E6400 irregularities

A

adg1034

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 3, 2005
Messages
370
I'm running:
C2D E6400
Gigabyte 965P-DS3
2GB OCZ Platinum Revision 2 DDR2 800 (OCZ2P800R22GK)

I just replaced my stock Intel cooler with a fanless Scythe Ninja, and I'm having some issues getting my system to boot with any OC whatsoever. Temps are down across the board (CPU's running between 40 and 43C), but whenever I try to overclock it (usually 8x325), I save and exit out of the BIOS, my fans spin up like the computer's starting, and then it turns off. Five seconds later, the fans spin up again, and then it turns off. I break the cycle by pulling the power cord during one of the times it's "off", but after I do that, it always goes back to whatever multiplier I had set x 266. Not sure what to do; not sure what's causing it to spaz out, so I thought I'd bring my question to a wider audience.
 
are you going from 266 to 325 in one step? are you changing any voltages or any other numbers when you do this? also i wouldnt pull the power cord, hold the power button for 5-6 seconds and it will shut down a little more softly. i only 'pull the plug' when something is overheating or i otherwise cant wait 5 seconds.
 
Yes, I did usually go from 266 to 325 in one step; I'll try some smaller ones next. Voltage control is set to Auto, which has always worked before. I would turn my machine off with the power button, but the amount of time that it's "on" seems to be a tiny fraction more than the 5 seconds it needs to do that kind of shutdown (most of the time, it doesn't register that I'm trying to turn it off), so I have to pull the plug.
 
well almost every single time you cant POST after changing something in the bios is because of 1) speed is too high 2) voltage is too low. start at stock speeds, set all the settings to stock manualy, not auto. some people will say auto works for them, i like to know exactly what the settings are at not let the computer decide for itself. artificial inteligence isnt what it is in the movies yet. :( increase speed in 5-25mhz increiments untill it wont boot. add a little bit more voltage and go some more, do this until you cant increase voltage because of temperature or hardware limit.
 
Did you lock the PCI and PCIe busses at 33.3 and 101mhz?

Common mistake #1 ;)

Did you set the ram ratio to DDR533 (AKA: 1:1 or 266mhz)

Common mistake #2 ;)
 
I don't think I can lock the busses on my board, and I make sure that the RAM speed is as close to 800 as I can.
 
The DS3 can lock PCIe but not PCI busses (PCI is auto-locked at 33) according to what I remember.
 
Okay, this post is coming from a rig powered by an E6400 running at 3.2GHz (8x400), and I'm thinking I can do better. Motherboard Monitor temps coming shortly.
 
adg1034 said:
Okay, this post is coming from a rig powered by an E6400 running at 3.2GHz (8x400), and I'm thinking I can do better. Motherboard Monitor temps coming shortly.
Click to expand...

Nice... Use coretemp or intel TAT to monitor temps though.
 
Core 0 is at 62C, Core 1 is hovering around 58. Not much load, but I'm going to start a run of Prime95 and see what happens.
 
Prime95's been running for ~8 minutes, and temps are as follows:

Core0 is wavering around 82C, and Core 1 is staying around 80. 50% CPU utilization, though.

EDIT: Now with two tests running at once, one on each core. Both somewhere between 83 and 85. Full CPU utilization. Leaving this to run while I'm at dinner; hope the system is still functional when I get back. :)
 
Came back; looks really good (good being relative here, since it is around 84 degrees at load). I bought these parts aiming to get some good OCing out of them, and 3.2GHz is something I'll take. Hell, I'm running a measurable amount higher than the X6800. Yay.
 
adg1034 said:
Came back; looks really good (good being relative here, since it is around 84 degrees at load). I bought these parts aiming to get some good OCing out of them, and 3.2GHz is something I'll take. Hell, I'm running a measurable amount higher than the X6800. Yay.
Click to expand...

STOP. 85 is THERMAL HALT on that CPU. 90c is meltdown.

What are you measuring temperatures with?!
 
CoreTemp. I guess this isn't that good. Now, though, it's at 62/57.

I'm going out for about an hour, so I'm turning my PC off until I get back, to be on the safe side. Thanks for the warning.
 
adg1034 said:
CoreTemp. I guess this isn't that good. Now, though, it's at 62/57.

