I got
e4300
msi p6n-fi
2 gigs g.skill

this is my first attempts to
overclocking. ive researched the basic,
researched alot about my products and
still got some questions.

1. just curious about this one.. so far
i have only changed my fsb. when i
raised it up, my cpu temps actually went
down slightly.. both the MB software and
speed fan show this.. any ideas why?

2. i was at fsb 266 at 2.4 ghz for a
while and that was fine. but anyhitng
above that is unstable. but it doesnt
seem any less stable wether its at 2.45
or 2.6.. What should be the first
voltage i should change? and should the
voltage be the first thing to change to
get better stability

3. Im also abit confused in my bios. for
the vcore voltage the setting just says
0.0000v it wont go up to 1.anyhitng, so
does this just add certian amount of
volts to my normal 1.30?

4. i just noticed today that my memory
has been set at 5-5-5-15 timing. but my
memory is soposed to be running at
4-4-4-12. i know lossening the timing
can help when over clocking. so should i
keeep them at the 5-5-5 or should i try
and go with what they where made to run
at?

5.i also dual boot xp/vista. i will be
able to boot into xp fine but can hardly
ever get into vista. is this common with
OSes or just vista? and when i finaly
get the cpu OC'ed and stable will i need
to re install my OSes?

any help i can get on any of the
questions would be greatly apperciated

Quote: Originally Posted by wastedteenyears I got e4300 msi p6n-fi 2 gigs g.skill this is my first attempts to overclocking. ive researched the basic, researched alot about my products and still got some questions. 1. just curious about this one.. so far i have only changed my fsb. when i raised it up, my cpu temps actually went down slightly.. both the MB software and speed fan show this.. any ideas why? 2. i was at fsb 266 at 2.4 ghz for a while and that was fine. but anyhitng above that is unstable. but it doesnt seem any less stable wether its at 2.45 or 2.6.. What should be the first voltage i should change? and should the voltage be the first thing to change to get better stability 3. Im also abit confused in my bios. for the vcore voltage the setting just says 0.0000v it wont go up to 1.anyhitng, so does this just add certian amount of volts to my normal 1.30? 4. i just noticed today that my memory has been set at 5-5-5-15 timing. but my memory is soposed to be running at 4-4-4-12. i know lossening the timing can help when over clocking. so should i keeep them at the 5-5-5 or should i try and go with what they where made to run at? 5.i also dual boot xp/vista. i will be able to boot into xp fine but can hardly ever get into vista. is this common with OSes or just vista? and when i finaly get the cpu OC'ed and stable will i need to re install my OSes? any help i can get on any of the questions would be greatly apperciated

1. Possibly the ambient temps changed in your room between your stock and your overclock?

2. Yes, keep raising the FSB small increments until it becomes unstable. Test for stability with Orthos Stress Prime 2004 - Download Stress Prime 2004 BETA

Once it becomes unstable, increase your voltage up one notch at a time, keeping below 1.5v at all times unless you're on water-cooling. Always watch your temps and keep them below 60c @ full-load.

Also try increasing the FSB voltage and SPP voltage etc etc, but generaly they will not need much, it'll be the CPU voltage that needs upping for stability in most cases. Just take it slowly, and be careful, and monitor your temps and keep testing for stability after each successful OC.

3. That's weird, and I have no idea what's going on there, but I assure you your CPU will be recieving volts or it wouldn't work. Make sure it's not set to 'Auto' perhaps? Manually set it to 1.35v and work from there?

4. Your RAM should be fine at 4-4-4-12 so long as it has the right voltage running through it, and is running at stock mhz. Run them at CL4 if that's what they're supposed to run at.

5. In my experience Vista is a better monitor for stability as it notices an unstable OC and is more likely to crash than XP. If Vista is crashing, or won't even load period, then your overclock is NOT stable.

thanks alot for the help.. im just messing around still seeing how far i can get it..

i juts wanted to mention that my ambient temps did not change. i find it very wierd. i dont remeber the stock temps. buit at 2.4 it was consiently around 25C idle.. and since i have pushed it up to 2.5 my temps are now about 20c idle. and my load temps have dropped about teh same too, even after upping the voltage... really wierd.

the voltage things i mentioned.. just FYI what it did was added the amount that i mentioned on to the stock 1.3


right now i have fsb and memory in linked mode.. should i try and unlink them and have the memory at 1:1 ratio.

