E7200 Overclocking

Hello all.

This is the stuff I've got:
*CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 M0
*Cooler: stock
*Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3L
*RAM: Patriot Viper 4GB (2 x 2GB) PC2-6400

Using a 9.5x multiplier, I can't get this thing past an FSB of 372MHz for the love of god, and it's only stable at 350MHz. The 372MHz hangs in Prime95 within minutes while the 350MHz FSB runs for hours on end with no errors.

I saw that quite a bit of people have gotten their E7200s to run at 4.0GHz with 8x500, but I have absolutely no luck in getting that, not even with a Vcore of 1.5v that I tried once.

I aimed for 9.5x400 with 1.4v, but even that failed to POST.

Bumping my memory up to 2.1v didn't help either.

Help! =[

Thanks in advance!

What are your system temps when overclocking? Generally a after-market cooler will help you greatly as well. Be careful, don't stress your system too much, esp. with stock cooling.... (unless you have $$$ to burn/melt/fry/spark/smoke/die/kill/murder/annihilate/etc)...

as elder, said you might want to get a separate cooler, instead of the stock one.

Well I managed to boot at 3.8GHz (400x9.5) but it's unstable and blue screens or fails Prime95 within minutes.

At 1.4v, BIOS read my CPU temp as 42 degrees Celsius. When I stressed the CPU it hit 64 C.

Intel recommends that the temp be under 65 C - you are pretty close to that, but I believe that your problem is your stock cooler - those stockies are not meant to run at that frequency and can't be expected to maintain a cool temp and system stability. Get a quality after market cooler and you should be able to run a stable 3.8 or even higher with some luck.

rule of thumb if you overclock get quality stuff

so the stock cooler is what's preventing me from getting a 4.0GHz clock?

and even though the thermal spec for my e7200 is 74.1 C i should steer away from 65 C.

oh and i'd be happy if you guys could check these BIOS settings for me. other than the cooler, nothing else is preventing me from a 4.0GHz OC? i wanted to try bumping up the voltage on SB and NB but I couldn't find where to in this BIOS.

You should look for the highest possible overclock on the lowest possible voltage, instead of just the highest voltage with highest OC.
3.6 @ 1.2 should be possible on it. 9x400 or 8x450.
Keep in mind if 1 guy gets 4 ghz, that does not mean your cpu can.
Put your voltage at 1.2, then start overclocking with 50 mhz every time and check if it's stable. 1.4 is way too much for a 45nm cpu.
Your mainboard and cpu should do 500 mhz fsb just fine, but keep an eye on your memory speeds, if that exceeds 400, you will probably get stability problems with cheap pc6400. Also use loose timings at first: 5-5-5-15
Best way to find out if the memory is not causing trouble is by underclocking it while overclocking cpu.

My old C2Q6600 runs at 3600 (7x515 1.4) for daily operation. It can do 4 ghz, but that requires a much higher voltage. (yes mine is a 65nm, therefore it requires higher voltage) Cooled by a Thermalright TRUE, which after a year still is the best you can get.

The stock cooler is most likely what is preventing you from running stable at 3.8, it also depends on your mobo (you have a good one but it's not a "top end" OCing mobo), your airflow in the case, and not every e7200 is going to hit 4ghz, many have tried and few have succeeded, but not to worry if you can get 3.6-3.8 stable that is a heck of a good CPU.

I'm not a guy that tneds to overclock myself, but I would agree with Deluxe, drop the voltage down to 1.2 and work upwards from there, 1.4 should be avoided if possible and is your memory set to run at 5-5-5-12 standard? Generally 5-5-5-15 is default and it may give you better results, stability wise esp.

Really though if you want to overclock by as much as you ahve stated you must get an aftermarket cooler - if you don't then I advise you to not try anything over 3.6 tops.

personally, i would avoid such high overclocks. 3.2ghz at 400x8 seems to be the sweet spot for a lot of core 2 processors, giving you a 1:1 ratio with PC2-6400 ram. i believe i've read somewhere that core 2 processors like 1:1 ratio a lot more than any other.

also, overclocking is highly dependent on the chip. mine can do 3.8ghz quite easily, with a very small voltage bump on stock cooler. you might just have a dud chip... dud in terms of overclocking at least.

i've tried other multipliers, ranging from 9.5x to 6x, with the 400MHz FSB and they all fail Prime95 or blue screen. i even took the 400 FSB down to a point where it was lower than stock clock, but BSoD, BSoD, and BSoD. 1.2v - 1.4v. all on the 400 FSB.

alright, ill thoroughly test my PC2-8500 Corsair Dominators. they clocked the same as my PC2-6400 Vipers with several tries so I didn't bother with them. ill try 450-533 FSB.

does it sound like an FSB hole or the mobo's problem?