975 oc'ing mini guide

[raju]

Hi,

 

 

 

If you have already read through the Intel overclocking guides littered around the web, you'll have a rough idea of what fsb, multipliers etc mean and do.

 

You should at least have a grasp of Intel Overclocking before trying anything with this board, If you don't, then ask questions in the forums relating to the guides and make sure you know what you're attempting.

 

I'm gonna encourage the knowledgeable users here to add to this post, so it becomes a real guide rather than something I've knocked up in a rush (which is the truth). If you have anything you can add, post it in reply to this thread and I'll paste it into the relevant area in this post..

 

 

 

 

 

DFI have released the bios on this board that the big guns have been waiting for Beta 97TIDC15.bin thread, the quirky setup nature of earlier bios revisions seems to be cured and most of the lower part of the guide (for older bios revisions) can be ignored in terms of drive strengths etc.

 

Over 435fsb or so, the dram trc setting (not available in bios) may default to 1, and cause lock ups during Orthos, just use the auto settings (all dram timings including cas and tras etc) to get around this, try memset when in xp to tighten the timings, unfortunately cas won't adjust without a lock up via memset . You can auto set drive strengths too. The only thing you'll want to set manually is the divider, and 533 (1:1) works fine. The nb voltage needs to be at 1.75 or over for 430 plus boot ups, over 1.75 requires a hard mod (I won't be posting that here I'm afraid as it's too risky for all but the experienced, and dead boards are not what we need, you'll lose your warranty for starters..). Also keep the nb cool as you can, sub 40 degrees helps with stability.

 

Basic setup procedure is still the same as the 816 bios (apart from dram timing requirements, remember to use the 533 divider over 420 fsb). The rest of the cpu settings can be ported directly over from the earlier bios setups procedures, no change there. Overall this bios is far more boot friendly...

 

Basic setup order for oc's is

 

1) First Enable/disable all the hardware peripheral settings that you normally use (CPU features, onboard hardware etc) make sure you disable c1e, virtualisation and execute disable bit in the cpu feature section...

 

 

2) Get to genie bios and enter dram timing. In here you will find a whole host of new settings, enter your known ram speeds and remember to set 533mhz for the divider if you are going for over 420fsb. You can use auto settings exclusivley if you wish, JUST SET THE DIVIDER MANUALLY.

 

3) Now exit dram timings and set oc mode to manual, and enter your previous known overclock (or a safe known max) settings manually - fsb, lock pcie to around 110mhz to 120mhz (max) and leave pci frequency locked. It is important to set oc mode to manual as it will shut down the board when you first exit the bios to let the timings you have entered settle. On my board Vmch is vmodded so it's always over stock, so I leave VMCH alone at 1.60v, you will need to set yours in bios, (aim for 1.70 plus over 400fsb), you also need to set your known voltages for vcore and memory. VTT is ok at 1.35 for higher oc's.

 

Remember to provide adequate vdimm for your ram! Upto 2.20 vdimm is fine for most, some ram runs fine right upto 2.35 vdimm, just go up slowly until you hit a stable reliable point, and importantly check your ram vendor specs for the voltage required at the attempted speed - no need to go higher than required!

 

You should now save and exit bios and the motherboard should shut down completely and then re start itself.

 

 

After that you can re boot and apply fsb settings as required to get the maximum your cpu and cooling allows.

 

Then get your entry into the ocdb!

 

 

Please note, once you hit a wall, you can set read delay to 7 in dram config and get a further fsb boost..

 

Vcore wise around 1.58 is the target for good conroe's to run orthos upto 3.85 ghz on a good E6600 with watercooling, so use that as a rough guide..

 

 

913 bios update,

 

with the 913 bios, the drive strengths can be relaxed somewhat. I have only the clock control and clock drive strengths set to 2x, whilst all others are at 1x (on the 4:3 divider - 400mhz or even on the 4:5 - 667mhz divider), I have even tried 1x all the way through the list without problems. Does not seem to affect stability at all or the reboots at the max fsb. Anyone feels like toying around out of boredom is welcome to experiment. Drive strengths adjust the output impedance of the device in question, a higher strength relates to a lower output impedance ( I think that's how Oskar has it setup), theoretical ideal current flow is when output and input impedances are matched or equal between the 2 devices in question, in this situation it's impossible to calculate, and experimentation is the best way.

