Quad Core Thread: Overclocking, Cooling, Motherboards, Troubleshooting & General Info

[Clunk]

Anyone care to comment on the 8x400 vs 9x356, if only to say it was a stupid question?

Deep Twit seems to be stable at 8x400 with Vcore of 1.3; now testing 1.29375

Another question. Does XP or Nvidia apply some sort of gfx card underclocking when the display blanks? I notice, from the graphs in Speedfan, when I come back to check on the machine & unblank the display, temps had been cycling in a stable pattern but then immediately begin to rise a degree or two before assuming the same pattern at this slightly elevated level.

I figure it must be gfx related so either the gpu has a nap or it's just down to the work the gpu is doing, however surely just displaying a mostly static XP desktop doesn't stress the card enough to put up the case temp 1 to 2 degrees?

Theres not much in it. You can get higher memory bandwidth doing it like that, but you will also put more strain in the NB, and will generally need to add more voltage. The choice is yours.

Your Nvidia card has 2d and 3d settings, I'm not sure about any power saving settings, maybe someone else can comment on that.

[mroz]

Theres not much in it. You can get higher memory bandwidth doing it like that, but you will also put more strain in the NB, and will generally need to add more voltage. The choice is yours.

I was wondering about my 400 fsb & the NB, though so far the only voltage I've needed to tweak has been Vcore. Cheers.

Think I might have a silly shot at 9x400 next before seeing what I can get in between.

Oh, one other thing. In old guides I see references to settings controlling the pci clock rate & in even older guides warnings that upping the fsb will mess with pci clock rates.

My P35-DS4 bios (F6) has PCIE set to auto. Is this enough to keep it around the 100 mark or should I manually set it to 100? Do you know if this will also control the PCI clock? Unlike in your Asus bios screenshots, I don't see a separate config for PCI in addition to PCIE.

[Clunk]

I was wondering about my 400 fsb & the NB, though so far the only voltage I've needed to tweak has been Vcore. Cheers.

Think I might have a silly shot at 9x400 next before seeing what I can get in between.

Oh, one other thing. In old guides I see references to settings controlling the pci clock rate & in even older guides warnings that upping the fsb will mess with pci clock rates.

My P35-DS4 bios (F6) has PCIE set to auto. Is this enough to keep it around the 100 mark or should I manually set it to 100? Do you know if this will also control the PCI clock? Unlike in your Asus bios screenshots, I don't see a separate config for PCI in addition to PCIE.

If you have your NB voltage on AUTO, it will be overvolting itself.

The CPI-E frequency can be handy for certain larger overclocks, but for the majority of the time, I set it to 100. Cant comment on your particular board though

Again, cant speak for your board, but on the Asus P35 boards, there isnt a PCI lock anymore, it must be an automated thing now.

[fat jez]

Again, cant speak for your board, but on the Asus P35 boards, there isnt a PCI lock anymore, it must be an automated thing now.

My guess is it runs on a divider with the PCI-E bus.

Cheers,
Stephen

[mroz]

If you have your NB voltage on AUTO, it will be overvolting itself.

The CPI-E frequency can be handy for certain larger overclocks, but for the majority of the time, I set it to 100. Cant comment on your particular board though

Again, cant speak for your board, but on the Asus P35 boards, there isnt a PCI lock anymore, it must be an automated thing now.

Re NB voltage (G)MCH:

There's a global system voltage which can be auto or manual; it's set to manual, as no other values can be manually altered otherwise.

Of the remaining voltage settings, only Vcore can be set to an absolute value (or normal, which is equivalent to setting it to the chip's vid). DDR2, PCIE, FSB & (G)MCH can only be set to normal or an offset; in the case of DDR2 I know normal means a constant 1.8.

Do you reckon (G)MCH set to normal doesn't mean a constant default value, but rather will be varied by the mobo as fsb is changed? The offsets range from 0.025 to 0.375.

I'm inclined to think if system voltage is on manual all other voltage settings will be constants, whether set to normal or a numeric value/offset.

What do you think?

Is there a way to read the NB voltage?

