Overclocking Doesn't Work!

When I try to overclock my PC, when I reach the first BIOS drive scan
on reboot, the computer restarts, and sets the clock speed back to
normal. I have tried increasing the voltage by .1 volts, but nothing
happens. I'm only increasing the clock speed from 266 to 280.
I have a C2D E6400 Cpu on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 Mobo
My Ram is
Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 512 MBytes, Corsair
Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, GeeSkill (I
think)

'C0²' wrote:
| When I try to overclock my PC, when I reach the first BIOS drive scan
| on reboot, the computer restarts, and sets the clock speed back to
| normal. I have tried increasing the voltage by .1 volts, but nothing
| happens. I'm only increasing the clock speed from 266 to 280.
| I have a C2D E6400 Cpu on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 Mobo
| My Ram is
| Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 512 MBytes, Corsair
| Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, GeeSkill (I
| think)
|
_____

A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is too
high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very mild
overclock of 5% should not cause a reboot, even with the stock CPU core
voltage.

I am not familiar with Gigabyte motherboards - perhaps someone who is will
reply.

I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate in
dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what you
want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
FrontSide Bus
5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System Memory
Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a memory
operating speed below the rated speed
6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the CPU.
7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all voltages
at stock.

Report the detailed results and settings here.

You should get quite a good overclock with your E6600 (check posts here from
'Ed Medlin' about his experience overclocking an E6600 at 3.2 GHz. I use an
E4300 / EVGA 680i motherboard / Patriot PC1066 memory for 2.7 GHz CPU /
DDR2-1200 MHz Memory (1:1 CPU clock : Memory clock ratio) with a CPU voltage
0.075 volts below stock.)

Overclocking DOES work, but sometimes you have to work at it B^)

Phil Weldon

On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:24:43 -0300, Phil Weldon <> wrote:
: 'C0²' wrote:
: | When I try to overclock my PC, when I reach the first BIOS drive scan
: | on reboot, the computer restarts, and sets the clock speed back to
: | normal. I have tried increasing the voltage by .1 volts, but nothing
: | happens. I'm only increasing the clock speed from 266 to 280.
: | I have a C2D E6400 Cpu on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 Mobo
: | My Ram is
: | Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 512 MBytes, Corsair
: | Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, GeeSkill (I
: | think)
: |
: _____
:
: A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is too
: high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very mild
: overclock of 5% should not cause a reboot, even with the stock CPU core
: voltage.
:
: I am not familiar with Gigabyte motherboards - perhaps someone who is will
: reply.
:
: I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
: 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
: capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate in
: dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
: 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
: 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
: 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
: manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what you
: want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
: FrontSide Bus
: 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
: overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System Memory
: Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a memory
: operating speed below the rated speed
: 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
: overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the CPU.
: 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
: 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
: overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all voltages
: at stock.
:
: Report the detailed results and settings here.
:
: You should get quite a good overclock with your E6600 (check posts here from
: 'Ed Medlin' about his experience overclocking an E6600 at 3.2 GHz. I use an
: E4300 / EVGA 680i motherboard / Patriot PC1066 memory for 2.7 GHz CPU /
: DDR2-1200 MHz Memory (1:1 CPU clock : Memory clock ratio) with a CPU voltage
: 0.075 volts below stock.)
:

If I may offer some extra encouragement to CO2 I run an E6600 at
3.2Ghz on a P5W DH with 400Mhz FSB (Vcore at 1.48 as measured through
the onboard voltage monitor, vMCH for the northbridge at 1.65, Corsair
DDR2 800 at 800 and 3-3-3-9). Turning off all of the BIOS attempts at
optimizaion (nb that your BIOS is going to be different than mine) .
I'm not sure what Ed Medlin recommended, but for me it took time, lots
of good pointers from others posting at the www.xtremesystems.org
forum for my motherboard, and resulted in hours of fun as it started
coming together.

Supposedly the 975X can get up into the low 500Mhz with vMCH beyond
2v....