 

For the twitchy among us, who just can't sit still, it's ok to pass some time toying around, worst case scenario is a cmos reset, doubt you'll see an fsb boost either way, but it'll be good to see if any of you get any further stability out of it.

 

 

 

 

 

For the 816/830 bios, I've already posted a thread for basic setup, here:

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63411

 

For overclocking the memory use all drive strengths at 3.

 

 

Latency wise you need to know your default ram speed and timings for a start.

 

However you may find leaving all the ram timings on auto works fine and can be the best way to squeeze every last mhz of fsb out of this motherboard. Try Auto timings first and note your limits of fsb. Also note, that as the platform is new, default ram timings for your sticks will not work on every divider, quite often you have to run real loose to get a good fsb overclock. There is nothing to worry about in regards to this, ram latencies seem to play very little part in the speed of Conroe once you get over ddr900 or so. I have experimented with this, but ymmv. Some ram does not run with certain bios revisions it's just the luck of the draw and in some instances vendors do offer to re-speed your ram if you can return it to them.

 

If you look at Happy games' OCDB entries you'll find his best overclocks came with auto ram timings (unless I'm mistaken).

 

 

 

FSB/ram speed wise, for stabilty in 24/7 situations, this board works best with 2 gig when the ram speed is kept below 1000mhz.

 

The dividers you are interested in for anything over 310 fsb are 553 and 667.

 

667 works quite well right upto an fsb of 370 or so (later bios revision above 913 allow the divider to run right upto fsb limits), after that you really need to use 553 (1:1).

 

If it's the first boot out of bios after a flash and you are shooting straght to 370+fsb, you need to use the 533mhz setting, the board does not like posting on the 667 setting out of bios on the first boot, after a succesful boot you can go back into bios and set the ram speed to 667 and raise the fsb by 5fsb at a time each reboot, until you hit the limit, if you are able to set pcie to 120, an E6600 can get to 385 with good ram running 4:5 and a vcore of around 1.43-1.45 (vcore +200mv)

 

If you have a E6400 and you are shooting for over 400fsb (1 gig kits stand more chance) try the 4:3 divider (400mhz).

 

 

I have used over ddr 800 for benching, but the board is not completely 24/7 stable at those speeds. This is a generalisation, some people can run over 800mhz 24/7 no probs, later bios (913 and over do not suffer from running right upto ddr 1000, if your ram can handle the speed)..

 

You can use the Intel overclocking guides to work out yor ram speeds, most of them include a simple calculation to work out the ram speed on a given divider at the fsb you are attempting.

 

If you look in the 816 bios setup, I left most settings on auto, apart from the ones I mention. You can set your latencies as required - manually, the rest of the timings are best left on auto. Set cas, tras etc yourself manually eg 4-4-4-10 or whatever.

 

Remember your sticks may not overclock well at their default timings, you may need to loosen up the timings to get an overclock of any merit.

 

Most ram, unless it's the real cheap stuff is capable of speeds of 4-4-4-10 at ddr800, mine can do cas 3 upto those timings.

 

If you're real stuck with the basic timings you can also search other forums for people with the same ram as yours, this will give you a ballpark/general figure of what you should be aiming for.

 

In truth though the best way is through trial and error, as hardware is so variable in performance from system to system..

 

 

Check the 975 overclocking database for this board, you'll get the general idea of some settings from there.

 

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=58843

 

check posts 2 and 3 especially (there's loads of new entries to chose from now, just pick the one closest to yor hardware setup), the only difference on the ram front will be that the older bios that was used in those posts does not have all the options of 830 bios.

 

Once you have set ram come out to the cpu fsb screen.

 

Set cpu oc mode to manual,

 

disable the ppm function,

set the required fsb

set pcie to oc mode (manual) and set it to 101mhz.

Leave sata clock locked to 100mhz (anything other than 100mhz gives problems with raid)

 

For a E6600, most of these cpu's will hit 3.3-3.4ghz with 1.4vcore, so for 370fsb, raise vcore offset to +150mv which should equal around 1.4v over the 1.26 stock voltage.

 

You need sufficient cooling of your cpu! If it's already in the 40's at stock don't bother overclocking until you have a better cooling solution.

 

Ram speed is default at 1.9v, this is too low for most ram to overclock with, check your ram's default voltage requirements.

 

Genreally most ddr2 likes to run between 2.0 and 2.1v at default.

