Slightly OT: E8400 proc. setup - Parky ?

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

i have used a E6550 Dual proc. with 2.33 GHz on my Asus P5K mainboard with 2 Gb of DDR-2 Ram. After asking at the forum back then i guess it was Parky who said the E8400 would be a good proc., especially as the "E0" version (overclocking possible, but ..).

I have finally managed to get a new E0 one, but ... i guess i will have to completely re-install the OS and all my software to get XP working after an exchange ?

 

2nd question is how would i setup this 3 Ghz proc., if i want to overclock it "mildly" - i take it it is done via BIOS, not jumpers - is there an Asus utility for this ?

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

[Tamper 9]

Hello,

 

i have used a E6550 Dual proc. with 2.33 GHz on my Asus P5K mainboard with 2 Gb of DDR-2 Ram. After asking at the forum back then i guess it was Parky who said the E8400 would be a good proc., especially as the "E0" version (overclocking possible, but ..).

I have finally managed to get a new E0 one, but ... i guess i will have to completely re-install the OS and all my software to get XP working after an exchange ?

 

2nd question is how would i setup this 3 Ghz proc., if i want to overclock it "mildly" - i take it it is done via BIOS, not jumpers - is there an Asus utility for this ?

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

 

The 8400's are notoriously good overclockers. You shouldn't have to re-install anything; just change out the CPU - everything (software/OS-wise) should be unchanged. Now, you might prefer to start from a fresh install, for other reasons - but the CPU changing doesn't require it.

 

I use a 8400 myself, it's up to 3.83G (27.5% o/c). I haven't tried any higher because my voltages are already as high as I care for them being to get to 3.83. A lot of how far you can go depends on the board, and how far you want to push it. Some have gotten 4G out of an 8400, without even raising voltages much, but it's pretty common to expect you'll need to raise a few voltages in BIOS to get it to o/c stable beyond, say, 10%. Some suggestions are CPU voltage, 'north bridge' voltage, and memory voltage. You could easily get 20% (3.6G) without a lot of heroics.

 

You'll be increasing FSB settings and/or multipliers to overclock the actual CPU (most often FSB). You'll need to find out if your BIOS allows 'unlinking' the CPU FSB and the memory FSB; this will allow you to change CPU without altering memory.

 

The things to watch are voltages (they'll need to increase, but you don't want to get crazy); and heat (overclocking will cause things to run hotter, so you have to be prepared to monitor temps/makes changes with cooling depending on how far you want to go.

 

I have never been able to get anything useful out of the 'automatic' overclocking in BIOS from Asus boards or eVGA. I recommend studying a little, learning what works and doesn't, then get ready for some good old fashioned trial and error.

 

You can google overclocking an 8400 - more there than you can read in a lifetime *lol* Lots of opinion; just check various sources and see what most agree on.

 

HTH

[Siggi 10]

Here's a good guide:

 

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1198647

 

It looks like your board (mobo) should handle an OC ok, unless it's a very early model (do you have the deluxe?).

 

You'll need 1066 RAM.

 

A good heatsink and fan for the CPU (Zalman Flower is good, all copper).

 

You will not need to reinstall the OS for an OC.

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

thanks very much - you cannot imagine how glad i am not having to re-install all after only two months ... next buy will be a BIG external harddisk for images and backup.

Ok, i will exchange the CPU without OC, and then slowly work my way up. I think 3.5 will be ok, just will have to look for a better heatsink.

 

Thanks a lot and greetings,

Catfish

[Gremlin_WoH 0]

Hello,

 

thanks very much - you cannot imagine how glad i am not having to re-install all after only two months ... next buy will be a BIG external harddisk for images and backup.

Ok, i will exchange the CPU without OC, and then slowly work my way up. I think 3.5 will be ok, just will have to look for a better heatsink.

 

Thanks a lot and greetings,

Catfish

 

 

If you do not plan to use a quad core on Socket 775 in the near future you could buy an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro. It is about 24 Euro and well worth the money. It is cooling my 4.15 GHz clocked E8400 (stepping before E0) very reliably. Around 40 °C on idle and 53 °C running OFF P3 in its full glory. When ASUS brings out the next BIOS with certain bugfixes regarding memory stability I will try higher.

 

Also read the overclockers forums to get an idea. For example:

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/community/

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/

 

You do not use tools for overclocking itself other than the BIOS settings. You use tools to control the success and the stability: CPU-Z, Everest, CoreTemp, Prime95, Intel Burn Test and so on.

 

Hope this helps

 

Gremlin

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

first thanks for you tips and suggestions - However i have a problem. The PC does not work with the new processor.

 

With the new processor, switching on the PC, the keyboard lights flash, the speaker beeps one time as usual, but then there is only the Asus start screen appearing, suggesting to press "Del" etc. to enter the Bios, and that's it. The keyboard works, but when i press "Del" nothing happens. I am neither able to enter the Bios, nor does the PC start. It just keeps showing me the Asus start screen, which is usually shown for 5 seconds or so, before the PC starts the boot procedure.

 

The PC was not overclocked before, or now, or anything, and i did finally take out the mainboard battery and reset the Bios via jumper.

 

But no go, i again do not even reach the Bios because nothing happens when i press one of the commands to enter it (like Del etc.).

 

Re-installed the old proc. again, and all works with restored Bios defaults. Hmm, does anyone have a P5K mainboard and knows what's wrong, or does someone have an idea ? Board is Asus P5K rev. 1.02G, Ram is 2x 1Gb Kingston HyperX DDR-2 in both yellow sockets (Dual channel).

