Conroe on 680i - could use some help...

H

hemi

Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2000
Messages
685
I have an E6600 on an EVGA 680i board. I bought the board a couple weeks ago and wanted to get it tested before my 30 day return window is up. I've been running water, but I'm waiting for a new radiator and some other parts to arrive, so I have it set up on my desk, mounted to a removable motherboard tray. I'm using the stock Intel cooler, and I have a Zalman VF700 on my 7800GT.

Temps are crap on the C2D with the stock cooler, but I've been spoiled by water. At defaults, it idles at 45C. Anyway, with this chip on water, it was fully stable at 9x380 (3.4) on a 965 board with 1.45v, and saw 3.6, albeit flakey. The RAM (2x512 PDP 6400LL - D9's, I believe) has gone as high as 1066 on the 965 board.

On the 680i, I've been trying a few things to see where it will go, and I am also concerned about many of the problems others are experiencing with boards using this chipset. So far, no anomalies have appeared, but I haven't done much yet either.

Since I knew the limit of the chip, I pulled the multi down to 6x and cranked the FSB up. I decoupled the RAM from the FSB and am running it at 800 to keep that out of the equation. My voltages are as follows:

CPU 1.50 (1.46 drooped)
CPU FSB 1.5
MCP 1.5
SPP 1.5
HT Link 1.25

RAM 2.20

All spread spectrum options disabled. All other CPU features disabled (SpeedStep, C1E, VT, etc.)

The board has topped out at 405 (1620). Am I to assume at this point the board is a dud? Or is it the CPU? One other item of mention is that I'm using an Antec TP-II 480, and it only has a 4-pin 12V+ connector. Could this be holding me up? Been thinking about a new Seasonic or Corsair (Seasonic, lol :D).

Whaddaya guys think? Any suggestions appreciated. BTW, I'm not even considering load testing with Orthos. At this voltage, it's idling in the mid 50's...

EDIT: I just noticed cpu-z is showing the vCore at 1.21V - is cpu-z reading it correctly???


THANKS!!!

Tom
 
Other pertinent info:

BIOS P21
GPU Ex disabled
LinkBoost disabled

I am running the SPP fan. Over 405, it hangs on code C3 (extended memory, cache initialization)...FWIW.


Tom
 
Well, first, CPUZ has a problem reading conroe voltages over 1.45 IIRC.


As for the stability... How high can you boot with your chips maximum multiplier?
 
Thanks...

Haven't tried yet. I know the chip capped at 9x400 on the 965 board I had (AB9). I'll give it a shot now, but I'm afraid it'll need too much voltage...the stock cooler is lame.

By the way, I know the FSB holes are 1650-1700. I've been on both sides of that with no luck.
 
OK, it hit 9x380 (3.4) with 1.49v and seemed stable. POST at 390 and 400, would not fully boot. On the 965, it needed 1.55v on water to boot 3.6. 3.4 @ 1.49v has it idling at 63C with the stock cooler. I'm not going any futher on vCore, though I did try 1.525 (droop included) to get 390 & 400 to go...nothing.

Thinking of exchanging the board and/or trying another CPU....any advice appreciated.


Thanks,
Tom
 
Final update. I bumped up the HT voltage per Kunaak's thread on XS to 1.55v. I could then get 410 stable, but nothing further. I tried the other side of the FSB holes, no dice.

I did get it tweaked to the point I was satisfied with performance (3.45GHz, RAM @ 1000, 4-4-4-15), but the damn SPP just gets too hot and ramps the fan up. So while the performance is there, I just don't want to deal with the noise. Everything else will be water cooled with 120mm fans running at 800RPM...

I did get a stable board from what I can tell, it's really tweakable, and feature rich...though I can get all of that (except for SLI) with much less noise with an Intel chipset board.


Thanks,
Tom
 
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