E4300 and 650i overclocking

Ed Medlin wrote:

I have already seen them down to $275

That would be for the dual core, not the quad core, I
presume. I'd guess they're trying to cut their losses...

**** Intel E4300 @ 3 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 1066 memory bus
(1.41 VDC CPU core, 1.80 VDC memory)

The CPU and chipset fans were set to 100%.
Intel boxed-retail heatsink/fan w/ zinc oxide in ester base thermal grease.
No case fans were used.
The case side was open.

nVidia Control Panel Stability Test
'Verify the stability of the following' (settings)
CPU
Memory
PCI-E bus
GPU



IDLE Temperatures:
Room ambient: 21 C
CPU: 32 C
System (chipset?): 36 C
GPU: 52 C
Stability Test temperatures, 6 hour run
Room ambient temperatu 21 C
CPU: 47 C
System (chipset?): 37 C
GPU: 61 C

I did not intend the CPU core voltage to be above stock; in the BIOS I had
set it to [AUTO], but (as I noticed AFTER the 6 hour run) nVidia was
reporting the CPU core voltage as 1.41 VDC.

Has nVidia made overclocking harder by trying to make it easier?
Well, back to the manuals B^(

Phil Weldon



"Phil Weldon" wrote in message
ink.net...
'Ed Medlin' wrote:
| Great temps. With a good case and good airflow, you might even see a
| decrease when you close it up. I am not familiar with nTune's stress
test,
| but you cannot beat those temps if it stressing the CPU. How much noise
are
| you hearing with the stock fan and the video card fan?
_____

The GPU fan noise is less than that of any other fan, but then I haven't
really stressed the card very much so far.

Using CPU Burn-In ver 1.1, error checking turned OFF
CPU and chipset fan set to 100%
All case fans OFF; Power Supply fan ON.

Room air temperatu 27 C
Reported by nVidia System monitor after 10 minutes
CPU temperatu 43 C
System temperature (chipset?): 40 C

The chipset fan created more noise than the CPU fan. The CPU fan noise
was
low frequency and barely audible from 1 meter even with the case open,
MUCH
less noise than a Zalman 'flower' type fan/heatsink.
The chipset fan created a high pitched noise.

CPU Burn-In seems to stress only one CPU.

SiSoft Sandra 2007 claimed to detect five temperature sensors, but would
not
show readings.

nVidia System Monitor reports only three readings; CPU, System, GPU. I
think System temperature may be chipset temperature.

I installed a PCI ATA IDE card (Silicon Image SD-ATA133R). It is
incompatible somehow with the system. It installs ok, but the system
hangs
darning boot-up if a drive is connected, does not hang if no drive is
connected. The website indicates such a problem may exist if you do not
set
up a RAID. The directions for solving the problem don't make any sense.

The controller card problem and the seeming lack of good stress tests and
complete temperature monitoring mean I'm not having any overclocking fun
right now, so I am going to concentrate on installing and customizing all
the software.

Any suggestions on dual CPU stress tests and 680i motherboard temperature
monitoring will be greatly appreciated.

Phil Weldon


"Ed Medlin" wrote in message
. net...
|
| "Phil Weldon" wrote in message
| ink.net...
| Early temperatures from my E4300 / EVGA 680i / EVGA 8800 GTS / Patriot
| PC8500 SLI ready memory:
|
| After 10 minutes of the nTune stress test (all components) the end
| temperatures were
| CPU: 37 C
| System: 34 C
| GPU: 50 C.
|
| The side of the case was open and the air temperature was 23 C.
|
| All settings were stock. Memory settings (from the SPD) were 1066 MHz
bus
| speed and 2.3 volts.
| Voltage: 2.3 VDC.
|
| At this point I have no idea what the stress test includes, and how
fan
| speed control works - in the BIOS I had set the fan speeds to manual
and
| to
| 100%, but the CPU fan speed at the end of the 10 minute stress test
was
| more
| than twice the CPU fan speed reported by the BIOS with the 100% manual
| setting.
|
| At the moment only Windows XP Pro (without service packs and updates)
plus
| nVidia drivers are installed.
|
| Now I need to read enough to understand how to use the stress test and
| interpret the results.
|
| Phil Weldon
|
|
| Great temps. With a good case and good airflow, you might even see a
| decrease when you close it up. I am not familiar with nTune's stress
test,
| but you cannot beat those temps if it stressing the CPU. How much noise
are
| you hearing with the stock fan and the video card fan?
|
| Ed
|
|

