Over Clocking Help

[Tjj226_Angel]

Give us the BSOD error code and also post up all of the BIOS settings you're using when attempting to hit 4.0Ghz. When I say "all BIOS settings" I'm only referring to those found in the Ai Tweaker and Advanced sections of your BIOS.

 

Frankly, I think it's a combination of two things; your BIOS settings and your power supply. For overclocking a i7 950 you MUST have full power to the 8 pin ATX 12V CPU plug. I personally don't recommend adapters, but even that is better than

relying on a single 4-pin. While the 4-pin may be adequate for proper operation at stock/nominal settings, it certainly isn't adequate once you start overclocking.

 

The fact of the matter is (assuming that you have all of the proper power connections available and plugged in AND you're running the latest BIOS revision for your board) everything should be rock solid stable at BIOS default values. I've got a lot

of time and experience with your exact board and it is a great board when everything is installed and configured correctly.

 

You know, that is something I would like to add. I can not flash the BIOS. I know how to do it and have done it many times before. However on the Asus download page for the motherboard the ASUS flash utility wont work. Period.

 

I know I am downloading it for the 64 bit OS and I am positive I have a 64 bit OS, so that shouldn't be a problem.

 

I called up ASUS and they didn't know what the problem is, but they told me to go to Microsoft. After spending unknown amount of hours on hold the techs on the other end had no idea what to do. Both of these companies were useless because they were trying to push me away from flashing or for that mater over-clocking.

 

However, even though I don't have the latest BIOS, I have a fairly new one. So it shouldn't be a huge problem, but if you know how to get the asus flash utility to correctly identify windows, that would be great.

 

As for the BIOS error I don't know. It just flashes and I don't even have the opportunity to read it.

 

My BIOS settings are multiplyer 21 and BLK frequency at 193. Target ram frequency 1550mhz with 9-9-9-24 timings (won't go to 8-8-8-20 even with 1.65 v on OC but will at stock settings). Speed Step disabled. Extreme power enabled. CPU voltage at 1.38 v. the rest is auto. Even this won't last a minute on prime 95. Its super unstable. Cranking it up to 1.45 volts is the only way to keep it some what stable. However, it doesn't even hesitate before it gets to 100C.

 

I have gone through a lot of OCing forums and have already tried all the little tweaks to adjust power and what not. My system doesn't even care.

 

I will keep updating as I find out more about this problem, and thanks for the help.

[Tjj226_Angel]

Glad the temp problem is taken care of! Yes you are absolutely correct with the setup you have, you need a PSU that has a 8pin CPU plug supplying the power!

Yeah I can't believe I missed that. All my wires are hidden by the corsair grommets, but still I should have figured that one out days ago.

[Tjj226_Angel]

You are not stable because the cpu is being supplied insuficent power. I would not continiue stress testing untill you have properly connected all mobo power connectors.

A thin layer of new tim and a heatsync blown free of dust, will always drop temps

 

Also next time you post a new topic, can you please break up your writing to apropriate, logical sections, of a few lines each. It makes it considerably easier for everyone to read and more importantly understand.

 

You are asking for a new PSU recomendation, if you are set on upgrading that do you know if you are going to be upgrading any other components in the forseeable future ? ie new gpu/s when the 7xxx and 6xx series are released next year.

Not on this system. I am looking to upgrade the GPU to a 550ti from my 450, and just clean up the build from a budget PC to something a gamer would buy off me on ebay. Then I will be starting a new build for Ivy Bridge.

 

So I am guess something under 900w would be plenty keeping that in mind. I have been looking at the corsair fully modular 850w, but I hear Power and Cooling PSU's are realy good.

 

Any thoughts?

[wevsspot]

There are plenty of great 750W to 850W power supplies to choose from. Corsair and PC Power & Cooling both make great power supplies. There are others out there too though, so do your home work

 

Personally I really trust Corsair power supplies. They are all I've used for my personal rigs the last several years. The Corsair HX750 or HX850 would be great choices.

 

Others you might consider too;

 

SeaSonic X750 Gold

CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750

SILVERSTONE ST75F-P 750W

Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-775M (great pricing if you can find it on sale)

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800

SeaSonic X Series X-850 (pricey but a very good power supply)

XFX PRO850W XXX Edition

Thermaltake Black Widow W0319RU 850W

CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro RS850

[Stonerboy779]

Not on this system. I am looking to upgrade the GPU to a 550ti from my 450, and just clean up the build from a budget PC to something a gamer would buy off me on ebay. Then I will be starting a new build for Ivy Bridge.

 

So I am guess something under 900w would be plenty keeping that in mind. I have been looking at the corsair fully modular 850w, but I hear Power and Cooling PSU's are realy good.

 

Any thoughts?

You only need a decent 500watt

 

This cm 500watt psu can be picked up for $35 after mir.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031

Not modular granted and also wont handle more powerful cards than the 550ti, if the new owner decides to upgrade gpu.

It will be likely the cheapest option if you want modular for the better looks then this 650watt tt psu will do the trick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153116

Also you can say that the psu will handle and is ready for a second 550ti for sli. It's only $60 after mir.

