P4 640 Overclocking

S

Slawek

Limp Gawd
Joined
Feb 28, 2006
Messages
186
I have the P4 640 3.2 Ghz processor. In my Asus bios, I go to overclocking, select 20% A.i. Boost, and restart. Now the clock speed is 3.84 Ghz. When my voltage is stock, 1.3875, I get pretty decent 3dmark06 scores (like 3975). When I set the vcore voltage to 'auto', I noticed it's around 1.45 --> 1.5, somewhere in there.. anyway, my score drops drastically, like 300 points.

Is there a recommendation you guys can make on the voltage? I mean, doesnt overclocking 20% mean I should put 20% more voltage? Or should I just leave it at stock and things should be fine? I dont want to be hurting the processor by either giving it too much voltage, or not enough. I want my performance to be optimal with this overclock.

Also I left DRAM voltage at auto and ram timings on auto. When I started fiddling with those timings things started getting weird.

FSB is at 960 (quad pumped, so 240 mhz), ram is 698mhz (DDR2)
 
oops i meant to post this in the overclocking forum. Can one of the moderators move this please?
 
You don't increase voltage linearly with MHz else people who break world records would never reach those clocks. You add more voltage when the system becomes instable. You only give it as much as it needs, no need to generate extra heat and taking life off the chip for no reason.

You should really take a look at a overclocking guide (stickies for teh win!) and do it yourself.

You won't hurt the chip by not giving it enough vcore, it'll just be instable.
 
gwai lo said:
You don't increase voltage linearly with MHz else people who break world records would never reach those clocks. You add more voltage when the system becomes instable. You only give it as much as it needs, no need to generate extra heat and taking life off the chip for no reason.

You should really take a look at a overclocking guide (stickies for teh win!) and do it yourself.

You won't hurt the chip by not giving it enough vcore, it'll just be instable.
Click to expand...

yeah exactly. Voltage settings have nothing to do with performance at a given clock speed...they are only to keep components stable at speeds they would not be stable at otherwise.
 
Slawek said:
I have the P4 640 3.2 Ghz processor. In my Asus bios, I go to overclocking, select 20% A.i. Boost, and restart. Now the clock speed is 3.84 Ghz. When my voltage is stock, 1.3875, I get pretty decent 3dmark06 scores (like 3975). When I set the vcore voltage to 'auto', I noticed it's around 1.45 --> 1.5, somewhere in there.. anyway, my score drops drastically, like 300 points.

Is there a recommendation you guys can make on the voltage? I mean, doesnt overclocking 20% mean I should put 20% more voltage? Or should I just leave it at stock and things should be fine? I dont want to be hurting the processor by either giving it too much voltage, or not enough. I want my performance to be optimal with this overclock.

Also I left DRAM voltage at auto and ram timings on auto. When I started fiddling with those timings things started getting weird.

FSB is at 960 (quad pumped, so 240 mhz), ram is 698mhz (DDR2)
Click to expand...

i think what was happening when u were setting the voltage to auto was that your cpu was problably Thermal Throttling hence your lower score
 
well considering my temps were low, I doubt it. I've had it throttle when i first got my pc, when i didnt have my heatsink installed right.

Right now I'm running 1000 FSB and 675 DDR2. I have my voltage set at 1.4625, and stock is 1.3875. Can someone verify that this is correct? O/C from 3.2 -> 4.0
 
If the processor is not getting enough voltage, other than crashing, would that result in poor 3dmark06 scores or lower frame rates in games? Or are the two completely unrelated, and Vcore is just to keep the damn thing running?
 
Yep, the problem would lie somewhere else then.

Maybe someone will chime in on some obscure correlation between the two, but I can't see how they would be related.
 
Someone just told me "the correct voltage is the lowest vcore that will let you do your everyday things, gaming, etc, without crashing".

So, basically, start from 1.3875 and go up. However, if after 10 mins of CS:S it crashed, do you not think I should up it wayyy more than just 1.4000?

