Gigabyte P965-P35 X38 overclocking and BIOS tweaking Guide

Bill...Thank you for this great guide even though I am not oc'ing.
I've built a GA 965P-S3 based rig with an E6600 C2d and P6400 memory. I am pretty confident this is close to the DS3 discussed here, and the BIOS looks identical.
I have F9 flashed. My questions for stock running:
1) Do I still set PCI Express Freq (MHz) to 102?
2) With the FSB=266 and SPD=2, memory Freq=533 is this ok since I have 800 MHz Freq Memory? (Got faster memory than I can use?)
3) You mentioned you like Divider 2:1 instead of 1:1, is that for OC'ing only?
4) Do I still set Over Voltage controls up by 0.1v "for a little extra stability" or is this for OC'ing as well?
OR
5) would I be better off setting everything at Auto?

Thanks for your help.

Your S3 is for all intents identical to the DS3 with the primary difference being the use of solid caps instead of electrolytic in the DS3 mainly as a long term reliably aid. The guide completely applies to you as much as you want it too.



1) Do I still set PCI Express Freq (MHz) to 102?
Not really necessary auto is OK, this suggestion is a holdover from the "bad Ole days" of the board. It wont hurt or help probally, standard default is 100MHz. I do recommend you put in 100MHz (the default standard PCI speed) as only the bios engineers know what "auto" really means/does.

2) With the FSB=266 and SPD=2, memory Freq=533 is this OK since I have 800 MHz Freq Memory? (Got faster memory than I can use?)
You are correct. You are missing out on some memory bandwidth (see the post just above) if you are not OCing you can get some extra performance by using a higher memory divider. A memory divider/mulitplier of 3.0 (3:1) will run your memory at 266x3= 800 MHz, its exact rated speed which should present no problems and get you some more performance. Don't expect miracles but you might notice the machine is a little "snappier". This should not even make your memory break a sweat as it is designed to run at that speed.

3) You mentioned you like Divider 2:1 instead of 1:1, is that for OC'ing only?
Gigabyte uses a little different terminology than most other boards, and actually is more accurate. It is "standard" for Intel chipset boards like this one to run the memory at 2x the FSB. This is called synchronous mode and in general is the mode in which the CPU and FSB and memory "play" the best together mainly due to architectural design. For reasons I don't understand most boards call running the memory at 2x FSB a 1:1 ratio. Gigabyte calls the same thing 2:1 which, to me anyway, makes more sense. But its all just a label/terminology issue. Anyone else's 1:1 is Gigabytes 2:1. So, kinda see above, its best when OCing to try to use the 2:1 (aka 1:1) and run the memory in sync IF you can run the memory close to its rated speed. In your case you are running the memory much slower than it is capable of and using a different divider to run the memory faster will improve performance some.

4) Do I still set Over Voltage controls up by 0.1v "for a little extra stability" or is this for OC'ing as well?
Intended for OCing and typically to really make it scream even more is added, this is just a very minor bump, almost of no consequence and I added it just in case the power supply is a little weak or the chips on the board were not "exactly up to snuff" etc.

5) would I be better off setting everything at Auto?

Oh no, add the little bit of extra on the over voltage controls its a very small bump up with no impact on long term reliability etc. etc. It will not hurt a thing and might help on days when the commercial AC at the wall is a bit low. Really, with just some minor things you can make the board much more stable and less prone to those weird lockups and strange freezes that seem to sometimes occur for no known good reason.

Also if your memory has better timing specs than 5 5 5 15 (which is the typcial "plain jane" programed values on the memory, please check the manufacturers advertised values and put them in. If you have 4 4 4 12 memory you might as well get what you paid for. Not a huge difference but a little performance and again, you are not exceeding the memories specifications, mearly setting the the board to match what the specification of the memory actually is. The board on all settings of AUTO is trying to be able to work with evey cpu and memory stick in the whole world, tuning it to match your particular hardware is all to your advantage with no down side.

Thx for all this info and for taking questions.

I have an e4400 on my DS3, RAM is 2 x 1GB SupterTalent DDR2-667 PC5300

Bumped up CPU voltage one click to 1.33125V and RAM voltage +0.2 to 2.0 and get a 300x10 = 3.0 ghz overclock.

I have the stock CPU HSF on it, but with AS5 instead of the paste that came with it. Side is off on my computer, but under Prime95 TortureTest it hit about 52 deg C. My case has a 120 mm fan in back.

I'll probably put another 120 mm fan on the side of my cheap-o case instead of the duct. Front intake wants an 80 mm fan, but I don't like extra noise, but may put an undervolted one there.

1. Is SuperPi a good way to test the effective bump in system performance? I don't play games so the typ gfx benchmarks don't seem applicable. SuperPi went from 27+ secs down to 20+ secs for 1M digits of PI.

2. In place of the side exhaust tube, I am probably going to put on another 120 mm fan blowing down on the CPU and NB chip. Maybe then I won't have to put a small fan on that NB heatsink. Does that sound feasible? Do I need to do anything with the SB, too?

3. My current RAM settings are at 5, 5, 5, 15 and SPD = 2.0, voltage = 2.0. Rest of the RAM settings are on AUTO. Specs from SuperTalent are 5, 5, 5, 13 at 1.8V. As you mentioned above, would bumping up the SPD and possibly voltage be the best way to see if this stuff runs faster? Or relax the timings to something like 6, 6, 6, 18? What is the Memory Performance Enhance setting? I did see this blurb at another site:

"Like most of the cheaper kits, the T6UB1GC5 wouldn't overclock at all at its stock latency timings but, by increasing its voltage to 2V and dropping its timings to 6 - 6 - 6 - 18, we managed to overclock it to 852MHz. This is hardly an earth-shattering overclock, but it's still welcome, considering the T6UB1GC5's incredibly low price."

I also have two more sticks of this same RAM I'll throw in to see what it does.

4. Are there any windows programs that let you see all bios settings so you don't have to boot and jump into it that way?

Good job so far, those are good temps with a stock heatsink, gotta love the free extra performance



1. Is SuperPi a good way to test the effective bump in system performance? I don't play games so the typ gfx benchmarks don't seem applicable. SuperPi went from 27+ secs down to 20+ secs for 1M digits of PI.

Yes, its all number crunching and you see the results yourself, 7 seconds, almost a 25% reduction in the time it takes to run is awesome. There are other programs with the PCMark programs used by a lot of sites when doing reviews.
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=962154

2. In place of the side exhaust tube, I am probably going to put on another 120 mm fan blowing down on the CPU and NB chip. Maybe then I won't have to put a small fan on that NB heatsink. Does that sound feasible? Do I need to do anything with the SB, too?
Excellent idea, anyway you can get air on that MCH/NB will help reliability, SB is ok no worries there and I bet it will benifit from the increased air movement anyway.

3. My current RAM settings are at 5, 5, 5, 15 and SPD = 2.0, voltage = 2.0. Rest of the RAM settings are on AUTO. Specs from SuperTalent are 5, 5, 5, 13 at 1.8V. As you mentioned above, would bumping up the SPD and possibly voltage be the best way to see if this stuff runs faster? Or relax the timings to something like 6, 6, 6, 18? What is the Memory Performance Enhance setting? I did see this blurb at another site:

I got ahold of Gigabyte and confirmed that this setting reads EPP settings in your sticks if they exist. First used for AMD chipsets EPP is an extra set of settings for the "other" memory settings you see listed to further tune the memory for maximum performance. Not a big deal, mine have it and it works but I cant really tell any difference except in running memory benchmarks I get 1% improviemnts. There are some links in the guide in the bios section with more info. If your memory supports EPP try the fast settings. Also if you set it to fast or trubo and the memory does not have EPP it wont hurt anything.