"Phil Weldon" <> wrote in message
news:...
> 'C0²' wrote:
> | When I try to overclock my PC, when I reach the first BIOS drive scan
> | on reboot, the computer restarts, and sets the clock speed back to
> | normal. I have tried increasing the voltage by .1 volts, but nothing
> | happens. I'm only increasing the clock speed from 266 to 280.
> | I have a C2D E6400 Cpu on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 Mobo
> | My Ram is
> | Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 512 MBytes, Corsair
> | Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, GeeSkill (I
> | think)
> |
> _____
>
> A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is
> too
> high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very mild
> overclock of 5% should not cause a reboot, even with the stock CPU core
> voltage.
>
> I am not familiar with Gigabyte motherboards - perhaps someone who is will
> reply.
>
> I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
> 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
> capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate
> in
> dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
> 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
> 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
> 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
> manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what
> you
> want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
> FrontSide Bus
> 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
> overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System
> Memory
> Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a
> memory
> operating speed below the rated speed
> 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
> overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the CPU.
> 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
> 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
> overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all
> voltages
> at stock.
>
> Report the detailed results and settings here.
>
> You should get quite a good overclock with your E6600 (check posts here
> from
> 'Ed Medlin' about his experience overclocking an E6600 at 3.2 GHz. I use
> an
> E4300 / EVGA 680i motherboard / Patriot PC1066 memory for 2.7 GHz CPU /
> DDR2-1200 MHz Memory (1:1 CPU clock : Memory clock ratio) with a CPU
> voltage
> 0.075 volts below stock.)
>
> Overclocking DOES work, but sometimes you have to work at it B^)
>
> Phil Weldon
>
Hi Phil.......Thought you disappeared.......:-). Actually, I got the
liquid cooled E6600 up to 3.4Ghz and found that after a couple of weeks I
could drop my core V down from 1.625 all the way to 1.5V and still stay
stable. As an old overclocker yourself, you have to know what I had to do
then.......:-). I started upping the processor speed and got all the way to
3.7Ghz but needed to take the core voltage back up to where it was
originally at 1.625v to get it stable again. So now I am running at 3.7Ghz
perfectly stable with idle temps in the low 30sC and maxing out at 63C with
Orthos small ffts. I am not sure as to why the core voltage needs decreased,
but it sure did. (I quit trying to figure out silicon years ago) The only
real benchmark I have ran at 3.7 is 3dMark '06 and get
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?3dm06=2871855 which is fairly good.
When comparing similiar CPU/GPU speeds I am third in line and just can't
compete with the Quad Cores in the CPU speed tests. I beat most of them
heartedly in the video area with my SLI system, but the benchmark is heavily
CPU loaded and I am not close to them, but do have an advantage over most
other C2Ds.
I have PC2 9200 memory and I set it manually (unlinked from the CPU) to
800Mhz until I found the max CPU speed. Once I knew I had a stable OC I then
worked on my memory settings and timings. This project has been a moving
target from the beginning. My first max OC was only at 3.0Ghz. Now I have it
to 3.7Ghz and have no issues whatsoever in XP Pro and Vista Ultimate in my
dual boot system. My early OC'ing was on the P5N32-E SLI board and my better
results are on this Striker Extreme, both 680i NV boards but the Striker has
better NB and SB cooling and may be the difference from the reference
boards. I think my best on the first board was 3.2Ghz which was not bad at
all. My goal was 3.0Ghz and I would have considered anything above that as a
bit of gravy on the 'taters......:-)