My steps go like this:

1.3875
1.4000
1.4125
1.4375
1.4500
1.4675
1.4750
1.4875
1.5000

etc.

Crash occured at 1.3875 after 10 mins of gaming. What logically should be the next voltage to go with?
 
I don't know about how everyone else does it..but the way I would do it would be:

One more step up.

If that's not stable, then another..

and another...

Until it gets stable or you go past the "Not-a-good-idea-to-go-higher-than-this" voltage.

However, the RAM settings should also be tweaked, unless the RAM is being underclocked still (via a divider).
 
I dunno maybe its in my head or something, but I'm getting weird CS:S frame rates. I mean, everything is maxed @ 1280x960, and sometimes depending where I am I'm getting 120-150 fps, then when i get into another area of a level it drops to like 30's! I've seen it hit 28 fps before.

And when I see this, I keep thinking "Okay I overclocked to 4 ghz, I have a 7800 GT OC that is overclocked too, and I'm getting fps in the damn 30's!!?? My voltage must be fucked", and then I start tinkering with it not knowing what to set it to.

Is this not the correct way to think of voltage? Maybe 1 gig of ram is causing these slowdowns?
 
Your FPS won't be stable throughout games, some places require more power and some don't. For example, a large open space v. a narrow, dark tunnel.

The FPS drops are kind of weird though, I wouldn't expect such a wide range...

Maybe this confirms it (same engine, correct?):

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0506/itogi-video-hl1-wxp-aaa-1600-pcie.html

But then again, I guess it depends on where it happens.

I don't think it's the RAM because the HL2 engine was released around the time when 1GB was still sufficient..hell I play with a 9600xt and 1GB of RAM and my FPS doesn't fly around that much. Obviously with everything turned down though..
 
Slawek said:
Hmm.
How do I do a demo stress test where it records my FPS and stuff?
Click to expand...

Use a real game, get FRAPS, fire it up, do some gaming.

Terra - That is the way I find my "sweet spot" for settings, OC ect...
 
15 mins into a dual prime95 test (one doing small, one doing large) it failed.
Voltage upped to 1.4125, lets see how far she goes.

100% CPU load, no throttling --> Using throttle watch

I really dont understand why my voltage is not showing up properly. Under Asus probe it's wrong, under CPUZ it jumps around incorrectly, throttle watch is showing the same thing no matter what I set the voltage to. ???
 
Super PI 2M failed, running 1.4375. Passed up to 4M, havent tested higher yet. Will do the highest test before i go to bed. 2nite I will do overnight dual Prime95 on this voltage and see if it passes.


/edit 32 M passed @ 1.4375

SuperPI.jpg
 
gwai lo said:
Your FPS won't be stable throughout games, some places require more power and some don't. For example, a large open space v. a narrow, dark tunnel.

The FPS drops are kind of weird though, I wouldn't expect such a wide range...

Maybe this confirms it (same engine, correct?):

http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/digest3d/0506/itogi-video-hl1-wxp-aaa-1600-pcie.html

But then again, I guess it depends on where it happens.

I don't think it's the RAM because the HL2 engine was released around the time when 1GB was still sufficient..hell I play with a 9600xt and 1GB of RAM and my FPS doesn't fly around that much. Obviously with everything turned down though..
Click to expand...
I dunno I was just playing and experiencing some crazy frame rates.. from 40 -> 130 depending on the action. It's retarded. I'm playing, all of a sudden 35 fps. I cant deal with that! 1280x960, 4xAA, 8xAF, full shadows, simple reflections, HDR off, highest textures.

Just dont understand. I have a demo recorded of me playing with like 20fps. If someone wants it, email me.. slawek dot bielawa at gmail dot com and I will send it to you. Maybe you can help me figure out why it's so bloody slow! HL2 seems to go like 50-80 fps @ 1024 everything max.
 
Well 5 hours into dual Prime95, one of the tests failed, the other kept going. Voltage bumped up to 1.4500. Damn it.. so bloody close.. lol
 
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