"Like most of the cheaper kits, the T6UB1GC5 wouldn't overclock at all at its stock latency timings but, by increasing its voltage to 2V and dropping its timings to 6 - 6 - 6 - 18, we managed to overclock it to 852MHz. This is hardly an earth-shattering overclock, but it's still welcome, considering the T6UB1GC5's incredibly low price."

Exactly, loosen the timings and try the 2.6 divider and run super pi and see if its faster. 2.66 will run the memory at about 800MHz. ( I think you have a 2.6 divider, I have the DQ6 which does) Be prepared to have to clear the bios and reload a bios profile or re-enter your settings if it cannot boot. If it does boot run memtest on it to ensure the memory is not giving random errors that will drive you nuts with unexplained freezes or BSODs.


I also have two more sticks of this same RAM I'll throw in to see what it does.

Typcially 4 sticks reduce slightly the max overclock you can get on memory but I find the extra memory makes the machine more responsive and well worth the tiny penality of backing off memory speed or FSB a bit.

4. Are there any windows programs that let you see all bios settings so you don't have to boot and jump into it that way?

Apparently there are huge technical reasons such a thing does not exist to my knowledge, only the most basic info can be read, but not to worry, after going in about 10,000 times to mess around, you get it pretty memorized. It was possible, I have not tried it in a long time, that if you had a plain ASCII printer hooked to your parallel port you could use the PtrScr button and printout the bios settings.

Hi, I dont play on overclocking my system since stability is an essential for me. I current have e6420, ds3 and Ballistix 2GB kit (1GBx2) DDR2 PC2-6400 • 4-4-4-12 • UNBUFFERED • NON-ECC • DDR2-800 • 2.2V

For the overvoltage control. Do I add 1.8v+.0= 2.2 (my ram volt) or is it already set at 2.2 by default?


Also for the cpu volt...does add a small amount of voltage increase stability? If so by how much? Im using e6420.

Hi, I dont play on overclocking my system since stability is an essential for me

Click to expand...

I disagree with the implied premise that OC is the cause of instability but its your stuff and do what you please

Yes, you need to add to the default 1.8 volts, so +.4 will get you to 2.2V actual memory voltage.

The bios screen shows you the default voltage reported by your cpu, just add one notch, my voltage increases on the DQ6 dont match yours so I dont have the exact number handy, just give it the next value up from default, somewhere around 1.350 volts or less.

BillParrish said:

just give it the next value up from default, somewhere around 1.350 volts or less.

Click to expand...

Does that mean im overclocking? or just add the needed voltage for the cpu.

Also is the 1.8v default ram volt for a DS3 mobo? or is it your mobo. My mobo really doesnt say what the default value is.

Invalid said:

Does that mean im overclocking? or just add the needed voltage for the cpu.

Click to expand...

To overclock you would raise the FSB to something other than Auto or in the case of your processor higher than 266MHz which is the stock FSB that is set when Auto is used. You are just adding a touch of extra voltage to enhance stability if the commercial AC at the wall is low.

Also is the 1.8v default ram volt for a DS3 mobo? or is it your mobo. My mobo really doesnt say what the default value is.

Click to expand...

Yes, 1.8V is the default on your board (and mine, and every P965 chipset board ) you will find it hiding on page 12 if the manual. They didnt go to much trouble making it easy to find but 1.8 V is the JEDEC standard voltage for DDR2 and the Intel guys followed that spec when designing the chipset.

Thanks a bunch Bill. You have helped me tremendously and many others I suspect.
After the first boot (post) and trying to setup the BIOS (No OC'ing) I got a freeze-up.
I cleared the BIOS and started again.Another freeze-up. Cleared BIOS and it would not post, starting and stopping over and over. Removed battery, waited, re-installed and viola! post. This time got all the way to Vista installation rolleyes: I know!) but eventually the BSOD after Microsoft's Memory checker Test which said memory was ok (I was suspecting a bad stick given the BIOS freeze-ups).Found out about Memtest86+ and ran it. After 20 minutes, red screen line after line. I assume that's not good! Took out one stick, same result. Swapped sticks , NO red after about an hour. Not sure how this program works, I guess it just runs until you stop it. Anyway, wasn't sure if I had a bad stick or not but RMA'd anyway and am waiting for replacement. Short story now long, when I get the replacement memory (same kind, it was too late to switch brands, G.Skill P6400 2GB Kit) should I install one at a time and test, or both and test, and how long to run Memtest, and does ANY red signal a bad stick (again)? And probably should have asked you first, do you agree with the bad stick diagnosis?
Thanks again for your opinion.

hmm yep, memtest just keeps looping and if it finds an error it will just keep finding it.

I am not sure about the memory but you now the the tool to test it out, do one stick for 2 full passes, the swap in the other stick 2 full passes, then try both, is what I would do.

Can you give me a link or the full part number of that memory, the other thing it could be is that the memory requires more than the default 1.8V to work. A lot of high performance memory needs 2.0V or more. You might need to boot with one stick and go into the bios and increase the memory voltage to what the manufacturer recommends. Not sure about this until I can look up the specs for your exact memory.


The fact you are able to run memtest for 20 minutes makes me hopefull that there is nothing major wrong. The only other thing I can think of is the aux 12V power connector might not be plugged in, Its a square 4 pin connector from the power supply and goes to the motherboard near the cpu socket if memory serves me. Not having that plugged in starves the cpu for power and makes the entire system act very strangely. I will think on it some more.

Here is the memory link (NewEgg):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

Yes the square CPU power connector is connected. I very well may have had the memory voltage wrong because I left almost everything on auto and don't recall what the value was. This was before I discovered your guide here. I purchased this memory because of the motherboard spec of 1.8V that these sticks covered (1.8V-2.0V). So I guess I could go as high as 2.0V, but again the mb manual says "Supports 1.8V DDRII DIMMs"

RichMan said:

Here is the memory link (NewEgg):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231098

Yes the square CPU power connector is connected. I very well may have had the memory voltage wrong because I left almost everything on auto and don't recall what the value was. This was before I discovered your guide here. I purchased this memory because of the motherboard spec of 1.8V that these sticks covered (1.8V-2.0V). So I guess I could go as high as 2.0V, but again the mb manual says "Supports 1.8V DDRII DIMMs"

Click to expand...

Looks like I got a lucky guess, the very first customer review describes your issue almost exactly:

May not be stable at 1.8V.
Other Thoughts: Using auto settings in BIOS (Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3, F10 BIOS), ran Ortho and had some stability issues. (This may be due to the BIOS automatically speeding up the memory to 4-3-4-12, however. At least that's what I remember, but I've got my system OC'd the way I want it now and don't feel like resetting it to verify.) Bumped to 1.9V and had no problems. Bumped to 2.0 (this memory is spec'ed from 1.8 to 2.0V) and runs great at memory speed of 875 MHz -- almost 10% faster than the rated 800 MHz speed (at 5-5-5-15).

So I would most definately set them to 1.9V to start then run memtest and if any errors go to 2.0V. (The comment about the bios automatically speeding up the memory is most likely incorrect, most ram has the SPD chip pre-programmed to 5 5 5 15 and you manually have to enter the faster/tighter settings, but again I would have to look deeper into the specs, you can find out with cpu-z once we get things stable again) I think you will have no issues with just a bit more memory voltage.

This is not an uncommon occurance btw, not only with this board, and was an awfull problem with high performance memory when these P965 chipset boards first came out. Before the manufacturers started putting more conservative (JEDEC standard) timings in the pre-preogrammed SPD chips a lot of people with perfectly good boards and good memory (that needed more than 1.8V) could not even get them to boot. I am fairly confident you are on the right track and a little more memory voltage will make it as solid as a rock.

