First time overclocker, yet lost

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by BrianHanna

cant change the multiplier on a e8400

You don't need to, since the stock multiplier is already 9.

[enaberif]

Originally Posted by belinik

Recently the rig has been slightly slow and decided to try and hold til Feb since I am taking a trip soon. Then I remember a reply when I made my first post here asking for help:

So here I want to try something I've never tried before... OC... The following is my current rig:

CPU - Core 2 Duo E8400
Memory - G. Skill 8000 8gb (4 stick) @ 5-5-5-15 2.0v
Motherboard - Asus P5Q Pro
GPU - XFX Radeon HD 4870 XXX 775MHZ 1GB
CASE - CM 923 HAF
PSU - Corsair TX 750
Hard drive - 4HDD
CPU Cooling - Xigmatek HDT-S1283

I did some google run on e8400 overclock guide and noticed a good number of owner pushed the 8400 to 4.4 before going into water. But most of them do not really tell how to. And also read the HWC P5Q Pro review by mac saying that it seems to be a good board to overclock.

I don't want to push it that far, My goal is to push it to 3.6 for now since this is a 24/7 rig. I've seen motherboard usually have software that helps you overclock but I am uncertain if they are safe to do so. I remember a cpu clocking speed revolves around FSB and multiplier? But what does voltage do?

Can anyone point me to the right direction? Am I asking for too much for this configuration? Is my current cooling good enough? I do have a H-50 that was originally going towards my sister's i5.... but didn't notice I need to order a mounting kit so now it's sitting in a corner.

Overclocking a e8400 is probably one of the easiest ones to overclock and can do pretty good if you got a good board to do it with.

Originally Posted by SKYMTL

Overclocking is all about baby steps. Don't push things too far on your first attempt and you will be fine.

Precisely jump to far and you could definitely ruin something

Originally Posted by belinik

I went into the asus bios and set it to manual, then I put FSB to 400, everything else is auto. I see a good number of thread saying +voltage is not needed, but how would I know it's being overvolt right now?

Never leave your voltages set to AUTO ever. The biggest problem with this is that it could easily over volt your cpu during overclocking as well as your memory and could fry or damage something.

Set your voltage for your cpu to about 1.3 manual and your memory as 1.9 manual then when you start overclocking run P95 SmallFFT to check stability of your cpu and Blend for memory; each test give about 8 hours or so.

Originally Posted by BrianHanna

cant change the multiplier on a e8400

i have my voltage set to 1.4 and fsb at 445 for a 4ghz overclock.

been stable at that for a year now and my temps are at around 30c idle all the time.
never seen it go above 55c

Any Intel chip can have its multiplier changed, but it only goes down not up. You'd need a extreme chip for that.

[BrianHanna]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

You don't need to, since the stock multiplier is already 9.

o, my bad then, i suppose i didn't think anyone would wanna go down.

[MarkOne]

Originally Posted by BrianHanna

o, my bad then, i suppose i didn't think anyone would wanna go down.

that's an other mistake..... it's done often... pls review your basic OC


here a e6600 at x 9 max. oc 3005.6





here the same e6600 withthe cpu at 7X and the OC is 3493.1