Help with the settings for a GA-EP35-DS3P, 4gigs mem, E8500

[Bisha32601]

I will try to keep this short and sweet. I have read all your stickys and many from other forums re: overclocking. I guess I am real thick but I just cannot get this thing to perform like I know it should. The mobo is very versatile, allows many different setting and I have not hit close on the best one yet and I have tried a bunch. The best one so far is just the default and that is crazy. There has to be a "sweet spot" for the system and a logicial way to figure it out. So here is what I am working with and I sure would appreciate any help/insight!!

Gigabyte GA-EP35_DS3P mobo
2x2gigs OCZ Platinum PC2-8000 memory
Intel E8500 Core 2 Duo
Arctic Cooler
Visiontek (crappy card I think) ATI 2600XT

I use the computer mostly for Photoshop work so the video card is not really important. Whatever speed Photoshop has comes from the CPU/RAM/FSB combo, the video card plays little to no role in it

CPUz is telling me:
Core speed: 2130Mhz
Multiplier x6 (I have the BIOS multiplier set to 9.5) so I believe I am getting 3.37Mhz
Bus Speed 355Mhz
Rated FSB 1420Mhz

It reports memory at 532Mhz
FSBRAM 2:3
the basic mem settings=5-5-5-13

Thanks more than I can say for whatever help/guidance you can give me!

Neil

[Thermopylae_480]

CPU-Z is reporting the decreased multiplier because of Intel speed step which drops the multiplier to decrease clock speed and save energy when the processor is not needing full power, you should be able to disable that function is BIOS if you wish. The multiplier for that CPU should be 9.5, and stock speed should be 3.16GHz with a bus speed of 332MHz and FSB speed of 1330MHz. What values have you changed to try and overclock your CPU?

[Bisha32601]

I have tried all sorts of combinations in the BIOS and using Memset. I could get the CPU up to 3.8Mhz or higher and the RAM up to 500Mhz (anything over 500 would freeze the mobo) but they never felt fast when I used the machine and PCWizard pretty much proved that. Right or wrong, I became convinced that there was some sweet spot I was missing. I finally hit on 9.5 as the multiplier, which is as high as the BIOS goes, 356 for the host speed and 3.0 for the RAM SPD. That gives me 500Mhz on each ram stick but only keeps the cpu at 3.16 or so. When I try a higher host speed, like 400 I get the cpu up to 3.8Mhz or more but I have to slow down the ram back in the 500 range with a lower SPD and the computer actually runs slower. The strange thing is, the Bios reports 3.8 on the cpu but when I run CPUZ it says it is at 3.16 and the FSB is at 1333. I don't get it. I have the voltage on the cpu at 1.30 and the ram at 2.05.

Thoughts??

[Bisha32601]

PS - Any idea what in the bios I can change to disable the energy thing at least until I can see what I really have?

[erocker]

Post all of your system specs in the User CP. Did you turn speedstep off?

[Bisha32601]

It pains me to be as uninformed as I am about this stuff because I have built many computers but never go tinto overclocking. So I do not know what "User CP" is. Please tell me so that I do not send a bunch of worthless information.

If there is a short answer to what I am going to ask now, please let me know but i wll send whatever info you need because I want to learn and understand this. Question: It seems that I am limited in the bios to three major settings that affect how the thing runs; (I am doing this from memory so I may not have the exact bios terms correct) the cpu multiplier (I have at 9.5, showing cpu at 3.38Mhz), the setting for the FSB (which I now have at 356), the ram spd (I have at 3, the choices run from 2 to 4 in various increments) and then the voltages and various ram settings. At these settings the computer runs great but CPUZ still shows the cpu at 3.16 and FSB at 1333.

My RAM is PC2-8000, 500mhz, using any combination of settings, is as high as it will run before freezing the machine. I can back down the multiplier, raise up the FSB and back down the SPD; this has the bios telling me the clock speed is around 3.8 and the ram at around 500. When I run the machine CPUZ shows 3.16 CPU 333 and then FSB at 1333 and RAM at 400+, all the thermal protections are off and the computer is not as quick as when I have it at the above settings I mentioned.

Hope I did not run on too long here. Trying to give you info so that I can learn.

Neil

[Bisha32601]

PS-As far as I can tell Speedstep does not apply to the Core 2 Duo. At least I can find no mention of it at Intel.com and no mention in the bios.

