**Official e8400/e8500 Retail OC Thread

[Mumid]

Well on my setup, my e8400 was orthos\prime stable at 1.4000 in the bios giving me 1.392 idle and 1.376 load. However, now i need to set 1.40625 in the bios which still gives me 1.392 idle but now load also stays at 1.392 with only very short slight drops to 1.376. Is that degrading or is that normal?

[CrazyNutz]

Well on my setup, my e8400 was orthos\prime stable at 1.4000 in the bios giving me 1.392 idle and 1.376 load. However, now i need to set 1.40625 in the bios which still gives me 1.392 idle but now load also stays at 1.392 with only very short slight drops to 1.376. Is that degrading or is that normal?

Could be some degrading happening, my 8400 seemed to have a graceful
degradation when I was running 1.4v or more, this freaked me out so I keep it
at or bellow the 1.36 max now, and I have not seen anymore degradation.
Of course now I could only run it @ 3.8ghz @ 1.36v so I decided to put this
CPU in my HTPC @ stock frequency and voltage, and I bought a new 8400
for my main rig and running it at 3960mhz @ 1.32v, Im happy with this and
I will not go over 1.36v again. If you read the e8000 series data sheet you
will see:
1.45v is "absolute maximum ratings and lie OUTSIDE the functional limits of the processor."

At conditions outside functional operation condition limits, but within absolute
maximum and minimum ratings, neither functionality nor long-term reliability can be
expected. If a device is returned to conditions within functional operation limits after
having been subjected to conditions outside these limits, but within the absolute
maximum and minimum ratings, the device may be functional, but with its lifetime
degraded depending on exposure to conditions exceeding the functional operation
condition limits.

At conditions exceeding absolute maximum and minimum ratings, neither functionality
nor long-term reliability can be expected. Moreover, if a device is subjected to these
conditions for any length of time then, when returned to conditions within the
functional operating condition limits, it will either not function, or its reliability will be
severely degraded.

To sum it up:
1.45v is the "ABSOLUTE MAX" voltage, and is OUTSIDE the functional limits of the
processor, so damage/degradation will occur but will be more graceful.

However 1.36v is the "MAX" voltage that is WITHIN the functional limits of the processor,
so no damage should occur. (but will likely shorten the life of the proc from maybe 10 - 15
years, to say 5 years.)
Anything over 1.45v will severely degrade your CPU.

If you are planning on keeping your CPU for a while then keep it
AT OR BELLOW 1.36v.

Oh, and I know that some have had the vcore at > 1.4 for a long time
and have seen no degradation, they either have a gem chip, or they have just not
noticed the degradation yet.

Good Luck

[Big Lar]

Been working on my OC a bit more, got it at 4303 1.36v idle,1.328v Load. Passed 10 minutes 10kfft's so far,(Orthos), more testing today, and a SS to come later.

Question for all who know more than I,( which BTW includes too many) Clockgen Voltage.... Exactly what does it do, and has anyone needed to raise it at say 9x478 or lower? Thanks in advance.

Larry

[Mav451]

I don't think anyone's really tried messing with it yet.

[NINaudio]

For example running at 4300mhz on my P5K Prem board needs 1.375v CPU,1.60PLL,1.30FSB term,1.40NB,1.05SB,Clock Overcharge .90,Transaction Booster disabled,CPU&NB GTL is .59 and .61. Ram is Ballistix at 1148 4-4-4-12-3-35-6-3-3 at 2.35v on a 333 strap with static read enabled.

What is the fucntion of clock overcharge? I have this option in my p5k-e bios, but have left it alone.

[CrazyNutz]

Been working on my OC a bit more, got it at 4303 1.36v idle,1.328v Load. Passed 10 minutes 10kfft's so far,(Orthos), more testing today, and a SS to come later.

Question for all who know more than I,( which BTW includes too many) Clockgen Voltage.... Exactly what does it do, and has anyone needed to raise it at say 9x478 or lower? Thanks in advance.

