over the video cards and mb lol

www.frozencpu.com
www.xoxide.com
www.performance-pcs.com

^^^ these are the three places i shop at for water cooling stuff they mostly have the best prices.

 

[JS1]

Finally have it stable during Blend.

I had to up the vcore to 1.5.

I do get load temps of 75c+... is that too much for a e6850?

1.5 VCORE is way to much for a 6850 to hit 3.6 i need 1.35 for that 1.5 gets me to 4 gigs. JS1.

 

[muddocktor]

MoonQuake, that E6850 has a 9 multi, right? And you have it running at 400 X 9 now, for 3.6, right? If so, then you really need to see if your ram is stable at that speed, especially since you are running 4 sticks of ram. Go download Memtest86 and make a boot cd (or dvd) with it and then after you set the multi back to a 8 or 7 (to take processor overclocking out of the testing equation), boot with memtest and see if you get any errors when running it. If you get any errors, then your ram is the culprit for your instability and you will have to mess around with timings and voltages on the ram to get it stable. After you know your ram is stable when running at 400 MHz, then work on getting the processor stable at 3.6.