Overclocking Question

[GentaiShinigami]

First of all the machine specs, and the TL;DR is in bold at the bottom.

Computer

• CPU: Pentium D 920 Presler 2.8GHz 65nm Socket 775 Revision B1 @ 1.240v
• Motherboard: ECS NF650iSLiT-A Revision A2 - BIOS Ver. 6.00
• RAM: Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4 DDR800 (Matched set) @ 4-4-4-12 1.95v
• GPU: EVGA Nvidia 8800gts 320mb Superclocked Edition
• PSU: Antec 500w modular
• HD's: 250GB Samsung, 600GB Western Digital, no RAID.
• Case: Antec 900 with every fan possible, and on high! XD
• Heatsink: Arctic Freezer Pro 7
• OS: Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
• Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024 @60Hz

Hello all. I've recently been trying to dabble in some overclocking with my rig after many years of being afraid to mess with it. The machine is nothing awesome by today's standards, but she runs cool at least, and usually works well for what I use it for which is internet, Photoshop, and gaming. Currently at idle she runs at the following temperatures:

Idle Temperatures:

• CPU: 25c
• Mobo: 27c
• GPU: 57c

I'm not sure of the CPU/board temps when under full load as I can't seem to get Speedfan to work anymore. My GPU only goes up to ~64c under full load though so I don't expect them to move much. I have as many fans as possible in my 900, and have them all on high. The noise isn't an issue where it's located if you are wondering how I can stand the typhoon that is my PC.

I don't have the money to fix something if I fry it so I'm being super cautious and taking things slow. First, let me say I'm overclocking the CPU unlocked from the Memory currently. My board doesn't support anything over DDR800 unfortunately. I nudged the FSB up a small amount to take it from 2.8GHz to 2.9GHz which seems to be stable after about a week with no issues. I tried to nudge it up to 3.0GHz earlier, and booted fine into Windows, but after about 5 minutes in Windows it tossed a BSOD. I restarted and reset it to 2.9GHz, and have been good for ~30 minutes while I've been writing this post. I'm guessing this is a voltage issue, but I have literally zero experience with OC'ing, and especially with voltage changes. From what I've read though it's one of the most dangerous parts of OCing as far as permanent damage to your PC components.

So really my question is am I right and the CPU needs more voltage at a 3.0GHz overclock? If so what is a good starting area voltage wise? I've read of people getting my type of CPU to ~3.8GHz "easily" as they say, but I don't want to reduce the life span of my parts by a large amount, and while my machine runs cool it's still just on air. What would be a realistic goal to try for on this machine speed wise while retaining (most of) the reliability and longevity of the parts? I'm mostly just looking for a boost to FPS in newer games which are giving my PC a bit of trouble. The 8800gts is weak due to only having 320mb of ram (though I only play @1280x1024), but I would think the Pentium D 2.8 has to be my biggest bottleneck currently correct?

Apologies for the long post, and any bad spelling/formatting that slipped through my checks. Thanks in advance for the help!

[Blabj]

Sorry I only read your highlighted questions, and I can answer that yes, increasing the voltage slightly is very important in achieving a higher overclock. This is where it becomes very trial and error, but I would say don't increase the voltage too much otherwise you risk frying your computer or increasing temperatures a lot more than you intended. I'd say 1/4 or 1/2 a volt to begin with, if it's unstable still try that again, but don't go too high with your voltage.

As always test your overclock each time, at a minimum I'd suggest running the CPU at full load for an hour or two.

Also, people who quote insanely high overclocks are usually either lying, using liquid nitrogen or have absolutely no system stability. I've had my Q6600 up to 3.6... In the bios.

In terms of getting a boost to your system performance, I think getting a quad core CPU is going to give you the most bang, but at the expense of quite a few bucks. Your GPU, PSU, hard drives, case and heatsink would all be reusable in a new system, but you would need to get a new CPU, mobo and RAM for an upgrade like that.
Not knowing any kind of budget you'd have for upgrading I really can't advise you on what to shoot for.

[Cephius]

Overclocking without testing and monitoring temperatures is really unwise. Simply being able to boot into Windows is not a true test of stability. First thing you should do is get a good temperature monitoring program (CoreTemp is a decent one) and a stress test program (Prime 95 is good) so you can test the stability of your overclocks.

That being said, Blabj is right that overclocking is largely trial and error. Set your FSB and bump your voltage up. Boot into Windows, run Prime 95, and check your temperatures. Prime 95 basically pushes your processor to 100% load, giving you the highest temperatures it's capable of producing. You want those to be high at first, then keep lowering the voltage until you crash or BSOD. Then bump the voltage up one, and that should be your sweet spot. Leave Prime95 running for a few hours to make sure the clock is stable. If it crashes, bump the voltage up another notch. That's basically it in a nutshell.

You're right in that your CPU is your bottleneck, and I'll echo Blabj's sentiment that a Quad is much better for you... Pentium Ds are 4 year old tech at least. Overclocking will certainly help you, but it's basically just a bandaid at this point.

[Cooleko]

Id defiintely recommend finding a forum dedicated to your mother board. On fan you can expect significant increases, but PC will be much louder.

I took my I7 from 2.66 to 3.2 on air with no issues. It runs stable and warm but not enough to worry about.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=2129 as well as toms hardware and a few other sites have discussed the OCing capabilities of your mobo. good luck!

[Olo401]

FYI there's some very decent overclocking forums at MaximumPC and Tweaktown to answer the more specific questions.