Larry

Clockgen Voltage (I would suspect) is the same as PLL voltage which would
be the voltage of the clock signal being sent to your CPU. So if your FSB is
set to 478mhz then your clock signal alternates from low ~0v to high 1.50v
(standard intel PLL signal voltage spec.) 478 million times per second. Raising
this > 1.50 can help with clocking the FSB higher, but from my experience
it's only marginal at best, and it's risky to play with since too high of values have shown to degrade CPU's faster that anything.

Good Luck

[Big Lar]

Clockgen Voltage (I would suspect) is the same as PLL voltage which would
be the voltage of the clock signal being sent to your CPU. So if your FSB is
set to 478mhz then your clock signal alternates from low ~0v to high 1.50v
(standard intel PLL signal voltage spec.) 478 million times per second. Raising
this > 1.50 can help with clocking the FSB higher, but from my experience
it's only marginal at best, and it's risky to play with since too high of values have shown to degrade CPU's faster that anything.

Good Luck

Thanks, I havn't messed with it yet, I have another setting for VTT, which I thought was the same as PLL? My VTT voltage is default 1.1v shown in bios as 1.12v. I did up that to 1.13v which shows 1.15v in bios voltages. I have read that 1.15v is the max reccomended for VTT, and as I am only testing, I hope it will be OK.

Just trying to figure out what the Clockgen Voltage Exactly is. Thanks

Larry

[CrazyNutz]

Thanks, I havn't messed with it yet, I have another setting for VTT, which I thought was the same as PLL? My VTT voltage is default 1.1v shown in bios as 1.12v. I did up that to 1.13v which shows 1.15v in bios voltages. I have read that 1.15v is the max reccomended for VTT, and as I am only testing, I hope it will be OK.

Just trying to figure out what the Clockgen Voltage Exactly is. Thanks

Larry

No VTT is your FSB termination voltage, I am getting best results with this at the intel default of 1.10v. Tweaking VTT/FSB term normally involves tweaking
GTL Ref voltages to get the best results.

[DStealth]

Still testing one new toy
4200@1.29V over 30min Orthos stable ..i'll go higher 24.5* ambient , so load temp are rather high



Edit: 4250@1.29V /500*8.5/ still no errors

[Big Lar]

No VTT is your FSB termination voltage, I am getting best results with this at the intel default of 1.10v. Tweaking VTT/FSB term normally involves tweaking
GTL Ref voltages to get the best results.

Thanks! I have been messing with GTL's as well, tho on this board the only settings are 57/61/63/67 for CPU GTL's, and 61/67 for the NB GTL's. I found my best so far as 63/61/61.

Took a SS of 15 minutes or so of 10k FFT's, hopefully it shows correctly. Will run Blend overnight.

Larry

[mk-ultra]

the good> it does 3600 @ 1.19/1.20 (windows)

the bad> i'm having a hard getting it stable around 4ghz, right now i'm running 480x8.5 - 1.4125bios/1.4windows and i think i'm ok, it's prime stable(haven't tested for long half an hour only)but when i play cod4 it keeps crashing the game below that.

and i can forget about 500+fsb, maybe it's my mobo?

it's a Q745A553 pack date>12/27/07

well i have to retract my bitterness toward my CPU :P

it just did 9H of prime2004(2 instance) @ 470X9 @ 1.325(bios) 1.310(dmm) 1.312(everest)

it just needed more NB voltage, i'm running 1.41 right now and i put an old amd cpu fan on my heatpipe system and it's just a bit hot to the touch

this is much more encouraging results

i also tried some prime @ 500 fsb and it ran for 10 minutes, usually it failed within 15sec, it just sux i don't have good divider for my ram near 500fsb

[Origin_Unknown]

what should i keep my voltage under on my e8500??

[ThatGuy16]

In my opinion, i wouldn't go over 1.35v for air (24/7 use). I made my limit 1.4v for benching..

But, thats just me

[BailA]

Hi,i have a P5K DX with E8400,have a setting for this motheboard?I want set with 500 FSB.
Thank's

[flesheatinvirus]

What is the fucntion of clock overcharge? I have this option in my p5k-e bios, but have left it alone.

