Intel X38 Tango - Is High FSB Overclocking Worth It?
by Rajinder Gill on February 26, 2008 3:30 AM EST- Posted in
- CPUs
E8500 FSB/VMCH Polka Party
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The voltages shown in these tables are the minimum we can expect to use to keep each configuration completely stable. Games like Crysis represent one of the toughest system loads we have ever seen from a program. The redline E8500 results at 500 FSB are not completely stable due to Crysis, even though we can pass a myriad of other stress tests.
The ability to run other games and video/audio/office applications generated a mixed bag of results, but these same applications ran perfectly fine at the 9x/9.5x multipliers. However, we would recommend the 9x multiplier for everyday operation as the voltages required (plus increased thermal outputs) to ensure stability at the 9.5x multiplier are a greater penalty than the very slight increases in application performance.
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We also checked the overclocking ability of the Maximus Extreme with 4GB of memory. The total load capacitance of four memory modules limits the X38 chipset to a 2N command rate over DDR3-1600 speeds at CAS 7. A slight bump in VMCH is required to hold things together with 4GB of memory in comparison to 2GB.
Now that we have this base data, let's take a quick look at why using a tRD setting of 6 in the 440-470FSB region makes so much sense with dual-core CPUs like the E8400/E8500.
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goinginstyle - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
I really enjoyed it and look forward to another one with Quad Cores if possible. Loved disco Stu and based on the dancing comments it seems as if Gary's humor has rubbed off on you.One thing, is it possible to show a few more applications in the next article, gaming is fine, but would like to see what happens with encoding and Maya/Photoshop when overclocking a system. I barely can get above 400FSB with a Q6600 at 8x and hold steady on a Intel X38 board.
Rajinder Gill - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
Hi,We can take a look at Quad VMCH next up. Along with some different software too...
regards
Raja
enigma1997 - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
A great article - it truely shows how to overclock intelligently - it's based on facts/evidences, not blindly increase the whatever voltage and see what can be achieved. Congrat!!Owls - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
and very informative. thanks!Sylvanas - Tuesday, February 26, 2008 - link
haha nice use of all the dance references, made my day.Great article, I enjoy these articles explaining more about Trd and various other BIOS settings, goes to show intelligent overclocking > max voltage/fsb stupidity.