OVERCLOCKING the Intel DP45SG

[Force]

First of all, i know there is an existing topic on that board, however that topic is pretty useless because its grown way to big by now and adresses a whole lot of issues.

This topic is supposed to be about overclocking that board.

My question is about the CPU FSB to RAM FSB ratio:

In order to run a 10*333 MHz Core 2 Duo E8600 @ 10*400 MHz, the memory frequency has to be reduced from 4*400 MHz to 4*333 MHz. That would be achived by setting the RAM FSB to be CPU FSB/1,20. Does that board provide this memory setting? What are the boards memory configuration options?

On a sidenote, Kingston provides certified and tested memory for Intel boards. The memory of (my) choice for this board is the Kingston KVR1333D3N9K2/4G. The board supports a maximum RAM FSB of 1333, so there is no point buying any fancy overclockers memory.

Does anyone have their DP45SG run a Core 2 Duo at 4.0 GHz?
What cooling do you use?
Did you have to temper with the voltage to get the CPU to work stable?

I plan on using passive cooling (Cooler Master Hyper Z600) in a Cooler Master Sileo Case (2x120mm Fans) and a Cooler Master Siment Pro M500 PSU (1x135mm Fan). So the passive cooler would either have one 120mm Fan plus one 135mm Fan right next to him sucking air out, or, alternatively the 120mm rear case fan Blowing air in while the PSU fan sucks it out with 135mm again. The 120mm front case fan also covers the hard disks and should make sure the airflow is perfect even though the case is noise dampened.

Im looking forward to a good thread

[DaveLessnau]

I think you're right about finding things in the big thread. So, I'm copying over one of my summary posts there related to overclocking. Note that I don't know too much about the specifics of overclocking. But, from what I can see it's not possible (processor speed-wise, anyway) with the current BIOS. Memory-wise, I know nothing. But, I believe Sandog and others have done it successfully. Anyway, from my other post:

For the DP45SG, BIOS version 0106 behaves the same as 0102 regarding Processor Overrides. Here's the core of an email I sent to Intel on it (I'm running an E8400 which is supposed to default to 9x333 = 3GHz):

- At Default, the system behaves normally:
-- the BIOS Main page reports the speed at 3GHz,
-- SpeedStep works by varying the system from 6x333 (2GHz) to 9x333 (3GHz) (confirmed by CPU-Z, HWMonitor, and PIU),
-- CPU VCORE idles at 1.04V,
-- Sandra reports everything correctly and gives the following scores:
--- Processor Arithmetic = 23,841 MOPS
--- Processor Multi-Media = 57,368k Pixels/s
--- Performance Index = 349

- The behaviors at PromptYes and 9x334 are, mostly, identical to each other (and wrong):
-- the BIOS Main and Processor Overrides pages report the speed at about 3.1:
--- for PromptYes, 3.16GHz upon making the change and then 2.00GHz following a reboot,
--- for 9x334, 3.0GHz upon making the change and then 3.1GHz following a reboot,
-- EIST disappears from the Power tab,
-- SpeedStep doesn't work and the system stays at about 6x333 and 2GHz (confirmed by CPU-Z, HWMonitor, and PIU),
-- CPU VCORE idles around 1.20 (which works out to about a 33% increase in processor power use since power varies by the square of the voltage),
-- Sandra reports the processor is running at 50% OC and the memory as PC3-12800 instead of PC3-8500 (which is odd since I never touched the Memory Overrides page and it isn't reflected anywhere else). It gives the following scores:
--- Processor Arithmetic = 15,753 MOPS
--- Processor Multi-Media = 38,111k Pixels/s
--- Performance Index = 319

Which works out to a performance of about 2/3 of Default (confirming the system is running at 6x333 and 2GHz).

My definitions:
- Default: with Processor Overrides left entirely alone,
- PromptYes: with Processor Overrides changed only by accepting the "Do You Wish to Continue?" Prompt from No to Yes,
- 9x334: with Processor Overrides changed to a Multiplier of 9 and a Frequency of 334.

[TI99]

From my own personal experience only the 93 BIOS will let you over clock without problems.
I set my E8500 freq to 370 which gets it to 3.51 gig when it steps up to 9.5 under load and 2.2gig when it steps down to 6 when idle. The front side bus is at 1480 with these settings. I tried going higher but the memory would not handle the increase in the front side bus above 1480 even with voltage changes. The memory is set to default.
This set up is extreemly stable, no BSOD or program aborts running SQL Server 2008 express and VS2008 for a month now.

[TCRG tv]

This is a good deal. The other thread that Sandog hosts is awesome. It has saved my bootie more than once. However I agree it is pretty robust, I am glad to see this specific thread as overclocking the DP45SG seems to be a project.

I was just working on mine this morning and wound up sending a question to Intel about why the muliplier in the CPU Performance settings wants to automatically change to 6 and not just under idle. (BIOS version 0106) I will post their response if I get one. I have already escalated my question.

