Really having trouble getting an e8400 stable at 3.6ghz.

[bsmith239]

Hey guys I am really having trouble getting my e8400 stable at 3.6ghz. I hear so many people claim that this setting is a breeze with this cpu so I'm starting to get frustrated with my ineptitude.

What happens is that after about an hour or two of being on my comp just locks up. It never blue screens or crashes it just stops responding and freezes. Honestly, I'm not sure that this isn't worse than a bsod because I'm not exactly sure whats happening . I had prime95 running for and hour and half and everything was passing until the comp just froze up.

The only variable are my overclock settings so something must be wrong there. Here is the usual stuff:

As of right now
Vcore: 1.3 (have tried from 1.18-1.4)
NB:1.36
HT:1.36
PCI-e: 100
FSB:1600 (400x9)
FSB linked
Memory ratio sync
1066 RAM timing 5-5-5-15(tried 18 here as well)
DRAM: Auto (tried 2.1V)


e8400
Arctic Cooler 7
Asus p5n-d mobo (801 Bios)
4gb (2x2gb) OCZ Reaper 1066 Ram
OCZ 700w PSU
275 GTX

Heat never goes above 45c during prime95 tests or gaming. Heat sink feels room temperature.

Do I have any options or is my CPU a lemon?

 

[SamSaveMax]

Have you tried leave everything on AUTO since you're only going for 3.6GHz?
Run memtest on your rams.

 

[jmdixon85]

I have the same mobo as you. It's been a great Overclocker for me. Your BIOS is a little old, it probably won't have anything to do with your problem but you never know.

Heres the link for the latest BIOS (1101): http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socket775/P5N-D/1101.zip

 

[burebista]

Heat never goes above 45c during prime95 tests or gaming. Heat sink feels room temperature.

CPU temperature or core temperature? Try RealTemp for core temperatures.
+1 for memtest86+. Without OC your rig is stable?

 

[aoch88]

Can you let me know if this is a C0 or E0 chip?

 

[MARCI]

Hey guys I am really having trouble getting my e8400 stable at 3.6ghz. I hear so many people claim that this setting is a breeze with this cpu so I'm starting to get frustrated with my ineptitude.

What happens is that after about an hour or two of being on my comp just locks up. It never blue screens or crashes it just stops responding and freezes. Honestly, I'm not sure that this isn't worse than a bsod because I'm not exactly sure whats happening . I had prime95 running for and hour and half and everything was passing until the comp just froze up.

The only variable are my overclock settings so something must be wrong there. Here is the usual stuff:

As of right now
Vcore: 1.3 (have tried from 1.18-1.4)
NB:1.36
HT:1.36
PCI-e: 100
FSB:1600 (400x9)
FSB linked
Memory ratio sync
1066 RAM timing 5-5-5-15(tried 18 here as well)
DRAM: Auto (tried 2.1V)


e8400
Arctic Cooler 7
Asus p5n-d mobo (801 Bios)
4gb (2x2gb) OCZ Reaper 1066 Ram
OCZ 700w PSU
275 GTX

Heat never goes above 45c during prime95 tests or gaming. Heat sink feels room temperature.

Do I have any options or is my CPU a lemon?

My settings for 3.6 are
Vcore 1.225
fsb 400
multi 9

nb i increased voltage by .1

memory I set manually to 1066
left my timings on auto

Vmem I set to rated voltages for my ram

pci I locked to 33.3
pcie I set at 100.


it was literally that easy.

 

[bsmith239]

Update:

I had an aha/omg I'm a newb moment before I went to bed last night. I wasn't taking into account the vdroop err whatever its called. I calculated it out to be between .066 and .052 and set the vcore to 1.2500 to get 1.184 V is cupz.

As of this morning it was running stable in prime95 for 7.5 hours. No freezes at all. I will be running a memtest this afternoon after work.

ps. I have my other voltages set as follows. Tell me if I should play with them more.

