My RAM: A bit suspect?

[Mr. Pedantic]

I have a kit of 6GB DDR3-1333 running at stock timings (Cas 8 or 9, I think; they're at stock, whatever they are) from G.Skill. And I think they may be holding my overclock back.

My system is currently clocked at 3.5GHz. And this is the furthest it seems to want to reasonably go. I can get the thing to boot at 3.7GHz with 1.7Vmem and 1.4Vcore, but it's still not stable enough for Folding (as in, Prime crashes in about 30 seconds). And I think it's because of my memory. Every so often it hangs during boot - as in it gets to something that looks, pixel for pixel, like this:

http://www.theeldergeek.com/images/XP Home Setup Graphic II/dd.gif

and it stays there. Indefinitely. I turned my computer on this morning before I left for uni, and 10 hours later, when I came back, it was still like this.

This is also coupled with random restarts when running the SMP client (which are not due to temps or higher VCore - temps are consistently in the 60s throughout and even taking VCore up to 1.45 doesn't help). Higher VMem helps a bit but I don't want to run my computer at higher than 1.65, as this has to last me pretty much for the rest of my degree (I still have 4.5 years to go). Moreover, for some random reason I can't change the memory multiplier - even if I lower it, the thing won't even POST.

I've run about 24 hours of Memtest86+ (but not HCI) and it's found no errors at 1400MHz 1.5VMem. I've also run Prime95 on Blend, and it's 30+ hours stable. But it reboots every so often running SMP2.

So, what do you guys think?

 

[lehmann]

@ 3.5 you should be able to run close to stock voltage. if not stock. what motherboard are you using

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

MSI Eclipse SLI. This is a C0 i7. I can get by with stock up till about 3GHz. After that I need about 1.32V to go any further, and after that it gets me to about 3.5GHz. After that it won't go any further, no matter how high I push the voltage.

 

[lehmann]

My co i7-920 does 3.6 with 1.25 4.0 with 1.35 210x19 asus p6t standard. try updating your bios. make sure there is lots of airflow over the chipset. turn down your multiplyer to say 14 find your histest stable bus speed with memory also set low. http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/msi_eclipse/8.htm http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/motherboards/2008/12/08/msi-eclipse-sli/15

 

[zero2dash]

I don't think it's your ram. My 1333 Corsair will run fine at 1600 on 1.66vdimm 9-9-9-27 2T (running 6x2gb). I think I've had it up to 212blck 2:8 which puts it at...[pulls up calculator] 1696mhz.

It's probably just the cpu.
Really the only stuff you can do is work each oc one at a time, start with your bclk, then your ram, then the multi/max cpu speed. Guide

My dedicated boxen's i7 920 just eats the juice, craves the juice...I hate the chip. I can't get it above 3.6 without more juice and my temps hit upper 70s. I was trying to run @ 3.6 with a 200blck to keep my ram at 1600 and it took 1.41 Vtt to run 200blck stable, I was pushing 1.35 Vcc for 18x multi and it still wasn't stable but my temps were hitting upper 70s, I basically gave up (for the time being). I will be reseating my heatsinks probably later and installing my Arrow on my primary to see how much higher I can push that.

It's really disheartening seeing people pushing 4ghz on stock volts and stuff like that, oh well...some of us get lame chips (some people are thinking it's the IMC, some chips get real good ones, other chips get real poor ones).

I hate re-tweaking on these bigadv systems because you lose your downtime, then your bonus goes to shit and depending on where you are (rank wise) you get a bunch of flies on your threat list.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Tried something else. Set CPU multi to 19 and tried to keep pushing BCLK (and everything else) up. Couldn't do it. Couldn't get past 180MHz, which is what I got when I originally OC'd this machine a year ago.

The problem I have with this is that I can't actually change the memory multiplier and still have the machine POST, so I don't know for sure whether it's my RAM or if I just have a really crappy chip, even for a C0. But given the kinds of things it's doing, and the fact that I've never heard of a i7 not reach 200BCLK (even a C0), I'd be inclined to suspect RAM for the moment.

 

[zero2dash]

Have you tried to update your bios?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Have you tried to update your bios?

