Overclocking LP925X-T2

[saperboy]

Board 925X-T2

Bios - latest official 925LD920.BIN

CPU - P4 520 (2.8GHz)

ram - 2 x 512 A-Data DDR2-533 @ 4-4-4-11

Graphics - Gainward 6600GT GS

HDD - 80SATA and 160PATA (on SATA using converter)

DVD Drive - TDK 1616DLN (on SATA using converter)

PSU - OCZ 420 PowerStream 30A on 12V rail

 

Cooling:

GPU - stock fan

CPU - watercooled on Storm CPU block

 

The highest I could go so far with the above setup is FSB220.

 

However, if I change my graphics card to an old PCI card, I can easily overclock to FSB250, please see pics below.

 

Can anyone help me to figure this out, I want to reach FSB250 using my PCIe 6600GT card and not a lowly PCI graphics card ( Expert Color CP765V2; 2 MB; Graphics Chip S3 Trio64V2/DX ).

 

[saperboy]

Has anyone encountered the same problem?

 

AG, what's your take on this? I've read in one of your post that you have the 925X-T2 board, how's your overclocking with it?

 

The way I see it, the system doesn't seem to succesfully control the PCIe frequency during bootup, when FSB is pushed beyond 10%. Although I can't confirm this because I don't access to another PCIe graphics card. The only spare gaphics I have is the old PCI card.

[saperboy]

woohoo! This time around, system is using PCIe 6600GT... it worked. Now I can run 3DMark2001SE, only missing now is the Prime85, which I will let run for minimum 8hours, then I'll post again.

 

[M@X_STERLING]

What was the problem that caused it not to work in the first place?

[Angry_Games]

ya what did you determine to be the problem?

 

ive been searching back through my emails from TW and trying to find one dealing with PCI-E problems when overclocking (cuz im sure I saw one about it).

 

I do have the 915 and 925 board...but only a single 24-pin PSU and only a stock heatsink, and only a bottom-of-the-barrel X300SE PCI-E vid card (Though i do have Ballistix, Mushkin, and HyperX DDR2 modules w00t! heh). So no overclocking for me yet (Ive got my only 24-pin psu running on the 875P-T at the moment, and waiting for Thermalright backplates for mounting a good heatsink to begin overclocking).

 

 

Travis,

 

 

 

We had checked with Gainward. They have 6 models made of 6600GT GS PCI-E and would like to be realized the exact model before sending request for approval. Please check the complete model name or part number on bar code label. They agreed to loan us for test, but can not provide 6 models at one time.

 

 

 

Best,

 

 

 

HH

 

give me the numbers off the card and I can have Gainward ship TW the right card so we can try to reproduce it...unless you have figured out what the problem was...?

[saperboy]

Sorry for not responding quickly, I left my rig running Prime95 then went to bed. I need to get up early to go to my day job.

 

Anyways, here's some update...

I woke up this morning and went straight to my computer room ( that's what my son calls that room, full of PC junk, need to have a garage sale soon ). 8.5 hours has passed since I went to bed, and I saw that Prime95 only ran for just almost 3 hours but the PC was still running, it didn't freeze-up. But when I re-booted the system, I can't get into Windows again. The system posts successfully, but after that it just re-boots itself. With the PCI graphics card, I can go into Windows at FSB250 again and again and again. But with this PCIe card, I manage to do it just once, so far.

 

So here's what I have done to boot into Windows with PCIe.

1) Start with loading optimized settings.

2) Set FSB to 250

3) Set PCIe frequency to 115

4) Set NB voltage to 1.7V

I have never been successful if I left the PCIe freq to AUTO, even if I change the voltages. After playing with different settings with PCIe at AUTO, I decided to set it up 1 step at a time, first with the NB at default volt unitl I have reached PCIe freq of 115. Then I started again with PCIe freq fixed at 100 but this time NB at 1.7 volt. Then continued upping the PCIe freq 1 step at a time until I've reached 115, where it boot up the system last night.

 

With the PCI graphics card:

1) Start with loading optimized settings.

2) Set FSB to 250

3) Left PCIe frequency to auto.

4) Left all voltages to default.

 

FYI, the graphics card that I used:

PCI - Expert Color CP765V2; 2 MB; Graphics Chip S3 Trio64V2/DX

PCIe - Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/1960PCX XP “Golden Sample”™ GLH™ ( GW-GF6600GTGSGLH )

 

AG, thanks for looking into this and bringing this up. I think your ATI X300 would give you more room for overclocking your 925X, cuz from what I have read from the other's who have tried with this board, ATI seems to be more giving than Nvidia. Hope you can try your 925X soon, and hopefully you would be using nvidia card too.

 

If you need more information about the PCIe card let me know, I'll check it out for you, but right now I'm in my day job, so I might get back to you 8-9 hours later about physically getting any info off the card.

[Angry_Games]

actually its not the card so much as the bus on the board (tho PCI-E is still new to me)

 

And honestly if i had a choice, i'd stick to ATI for video since I've really grown to love them (after being years-long NV fanboy).

 

but

 

like anything...I'll take what I can cajole the office into sending me!!!

 

ive sent off your GPU info to TW...lets see what they have to say

[saperboy]

^^ thanks Angry.

[saperboy]

I tried FSB250 again using my PCIe 6600GT. Sometimes I am able to into Windows but most of the times the PC just posts and then reboots itself up.

 

I hope we get to have some good feedback soon.

[Angry_Games]

i should have an XP-90 by Monday to start overclocking this machine =/

 

finally got a 24-pin psu for it...but ill only be using a bottom-of-the-barrel PCI-E ATI X300SE for vid

[saperboy]

Prime95 for 8 hours. 3DMark2001SE completed. SuperPi 1M calculation completed. Is this eligible for a toaster? :nod:

 

[Angry_Games]

1) Users have to disable the onboard PCI-E LAN to overclock past 220

 

The 925X chipset does not have a fully functional PCI-E lock (this is a known fact). In order to overclock, we need to raise the PCI-E clock with FSB in a certain ratio. However, this increased PCI-E clock will cause the Marvell PCI-E LAN to fail. Unless we change our PCI-E LAN chip on board, users will always have to disable the PCI-E LAN when wanting to overclock FSB higher. This is one unfortunate thing which will be addressed in our 925XE motherboard. ABIT boards don’t have this problem because they are not using Marvell PCI-E LAN chip.

 

 

 

2) Users have to disable the Performance mode to overclock past 220

 

The Performance Mode is used to generate very tight default timing and is for standard FSB benchmark only. This issue will be addressed in our 925XE.

 

 

 

3) Users have to set the PCI-E lock to AUTO to overclock past 220

 

This is a work-around to solve the chipset's inherent PCI-E lock issue. The Auto setting will generate proper PCI-E clock when the user raises the FSB. We also offer PCI-E clock options for users to try and see if his platform is able to overclock PCI-E further. What we suggest users to do is to keep PCI-E clock as AUTO and raise the NB voltage a little (1.7 ~ 1.8 is better for overclocking PCI-E).