Conservative preset

I used the BIOS to enable Performance mode, which changed the FSB from 1042MHz to 1091MHz, the CPU speed from 2084 MHz to 2177MHz and the clock from 260 to 272. The CPU temperature was not affected by this change. To enable Performance mode, I rebooted, pressed Delete to enter the BIOS settings, then in the Advanced/JumperFree Configuration menu I set:

• AI Overclocking: AI N.O.S.
• N.O.S. Mode: Auto
• Performance Mode: Turbo
• Memory Voltage: Auto
• CPU VCore Voltage: Auto
• FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
• MCH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• ICH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• Digital Home Mode: Enabled

After saving the BIOS settings and booting into Windows, I downloaded Core Temp and noticed that it reported temperatures 3 degrees Celsius higher than reported by Ai Booster. Apparently my system is well cooled, since temperature should be kept below 65C-70C. Here is the information that Core Temp displayed:

phile posted the following on Anandtech:

To test your memory go to http://www.memtest.org/, download the .iso and burn the image to a CD. Boot with the CD and let it run through all 10 tests at least once. For a serious test, let it run all night. Make sure you configure the boot order in your bios to allow booting from CD.

To test the overall stability of your system, from within windows: http://sp2004.fre3.com/ Download and install Orthos Stress Prime. This is a variation on the very popular Prime95, with native support for dual core processors. With Prime95 you have to configure an instance for each core. Run this for a good hour for a preliminary test. Again, for a serious test, let it run all night. A word of caution, Orthos will stress your CPU cores at 100% load, so make sure you monitor your CPU temp during the initial test.

Soon after I started running the Orthos stress test I noticed that Core Temp showed both CPU temperatures shot up to 48 degrees C, and hovered between 48 and 52 degrees C. The Tjunction temperature reported by Core Temp stayed at 85 degrees. Ai Booster, however, still showed the temperatures at 27 and 39 degrees. Core Temp and Orthos Stress Prime agreed that the speed of the processor was 2137MHz, but Ai Booster claimed the clock rate was 2182MHz. I conclude that Ai Booster reports erroneous information. Once I stopped the Orthos stress test, the CPU temperatures instantly dropped from 51 to 45 degrees Celsius.

Agressive preset

I rebooted into the BIOS setting and tried:

• AI Overclocking: Overclock Profile
• Overclock Options: FSB 1200/DDR2-800 (FSB 1280 would not boot)
• Performance Mode: Turbo
• Digital Home Mode: Enabled

Memory timing was displayed in this mode as 5-2-2-18 / Dual Channel (Interleaved) and the RAM was shown at 400MHz.

Once booted into Windows, Core Temp showed the following:

Failed manual settings

I again rebooted into the BIOS settings and tried:

• AI Overclocking: Manual
• CPU Frequency: 280 (had to type it in, no pull-down menu; tried 300 but failed)
• DRAM Frequency: DDR2-1000 MHz
• Performance Mode: Turbo
• PCI Express Frequency: Auto
• PCI Clock Synchronization Mode: Auto
• Memory Voltage: Auto
• CPU VCore Voltage: Auto
• FSB Termination Voltage: Auto
• MCH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• ICH Chipset Voltage: Auto
• Digital Home Mode: Enabled

Memtest86 said the memory latency settings were still 5-2-2-18; RAM ran at 466 MHz; CPU frequency was 2244 MHz; FSB was set to 280 MHz. I don't understand what I'm doing well enough to set the voltages and frequencies to beat the performance of overclock profile FSB 1200/DDR2-800. Hopefully someone will let me know! I don't yet know enough to use the Chipset menu.

I have Corsair XMS2 DDR2 RAM 2x1GB TWIN2X2048-6400. Stock settings are 800 MHz / 1.9v / 5-5-5-12; someone says they overclocked to 924MHz w/5-4-4-11-2T & 1.9v

Currently I am running the overclocking preset FSB 12000/DDR2-800