Well UPS will be delivering the last of my goodies tomorrow, and I'll begin my first ever foray into Intel overclocking. I've got 2gb (2X1gb of DDR2 800) Firestix (I've read it's got some nice Micron chips in it) an e6750, and being delivered tomorrow is my new eVGA 680i SLI mobo and Thermalright 120 ultra extreme ( got a beast of a silverstone 120mm to go on it, the one that does 107cfm ). I'm re-using my PSU from my last build (a 550 or 600w Enermax) and already have a BFG 8800GT (plan on picking up another one to rock it in SLI, which is why I chose this board)

So my query is this: Where do I begin? I'm under the impression that this will be totally different from overclocking my old skt 939 3800+ X2 on my Asus A8n sli premium.

Or is it really just a matter of bumping up the FSB & vCore until I can't? I've read enough on the firestix to get a good feel for voltages and timings to try, but I don't see squat on anything but that.

About the firestix:

I had them, They have D9GHM. They overclocked okay. I ran 4-4-4-4 @ 950mhz. no matter what volts though i couldnt get them to run 5-5-5-15 @ 1200mhz They are good though.

Basically its the same, raise the fsb to u need more vcore/nb/sb/ram volts. Don't forget to run stability.

Out of curiosity did you try for over 1000mhz using a cas of 4? I read one review that claimed he got far better stability at higher freq's using a cas of 4, but could barely hit 900 at the stock timings. I think he used 4-5-5-18 but don't quote me.

So it really is that easy? great. I always thought there was a whole lot more to intel overclocking. I'm hoping to hit 3.5-3.7 stable on air, if I get a good chip it sounds possible. I'm looking to taunt my bosses and their precious power macs. I don't think they get that it's just an e6300 in there, with slower ram to boot. I love how Apple charges insane fees to add... an extra 7300gs card... I tried to explain to them that it's a worthless video card, and just because apple wants hundreds of dollars to add another doesn't make it any better. They didn't listen.

*edit* forgot a 1 in the timing... doh

Quote: Originally Posted by capt_cope Out of curiosity did you try for over 1000mhz using a cas of 4? I read one review that claimed he got far better stability at higher freq's using a cas of 4, but could barely hit 900 at the stock timings. I think he used 4-5-5-18 but don't quote me. *edit* forgot a 1 in the timing... doh

I could never get over 1050mhz cas4 no matter timings or volts

I just got one of those Thermalright 120 Ultra Extreme's :-) I've got (2) of those
Silverstone 120mm fans sandwiching it. I used zip ties to attach them :-)

My cables are a mess, but I take it apart a lot testing stuff. Cable management just
takes 2 long to re-due every other week :-)

How are those Thermalright nb/sb coolers working for ya? I was really tempted to pick them up but was unsure of the cost/benefit of them. What board are you running?

I've got the EVGA 680i SLI Deluxe A1. The NB/SB coolers work pretty good. But
there's no room for a fan on the SB in SLI. Plus I had to modifiy the mounting
hardware to plug my 2nd 8800GTX in. I'm going to replace it soon. Triple SLI is
right around the corner and it's blocking my 3rd slot. I would recommend getting
one for the NB (with a 80mm X 15mm fan). I don't think the SB actually needs
anything this extreme, but it does look good.

Well I'm sitting pretty at 3.5ghz without even trying. I'm just pausing here to download occt and cpuz. The night is young! (Oh and this 120 ultra is insane.)

Edit so I top out somewhere around 3.7ghz, but I've dialed it back to 3.65 for day to day use. one question that's killing me before I go to bed (while running orthos of course) should I be concerned that cpuz is showing it as 1 core and 1 thread? Running the ram @ 912mhz (4,4,4,12)

Well I must state for the record: I hate windows. My last instalation never did recognise both cores (sad isn't it, a single core on a c2d is fast enough to feel like a giant improvement over my 3800 X2) but a re-install has everything in order. Unfortunately my temps have gone up (only the cooler of the two cores was recognized, the second is about 4c hotter at idle, but they even out under load.) I've since dropped my day to day overclock to 3.6, since I require an ungodly amount of vcore to get any higher (I'm at 1.5v as it is, but my load temps are steady between 54 and 55c via coretemp.) So to anyone looking to get some hardcore performance out of air... the 120 extreme is just insane. I shudder to think if I'd have just used my old TT Big Typhoon on this beast.

Also worthy of note: this buffalo firestix is also some great stuff. Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than my old DDR XMS pro, I mean I've taken this stuff up to 960 @ 4-4-4-12 (2.2v) I'm betting it can go higher, but my cpu can't and this mobo doesn't jive well with unlinked ram at higher freqs. I can't take the FSB past 1799 with ram unlinked, it won't post. linked I can post/boot up to 1899, but 1900-1975 are a no-go. I'm bummed, because I doubt my e6750 is going to hit 4ghz, (2000 fsb.)


On a side note, anyone know if coolermaster PSUs are worth buying? I found a 650w one real cheap at compusa, didn't buy it, but I'm thinking about it, my little 530w Enermax is feeling weaker than hell right now.

Cooler Master PSU's are pretty good. There not the best out there, but there
far from the wost. I'm running a Cooler Master Real Power Pro 1250W model.
The only real problem I know of is if your power at the plug drops to 100 volts
then you'll only get 75% of the rated power. This should only be a problem if
you experience near brown-out conditions though :-)