Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 Blog

[supershanks]

No problem, that's good going, Cosmic

when temps get back towards 28 - 30C in my office

got me going there ?? , forgot you were in Aus jammy bugger, could do with some of that here

cheers

[Marcus]

what is the max fsb voltage and mch we can put on this board without fring anything

********* System Voltage Optimized **********:whack:
System Voltage Control ..................... [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control ................... [+0.40V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control .................. [+0.35V]
FSB OverVoltage Control .................... [+0.25V] ??
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control ................. [+0.25] ??

is this too much?

[Zenoth]

I've done it!

Take that BIOS F7!

Seriously it definitely was a BIOS problem, or at least it played a major role in my issues.

Here are the new results:

Two hours Windows Memtest stable (860MB for each instances): http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/555/memtestbb5.png

And the cherry on the cake, eight hours Orthos Blend stable!: http://img518.imageshack.us/img518/3905/orthosum1.png

BIOS F8c rules, Gigabyte surely did fixed Strap 2.66 (all of them). I believe so because... well not only is it mentioned as a changelog (so it has to be real and official, indeed) but also because the settings that I am currently using in my BIOS are the exact same settings I've been using with BIOS F7 which resulted in Orthos Blend failures after one to three hours maximum. Now those settings "magically" work with F8c. So yes, they fixed stuff related to memory and stability, that's for sure.

I'm very happy now. And the Orthos Blend test is still going on right now I didn't stopped it to take the pictures, I will let it go until twelve hours and I'll stop it after that. Now it's time to aim for higher over-clocks, finally! I mean I've been tweaking this machine for the past two weeks to get there. But now there is a huge weight taken out off of my shoulders now that I know it's probably entirely stable.

Gaming, here I come!

[supershanks]

Marcus

FSB OverVoltage Control .................... [+0.25V]

I used 0.20v to get
8x400 was fine 0.20~0.25v on higher 465 fsb , it might vary
MCh think higfhest i needed was 0.20v

Great news Zenoth
so your on F8c now??
Be nice to get those 12hrs bios settings posted, not so many done that with the 8400

[Cosmic]

Ok, well with a little help form SuperShanks this is my latest stable OC to 3.5GHz ... Think I will leave it at this for a while (least till I have time to address the airflow issues in my case at the moment)

Cosmic.

BIOS Revision: F7

Advanced Bios Features
----------------------
   
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) ................... [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ................ [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function ......................... [Disabled]
   

PC Health Status
----------------
   
CPU Warning Temperature ................... [70C/158F]
CPU Smart Fan Control ..................... [Disabled]


MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T.)
-------------------------------
   
Robust Graphic Booster ..................... [Turbo]
CPU Clock Ratio ............................ [ 9 x]
CPU Frequency .............................. 3.50GZh (389x9)
CPU Host Clock Control ..................... [Enabled] 
x CPU Host Frequency(MHz) .................. 389
PCI Express Frequency(MHz) ................. [Auto]
C.I.A.2 .................................... [Disabled]
Performance Enhance ........................ [Extreme] (* Benchmarks seem to show little difference no matter what I set This To ?) 
System Memory Multiplier ..........(SPD) ... [2.66C]
Memory Frequency(MHz) ............. 800 .... [1037]
DRAM Timing Selectable ........... (SPD) ... [Manual]

********** Standard Timing Control **********

CAS Latency Time .................    5  ... [5]
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay ..........    5  ... [5]
DRAM RAS# Precharge ..............    5  ... [5]
Precharge Delay(tRAS) ............   18  ... [13] (* Managed to lower this)

********** Advanced Timing Control **********

ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) ...........    3  ... [4]
Rank Write To READ Delay .........    3  ... [4]
Write To Precharge Delay .........    6  ... [8]
Refresh To ACT Delay .............   42  ... [34] (* Managed to lower this)
Read To Prechard Delay ...........    3  ... [4]
Static tRead Value ...............    7  ... [8] (* Sadly just cant get it stable on 7)
Static tRead Phase Adjust ........    1  ... [Auto]
Command Rate(CMD) ................    2  ... [2T]

******* Clock Driving & Skew Control ********

CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control ............ [1000mV]
CPU Clock Skew Control ..................... [Normal]
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control .................. [Normal] 

********* System Voltage Optimized **********

System Voltage Control ..................... [Manual]
DDR2 OverVoltage Control ................... [+0.35V]
PCI-E OverVoltage Control .................. [+0.35V]
FSB OverVoltage Control .................... [+0.20V] (* Defiantly seemed to help stability at lower vcore)
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control ................. [+0.125] (* Seemed to help stability once I lowered vcore)
MCH Reference Voltage Control .............. [Normal]
DDR Reference Voltage Control .............. [Normal]
DDR Termination Voltage Control ............ [Normal]
CPU GTLREF1 Voltage Ratio .................. [Normal]
CPU GTLREF2 Voltage Ratio .................. [Normal]
Loadline Calibration ....................... [Enabled]
CPU Voltage Control ........................ [1.40625V] (* Was able to lower due to upping FSB OverVoltage’)
Normal CPU Vcore ........................... 1.28750V

Testing For Max Heat

PRIME95 2Hr Load Test - 

  ; Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 2.40Ghz O/C to 3.50GHz 
  ; 4 x Corsair CM2X1024-6400C4 (800MHz) O/C to 1037 MHz (5,5,5,13 2.15v)