Thanks again Bill
I will be getting the new memory next Tuesday I guess. I will start out at 1.9V 5-5-5-15 and do the slight over voltages. I'll do one stick at a time (Memtest) and if all goes well, I'll try running some "stress program" and report back. It may take me several weeks since vacation week is approaching , we'll see...Later

Reading the guide helped a TON! While it's actually straightforward to OC on this board, I tend to always overlook something and it bites my ass. With a list like this (and explanations) I can check them off and work it right. Anyway...

e4300 w/ Tt Big Typhoon
965P-DS3 w/ 50mm fan JB Welded to Northbridge
Transcend Jetram 2GB DDR6400 (from Newegg)

I had a few quirks with the guide instructions. When I tried the first OC (the mild one to test it), the BIOS did NOT work at 266x3 for 800. No clue why. I can do 300x2.66 for 800. Even increasing mem voltage did not work.

I ended up at 3.375GHz CPU and 750 RAM (there is only 2.0, 2.5, and 2.66 multipliers?). I was fine in Windows, Warhammer 40k, and Vanguard for 2 hours. Though Orthos failed after 10 minutes.

On the real good news side.... my eVGA 8800gts 640MB SHOULD have shown 500/800, but RivaTuner showed it as 575/850 default. Guess I got a Superclocked core by accident? Or does RivaTuner show the optimal speed (meaning they OC'd it already)?

Settled on...

9x333 = 3.0GHZ
56C under Orthos, ran fine for 6 hours
Memory at 333x2.5 = 832MHz for those 6 hours.

My chip/mem/machine will NOT do either 8 or 9 x 400.

I know I am talking all over the place, but curious what is better? 3.0GHZ/832MHz or 3.375GHZ/750MHz? I guess the 3.375GHz is not TRULY stable per testing, but does a higher CPU make up for a lower mem/mobo speed?

Great guide, it's extremely helpful.

I have a few questions that I don't believe were answered elsewhere, though I apologize if they were.

First off, a few system specs:

DS3 w/ F4 BIOS
e6400
TWIN2X2048-6400 Corsair Ram

I've had a good OC going at 400 FSB (3.2Ghz) and 5-5-5-15 timings with only an overvoltage to the ram (to get it to factory 1.9). Unfortunately, something happened with my HD and in the course of fixing that, I reset my BIOS. Now, I'm having issues getting back to that original OC.

1.) Should I go ahead and upgrade the BIOS to F10 or F11 or is it better to stay at the F4 as it seems to have worked well enough.

2.) What is a memory strap? I keep reading that I shouldn't set my FSB at 400 because of a memory strap, but I don't know what that means or whether I should set it below or above that.

3.) One oddity about my system is that about half the time after a reset, the computer will beep and the fans will spin at full blast, but nothing ever comes up on the screen and I can't get into BIOS. This happens whether I am OC'd or at factory settings. Usually, if I let it sit for 10-15 minutes it will boot as usual. Do you have any suggestions as to what causes this? I thought it might be heat related, but the computer seems to max out around 45 degrees.

Thanks for all your work!

I know I am talking all over the place, but curious what is better? 3.0GHZ/832MHz or 3.375GHZ/750MHz? I guess the 3.375GHz is not TRULY stable per testing, but does a higher CPU make up for a lower mem/mobo speed?

Click to expand...

absolutely, CPU MHZ in general are more powerfull than memory MHz. Keep working on the 3.375 even if you have to drop to 3.300 by lowering the FSB a couple of MHz you will probally be faster than 3.0/832 . Once you get things stable you can benchmark it to be sure. Use a benchmark that mimics your typical computer usage.

Try a litte more MCH voltage.

What I have learned recently is that the memory dividers other than the preferred 2:1 can cause instabiliy with some memory. The dividers are messing with the memory timings so it makes some sense. Some memory is more susceptible than others.

1.) Should I go ahead and upgrade the BIOS to F10 or F11 or is it better to stay at the F4 as it seems to have worked well enough.

2.) What is a memory strap? I keep reading that I shouldn't set my FSB at 400 because of a memory strap, but I don't know what that means or whether I should set it below or above that.

3.) One oddity about my system is that about half the time after a reset, the computer will beep and the fans will spin at full blast, but nothing ever comes up on the screen and I can't get into BIOS. This happens whether I am OC'd or at factory settings. Usually, if I let it sit for 10-15 minutes it will boot as usual. Do you have any suggestions as to what causes this? I thought it might be heat related, but the computer seems to max out around 45 degrees.

Click to expand...

1) I would no major issues that I am aware of have been reported F10 or F11 and perhaps item 3 might go away.

2) Its really the MCH/NB changing "gears" as the FSB goes up, The northbridge is also directly coupled to the FSB and as you raise the FSB you overclock the NB just like you are OCing the CPU. It has been widely reported (verification is a bit sketchy however) that around 360-375 FSB the NB becomes OCed so much it craps out. The good news is that it is beleived that around 400MHZ the NB will "change straps" (a divider kicks in) so that it runs at somewhat looser timings but can support the higher FSB.

Basically if you have issues with FSB settings between 350 and 400 it is reported that by reducing the cpu mulitplier (if necessary) and going to some setting slightly over 400 which forces the MCH to "switch gears/straps" and it works fine. Your mileage may vary. If you are not having difficulty with FSBs (a FSB wall ) in the upper 300;s dont worry about it.

I hacked (very literally) a hole in the side and mounted a 120 mm fan. Dual testing with Prime95 using Large FFT test had both cores at 50 deg. I can't tell what the temp on my NB chip is and haven't taken the side off to do the "skin test".

I bumped the SPD up to 2.66 and left everything else the same (5-5-5-15 2T, 2.0V). I ran the blended torture test (only 10 mins) and got no errors. I'll run some stuff overnight to see if it is truly stable. SuperPi for 1M digits is down from 20.3 to 19.7 sec. So my RAM running at DDR2-800 spec (CPU Host Freq = 300 * SPD = 2.66 is ~800Mhz). I'll dump in my other 2 GB of RAM and see how that performs.

One note: when I booted a few times my video didn't come online. I waited about 30 sec and tried a few times and it came back. The LCD works fine as I tested it on another computer. Upon reading a few other similar cases, I bumped the MCP voltage up +.1 and also set the PCI-E freq to 102. So far it seems to have fixed the problem.

I'm not sure I want to push it much further esp with stock cooling except perhaps for fun when I have more time. Thx again for all the info.

I thought I'd post some numbers. I'm testing the limits of my memory, and wow! It sure is time-consuming!

Anyway, my system is in my specs. I'm using SuperTalent RAM, to be exact, I'm using SuperTalent T800UX2GC4 (2x1G). Timing is at 4-4-3-8 and voltage is at 2.2. Those are the specs I'm using in the optimized baseline settings for normal work. Note that these are above the default for the board.

I ran the first two tests.

1. Max speed at auto timings and stock manuf specified voltage.

I was able to take my CPU Host Frequency up to 350MHz. At this speed, the computer didn't want to boot. I was getting the series of short beeps that indicate power issues. After a couple of cycles where the machine tried to boot unsuccessfully into BIOS, when I finally was able to get into BIOS, I dropped down to 347MHz.

I dropped incrementally til the first good complete pass: at 338. At 2:3 FSB : DRAM, I was running at 507MHz, with timings of 5-8-8-20.

2. Max speed at auto timings and highest manuf specified voltage.

This took a long time, in fact over 4 hours of testing. I was able to take the CPU Host Frequency up to 399 MHz, at which point the computer started to cycle instead of going into BIOS. Since it took a couple of cycles to get into BIOS, and when it did, the BIOS settings had reset to Host Control Disabled and had reset the System Multiplier, I took that as a sign that things were Unhappy(tm). I started th incremental decrease to find the max stable speed.