Phil Weldon wrote:
**** Intel E4300 @ 3 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 1066 memory bus
(1.41 VDC CPU core, 1.80 VDC memory)

The CPU and chipset fans were set to 100%.
Intel boxed-retail heatsink/fan w/ zinc oxide in ester base thermal grease.
No case fans were used.
The case side was open.

nVidia Control Panel Stability Test
'Verify the stability of the following' (settings)
CPU
Memory
PCI-E bus
GPU



IDLE Temperatures:
Room ambient: 21 C
CPU: 32 C
System (chipset?): 36 C
GPU: 52 C
Stability Test temperatures, 6 hour run
Room ambient temperatu 21 C
CPU: 47 C

That temperature seems mighty low for a fully loaded dual core at 3 GHz
with stock cooling, especially at that voltage. Did you try the Orthos to
which I linked? That essentially runs an instance of Prime 95 torture test
on each core.

How fast is your fan turning? My stock Intel HSF that came with the
E6400 doesn't ever turn faster than around 1700 RPM, for some
reason. I even tried shorting pin 4 (PWM) to 12v as suggested by
someone, and it still turned at 1700. To its credit, it is at least quiet.

'Fishface' wrote:
| That temperature seems mighty low for a fully loaded dual core at 3 GHz
| with stock cooling, especially at that voltage. Did you try the Orthos to
| which I linked? That essentially runs an instance of Prime 95 torture
test
| on each core.
|
| How fast is your fan turning? My stock Intel HSF that came with the
| E6400 doesn't ever turn faster than around 1700 RPM, for some
| reason. I even tried shorting pin 4 (PWM) to 12v as suggested by
| someone, and it still turned at 1700. To its credit, it is at least
quiet.

| I too was surprised by the low CPU temperatures, but it was the nVidia
Stability test. I have downloaded the Orthos test you suggested, but
haven't installed it yet - I don't have antivirus/antimalware protection
installed on the system, and I don't want to network it until I do. The
trouble with the PCI IDE card prevents me from easily transferring the
downloads, but I just got a USB 2.0 outboard enclosure for the 300 GByte
drive that has all my documents and downloads. I should be installing
Orthos soon, and will post a report. After than I am going to take two
steps back and try to figure out what the EVGA 680i motherboard BIOS will do
'behind your back.' Also I need to find a better way to keep track of
temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds; some reading I can't get, some seem
unreliable, and none are as convenient as Motherboard Monitor (which
unfortunately is no longer being maintained or updated.)

I have seen CPU fan speed as low as 1100 rpm and as high as 1800 rpm. I
just have no confidence that is real. I also notice that the EVGA 8800 GTS
fan is VERY slow, perhaps only a few hundred rpm. It is very quiet and
seemingly handles the power dissipation of the nVidia Stability test with a
GPU temperature of 35 to 40 C above ambient.

More later.