Any idea where I can find more info on this board/bios in relation to OC behaviours?

Thanks for the other info.

[mroz]

Anyone care to comment on the 8x400 vs 9x356, if only to say it was a stupid question?

Deep Twit seems to be stable at 8x400 with Vcore of 1.3; now testing 1.29375

8x400 at 1.29375 failed after 9hrs 52mins. So much for those advising 8hrs as adequate. I think before I settle on a config I'll do a final 24-48hr test.

I decided after that to see how far I could get with the highest Vcore I'd consider acceptable, so I did some tests at 1.36875 (giving 1.328 idle, 1.312/1.296 under load):

9x400 booted into Windows but blue screened before I could do anything much.

9x378 failed P95 after 6 minutes. Any suggestions as to what I could try to get this one stable?

Currently I'm testing at 9x370, stable after nearly 4hrs. If this one lasts I'll see how low I can get Vcore with it. At 1.36875, temps are too high for my liking in respect of 24/7 usage - around 50+/-4.

Oh, Speedfan is reporting some temp in the region of +5C above the core temps; what's this likely to be the temp of? PWMs?

BTW If it turns out to be a choice between 8x400 and 9x370, which would you go for? The latter has the cpu 4% higher, but ram down 8%. I imagine it's the better option.

[Harkin]

50+/-4 isnt bad IMO, Im running a E6850 at 3.6 with a AC7P and at load its 60+/-2. Honestly for a quad at that speed it ain't bad

I would also say Coretemp is your most reliable source for temps

[mroz]

50+/-4 isnt bad IMO, Im running a E6850 at 3.6 with a AC7P and at load its 60+/-2. Honestly for a quad at that speed it ain't bad

Maybe I'll grow to be more comfortable with it. In any case, once I settle on a config I'll probably up my case cooling - atm all four case fans are on low speed.

I would also say Coretemp is your most reliable source for temps

/rereads own post

Ah, sorry, think I wasn't very clear.

I'm using Speedfan with a +15C offset on core temperatures, as well as Coretemp, to measure temps. For the cpu cores they agree almost exactly. Speedfan however gives me some other temp readings I don't see in Coretemp. One looks like a case temp, as it's around 30. Another must be null, as it reads -2. The last is reading about 5C above the cpu core temperatures. I was just wondering what this sensor is likely connected to. PWMs I'm guessing.

Thanks for the comments.

[Harkin]

System for me is the MB temp, which for me is about 41-4(only 1 intake and 1 exit fan). The one that is about 5C above coretemps(CPU in my case) Im not really sure about, Im guesisng its just the actual CPU temp as my ASUS Probe shows the same temp for the CPU. The one that says -2C(AUX) says 127C on mine, and I've been told its just a quirk of speedfan and a bogus temp

[mroz]

The one that says -2C(AUX) says 127C on mine, and I've been told its just a quirk of speedfan and a bogus temp

Cheers. If those were real temps I wonder which of us would have the first fire? Maybe it's just measuring the temp of the user's personality?

[Harkin]

Cheers. If those were real temps I wonder which of us would have the first fire? Maybe it's just measuring the temp of the user's personality?

In that case it was totally off with mine

Ps mines been on fire for days, at first I panicked when I saw it but found out it's bogus. I also thought I must have a damn good overclocking board to take such temps

[daza]

Meh Im 99.9 sure its either my board or psu that is holding me back, as the chip will boot into windows at 3.9ghz and boots to the bios at 4.0ghz but anymore voltage and she simply does not want to budge.

Roll on the IX38 Quad GT and a larger psu me thinks.

[Clunk]

So near, and yet so far

[Nemz0r]

At the mo' running my Q6600 G0 @ 3.4GHz Orthos 12hrs stable @ 1.3625V Bios, 1.344 @ Load in CPU-Z. Is that a good voltage for that speed? At load the temps are around 63-65. Saw 68 yesterday, but it was scorching hot weather here .

[Clunk]

Looks decent enough to me

[j.o.s.h.1408]

High what are some of your temps under load clocked on somthing over 3.0ghz using the thermalright cooler? also are you using a fan or two on the cooler?