Have I found my limit or can I tweak some more?

[BlindGuardian]

Opty 170 CCBWE 0609 FPAW

Bios 6/23

 

I've only started messing around with it but have been following the OC guide to find the max CPU is capable. at 2.6-2.7 I had to up the volts 1 setting from stock for stability. 2.8 I passed OCCT at 1.472 volts. Since going 2.9 I had to raise the volts some more, have been able to boot into Windows at 2.9, but can't seem to run OCCT for more then 3-6 minutes before it says errors have been generated. The last voltage I tried with the same results was 1.60v true as reported in cpu-z and MBM5.

 

The memory is at the lowest divider or 2nd lowest and the LDT is at 3, so it should be below spec for the ram adequate for HTT.

 

I believe the chipset is at 1.60 and LDT voltage is at 1.7 ( for no reason just to save time later as I tried to model after others settings)

 

Should I use more volts, I really don't want to go beyond 1.6 even 1.5 for that matter. It did boot sucessfully at 1.65v when I was playing with special voltage but I quickly rebooted and changed it back down a little.

 

Oh almost forgot to mention, AS5 probably hasn't cured yet and it is on watercooling. Temps at idle are usually 23 degrees and at load no more then 33-34 degress. I have been running it in the evenings and then turning off so it can thermal cycle and do whatever burn in process that would be.

 

Anything else I can look at settings wise besides voltage?

 

Any tips,hints, help is apreciated.

 

Thank you in advance.

[gokalper]

First change your signature to match your new system so others can help. Secondly what are your temp's at the overclocked speeds, and give us info about super-pi at each OC. The ram you are using and the divider you set it to will also help us to help you.

[red930]

So you can passed OCCT at 1.472 volts on 2.8GHz, but have you tried Prime95 8-10Hrs? It sounds like you've found your max on that processor, but that's a really nice OC if you would pass Prime 8-10hrs. I have mine @289x9 1.5v 2.6GHz using memory divider 180 ram @260MHz 3448 2.6v and it seems stable with all my games/apps/Windows, but i still haven't primed it more then 4hrs since its gotten up to around 4hrs before i stopped it with no errors just for kicks one day!

[BlindGuardian]

First change your signature to match your new system so others can help. Secondly what are your temp's at the overclocked speeds, and give us info about super-pi at each OC. The ram you are using and the divider you set it to will also help us to help you.

 

I changed my sig. I did list my temps in my previous post however.

Temps at idle are usually 23 degrees and at load no more then 33-34 degress. I have been running it in the evenings and then turning off so it can thermal cycle and do whatever burn in process that would be.

 

I ran superpi at first for maybe 10 minutes each and kept going higher. The first time I did a full test was at 280x10 with OCCT since it was 30 minutes like superpi. I can run superpi later if it makes a difference but figured it's all subjective which one you use superpi, sp2004, prime95 or OCCT.

 

Thanks.

[BlindGuardian]

So you can passed OCCT at 1.472 volts on 2.8GHz, but have you tried Prime95 8-10Hrs? It sounds like you've found your max on that processor, but that's a really nice OC if you would pass Prime 8-10hrs. I have mine @289x9 1.5v 2.6GHz using memory divider 180 ram @260MHz 3448 2.6v and it seems stable with all my games/apps/Windows, but i still haven't primed it more then 4hrs since its gotten up to around 4hrs before i stopped it with no errors just for kicks one day!

 

Well I was saveing the 48 hour prime session for when I get comfortable with a clock I want to try and keep. Last night was the first time I tried oc'ing it since it came up on Sunday night and I'm not even sure the AS5 has had time to cure and improve temps/performance. The way it went up in HTT/FSB so smoothly it was insane, so I didn't question it and kept going and upping voltage until it got to late so I left of at 290x10 @ 1.6v and turned it off.

[BlindGuardian]

Well I played some more and tried 3.00 I could get into windows but would fail most tests immediately. I did 2.90 and 2.85 and could not find much stability in OCCT. The best was doing just running OCCT torture for maybe 12 minutes before it stoped itself. At this point I took it down to 2.8 and am trying to find the lowest voltage possible I think I had it at 1.475v and it would pass OCCT, but would fail on core 0 of SP2004 and work decently on core 1. I've read elsewhere something about weaker cores and running the burn-in to strengthen the suspect core. I've was running the burn in all night and turned it completely off this morning(at least 8 hours of nonstop burn-in). I hope I will see improvements tonight.

