2.8Ghz overclock NOT stable?

[GhostGT]

After deciding that I'll order an aftermarket cooler, I went ahead and lowered my overclock to 2.8ghz and also lowered the vcore. It took a few tries to get the computer started up since my vcore must have been too low.

I went ahead with a CPU Stability Test run and it was maxing out at 100% cpu load with 52*C as the highest temperature.

For the hell of it, I wanted to try P95 also. I started up four instances of the program, all of which automatically began searching for P95's server to resume the primality tests (I run them once in a while since I find it interesting.)

Anyway, as soon as I started the 4th instance of P95, I got a BSOD and the system restarted. Temps were NOT exceeding 52*C right before the BSOD, so I doubt this was because of temperature. Do you guys think my voltage was still too low? And this doesn't have anything to do with my power supply only being 450 watts, right? It shouldn't, especially since I've been @ 3.0Ghz without problems for a while now.

I've set everything back to AUTO in the bios for now.

Input appreciated. thanks,

Chris

 

[freestyler105]

Did it BSOD with the VCore at auto? Check what the VCore is at under load when you set it at auto.

If that's not it, then it's something with either the motherboard or RAM.

 

[Kage]

First thing is to make sure you set the Vcore to how it was when you first bought the processor. Make the RAM in sync next, or even, slower than the CPU , and slowly raise the FSB.

 

[GhostGT]

Hm, no I can't set VCore to auto unless the full system is set to auto. If i'm not mistaken, my VCore was at 1.1735 or something along those lines. Two values lower gave me errors so I increased it by two spots, leaving it at that point.

RAM hasn't been touched, nothing else has changed. My system is NOW set back to auto....meaning its running at 2.4ghz with auto VCore etc. I just tried P95 with stock settings and all is fine. I'm guessing maybe the vcore was still too low? The system booted up fine and all but with strain it needed more power?

 

[GhostGT]

Update: Running four instances of P95 with everything at stock clocks...100% CPU usage, 99% physical memory usage, etc.

Temps are at 61*, 61*, 58*, and 57*. System IS stable, though. The problem before came up even before I could run the tests.

I should get a Zalman 9700. -_-

 

[Kage]

Getting the Zalman may help, but its possible you may have just got a bad chip

But, I've only ever been able to overclock Abit boards sucessfully, which is why I've always gone for them. My brother's Asus board, I find way to complex to even step near overclocking it.

 

[Bobert93]

+1 for the zalman 9700
and i do think that asus boards are extreeeemly easy to overclock .

why dont you just set it back to stock ,in till you get an aftermarket cooling?
how are you running your ram?

 

[GhostGT]

Getting the Zalman may help, but its possible you may have just got a bad chip

But, I've only ever been able to overclock Abit boards sucessfully, which is why I've always gone for them. My brother's Asus board, I find way to complex to even step near overclocking it.

Oh don't say that. Bad chip? I certainly hope not. I was actually happy that, for once, something i've bought has been normal.

Considering the fact that i've had pretty stable results with all these overclocking experiments in the long run, I don't see why such a problem would mean anything serious other than vcore values being too low.

Kage, just curious; are you saying it might be a bad chip based on my temps?

 

[Kage]

No, but each chip is individual in terms of how much it can overclock, etc.
Its probably just your motherboard's settings that need more tampering, but I'm not really the one to ask

 

[GhostGT]

No, but each chip is individual in terms of how much it can overclock, etc.
Its probably just your motherboard's settings that need more tampering, but I'm not really the one to ask

I totally understand and appreciate what you've already said dude.

As soon as I can convince myself to order the Zalman 9700 or another similar fan off newegg, I'll be a little more prepared for this overclocking business. I'm aiming for an extremely stable 3-3.2Ghz clock that will not exceed temps of high 50*s C. A big problem is my room in this case; its really hot most of the day, except early in the morning when temps are low and the room is cool.

I just dread the idea of having to remove my motherboard, and if i'm not mistaken, having to use thermal compound again on the chip, etc.