[HTC]

Here's the User CP:

http://img.techpowerup.org/080513/2008-05-13_192602.png

[Bisha32601]

System info as requested:

Number of CPU(s) One Physical Processor / 2 Cores / 2 Logical Processors / 64 bits
Vendor GenuineIntel
CPU Full Name Intel Core 2 Duo
CPU Name Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz
CPU Code Name Wolfdale
Technology 0.045µ
Platform Name LGA775
Type Original OEM processor
Max Voltage 1.20 V
Tj. Max 100 ºC (212 ºF)
FSB Mode QDR
Microcode ID 60B
Type ID 0
CPU Clock 3130.07
System Bus Clock -1.0
System Clock 329.48
Multiplier 9.50
Original Clock 2533.33
Original Bus Clock 1066.67
Original System Clock 266.67
Original Multiplier 9.50
Overclock 23.56%
L2 Cache Speed 3130.07 MHz
L2 Cache Speed Full
CPU Family / Model / Stepping 6 / 7 / 6
Cache 32 KB L1 I-Cache, 32 KB L1 D-Cache, 6144 KB L2 Cache
Instructions MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4, SSE4.1, EM64T, XD, VT, MSR, SpeedStep
Architecture x86

RAM
Property Value
Memory Summary
Location System board or motherboard
Maximum Capacity 4096 MBytes
Memory Slots 4
Error Correction None
Use System memory
Maximum Memory Module Size 1024 MBytes


Device Locator Slot 1
Manufacturer OCZ
Part Number OCZ2P10002G
Serial Number 00000000
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM
Speed DDR2-800 (400 MHz)
Data Width 64 bits
Voltage SSTL 1.8V
Error Correction None
Refresh Reduced (.5x)...7.8 µs
Manufacturing Date N/A
Module Height 30.0 mm
EPP SPD Support No


Device Locator Slot 3
Manufacturer OCZ
Part Number OCZ2P10002G
Serial Number 00000000
Capacity 2048 MBytes
Memory Type DDR2 SDRAM
Speed DDR2-800 (400 MHz)
Data Width 64 bits
Voltage SSTL 1.8V
Error Correction None
Refresh Reduced (.5x)...7.8 µs
Manufacturing Date N/A
Module Height 30.0 mm
EPP SPD Support No

Hope this, along with all I have said in previous posts helps....

Neil

[allen337]

When you first get into bios hit Ctrl + F1 to expand memory options . Then go to Advanced BIOS features and Disable the following.
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) DISABLED
CPU Thermol Monitor 2 (TM2) DISABLED
CPU EIST function DISABLED
Virtualzation Technology DISABLED

Now go into MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)
You should have your memory options in here expanded if you hit the Ctrl + F1 to begin with.

TIPS set your memory voltage to +.40 volts

set your (G)MCH OverVoltage Control to +.20 volts

You will probably need to set you memory timings manually in here also try and keep the memory under ddr2 500 and timings @ 5-5-5 They should run @ or a little over depending on memory at 4-4-4 around ddr2 400-450 maybe even more, but while your overclocking keep your memory divider where the memory dont go way over ddr2 1000. ALLEN

[allen337]

If they were already off his mobo is junk because its showing a multi of 6x in windows so I know it on in bios. Only way it can show 6x unless he set it that way. ALLEN

[Bisha32601]

I had all but one of the items disabled but now they all are. The bios settings are 9.5 for the multiplieer which reports a cpu speed of 3.38. Host Mhz is set to 356 and SPF to 3.0 which result in RAM of 1068. The system does run very fast. Ctrl-F1 did not give me more setting but there always were quite a few extra setting for the memory and the voltage. CPU volt is at 1.34 and mem at 2.10.

I just wonder why CPUZ still reports the cpu at 3.16, 9.5 multi, 333 bus and 1333 FSB; should not these be higher since the bios said the cpu was set to 3.38?

[spearman914]

CPU-Z is reporting the decreased multiplier because of Intel speed step which drops the multiplier to decrease clock speed and save energy when the processor is not needing full power, you should be able to disable that function is BIOS if you wish. The multiplier for that CPU should be 9.5, and stock speed should be 3.16GHz with a bus speed of 332MHz and FSB speed of 1330MHz. What values have you changed to try and overclock your CPU?

And so does C1E or was it CE1 forgot the name.. and disable all of those useless crap. The best settings should be 1:1 333 MHz 9.5 Multi or 5:6 333 MHz 9.5 Multi