Again, this is a long process. My max speed at auto timings was 378. Clearly this is a very large improvement over the previous test, and the increased voltage to the memory helped with stability. This is, after all, what the test is supposed to show.

I booted into XP for fun and ran CPUID. Memory was recorded at 587MHz at 2:3. Timings were 5-8-8-20.

Temperatures
At no time did my RAM ever feel hot. It was clear that the stock voltage resulted in lower temperature memory sticks, but even at the max voltage, I was easily able to keep my decadigital thermal probe on the memory. SuperTalent comes with heatsinks, so I tested heat by placing my finger half way down the stick, right about the center. I also tested both sticks so as to ensure that ambient case temperatures wouldn't render one stick higher than the other.

Memory Testing: Musings
At no time did the memory fail the first 3 tests of Memtest. The better predictor of memory errors in a full pass was system happiness. Eventually, the computer just didn't want to post, let alone go into BIOS. At times, it reset the SPD, which I could see via the 2133 MHz reading in Memtest. I would occasionally hear a series of short beeps just before the system cycled off to reboot.

More telling was that once I got to the point where my system had to be persuaded to reboot (powered off, powered back on), I wasn't passing Memtest at about the 5th test. It seems as if the board is fairly sensitive to picking up memory errors, even when they're not showing up immediately on Memtest. Since I face 2 more measurements before I have a good idea of the limits of these sticks, it's good to know that the board is trying to tell me something before I get to the point where I have to reset the CMOS.

What do the numbers mean?
I'm a noob, so I'm taking the excruciating road to testing because I hope that the testing process will tell me more about the science and arcane art of overclocking. My memory specs are 4-4-3-8. The relaxed timings of this test show the memory at 5-8-8-20. I was surprised that the relaxed timings didn't change between the two tests. I can see that if I do have stability issues when I overclock the memory, I may wish to tweak the timings, using the loose timings as a guide. I suppose that if my system is posting, I can tweak the timings for added stability.

Ooooh! Look at the frequency!
At my current optimized default settings, memory frequency is 266.7 MHz, with a rated FSB is 1066.7. With the max speed at auto timing and highest voltage, I’m at 587 MHz with a rated FSB of 1512.

Whither next?
I will finish the next two memory tests, and then start the process of determining a solid overclock.

Great guide!

--ceolstan

Remember this is just a "guide" as you get the feel for it you can make larger jumps in FSB while testing the memory and then if too much go back 1/2 the jump as see what happens using this divide and conquer method.

On thing is the time in reboots when you miss the "del" and the machine loads into windows and the time wasted shutting down or worse it hangs and screws up the OS. It finally dawned on me to set the boot order to floppy (or CD) with no disk in the drive and setting all the other choices to disabled would prevent windows from ever loading and thus eliminate the time sink and risk of locking up in windows and trashing the windows install. Save this trick for later, I realize you are booting into memtest at the moment but later doing "rough" testing with big FSB jumps its a handy setup, I even made a profile for it.

Jeez you are going to force me to actually move on the the CPU stuff and finish this guide !!!

Probally for loose timings you will want to investigate 5 5 5 12 or 5 5 5 15 but that is when you really try to push things and by then you will know where the limits are and will not have to take so much time as you can much better guess where to start (a little below where the 5 8 8 20 craped out ) and see what you can get.

Bill, the link for the cold boot issue..is that correct?

no, i need to edit that some more, Gigabyte is being very obtuse. I am trying to pry the information out of them. I suspect I have been "vaporwared".


here is link to the farce that is my query to Gigabyte Tech support. (bah, I guess they probally helped somebody, somewhere, maybe once. )

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1196073

I've scaled back the e4300 to 370 FSB which makes 3.33GHz and 740Mhz for 4x1GB DDR2-800 RAM.

TO recap:

1.. The machine cannot boot at 8x400, so should I even try 8x410 to try your "new strap" theory?

2. At 370, Orthos fails after 1min 19 seconds. But I notice NO problems or glitches in FEAR maxed or Vanguard at High Quality. Is Orthos the end-all-be-all, or can I be content where I am if no problems in what I do daily?

3. I understand there are varying degrees and perceptions on "stable" but does Orthos detect problems? Where if I keep running at a failing speed, will I break RAM or something in a few weeks, for instance?

4. How does RivaTuner work? As I stated before, the eVGA standard 8800gts SHOULD run at 500/800, but mine showed 575/850 the very first time I ran RivaTuner, before I even moved a slider. Was Riva optimizing it for me, or was it simply reading the card's default settings?


Thanks for all the help so far.

JStudrawa said:

I've scaled back the e4300 to 370 FSB which makes 3.33GHz and 740Mhz for 4x1GB DDR2-800 RAM.

TO recap:

1.. The machine cannot boot at 8x400, so should I even try 8x410 to try your "new strap" theory?

2. At 370, Orthos fails after 1min 19 seconds. But I notice NO problems or glitches in FEAR maxed or Vanguard at High Quality. Is Orthos the end-all-be-all, or can I be content where I am if no problems in what I do daily?

3. I understand there are varying degrees and perceptions on "stable" but does Orthos detect problems? Where if I keep running at a failing speed, will I break RAM or something in a few weeks, for instance?

4. How does RivaTuner work? As I stated before, the eVGA standard 8800gts SHOULD run at 500/800, but mine showed 575/850 the very first time I ran RivaTuner, before I even moved a slider. Was Riva optimizing it for me, or was it simply reading the card's default settings?


Thanks for all the help so far.

Click to expand...

My pleasure, hmm (forgive me if I recommend something stupid like a mulit you dont have, trying to keep the specs/abilitys of all the c2ds in my head is getting harder and if I stop to look things up I will never get all the questions answered. So check me before doing anything and remember you are the smartest computer installed in your house. I also have touble rembering something I may have said to you in another post so just keep an eye on me. (lol I need to make that my sig )

Item 1) I think what I would do in this situation is try to derermine if its the board or the cpu that is maxing out. (Self check - I am starting to think it wont matter in the end but its something worthwhile to find out) I would lower the mulit to 7 make sure the memory divider is set to 2.0 and memory timings set on auto, try 405 FSB . We know the cpu can do 3.3GHz so it should do 7 x 405 = 2.84 easy and your memory should not have trouble with 810MHz on loose auto timings and that will tell us if the board can do it or not.

Once that is figured out we have a tough decision to make, (In general it is best to get the cpu running as fast as possible and let the memory speed fall where it may.) run 8 x 370 and loose a little memory bandwidth or 7 x 4xx and maybe loose some high end CPU MHz but get more memory bandwidth if the 4GB can work where we would need to go ( the 8x will probally be better as CPU MHz buy more performance than memory MHz). And the :
9x333 = 3.0GHZ
56C under Orthos, ran fine for 6 hours
Memory at 333x2.5 = 832MHz for those 6 hours.
Is not a bad compromise, but lets see first what happens and verify the board can do 400+ on the FSB.

If the machine hangs on you and starts the power off / reboot cycle and does not recover, requiring you to kill the power and clear the cmos, Try very hard to filp the power off right when the machine powers itself down and not when it is trying to come back up.

Item 2) This is a kinda "your call" thing, Orthos is doing some fancy high end math calculations that use significant amounts of memory, floating point calculations etc. that stress most parts of the CPU and memory system but your point is well taken. I got quickly bored playing Orthos as I could not figure out how to win. I am a conservate in day to day running so it would bother me and I would back off just a tad until I got Orthos to run without errors overnight. (the trick is to find out if its the memory or the cpu causing the issue but in general I would just drop the FSB by 2 or 3 MHz and retest overnight.) But you are not me (and be glad). Try running 3Dmark too, its a benchmark/testing program that more simulates gameplay and you can loop it, if that runs for a couple hours with no problems you are probally ok and if one of your games has a built in benchmark or demo you want to start looking at that as a tool to find out which one of these possible overclock settings will end up being the fastest for the way you use your computer. If you run any of them take notes of the results and what your computer setting were at the time. Doing the final fine tuning to get every scrap of performance is a tedious thing and no sense doing some tests twice.
I have had this board 10 months now and i am still working on the memory sub-timings.