 

I haven't even tried messing with the memory's stability yet, so far I have the 2 G.Skills each in an orange slot. My bios is 6/23/2005 as originaly shipped with the MB. I have not done extensive research in bios yet, I've always heard if you don't have a problem, don't upgrade your bios. Anyone have any opinion if I will do better with another bios or will that mainly only affect the ram stability and to see how the ram fairs first?

 

Any help is appreciated, an 800mhz overclock is nothing to laugh at, but the fact it will even boot at 3.0 is just agonizing not to push it farther. I was even able to run benches in Everest at 290x10 and it crapped all over the software score table for a 3800 X2. almost double the score in the Queencpu test.

 

Thanks.

[BlindGuardian]

Just saw a few more things to try any thoughts about them and if they may help me do better?

 

One tweak involved disabling SSE/SS2 instructions in the bios for better CPU stability. Is this worth trying or will it truely weaken performance?

 

Also, I have not installed the dualcore hotfix for winxp listed here http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256 will this help improve stability, or should I install it regardless?

 

Thanks.

[CRAZY.CUE]

I haven't even tried messing with the memory's stability yet, so far I have the 2 G.Skills each in an orange slot. My bios is 6/23/2005 as originaly shipped with the MB. I have not done extensive research in bios yet, I've always heard if you don't have a problem, don't upgrade your bios. Anyone have any opinion if I will do better with another bios or will that mainly only affect the ram stability and to see how the ram fairs first?

Hi,

which G.Skill do you use?

I also had the 06/23/2005 Bios which worked better than the other Bios I've tried. But I can't reach 3Ghz with my Opteron 150 as I had with my old RAM.

Then I flashed this Bios:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33356

And now 3Ghz are stable again ;-)

[ICON57]

i would install the dual core hotfix, not sure why you would want to disable sse/ss2, i would prefer to have it enabled, and get my clock satble.

 

you may need to tweak your mem, those hz's can be a bit tricky. what divider are you on for your mems?

[BlindGuardian]

G.Skill 2 x 1gb DDR500 F1-4000USU2-2GBHZ is the memory I have. I have the memory very very low. I have only been testing the cpu at this point to see how far it can go. the divider is on the lowest or 2nd to lowest it will go.

[BlindGuardian]

Hi,

which G.Skill do you use?

I also had the 06/23/2005 Bios which worked better than the other Bios I've tried. But I can't reach 3Ghz with my Opteron 150 as I had with my old RAM.

Then I flashed this Bios:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=33356

And now 3Ghz are stable again ;-)

 

Sorry I've looked at the linked thread and it mentions problems with an infinity but I didn't catch mention of any Ultra D lanparty bioses. Can you elaborate more specificaly which bios you are refering to, please?

[BlindGuardian]

Running stable at 280x10 9/10 divider 4x LDT @ 1.525v (reported as 1.500 in MBM-5/CPU-Z), I passed 8 hours of prime, I ran 3dmarks and other benchies no problem.

 

It seems I can't get my g.skills to play at 1:1, I guess thats typical? I thought they were decent memory and figured OCZ uses the same UCCC ram chips so it wouldn't be an issue. at 1:1 280FSB windows will give a corruption load error before even showing the logo and reboots.

 

Right now I've lowered the voltage a notch since it's been burning in and run for a week now on and off and priming again to see if I can run a little cooler. So far doesn't look like it does much for the CPU temps as they still report around 36-37c at full load with prime, the only benefit is the PWMIC chip is running a little cooler.

 

The PWMIC chip usually idles around 40c and when at full load anywhere between 50-60c. I was going to pursue active cooling but not sure if its worth it, I hear it affects your OC on one hand, but then that these are rated pretty high in what temps it can operate under.

 

I am running the 3/30/2006 beta bios, should I try the 704-BTA2? I heard they have the same romsip tables so as far as memory is concerned it should be the same no?

 

Lastly, Should I stay at 9/10 or should I lower htt/fsb to 270 in hopes of attaining a 1:1 OC? I may try that but so far the benches are pretty nice at 280x10.

 

My memory settings right now are exactly as recommended by G.Skill tech since the ram is running very close to 250fsb on 9/10 divider. I've tried most settings for 280 or better in the G.Skill excel spreadsheet and could not achieve results. The last voltage I applied was 2.8 to the ram, should I try upping the voltage more, what should the max voltage be I want to apply that won't potentially fry the ram before giving up and living with it as is?

 

Thanks for the help in advance, I really like this PC so far it kicks major butt.