Hi guys, I'm thinking of overclocking my e8400 which is currently @3 ghz as im in the war with performance and fps in fsx, so i wondered if any of you guys have o/c this cpu and what you have it o/c to and what you would advise me to o/c to on stock cooling or if i should invest in a new fan. As always, thanks for any suggestions and your timeChris

I currently have a system built around an Intel 8400, 4 GB of RAM, and Windows XP. I recently overclocked the CPU to 4Ghz with underwhelming results. Yes, there seems to be a few FPS increase but not much. My current videocard is a 9800 GTX+.RH

Overclocking does help. See sig. FSX FPS scales almost linearly with CPU clock when the rest of your system is not a bottleneck.

I currently have a system built around an Intel 8400, 4 GB of RAM, and Windows XP. I recently overclocked the CPU to 4Ghz with underwhelming results. Yes, there seems to be a few FPS increase but not much. My current videocard is a 9800 GTX+.RH

My video card is ati 4870hd 1gb and also have 4gig of ram, its quite dissapointing to hear that an overclock to 4ghz has not improved things that much for you, is this to do with the e8400 or other hardware? i must be honest, i think i was expecting miracles by overclocking!!Chris

Overclocking does help. See sig. FSX FPS scales almost linearly with CPU clock when the rest of your system is not a bottleneck.

Do you have normal cooling?have you had a great improvement? the previous replyer said there was no great improvement, im confused :( !should i stop blabing on and just o/c the damn thing!!Chris

In my experience o/c'ing aided my FPS in every game I run, including FSX. I suspect there is something wrong with Robbie's configuration. I am running air cooling, albeit in a push-pull configuration with an additional fan strapped to the heatsink. Running a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 with the stock fan and an additional ~80 CFM fan. I have another system with a Q9550 and an OCZ Vendetta 2 with the stock fan and an additional Scythe high-RPM fan that delivers slightly better results.

By all means, overclock your 8400 to find out for yourself. Hopefully, your results will be better than mine. Here are my settings:RHCPU-Z version 1.52.1Processors-------------------------------------------------------------------------Number of processors 1Number of threads 2APICs-------------------------------------------------------------------------Processor 0 -- Core 0 -- Thread 0 0-- Core 1 -- Thread 0 1Processors Information-------------------------------------------------------------------------Processor 1 ID = 0Number of cores 2 (max 2)Number of threads 2 (max 2)Name Intel Core 2 Duo E8400Codename WolfdaleSpecification Intel

Configuration includes software. You may have your clocks & voltages setup properly but that doesn't mean a thing if your software is out of whack. Bottom line: if you didn't reload your O.S. & apps after the o/c you haven't ruled out all the variables.

Thanks for your input guys, sorry for the late reply. Im getting the I.T guy at work to overclock the cpu and re-format my rig so wish me luck :( . One more question, is there a way i can assign fsx to use both cores evenly instead of it maxing out 1 core and (2 questions) would this have any benefit? Thanks againChris

No to both parts of your question. Good luck with the overclock. Those Wolfdales do clock nicely. 4GHz isn't tough for most chips in the Penryn family, dual or quad. I've had both my E8400 and Q9550 @ 4GHz, although recently clocked the E8400 back down to 3.6GHz because of the motherboard's poor voltage regulation requiring me to pump excessive volts into the CPU to achieve 4GHz.

No to both parts of your question. Good luck with the overclock. Those Wolfdales do clock nicely. 4GHz isn't tough for most chips in the Penryn family, dual or quad. I've had both my E8400 and Q9550 @ 4GHz, although recently clocked the E8400 back down to 3.6GHz because of the motherboard's poor voltage regulation requiring me to pump excessive volts into the CPU to achieve 4GHz.

Ok, thanks for all your help and pointing me in the right direction with this Techguy, i appreciate it,Chris