No. Aside from MSI's BIOS update is bloody annoying to work with, my parents are afraid that I'll brick the mobo (apparently my Dad bricked one of his years and years ago, so now he goes with a "if it ain't broke don't fix it" mentality). And if I do brick the mobo, I don't have the money for a new one, and no doubt my parents won't be buying me anything ever again.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

if you brick the motherboard just contact msi and rma it.. its an LGA-1366 board so i doubt its past the warranty.. and that if it aint broke dont fix it is wrong because it is broke.. it doesnt overclock for shit..

as far as booting up and running prime95.. run small FFT's and see if it fails.. if it runs for hours on small FFT's then the cpu overclocks fine.. if it fails on large FFT's then the problem is the either the ram or northbridge voltage but most likely the ram..

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

if you brick the motherboard just contact msi and rma it.. its an LGA-1366 board so i doubt its past the warranty.. and that if it aint broke dont fix it is wrong because it is broke.. it doesnt overclock for shit..

Yes, I wish they'd see it this way. Except they "don't believe" in overclocking, so to them it ain't broke. As long as it POSTs, it ain't broke. As for the RMA, I'd still be without a motherboard and therefore without a computer for a fortnight or so. And given how all my notes are on my computer, that's not exactly a good thing.

as far as booting up and running prime95.. run small FFT's and see if it fails.. if it runs for hours on small FFT's then the cpu overclocks fine.. if it fails on large FFT's then the problem is the either the ram or northbridge voltage but most likely the ram..

What do you want me to change?

 

[sirmonkey1985]

Yes, I wish they'd see it this way. Except they "don't believe" in overclocking, so to them it ain't broke. As long as it POSTs, it ain't broke. As for the RMA, I'd still be without a motherboard and therefore without a computer for a fortnight or so. And given how all my notes are on my computer, that's not exactly a good thing.


What do you want me to change?

it aint broke if you tell them it aint broke.. come on now.. gotta learn how to lie a little better then that..

but the days of bricking boards is few and far between.. i mean shit ive flashed this board going on 7 times in the last 3 years.. never had an issue with it.. flashed and reflashed my biostar 780g board probably 8 or 9 times testing out various bios within a 3 month period.. never had a problem..

just go with your last working overclock that allowed you to boot into windows..

 

[T4rd]

From what it sounds like, it seems like just a "bad" proc or mobo. I just switched my C0 with a D0. On my Asus P6T Deluxe v1 I had my C0 100% stable (folded -bigadv on it for about 6 months straight 24/7) @ 3.7 GHz. My vCore was set at 1.28125 (not sure of the last 3 digits, I think it was that though), multi was 20x and BLCK was at 185. I think if I had the multi at 21x, my proc didn't like that as much, so maybe if you back it down to 20x, it might OC better for whatever reason (I've read similar stories).

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

it aint broke if you tell them it aint broke.. come on now.. gotta learn how to lie a little better then that..

My parents are both IT professionals, I think I'd have to go a bit further than just telling them it's not going to brick...

just go with your last working overclock that allowed you to boot into windows..

Okay, I'm testing small FFTs now.

 

[lehmann]

these mobo's have known overclocking issue's steeming from needing bios updates. shown in the links i provided. msi auto update has never worked for me. i use a usb drive. though your in a bit of a pickle as fare as parents. Im surly not gonna tell you to just do it. it is whats needed to get the clocks you are wanting. the choice is yours. what cpu cooler do you have?

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

TRUE.

As for the BIOS flash, I was thinking of just going ahead with it, but then if the power suddenly did go out (as it kind of has a propensity to do here in the winter time) and I did end up with a bricked mobo, I'd be in quite an awkward situation.

EDIT: how about I just take photos of my BIOS and you tell me what to do? Because I'm kind of out of ideas at the moment.

 

[lehmann]

if your getting 3.4 and dont wanna do the bios just stay there. if you do update the bios read the manual first. better yet read it 3 times. have the bios updating process memorized. and always have the bios set to default when updating.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

TRUE.

As for the BIOS flash, I was thinking of just going ahead with it, but then if the power suddenly did go out (as it kind of has a propensity to do here in the winter time) and I did end up with a bricked mobo, I'd be in quite an awkward situation.

