Gigabyte GA X38 DQ6 Blog

[supershanks]

large fft failure usually means memory issues. It would be unusual that running with too higher mch would cause instability, fsb impacts cpu more. Stilll if your running ok then fine , i'd just make sure you give it a decent test with prime using blend to stress both memory & cpu.

luck

[Zenoth]

Phew!

Let me tell you guys the past three days were stressful, but it's now over. The thing is, surprisingly, that my Crucial memory was incompatible with my motherboard (yes, I've said it, very surprisingly indeed). You know, now that I have a new kit I don't think I'll ever consider Crucial ever again, even though I've been told just recently that their value RAM are inexplicably good and rock solidly stable... but still, I'm basically a consumer, and when it comes to confidence I don't think that I have much left for them...

I'm back with OCZ now, with those: OCZ Technology | Products | Memory | OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Reaper CL4 4GB Edition

And they are absolute beasts!

They over-clock mad for 2048MB modules let me say.

So here are my new results...

ORB - Compare

That with...



By the way, as you can see, that's 19 hours under Small FFTs indeed. That is because I had previously done hours-long tests with Memtest86+ and HCI (at least four hours each) and none of them gave any errors. After isolating the memory I decided to just test the FSB/CPU alone, and there you see it, rock solid!

I couldn't be happier!

[supershanks]

Hi Zenoth,
That's great news mate
Excellent looking kit. It's strange with your crucial my 8500 has been great, ok they diwe every now and again but otherwise the run fine. Still at least your running well now.

It would be great if you could post your settings & we'll link it in the index to help others get a starting point for a 24/7 overclock on an E8400 & 4gb

luck

[Zenoth]

Sure thing supershanks!

My BIOS settings for my current OC are:

MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT)
Robust Graphics Booster: Auto
CPU Clock Ratio: 9x
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz) : 416
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) : 100
C.I.A.2: Disabled
Performance Enhance : Standard
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) : 2.40B (5:6)
Memory Frequency(Mhz): 998
DRAM Timing Selectable : Manual

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time: : 5
DRAM RAS# to CAS# : 5
DRAM RAS# Precharge : 5
Precharge Delay(tRAS) : 18

Advanced Timing Control
ACT to ACT Delay(tRRD) : 4
Rank Write to READ Delay : 4
Write To Precharge Delay : 7
Refresh to ACT Delay : 54
Read To Precharge Delay : 4
tRD : 7
tRD Phase Adjustment : Auto
Command to #CS Timing: : 2

Clock Driving and Skew Control
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 1000mv
CPU Clock Skew Control : Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control : Normal

System Voltage Control : Manual
DDR2 OverVoltage Control : +0.35v (2.18v)
PCI-E OverVoltage Control : Normal
FSB OverVoltage Control : +0.25v
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control : +0.200v
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 : 1.35625v (1.328v in CPU-z)
Normal CPU Vcore : 1.22500v

[supershanks]

Cheers mate Links added in post #1

[X-Kenshin-X]

hi! i've been following this post for a while now, and it's helped me a LOT, but neways now i am having trouble making my overclock stable, while under load!

look, this is my hardware:
Q6600 G0 Stepping, GA-X38-DQ6 Mobo, ZeroTherm Nirvana NV120 Heatsink, 1 SATA1.5 150GB Raptor, 2 SATA3 500GB Hitachi's, Transcend aXeRam DDR2 1200 TX1200QLJ-2GK, MSI NX8800GT 512MB, and 1 IDE DVD-Combo drive and 1 SATA3 DVD-Burner, and Antec 900 Case, mushkin 550250 ATX12V / EPS12V 580W.


MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIT)
Robust Graphics Booster: Standard
CPU Clock Ratio: 9x
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(Mhz): 400
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz): 105
C.I.A.2: Disabled
Performance Enhance: Standard
System Memory Multiplier 3 ( = FSBx1.5) [btw the thing has letters at the end of the numbers, does ANYONE know what the letters stand for or if they make a difference??]
Memory Frequency(Mhz): 1200
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): Auto
Rank Write to READ Delay: Auto
Write To Precharge Delay: Auto
Refresh to ACT Delay: Auto
Read To Precharge Delay: Auto
tRD : Auto
tRD Phase Adjustment : Auto
Command to #CS Timing: 2
Clock Driving and Skew Control
CPU/PCIEX Clock Driving Control : 1000
CPU Clock Skew Control : Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Control : Normal
System Voltage Control
DDR2 OverVoltage Control : 0.40
PCI-E OverVoltage Control : 0.35
FSB OverVoltage Control : 0.35
(G)MCH OverVoltage Control : 0.3
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 :1.550 (CPU-Z however shows voltage as being v1.518-v1.520)
Normal CPU Vcore : 1.325

all my voltages used to be considerately lower, but i had to up them when i found out the processor was REALLY unstable at 100% usage, it won't run prime95 on all cores, only up to 3 cores at 75% usage. with the current voltages, it runs prime95 at 100% on all 4 cores, but only stable for less than 10 min. and then i get an error.