Item 3) Othos just detects if you are having issues with accuately performing the calculations it runs while placing a good amount of stress on the system. This is a nice "general" indication of overall health of the system. You know what happens if you are way over the edge on something, the machine just doesnt work etc. Orthos is nice for "on the edge" where small errors in system operation are happening but the errors are not bad enough to cause windows to BSOD etc. If your temps are under control and your voltage setting are "sane" you cant really damage anything, it will just freeze or BSOD or crash in your games. Might have to reinstall windows is about as bad as it gets.

item 4) I would see what the guys in the Nvidia section of the graphics card forums say about that, I want a 8800 but my game donesnt really need the horse power so I went ATI this go around to save some cash (feaking MB was arm and leg when first released) and am not up the details of that very good card. I have noticed this from some other posts, that card is very long and acts as an air dam, preventing the cool air from the front bottom intake fans from ever reaching up near the cpu, basically in a lot of medium or small cases it "breaks" the whole comcept of how airflow in an AXT case works (air in a bottom front flows in and up past the cpu and out the upper back). Something to look at when you get the time, removing a couple of front bay panel blanks near the top and watching your cpu temps will tell you if you are starved for cool air near the cpu. Might help get a few more MHz if you are running hot if a bay cooler or some other method of getting cool air in at the top of the case could be found. Also if you remove the side panel and the cpu temps drop more 5C or more I would say there was an airflow issue.

BillParrish said:

My pleasure, hmm (forgive me if I recommend something stupid like a mulit you dont have, trying to keep the specs/abilitys of all the c2ds in my head is getting harder and if I stop to look things up I will never get all the questions answered. So check me before doing anything and remember you are the smartest computer installed in your house. I also have touble rembering something I may have said to you in another post so just keep an eye on me. (lol I need to make that my sig )

Item 1) I think what I would do in this situation is try to derermine if its the board or the cpu that is maxing out. (Self check - I am starting to think it wont matter in the end but its something worthwhile to find out) I would lower the mulit to 7 make sure the memory divider is set to 2.0 and memory timings set on auto, try 405 FSB . We know the cpu can do 3.3GHz so it should do 7 x 405 = 2.84 easy and your memory should not have trouble with 810MHz on loose auto timings and that will tell us if the board can do it or not.

Once that is figured out we have a tough decision to make, (In general it is best to get the cpu running as fast as possible and let the memory speed fall where it may.) run 8 x 370 and loose a little memory bandwidth or 7 x 4xx and maybe loose some high end CPU MHz but get more memory bandwidth if the 4GB can work where we would need to go ( the 8x will probally be better as CPU MHz buy more performance than memory MHz). And the :
9x333 = 3.0GHZ
56C under Orthos, ran fine for 6 hours
Memory at 333x2.5 = 832MHz for those 6 hours.
Is not a bad compromise, but lets see first what happens and verify the board can do 400+ on the FSB.

If the machine hangs on you and starts the power off / reboot cycle and does not recover, requiring you to kill the power and clear the cmos, Try very hard to filp the power off right when the machine powers itself down and not when it is trying to come back up.

Item 2) This is a kinda "your call" thing, Orthos is doing some fancy high end math calculations that use significant amounts of memory, floating point calculations etc. that stress most parts of the CPU and memory system but your point is well taken. I got quickly bored playing Orthos as I could not figure out how to win. I am a conservate in day to day running so it would bother me and I would back off just a tad until I got Orthos to run without errors overnight. (the trick is to find out if its the memory or the cpu causing the issue but in general I would just drop the FSB by 2 or 3 MHz and retest overnight.) But you are not me (and be glad). Try running 3Dmark too, its a benchmark/testing program that more simulates gameplay and you can loop it, if that runs for a couple hours with no problems you are probally ok and if one of your games has a built in benchmark or demo you want to start looking at that as a tool to find out which one of these possible overclock settings will end up being the fastest for the way you use your computer. If you run any of them take notes of the results and what your computer setting were at the time. Doing the final fine tuning to get every scrap of performance is a tedious thing and no sense doing some tests twice.
I have had this board 10 months now and i am still working on the memory sub-timings.

Click to expand...

1. The machine will not boot at 7x405 nor 8x400 or anywhere 400+ with 9x. I'm thinking the board is just not going to do 400+ FSB.

2. As far as booting up, I can boot into 380x9=3.42GHz, but I did lockup in FEAR once. I know I am stable being me at 370x9, but I will try to max Orthos and see how far into 3+ it can take me. Hoping for 3.2+ will make me very happy. But then again, it's a $150 chip running almost 2x it's speed, I'm a greedy bastard (I guess we all are)

A few FPS isn't going to bother me either way, so I'll lazily take time to see what I can see. Testing overnight is doable.

We are also measuring wattage at the wall too, I'm hitting 300+ watts usage during Vanguard, up from 165 watts with the e4300 + BFG 6800oc. So my power bill is even being OC'd

my ds3 won't do over 380FSB , get a nice bsod when trying to load vista ... i got it stable at @ 8x376 - 3006 - 1.4 volts ... wish it would do 400, but it doesn't for me and my ram isnt even running full speed

sure wish we could do the "golden" 8x400 as that is really a nice sweet spot your stable 3.2GHz and memory right on spec and running in synch mode.

Fan on NB ?

Bumping MCH and FSB voltage up a notch or two would be interesting.

Lots have the board way over 400 but there are marginal ones in every batch

yup i got the the volts up on everything aswell , but im THINKING It could my psu lol its only a 385 watt earthwatts antec psu, but i have a new one on order 100% stable on this clock tho full load an 14hours + orthos stable!

Took your advice and flashed F11. Scary stuff.. had to do it in @bios as I don't have a floppy drive, but it worked out well enough. System is now more stable than ever, running 8X405FSB. Temps seem to range from 55C/65C with standard operation/stress.

I want to get some more cooling on the northbridge but I can't fit a fan on the heatsink because my CPU's heatsink is in the way. Any suggestions for a stable replacement stateside? I saw something for an Akasa but it's only available in the UK.

At any rate, thanks for all your great advice and information.

Scary stuff.. had to do it in @bios as I don't have a floppy drive

Click to expand...

oh man, almost had a heart attack until I read the rest that it did ok, I dont trust windows flash utils, gigabytes was broken for a while, guess they got it fixed.

I dont know a thing about that heatsink, a lot of people use an H05 because it is a little offset and will slide under a heatsink that overhangs the NB a bit. If you havent seen one here is a link, kinda pricey and its big too. Just a suggestion, no idea if it will actually fit in there, does not come with a fan as it may not need one but one can be installed.

http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_hr05sli.htm

Bill, first of all I wanna thank you sincerely for making this guide... it kicks some serious ass!!!
To be honest, Im a total n00b when it comes to talk about hardware. Though in the last months I have improved like, 200% (That is, because I was running on ancient Circa '65 legacy hardware and recently upgraded to a descent system, finally!).

All of the other guides I see for overclocking (or at least, configuring BIOS) fall short for my taste, or simply put, they are too generic. This guide was perfect, being as detailed as you could get.

However... I have some questions and thought, I hope you dont mind me asking

First of all, I tried your guide, following every step, and comes out my system would boot, but then I'd get a BSoD.
I still dont know why it happened, but Im guessing before changing settings (like manual timings for the RAM and such) in the BIOS, I was supossed to make sure my system would boot with the current ones (and I made changes in the registry). So all and all, I think the problem was simply a flag left on somewhere in the registry or something that made windows drop her panties.