BSODs while overclocking small amounts are usually caused by the FSB-Memory Clock ratio being off (ideally you want it to be 1:1). Your CPU runs stock at 2.8mHz, most likely 400mhz FSB with a multiplier of 7, which means the memory run best at 400mHz x 2. I'm not sure what your highest multiplier on that CPU is, but I'm willing to bet if you're able to change it to 8 (3.2gHz) your system will run stable on a stress test without having to touch anything else.

After the multiplier comes the method you used - increasing the FSB clock. Changing this can make your memory run at speeds higher than it's rated, which causes crashes and eventually burnouts. So you'll probably have to adjust your memory multiplier and timings to compensate. Running a higher FSB also makes your CPU demand more power, which at some point will mean having to increase your core voltage in order to perform. That means more heat, tho with the cooler you have it shouldn't be much of an issue.

[GentaiShinigami]

FYI there's some very decent overclocking forums at MaximumPC and Tweaktown to answer the more specific questions.

BSODs while overclocking small amounts are usually caused by the FSB-Memory Clock ratio being off (ideally you want it to be 1:1).

Awesome, thanks for all the input everyone. First, I'd like to get it out of the way that I am well aware an i5/i7 system would perform better, but that is not really what I'm talking about here. =P I'm simply trying to reduce the bottleneck my processor is having on my rig. Perhaps in another year or so it may be time to build another PC.

On the issue of the FSB and RAM ratio I currently have them un-linked as I don't have the voltage to support raising the RAM any higher than it is. I really and .05 under what the RAM should be at even atm. My processor only supports overclocking by way of raising the FSB. My bus speed is 207.2MHz with a 14x multiplier according to CPU-Z. Memory is running at 388.6MHz currenty. CPU-Z shows under memory timings: FSB:DRAM 16:30, which I'm guessing is the ratio you mentioned? Looks like there may be no overclocking for me if I will be forced to OC the ram as well.

Also, the temp program you linked me doesn't support my CPU. T.T Any other ideas for good temp monitoring programs besides coretemp and speedfan?

Thanks again everyone for your help.

[Olo401]

Try RealTemp very basic program and should work with just about anything.

And what in the heck at those bus/multiplier/ratio numbers.. that's kinda blowin' my mind right there. I wonder if it's just how that motherboard & BIOS works..

[GentaiShinigami]

Thanks for the link, but it doesn't support my processor either... /sadface. It's fine i'm not too worried about temps anyway since I'm just doing a 2.8>3.0 max OC. I'll be stopping @3.0 if/when I get there w/o any problems. Since I only get a 10% increase on temps on the GPU under full load I don't think I'll have the GPU go sky rocketing 300% in temp. It's set up to warn @60c and shutdown on it's own @65c to be safe though.

I'll be testing raising the voltage with a 3.0 OC today and seeing how it goes. I'll update the thread with my findings. Oh, and yeah Pentium D's are a weird bunch.

Edit: Since my RAM is already at the max supported do you think it would be better to link the FSB+RAM back, and drop the DDR down to its JEDEC #2 profile of 5-5-5-18 and then OC the processor to 3.0GHz? With that timing the RAM only needs 1.8v which would leave .15v to spare. Currently @DDR800 4-4-4-12 im technically .05v(or .15v depending on who you listen to) lower then the RAM supposedly needs. It runs fine, but I noticed under CPU-Z the RAM isn't running at 400mhz like it should be it is at 388.6. Could the lower amount be from the voltage not being as high as it should be or is it just a quirk or the RAM that it's not running at 100% speed? As always thanks for your time and answers!

[GentaiShinigami]

A bit of an update on the temperature situation... I found a program that works for my CPU type finally! HwMonitor from the CPU-Z people works great on Pentium D processors. Link to it below:

http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

After doing the SiSandra burn-in test on my PC at a 2.9GHz OC it seems to be stable, and temps peaked at:

Peak Temperatures:

• CPU: 34C
• SYS: 32C
• AUX: 28C
• GPU:71C
• ACPI (THRM): 34C
• HDD1 (250gb): 28C
• HDD2 (600Gb): 32C

Going to go play with some BIOS tweaking and try to get a 3.0GHz clock stable. Also going to raise the memory command rate from C2 to C1. It's actually supposed to be C1, but you have to manually set all the timings, and when I set them I didn't know anything at all so I only did the 4-4-4-12 part. Hopefully that will show some increase in my RAM speed. When I bought that RAM it was like $300... Figures I probably wasn't taking advantage of the RAM this whole time due to being a nub and not setting it up right! ~.~

Edit: Ignore the C1/C2 part. Was a mistype in my notes. Tried it anyway, booted just fine, loaded windows fine, but soon as the desktop loaded it just froze and wouldn't allow further input. Adjusted it back to C2 and is working again. Did some BIOS tweaking, and turned off "Thermal Management" which seems to throttle the CPU to cut heat. Couldn't really find out much about it, but gonna see how it runs without it for a bit.

Is it bad to run my memory under-volted? My mobo only supports 1.95v max and this ram is supposed to take 2.1v to do the timings i've been running it at for years. Is there any danger or degradation to performance doing this or is it a good thing to run stable on the lowest voltage possible? Sorry for all the questions, and thanks for all the help people! ^^ Also, my RAM is running at 777mhz because it is unlinked with the FSB apparently. If i change the Memory clock to >= my processor's speed it'll jump up and past 800mhz, but if i leave it at 800mhz typed in it goes down to 777. Guessing it's the mobo trying to keep some kind of ratio going? No idea personally, but i'm afraid to link them and have the memory overclocking due to voltage issues stated above. Been looking around like crazy trying to learn/figure out things, but it's hard to understand the intricacies of it all.