Phil Weldon

"Fishface" ? wrote in message
news:g%vUh.932$Qp.347@trnddc07...
| Phil Weldon wrote:
| **** Intel E4300 @ 3 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 1066 memory bus
| (1.41 VDC CPU core, 1.80 VDC memory)
|
| The CPU and chipset fans were set to 100%.
| Intel boxed-retail heatsink/fan w/ zinc oxide in ester base thermal
grease.
| No case fans were used.
| The case side was open.
|
| nVidia Control Panel Stability Test
| 'Verify the stability of the following' (settings)
| CPU
| Memory
| PCI-E bus
| GPU
|
|
|
| IDLE Temperatures:
| Room ambient: 21 C
| CPU: 32 C
| System (chipset?): 36 C
| GPU: 52 C
| Stability Test temperatures, 6 hour run
| Room ambient temperatu 21 C
| CPU: 47 C
|
| That temperature seems mighty low for a fully loaded dual core at 3 GHz
| with stock cooling, especially at that voltage. Did you try the Orthos to
| which I linked? That essentially runs an instance of Prime 95 torture
test
| on each core.
|
| How fast is your fan turning? My stock Intel HSF that came with the
| E6400 doesn't ever turn faster than around 1700 RPM, for some
| reason. I even tried shorting pin 4 (PWM) to 12v as suggested by
| someone, and it still turned at 1700. To its credit, it is at least
quiet.
|
|
|

'Phil Weldon' wrote, in part:
| I did not intend the CPU core voltage to be above stock; in the BIOS I had
| set it to [AUTO], but (as I noticed AFTER the 6 hour run) nVidia was
| reporting the CPU core voltage as 1.41 VDC.
|
| Has nVidia made overclocking harder by trying to make it easier?
| Well, back to the manuals B^(
_____

Found through a diligent search of the EVGA site (actually, it was a newly
posted FAQ) that the version of nTune that ships with the EVGA 680i SLI
should be uninstalled and replaced with a newer version from nVidia (9.53)
which will fix the BIOS settings changing behind your back problem
My BIOS settings on my 680i motherboards are being changed/reset on
some boots/restarts.

Question / Issue

My BIOS settings on my 680i motherboards are being changed/reset on
some boots/restarts.



Answer / Solution

In most cases people who have experienced this problem were using the
nTune software that came on the 680i driver installation CD. It is
recommended to uninstall this version of nTune via Add/Remove Programs in
the control panel. If you plan to use nTune please download the latest
version from this link: http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp




There is also a BIOS update (P27). P27 has the following fixes
a.. Quad-Core OC Improvements
b.. Additional support for 1333MHz CPU's
Also includes these updates from bios P20, P21, P23, P24, P25, and P26:

a.. Wireless PCI card fixes
b.. Vreg fan header default set to on
c.. Memory performance improvements
d.. Vista WHQL Certified
e.. USB Floppy improvements for RAID installs
f.. Correct CPU temp and voltage system monitor displays in BIOS
g.. Correct default CPU multiplier setting
h.. Fix "Code 50" hang received under certain VGA configurations
i.. Fix for SATA disk drives
j.. Improvements to memory stability and overclockability
k.. Disabled spread spectrum tables for improved overclockability
l.. Improve POST screen CPU speed reporting
m.. Improves X-Fi and internal audio functionality
n.. WHQL Certified BIOS
o.. Improvements to overclocking
p.. Enhancements for Quad-Core CPUs
q.. Adds ability to enable splash screen .
Phil Weldon


"Phil Weldon" wrote in message
nk.net...
| **** Intel E4300 @ 3 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 1066 memory bus
| (1.41 VDC CPU core, 1.80 VDC memory)
|
| The CPU and chipset fans were set to 100%.
| Intel boxed-retail heatsink/fan w/ zinc oxide in ester base thermal
grease.
| No case fans were used.
| The case side was open.
|
| nVidia Control Panel Stability Test
| 'Verify the stability of the following' (settings)
| CPU
| Memory
| PCI-E bus
| GPU
|
|
|
| IDLE Temperatures:
| Room ambient: 21 C
| CPU: 32 C
| System (chipset?): 36 C
| GPU: 52 C
| Stability Test temperatures, 6 hour run
| Room ambient temperatu 21 C
| CPU: 47 C
| System (chipset?): 37 C
| GPU: 61 C
|
| I did not intend the CPU core voltage to be above stock; in the BIOS I had
| set it to [AUTO], but (as I noticed AFTER the 6 hour run) nVidia was
| reporting the CPU core voltage as 1.41 VDC.
|
| Has nVidia made overclocking harder by trying to make it easier?
| Well, back to the manuals B^(
|
| Phil Weldon

"Fishface" ? wrote in message
news:KRrUh.718$xL6.219@trnddc05...
Ed Medlin wrote:

I have already seen them down to $275

That would be for the dual core, not the quad core, I
presume. I'd guess they're trying to cut their losses...

