Pentium XE935 OC's to 4.1G, but can't OC upgrade of Core 2 Duo E8500 onsame mobo

[stigzler]

Hi folks - first post and new to overclocking. read a few guides, got the basics, but stumped.

Basically on a 4Core1600-GLAN for an arcade machine build. Before you say - I'm getting that it's not a good board for OCing!

However, recently OC'd my Pent D 935 on this board from 3.2G to 4.1! I did this by simply increasing the FSB slowly (in bios) until system instability. Benchmarked/ran in etc - very stable!!

However, not powerful enough for what I need. Someone suggested Core 2 Duo E8500. Fitted - worked fine @ stock. However, tried same approach to OCing this CPU, and can't get past stock FSB (333) - no start on system (no bios boot).

So how come simple increasing FSB on ist CPU worked, but not on this one. Also read about increasing VCore etc, but I don't think that's possible with this mobo/bios. Have most recent bios installed.

No i KNOW that I could buy another mobo. 2 things on that - this one already is a replacement for true 16x PCIE (for GPU req). Secondly, this is for a MAME machine - and have things setup well. Worried mobo upgrade might push too far (jump from old to this one wasn't too big + XP handled it admirably)

So, in short - any way to OC the Core 2 E8500 on the 4Core1600-GLAN?

I've seen other OC this CPU to up to 4 GHz!!

Attached present setup via CPU-Z. Other Specs:
Windows XP Professional SP3 (Build 2600)
MB Brand : ASRock
MB Model : 4Core1600-GLAN
NB : Intel P35/G33/G31 rev 10
SB : Intel 82801GB (ICH7/R) rev A1
GPU Type : NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GT
GPU Clocks : Core 756 MHz / RAM 999 MHz
DirectX Version : 9.0c
RAM : 2048 MB DDR2 Dual Channel
RAM Speed : 423.5 MHz (3:5) @ 5-5-5-15
Slot 1 : 1024MB (5300)
Slot 1 Manufacturer : Kingston
Slot 2 : 1024MB (5300)
Slot 2 Manufacturer : Noname

PSU's about 500W

Thanks folks

Steve

 

[EarthDog]

200 FSB (Pentium D) vs 333 FSB (e8500). Poor overclocking board may not have any headroom left... or.....

What bios version are you running (see CPUz mainboard tab). According to the Asrock site, you need bios P1.10 or later to support that CPU properly. You say the latest, so that should be fine.

What RAM do you have (show both memory and SPD tab please). Perhaps it is WAY overclocked for its settings due to the huge FSB difference...

 

[stigzler]

Thanks Earthdog. Attached are snaps of relevant stats.

I think I'm coming to the scary realisation that goign to have to change my mobo (again). I wanted to avoid doing this because setup has taken a long time on this machine, and clean re-install would be a nightmare! I did manage to upgrade to this one without too much fuss using a windows app prior to instal of new board. However think requirement was for the mobo not to be too much of a leap - any good ASRock boards for O/cing in this 'family'?

Thanks again

 

[stigzler]

Any further help available?

 

[Rob94hawk]

Try this. FSB 1600 pin mod:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?232678-E8xxx-Q9xx0-FSB-1600-pin-mod

 

[Theocnoob]

Any further help available?

Don't pin mod it yet.
EarthDog will be back.

 

[stigzler]

Thanks chaps. I'll hang on before pin modding, although it does look really easy! What's the drawback to pin modding?

 

[Rob94hawk]

Thanks chaps. I'll hang on before pin modding, although it does look really easy! What's the drawback to pin modding?

Nothing. Either it works or it doesn't. It's only for boards that have very little or no overclocking features.

 

[stigzler]

Hmmm... dunno what to do. Is it bad form to PM Earthdog to see what he'dreccommend given his suggestion to post further info?

 

[Theocnoob]

Hmmm... dunno what to do. Is it bad form to PM Earthdog to see what he'dreccommend given his suggestion to post further info?

Go for it he probably just forgot about this thread.

 

[stigzler]

OK.. so in absence of any further informed advice, went for the pin modding. Didn't work. Bios didn't boot.

