Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

[Outer Marker]

Hello all,

After many days of browsing the excellent information on this site, I'm ready to jump in and participate. I have a particular setup I'm looking to get some advice on, so without further ado, here's my information:

Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R motherboard
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale processor
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Newegg.com - G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory
eVGA GeForce 9800 GT 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 video card.

I am only interested in minor overclocking of the stock processor speed from 3.0GHz to maybe 3.2GHz, so nothing too cutting edge. My loading applications are Photoshop CS4 and Flight Simulator 2004. I don't play any other games other than Flight Simulator, but the game often entails numerous hours of continuous simulation, so my needs are stability over performance. A 9800 GT is more than enough for Flight simulator 2004 anyway. I also want to make sure I get that 1066 speed out of my memory.

Sorry if I am being long-winded in my first post, but I wanted to make sure you have enough information to help me out. I should be receiving all my parts tomorrow and will begin building this week. Obviously the motherboard will be set to optimum defaults at first, but I'm sure we can do a bit better no?

Thanks in advance!

-- Outer Marker

[SpeedEuphoria]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

If its like my E8400 it will do 3.8Ghz on stock voltages so 3.6 would be an easy OC. Just set the FSB to 400 and should be good even w/ a stock intel cooler

[Outer Marker]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

That's great news, thanks! So assuming I go 3.6GHz at stock voltages, and all goes well, would it be worth seeing how far I can back off voltages to keep temperature and power consumption to a minumum?

LSD - do you have a template for this sort of setup?

Many thanks for all this info guys,

-- Outer Marker.

[SpeedEuphoria]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

So assuming I go 3.6GHz at stock voltages, and all goes well, would it be worth seeing how far I can back off voltages to keep temperature and power consumption to a minumum?

Yes may be able to back it off some. Also if you are into saving power like I am then after making sure its stable then try the EIST and C1E/2E/4E, ect.. to lower the cpu clock at idle(if your not crunching) and lower volts further. Also try DES software as long as it works good for you(some have issues, mine worked good but the board made a high pitched noise when DES was enabled). If you do use low power state(6x multiplier x your FSB, then its best to stability test that low voltage setting also to make sure your all around stable).

Also be aware that these boards seem to have issues with "hibernate/sleep" after OC'd to a point.

BTW, mines an E0 stepping, if your is C0 then 3.6 is prob max on 1.25v???

Mainly set the PCI-E frequency to 100, disable legacy USB support, set the MCH to 1.24-1.28 for 4GB, set the Dram voltage to what your memory says and same with the timings, make sure its stable at stock. You may find you need to change the MCH reference to lower setting

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

Sure do here ya go man >>>
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: Auto or Fast
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.0
CPU Frequency ...........................: 3.609


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 401Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:Set to 100

C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: <<< 800
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: <<< 900
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: <<<
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<<


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier ..............: 2.66D
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 1066Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5
tRCD .........................................5
tRP'...........................................5
tRAS..........................................15/18

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................3-4
tWTR..........................................3-5
tWR............................................4-6
tRFC...........................................52-62
tRTP...........................................3-5
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Driving Strength Profiles
Driving Strength ............................800/1066 (Test both)

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:6/7-10 333/B MCH - 8/9-12 400/D MCH
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:<<< Leave for all below as well
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................:6/7-10 333/B MCH - 8/9-12 400/D MCH
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:<<< Leave for all below as well
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................:1.25-1.36 (All up to your chip and boards Vdrop/Vdroop. Do not use Auto, same applies for Vtt and PLL below, do not use Auto when overclocking)

CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< 1.2-1.36 (1.2-1.28 likely plenty)
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: << 1.5-1.58

CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< .64% Of Vtt (Termination above) Auto Will set this correctly

CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< .67% Of Vtt (Termination above) Auto Will set this correctly

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: << 1.2-1.3 (1.22-1.26 likely good)
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< Leave
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< Leave
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< 1.5-1.6
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< 1.1x-1.2

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: 2.0-2.1
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< Leave
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< Leave
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< Leave

Advanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled] Enabled if you use Vmware/Virtual PC

Integrated Peripherals
Legacy USB Storage Detect ..............[Disabled] *Note* Must be enabled to flash from USB

[Outer Marker]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

Thanks for this LSD, I like the looks of it. Before I aim for that high, I'd like to work on a profile that gives me 3.4 GHz - might even be able to stay closer to stock voltages no?

I was thinking of a 380 MHz FSB * 9 multiplier for 3420

Now how would the memory clocks need to change? I was thinking of a 3.2B to stay on the 333 strap or is that not adviseable? Is the 400 strap even possible for me (2.66D) if I do a 380 FSB as above?

I'm not understanding the relationship (if any) of the "strap" to aim for and how it related to FSB.

-- Outer Marker.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Advice for minor OC of GA-EP45-UD3R and E8400

You may be able to use either strap at 380 FSB, so you would have to try both out. B would be better though. But I dont think your ram will run at 1216Mhz so you would have to use 2.40B or 2.66D.

MCH Voltage may need to be adjusted for either strap/multi change. So if it wont boot for you try less/more MCH Voltage. And of course set the Static tRead Value to 10-12 for now until you get situated

Lower strap is better NB Bandwidth/timings and would be less stable at High FSB. Higher strap is Looser NB Bandwidth/timings and would be more stable at higher FSB.

The lower strap would give best performance but is often hard to get stable at higher FSB's. You should be able to use B though up to 400 FSB without much issue