Anyway, after that I loaded the default settings (I think not fail-safe but the others, performance I think they're called), and then I'd go one page at a time, make changes, save (this is actually an amazing option the MoBo has as you explained it ), reboot and see if I could make windows play nice. And she did. So cleanse and repeat, until I got all the settings changed and guess what? It runs perfectly.

So maybe I think, its always smart to probably load defaults and just change a given set then try, otherwise its a pain in the ass to be trying to figure out what change (out of the 20 you just made) was the faulty one, while using 1 set (set = page in BIOS) reduces the amount of time and frustration put into this labour.

Now comes the questions and/or comments:

* Now that you reach a certain level of comfort and stability in your system, it is smart to put EIST and C1E on [enabled] right? Like, now that you have what you wanted, its time to let the system take care of the load by reducing Voltages and whatever else it does by enabling these options?

* What is the advantage of AHCI settings? Im sure my barracuda, although not being in the new batch (7200.10) -perpendicular tech-, supports these "advanced" AHCI options... but everytime my computer boots it shows up an annoying "loading ACHI BIOS" or something... so I left it [disabled]. Is there any advantage of using AHCI?

* In power management, you left S1/POS. By default there is S3/something. What is the difference or advantage of using one over the other? I think it has to do with PCI-e?

* Like you said, I disabled "Smart Fan Control", and now my CPU fan goes at about 2500 RPMs. Before, it wouldnt start until a certain threshold was reached (sometimes even 20 seconds or 25), and I know this because of the alarm beep (I put it on ever since I built).
Checking BIOS, before disabling the feature, the FAN would go at about 1500...
So maybe Im just plain dumb, but this feature is ok to be disabled? I mean, wont hurt my CPU or something, but otherwise will keep flowing air towards it, as fast as the fan can (and this is good)?

* You say, one should use a SPD of 2.00. I bought a 667 Mhz RAM, because at first I wanted to overclock to 3.0 (and that should be 1:1), but now Im not sure. Anyway, 2.00 SPD on 2.4 Mhz CPU would make the RAM run @ 533. Since I wasnt sure, I put 2.5, which makes my RAM run at the "advertised" clock, which is 667. Lets pretend I dont want to overclock (If I ever do, then anyway 667 is the "minimal" to run the FSB @ 333, because I think you said 1:1 was the min you could get), is this good to be left like that? (2.5 SPD = 667 "default" RAM speed). I think I heard somewhere 1:1 was fine, but higuer shouldnt hurt (like if I had 800 Mhz RAM then running it at that speed would be bad, what's bad is below 1:1). Am I right or...? (CPU-Z says its 4:5 ratio btw).

* For the RAM timings, I used what my manufacturer says, and that is 4-4-4-12. Regarding the last question, are these fine? (Because before, when the MoBo would make its auto adjusments, I ended up with 5-5-5-something I think).

* The "Refresh to ACT Delay" is a setting that although, I have no idea what it means, got me scared a bit. Before, it was in gray, and showed 28 or something (maybe 42 as you put in your guide), but now manually its 0 (zero), as also stated in your guide. Is this fine? Because I dont know, a change from 30's to 0 makes me wonder if something can get hurt in the process...

* In "System Voltage Control", are these settings (+0.1) fine, even if im not overclocking?
Because i put that value just as you said, but Im scared that if I leave the CPU at default FSB, then these can damage it

* "CPU Voltage Control" is one of the things that worries me the most. According to Intel, for my CPU, the range is [1.187V-1.325V]. So I went ahead and put 1.32V. But in your guide you put "E6600 1.375". Isnt this high? Or as you say "very mild overvoltage so we can start playing soon", if Im not playing soon or never, then Im fine with the "max" as stated by Intel, or should I also try to make it lower (maybe 1.2 or something)?
http://processorfinder.intel.com/details.aspx?sSpec=SL9ZL

Ok that is the end of the questions regarding "tuning".

Now here are some results of the benchmark with Orthos (blend).
I ran it for 16 minutes. From minute 1 to 5, there were changes, but from around 10 to ~16 the temps remained the same (thus I stopped the test).

[CPU Idle]

-Speed Fan
Temp 1: 52C
Temp 2: 32C (I still dont know what this temp is... I think Temp 1 is case temp but this one??)
Core 0: 40C
Core 1: 36C

-Core Temp
Core 0: 40C
Core 1: 36C

[CPU 100% Load as reported in SpeedFan and Task Manager, after Blend in Orthos for 16 mins]

-Speed Fan
Temp 1: 53C (Didnt really change, just 1C)
Temp 2: 52C (Notice the "strange" temp raised!)
Core 0: 57C (17C change)
Core 1: 55C (19C change)

-Core Temp
Core 0: 57C
Core 1: 55C

So do you think Im fine?
Like you said, sometimes its all about "my computer is cooler than yours". And I dont care for that to be honest. I have a "real" penis and I use it often, so I dont need an e-penis, just temperatures in which my PC is running reasonably.
Are these reasonable temperatures? Or am I running too high?

Also I have a comment about CPU "Load". I always thought IDLE was basically the CPU not wasting cicles, result of having applications "stopped" and not doing anything.
So SpeedFan, during the Orthos test, reported 100% load, same for task manager, but I find it funny, that I was still able even to watch videos! What gives? shouldnt a 100% load mean, I can barely move the cursor and I'd sweat just to push the Orthos "Stop" button? :?
Guess now those "stress" tests dont gimme much confidence right now, or simply I dont understand the concept.

Well anyway, this is all for now.
Thank you very much for this fantastic guide once again, and thanks for your time shall you look into my -quite- big post.

Best wishes

Lots of good questions in there.

* Now that you reach a certain level of comfort and stability in your system, it is smart to put EIST and C1E on [enabled] right? Like, now that you have what you wanted, its time to let the system take care of the load by reducing Voltages and whatever else it does by enabling these options?

Click to expand...

Short answer: Yes, but as long as you are aware of what they do, if you start to really OC hard, the mulitplier changing and Vcore being automaticllly adjusted can drive you nuts until you remember you turned that stuff on and its why speedfan says your Vcore is 1.34V and you KNOW you set it to 1.385 in the bios. When you get it where you want it, its smart to turn it on.

* What is the advantage of AHCI settings? Im sure my barracuda, although not being in the new batch (7200.10) -perpendicular tech-, supports these "advanced" AHCI options... but everytime my computer boots it shows up an annoying "loading ACHI BIOS" or something... so I left it [disabled]. Is there any advantage of using AHCI?

Click to expand...

There is susposed to be, IDE mode used basiclly the old "standard" set of disk commands used in ATA100 spec. AHCI is the "new" set of enhanced commands for SATA2 drives. The biggest feature is NCQ (native command queueing) which should improve data transfer rates if you hit the drive with a lot of commands in a short time. I try to enable it, it was a problem in winXP and was casuing some issues with Vista at first. Frankly I need to look at that section of the quide and update it and and some comments but atm am playing it safe as AHCI is still a mixed bag, np for some, headache for others. I recommend you try it. Set it in the bios and if Vista boots your are golden. If not set it back, Enable native mode too (native mode also affects the way the drive is "talked to") . Non native the board treats your drive as a IDE (yuck) native treats it like a SATA. So those two setting work together to get the most out of your drive.

* In power management, you left S1/POS. By default there is S3/something. What is the difference or advantage of using one over the other? I think it has to do with PCI-e?

Click to expand...

