First Time OCer

[Hellkite26]

So I have loads of new hardware on the latest and greatest of my rigs. I play WoW and want better performance in game. I was running a Quad Core 2.4 Ghz and upgraded to the E8600 due to multiple posts saying WOW is more CPU dependent then RAM. Which prompted me to buy the E8600 and I get much better performance now. I want more though (greedy I guess). So I was thinking of OCing my board/CPU. I have done a bunch of reading and would like to know where to start or maybe get help on what my settings in BIOS should be.

Current Hardware

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P MoBo
Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 Wolfdale 3.33GHz
OCZ Reaper HPC 4 GB DDR2 @ 1066 (PC2 8500)
COOLER MASTER Hyper Z600 RR-600-LBU1-GP CPU Cooler
ABS Tagan BZ Series BZ800 PS
OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD3-2AGT120G 3.5" 120GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State
EVGA 012-P3-1571-AR GeForce GTX 570

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: First Time OCer

What speed are you wanting to run? Can you please also link your ram, then I can give you some settings as a starting point

[Hellkite26]

Re: First Time OCer

I would like to get it up to 4 Ghz or above preferably. Of course this will be limited to the temps I hit. Running the heat sink with the optional fan but sadly I had to remove the side fan off the Case I have since it is a large sink/fan. Idle temp is about 24 to 26 degrees. After a few hours of playing WoW I go to about 32 to 35 and HD hits about 42 to 44 degrees.

My Ram is OCZ Reaper (below is the link)

Newegg.com - OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - Desktop Memory

It is running default settings atm of 5-5-5-18. Was gonna try and play with stuff last night but kids prevented that from happening sadly. One thing I did notice though last night was when I booted my computer up it said my system memory was running on single channel. It is Dual Channel Ram in the first 2 slots on the board. Is that a BIOS setting issue?

[Hellkite26]

Re: First Time OCer

OKay, SO I saw the thread where you were helping someone else with the same hardware as mine except his RAM was a different manufacturer. I copied his settings and if I disable XMP it changes my core settings back to default. Is that supposed to happen?

Also, where I turn off Intel Speed step?

[Kalm_Traveler]

Re: First Time OCer

the dual channel RAM configurations I've worked with in the past always have pairs of sticks spaced out.. IE - if you have 4 RAM slots but only 2 sticks, you place them in slots 1 and 3, or 2 and 4 (ofc this is assuming both sticks are 100% identical).

[Hellkite26]

Re: First Time OCer

Yes, that is correct.. works well then.. I got a new tower so I have to xfer my hardware.. will do that in the process

[Hellkite26]

Re: First Time OCer

With my kid now a bit older and more free time on my hands. I am finally getting around to once again rebuilding my tower for gaming and would like OC my setup. At one point there was a thread I found that had nearly the same setup but have been unable to find it again. That being the case I was wondering if anyone would be able to link me that one or be able to give me a idea of what settings I should set in BIOS for 4.0Ghz or better on my CPU. Since the tower I now have can accomidate the cooling needed since I am not a fan of liquid coolers.

[Chike]

Re: First Time OCer

@Hellkite26
If it's a GB board, make a new thread at the GIGABYTE Forum
Follow steps 1-4 in this post to provide more information about your system, and we will try to assist you.

[Hellkite26]

Re: First Time OCer

Surething.. Will try to get that done in the next day or so.. work everyday of the week so just finding time is key.