From what I understand its another voltage tweak in addition to the CPu Vcore that allows your cpu to draw even more current then your vcore value set in the bios when under heavy load. You can go up to 1v when needed but you also really need extreme cooling to compensate for that nice little feature as things can get scary real fast. IMO it was designed for use when you have Phase or Dice cooling on the Prem to increase stability under serious clocking conditions. The Prem was made for water cooling anyway. Run it low for performance and raise it for high clock stability but make sure you have some serious cooling. Im running my Wolf 8400 in my Mega test Stacker rig which has seperate high flow oversized loops for the CPU and card with multible rads so I can take advantage of that feature without potential issue. Leave it on Auto or at the bottom of the scale.

[Big Lar]

From what I understand its another voltage tweak in addition to the CPu Vcore that allows your cpu to draw even more current then your vcore value set in the bios when under heavy load. You can go up to 1v when needed but you also really need extreme cooling to compensate for that nice little feature as things can get scary real fast. IMO it was designed for use when you have Phase or Dice cooling on the Prem to increase stability under serious clocking conditions. The Prem was made for water cooling anyway. Run it low for performance and raise it for high clock stability but make sure you have some serious cooling. Im running my Wolf 8400 in my Mega test Stacker rig which has seperate high flow oversized loops for the CPU and card with multible rads so I can take advantage of that feature without potential issue. Leave it on Auto or at the bottom of the scale.

Thanks for that I think my cooling could probably handle a heat spike, but who needs it for everyday stuff

Larry

[hersounds]

guys and the passion where is? ... If it breaks shall endeavour to buy another,remove the pleasure of seeing high numbers?, use it,try it, this is a much stronger addiction.
I today would not be armed with a system default, I know there are all kinds of users, but at least acknowledge that type of user I am, I think it is not wrong to say so.

[Furiøùs]

Well, i screwed my E8400.. It cant do 4.02GHz (1780QDR) anymore.. used to do 8hrs stable of OCCT and Prime and now it wont do 2minutes... God damnit! Im at 3.83GHz, but wow i cant believe it degraded

[HDCHOPPER]

Still testing one new toy
4200@1.29V over 30min Orthos stable ..i'll go higher 24.5* ambient , so load temp are rather high



Edit: 4250@1.29V /500*8.5/ still no errors

EXELLENT !
what batch # please

[HDCHOPPER]

guys and the passion where is? ... If it breaks shall endeavour to buy another,remove the pleasure of seeing high numbers?, use it,try it, this is a much stronger addiction.
I today would not be armed with a system default, I know there are all kinds of users, but at least acknowledge that type of user I am, I think it is not wrong to say so.

BAHAHHAHAA

[ThatGuy16]

Well, i screwed my E8400.. It cant do 4.02GHz (1780QDR) anymore.. used to do 8hrs stable of OCCT and Prime and now it wont do 2minutes... God damnit! Im at 3.83GHz, but wow i cant believe it degraded

What voltage were you on?

[DStealth]

EXELLENT !
what batch # please

46 week , not sure about other digits, cos it's mounted and has no box case to look at
It's one hell of a chip there, i'm shocked
Still in testing process :
4465@1.384V Primeing /set in windows, so coretemp is not reading right freq./


and now i'm upping:
4500@1.41v

[mrcape]

Great chip man but from experience, you might not want to run prime up over 1.4v..

[DStealth]

Great chip man but from experience, you might not want to run prime up over 1.4v..

With last one was running more then a month @ 1.55-1.57V load volts @ 4400mhz
So i'm sure what to do, and belive it or not there in no degradation, just those chips want to warm up, before get fully stable at it's limits
Right now i remounted my block and look what we've got here
4545@1.42V and only 62-63* load temps Wow



4545@1.42V more than hour Prime 25.6 build6 /x64/ BLEND - more than enough for my needs

[mrcape]

Are you saying there's a break in or burn in phase? I was wondering about that. Because both of mine ran better (higher clocks with less voltage) for the first days at lower settings, then after I took them up over 1.4v they needed slightly more vcore at all clocks..