Gah ! you caught me being lazy again, all I set is for the monitor to blank.
here is everything we need to know and I will edit the guide, glad ya poked me, might as well learn something myself
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Configuration_and_Power_Interface

S1 is the most power-hungry of sleep modes. All processor caches are flushed, and the CPU(s) stop executing instructions. Power to the CPU(s) and RAM is maintained; devices that do not indicate they must remain on may be powered down. Some newer machines do not support S1; older machines are more likely to support S1 than S3.

S3 is called Standby in Windows, Sleep in Mac OS X, and sometimes also Suspend to RAM (STR), although the ACPI specification mentions only the terms S3 and Sleep. In this state, main memory (RAM) is still powered, although it is almost the only component that is. Since the state of the operating system and all applications, open documents, etc. lies all in main memory, the user can resume work exactly where he/she left off—the main memory content when the computer comes back from S3 is the same as when it was put into S3. (The specification mentions that S3 is rather similar to S2, only that some more components are powered down in S3.) S3 has two advantages over S4; the computer resumes in about the time it takes the monitor to come on, secondly if any running applications (open documents, etc) have private information in them, this will not be written to the disk. Desktop users using this state may want to disable disk caching (also called disk buffer) so that, in the event of a power failure, the system disk is less likely to become corrupted due to data in the cache not being written to the disk.

I believe you MUST also set up some windows settings properly to use these,

* Like you said, I disabled "Smart Fan Control", and now my CPU fan goes at about 2500 RPMs. Before, it wouldnt start until a certain threshold was reached (sometimes even 20 seconds or 25), and I know this because of the alarm beep (I put it on ever since I built).
Checking BIOS, before disabling the feature, the FAN would go at about 1500...
So maybe Im just plain dumb, but this feature is ok to be disabled? I mean, wont hurt my CPU or something, but otherwise will keep flowing air towards it, as fast as the fan can (and this is good)?

Click to expand...

Sure turn it on, with EIST enabled it will run your fan only as fast as it needs to go to keep your cpu cool. The "full blast" disabled is for hard core OCing, a lot of the aftermarket OCing coolers do not have variable speed fans or use another kind of speed control so for OCing initial setup it is safest to set it to "run as fast as you can" untill things are sorted out. " Cpu-z is wrong, different version have had different bugs and it is just not doing the math right. Voltage readings in Cpu-z were incorrect in some versions too. Intel keeps pumping out newer CPU's and the poor guy programming it is having hell keeping up with all the new stuff.

* You say, one should use a SPD of 2.00. I bought a 667 Mhz RAM, because at first I wanted to overclock to 3.0 (and that should be 1:1), but now Im not sure. Anyway, 2.00 SPD on 2.4 Mhz CPU would make the RAM run @ 533. Since I wasnt sure, I put 2.5, which makes my RAM run at the "advertised" clock, which is 667. Lets pretend I dont want to overclock (If I ever do, then anyway 667 is the "minimal" to run the FSB @ 333, because I think you said 1:1 was the min you could get), is this good to be left like that? (2.5 SPD = 667 "default" RAM speed). I think I heard somewhere 1:1 was fine, but higuer shouldnt hurt (like if I had 800 Mhz RAM then running it at that speed would be bad, what's bad is below 1:1). Am I right or...? (CPU-Z says its 4:5 ratio btw).

Click to expand...

Gigabytes 2.0 is everyone elses 1:1, Gigabyte tell the actual mulitplication factor instead of some dumb fraction you have to have a calculator around to figure out. yes your setting of 2:5 to run your memory at its rated speed is fine and the best thing to do with your 2.4GHz setting. The quide is written asuming people are going to push the heck out of the board and so it a little confusing when that is not really the goal. You did exactly right.

* For the RAM timings, I used what my manufacturer says, and that is 4-4-4-12. Regarding the last question, are these fine? (Because before, when the MoBo would make its auto adjusments, I ended up with 5-5-5-something I think).

Click to expand...

Auto is trying to let the board work with every memory stick in the world. You did the correct thing by putting in "YOUR" rams exact timings. You are getting more performace.

* The "Refresh to ACT Delay" is a setting that although, I have no idea what it means, got me scared a bit. Before, it was in gray, and showed 28 or something (maybe 42 as you put in your guide), but now manually its 0 (zero), as also stated in your guide. Is this fine? Because I dont know, a change from 30's to 0 makes me wonder if something can get hurt in the process...

Click to expand...

No worries, there is a post in here about that. I messed up cutting and pasting in the quide, its fixed now so that the guide properly shows it as "0" which is an automatic setting, No need to ever mess with this just leave at "0"

* In "System Voltage Control", are these settings (+0.1) fine, even if im not overclocking?
Because i put that value just as you said, but Im scared that if I leave the CPU at default FSB, then these can damage it

Click to expand...

The +.1 is fine, its a very small amount and will help on days the commercial AC is low. Trivial, dont worry about it. Will not hurt a thing if you feel more comfortable setting them back to 0. You will never know the differrence.

* "CPU Voltage Control" is one of the things that worries me the most. According to Intel, for my CPU, the range is [1.187V-1.325V]. So I went ahead and put 1.32V. But in your guide you put "E6600 1.375". Isnt this high? Or as you say "very mild overvoltage so we can start playing soon", if Im not playing soon or never, then Im fine with the "max" as stated by Intel, or should I also try to make it lower (maybe 1.2 or something)?
http://processorfinder.intel.com/det...px?sSpec=SL9ZL

Click to expand...

The absolute max Vcore is 1.55 Volts so we are not anywhere near the danger zone. If you are not OCing there is no reason to raise it, that one you should reduce to "default" note that the reason a range is specifed if you look up the default voltage is that at the factory every processor is tested and a "default" voltage is programmed in, so if you bought 3 cpus of the exact same type speed etc. the default voltages could all be slightly different. So go with "default" or I would recommend also considering the 1.325 as it is the higher end of the "default" range and might make the machine a bit more stable. Reducing this will lower your temps a tad too. Anyway only until you get over 1.4V is there any need for any concern and really no need to worry until over 1.45. These are all OC settings. People have run these babies at 1.7V (I wouldnt but its been done)

All I really have to say is thanks for this guide Bill. It is very extensive and looks like you took a lot of time putting it together. I just got my computer up and running today. This is my first Intel build after having AMD for the last few years. I am running an e6420 cpu with OCZ Reaper pc8500 ram on a p965-DS3 mobo.
I have the computer running stable with a minor oc of 333. I'll have to mess with it some more tomorrow and see how high I can get it.

Wow Bill, you are certainly a great guy

Thanks a lot for taking your time to answer my questions, now I have it clear

Best wishes dude.

Hi Bill and following gigabyte users

Long time thread reader first time poster here ... thanks to your guide and the questions that have come up here I now don't feel like a noob overclocker

Anyway here are my specs:

E6300 @ 3.0 (7*430)
MDT DDR2-800 5-5-5-5

I've recently superglued a 40mm fan onto my NB heatsink on my Gigabyte P965-DS3P rev3.3 and now I can touch the thing without my finger burning off !

I'm currently limited by my ram ... after memtesting as per your guide my max is only 430 (860). A quick note on that: it was also test#5 and #8 that my ram would fail on ... I could go much higher when only testing on 1-3 so once I released this I just tested with test#5 (since it's pretty quick) and then fine tuned with test #8 to come up with the 430.

Anyway I had a question about the cpu Vcore. I've set it (a little randomly) to 1.375 since the default was unstable and this is stable ... and I was wondering if there is a good way to determine the min Vcore I could be running at ? Currently the system is fine as is ... temps are all within range with my Scythe Mine rev.b cooler but I just thought i'd ask ... if the only way to find out is to keep setting a little lower until you notice random blue screens or something then i'll probably just keep as is.