Ed
>
>
>

"Howard Goldstein" <> wrote in message
news:...
> On Thu, 30 Aug 2007 11:24:43 -0300, Phil Weldon
> <> wrote:
> : 'C0²' wrote:
> : | When I try to overclock my PC, when I reach the first BIOS drive scan
> : | on reboot, the computer restarts, and sets the clock speed back to
> : | normal. I have tried increasing the voltage by .1 volts, but nothing
> : | happens. I'm only increasing the clock speed from 266 to 280.
> : | I have a C2D E6400 Cpu on a Gigabyte 945P-S3 Mobo
> : | My Ram is
> : | Module 1 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 512 MBytes, Corsair
> : | Module 2 DDR2, PC2-5300 (333 MHz), 1024 MBytes, GeeSkill (I
> : | think)
> : |
> : _____
> :
> : A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is
> too
> : high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very
> mild
> : overclock of 5% should not cause a reboot, even with the stock CPU core
> : voltage.
> :
> : I am not familiar with Gigabyte motherboards - perhaps someone who is
> will
> : reply.
> :
> : I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
> : 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
> : capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not
> operate in
> : dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
> : 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
> : 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
> : 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
> : manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what
> you
> : want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from
> the
> : FrontSide Bus
> : 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
> : overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System
> Memory
> : Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a
> memory
> : operating speed below the rated speed
> : 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you
> can
> : overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the
> CPU.
> : 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
> : 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU
> not
> : overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all
> voltages
> : at stock.
> :
> : Report the detailed results and settings here.
> :
> : You should get quite a good overclock with your E6600 (check posts here
> from
> : 'Ed Medlin' about his experience overclocking an E6600 at 3.2 GHz. I
> use an
> : E4300 / EVGA 680i motherboard / Patriot PC1066 memory for 2.7 GHz CPU /
> : DDR2-1200 MHz Memory (1:1 CPU clock : Memory clock ratio) with a CPU
> voltage
> : 0.075 volts below stock.)
> :
>
> If I may offer some extra encouragement to CO2 I run an E6600 at
> 3.2Ghz on a P5W DH with 400Mhz FSB (Vcore at 1.48 as measured through
> the onboard voltage monitor, vMCH for the northbridge at 1.65, Corsair
> DDR2 800 at 800 and 3-3-3-9). Turning off all of the BIOS attempts at
> optimizaion (nb that your BIOS is going to be different than mine) .
> I'm not sure what Ed Medlin recommended, but for me it took time, lots
> of good pointers from others posting at the www.xtremesystems.org
> forum for my motherboard, and resulted in hours of fun as it started
> coming together.
>
> Supposedly the 975X can get up into the low 500Mhz with vMCH beyond
> 2v....

I use the Striker Extreme NV680i board and the bios settings are very
different than your P5WDH. I am still experimenting with a lot of them,
especially the memory settiings/timings. I have the E6600 at 3.7Ghz now, but
am stuck with my Extreme PC2 9200 Mushkin at 1050Mhz right now.
extremesystems.org is a good site and has helped me a lot just reading some
of the posts there. I have been overclocking for a long time, but this 680i
has had me a bit discomfuberated from the start.........:-). I need all the
help I can get....


Ed Medlin

Phil Weldon wrote:
> A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is too
> high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very mild

What on earth is POST? (I only just started overclocking, forgive my
lack of knowledge)

> I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
> 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
> capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate in
> dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source

I don't think I need to - my ram is not even properly slotted for dual
memory channel, let alone configured for it.

> 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS

I went into the "M.I.T." Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker part of the
bios - it's the only way to overclock
You still change everything manually. Besides, that's the only way to
change the clock speed

> 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"

Done and Done.

> 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
> manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what you
> want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
> FrontSide Bus

Will do.

> 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
> overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System Memory
> Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a memory
> operating speed below the rated speed

This might be the problem. My memory speed goes up about 1-200!
Will this affect performance?

> 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
> overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the CPU.

I'll try and find a setting that does this, but someone told me you
can't overclock the FSB for Core2Duos

> 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
> 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
> overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all voltages
> at stock.

As I said before, someone told me that you can't overclock the FSB of
a Core2Duo...

> Report the detailed results and settings here.

Will Do.

Howard Goldstein wrote:
> If I may offer some extra encouragement to CO2 I run an E6600 at
> 3.2Ghz on a P5W DH with 400Mhz FSB (Vcore at 1.48 as measured through
> the onboard voltage monitor, vMCH for the northbridge at 1.65, Corsair
> DDR2 800 at 800 and 3-3-3-9).

Please explain how the timings for RAM work, I was never told and I
never found out. I don't know what 3-3-3-9 is meant to mean.


I am going to try all of these now.

'C0²' wrote, in part:
| What on earth is POST? (I only just started overclocking, forgive my
| lack of knowledge)
_____

POST or P.O.S.T. (Power On Self Test) is the hardware testing and
enumeration the BIOS contained start up program uses to check the hardware
before the operating system is invoked.

#1. Details are all-important when working with computer hardware and/or
software. Despite what you may think, removing one of the modules is an
important step in diagnostic troubleshooting.