[Tjj226_Angel]

You only need a decent 500watt

 

This cm 500watt psu can be picked up for $35 after mir.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171031

Not modular granted and also wont handle more powerful cards than the 550ti, if the new owner decides to upgrade gpu.

It will be likely the cheapest option if you want modular for the better looks then this 650watt tt psu will do the trick.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153116

Also you can say that the psu will handle and is ready for a second 550ti for sli. It's only $60 after mir.

 

True but I want around an 850w for people to be interested in buying it. I might not make a profit by cleaning up the build, but I fear that if I don't make it attractive as possible no one will buy it. I would like to hear your thoughts though on how I can make my pc more marketable as I await my new PSU to see if my problems clear up. Thanks so much to every one in my thread for all the time you are spending.

[Stonerboy779]

True but I want around an 850w for people to be interested in buying it. I might not make a profit by cleaning up the build, but I fear that if I don't make it attractive as possible no one will buy it. I would like to hear your thoughts though on how I can make my pc more marketable as I await my new PSU to see if my problems clear up. Thanks so much to every one in my thread for all the time you are spending.

Cheapest one of the PSUs in the list Wev chucked up that is also modular. That's what I recommend

 

Also sleeving cables can do a load to making it look clean, even if you just use black flexible hose from an auto store, it makes everything uniform and neat.

[Tjj226_Angel]

Cheapest one of the PSUs in the list Wev chucked up that is also modular. That's what I recommend

 

Also sleeving cables can do a load to making it look clean, even if you just use black flexible hose from an auto store, it makes everything uniform and neat.

 

Cool, I will run to Bestbuy tomorrow and pick one up because they are close enough to the same price. Hopefully this will resolve the issue's and I can put it up on ebay in about a month after some serious testing.

 

On another note, lets say my target price for selling my computer is 1.4K. Would you rather see an overclocked 450 for the same price, or a 550ti for 50 bucks more?

[Stonerboy779]

Cool, I will run to Bestbuy tomorrow and pick one up because they are close enough to the same price. Hopefully this will resolve the issue's and I can put it up on ebay in about a month after some serious testing.

 

On another note, lets say my target price for selling my computer is 1.4K. Would you rather see an overclocked 450 for the same price, or a 550ti for 50 bucks more?

I reckon get a second 450 it will cost less than replacing it with a 550ti, that is without selling on the 450 individually.

 

Now 1.4k for that pc I don't think I would want to pay that... good luck selling it at that, I am sure someone will have a child they want to get a pc for for Christmas, go sli market it heavily as gaming

[wevsspot]

Tj, I don't mean to rain on your parade but you are going to have a hard time selling that rig for $1,400 (assuming that you're talking USD). I guess you might get lucky and find a sucker on eBay and if you do more power to you! Realistically though (and depending on the age of the components) you can check current retail pricing, add it all up and then figure 50% - 60% value for the used price. Anyone that is even 1/2 way tech savvy will know that they could put together a darned nice socket 1155 rig for the price you're considering asking.

 

Good luck regardless though. And let us know how the new power supply goes.

[Tjj226_Angel]

Tj, I don't mean to rain on your parade but you are going to have a hard time selling that rig for $1,400 (assuming that you're talking USD). I guess you might get lucky and find a sucker on eBay and if you do more power to you! Realistically though (and depending on the age of the components) you can check current retail pricing, add it all up and then figure 50% - 60% value for the used price. Anyone that is even 1/2 way tech savvy will know that they could put together a darned nice socket 1155 rig for the price you're considering asking.

 

Good luck regardless though. And let us know how the new power supply goes.

 

Yeah, to both and stoner boy. I am quite aware that was a bad price. I just pulled a number from thin air. Realistically though, I am waiting on two SSD's to put in raid 0 and slap an OS on it. I think 1.2K is pretty good considering that there are still some crappy desktops at best buy for more.

 

Just please do note, that I am not a ignorant fool with a terrible price point. It was simply for argument sake.

 

On another note. I purchased a corsair 650w PSU today. Things are defiantly more stable, but I am still hitting some bugs at or above 4.0ghz.

 

The only thing I can think to do is to tweak ALL the settings in the bios. However, I barley know what half of them do. Does any one know of an advanced OC guide where it would explain to me most of the bios settings??? I know its dependent upon my motherboard, but there HAS to be something with more than a phoenix bios OC guide out there. Crappy overclocking tutorials on youtube aren't cutting it for my goal of hitting 4.4ghz. Any ideas?

 

((((((PS, for thoes of you who think 4.4ghz isnt a smart idea, I am trying to wait for winter and get some really cold air going through my heat sink and simply achieve my max speed on air.)))))))))

[wevsspot]

Hey Tj,

 

Is 4.4Ghz something you're considering for 24/7 operation or are you just trying to get there as an achievement and to run some benchies?

 

If you're looking for a stable 24/7 I think a reasonable goal is between 4.0 and 4.2Ghz.

 

Anyway, post up all of your current BIOS settings as found in the Ai Tweaker and Advanced sections of your BIOS and I'll help you get there.