Virgin - Overclock issue

[stop45]

Hi there,

This is my first OC.

I have:
- Q6600 GO
- XfX 780i Mobo
- Nvidia Quatro 3700
- OCZ Raptor 6400/800

I got the system to run stable @ 3.2 by doing 8x multiplier and 1600 fsb and setting the cpu core to 1.35. Now when i stay stable i mean it runs fine on prime 95 and lowering the cpu v's got the temps to a reasonable temp.

The issue is that it does not seem to be running right. All my basic programs are dragging very bad and Photoshop is really slow. Everything is a clean install including xp. I built two of the boxes identically. I didn't OC the other at all, and it is running much more stable.

I am really wanting more out of this box, hence the OC but am getting frustrated with the results.

Can someone please take a look at the attached images and let me know you see anything that might need adjusted?

Thank you

 

[dedmaker]

Try running prime 95 for at least 8 hours. That should flush any instability into the open.

 

[stop45]

I have already ran it for like 4 hours, is that enough to find an issue? I am afraid to let it run overnight in case heat gets too high and i come in to a DOA box.

 

[Alai]

Lol. Unless your CPU starts hitting 85+ Celcius, I wouldn't worry about it. Heat is more of an issue with prolonged exposure (like a month or more). Use the IntelBurn Test. It will run through a stability test in much less time (15 or more mins depending on what kind of test, how many runs, and how much RAM you have), but at a bit higher temperature.

4 hours is not enough if that is the FSB you will keep for the rest of your rig's life. 4 hours might be enough to check for quick errors while tweaking your overclock and voltage, but otherwise, no (which is why IntelBurn Test is much better because it finds errors waaaaay quicker). Some people even recommend 24 hours on Prime 95. I use Prime 95 to test for stability for at a minimum 12 hours myself, although I try to let it go for 24 hours.

But I only do that after the IntelBurn Test of 15 runs. With my 8GB of RAM (6.8kb to 7.4kb available), a 15 run test of maximum stress takes 133.5 mins.

Don't have link, but either Google or search on these forums for it. Use the 64-bit version if you have 64-bit.

 

[stop45]

Hi Guys,

Can some please actually look at the screenies?

I have ran IntelBurn 20x here are the results:
_________

Turn on error detection (Y/N)? y

Stress levels available:
1 - Maximum stress
2 - Half stress (uses 1/2 of available memory)
3 - Low stress (uses 1/4 of available memory)
4 - Customize stress level

Please select desired stress level> 1
Using maximum available memory to stress test (1056 MB).

Enter the number of times to run the test (5 or more recommended)> 20
----------------------------------------------------
Executing Intel(R) Linpack 32-bit mode...
----------------------------------------------------
Linpack test results - Residual(norm) values
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
----------------------------------------------------
Testing finished in 739.719 seconds.
Tests passed: 20 out of 20 (100.000%)
Conclusion: Your PC has successfully passed Linpack testing.

Why did you receive what you received? If you passed, that's great! If not,
then one or more Residual(norm) values outputted from Linpack did not match
everything else. In this case, it is undeniable to conclude that your CPU
and/or RAM is unstable.
______________________________

Am I in the wrong forum to be asking for help?

 

[Exeodus]

According to you ram's SPD table, in order to run 4-4-4-15 ram timings you need be running at 2.2 volts. Your ram is only at 1.85. Try upping the voltage and see if that helps.

 

[BillParrish]

1) your temps are fine and actually you have 40C or more "headroom" before your cpu even thinks it is hot. Since you did not state your goals if you want more speed you have the thermal headroom to acheive it. Me personally, I would increase the OC (if the system will handle it) until you start seeing core temps in the low 70's (distance to Tjmax around 20) leaving you 20C ish thermal margin which is more than sufficent even in the unlikely case during normal operation you manage somehow to run all cores at 100%. So temps have nothing to do with your issue.

2) Minor things that might affect performace.

Turn off (disable):
C1E
Execute Disable Bit
Virtualization (unless you actually plan to use this kind of sofware - if you dont know the answer you will not be running this kind of software. I think this might be some of your problem. )
all the spread spectrum settings should be disabled.