memory is 100% stable, i tested with memtest86 earlier to make sure of that, so the culprit is obviously the processor...

neways IF i can i would like to run this overclock at lower voltages like urs, but i dunno how to do that and still keep it stable...

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


Temps:
Processor Temperature : 30 °C idle
Mainboard Temperature : 25 °C idle
GPU Temperature : 38 °C (for some freakin reason this is ALWAYS near 40C, and never ever goes down, and i haven't seen it fo higher than 40 either)
500GB Hitachi : 28 °C
500GB Hitachi : 28 °C
Raptor : 29 °C


so temps are nooooooooooooot a problem, in fact i dunno why everything runs so cool, but anyways, can anyone help here, any ideas??

EDIT:
in summary, my goal is JUST to get this thing up to 3.6GHz, 1600FSB, and 1200MHz Ram, STABLE and low voltages, that's my goal, no more, no less. i'm so close... :'(

and the vdroop on my processor seems to be about .02 to .03v on average... so i dunno what to do >_>

[supershanks]

Hi X-Kenshin-X,
welcome to the forums
1) CPU-Z is a great utility but not for reading vcore.

2)

memory is 100% stable, i tested with memtest86 earlier to make sure of that, so the culprit is obviously the processor...

I wouldn't clear the memory too quickly. memtest86 is not always 100% right. I've had memory pass memtest all day but still fail in windows. I also use HCI memtest which runs in windows.
When you say prime fails, what prime are you running Large ffts, Small or blend. What size fft is running when your prime fails?? If small fft that usually means CPU is failing, if large fft it tends to be memory.

3)

Processor Temperature : 30 °C idle

What are you monitoring with. What does coretemp say ?? 30C seems very low with 1.550v vcore . What are your load temps, again with coretemp.

if you can answer these, hopefully we'll know where to look

[X-Kenshin-X]

1) oh ok, i thought cpu-z was the best one for that, but i still double checked on pc wizard, everest, and some monitoring utilities that come with the board itself, and they all had the same low voltages...

2) first i ran prime on only two cores, cuz the ram got maxed out with only 2 instances running the processor at 50%, so then the other two, with really small ftt's, that could fit in the L2 cache. then it chrashed, so when it restarted, i did all small ftt's, to max out ONLY the processor, and the exact same thing happened again, so it's the processor, no doubt...

i mean, my memory isn't even overclocked yet >_>

3) hehe yeah i know, even i think it's a miracle :P, but it is that low, in fact, it was 25C when i had it with the voltage settings u used in ur first overclocked at 3.6GHz, except mine could only go up to 3.51GHz

i use a bunch, including PC wizard, and everest, and the utilities that come with the motherboard, and they all say the same cuz it's all from the thermal sensor of the mobo...

here's a screenie, it's been on ALL day, and i did some heavy gaming a while ago... so yup, still around 30C idling...

i must admit, i got the 2nd best heatsink, and the best thermal paste, the tuniq TX-2, killer combo




UPDATE:
i upped the voltages a wittle bit more... and ran prime for a while, i came back after 2 hours, and 1 of the primes had 1 error, at 10 min. the rest of the primes kept running without errors until i got back. and this was strictly CPU testing again too...

temps were around 50-55C troughout the whole testing...

[supershanks]

I'd get Coretemp & the latest copy of Prime from Death's Overclocker's Tool Kit. and see how your temps go & stability. Whilst you have coretemp open can you make a note of your vid and post that please.

I'd try the following:-

1) tRD : Auto --> 7
2) FSB OverVoltage Control : 0.35 _> try higher values.
3) Read zenoth's GTLRef translation and see if any tweaks help you.
CPU GTLREF1 Voltage* : Normal
CPU GTLREF2 Voltage* : Normal
4) what bios are you using the latest F8D seems to give best results.


luck

[capitolray]

supershanks,

I've gotten my rig stable @ 3.87Ghz, but never got the 4x1GB to work. Do you know where there is a listing of the changes incorporated in F8D? Gigabte's site hasn't released an official F8 yet.