Should I try to overclock with my spec?

[Microhard]

*Click "My System Spec" on left bottom to see my spec*

Is it safe for my spec to overclock?

 

[smarteyeball]

Stock cooling - not much.

3rd party cooling - go further.

It depends on whether you need to or not. ie Gaming.

 

[Tews]

IMO, I would leave it alone... the fact that you ask if you should, suggests that you probably haven't had much experience in over clocking... Your first experience should be done on a machine that you can afford to lose, as it is very easy to brick your computer if you dont know what you are doing... overclockers.com is a good site for beginners ..

 

[Microhard]

Thanks I'll keep those suggestions in mind

 

[EpicThorn]

Pick yourself an old mobo and socket 478 Pentium 4 HT (I can think of a couple of good boards to look for). Will only cost you around $50 on ebay.
Do some reading on these here forums on how to OC.
OCing is fun, but that feeling you get in your gut when you cop a wiff of the pugnent smell of burnt hardware, is not something you want to feel with your main rig.

Thorn

 

[Microhard]

I'm jealous of you guys for knowing this knowledge... long way to go until I can OC >.<

EDIT: I downloaded NVIDIA System Tools with ESA Support and it seems I can use it to OC

 

[dood]

Personally..I dont put much faith in gui tools for overclocking.
First..they tend to use alot of 'auto' settings. And this can lead to over voltage to the CPU.
It may work fine for a 'mild' overclock..but I certainly would NEVER use it to go 'wild'.

It took me many hours of fiddling and testing to get my E8600 to run stable at 4.2GHZ on air (tuniq 120 tower cooler).
I doubt...very...very...VERY much any gui tool would achieve this. Matter 'o fact, I'll go so far as saying that such a tool would NEVER achieve such a boost as my 4.2 was done by tweaking many settings that those tools simply dont modify.

As far as risking a mobo... ASUS has some built in goodies to help prevent such things and recover from a bad OC. (Not sure how it does if you really fudge up and send 2V to the cpu tho. )

Regardless...good luck!!
Take it slow...
Get a good understanding of what you are doing before going gonzoid with higher freq's.
As a suggestion, you may want to visit some OC forums. Try some milde and mid range settings others have used. They may or may not work for you, but you'll certainly be inside the envelope, and safe, from nuking your rig.

 

[smarteyeball]

I'm jealous of you guys for knowing this knowledge... long way to go until I can OC >.<

Just keep in mind that none of us were born with Overclocking knowledge - we all had to start somewhere

That and a lot of reading plus plenty of trial and error testing...

Personally, the most important thing to do first is to research what the 'max safe volts and temps' are for your CPU, RAM and NorthBridge.

Particularly with stock cooling.

Knowing what not to exceed can avoid permanently damaging something.

Personally..I dont put much faith in gui tools for overclocking.
First..they tend to use alot of 'auto' settings. And this can lead to over voltage to the CPU.
It may work fine for a 'mild' overclock..but I certainly would NEVER use it to go 'wild'.

Ditto.

The BIOS is always the best way to OC.

The only time you should really resort to GUI tools are for locked BIOS'es.

 

[Fumz]

EDIT: I downloaded NVIDIA System Tools with ESA Support and it seems I can use it to OC

Do not, I repeat, do not use OS based software to overclock; especially if this is your first foray into overclocking.

Read, read, read. Read until you know every insignificant minor detail about each piece of hardware in the machine. Once you've done this, you won't need to ask, you'll already know about what to expect in terms of clocking, what you'll need to achieve it, and, most importantly, you'll have the knowledge to go about it the right way: in the bios.

The E8400 is a very nice chip. I just recently retired one to the htpc. For the most part you can expect to get ~ 3.6-3.8GHz on stock voltage (given the right cpu), and 4-4.2GHz with a minor bump. I can't tell you what "minor" means for your chip, but, as I said earlier, that's something you're going to find out when you do things right.

Some cores, like the E8400, really do not like being overvolted... and they generally perform worse when they are, which is just another reason to avoid software based OC tools.

 

[Microhard]

Do not, I repeat, do not use OS based software to overclock; especially if this is your first foray into overclocking.

Thanks I got rid of it before I touch it. Anyways, how do I find out what hardware I can OC?

 

[Fumz]

You can start with this thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/overclocking-case-mods/4395-howto-overclock-c2q-quads-c2d-duals.html

When you're done, just google your parts and continue reading. You're going to want after market cooling, so I'm sure you'll find your way to a few reviews along the way.

 

[sizif]

Go for 3.6 400*9 on stock voltage. That is the best oc for 8400. Do it from bios and set voltage for cpu on 1.225. Turn of Eist and that second option (cant remember, need to see what is it called when i get home).
Turn of any "turbo" and stuuf option you have and put pci-e frec. to 100. Thats about it, 8400 was made for 3.6!

 

[Fumz]

Go for 3.6 400*9 on stock voltage. That is the best oc for 8400. Do it from bios and set voltage for cpu on 1.225. Turn of Eist and that second option (cant remember, need to see what is it called when i get home).
Turn of any "turbo" and stuuf option you have and put pci-e frec. to 100. Thats about it, 8400 was made for 3.6!

Why would you do any of that? That's not very good advice.

By entering voltage and shutting off Speedstep you're losing really neat power saving features that do not interfere with a stock vcore OC, so it's counter productive. At only 3.6GHz, you really don't need to touch a thing.

 

[sizif]

Doesn't eist , cia and those stuff make oc'ed machine unstable?, and doesn't auto voltage raise your cpu vcore vhen you raise fsb? - this is not good expecially if you have a stock cooler.
Yes I agree with you about power saving but it is not so hugh difference like on air conditioner or fridge...

 

[Fumz]

Turning those features off can provide stability, but that's in cases of really high overclocks. If your systems isn't stable with small overclocks, then something isn't right.

With something as mild (for the E8400) as a 600MHz bump, as you pointed out, the core will handle it with ease. Yes, if you leave it on auto voltage will be adjusted, up and down, but not more than the chip's specs list as safe, which is between 0.85 and 1.3625 volts.

If you only have stock cooling, you shouldn't be overclocking anyway. Yes, lol, keeping Speedstep on isn't going to save you as much money as never turning on your air conditioner :sarc:, but, over time, the money is going to start to add up.

 

[thefabe]

You've been given very good advise. Overclocking is something that takes a lot of research, trial and error and time. Cooling is your friend and increasing the needed voltages in very small increments. Research your CPU, memory and North bridge It's a long time consuming process and can get to be like an addiction.
If not done properly not only can you brick your system but you reduce the lifespan of your CPU heat is your enemy also you'll have to remember when researching that what others have achieved with the same parts not every system even with the exact same parts will overclock the same. Your bios is your friend don't use software as has already been suggested.
Ask yourself what it is your trying to achieve and why and take your time.
You'll need a temp monitoring program,cpuid,prime95 for stress testing and stability. You'll find out all this going to sites dedicated to overclocking. Good luck enjoy. Fabe.