Gigabyte GA-EP45-EXTREME Living Review

[supershanks]

Nice going mate

[Pastie]

Thanks Shanks - just at 4.054Ghz
Got to check stability now.............

[Pastie]

Stable at 4.05Ghz , some flakiness at 4.1ghz - I need to sort out the voltages and timings for everything properly and put a 1000rpm fan on the TrUE

[Pastie]

I hit 4.105Ghz

The system boots to Windows , I can get out onto the Interweb , play music , take screenies etc. , but when I start to do anything like Prime95 , Nuclearus or WPrime it will suddenly reboot the system , but not change the bios settings in any way , as in a failed clock

I managed to do 1M WPrime ( 9.734 secs ) , but it rebooted halfway through 32M

I don't know if it's temps or not as the CPU core was at 68c under load , or if I need more voltage ( or less ).

Board lights at 4.105 Ghz were :

CT_LED1 ON ( Green )

CPU_LED OFF

F_LED1 & 2 ON ( 2 x Blue )

DDR_LED1 ON ( Green )

NB_LED1 ON ( Green )

SB_LED1 OFF

Settings

GIGABYTE GA-EP45_EXTREME
[u]MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: Turbo
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 8.5	
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:. +0.5
CPU Frequency ...........................:  4105Mhz
Clock Chip Control 
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 483Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........: 100Mhz
C.I.A. 2......................................: Disabled
Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................:  900mv
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: 900mv
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: 100ps
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: 100ps
DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [Turbo]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier ..............: 2B
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............:  966 Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: Manual
Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................: 5
tRCD .........................................: 5
tRP...........................................:  5
tRAS..........................................:  16
Advanced Timing Control [Press Enter]
tRRD...........................................:
tWTR..........................................:
tWR............................................:
tRFC...........................................:
tRTP...........................................:
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:

Channel A

Channel A Timings Settings [Press Enter] 
Static tRead Value.........................:Auto
 tRD Phase0 Adjustmen...................:Auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
 tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
 tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto 
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto 
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto 
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto 
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
DDR3 Write Training .......................: Enabled
Channel A Driving Settings [Press Enter] 
Driving Strength Profile:[AUTO],[667Mhz],[800Mhz],[1066Mhz],[OC-1200],[OC-1333]

Data Driving Pull-Up Level.............:Auto 
Cmd Driving Pull-Up Level..............:Auto 
Ctrl Driving Pull-Up Level...............:Auto 
Clk Driving Pull-Up Level...............:Auto 

Data Driving Pull-Down Level.........:Auto 
Cmd Driving Pull-Down Level..........:Auto 
Ctrl Driving Pull-Down Level...........:Auto 
Clk Driving Pull-Down Level............:Auto 

Channel B

Channel B Timings Settings [Press Enter] 
Static tRead Value.........................:Auto
 tRD Phase0 Adjustmen...................:Auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
 tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
 tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto 
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto 
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto 
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto 
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto  ps
DDR3 Write Training .......................: Enabled
Channel B Driving Settings [Press Enter] 
Driving Strength Profile:[AUTO],[667Mhz],[800Mhz],[1066Mhz],[OC-1200],[OC-1333]

Data Driving Pull-Up Level............:Auto 
Cmd Driving Pull-Up Level............:Auto 
Ctrl Driving Pull-Up Level.............:Auto 
Clk Driving Pull-Up Level..............:Auto 

Data Driving Pull-Down Level............:Auto 
Cmd Driving Pull-Down Level............:Auto 
Ctrl Driving Pull-Down Level.............:Auto 
Clk Driving Pull-Down Level..............:Auto 

{U]Motherboard Voltage Control{/U]
Voltage Type.………... Normal 
CPU
CPU Vcore….……….........................:1.40625v
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: 1.260v
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: 1.560v
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: 0.800v
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:0.838v
MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: 1.40v
MCH Reference….…….0.760V...........;0.738 v    Mine reads 0.760 
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: Auto
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: Auto
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: Auto
DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: 2.12 v
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: Normal
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: Normal
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: Normal
[b]{U]Advanced Settings[b]{U]
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Disabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]
Note: * refers to 45nm CPU

I've got a couple of different fans I can use , or maybe re-thermal the TrUE and add the Northbridge backplate cooler .......

[Pastie]

471Mhz x 8.5 1.44v / 5-5-5-18 2.12v 4003.6Mhz

I've been playing about with getting it stable at 4Ghz for a couple of days - main concern was that I was hitting 74c under load on Prime95 - ordered a new Noctua P12 fan to replace the 800rpm Noctua



Once I get that fitted , I can go for 4.1Ghz stable ...........

[supershanks]

Hi Pastie,
Good stuff on your 4.1Ghz, try increasing CPU Termination a notch &/or MCH Reference
Also might be worth tweaking MCHGTLref which is linked to the CPU reference voltages, see Tuning Bios - GTLREF & DRAM Sub Voltages

[Pastie]

Ta Shanks - I'll give it a whirl later
I was just worried that I was going to have to try and put 1.4625v+ through the v.core for stability

[Pastie]

Well , give it a whirl I certainly did

4.15Ghz ( 489x8.5 1.4750v / 5-5-5-15 2.14v )





4.2Ghz ( 495x8.5 1.48125v / 5-5-5-15 2.16v )





Got a couple of BSOD's after I took the 4.2Ghz screenies - " A thread tried to release a resource it didn't own " - which I think is memory related

Temps were high 30's idle / 58-59 load , so weren't particularly high , but at one stage my temp alarms went off for 70c even though the cores in real temp and everest were only reading mid 40's ( it showed 71c in CPU in everest )

I'll have to have another couple of days of brainstorming timings and voltages ( Got an A4 pad covered in them sat here )

[supershanks]

good whirling mate Temps do sound good. I found that if you can get vtt & gtlref balanced it can take a bit of heat away.

I'll have to have another couple of days of brainstorming timings and voltages ( Got an A4 pad covered in them sat here )

I use excel & an adaption of the bios template to print out for noting settings, I just print a few out as I need. will email you it if you want, pm me.

Reckon you've done some decent shopping there

[Pastie]

Thanks Shanks - I've already set up a template for printing ( just never seem to use it )

I think the new NFP12 has definitely made an improvement to the temps ( and I've got an 800rpm Noctua 120mm on a Zalman bracket blowing over the memory & Northbridge ) - just need to get all the voltages and timings right for this set up ...... What would you consider to be the maximum v.core I could put through the Q9550 ? - I've either got a lot of v.droop , or the board is playing up - ( LAN going crazy , won't run 1066 DDR2 dual channel ) - I put 1.48125v through the other day , but only got 1.42v showing on the v.core ...........