I feel like I'm back in my old overclocking forums, posting screenshots of my latest scores etc
As for overclocking, there is an art to it and you need to know which components can be pushed safely and which can't. With the Core series of CPUs and P965 series motherboards they like to operate on whole multiples of 400 if you are using DDR2-800 RAM. In my BIOS I have set the CPU multiplier DOWN to 8x from its spec of 9x, but increased my front side bus to 400MHz from its default 266MHz, giving the 8x400 settings and a 3.2GHz clock speed on the CPU. I also set the CPU to idle at its 6x multiplier so it runs at 2.4GHz (stock) when not loaded. Voltages are best done by going step by step on one component until you have the minimum stable voltage. Remember, more voltage = more heat, so don't overdo it (and too much will fry your components!). At 400MHz FSB you need to bump the northbridge/southbridge voltages slightly but the ASUS P5B Deluxe is well capable of coping.
This kind of stuff is usually done not in the video editing world but in the gaming world, since the video editing world relies on stability over raw speed. Whilst this is absolutely a valid way to think, I come from background in building PCs so I have been doing this stuff for years and understand what works and what doesn't. The fastest system is not always the most reliable, so you need to find a balance. In my case, my CPU will actually run at 3.6GHz (9x multiplier set in BIOS) BUT it is hotter and very occasionally flakes out when worked hard (loading all four cores with the Prime95 torture test for example). So I back off and accept a "lowly" 3.2GHz in exchange for rock solid stability.
One other thing, if you push your FSB you will overclock your RAM as well, so that needs to be underclocked in its ratio. The nice thing with getting to 1600MHz FSB is that your DDR2-800 RAM can be used in a 1:1 ratio with the raw FSB which is quad clocked 4x400MHz. A 1:1 memory ratio in combination with a Core based Intel CPU gives you the best possible memory/CPU throughput.
Lastly, make sure you lock your PCI bus to 33MHz and your PCIe bus to 100MHz. HDDs especially don't like much deviation from those numbers and can corrupt your data if they exceed their tolerances.
So.... anyone still want to overclock?!
Here's a couple of pictures showing my system specs and its innards. Enjoy!
Cheers,
Paul