My second question is with the ram ... MDT is a respected German brand but is only really sold here and uses the same chips as most other ddr2-800 kits but strangely it's voltage range is just 1.8v - no range ! Since it uses the same chips as some other kits that have voltage ranges going up to 2.1v so u think it's safe to try this with my ram to try and push it a little further ?? I'm currently trying 1.9v (no improvements ) but not sure if I should go further.

Thanks in advance for you help and cool guide !

Very nice OC, do not get too greedy

Anyway I had a question about the cpu Vcore. I've set it (a little randomly) to 1.375 since the default was unstable and this is stable ... and I was wondering if there is a good way to determine the min Vcore I could be running at ? Currently the system is fine as is ... temps are all within range with my Scythe Mine rev.b cooler but I just thought i'd ask ... if the only way to find out is to keep setting a little lower until you notice random blue screens or something then i'll probably just keep as is.

Click to expand...

What I do is drop it down a notch, run Orthos blend for an hour, and if no problems play my game (Dark Age of Camelot), which is probally the most intense application I use, for a long session. If all is ok, lower another notch, repeat. Shortly dropping a notch will cause Orthos to fail, or my game freezes/crashes and some vile monster lopps my head off. Up a notch. So this can be done almost casually as long as you are not working on any critcal data. Plenty of other methods, run Orthos overnight, use machine next day, next evening drop a notch. But you get the idea, its about what you suspected.

My second question is with the ram ... MDT is a respected German brand but is only really sold here and uses the same chips as most other ddr2-800 kits but strangely it's voltage range is just 1.8v - no range ! Since it uses the same chips as some other kits that have voltage ranges going up to 2.1v so u think it's safe to try this with my ram to try and push it a little further ?? I'm currently trying 1.9v (no improvements ) but not sure if I should go further.

Click to expand...

Frankly I dont know. If I could afford to replace it I might try 2.0 but I would boot into memtest and keep my finger on it testing for heat and check it every couple of minutes as memtest ran for at least an hour, warm ok, hot no. (Mandatory to drink 2 beers during this procedure) Not very good answer but best I can give, If it has heatspreaders and was cool or just warm, maybe I would try 2.1 and watch it like a hawk. Your the bloke in the master seat so thats about all I can say. Its a judgement call.

If I could read the markings on the ram chips (no heat spreader) I would google them and try and find the manuf spec sheet and look for the Vmax absolute chip voltage spec and stay .1 under that, and still watch the temps like a hawk.

Nice hearing from our friends "Down Under" if my guess from your name is correct. Remember Americans are NOT what you see on TV or the movies. And I do not even want to start on that maniac that somehow got to be President. Well that probally tripped the domestic surveillance trigger.

Cheers

Bah you made me curious
DC Operating Requirements
TA = 0 to 70C
Parameter
Symbol
Min.
max.
Unit
Supply Voltage
Vcc
1.7
1.9 <<<<<<<<<--------------------- VCC max.
V
input High Voltage
VIH
1.025
2.2
V

http://www.mdt.de/download/D240u64x8.pdf

think 2.0 is as far as I would go and I am not sure thats a good idea. 1.9V OK.

haha ... nice reply

yeah I guess i'm being a little greedy ... almost thinking of getting a E4300 or E4400 to get a bit faster due to the higher multi, but i'll think i'll wait for the Q6600 price drop July 22nd (http://www.hkepc.com/bbs/itnews.php?tid=789466) and be happy for now

As for the ram maybe I wait a while before I try that out (with some beers of course )

Yeah i'm from OZ but living in Germany for the past 2 years

EDIT: just saw your edit ... thanks for the mdt info find ... i'll keep it at 1.9

I had some fun with my board over the weekend, when I finally had time to return to my testing. I'm now on the tests to determine Max Frequency at Manual Timings, first at stock and then at manufacturer's recommended voltages.

I have 2 sticks of SuperTalent RAM at 4-4-3-8. When I loaded up my testing profile, I followed directions to put the clock ratio to 6, system memory multiplier at 3, popped DRAM on Manual, and had the DDR Voltage at +.01, a tisch over stock. I set the CPU Host frequency at 293. I then saved my profile and rebooted.

Into Windows. Dammit! Memtest was in my CD drive. Okay. I powered off, then booted again. And again into Windows. Sheesh!

At this point, I was starting to look to see if I had a new copy of Memtest. I checked the bios to see if the optical drive was the first boot device. I loaded my baseline back in, saved, and rebooted, forgetting I had Memtest in the optical drive. However, I booted into Memtest.

Well, at that point I decided to reload my testing profile for the Max Frequency on Manual Timings at Stock Voltage. I saved the new BIOS, then rebooted.

Into nothing. No beeps. No nothing. I did hear my fan turn, but that's because the fan will turn if there's power.

I turned off the computer, turned it on. Again nothing. At that time, I decided to clear the CMOS, so I attached the Restart button to the Clear CMOS jumper. By this time, I was running with a time pressure, as I wanted to restore my BIOS before my husband the IT director came home and asked what the Sam Hill I was doing messing around with a working computer for curiosity's sake.

I didn't have a chance to retest. At first glance, I'd like to think that one of two things happened: my memory requires higher voltages to work at manual timings OR my BIOS became corrupted so I had to reset to default.

If it's the former, then would the next step be to loosen the timings? Or decrease my host frequency? If the latter, is there a ballpark figure that would be too low?

Thanks,

--ceolstan

my memory requires higher voltages to work at manual timings

Click to expand...

Aye probally so, I need to look at my logic flow to make sure I take note of that in the guide, a check of the manuf specs for your specific sticks will tell the tale, 1.8v is default.

For example my corsair is rated at 1.9volts and I have no trouble booting at Auto settings (which is 1.8 v) because corsair has loosened the timings 5 5 5 15 via the pre-programmed SPD chip. I have never tried it on the factory spec timings 4 4 4 12 at 1.8, it might or it might not so I think you are on the right track.

I get very detailed and perhaps even a bit overboard in the guide. If you have a good idea where you memory "goes south" on manual timings you can reduce your FSB and put your mulitplier back to its highest value and now start seeing where the CPU gives up.

This is also a bit tedious, but basically you just raise the FSB in reasonable jumps (20MHz a pop ) and run coretemp or some other CPU stressing program and watch temps, a 5 minute run of Coretemp is more than enough. Raise FSB until either the system will not boot or under 100% load coretemp reports 65C or there about then back off a bit for stability. If you run into the "will not boot" if you want, you can try raising Vcore some but stop around 1.425 which is very conservative. Then you test with games and applications, if no freezes or issues, OK, if any issues back it down some. The combination of the tighter manual timings with a 1:1 memory ration (2.0 on Gigabytes) along with an FSB just below where the CPU shows temps that make you uncomfortable is probally a good place to stop. You will have probally gained at least 70% more performance at no cost to reliability. I would love to see hubby's face when after you get it all tuned you "accidentally" leave CPU-z up on the screen and he sees what you have accomplished. Your unbreachable defense is that the settings are determined by a rational, methodical testing stragety and an established base of knowledge of what this cpu, memory and board can do.

He doenst stand a chance.

My system is mostly stable now with a conservative overclock:

e6600 @ 9 x 333Mhz - 1.4v
4x1gig @ 2.5multi & 2.0v
8800GTS 320Mb (no overclock) latest WHQL drivers
Vista x64

System runs cool and stable under all tests...

...except Everquest 2. The game will sometimes run fine for hours, but other times the screen will hang. Sound will continue to run and Skype actually still works in the background - if I have a voice chat going, I can still talk to the person I'm speaking to, so the system is not totally hanged.

Unfortunately, I can't alt-tab out of it - the only thing I can do is power cycle. Any thoughts? So far, I haven't crashed in the other game I play (Company of Heroes), but I don't play it nearly as much or as long as Everquest 2.