I am trying to get to about 3.0ghz with this. and im just getting stuck cause it seems like i can up the FSB and everything is fine.. and once i pass that changing the voltage hasnt seemed to make it any more stable.

my temps seem fine, and i have rasied my voltages some im just not sure what is stopping me from going further.

any other maybe tips or help would be great

is there more to this then just common sense. I have done a decent amount of research of the years and recently.. and i just cant get this CPU past 2.5ghz and be stable.

its like it will be stable as hell. i mean running prime 95, ortho, and nvidias stability test, all at the same time as well as monitoring software.. but then even if i raise it just from 1110 to 1120. it seems not matter how much i raise my CPU 's voltage it wont be stable.

it would seem like once i hit that point just upping the voltage should atleast let me get a bit farther then i am now.

is there kinda like a feeling to it.. like not just upping the volts but using the right combination of volts to the fsb? i just can figure it out.. with the CPU i read i should be able to 3.0 with out much trouble.. and ive read about my memory being able to easily over clock above 800.

im not just looking for some one to just walk me thru it, but maybe help point me into the right direction to help me find the next steps.

i can also post any info or anyhting you might, need just let me know

this is just driving me nuts, id really like to hit 3.0 or atleast 2.8. SO please any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

but I highly recommend you:
1) Download from here Throttle Watch cos you must know if the CPU throttling is on.
2) Don't bump Vcore > 1.4-1.45 (assuming that is an aircooled system).

Dual Boot Bad Idea

I've been told and have experienced.

XP and Vista don't play well together. Their drivers interfear with each other, which dosn't surprise me becase their very VERY similar systems. If you take vista and break it down to bare minimum you'll find XP. This also increases backwards compatiblity, I'ive been running game and applications on my Vista Ultimate 32bit machine that where intend for win 95 and 98.

Plain and simple it confuses the hell out of them.

So if you have your heart set on dual OS use hot swap drives I guess.

Quote: Originally Posted by Spatha Dual Boot Bad Idea I've been told and have experienced. XP and Vista don't play well together. Their drivers interfear with each other, which dosn't surprise me becase their very VERY similar systems. If you take vista and break it down to bare minimum you'll find XP. This also increases backwards compatiblity, I'ive been running game and applications on my Vista Ultimate 32bit machine that where intend for win 95 and 98. Plain and simple it confuses the hell out of them. So if you have your heart set on dual OS use hot swap drives I guess.

I've dual booted a laptops and and 3 PCs with XP & Vista without trouble. I've also never heard of dual-booting causing any problems. Not to discredit you, but that dual-booting could even remotely possibly cause problems is news to me.

Quote: Originally Posted by wastedteenyears is there more to this then just common sense. I have done a decent amount of research of the years and recently.. and i just cant get this CPU past 2.5ghz and be stable. its like it will be stable as hell. i mean running prime 95, ortho, and nvidias stability test, all at the same time as well as monitoring software.. but then even if i raise it just from 1110 to 1120. it seems not matter how much i raise my CPU 's voltage it wont be stable. it would seem like once i hit that point just upping the voltage should atleast let me get a bit farther then i am now. is there kinda like a feeling to it.. like not just upping the volts but using the right combination of volts to the fsb? i just can figure it out.. with the CPU i read i should be able to 3.0 with out much trouble.. and ive read about my memory being able to easily over clock above 800. im not just looking for some one to just walk me thru it, but maybe help point me into the right direction to help me find the next steps. i can also post any info or anyhting you might, need just let me know this is just driving me nuts, id really like to hit 3.0 or atleast 2.8. SO please any hints or tips would be greatly appreciated.

Tbh, if you've upped all voltages and turned off all the relative usual crap like throttling and spread spectrums and you're STILL having problems, I'd suggest either your CPU is just a really bad clocker, or your board has a big FSB hole, or is just crappy.

Quote: Originally Posted by Mr. Fiddles I've dual booted a laptops and and 3 PCs with XP & Vista without trouble. I've also never heard of dual-booting causing any problems. Not to discredit you, but that dual-booting could even remotely possibly cause problems is news to me.

Yup, I've dual-booted Vista and XP several times and never had any trouble. The OSs are on seperate partitions, so what's there to go wrong?

Quote: Originally Posted by reflux Yup, I've dual-booted Vista and XP several times and never had any trouble. The OSs are on seperate partitions, so what's there to go wrong?

yeah! done dual boot for a long time (w98-xp) & never got any kind of problem.
you just got to remember wich is on C: & wich is on D: when installing softwares.

now & for more than 2 years i run only XP because i built myself a retro gaming pc (P2) with Win98se for my older games.

Quad booting here actually (XP, Vista, Slackware and NetBSD) having no problems. The only way multi-booting would cause problems is if you were trying to install multiple OS's onto the same partition.