 

For overclocking some ram needs 2.2v before you get any stability at the higher speed. You'll need to use your head and increase it as required by your ram, give it what it needs and no more, increase by .1 if you are having problems at default voltage and try again, don't over do the voltage to your ram.

 

VTT and VNB are very random in performance. Sometimes you can get away with leaving those settings at default, as a guess, set them to the middle of the range. Say NB at 1.7 (for over 370fsb go for 1.85) and VTT 1.3V. These 2 settings don't seem to help much with this board.

 

Finally, the fsb wall on this board is generally at 370-380 for E6600's (I have seen a couple of extreme examples over 420fsb).

 

For E6700 350-360 seems to be the norm (that is plenty for air overclocking).

 

E6400's I have seen at 400-445 with 1 gig of ram. Of course this is all variable to individual systems and components.

 

 

regards

Raja

 

 

one final note and a little risky on some systems, is to slowly increase the pcie speed to 120mhz. Go up in fives and reboot each time, if it holds try another 5 until you're at 120. I've been playing with this today, if it works you get another boost of a few fsb..

[raidalg]

Thank you so much!! This is just what I have been searching for!! :cool:

[raju]

i'm just priming away here whilst I type this, all good so far. This is with pcie @ 120mhz, also running raid and Crossfire.

 

[raju]

667 and 533 divider update above in bold..

[Budwise]

the NB voltage will help stabilized your memory overclocks. I run mine at DDR2 948 24/7 without issue. Another suggestion is to replace the stock goop on the NB with AS5. I dropped over 20C on the NB temps by doing that alone...

[raju]

that's cool, my nb is volt modded I have it running at 1.88. replacing the goop on mine did not change anything, I now use the TT extreme spirit II, it is about 10 degrees cooler than stock.

 

Even with the chipset voltage set at 1.88, the board will not post out of the first bios setting session, after that first reboot though I am running at ddr2 965mhz now. But I agree over 370 needs 1.85 or so for stable operation

 

 

thanks for the input, I'll add it above....

 

regards

Raja

[Angry_Games]

i also posted this in the Modifications section, but I've found that the Thermalright HR-05 passive chipset heatpipe works VERY well on teh 975X/G, dropping temps up to 20C under load over the original chipset sink.

 

It also works with the Thermalright SI-120 heatsink (they butt right up against each other, but the airflow through the SI-120 from the fan cools the HR-05 very nicely...with some case-fan airflow, the temps would be even better!)

[raju]

here's my chipset temps @ 1.88volts fully loaded with Orthos running,

 

[Budwise]

with 1.75v, my NB temps dont go above 42c. I have a 90mm fan pointed at the heatsink. When i had the original stuff on it was in the middle 60's even with the fan pointed at it. Note that the NB temps go up and down with the ram speed more than volts...

[raju]

yeah, that screenshot above is at ddr 960...

[Angry_Games]

ok, just got off the phone with Rgone

 

basically just pushed the divider to DDR667, cranked up the FSB to 334, and put 1.400v to the cpu, and rebooted, ran Aquamark3d (130k! with a single ATI X1900XT), and then turned on Orthos (dual-prime by Johnny Lee), and it's blasting out dual prime.

 

Rgone and I were discussing that this board is almost eerily easy to take any retail 6600 (2.4Ghz) up to 3Ghz without hardly any work, and that should make people interested right away (getting an Extreme performance mark out of an E6600...kinda like when we tell people that a $150 3800+ can easily hit the $700 FX-60 speeds).

 

I'll be participating much more as I get more into this platform's overclocking, and hopefully we can generate some interest as I'm already impressed with the few bits of benchmarking I've already done (and I'm hard to impress...if I am impressed, others should be impressed heh)

[Clint Torres]

E6400 @ 3.112Ghz (389FSB)

Stepping 6 Rev. B2

FSB : DRAM = 1:1

VCCNB @ 1.6V

Vcore @ 1.4V (+5.0mV)

Corsair XMS PC6400 Cas 5 @ 1.9V

 

No matter what I do, I cannot get her up to 400FSB. Oh well, I'll just have to wait for the next stable bios release.

 

Temps are good, though.

 

CPU temps are 41C @ idle, 48C @ load.

 

The SI-128 is great because it cools the stock NB significantly...44C (with HSF fan on med/hi) from 65C (with HSF fan on low). NB heatsink has AS5 applied.