QX9770 Heat & Voltage Levels - Am I Safe?

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WolfpupNX

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 13, 2007
Messages
167
Hey all,

Trying to get my new build 100% stable. (So close!) Right now, just working for stock. Passes everything (Memtest86+, OCCT, & SuperPi) *except* Prime95 on all four cores (which always likes to crash on Core 0), so after some reading, I'm trying to manually up vCore in an attempt to help out the weak core. So far, unless it's coincidence, seems to be working...still crashing in Prime95 but after longer periods.

My first attempt (over Auto) was 1.25 volts and I made it right around 8 hours. Upped it again (can't remember the exact number...one step up which was like .0675 higher). Am I doing okay Voltage wise? As I understand it, shouldn't worry too much as far as volts til I'm getting past 1.3...

Also, a bit worried about heat when upping the voltage. Idles around 31C...max temp since raising the voltage so far has been 56C, with the individual cores higher (max 68C, but usually cooler than that). Using Realtemp, though, looks like I'm well over 30 and closer to 40 for Tmax, so am I still okay as long as I keep it >30?

Thanks!
 
45nm Core 2s can handle voltage up to about 1.38-1.4v safely, so anything up to that would be fine as long as you have sufficient cooling. Also, your temps look fine. Generally people like to keep their CPUs under 65C or so, but technically it would be fine to let them run up to around 75C without having to worry about a thing. What you should be looking at is whether or not the system is stable, as the CPU can handle very high temps.

Also, it would be useful if you listed your full system specs as well as what kind of cooling you're using, just so we can get a better idea of what your situation is.
 
Good to hear, and thanks for the response! Here's my specs (and I tried longer posts before but unfortunately wasn't getting many answers so I thought I'd try fewer questions - lol):

ASUS P5E3 Premium Wi-Fi @P (X48)
Intel QX9770 3.2GHz Extreme Processor
Corsair 4 GB X.M.P. Certified DDR3 1600 MHz Memory (7-7-7-20; 1.9V)
EVGA GTX 280 FTW
Silverstone Temjin TJ-09 Case w/ 5 120mm Fans (1 Front Intake; 4 Exhaust)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Active CPU Cooler
PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad

The thing seems cool as a cucumber in general...even most of the air exhast is cool (exceptions being the main rear exhaust, which is only luke warm under heavy load, and the video card exhaust, which just runs hot in these cards). Processor gets a little warm, but I just learned about Tmax, and as I mentioned, I'm well over 30 there, so I think I'm fine, and thanks for the reassurance my temps are okay.

System boots fine and can pass OCCT, SuperPi, Memtest86+, etc. without any issues with all settings on Auto. The only test I repeatedly fail is Prime95 25.6 (quad-core 64-bit version), and I always fail on Core 0 or, occasionally, 1 (9 out of 10 times it's 0). It's weird, because sometimes it fails after a few minutes, but I've had it make it over 8 hours before (and I think close to 12 once).

Recently I've started bumping up vCore in an attempt to fix this based on what I've read. Thought it was working as I had a few good 8 hour runs in a row, but then I had another short one.

I really am a bit hesitant without knowing more to mess with other voltage settings like northbridge, southbridge, etc. I did find out I could bump my RAM up from 1.9V to 2.0V relatively safely, though I'm not sure if that would help since it's now passing Memtest86+. (Had some early troubles with that, but reseating memory seemed to fix it.)

Any help would *GREATLY* be appreciated because I'm having a very hard time finding answers, and it's frustrating to be sooo close but still not have a truly stable system. I want to start using this as my main machine by this weekend if possible. ^.^
 
RAM timings are aggressive because of X.M.P., but at the moment, no. I'd be happy for now to get stable at stock 3.2 GHz and rock solid with X.M.P. speed memory.
 
I didn't realise you were running at stock, I figured you were trying to get a stable overclock. In this case, I suggest you reset your BIOS completely to its safe default settings, and test it like that. If the problem still happens, try running another Memtest. If it comes up with errors, chances are your memory is actually faulty.
 
Thanks for the suggestion.

Already tried this. Memory passes at stock (by stock, I do mean X.M.P. profile by the way of 7-7-7-20, which I suppose could be called overclocking), but Prime95 keeps failing. I got it to pass something like 28 passes on Memtest86+ that way. I did have some errors initially on Test 4, but they went away after a reseat of the DIMMs.