NB:1.36
HT:1.36
SB:auto
DRAM:2.11

edit: put the correct vcore values cuz im dumb

 

[bsmith239]

Can you let me know if this is a C0 or E0 chip?

Not sure atm. What is the difference? Old and newer version?

 

[bsmith239]

CPU temperature or core temperature? Try RealTemp for core temperatures.
+1 for memtest86+. Without OC your rig is stable?

Using core temp each core was actually between 45 and 50 after 7 hours of a prime 95 test. These temps are the same when I run the cpu stock.

I honestly think I have one of those early e8400s that have the borked heat sensors or whatever. My temps are always in the mid to high 40s but the heatsink is room temp and I have reapplied paste/arctic cooler 7 at least once to be sure I did a good job.

 

[jason4207]

Update:

I had an aha/omg I'm a newb moment before I went to bed last night. I wasn't taking into account the vdroop err whatever its called. I calculated it out to be between .066 and .052 and set the vcore to 2.05000 to get 1.84 V is cupz.

As of this morning it was running stable in prime95 for 7.5 hours. No freezes at all. I will be running a memtest this afternoon after work.

ps. I have my other voltages set as follows. Tell me if I should play with them more.

NB:1.36
HT:1.36
SB:auto
DRAM:2.11

Vcore is at 1.84v in CPU-Z???!?!?!! WOW!!! Turn that down before your chip explodes! That is seriously too high, but your temps lead me to believe you made a typo or something.

 

[bsmith239]

Vcore is at 1.84v in CPU-Z???!?!?!! WOW!!! Turn that down before your chip explodes! That is seriously too high, but your temps lead me to believe you made a typo or something.

LOL, gosh I am dumb.

vcore in bios is 1.25
vcore in cpuz is 1.185

 

[jason4207]

LOL, gosh I am dumb.

vcore in bios is 1.25
vcore in cpuz is 1.185

That makes a lot more sense! Don't worry, I see a lot of folks leave out that o-so-important '1'.

Your voltages are starting to look pretty good. I'm not familiar w/ the nVidia chipset boards, so I can't comment on your NB or HT voltages, but in general the lower you can run things while still maintaining stability the better.

 

[bsmith239]

That makes a lot more sense! Don't worry, I see a lot of folks leave out that o-so-important '1'.

Your voltages are starting to look pretty good. I'm not familiar w/ the nVidia chipset boards, so I can't comment on your NB or HT voltages, but in general the lower you can run things while still maintaining stability the better.

Cool!

One thing I just don't seem to understand is how the NB, HT and SB voltages should be set.

I am looking at ways to get the e8400 to 4ghz (i at least have to try lol) and there is a guy on this forum that has his running stable 4ghz at a vcore of 1.184 (same as mine @ 3.6). Now I know where to go from here as far as the vcore and fsb (1778 for 450x9 using 1066 RAM right?) but I am at a loss where to go with the NB,HT and SB voltages.

I read a guide that said to set things like this.
vcore 1.4
NB 1.4
HT 1.4
SB 1.5

Aren't those values pretty high?

 

[jmdixon85]

These are my mobo volts on my Asus P5n-D

NB: 1.58
HT:1.56
SB:1.5

NB runs between 40-50c depending on ambient temp and system load.

 

[jason4207]

Cool!

One thing I just don't seem to understand is how the NB, HT and SB voltages should be set.

I am looking at ways to get the e8400 to 4ghz (i at least have to try lol) and there is a guy on this forum that has his running stable 4ghz at a vcore of 1.184 (same as mine @ 3.6). Now I know where to go from here as far as the vcore and fsb (1778 for 450x9 using 1066 RAM right?) but I am at a loss where to go with the NB,HT and SB voltages.

I read a guide that said to set things like this.
vcore 1.4
NB 1.4
HT 1.4
SB 1.5

Aren't those values pretty high?

Well, what I do on the Intel boards is to test the FSB limits first. I keep the RAM 1:1, and lower the CPU multi to 6x. Then I can focus on the FSB. I keep raising it, and use large-fft to test. I just test 5mins or so and then keep moving until I hit a road-block. Then I start playing w/ various settings including the NB voltage, and GTL settings until I find out what the NB likes/dislikes on the journey upwards. Then I test it for longer to ensure it's stable.