First...a few quick questions...do you have a GOOD power supply, and when I say good, I mean something that wasn't less then 65$ and is a name brand like Silverstone, Corsair, or Enermax.

Are you using stock cooling? (You can actually OC on them reasonably well..my E4300 runs 2.7GHZ all day, but not much more...I need aftermarket cooling to hit 3+GHZ, I got kind of a dud!)

Look up some OC reviews for your board, and see how far they were able to get, most "Performance" Core 2 boards can reach at least 400FSB...but not all of them will!

What you need to do here is isloate each subsystem (Max CPU Speed, Motherboard MAX FSB, and Max Ram speed. Then combine them to get the best overall performance.

This is the general order in wich I do this:

Start with the motherboard (And sometimes CPU's can limit this, my E4300 tops at 390FSB)

I drop the multiplier to 6x to eliminate the CPU's speed from making the board unstable.

I set the Ram ratio to the lowest option in the bios 2/3 or 1/2 if available...whatever will give you the lowest ram speed.
The other option is to run unlinked..and "Lock it" at a safe speed like 667 or 800 with default timings. This is often the method I use.
You basically want to isolate the board from other factors that might cause instability (CPU and Ram)

I generally make jumps initially in large numbers...like from the stock 200 to 266FSB, and then maybe 333FSB (If your board supports the new 1333FSB CPU's, then this should be a "Given" at all stock voltages!)

If you can't boot or experience instability..back it down till it is, then start adding voltage 1 notch at a time above stocck to the "Motherboard" related items, NB (Northbridge) is typically the one that needs it first, followed by the SB (Sounthbrige) There are other motherboard voltages that may need attention too, but what they are called depends on the motherboard manufacturer.


Once at 333FSB, then I would slow things down a bit, 10MHZ jumps are genrally what I use, (333>340>350>>>>400+)

Again..you may have to play around with the voltages as you go up to maintain stability...knowing wich ones to "Bump" is a matter of trial and error for most beginers, just don't get crazy...go one notch at a time, one setting at a time..if it doesnt help stability, put it back to the previuos setting and move on to the next one. You "May" need to bump several voltages at the same time though.. this is the part that sucks up lots of time.

A notepad is very valuable for beginners, once you have stable settings..WRITE THEM ALL DOWN!

You can refer back to them later..if you find out you CPU likes to run at 350x9, no sense in using voltage settings for 400FSB!


OK..now thats the hard one.

Finding your max CPU speed is what I go to next....leave all the motherboard vltages used for the max stable speed like 400FSB.

Return the multiplier back to ths stock 9X and 200FSB (Or a known stable setting like 266FSB from previous experience)
Now start clocking...266>280>290>300>>>400+

You are ging to have to bump up CPU voltage as you go...and it's not always "Linear"

Stock 1.35v might get you to 2.5GHZ, 1.375v may allow for 2.8GHZ, 1.4>3GHZ, but then at some point..you will often need to start adding ALOT of voltage to get a minimal increase in speed (Like to get from 3.3GHZ to 3.4GHZ may require going from 1.5 to 1.6v!)

For stock cooling you will find 1.375-1.4v is generally about the max..aftermarket air cooling will generally allow up to 1.5-1.55v

I try to not allow the max CPU temp to get above 60c with both cores full loaded for at least 20 minutes.

A stabilty test program such as Orthos or OCCT work well for this...for temps you can use the MSI utility, Speedfan..or "Core Temp" (This program tends to show temps 5-10c higher than most other programs..and is considered by some to be more accurate..I might allow it to reach 65c using that program)

Last but not least..Memory speed.

The procedure is similar to what we have been doing...go back to stock CPU and FSB, but leave the CPU and motherboard voltages so that they can ramp up to 400FSB for example...notice a pattern forming?

Now this one can be rather involved, and is one of the more tricky things to master..but if you can find a review of your ram, you can often get a ballpark idea of what it is capable of (Most CAS 4 DDR2 800 can reach 900>1000+ with 2.2v and "looser" than stock timings.)

Unless you have extremely good cooling (Like a 120MM fan directly blowing on the ram) 2.2v is the most people consider "Safe" for DDR-2, you can often do rather nicely though with as little as 2.0v..too much voltage can add to instability due to high temperatures, so don't get crazy!

Using "Unlinked" ram start walking it up...800>810>820>900+

Again..see how far you can get with stock 1.8v, only adding voltage when it becomes unstable.

