An Annoyingly Vague Question.

[Sabmac]

I have an e8500 planted on a Gigabyte x38 board (exactly which I do not know at this time as I'm at work) coupled with 4GB of 1066MhZ RAM (which seems to be nameless). Using the Intelligent Motherboard Something that Gigabyte use, I can raise my FSB to 350 (from 333) but not 360, achieving the massive gain of 160MhZ.

 

Any higher, my box fails the 'beep' test at bootup. I'm thinking it may be a memory fault, but I can't get my head around some of the guides here. The core temp hovers around 40C. I've ordered a Tuniq Tower but I don't think temp is the issue.

 

I don't understand why I can only get such a tiny overclock out of this chip.

 

Thoughts?

[technodanvan]

I have an e8500 planted on a Gigabyte x38 board (exactly which I do not know at this time as I'm at work) coupled with 4GB of 1066MhZ RAM (which seems to be nameless). Using the Intelligent Motherboard Something that Gigabyte use, I can raise my FSB to 350 (from 333) but not 360, achieving the massive gain of 160MhZ.

 

Any higher, my box fails the 'beep' test at bootup. I'm thinking it may be a memory fault, but I can't get my head around some of the guides here. The core temp hovers around 40C. I've ordered a Tuniq Tower but I don't think temp is the issue.

 

I don't understand why I can only get such a tiny overclock out of this chip.

 

Thoughts?

 

Definitely going to need more info on components you're using, specifically motherboard, memory brand and type (4x1GB, 2x2GB?), and power supply brand and rated power.

 

If you've just plugged everything in and have not changed anything in the BIOS you may have incorrect memory settings, specifically voltage for them (vdimm). The incorrect divider may also have been used. One of these settings is likely the cause for instability, though it's hard to say for the moment.

 

If you're overclocking within Windows I wouldn't recommend it. Use the BIOS, it's a better way of doing things.

 

When you say the core temp runs around 40C, what program are you using to read it? Is this at idle or under heavy load?

 

I'd recommend reading through overclocking guides a number of times. If you don't understand something in particular just ask! We're here to help. Don't concern yourself too much about memory overclocking just yet, lets see if we can't get you a bit happier on the CPU first.

Edited May 16, 2008 by technodanvan

[r3d c0m3t]

I'm with Dan on this one, you should go over the settings as they are in the BIOS, in addition to what Dan has already suggested I'd say check your FSB voltage, NB voltage as this will also affect your overclock. Also check what command rate your RAM is using (1T or 2T) and remember although 1T gives a bit more performance (more or less) DDR2 seems to take a better liking to 2T rates.

Edited May 16, 2008 by r3d c0m3t

[Sabmac]

If you've just plugged everything in and have not changed anything in the BIOS you may have incorrect memory settings, specifically voltage for them (vdimm). The incorrect divider may also have been used. One of these settings is liekly the cause for instability, though it's hard to say for the moment.

One of these memory issues is what I'm assuming. I mean, the setup as a whole should be able to overclock well out of the box. 40C at idle, using vmax? v something... a program I found in one the the stickied guides on this forum. My PSU is a Thermaltake 750w (overkill on purpose, sort of like having a V8 in your daily driver).

 

I have just remembered the RAM name should be on my invoice from the computer store (I picked the parts, they put it together, but I didn't shell out for top-line RAM) so I'll check that and find out the correct settings. It's 4x1GB. I'm using the BIOS of course, I think tweaking within Windows would be like trying to shoot somebody with a foam gun. I wasn't planning on overclocking the RAM until I got my head around the CPU, let alone GPU which will come a distant third...

 

Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated. I'll read through some more guides. If anybody else has anything they wish to add, although you'd have a tough time trying to top these two, I readily welcome it.

[wevsspot]

Sabmac,

 

I've got a Gigabyte X38 board, running a Wolfdale E8400 and 4X1gb of memory.

 

Please post up a complete spec. of your rig and enter every setting from your BIOS and post it up here. I'm attaching a template that you can use.

 

Just replace the existing values with the actual values from yours. We'll take a look at it and help out best we can.

SocketLGA775_GigabyteX38_445X9_4.0ghz.txt

[Sabmac]

Thanks mate! I'm at home now so I'll post this screenshot, then update with my bios settings...

 

Here's my settings. Seems my box decided to see fit to change to defaults on it's own.

 

Oh and my ram is PQA brand.

160508_MIT.txt

Edited May 16, 2008 by Sabmac

[technodanvan]

Looks like you still have speedstep enabled, notice you're running at 2GHz. No big deal or anything, but a lot of overclockers (myself included) don't leave that sort of stuff on when overclocking.

