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Let's Overclock My PC

Well, I figured it may be beneficial for me to overclock my processor, who doesen't love free upgrades? Anyway, I'm not trying to achieve record breaking overclocks, just something basic for now, and probably some more later. Seeing as there are some more experiened people available in this forum, I figured I may as well ask, rather than destroy my system.

Anyway, here's what i've got so far:

Intel Q8400 2.66 GHz (Def. FSB is 333MHz)
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L. Supports FSB speeds of 1600MHz
Standard Kingston RAM 2GB (x2) DDR2 800 MHz

Like I said earlier, nothing special. Currently, by adjusting the FSB in the BIOS from 333 to 375, I have 3.0GHz right now. 10 Min in OCCT reports a max temp of 70C under load, I have not fully stress tested it yet so far.

My question is in regards to my RAM. I only increased my FSB to 375, and left everything else on the default AUTO setting. In regards to safe practice, what should I do about my RAM? I want to leave it stock, so is it fine right now?

Feel free to divulge some knowledge you may have on overclocking in general. Also, has anyone had experience with Gigabytes CIA 2 dynamic overclocking tool?
 

MenaceInc

Staff Member
Well, I figured it may be beneficial for me to overclock my processor, who doesen't love free upgrades? Anyway, I'm not trying to achieve record breaking overclocks, just something basic for now, and probably some more later. Seeing as there are some more experiened people available in this forum, I figured I may as well ask, rather than destroy my system.

Anyway, here's what i've got so far:

Intel Q8400 2.66 GHz (Def. FSB is 333MHz)
Gigabyte EP45-UD3L. Supports FSB speeds of 1600MHz
Standard Kingston RAM 2GB (x2) DDR2 800 MHz

Like I said earlier, nothing special. Currently, by adjusting the FSB in the BIOS from 333 to 375, I have 3.0GHz right now. 10 Min in OCCT reports a max temp of 70C under load, I have not fully stress tested it yet so far.

My question is in regards to my RAM. I only increased my FSB to 375, and left everything else on the default AUTO setting. In regards to safe practice, what should I do about my RAM? I want to leave it stock, so is it fine right now?

Feel free to divulge some knowledge you may have on overclocking in general. Also, has anyone had experience with Gigabytes CIA 2 dynamic overclocking tool?


Any experience that I've had with overclocking has told me that generally the RAM is the least overclockable. It doesn't help that your RAM is rated for DDR2-800. Also, going from 333 to 375 on the FSB is quite a big jump, I'd recommend you take smaller jumps in overclocking.

Also, I'd recommend writing all default settings on some paper and making note of ANY changes you make.
 

-chw42-

Like a Boss
You have a P45 board, it should overclock pretty well.

How good is your power supply? You'll have to play with the voltage sooner or later. If you don't OC the RAM, your FSB wall is 400 MHz. So you might want to consider that.
 
Not the best, i'll probably stick to stock voltages. Plus, I prefer having a buffer between the limit and overclocking, to preserve stability. Plus, 3 GHz is brilliant. TF2 performance, for one, has increased dramatically. Used to hover around 60, now around 110 fps.

Reports for the Q8400 have proven to reach ~3.9 GHz with cooling and higher voltages, so it's good to know it has further potential. Seeing as it's the cache that classes it as a Q8xxx, they've proven to be decent budget overclockers.
 
I also found something else that's useful, and should help in the long term. I'm using RMClock to adjust my multiplier down to 6x (2.25 GHz) when I don't need full power. Usually, it only goes down to 6x when idle, but at least this way I can underclock it when doing less intensive tasks, like browsing the web.
 

-chw42-

Like a Boss
Not the best, i'll probably stick to stock voltages. Plus, I prefer having a buffer between the limit and overclocking, to preserve stability. Plus, 3 GHz is brilliant. TF2 performance, for one, has increased dramatically. Used to hover around 60, now around 110 fps.

Reports for the Q8400 have proven to reach ~3.9 GHz with cooling and higher voltages, so it's good to know it has further potential. Seeing as it's the cache that classes it as a Q8xxx, they've proven to be decent budget overclockers.

Intels overclock really well. You should be able to get yours to about 3.3-3.5 GHz without much issue. Although if you want to do about 3.5, you might have to up voltage for stability.
 
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