Also, I question why it would keep failing on the same core most of the time if it was still a memory problem.

In any case, I'm running the Prime95 mode that stresses only the CPU right now to see if I can pin it down to memory - we'll see. Thanks!

(Oh, and I hope it's okay this is in the OC forum...but I figured it probably counted since I am changing default voltages and such even though I'm right now going for stock speed.)
 
WolfpupNX said:
Also, I question why it would keep failing on the same core most of the time if it was still a memory problem.
Click to expand...

Well, you mentioned that Memtest failed before you raised the RAM voltage, so I figured there could be a memory issue. As for the CPU, try setting the BIOS to its defaults like I suggested. Everything should run without a hitch, and if Prime95 crashes again then you may have a defective CPU.
 
One clarification: I found out I could bump the RAM voltage up to 2.0 - I haven't yet. It's still at 1.9, but reseating and swapping slots seems to have worked. The settings in the BIOS remained the same, which is the bizarre thing. (I would have expected RAM to either work or not...).

So far I think it's been more than 8 hours on the CPU-only Prime95 (first I've ran) with no issues. So that certainly may lend credence to your theory about it still being a memory problem.

When you say run everything at stock, do you mean with X.M.P. disabled (as in JEDEC spec)? I had tried that previous too, and Prime95 ran longer, but still errored.

Thanks again for the feedback.
 
By everything at stock, I mean reset your BIOS to its defaults and don't touch a single setting. If you have any issues while running like that, you have a defective hardware component. However, if you don't experience any problems, it could be a problem with one of your settings instead(although it could still be defective hardware).
 
Raise the ram to 2.0 and dial in a "bump" (next increment available) of MCH/Northbridge voltate and retest.

I agree with Zero82z about the voltages and temps.
 
Here's something interesting for you...

Since I had started the CPU-only Prime95, I just decided to continue. I'm an hour and a half away from 24 hours stable... Doesn't this mean it *has* to be RAM?

After this is done, I'll try the stock reset as requested Maybe I'll try Blend again, and if that fails, CPU only again...but it's looking like even if Memtest does pass, it may be memory.

If that fails, I'll try upping the voltage on the memory to 2.0 and possibly Northbridge.

From the looks of things, a lot of people with QX9770's are having problems getting full speed out of their memory for this board (1600 and above). I've also found a few posts similar to mine...
 
If memtest fails for any reason, even if it goes away later, your memory is faulty or out of spec. Up the voltage and if that doesn't fix it, you probably need to rma the memory
 
Made it the full 24 hours on the processor test. Trying Blend now with the BIOS reset to all defaults - no modifications at all.

Thanks for the feedback about memory. It was mentioned to bump up NorthBridge voltage when I bump up the memory if I test like that. Unfortunately, on these boards, Auto won't tell you what it's set at, so I don't know what "up" would be. That makes it a little difficult so any suggestions with a RAM voltage of 2.0 would be nice.

Thanks for the help. (If this fails, I've decided to try some different RAM kits to figure what works best.)
 
Well this gets stranger and stranger. 5 hours at default BIOS settings and so far so good.

What's interesting is that Auto memory settings are the same as X.M.P. (DDR3 1600 7-7-7-20). So I'm really not going to understand it if Auto works but X.M.P. doesn't - is there some sort of difference that can't be seen? I suppose voltage or some of the unseen settings could be different on Auto...

At any rate, 5 hours isn't yet conclusive, but since I'm back to all Auto voltages, system is a little cooler again; a plus.

Additionally, I (perhaps hastily...but I was getting frustrated) have a couple other 1600 MHz DDR3 kits coming to try (one with more relaxed timings and another more aggressively timed X.M.P. set) if I can't get this one stable and rule out the rest of the system as the problem. I don't like doing returns, but I've been trying to stabalize this for two weeks and want to see if any of the kits work without issue because I really need this system usable next week. Even if I can get this kit working, I paid a premium for the X.M.P. feature, and I'm not sure it's worth paying it if it doesn't actually work as advertised, especially if one of the other kits does. (The aggressively timed one is Mushkin, and the less aggressive one doesn't have X.M.P. and is Kingston if all else fails).
 
Well, hopefully you can get things working with one of the other kits. If none of them end up working, then it's probably the motherboard that's at fault.
 
Shhhh....we really, really don't want to acknowledge that possibility! =oP Heh - but yeah, we'll see. I really hated going to the expense and hassle of these other kits, but I figured it was the only way to be sure.