I won't get much into the timings part here...that is another post unto itself, 4-4-4-12 will limit your max ram speed, so setting it to 5-5-5-15 will allow for more headroom, but often when tested with 1MB of "Super Pi" 800 at 4-4-4-12 is just as fast, or faster than 1000 at 5-5-5-15.

Now you can combine your Motherboard, CPU and Ram settings and be "In the Ballpark"

Fine tuning may be neccesary...once I find CPU, FSB and Ram speeds I like, I will often go back and try and reduce voltages further (One at a time)

I have found with my E4300 that 333x9 (3GHZ even) with around 1.425v, and my old OCZ "Gold" DDR2-667 ram is running at 800 5-4-4-12 with 2.2v is a very good stable "Daily Driver" speed.

I can run at 3.2GHZ but CPU voltage needs to be 1.5v...the temps are pushing 65c, and can get a bit unstable after a few days of running Folding@Home 24-7. The max bench speed for 1MB of Super Pi was 3.4GHZ with 1.6v, but is not even close to stable for daily use.

Other people with a better "Stepping" (CPU Serial or code number) have done MUCH better than this with less voltage..one member here claims to be running 3.6GHZ with 1.45v (or so) with watercooling!

I had a E6600 that did 3.6GHZ all day at 1.45v and 3.8GHZ was mostly stable (Again..Folding for 3-4 days and it started to get flakey) and could run nearly 4.1GHZ for a quick test of Super Pi when using "Chilled" air cooling (Cold winter air pumped in through a duct)

Well..that a quick run down with plenty of things I am sure that got left out, but should at least get you on your way.

Check out the ultimate links link at the bottom of my sig for some of the programs and ultilities you may need .

the only reason i brought up the dual boot was cause i wasnt sure if for some reason if vista saw a new CPu (well just diffrernt speeds atleast) that maybe it jus some how when it was seeing something it wasnt expecting it hust wouldnt boot. jsut didnt know if there was something new in vista i ddnt know about.


my power supply is ok. but it is a 500w enermax. so i figure that would be enough.


and thanks alot necro... plenty of info there for me.. ill goe thru it all again tomorrow and try and OC again using a few hints i saw on there.

my mobo is propablly be the thing that would limite me the most i would assume. (its a cheaper mobo) but i have read about many poeple getting up to 3.0ghz on it.


what really seems to be happening wich is why im stuck is.. its very stable at 2.474 with no voltage raise.. but just going up to 2.6 and its un stable... then i start upping the cpu voltage and it doesnt seem to help teh stablility at all.
maybe i do just have a bad chip.

Quote: Originally Posted by wastedteenyears the only reason i brought up the dual boot was cause i wasnt sure if for some reason if vista saw a new CPu (well just diffrernt speeds atleast) that maybe it jus some how when it was seeing something it wasnt expecting it hust wouldnt boot. jsut didnt know if there was something new in vista i ddnt know about. my power supply is ok. but it is a 500w enermax. so i figure that would be enough. and thanks alot necro... plenty of info there for me.. ill goe thru it all again tomorrow and try and OC again using a few hints i saw on there. my mobo is propablly be the thing that would limite me the most i would assume. (its a cheaper mobo) but i have read about many poeple getting up to 3.0ghz on it. what really seems to be happening wich is why im stuck is.. its very stable at 2.474 with no voltage raise.. but just going up to 2.6 and its un stable... then i start upping the cpu voltage and it doesnt seem to help teh stablility at all. maybe i do just have a bad chip.

Unless you have changed the "Ram Ratio" or run it unlinked at a set 800MHZ, it will "Scale" with the FSB...and that is usually where people run into trouble!


In order to run the ram at higher speeds without changing the ratios or runing unlinked, you typicall have to raise voltages and/or loosing the timings.

If you go from the stock 200FSB to 250FSB (9x250=2250MHZ) your ram will be running at 1000MHZ since it runs at 4x the FSB (Intel calls it "Quad Pumped")

At 275FSB (the 2.47GHZ you are running) it would have the ram running at 1100MHZ without changing the ratio...wich is about the max you will ever get most high end DDR 800 to run..and that is kicking some ass! (But is very possible if you are running 5-5-5-15 and 2-2.2v if your ram has Micron D-9GMH chips under its heatspreaders)

That would explain why you cannot get beyond that speed...try for 3GHZ (333FSB bios) without adjusting that ram speed and it wil try and make it run an insane 1333MHZ

If this is your board...it's using the 650i chipset, wich is the baby brother of the 680i.

Newegg.com - MSI P6N SLI-FI LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

Most 650i boards (including your...read a few of the new egg reviews) are capable of 400+FSB, so that is not holding you back..nor does it sound like a PSU issue.

