Motherboard Limiting Overclock Potential?

[Waco]

lowering the temps might work but i have a strong feeling that little heatsink covering the nortbridge is the real factor is keeping anything from being stable. as for the water cooling socket change, yeah you can do it with ease, but i would look more into keeping that nortbridge cooler. i might go as far to say that boards not meant to overclock at all with FSB333 being stock for some cpus i can see that being stable but not much more past that.

Considering that it runs at 389 FSB without any trouble I'd go as far to say that you're incorrect on this one.

[SebringTech]

It'll run but its not true 100% stable.. I think it is having a problem keeping its NB chip set cool. With all the extra juice its trying to push through I'm surprised I haven't seen smoke yet, considering this was very much a budget board... that just seems to somehow be able to OC well. Heck I can get it to 3.67 ghz if I dont try and stress test it :-p but at that level, and running 1.45v to the processor, it runs hot. I had it idle at 40*c and then with a 70% load it went to 63*c before I pushed the power button because I didn't feel safe at that hot of a temperature.

 

Correction: I can no longer get the computer to even boot with that high of a FSB. Seems the highest it'll login to Windows and start up is at 389mhz. Sorry about that. I know at one point I broke 3.6 ghz but I have no picures to prove it so therefore can't really claim it.

Edited August 5, 2008 by SebringTech

[ir_cow]

the new intels coming is 1300ish pins with a new socket. onboard memory controller too? (if i read right). hypertreading is back....

[Waco]

It'll run but its not true 100% stable.. I think it is having a problem keeping its NB chip set cool.

A small fan would let you know if that's the problem real fast.

[SebringTech]

I need to try and get a small fan but it'd be tough to mount to the heatsink. I tried attaching one that was from a memory cooler, I think optimally I'd just replace the heatsink and put some AS5 on the new one, but the very minimal clearance between the chipset and cpu heat sink really limits my abilities.

[Great_Gig]

I need to try and get a small fan but it'd be tough to mount to the heatsink. I tried attaching one that was from a memory cooler, I think optimally I'd just replace the heatsink and put some AS5 on the new one, but the very minimal clearance between the chipset and cpu heat sink really limits my abilities.

I have the same board running a folding machine, currently it has an E2180 at 3.00GHz running 24/7 and I have also used my Q6600 GO on this board. You have done well to get as far as you have, my Q6600 started to become unstable around 3.2GHz and I also didn't have much luck with the multiplier set less than 9. As you say it is a budget board and I think getting to 3GHz for my E2180 and 3.2Ghz on my Q6600 is a very acceptable level of performance.

 

Regarding the Northbridge, this also gets exceedingly hot once I start to overclock, but I have a fan on mine which keeps it very cool to the touch at all times. However, even with the NB cooled, the performance of the board is still the same. It's easy for me to have the fan there, as the board lays flat on a worktop without a case, I don't know how you would fit one easily with the board vertical in a case? I don't think it would be worth trying to cool the NB by spending money etc, as it has made no difference to the performance in my case. I also don't think water cooling will alter the performance either. I think that's the limit for the board and to be honest, for a $60.00 board I reckon that's pretty good already!

 

Regarding the new Nehalem CPU's they are indeed a totally new architecture and you will need new boards for them.

 

That will be done as soon as I can get to the bottom of what component is currently limiting my overclock levels on my system. My guess, is that it's my lowly Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L motherboard.

Without doubt, this first statement you made is the correct one! However, this board considering it's cost is punching way above it's weight...

[SebringTech]

Would I be likely to have any better results by upgrading to a more performance oriented board over my current budget board? The Zalman heatsink is going the way of the do-do no matter what, because I've ordered a TRUE 120 eXtreme. So the cpu is going to be running at hopefully a more stable temperature range. The question then becomes what kind of north bridge would be best suited for my plan. My over all goal is 3.5 ghz 100% stable. I was looking into the DFI boards, I did a search on Newegg in the price range of $100 to $200 and sorted by highest rating. The one I liked most was third on the list, the DFI LANPARTY DK P35-T2RS.

 

 

With a price of $130 + shipping, it seems like a good deal to me. It would give me two more slots for RAM, and the heatsinks for NB and SB seem to be better. it also has heat sinks for something around the cpu, apparently power management cooling.

 

There are additional benefits for me upgrading my motherboard other than trying to get a more stable overclock. My current board would be going into my wife's computer and she would be getting a Core 2, which is a major step up for her from my rather old P4 3.0 Prescott

 

What would your thoughts be on this motherboard? It seems to have what I want from a board, but I've never had a LanParty board, I've only heard they're pretty decent boards for gaming. Don't know from actual experience if this is true or not.

