**Official e8400/e8500 Retail OC Thread

[RedBull78]

Is anyone having problems with Cpu-Z showing wrong multi while idling?

On idle or right now its reading 6x475 or 2850mhz but during load it jumps to 3.8ghz where it should be. I don't get it.

[AriciU]

Heh. That's Intel's EIST. Disable it in the bios if you want your full speed all the time.

[AriciU]

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...21#post2759421
post 1165
E8400 died
Known - benching 1.65v on air, running at 4300 on 1.5V.

That's an E8500 not 8400

[RedBull78]

Heh. That's Intel's EIST. Disable it in the bios if you want your full speed all the time.

Yeh I knew it. But i tried disabling it but then my PC wont post and I have to reset the Cmos...Weird huh?

[rge]

I assume when voltage values are given regarding the degradation of the chips that it would be the reported value, not the value set in the BIOS?

Of the two that had issues at 1.41, one specified 1.41 measured, the other one was translated greek and was so vague I was not sure if he was actually seeing degradation or variability or what.

The rest, at higher vcore, they do not specify, maybe some will chime in and say, but none could be below 1.4 real, and only one at 1.4 ran 600fsb for 6 hours.

Well that first case would be me.
I will try to fill in the blanks: ...

thanks!

That's an E8500 not 8400

thanks, I fixed it...on the greek thread one or two may have been e8500 as well.

[RedBull78]

I'm starting to think these cpu's are cheap for a reason...

I kind of miss my AMD rig arghhh i had the best of the best , DFI Expert with Opty 165 with best stepping doing 2.9ghz at stock voltage...

Honestly, the amd rig felt a bit more responsive....

[Zucker2k]

I'm starting to think these cpu's are cheap for a reason...

I kind of miss my AMD rig arghhh i had the best of the best , DFI Expert with Opty 165 with best stepping doing 2.9ghz at stock voltage...

Honestly, the amd rig felt a bit more responsive....

Why don't you run your cpu at stock? It'll still be faster than your AMD rig.

[RedBull78]

Why don't you run your cpu at stock? It'll still be faster than your AMD rig.

I never said it was faster. I just think it was more responsive or snappier if you know wut im trying to say.

I know my current rig is much faster then my last. But again, i never had to worry about voltages or anything else.

[unclewebb]

My apologies to everyone on this thread, especially cadaveca, for ever doubting the degrading E8x00 processors issue. The problem is real. Now we just have to find out what a safe maximum voltage should be. Based on the Intel docs I'll be sticking to a maximum of 1.40 volts with my new Wolfie and keeping a close eye on any degrading of performance.

I've started testing with my IR thermometer pointed at my new E8400. I didn't want anything getting in my way of some accurate temp readings so I pulled off the heatsink for a direct shot at the cores.

Anyone that lives in fear when their CoreTemps hit 70C don't need to worry. That's nothing!





When I tested my previous E6400 I found that the readings from my IR gun pointed directly at the IHS were exactly equal to what CoreTemp was reporting from about 47C to 85C where it would begin to throttle.

My E8400 is different. I've seen some users reporting maximum CoreTemps of 70C. When CoreTemp reports 70C for my E8400, the IR gun is only showing an actual temperature of 60C. At lower temperatures the difference approaches 15C. I think this will make a lot of sense for anyone that has gone from dual core Conroe to dual core Penryn on the same board.

The other test I did was I ran my E6400 and E8400 at the same MHz and core voltage. With a small hand held high speed fan pointing at the cores, the lowest I could get down to with my E6400 was 47C as reported by CoreTemp and the IR gun. The 45nm E8400 is smaller and more efficient so common sense says it should run cooler. CoreTemp was reporting 57C during this test but the IR gun was only showing 42C. 5C cooler makes logical sense. Penryn running 10C hotter than Conroe at idle makes no sense.

From this I would have to say to take the absolute reported temperatures based on the on chip sensors with a grain of salt. Intel does not document these sensors being used for that purpose. All of the chips may have a similar temperature curve to what I found but there is no guarantee of that. The on chip DTS was designed for thermal throttling and for showing distance to the throttling point which CoreTemp reports correctly. Just keep in mind that 50 units of headroom until throttling does not exactly translate to 50C of headroom.

Better yet, just forget about temperatures. That's the least of ones worries with these chips. There's a huge amount of temperature head room, even when grossly overclocked. With Penryn, it's voltage headroom that people need to watch. Sorry for getting off topic but I thought this is info that overclockers need to know. I plan to start a new thread tomorrow with more pictures and details. Hopefully if I haven't damaged my new chip too bad I'll be back with a nice OC in the near future.

[Sepander]

unclewebb

Thanks for the info.

[dropglock]

Here's my 24/7 settings. I got some questions though. Do you guys think I need to reinstall my heatsink because 76 degrees is high! And are these bio's settings safe enough to last me 2 years? And what's up with the system information under OCCT? Its all wrong. Thanks.



and the bios settings.