 

Your board is correctly reading your memory as DDR1066, which means it's going to be overclocked when increasing your FSB. If you just have run-of-the-mill PQI branded stuff there probably isn't a whole lot of headroom for them. Basically what you're going to need to do is put them on a divider through the BIOS before you'll be able to make any headway on the CPU. Note that the DDR1066 rating only applies for the kit it came in. So if you bought all four sticks in one kit then you're okay, but if you have two separate kits of DDR1066 ram they are already running really well together. Actually I'm kinda surprised that it ran so well as to pass a few hours of memtest. Pretty impressive for the memory and your board.

 

But anyways, the additional sticks only compound the overclocking problem. Wev probably knows exactly where the divider option is (or close to) since he has the same/similar board so he can probably help you out there.

 

I also recommend shutting off C1E/Speedstep, though I'm not sure what it would be called on the X38 boards.

Edited May 17, 2008 by technodanvan

[wevsspot]

So far the majority of Gigabyte X38 boards I've seen have the following power saving/throttling options available in the BIOS;

 

C1E

CPU Thermal Monitor (actually an overheating function that reduces multiplier and core voltage once temperature thresholds are exceeded)

C.I.A.2

EIST

 

Of the above the only one I enable when overclocking is C1E. All others are disabled.

 

Special note on EIST. This option will depend upon whether or not your processor supports this feature. Strangely enough, if I'm running my 2X2gb kit of G.Skill DDR2-1000 this option is available in the BIOS to enable or disable.

 

When I'm running my 4X1gb kit of G.Skill DDR2-800 HZ's this option disappears when I reload BIOS defaults. Strange but true. I'm not sure why that is quite yet. I'm still trying to figure that one out.

 

C1E works fine on my Gigabyte board - and it worked fine on my previous DFI 975 X/G board too. Both heavily overclocked.

 

As Techno has already pointed out, you are probably going to have to manually input a memory divider and strap setting. Likely you'll need to experiment with different strap and divider settings. If you don't understand how the two interact with your FSB setting, take a look at the Gigabyte X38-DS4 review I did over at the Street. You will find an explanation of dividers and straps for the Gigabyte X38 board.

 

If you pick the wrong strap you'll know it soon enough because the board just won't boot and the BIOS recovery feature will kick in. If you get stuck in an endless reboot cycle you'll need to remove the m/b battery and clear the CMOS.

 

Look forward to seeing your complete BIOS settings. I'll be able to give you some pointers once you get them up.

 

Special recommendations for memory settings;

 

To begin with set your four primary memory timings to those specified by the memory mfg.;

 

CAS Latency

RAS to CAS Delay

RAS Precharge

Precharge Delay

 

Set Refresh to ACT Delay to 52

Set Static tRead Value to 8

 

Set your DDR2 Overvoltage Control to yield the correct vdimm as specified by the memory mfg.

 

You can leave everything else at Auto for now.

 

And if there is anyway you can provide the actual part number for your RAM that would be a big help.

[Sabmac]

How do I access the mfg? My ram has part number E6DBT (along with PC 8500 DDRII) but googling that number yields no results. I'm a bit tired at the moment so most things are scrambling in my head, but I've understood that I need to put my memory on a divider before overclocking the CPU in any large way. To find out the best divider and setting, I need to look at the memory mfg (of which I have no idea what that is.)

 

Technodanvan, I hadn't actually memtested my memory when you posted that. I left it running last night and achieved 69% pass after 9 1/2 hours. Is this decent? I didn't really know how to interpret the results so there may have been something I missed.

 

I'm going to check out some of the things you've suggested wevsspot, but after work when I'm not so tired. You've been a big help. My bios settings are in my previous post (under the cpuz SSs.)

[wevsspot]

Sabmac,

 

A couple of observations.

 

After running Memtest for 9 1/2 hours you should have completed at least one full pass of all the tests. If you didn't there is a problem somewhere. It is a good sign that you didn't see any errors. Are you sure that you're report didn't indicate one or more passes on all of the tests and Memtest had started subsequent tests? i.e. once Memtest completes a full pass it will continue to loop for additional passes until you exit the program.

 

Moving onto your BIOS. While CPUz gives us an indication of your primary memory settings, it doesn't report memory sub-timings. Some of which are very important if you intend on overclocking. Specifically Refresh to ACT Delay and Static tRead Value.

 

After you get some rest, take some time and post up all of your M.I.T. Intelligent Tweaker settings.

[Sabmac]

My MIT settings are posted right under the CPUz screenshots! (attached text file)

 

Memtest was still running after 9 1/2 hours. There were lines of red text indicating failed tests (so I possibly saw... quite a few errors), but I'm not too sure of anything else. I'll run the program again when I sleep tonight, interpret the results more thoroughly, and I'll also post some more screenshots from other testing programs when I get home (4 hours) along with some other information about my system.

[Sabmac]

By the way, if you want to know a little bit more about me, this is the link which likes to be clicked!