Though it's beginning to look like you were absolutely right about the default BIOS settings. It didn't really occur to me to try auto for memory...I figured that's what the much touted X.M.P. profiles were for, and you'd think it'd be easy, especially at native 1600 FSB, but it's looking like a lot of people are having similar problem.

Still going strong on Prime95 Blend at the moment with everything defaul. Hopefully that'll point to the mobo being okay.

At any rate, I'll figure out what RAM works the best with my system and stick with that. May save me a bit in the end too, but probably not after shipping and/or restocking fees. I'll keep ya posted.
 
Core 1 errored out at around 13 hours (Blend again). Going ahead and running the Small FFT's CPU test to see how it does on defaults. But yeah...clearly there's still an issue. Let's hope some other modules work better.
 
Well, it's definitely sounding like a RAM issue again. Hopefully you'll get it sorted once the other kits arrive.
 
So, on Auto (stock voltages), still going strong with Small FTT's (CPU almost exclusively). Almost up to 24 hours...prolly like...21 at this point. So unless there's something really weird about bigger FTT's and my processor, looking more and more like RAM. The less aggressive kit should be here tomorrow. More aggressive one Friday or next week. Probably will try both and see how I make out.
 
Well, Small FFT's made it 24 hours with no errors at all. So CPU is checking out.

Got the Kingston slightly less aggressive RAM today - manually set everything but voltage. Errored out at 7 hours 59 minutes (I was really excited it was gonna work =o/ ). (I did 3 passes in Memtest86+ with no errors.)

Trying again with the maximum recommended voltage of 1.9V manually set. Then, resetting the BIOS to all default settings so it's 1066 and trying it.

Also, I saw on the Corsair forums some suggestions for other voltages from a guy with a *very* similar system to mine (processor, mobo, and RAM), and it includes upping Northbridge voltages and such, so I think the next thing to try will be that.
 
You shouldn't have to up any voltages to run at stock. If you have to in order to get things stable, like I've said before, it would mean you have a faulty component.
 
Well, if that's the case, looking more and more like the motherboard would be at fault, which would suck as this board seems perfect otherwise.

The one heartening thing is, it seems like a lot of people with this model *processor* (specifically QX9770) are having a hard time getting memory to run at stock speeds in the board . Seems the board's very finicky and the combination requires tweaking. But still, 1066 stock speed for this memory (haven't attempted that yet) should work. Well, I'll keep trying different tests and see what happens.
 
Since your Q9770 runs at a default FSB of 400MHz, I suggest you run your RAM at that speed (DDR2-800) for the sake of stock testing.
 
Im having probs as well with stability. Im running a 790i board, but this sounds hauntingly familiar. Im currently running epp enabled corsair dominator 4gig 99924 2000 kit on an evga q9770 setup. I havent run prime95 for any great length of time, but when I run cpu stab test 6.0, it crashes out after a minute or so of running with a primet error on cpu1. It gets up to about 60c wguke running this test. Prime95 doesnt seem to error, but I havent done an all dayer yet, but things warm up quite toasty with it as well. Ive left everything on auto and am currently running stable at 3ghz on the cpu. This is wierd man. I am beggining to think that the cpu simply hates running the mem bus at 2000ghz. Ill knock it down to 1600 and see how things pan out.
 
WANT STABILITY FOR STOCK SETTINGS!!!!!

P5E3 Premium Wifi @N Bios 402
QX9770
PATRIOT PVS34G1600LLK 4gb kit (2gb x 2) 1600mhz 7-7-7-18 240-pin ddr3 dimm w/heat spreader
XFX 9800GTX Black Edition
Zalman 9700NT Cooler
OCZ GameXStream 700W


Getting errors on default bios settings......Memtest....bad ram?
 
so i tested both sticks individually....for 10 hours...no errors.....tried both in dual channel agian.....got an error about 6 hours in.....suggestions?....thanks
 
iceboi714 said:
so i tested both sticks individually....for 10 hours...no errors.....tried both in dual channel agian.....got an error about 6 hours in.....suggestions?....thanks
Click to expand...

Since you got an error in memtest, I would think it's fairly obvious that there's something wrong with your RAM. Also, I don't see why you're posting in this thread rather than starting your own, since you have a different issue which is unrelated to the OP's problem.
 
Sorry about that...should of started my own...i'll start one if more issues come up...thanks Zero82z
 
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