Edited August 5, 2008 by SebringTech

[Verran]

You say you want 3.5 stable, and you also say you've got 3.5 now but not totally stable. What is totally stable then? If you can get stable at 3.3 or 3.4, then is it really worth $100-150ish just for a few hundred mhz? That's like a 6% increase in performance max. You'll probably never even see it in real world computing. I have trouble really pushing my Q6600 even at stock! And that's assuming the board is even a problem. For all you know your chip is just topped out. That's a very realistic possibility.

 

If it were me I'd take the perfectly good OC that you have and sit on it. Save your money for your next upgrade when you actually need it.

[SebringTech]

My idea of totally stable would be to run a burn in test or similar stress test for at least 30 minutes without a nice blue screen or instant out of nowhere reboot. At the same time of upgrading my board in my main computer the current Gigabyte board is being instantly re used for another build. So regardless I would need to buy a new board since my 945P Neo won't support a Core 2 Duo. It makes sense to me that if I have to spend money on a board, the money would be better spent on the main rig instead of buying a new board for the other one which isn't used near as much for gaming and the like. Additionally the Gigabyte board is laking features that I am finding myself wanting such as: on board Raid, more than 2 slots for memory, better bios settings for adjusting the overclock, better board cooling, ect.

Edited August 5, 2008 by SebringTech

[Verran]

Heh. I wasn't asking what your definition of stable was. I was actually asking about what speed you can currently reach and still be totally stable. Do you know?

 

But while we're on the subject... I guess you can use whatever definitions you want, but around here I don't think you'll find many people that would call 30mins without a blue screen "totally stable". Most people look for about 24 hours of all cores being 100% stressed.

 

As far as upgrading your current board so you can pass it down to another machine, that's your decision to make. My point is that if you're looking for a new board to boost your OC, it's probably not going to be worth the money. But I guess that depends on what speeds you can reach now, which I don't know.

 

It seems to me like people get this number in their heads of what their chip "should" do and if they don't get it they just start buying parts to make it happen. The money they end up spending just to squeeze those last few mhz out of their chip just seems pretty ridiculous a lot of times (if they even get there at all). These Core2 chips perform so well that I just don't see the big deal about a few extra hundred mhz except for bragging rights.

[SebringTech]

The longest I've let the burn in run was 2 hours at 100% load. This was overclocked at 3.2 ghz which seems to be stable. My reason for not going longer is that despite my board having an overheat shut down feature, it doesn't work. I set the shut down temp to 60*c and when the cpu hit 63*c (when I was pushing it to 3.4 ghz) it still kept going. I cant safely run a stress test longer than I can actually be at the computer to make sure it doesn't get dangerously hot, unless there is software to run that will have the same effect of being able to shut down should it get over a set temperature. My current clock is 3.2 ghz. After what I've learned here with every chip having its own unique limit, even if its the same model, I'll take 3.2 as a respectable overclock. My goal is not really anymore about being able to overclock further. I was not aware when I first posted that not every chip is made equal and some do not overclock at all. I was more asking for feedback on that particular board as it seems to get good reviews and has the features I want that my current board does not.

Edited August 5, 2008 by SebringTech

[Great_Gig]

I'm with Verran, 12 hours is what I would accept as a minimum and normally closer to 24 hours for a stress test. I reckon you are really going beyond what the GA-31M-S2L is capable of and lets face it, that's a VERY good overclock on such a cheap board? Additionally, the lowest thermal cutoff on my GA-31M is 70*C, are you sure it's 60 on yours? Maybe the BIOS is different, the current version is F6, which is what I have.

 

Also, as Verran says, what are you hoping to achieve beyong 3.2GHz on the Q6600? Those few extra MHz have a small impact on performance, but you are stressing your CPU and board to it's limits and risking long term damage too? I would not be happy running my Q6600 above 60*C, so you may need to consider some better cooling, but to be honest I think what you have acheived already is pretty good? There are many guys who spend a lot more on top tier equipment, but don't get as high.

 

As for the CPU's themselves, they should all perform the same at stock settings, but the margin of tolerance around that can vary, so once you step outside those boundaries, it's often pot luck on how far you can go.

 

So you have done well getting as far as you have on a board that's at the lower level of the budget market. I am more than pleased with reaching 3.2 on my Q6600 which is back in my ASUS board now and my E2180 running at 3.0GHz 24/7 in the folding rig is excellent for a CPU thats rated at 2.0GHz.

 

So the GA-31M-S2L is a very capable board and performs well in it's price bracket, but also overclocks exceptionally well for a budget offering. The vdroop is horrible, but once you have worked out your voltages, it's fine.

 

What I wouldn't do is spend any more money just for the sake of shooting for a higher number, as you may be disappointed that those extra dollars don't buy you much more - it's all a bit of a gamble and the luck of the draw?