That is for the E6600. The QX6700 and above Extreme quad is not coming down
in price by very big margins as the Core 2 Duos are. Intel's price drops are
focused on the mid and lower range processors and not a lot on the higher
end. They are going to release some new versions of the Quad cores, but I
don't have a clue as to when. They are supposed to fall into the price range
of the E6xxx series' of processors as their prices come down. I am mainly
interested in the larger cache and possible perfomance gain of overclocking
the E6600. I know that the lower fsb of the E4xxx and lower would probably
give a better % of overclockability, but I am looking more at getting more
performance rather than just raw MHZ. I presently have an I630 3.0ghz
running at 3.6 and it is ok, but the E6600 outperforms it even at stock
speeds in every bench I have seen (and this sucker has always been a hot
one..:-).

Ed

Ed Medlin wrote:
The QX6700 and above Extreme quad is not coming down
in price by very big margins as the Core 2 Duos are. Intel's
price drops are focused on the mid and lower range processors
and not a lot on the higher end.

Well, from $8xx to $5xx, and since you did mention video editing!

They are going to release some new versions of the Quad cores,
but I don't have a clue as to when.

I read August. It'll be here before you know it.

They are supposed to fall into the price range of the E6xxx series'
of processors as their prices come down. I am mainly interested
in the larger cache and possible perfomance gain of overclocking
the E6600.

I think I read $3xx for a quad core in August.

I know that the lower fsb of the E4xxx and lower would probably give
a better % of overclockability, but I am looking more at getting more
performance rather than just raw MHZ.

I was originally going to get an E6600 because of the cache, but in most
of the benchmarks I saw, the extra cache didn't have a profound effect.
So I got the E6400.

I presently have an I630 3.0ghz running at 3.6 and it is ok, but the E6600
outperforms it even at stock speeds in every bench I have seen (and this
sucker has always been a hot one..:-).

Quick, sell it to your brother before he changes his mind!

I memtest+d four sticks of that cheap memory at 445 x 7 2.2v all day and
all was well when I got home. I just tried to bump it up to 450 and the
system said the overclock failed. I did have vcore and the northbridge
voltage at stock, though...

---reading avidly---
I'm enjoying reading through this thread...good stuff!
Have you tried SpeedFan? http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
I have version 4.32 running and it seems to be quite accurate, compared to a
couple of other measurements.
It has a very nice graphing feature that can track the dual cpu temps very
quickly as load changes occur.
I'll post more about my 6600/ASUS experience as I go.

As long as I'm here, what CPU core voltages do you folks run? All I've
found is that Intel specs the core voltage at 0.850 to 1.3525V. What is
default, and what is a good starting place for OC'ing?
Thanks,
Jack R


"Phil Weldon" wrote in message
ink.net...
'Fishface' wrote:
| That temperature seems mighty low for a fully loaded dual core at 3 GHz
| with stock cooling, especially at that voltage. Did you try the Orthos
to
| which I linked? That essentially runs an instance of Prime 95 torture
test
| on each core.
|
| How fast is your fan turning? My stock Intel HSF that came with the
| E6400 doesn't ever turn faster than around 1700 RPM, for some
| reason. I even tried shorting pin 4 (PWM) to 12v as suggested by
| someone, and it still turned at 1700. To its credit, it is at least
quiet.

| I too was surprised by the low CPU temperatures, but it was the nVidia
Stability test. I have downloaded the Orthos test you suggested, but
haven't installed it yet - I don't have antivirus/antimalware protection
installed on the system, and I don't want to network it until I do. The
trouble with the PCI IDE card prevents me from easily transferring the
downloads, but I just got a USB 2.0 outboard enclosure for the 300 GByte
drive that has all my documents and downloads. I should be installing
Orthos soon, and will post a report. After than I am going to take two
steps back and try to figure out what the EVGA 680i motherboard BIOS will
do
'behind your back.' Also I need to find a better way to keep track of
temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds; some reading I can't get, some
seem
unreliable, and none are as convenient as Motherboard Monitor (which
unfortunately is no longer being maintained or updated.)