I'm going out for about an hour, so I'm turning my PC off until I get back, to be on the safe side. Thanks for the warning.
Click to expand...

Eesh, yeah... Reapply the HSF with some good AS5?
 
Arcygenical said:
Eesh, yeah... Reapply the HSF with some good AS5?
Click to expand...


This actually was a bitch to get installed correctly, and now that you mention it, I checked, and I don't think the seal is very good. Right now, the temps are 55/51, and when I push on the "top" of the HSF, they go down to somewhere around 48/45 (at stock). This is the second time I've tried to do this with the Ninja, since the first one came with two broken pins on the 775 mounting bracket, and with this replacement, I couldn't get one side of the assembly to stay solidly attached for a good 30 minutes. I guess it didn't stay. Any thoughts, since I can, when the system is turned off, pull two of the plastic pins out of the motherboard?
 
You're gonna hate me...

Take out the motherboard... And, with the scythe attached, turn it over.

Look at the bottom of the pins, and make sure they're all pushed through fully.

Alot of times, the pins don't go through ENOUGH, and pop out. Make sure it looks like a mushroom head on the back of the board.
 
Gah. I do hate you. But, it has to be done. Would you recommend bending the pins back (butterflying them, so to speak) so they stay there?
 
...and I hadn't pushed those two pins in hard enough. I'm glad it was an easy fix. Now, though, for reassembly.
 
adg1034 said:
...and I hadn't pushed those two pins in hard enough. I'm glad it was an easy fix. Now, though, for reassembly.
Click to expand...

Glad to hear it.

Yep, I hate 775. Pins are the devil.

Just wait till you carry your case around, and you hear a sickening POP. You're sure your motherboard is done for... It's a pin popping out.
 
It's now at 47/43, stock, so I'm assuming this is a good thing. Thanks for your help.
 
you said you're running fanless ninja? how are load temps looking now if you run it for an hour or so? I'm imagining you've got some really decent airflow in the case. But even then, if you undervolted a fan to ridiculously low levels, it'd probably still help a fair bit

edit: also, glad you got the pins down :)
 
Yeah, fanless, since I've already got those either 100 or 120mm fans there to provide airflow. One is intake, the other exhaust (and both are set on high. Would you recommend I turn them down?). If you're familiar with the P180, one fan is roughly an inch away from the cooler; the other is about 2 inches. Now, though, I'm running 2x Prime95 with the system at 429x7 (gets me 3GHz), and core temps are slowly climbing towards 80C (actually holding at 79) with 100% CPU utilization. If this is load, I don't think I'll have much of a problem.
 
Hmmm. I just realized that I somehow set it to 7x490 (for 3.423GHz), and it's still holding steady at 79/78 at load. Do I even need to turn it down?
 
adg1034 said:
I don't know if I have enough room in my case to mount a fan on the Ninja (as well as it's a bitch to put on). Would slowing down my big case fans help move more air?
Click to expand...

Slowing down the fans IMPROVE airflow..?

Speeding them up might help.

Use CPUZ to check your CPU voltage... The fact that it's on Auto (unless you changed this) might be pumping LOTS of voltage through it.
 
Never mind on the fans- long story. CPU-Z says that Vcore is 1.376V, and that, in fact, I am running at 7x429, at 3GHz. Oh, well.
 
adg1034 said:
Never mind on the fans- long story. CPU-Z says that Vcore is 1.376V, and that, in fact, I am running at 7x429, at 3GHz. Oh, well.
Click to expand...

And you're still running in the 80s?

Seriously get a better HSF, or a fan on it.

What case?
 
P180B. Great case. Before I bought the Ninja, I was planning on buying a Big Typhoon. Maybe I should have gone with that.
 
adg1034 said:
P180B. Great case. Before I bought the Ninja, I was planning on buying a Big Typhoon. Maybe I should have gone with that.
Click to expand...

Ninja's better in the P180...

Since the fan's on the side, it's not as starved for air.

Upload a case shot (photobucket etc.) and we'll see if we can get a fan on it somewhere.

Cool down your CPU clock for a bit till you get the temps in order.
 
Mounting the fan's going to be a bit of a problem, since I'm at college, and the mounting clips are at home. I will throttle it down for now, though, and I'll worry about putting the fan on after spring break. Thanks for your help.
 
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