Once I find a good FSB speed I go back and start raising the CPU multi until I get that where I want it. I use more/less vcore to tune it in, and may slightly lower the FSB if needed to get my CPU speed maxed out. I use small-fft to test the CPU during this phase using the same method of just testing for a few minutes until I get in the ball-park.

In general the NB can take a good bit of voltage. You do need to keep an eye on temps, though. From what I understand the nVidia chipset boards run pretty hot.

 

[bsmith239]

Well, what I do on the Intel boards is to test the FSB limits first. I keep the RAM 1:1, and lower the CPU multi to 6x. Then I can focus on the FSB. I keep raising it, and use large-fft to test. I just test 5mins or so and then keep moving until I hit a road-block. Then I start playing w/ various settings including the NB voltage, and GTL settings until I find out what the NB likes/dislikes on the journey upwards. Then I test it for longer to ensure it's stable.

Once I find a good FSB speed I go back and start raising the CPU multi until I get that where I want it. I use more/less vcore to tune it in, and may slightly lower the FSB if needed to get my CPU speed maxed out. I use small-fft to test the CPU during this phase using the same method of just testing for a few minutes until I get in the ball-park.

In general the NB can take a good bit of voltage. You do need to keep an eye on temps, though. From what I understand the nVidia chipset boards run pretty hot.

When you say you keep your ram 1:1 is that what you actually set it as in your bios or are you using a ration between other variables.

Every time I set my ram to 1:1 in bios, I can't seem to even load windows.

 

[MARCI]

to try for the magic 4, put the Vcore on auto, set the multi to 8 and the fsb to 500

set your ram to run at 1000mhz, on the 2.11v you have it on now, with the same timings.

provided you get into windows, check cpu-z to see what voltage you're getting.

reboot and set the voltage manually to that level, begin stability testing, slowly lowering vcore each time, until it's no longer stable.

nb may need another .05 or .1v, but it may not.

watch your temps,

 

[jason4207]

When you say you keep your ram 1:1 is that what you actually set it as in your bios or are you using a ration between other variables.

Every time I set my ram to 1:1 in bios, I can't seem to even load windows.

Yeah, there is no "1:1" setting in the BIOS. It's just how you set your RAM. On my board, for instance, if I have the FSB at 400, I have several RAM speed options: DDR2-800, DDR2-960, DDR2-1000, DDR2-1066, DDR2-1200, etc. Each setting corresponds to a different FSB:RAM ratio and one of 4 NB straps.

You have an nVidia chipset board, though, and that board is capable of almost limitless FSB:RAM ratios. Running 1:1 is the best way to first approach an OC on an Intel board, but I don't think it's the best strategy for nVidia from what I've read. I believe I've read where others had similar issues trying to run 'synced'.

You might be better off just leaving the RAM locked at 1066. Just make sure the RAM voltage & timings are set to spec, and run a few cycles of memtest to ensure your RAM is stable.

Once that is done then go back and try for a higher FSB. As you try different FSB speeds some of the resulting FSB:RAM ratios may not work properly. This is known as 'FSB holes'. Try going higher as crazy as that may sound.

All the while keep your CPU multi at 6x. That way you can focus on the FSB speed. Use the NB voltage, HT voltage, and other voltage and GTL settings besides vcore to stabilize the FSB. Use large-fft to stress and test the FSB speeds you try.

Once the FSB is stable for a full cycle (overnight usually), then go back and try the higher CPU multis and use vcore to stabilize. Use small-fft to test the CPU.

 

[bsmith239]

I got 4ghz stable for 12hours on prime95. Gamed on it for 2 hours after that (arma 2) and had no problems.

Are these temps getting to high though.

42c idle
62c load

 

[MARCI]

how do you test your temps.

also, you may be able to lower them slightly by trying a slightly lower vcore, just remember what's stable.