#2. Details are all-important when working with computer hardware and/or
software. Despite what you may think, when you set the frequency, voltage,
and multiplier parameters manually in the BIOS you are not using the
'Intelligent Tweaker' which allows you to pick a LEVEL of overclocking
without setting the individual parameter settings. Read the motherboard
manual (I did before replying to your first post.)

#3. OK.

#4. OK.

#5. I have no idea what your reply to #5. means.

#6. The ONLY way to overclock ANY Intel CPU since about the Pentium III 300
MHz can ONLY be overclocked by raising the FrontSide Bus speed (unless you
have a Pentium Extreme or Core 2 Extreme [X... or QX...] as these CPUs have
a variable multiplier that can be raised higher than the stock setting.)

#7. 'Check and recheck your BIOS settings' is VERY important - if for
nothing else than to determine the settings you THOUGHT you made are the
settings you Actually made.

#8. 'Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all voltages
at stock.' Notice I said "the CPU not overclocked". Details are
all-important when working with computer hardware and/or software. See #6.

I find it helpful to think of a computer as the most persnickety grammar
teacher I ever had; completely unforgiving of ANY error. Details, details,
details.

Keep asking questions... that's how all of us here learned whatever it is
that we may know.

Phil Weldon

"C0²" <> wrote in message
news: oups.com...
| Phil Weldon wrote:
| > A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is
too
| > high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very
mild
|
| What on earth is POST? (I only just started overclocking, forgive my
| lack of knowledge)
|
| > I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
| > 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
| > capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate
in
| > dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
|
| I don't think I need to - my ram is not even properly slotted for dual
| memory channel, let alone configured for it.
|
| > 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
|
| I went into the "M.I.T." Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker part of the
| bios - it's the only way to overclock
| You still change everything manually. Besides, that's the only way to
| change the clock speed
|
| > 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
|
| Done and Done.
|
| > 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
| > manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what
you
| > want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
| > FrontSide Bus
|
| Will do.
|
| > 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
| > overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System
Memory
| > Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a
memory
| > operating speed below the rated speed
|
| This might be the problem. My memory speed goes up about 1-200!
| Will this affect performance?
|
| > 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
| > overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the
CPU.
|
| I'll try and find a setting that does this, but someone told me you
| can't overclock the FSB for Core2Duos
|
| > 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
| > 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU
not
| > overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all
voltages
| > at stock.
|
| As I said before, someone told me that you can't overclock the FSB of
| a Core2Duo...
|
| > Report the detailed results and settings here.
|
| Will Do.
|
| Howard Goldstein wrote:
| > If I may offer some extra encouragement to CO2 I run an E6600 at
| > 3.2Ghz on a P5W DH with 400Mhz FSB (Vcore at 1.48 as measured through
| > the onboard voltage monitor, vMCH for the northbridge at 1.65, Corsair
| > DDR2 800 at 800 and 3-3-3-9).
|
| Please explain how the timings for RAM work, I was never told and I
| never found out. I don't know what 3-3-3-9 is meant to mean.
|
|
| I am going to try all of these now.
|

On Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:41:10 -0000, C0² <> wrote:
: Phil Weldon wrote:
: > A reboot is usually what happens when you set a CPU clock speed that is too
: > high to be stable, but not too high to begin POST. Certainly a very mild
:
: What on earth is POST? (I only just started overclocking, forgive my
: lack of knowledge)
:
: > I do offer these suggestions as a way to diagnose your problem:
: > 1. Remove the smaller RAM module - you have a dual memory channel
: > capable motherboard, but two modules of different sizes will not operate in
: > dual channel; perhaps this might be a problem source
:
: I don't think I need to - my ram is not even properly slotted for dual
: memory channel, let alone configured for it.
:
: > 2. Do not use the 'Intelligent Tweaker' function in the BIOS
:
: I went into the "M.I.T." Motherboard Intelligent Tweaker part of the
: bios - it's the only way to overclock
: You still change everything manually. Besides, that's the only way to
: change the clock speed
:
: > 3. Do not use "Easy Tune"
:
: Done and Done.
:
: > 4. Make sure the PCI-E bus is locked to 100 MHz (different
: > manufacturers use different terminology for Memory Bus speeds, but what you
: > want to run your memory 'in spec' is a setting that is unlocked from the
: > FrontSide Bus
:
: Will do.
:
: > 5. Make sure the Memory clock speed is set correctly, and is not
: > overclocked for the memory you have installed (don't set the 'System Memory
: > Multiplier' to 'Auto', but instead pick a multiplier that will give a memory
: > operating speed below the rated speed
:
: This might be the problem. My memory speed goes up about 1-200!
: Will this affect performance?
:
: > 6. Reduce the 'Clock Ratio' from the normal setting so that you can
: > overclock the FrontSide Bus and motherboard without overclocking the CPU.
:
: I'll try and find a setting that does this, but someone told me you
: can't overclock the FSB for Core2Duos
:
: > 7. Check and recheck your BIOS settings.
: > 8. Boot up with the FSB/Motherboard slightly overclocked, the CPU not
: > overclocked, and the single memory module NOT overclocked, and all voltages
: > at stock.
:
: As I said before, someone told me that you can't overclock the FSB of
: a Core2Duo...
:
: > Report the detailed results and settings here.
:
: Will Do.
:
: Howard Goldstein wrote:
: > If I may offer some extra encouragement to CO2 I run an E6600 at
: > 3.2Ghz on a P5W DH with 400Mhz FSB (Vcore at 1.48 as measured through
: > the onboard voltage monitor, vMCH for the northbridge at 1.65, Corsair
: > DDR2 800 at 800 and 3-3-3-9).
:
: Please explain how the timings for RAM work, I was never told and I
: never found out. I don't know what 3-3-3-9 is meant to mean.

Those are specs for memory timing parameters, the units are clock
cycles. 3-3-3-9 is a particular config entered in BIOS for one of my
systems. You'll see a lot of memory specified in this shorthand
format. The configuration is important because particular memory
hardware in use demands that the system honor various set up, hold,
release and other sorts of electrical timing rules if its to work
reliability. There's a feature of modern memory called "SPD" (serial
something? parameterse?) the memory vendor programs into the memory
card that can tell most BIOSs a very conservatiive set of timing
parms.


You're only a little bit newer than I am to this overclocking stuff. I
found a handful of free utilities worth its weight in gold. Here are
some, hopefully the more experienced folks here will add to the list:

CPU-Z -- a wealth of info ... start here?
Orthos
Coretemp
Speedfan
MemSet
SetFSB
wPrime
TAT
plus the Everest Home Edition freebie mentioned earlier in the thread
for a basic gauge of memory bandwidth.

(Help! I could use a really good live CD for stability test but I
haven't located one yet.)

Howard Goldstein wrote:

> There's a feature of modern memory called "SPD" (serial
> something? parameterse?)

Serial Presence Detect. The BIOS queries the module for a 'label' that tells
the BIOS what parameters the module is capable of running. (Factory-set so
some modules are capable of exceeding the SPD numbers. However, they should
be safe at those settings.) Also, it's not a feature of "modern" memory,
unless you consider RAM modules well over 10 years old as modern.

Some modules simply use it for timing info. With others, like the SDRAM
modules I have in that machine over there, <nods to the left>, there can be
all sorts of data stored there. Each of those DIMMs not only tell AIDA32 or
CPU-Z the manufacturer of the RAM (Mitsubishi in this case) but the model,
the date of manufacture (18th August 1998) and the serial numnber of each
module. Amazing huh?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Presence_Detect
--
TTFN.

Shaun.

You're only a little bit newer than I am to this overclocking stuff. I
> found a handful of free utilities worth its weight in gold. Here are
> some, hopefully the more experienced folks here will add to the list:
>
> CPU-Z -- a wealth of info ... start here?
> Orthos
> Coretemp
> Speedfan
> MemSet
> SetFSB
> wPrime
> TAT
> plus the Everest Home Edition freebie mentioned earlier in the thread
> for a basic gauge of memory bandwidth.
>
> (Help! I could use a really good live CD for stability test but I
> haven't located one yet.)

You might Google for Ultimate Boot CD. It has Memtest and some drive
utilities and they also give some good advice for adding other utilities to
the CD. I consider it a "must have" for diagnostics.

Ed