EDIT: how about I just take photos of my BIOS and you tell me what to do? Because I'm kind of out of ideas at the moment.

sounds like a good idea with the picture..

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Okay:

Here's my main BIOS screen:

I just took the Cell menu for now, since that has all the overclocking options in it (no idea why it's called the Cell menu). If you want any more, just let me know.

So Cell Part 1:

Part 2:

And part 3:

Those are the values I have for my current overclock, plus the .2V QPI bump and 1.3V IOH (which I'll probably take down later, it's making my chipset about 10C hotter than it used to be). EIST was disabled to see if lowering multi made any difference to BCLK (it doesn't).

 

[lehmann]

add .200 to cpu voltage. take memory ratio to the lowest number. for now anyway. Qpi configuration- set to lowest number. inch your way up.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

Set memory ratio to 3, DDR3-1050, wouldn't POST the first time through. Second time booted into Windows properly.

Are you sure about adding .2V to Vcore? That would take it up to something like 1.54V...

QPI configuration sub-menu has 2 options. QPI links Speed - Slow-mode or Full speed. Full speed enables second option, QPI Frequency - 4.8GT/s or Auto. Setting QPI Link speed to Slow failed POST 3 times, the BIOS automatically reset. Still having the QPI link set to slow failed POST 3 times again, so I've put it back to Full speed and Auto.

 

[sirmonkey1985]

you shouldnt have to touch the QPI settings.. and shouldnt have to touch the QPI voltage either unless you are trying to hit 4ghz or higher..

 

[ccityinstaller]

It might just be me, but I've never left a Voltage option on "AUTO" when o/c'ing. I've been doing it since my P100 days, so while I'm not an expert, I would consider myself well-rounded.

The problem with many boards is that their idea of "AUTO" can vary wildly from other boards, hell even from just different bios revisions.

For example, I am running a X1055T (eat it SirMonkey ) @ 4.3Ghz, and I couldn't get myself stable until I adjusted my CPU PLL voltage. I don't have an Intel system, of course, but I would suggest you try google to see what others using the same board are using Voltage wise.

 

[T4rd]

It might just be me, but I've never left a Voltage option on "AUTO" when o/c'ing. I've been doing it since my P100 days, so while I'm not an expert, I would consider myself well-rounded.

The problem with many boards is that their idea of "AUTO" can vary wildly from other boards, hell even from just different bios revisions.

For example, I am running a X1055T (eat it SirMonkey ) @ 4.3Ghz, and I couldn't get myself stable until I adjusted my CPU PLL voltage. I don't have an Intel system, of course, but I would suggest you try google to see what others using the same board are using Voltage wise.

I would agree with this. When I was OCing my 920 when I first got it, I manually set the BLCK and multi for a 3.7 GHz OC and left the vCore on AUTO to see what would happen. When i pulled up CPU-Z and ran a bench to put load on all 8 threads, my mobo fed the CPU like 1.45v vCore and my temps pretty much went straight to 100°C, lol. So I manually set that to ~1.3v with the Asus Probe software that I can use in Windows and notched it down over the course of a few hours until I BSOD'd, then moved it back up to the last increment in the BIOS and locked it in there, which was at like 1.281v. Temps settled at 70°C when I did that, hah.

 

[Mr. Pedantic]

I would agree with this. When I was OCing my 920 when I first got it, I manually set the BLCK and multi for a 3.7 GHz OC and left the vCore on AUTO to see what would happen. When i pulled up CPU-Z and ran a bench to put load on all 8 threads, my mobo fed the CPU like 1.45v vCore and my temps pretty much went straight to 100°C, lol. So I manually set that to ~1.3v with the Asus Probe software that I can use in Windows and notched it down over the course of a few hours until I BSOD'd, then moved it back up to the last increment in the BIOS and locked it in there, which was at like 1.281v. Temps settled at 70°C when I did that, hah.

I agree with regards to the vCore and to some extent the VMem, QPI, and other voltages, but with all the RAM channel voltages and timings, it works, so why change it when I have no idea what I'm doing?