I have seen CPU fan speed as low as 1100 rpm and as high as 1800 rpm. I
just have no confidence that is real. I also notice that the EVGA 8800
GTS
fan is VERY slow, perhaps only a few hundred rpm. It is very quiet and
seemingly handles the power dissipation of the nVidia Stability test with
a
GPU temperature of 35 to 40 C above ambient.

More later.

Phil Weldon

"Fishface" ? wrote in message
news:g%vUh.932$Qp.347@trnddc07...
| Phil Weldon wrote:
| **** Intel E4300 @ 3 GHz, 1333 MHz FSB, 1066 memory bus
| (1.41 VDC CPU core, 1.80 VDC memory)
|
| The CPU and chipset fans were set to 100%.
| Intel boxed-retail heatsink/fan w/ zinc oxide in ester base thermal
grease.
| No case fans were used.
| The case side was open.
|
| nVidia Control Panel Stability Test
| 'Verify the stability of the following' (settings)
| CPU
| Memory
| PCI-E bus
| GPU
|
|
|
| IDLE Temperatures:
| Room ambient: 21 C
| CPU: 32 C
| System (chipset?): 36 C
| GPU: 52 C
| Stability Test temperatures, 6 hour run
| Room ambient temperatu 21 C
| CPU: 47 C
|
| That temperature seems mighty low for a fully loaded dual core at 3 GHz
| with stock cooling, especially at that voltage. Did you try the Orthos
to
| which I linked? That essentially runs an instance of Prime 95 torture
test
| on each core.
|
| How fast is your fan turning? My stock Intel HSF that came with the
| E6400 doesn't ever turn faster than around 1700 RPM, for some
| reason. I even tried shorting pin 4 (PWM) to 12v as suggested by
| someone, and it still turned at 1700. To its credit, it is at least
quiet.
|
|
|

I memtest+d four sticks of that cheap memory at 445 x 7 2.2v
all day and all was well when I got home. I just tried to bump it
up to 450 and the system said the overclock failed. I did have
vcore and the northbridge voltage at stock, though...

I bumped up the Vmch (Northbridge) a notch and still no go at
450. 449 is stable, though. I think there must be a strap change
at 450 or something. I'll try bumping it up on the fly in Windows.

"Jack R" wrote in message
...
---reading avidly---
I'm enjoying reading through this thread...good stuff!
Have you tried SpeedFan? http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
I have version 4.32 running and it seems to be quite accurate, compared to
a couple of other measurements.
It has a very nice graphing feature that can track the dual cpu temps very
quickly as load changes occur.
I'll post more about my 6600/ASUS experience as I go.

As long as I'm here, what CPU core voltages do you folks run? All I've
found is that Intel specs the core voltage at 0.850 to 1.3525V. What is
default, and what is a good starting place for OC'ing?
Thanks,
Jack R

Glad you enjoy reading all this 'stuff'. Actually, this is about as active
as this group has been in awhile. As far as core voltages go, the defaults
are different with about every processor offering. We try and run as low a
core voltage as possible and still achieve our goal. The starting place is
whatever the processor default is from intel.com or the box. We get what we
can at that voltage and then raise it a tad and do it again. After going
through this process a few times we eventually find the processor's max
overclockability. Heat is usually the first deciding factor. As a processor
is overclocked, the temperature becomes more and more important. 60c at
default speeds might be just fine. 60c at a 30% overclock might cause
instability. I am waiting for my E6600/680i package now so maybe we can
share some info. Hopefully I can get started before the weekend.



Ed