╔══════╦═════════════════════════════════════════╦═════════════════════════════════════════╦═════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Room ║             Idle Temperature            ║     Full Load Average Temperature       ║        Full Load Max Temperature        ║
╟──────╫──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────╫──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────╫──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────┬──────╢
║▒▒▒▒▒▒║ Sys  │ CPU  │  C0  │  C1  │  C2  │  C3  ║ Sys  │ CPU  │  C0  │  C1  │  C2  │  C3  ║ Sys  │ CPU  │  C0  │  C1  │  C2  │  C3  ║
╠══════╬══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╬══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╬══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╪══════╣
║ 28°C ║ 40°C │ 34°C │ 39°C │ 36°C │ 42°C │ 35°C ║ 58°C │ 57°C │ 63°C │ 59°C │ 59°C │ 62°C ║ 58°C │ 58°C │ 65°C │ 60°C │ 60°C │ 63°C ║
╟──────╫──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────╫──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────╫──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────┼──────╢
║ 24°C ║ 33°C │ 27°C │ 33°C │ 27°C │ 34°C │ 27°C ║ 35°C │ 50°C │ 56°C │ 53°C │ 56°C │ 52°C ║ 37°C │ 53°C │ 59°C │ 54°C │ 59°C │ 55°C ║
╚══════╩══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╩══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╩══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╧══════╝
  
* Load Temps Via Prime95 Torture Test "In-place large FFTs" run 2hrs 3min

[supershanks]

Great post Cosmic thanks for sharing , especially the observation.

Performance Enhance ........................ [Extreme] (* Benchmarks seem to show little difference no matter what I set This To ?)

occurs because of the link to TRD by changing TRD from auto you avoid the adjustments made by Performance Enhance
see
Overview

The biggest problem setting is with the Static tRead Value Trd The value is modified according to the value of the Performance Enhance Settimg ([Standard], [Turbo] & [Extreme]) and strap used. The value selected on auto is often too tight. If running >400 FSB it’s best to use a minimum value of 7. The other option is to run at a lower Performance setting, with the corresponding performance hit.

Yyou night find you can tighten, some or all, of your memory timings a bit further by increasing vdimm

DDR2 OverVoltage Control ................... [+0.35V]

+0.40v not sure on the rated voltage of your ram I'm assuming 2.2v
may let you drop Tras to 10~12

Refresh To ACT Delay ............. 42 ... [34]

to 30
And TRD tto 8.


luck

[XtremeGamer]

Please help for overclocking RAM and CPU.
the ram is Corsair dominator 8500C5F(1066MHZ) default is 5-5-5-15-2T @ 2.15V

I want to get to 3.2 but whatever I put for Vcore OCCT hangs after 3 mins.


Bios Version : F7

MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT)
Robust Graphics Booster: Auto
CPU Clock Ratio: 9x
CPU Host Clock Control: Enable
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 356
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) : Auto
C.I.A.2: Disabled
Performance Enhance : Standard
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) :3.00A
Memory Frequency(Mhz): 1068
DRAM Timing Selectable : Manual
Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time: : 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# : 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge : 5
Precharge Delay(tRAS) : 15
Advanced Timing Control
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) : 3
Rank Write to READ Delay :3
Write To Precharge Delay : 6
Refresh to ACT Delay : 42
Read To Precharge Delay :3
tRD : 5
tRD Phase Adjustment : 0
Command to #CS Timing: :2T
Clock Driving and Skew Control
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 800mV
CPU Clock Skew Control : Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control : Normal
System Voltage Control
DDR2 OverVoltage Control : +0.35V (=2.15V)
PCI-E OverVoltage Control : +0.20V
FSB OverVoltage Control : +0.20V
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control : Normal (when I change this vista won't bootup)
MCH Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Reference Voltage Control : Normal
DDR Termination Voltage Control : Normal
CPU GTLREF1 Voltage* : Normal
CPU GTLREF2 Voltage* : Normal
CPU Voltage Control : 1.42500 (CPU-Z shows 1.264V)
Normal CPU Vcore : 1.20000 V

Advanced Bios Features
CPU Multi-Threading : Enabled
Limit CPUID Max to 3 : Disabled
No-Execute Memory Protect : Enabled
CPU Enhanced Halt(CIE) isabled
CPU Thermal Monitor 2 : Enabled
CPU EIST Function : Disabled
Virtuaalization Technology : Enabled

Note: * Items are Hidden press [CTRL] + [F1] from the bios main menu to access.

[supershanks]

tRD : 5

will be your main issue try it at 7. and sdee what happens.

[Cosmic]

Originally Posted by XtremeGamer

Please help for overclocking RAM and CPU.
the ram is Corsair dominator 8500C5F(1066MHZ) default is 5-5-5-15-2T @ 2.15V

I want to get to 3.2 but whatever I put for Vcore OCCT hangs after 3 mins.

...

tRD : 5

...

First thing try setting your 'Static tRead Value' to 8 or 9 (least till you get your system stable) ... also I'd search thought this blog re the tRead value causing instability, theres been lots of mentions about it.

Let us know how ya go...

Cosmic.

[Cosmic]

Hehe, sorry SuperShanks you clicked submit just before me on XtremeGamers question hahaha.

Re your reply to me...

Originally Posted by supershanks

you night find you can tighten, some or all, of your memory timings a bit further by increasing vdimm

+0.40v not sure on the rated voltage of your ram I'm assuming 2.2v
may let you drop Tras to 10~12 to 30 And TRD tto 8.
luck

Thanks for the suggestion supershanks. The ram has an EPP profile for 400MHz at 4,4,4,12 2T at 2.1 Volts ... But I havent looked into what the ram can take or how well it likes overvoltage. I might up it to 2.25 ... but I'd like to get some better airflow over the ram before I push it to hard ... especially since Im running 4 modules.

Cosmic


EDIT:

Just found this on my ram ---> [ Hardware.Info ] - Corsair Twin2X 2 GB DDR2-800 kit [TWIN2X2048-6400C4] where looks like for best speeds they put up to 2.350V through them. I'll just have to watch my heat.