[Damien]

e8400 SLAPL q746A pack date 1/15/08

OCCT stable on 500x8 (4ghz) @ 1.312v

can't get it to boot at 4.1 no matter which multiplier, haven't messed with anything but cpu and ram voltage

temps are 42c idle / 63c load. think i have myself a good chip overall 4ghz isn't as high as some but it's at a decent voltage and temp at least.

i can't figure out what to mess with on my bloodiron to get it to boot past 4.0 though

[Mav451]

Did you consider going 4Ghz the easier way (i.e. 9x multiplier) so your FSB isn't as high? I'm only pushing 1.296v for 9 x 445, and I have some room (9 x 451 OCCT stable). I'm sure you could get more that way.

[Shampoo]

I never said it was faster. I just think it was more responsive or snappier if you know wut im trying to say.

I know my current rig is much faster then my last. But again, i never had to worry about voltages or anything else.

I agree with you.

My current E6420 on an Asus P5N-E SLI board overclocked to 3.4GHz just doesn't feel as "responsive" as my HTPC build (AMD X2 5000+, Gigabyte GA-MA69GM-S2H) at stock settings 2.6GHz.

Also my previous Opteron 146, DFI Ultra-D s939 build seemed "smoother" as well.

I dunno, it may be all in my head, but of course when it comes to actual performance in applications and games, my current build is faster.

For all purpose workstations (Office applications, etc) I would put together a cheaper AMD X2 system.

I had temperature and stability issues with my E8400 as well, but am still waiting for an updated bios release from Asus.

[Supertim0r]

Here's my 24/7 settings. I got some questions though. Do you guys think I need to reinstall my heatsink because 76 degrees is high! And are these bio's settings safe enough to last me 2 years? And what's up with the system information under OCCT? Its all wrong.



and the bios settings.

you should drop the VTT volt

[PhilDoc]

I never said it was faster. I just think it was more responsive or snappier if you know wut im trying to say.

I know my current rig is much faster then my last. But again, i never had to worry about voltages or anything else.

I just switched from DFI Ultra-D and an Opty 185 at 3.1 and I don't really see that the AMD system was any smoother or snappier. Maybe its just me. I'm very happy with the e8400 and my choice of mb. As far as the degradation, its a little scary, but it appears atm that as long as you keep the vcore reasonable, you wont have any problems. Anyway, I hope you get things worked out. I'm pretty new at this, but I can help, let me know.

[g1raffe]

Heres my E8400, and what it can do.

http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...rydg/3813V.jpg
http://i138.photobucket.com/albums/q...dg/391328V.jpg



And 4.2Ghz @ 1.48V, which I run 24/7, and I can't find the screenshot atm.

[Damien]

Did you consider going 4Ghz the easier way (i.e. 9x multiplier) so your FSB isn't as high? I'm only pushing 1.296v for 9 x 445, and I have some room (9 x 451 OCCT stable). I'm sure you could get more that way.

yeah can't boot into 4.1 on x9 either, i've tried 8 and 9. i've tested everything to 540fsb on x7 multi so it SHOULD do it...makes no sense to me.

[laragirl83]

Guess I am kind of stabilized at 4GHz...
FSB Termination 1.30V
NB Voltage 1.45V

[cadaveca]

Thanks for your help Cadaveca How are the little ones doing?

NP, hopefully we can figure out what the story is so others aren't so concerned...it's almsot looking like we might be able to figure out if a cpu is gonna degrade or not....

Kids are good, driving thier mother up the wall, as always, thanks for asking!

[maxwolfie]

And 4.2Ghz @ 1.48V, which I run 24/7, and I can't find the screenshot atm.

Vcore way too high for 24/7 dude

[g1raffe]

Vcore way too high for 24/7 dude

I don't care if people think its too high, or if I think its too high(I recommend <1.4V for 24/7 use to other people), but CPU's still last ages, even with this voltage I'm sure it will last me for longer than I need it. Chances are I would have upgraded in <12months anyway.

[laragirl83]

I don't care if people think its too high, or if I think its too high(I recommend <1.4V for 24/7 use to other people), but CPU's still last ages, even with this voltage I'm sure it will last me for longer than I need it. Chances are I would have upgraded in <12months anyway.

Yes, it is also true... If there is no major problem with the CPU or really high voltage, you need to be very unlucky to have a wolfdale die on your hands...
Well, its sure as hell it wont last 30 years with voltage around 1.4V, only 15 years, but who cares....?! Eventually you r going to upgrade in a year or 2 maybe 3! And? It will still work like a charm, u can sell it, do what ever u want!

[maxwolfie]

Still, it seems as though pushing it beyond 1.45v can degrade the CPU at a very fast rate (i.e. before you want to upgrade it in 12 months time), and even possibly kill it.

[AriciU]

Yes, it is also true... If there is no major problem with the CPU or really high voltage, you need to be very unlucky to have a wolfdale die on your hands...
Well, its sure as hell it wont last 30 years with voltage around 1.4V, only 15 years, but who cares....?! Eventually you r going to upgrade in a year or 2 maybe 3! And? It will still work like a charm, u can sell it, do what ever u want!

Yup, 15 years. It lasted me a total of 8 days First day benches at 1.65v and then 1.48v 24/7 @ 4300.