[OldDeadOne]

I would love to see the results of overclocking on this motherboard as I'm eventually going to have all my parts together and am considering doing some overclocking. I hope you guys will show screenshots of your attempts!

[TCRG tv]

Here is the link to BIOS version 093. Intel® Desktop Board DP45SGÂ*BIOS Update [SGP4510H.86A]

I hope it lets us go back. I am going to find out right now.


Edit: No bueno.... Now I get an error message using the express download which is the way I have been able to do all my other BIOS updates.

[Sandog]

Great thread start Force.

I think this thread is perfect as we need a seperate discussion area devoted to OC this board. I tried yesterday with no luck to go to 400FSB, seems OC stepped back a bit from the previous BIOS's. I posted under NVidia drivers thread that you can check CPU bottlenecking with Vista's perfmon (processor) program. Cool program to check out. With current processors I don't think there is much of a problem. Thanks to TCRG tv for bringing the CPUY bottlenecking question to light.

[Sandog]

One thing strange I noticed that may be of a benefit (if working right) is that you can go to manual in memory, change voltage and then go back to auto and it keeps your new voltage setting. Someone may want to verify this.

[TI99]

Originally Posted by Sandog

One thing strange I noticed that may be of a benefit (if working right) is that you can go to manual in memory, change voltage and then go back to auto and it keeps your new voltage setting. Someone may want to verify this.

I noticed the same thing. I was overclocking my Mushkin memory but got tired of the extra power cycle (I don't think much was gained anyway) and had set the voltage to 1.7V. Even after setting memory back to auto the voltage still says 1.7V. Anyway to verify this?

[Oboema]

I also have those experience. I will make some bios pictures on my settings.
Since last saterday i have a E8500 and i know from other fora's that i will go to over the 4 Ghz.

[Force]

Hi Folks,

Well in case i did not make that clear, i do not yet own the DP45SG but i am planing on purchasing one. The ability to get that 4GHz core 2 Duo running is my top criteria however.

Some of you do not seem to know this, all modern Intel CPU's except for the "Extreme" series have a locked multiplier. So in order to overclock a "normal" Core 2 Duo or core 2 Quad you have to toy around with the FSB. Core 2 Quad CPU's are actually not really quadruple core CPU's. They are merely 2 dual core CPU's "glued" together. So regarding overclocking that may be problematic because both of these dual core CPU's have to be overclockable and there is some kind of extra electronic necessary to tie those two CPU's together so that may result in less impressive overclocking results as well.

The Core 2 Duo is the better gaming CPU because games do not require cores, they require Megaherz at the moment and for the forseeable future as well. So for a gaming machine, the E8600 is in my opinion the best CPU choice, be sure to pick up the boxed version because these are best quality while the oem/tray version isn't always. That also affects overclockability.

All E8600 boxed CPU's reach 4 GHz with ease on air cooling, question is only the required voltage. If you are lucky, you can leave the voltage at default and stray away from the regular specifications as little as possible that way. The reason for choosing the E8600 is its multiplier of 10, which makes it a 4 GHz CPU when you run it at FSB 400. My (educated) guess is that at FSB 400 all of the system bus frequency's such as the PCI bus are are at their default speed (PCI is 33,33 for example which is 400/12). the only thing that can spoil the overclocking fun is RAM.

So there are 2 way's to ensure that the RAM isn't preventing overclocking. A would be using 1600 MHz RAM modules, which is more expensive of course. B would be applying a multiplier to the FSB, that way "splitting" the FSB in "CPU FSB" and "RAM FSB". To run the RAM in perfect alignment with the board's DDR 1333 Specification, it would be necessary to set the RAM FSB to CPU FSB/1,2.

Is there such a setting? Can anyone tell me (us) what the memory configuration options are?


Edit:
THIS //picasaweb.google.com/ksmquad/QXRaidmax# looks very promising.
However the relevant screenshot number 2 is a bit inconclusive... can it be so easy???

[Oboema]

These are my current settings,

and because i'm not able to post image links i will give you my album link:

//i403.photobucket.com/albums/pp119/oboema/Overclocking/

[OldDeadOne]

Oboema: what was your cpu orginally at? did you overclock to 3.16?

[Oboema]

Originally Posted by OldDeadOne

Oboema: what was your cpu orginally at? did you overclock to 3.16?

Yes these are my blank settings. i will take pictures again of a overclock. My option is to go for default mem settings and play around with the FSB frequency.

[preyingrazor]

Originally Posted by Oboema

Yes these are my blank settings. i will take pictures again of a overclock. My option is to go for default mem settings and play around with the FSB frequency.

I want to do the same. I wanna go upto 3 GHz. You're using 0108?

Last I tried it with the 0083, it blew up my internet and didn't change the CPU frequency at all (although it showed the higher host clock frequency)