 

I have no idea -

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

Edited April 15, 2009 by Wels

[catch 81]

I have no idea -

 

Neither do I Where is the Parkinator ? Come back Parky .... come back ...... by the way when you get it going Catfish you will love it. I have an Asus p5q (deluxe ) and e8400 and P3 runs just fine on 3ghz. I haven't considered o/clocking because, quite frankly, it scares the pants off me. And the world is not ready for that.

[Wels 2]

Hello Catch,

 

i'm coming closer, seems the crate needs a Bios firmware update. oookayyy where did i store those 3,5" disks ?!

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

[Gremlin_WoH 0]

Hello Catch,

 

i'm coming closer, seems the crate needs a Bios firmware update. oookayyy where did i store those 3,5" disks ?!

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

 

That would have been my next suggestion. I remembered the E0 stepping needed a BIOS update for boards older than the E0 stepping CPU.

 

Look into your mainboard manual if the BIOS has a built in flash utility. This way you coudl save the new BIOS file to an USB stick and flash it via the BIOS tool. Do not flash it with a Windows Tool you may find on the CD that may be delivered with the mainboard. get the newest BIOS file for your board specifically from the ASUS site.

 

Warning: Flashing is at your own risk. Also before you flash go into the BIOS and set it to default values. That's important because new BIOS tend to store their settings differently than the odler versions. After doing so leave the BIOS by saving the default settings on exit, power down your PC and restart it. Then go into BIOS and flash the new one. The BIOS .rom file needs to be named in a certain manner the flash tool expects.

 

If you have a separate Clear CMOS Button on your board as I have switch the PC off and press this button to clear the CMOS entries.

 

 

Cheers

 

Gremlin

Edited April 15, 2009 by Gremlin_WoH

[Wels 2]

Hello Gremlin,

 

i tried the classic way, set bios to default values, made a 3.5" disk with the exectuable and the the new *.rom file, and booted the PC via floppy A:, so i get the blinking A: and look via "dir" - all files there, ok.

 

It does not work. It keeps telling me to enter "afudos /i<filename>.rom", but the exe file has another name, and it does not work with THAT name either. Needless to say i had to install a 3.5" drive to even try this, get the right cable etc. etc. . Gawd. I will read chapter 4 of the mainboard manual and waste another 3 hours

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

ok, it works - thanks all !

 

Made an update with the utility supplied with the mainboard on CD, completely fuzz-free and fast:

Setting to default - read current rom info - compare with new rom update - new file format ok - backup of old Bios - flashing 0 ...100 percent - please reboot.

 

Then i installed the E8400 0E processor, and it was immediatley recognized - phew.

 

Already flew a mission, a bit better, but not much - still framerates around 10-12 during dogfights and above aerodromes. Seems i need another graphic card. The built-in is a MSI 7300 LE (Nvidia geforce chipset) with 512 Mb, passive cooled - not state of the art i suppose.

I got an active-cooled 8400 from Gimpy/uncleal a year ago, maybe this will already be better than the current one.

 

If not which graphic card would you try to get - should run OFF well, but should not be too expensive - real SLI does not work on my mainboard anyway (or only with reduced factor), so one good card has to do it.

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

Edited April 15, 2009 by Wels

[Siggi 10]

Hello,

 

ok, it works - thanks all !

 

Made an update with the utility supplied with the mainboard on CD, completely fuzz-free and fast:

Setting to default - read current rom info - compare with new rom update - new file format ok - backup of old Bios - flashing 0 ...100 percent - please reboot.

 

Then i installed the E8400 0E processor, and it was immediatley recognized - phew.

 

Already flew a mission, a bit better, but not much - still framerates around 10-12 during dogfights and above aerodromes. Seems i need another graphic card. The built-in is a MSI 7300 LE (Nvidia geforce chipset) with 512 Mb, passive cooled - not state of the art i suppose.

I got an active-cooled 8400 from Gimpy/uncleal a year ago, maybe this will already be better than the current one.

 

If not which graphic card would you try to get - should run OFF well, but should not be too expensive - real SLI does not work on my mainboard anyway (or only with reduced factor), so one good card has to do it.

 

Thanks and greetings,

Catfish

 

8800GTX is going for around £100 here, which is what I'm using. With my E8400 at 4ghz and all settings set crazily high I get pukka FPS.

[Gremlin_WoH 0]

My 9800GTX 512MB works well. Nowadays there is the improved variant 9800GTX+ 512MB or 1024MB and a re-labeled type Nvidia called GTS250 (just another badge on it). You could go for the GTS250 with 1024 MB video memory which should give you a good boost especially in OFF with lots of textures. You can get one as cheap as 140 Euro. As stated before it is a re-labeled 9800GTX+.

 

Examples:

Sparkle GTS250

Palit GTS250

 

Cheers

[Wels 2]

Hello,

 

great Info, thanks all ! I have additionally read some posts over at the Bhah help forum - maybe i should have posted there, i still seem to have some orientation problems at the "new" forum lol.

 

Anyway i have already experienced a much better all-round performance, and even in a furball AND over an airfield it does not drop to below 12 fps now, after tweaking the cfs3config.exe a bit more - and this with a dirt cheap passive-cooled 7300LE for 25 bucks -

ok i will see to get a better card next.

 

Happy flying!

Catfish