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need some help overclocking my E8400

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I would'nt expect much from that G31M-S2L board. If you got 3.7Ghz with it, you're very lucky. That's a low level budget board with a weak power delivery section. Check how hot the VRMs are getting before you decide to risk it and go higher.
 
I would'nt expect much from that G31M-S2L board. If you got 3.7Ghz with it, you're very lucky. That's a low level budget board with a weak power delivery section. Check how hot the VRMs are getting before you decide to risk it and go higher.

my vrm's have heatsinks on them i put them on there my self via thermal tape the heatsinks are from enzo tech

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Show us pics of CPU-z tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD.

trent do you want pics of the cpuz from the stock cpu settings or pics of what the settings are when i overclock?
 
Goodness gracious... screencaps? Is this 1998? As an FYI, in order to capture only the active (front) window, hit alt+prtscn. Paste into paint, save, then attach to the forums. If you want to get the whole sceen, hit prtscn, paste in paint, save, and attach.

1. I find it hard to believe you need 1.35V for 500 Mhz overclock, especially considering your stock voltage is 1.26V...
1a. I'll ask again, are you changing the voltage manually or leaving it on auto? Your bios SS show auto...you should be doing it manually.
2. Your ram is overclocked now as you should be able to tell (look at memory tab and see the speed of 468 mhz). Lower that down in the bios.. system memory multiplier. It should lower to a 1:1 ratio with your FSB. So if your FSB is 390, your memory is running 390 and underclocked. You want to take the memory out of the equation.

You really, really need to wrap your head around the basics of the guide. This stuff is all in there... :)
 
Kaitlin4599, if you are having a stability problem the most obvious culprit, as ED already mentioned, is your RAM frequency running too high. Your RAM is rated for 800 mhz and the pics show that your overclock carried it to 936 mhz. Realize, first that CPU-z will show the DDR bus speed of the RAM which is half of the DDR2 actual frequency. So multiply that number by two. 468x2=936.

But I think the big idea you haven't grasped is that when you overclock using the FSB the frequency of the CPU is not the only frequency that rises. The FSB is the master frequency of your system and there are several frequencies that rise in concert with it. Namely, the CPU, the NB (aka, CPU/NB which is the memory controller) and the memory bus. If any of them get too high or get starved for voltage then instability can result.

So, to remedy the memory frequency issue you need to change the memory divider, which is essentially means starting the memory at a lower speed in bios than it is rated for. So try starting it at 266 (DDR2 533) or 333 (DDR2 666) instead of 400 (DDR2 800).

Forgive me if I am going over ground again that we have already covered but your experience with this system has been a protracted one for all of us and I forget if this has already come up.
 
my vrm's have heatsinks on them i put them on there my self via thermal tape the heatsinks are from enzo tech

Doesn't matter. The sinks might help some, but again that board has a weak power delivery. You're trying to get an unrealistic overclock from a weak board. I commend you for trying tho.
 
What makes you think that? I mean, its weak, you are right, but so far, we havent seen the board get in the way yet, have we?
 
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Sorry.. i edited before the post. :)

Again, i agree... but what have we seen so far where its a limit? 3.5 is clearly doable... she was at 4ghz earlier. Share your knowledge..what did we miss?
 
The OP reached 4.0Ghz for less than 5min and stated it was unstable. Tho 4.0Ghz is very doable with a better robust board, it's still an unrealistic goal with the board the OP is using. Now the OP is @ 3.7Ghz and still trying. Hey I'm no expert.
 
Gotcha. I never knew what she tried outside of auto up there. I feel like im squeezing blood from a stone to get the info we need, so its good to have some real world on it. ;)
 
No sweat buddy. I remember having the same exact issue and tho my board didn't have sinks on the VRMs, I wasn't able to reach my goal of 4.0Ghz. I did, however, was able to get 3.8Ghz rock steady stable, but those VRMs were quite toasty to say the least! ;)
 
The OP reached 4.0Ghz for less than 5min and stated it was unstable. Tho 4.0Ghz is very doable with a better robust board, it's still an unrealistic goal with the board the OP is using. Now the OP is @ 3.7Ghz and still trying. Hey I'm no expert.

He is doing pretty good for not increasing the FSB Chip voltage. I don't think VRM voltage is a problem with the 775 there is no IMC or Video VRM to the CPU. I had that motherboard and overclocked it for 8 years with no VRM heatsinks.:D
 
Gotcha. I never knew what she tried outside of auto up there. I feel like im squeezing blood from a stone to get the info we need, so its good to have some real world on it. ;)

for the system memory multiplier (SPD) i can choose 1.60 2.00 or 2.40 or auto ill try 1.60 first also what should i set my core voltage to?

edit if i drop the system memory multiplier below 2.00 the pc will freeze at the xp bootup screen i set my vcore manually in the bios to 1.3000 havent attempted to go lower

so far any ram speed below 780 causes the pc to freeze when windows starts to load im gonna read the guide again just to make sure i didnt miss anything
 
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Leave your ram voltage on stock for any RAM frequency up to 800 mhz. Most DDR2 800 RAM used 1.8 volts if I recall.
 
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