None of the above are needed for normal consumer/gamer operation.

(once your system performace issue is solved you can turn on Intel Speedstep and C1E so that at idle the computer clocks down to use less power until you start up a game or whatever and you should turn CPU thermal control on/enable as a failsafe safey measure and if it asks for a temp set it around 80C )

Do the above first. I hope it will solve your issue.

If not the only other thing I see is the memory settings. What you have is correct. But that board supports the EPP settings you see in the CPU-z memory page. What you dont see is a bunch of other settings in the EPP stored in the memory chip. If it were me I would do the following and see what happens. Bit of a long shot, I dont think this is your issue but is the right way to set up the memroy with that board. You might need to go to 1.9V on the memory. )

Enable "SLI ready Memory" setting. (This tell the board to read and use the EPP settings stored in the memory stick. )

Set "Memory Timing Setting" to Auto ( to allow the board to use the EPP timings)

------------------------------------------------------------


I will check back tomorrow about this time to see how you are doing.

Why do you have a Quatro Video card ? Did you load the Quatro drivers (the normal Gforce drivers will not work !) This is a workstation/CAD graphics card. If you use those kinds of engineering applications and loaded the correct driver then OK but its something we dont normally see in an OCed system.

you could also try "linking" your memory speed, At a 400FSB there will be no difference as linked will run the memory at 2x the FSB = 800MHz the exact same as you have it now in unlinked mode. Just another wild shot in the dark guessing the board for some reason does not like your hardware in unlinked mode (unlikely but we are trying to eliminate as many variables as possbile. )

Further thoughts, I am still wondering about that quatro card and what version of PCI-e it is and compatiblity with that motherboard. Typically this is not an issue but its the one major "odd" thing about your system and some glich in this area would tend to give the symptoms (slow sluggish response to inputs/sluggish system overall) you describe.

That card is an OpenGL optimized card and photoshop is going to run like dog crap on it no matter what you do. (At least that used to be the case, I cant keep up with all the stuff these days but for sure that is the wrong card to be using for photoshop. If you run autocad etc. then its the cats meow. )

 

[stop45]

Thanks guys, I will try some of these tonight before I leave and post the results in the AM.

I am running the Quatro because it is a Graphics Workstation/CAD system and want to push the proc to take advantage of max multi-core performance in apps like Photoshop and Illustrator.

 

[Alai]

Yeah, I just don't see how a stable, albeit oveclocked CPU could be causing any sort of lags.

Hi Guys,

Can some please actually look at the screenies?

I have ran IntelBurn 20x here are the results:
_________

Turn on error detection (Y/N)? y

Stress levels available:
1 - Maximum stress
2 - Half stress (uses 1/2 of available memory)
3 - Low stress (uses 1/4 of available memory)
4 - Customize stress level

Please select desired stress level> 1
Using maximum available memory to stress test (1056 MB).

Enter the number of times to run the test (5 or more recommended)> 20
----------------------------------------------------
Executing Intel(R) Linpack 32-bit mode...
----------------------------------------------------
Linpack test results - Residual(norm) values
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
3.521870e-002
----------------------------------------------------
Testing finished in 739.719 seconds.
Tests passed: 20 out of 20 (100.000%)
Conclusion: Your PC has successfully passed Linpack testing.

Why did you receive what you received? If you passed, that's great! If not,
then one or more Residual(norm) values outputted from Linpack did not match
everything else. In this case, it is undeniable to conclude that your CPU
and/or RAM is unstable.
______________________________

Am I in the wrong forum to be asking for help?

 

[stop45]

Good Morning,

Ok so I tried the above recommendations and the performance seems to be a bit better, but now I immediately fail Intelburn. It doesn't even start test, it just crashes.

Also, I upped the volt on the ram but it did not change anything in CPU-Z.

[/IMG]

Hmm

 

[BillParrish]

hmm the most likely cause is enabling the EPP makes the memory run in a high performace mode and its touchy. Maybe back out the EPP/memory change and go back to putting in the settings manually and see if the issue goes away.

Spread spectrum would be the other change that might cause instability. The c1e and virtualization should not make any difference at all.

All you can do is look at what you changed one thing at a time and try and find the one that is causing the issue.