Highest Stable OC with E8400?

[avenger386]

Hey,

I know that OCs are a luck of the draw and that it varies from processor to processor, but I increased my E8400 from 3.0 to 3.1 GHz and i get stability issues....(Orthos, superpi)

was wondering what was the "normal" amount people have been OCing and still remain stable.

I don't think it's the ram either since i have ocz ddr2 rated at 1066 and i dropped the ram divider

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'd run the RAM at 1:1 for testing. Drop the multi so you are under 3Ghz. Run it at 533fsb and test with Memtest86 or use the Vista Memory diagnostic test

 

[Ayah]

Did you increase voltage from stock?

 

[Zap]

I know that OCs are a luck of the draw and that it varies from processor to processor, but I increased my E8400 from 3.0 to 3.1 GHz and i get stability issues....(Orthos, superpi)

Either something set wrong in BIOS or you have a lousy motherboard.

Of course it very well could be the CPU.

That's rare, but not unheard of. Let me tell you a story of an Opteron 144. I owned three of them at one time - yes, at the same time. Two of them were easily good for 2.7GHz+, up from the stock 1.8GHz. The third one using the same test parts barely made it into the low 2GHz range (like 2.2GHz or so). I reported my findings here and received a LOT of abuse with people saying things like I was using the wrong parts (no, they worked fine with the other CPUs) or that I was dumb (that's debatable ).

What motherboard and CPU cooler do you have? Try these settings: RAM at lowest multiplier, 5-5-5-15 latencies and 2.0v (DDR2, right?). Boost CPU Vcore a couple notches, but don't go over around 1.35v (for now). Now, try bumping up FSB again.

 

[avenger386]

What motherboard and CPU cooler do you have? Try these settings: RAM at lowest multiplier, 5-5-5-15 latencies and 2.0v (DDR2, right?). Boost CPU Vcore a couple notches, but don't go over around 1.35v (for now). Now, try bumping up FSB again.

for the RAM it's 2x2gb (rated at 1066MHz) 5-5-5-15 timings and 2.1V (stock voltage for the dimms). i'm already running the ram at under 1066 so I'm assuming that's not the issue.

I haven't touched Vcore at all (mostly cuz i remember OCing a e6300 about 500MHz without messing with the voltage) but yeah i think i take your recommendation and boost that a bit.

Mobo is Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L

 

[EBMiller]

I ran an E8400 at 3.6Ghz on my gaming rig for a long time before going Quad core and handing it over to my son. If memory serves it was cruising along fine at 9 x 400 with about +.2 on the core voltage and + .1 on the chipset voltage. Of course all chips are different and I have not kept track of how yields are on the current E8400's...

 

[avenger386]

man....no go...

i'm just gonna say this is a bad die, i popped a e6300 pentium dual core and can do some OCing no problem. e8400 goes in and same stability issues.

oh well...thanks for all the help and info everyone.

 

[imported_RJR]

avenger, let me ask you what may be a dumb question.

Are you using the same MB from the E6300, and if so, did you update the Bios and reinstall the OS?

 

[avenger386]

avenger, let me ask you what may be a dumb question.

Are you using the same MB from the E6300, and if so, did you update the Bios and reinstall the OS?

i had two e6300 one was the core 2 duo from launch (1.8 GHz) like 06? 07?), the other was a more recent one a e6300 pentium dual core (2.5GHz)

I used the more recent one for the test. My mobo is a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L.

I remember trying to update the bios earlier on, but it think i almost bricked the mobo by flashing it, it wouldn't boot unless i reflashed with the original BIOS.

Do you think the issue is the bios?

 

[imported_RJR]

It sounds like something is off, I've never heard of an E8400 not being able to OC to 3.1 GHz.

I've got a Asus P35 MB and when I switched from a E6750 to E8400 (E0) I had no choice but to update the Bios. It's been running at 4.0 GHz @ 1.28v (pencil mod though) since January without a problem. I also re-installed the OS just to make it easier. Might be worth a shot.

 

[avenger386]

It sounds like something is off, I've never heard of an E8400 not being able to OC to 3.1 GHz.

I've got a Asus P35 MB and when I switched from a E6750 to E8400 (E0) I had no choice but to update the Bios. It's been running at 4.0 GHz @ 1.28v (pencil mod though) since January without a problem. I also re-installed the OS just to make it easier. Might be worth a shot.

i CAN OC it to 3.1 GHz (tried up to 3.4 on air, don't want to try higher due to cooling), the only problem is that i get massive amounts of reported errors which i try to run the stress tests.

could you elaborate on "pencil mod"?

 

[imported_RJR]

The pencil mod just does away with the vdroop/vdrop so you can lower your vcore and still remain stable. Years ago there wasn't an LLC option in the Bios to minimize the vdroop/vdrop so you had to manually mod the board with pencil mod or other voltage mods. Some say its good some say it's bad for the processor, I haven't had any problems yet.

 

[Interitus]

What BIOS are you running? If you're running an 8400, a lot of boards needed BIOS updates to function well with them. I'm not sure about your DS3L, but my IP35-Pro ran like **** until I updated the BIOS to a newer one. Chugs along fine now at 3.5 at stock voltage.

I'm not sure when the DS3L was released, but if it doesn't clearly state that it supports the newer core2's out of the box, the BIOS might be what's holding you back. Even early 8400's clocked decent, you would have one freak of a CPU if it chokes at 3.1.

 

[nomagic]

Oh I do have a E8400 rig in my sig.