e6400 and NVidia evga 680i 775 safe overclock

[Babrbarossa]

My new system is:
CPU-conroe e6400
MoBo- evga GeForce 680i SLi 775
RAM- OCZ Gold XTC 6400
GPU- nVidea 8800gts
Cooler- Arctic Cooler freezer pro





Case- Antec P180 ATX



I am new to this forum, and i see that members here seem to be very advanced OCers so I'm not sure this is the place to post such nooby trifles but here goes.....

Has anyone used the supposedly easy-as-pie overclocking features of this mobo with the e6400(or other low-end conroes)? I got this board because I am new to the overclocking game and I'd like to overclock this system without compromising the cpu lifespan too much. Unfortunately, this board isn't included in the tom's hardware guide to OCing. Can anyone recommend good (safe) setting for the bios? Will there be any problems with my middle-of-the road RAM. From what i understand, because of the board's ability to unlink the cpu bus and the memory bus allowing me to run each asynchronously-- which (I think) would overcome the typical imitations of RAM that may be less than ideal for OCing.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[Gav]

I am new to this forum, and i see that members here seem to be very advanced OCers so I'm not sure this is the place to post such nooby trifles but here goes.....

Has anyone used the supposedly easy-as-pie overclocking features of this mobo with the e6400(or other low-end conroes)? I got this board because I am new to the overclocking game and I'd like to overclock this system without compromising the cpu lifespan too much. Unfortunately, this board isn't included in the tom's hardware guide to OCing. Can anyone recommend good (safe) setting for the bios? Will there be any problems with my middle-of-the road RAM. From what i understand, because of the board's ability to unlink the cpu bus and the memory bus allowing me to run each asynchronously-- which (I think) would overcome the typical imitations of RAM that may be less than ideal for OCing.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Welcome to the forums. Don't worry about asking a novice question, everyone has to start somewhere.

I personally havn't used this boar but i'm pretty sure Misoprostol is fairly familiar with it. Hopefully he will be able to answer your question in the next day or two.

 

[Misoprostol]

Hi Bab (not even going to try to spell that)

I haven't actually done much with this board yet, but I will be doing up a system some time in the next week or so based on that board. I can certainly try to help you out though. Are you just looking for a safe setting for voltage and FSB/ memory settings etc?

Very important to overclocking is what PSU are you using?

 

[Babrbarossa]

In terms of overclocking, I want to try to tweak fsb, ram and the 8800 gpu (I am not adverse to voltage increases, but I'm not sure how much is safe). . I think the 8800 gpu should be easy using the nTune program that comes with the board. As for the cpu, apparently this board allows you to lower the multiplier (just discovered this), so my possibilities are numerous and perhaps beyond my current grasp-- I'd like to get 3.0 Ghz (8x375 i guess) out of the cpu, but who knows, maybe i can do 400 X 8. The system is en route from ncix*** so I'm doing my research before it gets here so I can get right to work on it.

The big limiter that i forsee, and the part i really don't get is the RAM. I have heard that people haven't had much luck squeezing alot of extra juice from the ocz gold. I have heard people getting 850 mhz from it, but I am not sure how to tweak the settings on ram, and I am afraid of increasing voltage for it.

My PSU is a OCZ gameXStream 700.

***I just discovered direct canada after i made my ncix order and found that at least some of their prices are lower-- I haven't done a whole system comparison yet as I don't want to depress myself, but I wish I had before***

Thanks for taking the time to help a noob!

 

[Misoprostol]

Hi Babrossa,

I haven't yet had a chance to play with that board, but I can tell you now that your goals are quite achievable.

Leaving the stock multiplier is going to make things simpler overall. Personally I think you'd be better off going with a lower RAM frequency (MHz), tighter timings, and keeping the RAM in a 1:1 ratio with the front side bus of your processor. The stock FSB of a Conroe CPU is going to sync up with DDR2-533, so that's what you're going to set in the BIOS. Then go up in slow steps until you reach the desired speed (in your case 3.0GHz). Boot into Windows and make sure it's stable by running Orthos (google it), in Blend for 24 hours. You can also try some of the other programs in our troubleshooting essentials section.

That is a very good power supply, and will definitely not hold your overclock back.

I'm using the OCZ Gold XTC myself right now, and it's very respectable RAM. Not much good for going past DDR2-800, but you won't be doing that. You'll be running it at DDR2-750, and maybe you can tighten up the timings a bit, but don't get your hopes up too high about that. I've found that RAM doesn't like votage above 2.1V, and it loses stability any higher than that (for me anyway).

You can PM me, or post in this thread for any more help. it'll be easier to help you once your system arrives though

 

[Babrbarossa]

Thanks a million, Miso! Very clear advice. I do have a couple more questions, but I'll wait until I have the computer in my grubby little hands.

 

[Gav]

Thanks a million, Miso! Very clear advice. I do have a couple more questions, but I'll wait until I have the computer in my grubby little hands.

Hey Babrbarossa,

Where did you decide to place your order?

 

[Babrbarossa]

I placed the order on dec 1st at ncix-- as I said in the other post, I wasn't even aware of directcanada.com at the time although by the look of the prices, I might have saved some bucks if I had done some shopping there.

And I tell ya, the waiting has been hell! Although in these four longest of days, (while I may not have become an overclocking guru) I feel like I have achieved enlightenment in the realm of divertissment. I am now a level 10 time-killer-- perhaps others may benefit from the four days worth of wisdom that I have accrued while waiting for the BIG UPGRADE to get to my house on the other side of the continent.

Below are a few techniques that I highly recommend to the white-knuckled, breathless-with-anticipation gamer (or overclocker) who is on the eve of nirvana, but just can't bear the wait:

1) TALK ABOUT IT INCESSANTLY-- talk about your system to your wife/girlfriend, mother, sister friends etc. Lose yourself in those blank stares as you rant about memory timings and frame rates. If you can keep your mouth going constantly, it's very difficult to reflect on the fact that it won't be here for another seven days. And when they finally threaten to institutionalize you, move on to technique #2.

2) ONLINE CHAT-- get on those forums and ask every question imaginable about the components you ordered until they too think you are insane, stupid, or a troll. Ask lots of questions about whether its a good idea to buy this or that-- who cares that you've already paid for it, or that you should have asked these questions before you bought it. The things you'll discover may drive you to drink...which brings me to my next technique...

3) STAY DRUNK-- yes, you read right. Drink constantly, one day will blend into the next...everything will be a blur. It will distract your relatives from your craziness and besides, A.A. is much better than the asylum. Before you know it, there will only be five days left.

4) MEDITATION-- A very popular technique for mindfulness, but when combined with step number three, is an equally good technique for mindLESSness. Find a comfortable couch, tune in, turn on, bottoms up, and drop out.

5) well, I was forced to abandon number five due to pending loss of vision.

well that brings me to the present.. not sure where to go from here. If anyone has any techniques that they use, let me know.

 

[Gav]

I placed the order on dec 1st at ncix-- as I said in the other post, I wasn't even aware of directcanada.com at the time although by the look of the prices, I might have saved some bucks if I had done some shopping there.

And I tell ya, the waiting has been hell! Although in these four longest of days, (while I may not have become an overclocking guru) I feel like I have achieved enlightenment in the realm of divertissment. I am now a level 10 time-killer-- perhaps others may benefit from the four days worth of wisdom that I have accrued while waiting for the BIG UPGRADE to get to my house on the other side of the continent.

You really can't go wrong with either company. I'll see if I can call in a favour to speed up your order and ease your pain.

 

[Babrbarossa]

Huzzah!! Hail to the Gav!!

-thanks!