You need to be more specifc with your hardware when posting...2GB Gskill does not help much.


Typically we like to see the speed, modle number, timings and factory rated voltage..this realy helps out alot!.

The more info you can give us..the better, links to NewEgg or similar are a nice bonus, but are not completely neccesary for everything..Ram specifically can have many versions or revisions of the same speed grade (FYI)

CPU, Ram, Motherboard, PSU, Video Card HD and OS are always good to list, then we don't have to guess, or ask for more info.

A few screenshots with CPUZ and some kind of temps..under load, are also great. Super Pi !MB is also a good indicator of how "Quick" your rig is..it's like a Quarter mile timelsip for a Hot Rod.

This is my E4300 at 2.8GHZ and the ram at 624MHZ 4-4-4-12 with the stock cooling running Orthos (Loads both cores) using the small FTT test (Maximizes CPU heat and stress..the default test test CPU and Ram both)



Click on this pic and enlarge it to see more details...not how speed fan and core temp read much differently!

Note I did not realy optimise the ram for this speed, normally I use a better cooler at 3GHZ wich will then run the ram at a much faster speed.

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Dam, sorry for the bad advice then, my friend was creating a dual boot Vista/XP and it was doing just wacky stuff, the machine was about 6 months old on Vista and he wanted to put XP on it. We called Micosoft and said the problem was the two OSes confuse each other. I guess they where wrong. Hmmm. well again sorry.

thanks alot.. i still havent had much time to play with some of the new info you gave me..

heres a link to my memory

Newegg.com - G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Retail

im thinking it might be me just not having my memory set right. when it was in linked mode i think the highest i saw it say was 815, so i had just unlinked it and set it for 800 and hadnt played with it much.
so here a screen shot might be able to help you a bit.. Also this is with all the fans down... so that is the max temp just about

also is changing the ratio... is that something i can find and set to 1:1 or is it that i jsut gotta raise the buses intil the ratio is 1:1?




thanks alot

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Well...your ram speed according to CPUZ is running at 399MHZ so your actual rams peed (Since its DDR) is 800MHZ..so that might not be the issue.

I founda customer review on your ram..and it's got the "Good" chips.

Pros: I have been using this memory kit for over a month now. I have overclock this memmory to 1100 at 2.35V. , theres a big review of this memory at anan*tech , read it. im running my Core 2 Duo @ 3.7 wirh Zalman CNPS 9500 and this memory lets me overclock my cpu to the moon if i want to , i got my cpu to post @ 4.0 for a while but too hot and back down to 3.7 , my point is , this is the memory to get if you want to overclock your cpu to the max without worrying about if your memory can handle it , this kit for sure can handle anything you can think of. Yes they are D9GMH micron chips. Not one single error on this great memory for over a month , they run like a champ. Great choice i made. Buy it.

Cons: None

In order to get control of your ram speed, you need to go the the memory section of your Bios and go from "Auto" to "Manual" and a few options should pop up then (Allow you to change things that were locked previously)

You can choose "Unlinked" and then just type in the ram speed you want in the frequency selection area.

Or you can choose "Linked" and it will give you the typical options of 1:1, 2:3, 4:5.

If you choose 1:1 then with your current FSB speed of 1088MHZ, the other ratios will give you ram speeds lower than that.

I suggest you just run "Unlinked" right now (CPUZ shows your current ram ratio as 15:22, something you cannot select manually, the Bios will choose some odd sounding ratio's when left in "Auto") and keep your ram at 800MHZ until you get the CPU speed sorted out....once you figure that out..then worry about getting the best performance from your ram.

Super Pi (1MB test) should show you what is fastest for your ram...4-4-4-12 with 1T or something like 1100MHZ with 5-5-5-15 and 2T

Now that I think about it...I bet the real hold up is something called CPC (Command Per Clock)

Judging by the fact your ram is 400MHZ according to CPUZ and won't run any faster without issues, I suspect it CPC is "ON" (Also known as 1T) and might not go any higher with the stock 1.8v

You need to turn CPC "OFF" (Also known as 2T)

I have found NVIDIA based chipset in general don't like to run much above 80MHZ ram speed with 1T without a bit of tweeking.

EDIT: OK..scratch that, I see from CPUZ's memory page it's running 2T allready.

But it does bring up an intresting point...1T is MUCH faster than 2T, 2T is more stable at high ram speeds however...something to keep in mind when playing with Ram settings in the near future.

Here is a review of your board BTW..and they have a review of your ram too.

AnandTech: MSI P6N SLI Platinum: NVIDIA's 650i Part Two