Stumped + out of ideas. Only thing wondering - notice my memory limited to 333MHz according to CPU-Z. If I were to purchase 400MHz, which this board supports, would this make higher cpu values possible?? I notice at present stock speed (CPU) it's at 333MHz - is this leading to the prob? Presumably for the CPU to be higher - it'd need to run at higher speed - i.e. over 333, the limitation of the RAM??

hoping for some help here + thanks

 

[EarthDog]

That is exactly what I mentioned in post #2.

You could raise the voltage of the ram by .05-.1 and see if that helps them overclock a bit...or raise the timings to 6-6-6-17. But usually, you can raise it a bit past its stock settings so I'm not sure that is the problem.

 

[stigzler]

Thanks EarthDog.

Hard to know what voltage running at, as works on auto. Did try tinkering with ram voltages, but seem to recall changing this didn't help.

Should I upgrade memory to 400MHz? Would this help the CPU O/Cing?

I looked up my CPUZ from when OC'D Pent 2 core D:

Intel Pentium D 935
Windows XP Professional SP3 (Build 2600)
CPU Arch : 1 CPU - 2 Cores - 2 Threads
CPU PSN : Intel Pentium D CPU 3.20GHz
CPU EXT : MMX, SSE (1, 2, 3), EM64T
CPUID : F.6.5 / Extended : F.6
CPU Cache : L1 : 2 x 12 / 2 x 16 KB - L2 : 2 x 2048 KB
Core : Presler (65 nm) / Stepping : D0
Freq : 4065.9 MHz (254.12 * 16)

I see it's the *16 multiplier that pushes up the speed, but the Core 2 Duo is locked to 9.5! Any way to unlock it?

 

[EarthDog]

The SPD tab tells you what voltage the ram runs at. In your case, 1.8v.

I answered already I wasnt sure if it would help. The memory should have a bit of overclocking in it. Try raising the voltage or the timings and see if you can get past the 333MHz barrier. If you can't with added voltage on the ram, then chances are, the ram isnt the issue.

The multiplier is exclusive to the CPU... the clockspeed is a function of the multiplier. 200x16 = 3.2GHz for example while 333x9 =3.1xGHz. That multiplier is not unlocked UP, no. Those processors are the "X" processors which have an unlocked multi and fetched a significant premium.

 

[||Console||]

No way to unlock sorry , have you tryed setfsb or clockgen?

 

[stigzler]

Thanks Console! Finally made some headway with setfsb (see pics) + thanks Earth - think the ram trick helped too. However, still going round in circles a bit, because have to re-tune via setfsb every time I restart windows + also sometimes when increasing the PCI slider, it disconnects my network card!

[Edit: Ha!! Solved this one - just took the fsb and PCIE readings (372 and 111) + put them in on my bios - worked! no longer need to use SetFSB!]

Just to check... my mobo takes up to 400MHz RAM. If I were to get some 400M ram, would this mean I could increase my cpu clock speed to 400? That would make 9.5*0.4 = 3.8 GHz (which could happily live with!). This feels like a lot easier and reliable solution.

Can't find a way to 'unbind' my cpu and ram clocks in bios. On the other CPU, the FSB : DRAM ratio would change. But seems on this one - it is always 1:1. This was on the same mobo!

SO 1st pref option = buying 400Mhz ram - possible?

[edit: hmmm - got it running at 3.5 now... but thinking i might have got an overclocking bug - I want 3.8!! - heh still would consider the ram upgrade if would make a difference!]

If not any more suggestions!?

Thanks again

Steve

 

[EarthDog]

Id try lowering the timings back to stock (5-5-5-xx) with the voltage raised .05 and see if you can reach 400 FSB..

 

[stigzler]

Thanks. So, no point in getting 400Mhz RAM then, Earthdog? If got stock 400Mhz - would this put less tress on the system? also - would that mean could increase beyond 400 + hence increase CPU speed?

Sorry - new to all this!

Cheers

 

[EarthDog]

Maybe.. depends on the sticks, but more/less stress, no not really. I'd try the free option before looking into dropping cash for a couple hundred MHz on this older machine.

 

[glussier]

Just set your ram voltage @ 2.0v. These Kingston ram sticks, should easily overclock to 400mhz and probably close to 450 if you increase their voltage to 2.1. I never had a problem with Kingston ram @ 2.1, even if they had no heat spreader.

The E8500 overclocks easily to a 400mhz base freq. and your motherboard supports, out of the box, a 1600mhz fsb/400 base frequency.