Overclocking Help Needed

Azza

Awesome my 1337 post give me a medal!

Okay have upgraded my PC for my birthday and want to go about overclocking it. Problem is I'm not exactly sure how to do it.

The Machine is as follows.
CPU: Intel Core Duo e8400 3.0Ghz Wolfdale
Motherborad:Asus P5E X38 (latest Bios 5.02)
RAM:4GB(2x2GB)GEIL Black Dragon Evo One PC8500 5-5-5-15
GPU:Sapphire X1900XTX 512MB* (Catalyst 8.1 Driver)
Heatsink:Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme (Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM)
Opitcal Drive:Asus DRW-2014L1T 20x DVD±RW Sata
PSU:OCZ GameXsteam 700w
HD Sata:Western Digital Raptor 150GB,Western Digitak Raptor 74GB, Maxtor DiamondMax 10 300GB, Maxtor Diamond Max 10 250GB
HD Sata II:Western Digital Caviar SE16 500GB, Hitachi Deskstar T7K500 500GB
Case:Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gaming Case
Sound Card:Auzentech X-Fi Prelude 7.1
Monitor: Acer AL2423W
OS: Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit, Windows Xp Pro SP2

*The GPU will be upgraded later this month when the new Geforce 9800GX2 is released and I get to see how it compares to the 3870X2

I have the downloaded the following apps.
CPU-Z, Coretemp, 3DMark 06 ,Memtest, OCCT.

Now I would take pictures of the Bios but I have no digial camera at the moment so I'll just list out the bios.

CPU Settings
AI tweaker:Set to manual which allows me to adjust all the various settings and ignore the auto and X.M.P settings.
CPU Ratio Controller: I assume this is the CPU mutiplier and I can set this lower as I rase the FSB?
FSB Strap to North Bridge: Not sure exactly what this is?
FSB Frequency: This I raise to overclock the cpu right. What I want to know is how much should I raise the FSB in one go.
PCIE Frequency: Something to do with the 2 PCI-Express port I assume I leave this alone.

Memory Settings
DRAM Frequency: I know its the Ram frequency and I can set it to 667,800,835,1002,1066,111,1333. Don't know really when and where to use it.
Dram Timing Control: Have settings for the ram timings. Alot of setting here. I know the first 4 relate to the timings on my ram but I don't know what are RAS# to RAS# Delay, Row Refresh Cycle Time, Write Recovery Time. Write to Read Delay, Read to Precharge Time.
Dram Command Rate: Options For T1-T2
DRAM Static Read: Options for enabling and disabling.
Transaction Booster: No idea what this is.

Voltage Options (all are set to auto by default)
Vcore Voltage:Goes from 1.10000V to 2.40000V
CPU PLL Voltage:1.50V to 2.78V
FSB Termination Voltage 1.20V to 1.50V
DRAM Voltage: 1.80V to 2.66V
North Bridge Voltage:1.25V to 1.75V
South Bridge Voltage:1.050V to 1.225V
Clock Overchanging Voltage:0.70V to 1.00V
CPU Voltage Damper: Enabled or disable.
CPU Voltage Reference: 0.63x,0.61x,0.59x,0.57x
North Bridge Voltage Reference:0.67x,0.63x,0.60x,0.57x,0.56x,0.53x,0.51x,0.49x
SB 1.5V Voltage: 1.50v,1.55v,1.60v,1.65v,1.70v,1.75v,1.80v
VCC EXT PLL OV: Disable or Enabled.
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disable
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disable

All these settings I don't know where to begin. Any tips?

L31mr0d

pictures of the BIOS would really help... we don't really need to know what the BIOS settings are capable of, more what you have them currently set at.

What you can do first is just run a quick ram test to make sure the sticks are stable at their current settings. Reboot and tap F9 when the Vista bootloader is loading then press tab to select "Memory Diagnostic" Let it run through once. Then when you load back into Vista open core temp and post a screenshot of it so we can see what your idle temps on the CPU are.

Anti

For Someone that dosent know much about overclocking you are going about this the right way. You have downloaded some of the tools needed already. I would go and download super pi aswell. This was you can measure cpu operational speed. i.e the same core speed, but different combo or multi+fsb. eg 400x10 or 422x9 ( both 4ghz )

I can imagine you will be getting the 9800, i just have a feelings its gonna be faster. But its gonna be ****ing expensive too. And as rare as rocking horse ****.

First thing i would do is try to find yoru fsb wall on a lower multi. And also run a cpu stress test for 24 hours and find out what the temps are like.

Azza

Okay will post pictures of the Bios later on when I get my hands on digital camera.

Will also download SuperPi in the meantime.

With regards the graphics card the 3870x2 looks good in terms of performance at the moment but I do believe it will be beaten by the 9800GX2 in overall performance but its abit loud and draws alot of power. As it is the 3870x2 is not capable of running Crysis and World in Conflict at decent frame rates on DX10 and can barely run those games on high DX9 settings at 1680x1050. But I reckon the 9800GX2 won't be able to do that either and for those games it will be the generation after that will run those games well. So it really all depends on how much better the 9800GX2 is and the price.

I also have the possibilty of running CrossfireX with the X38 chipset. If AMD can get decenet scaling out of it when they finally get some drivers out for it I might consider it. Might try running CrossfireX on 2 monitors Only downside is I would to upgrade my monitor and pay quite alot for it. But its still cheaper than SLI.

Will wait till the end of the month before making my purchase their.