1156 Overclocking stability help

Hello all!

I need some old Lynnfield\1156 vets to help an old 486 OC vet out. I have read\followed several guides and have a good understanding of how proper overclocking works on these boards\cpus. Have determined my Bclk is stable, Ram SEEMS stable, but when upping the CPU multi apps have now started crashing.

So long story short, p7p55m M/B, i5 760, G. Skill 2x4gb cl7 1600 ram. Got the Bclk stable at 1.22v @ 200, figured my rough area of Vcore was around +.22-24 (Giving me a total of around 1.38-1.4v) And i've given up on 4ghz (20x200) and settled with 3.8 (19x200). Now adding 1000mV CPU diff amp. seemed to be the 2nd to last touch for stability - I rarely get BSOD's just apps crashing. Prime95 Custom (Blend+7000mb ram usage rather than 2000), OCCT, IBT all crashing (i.e. xxx encountered an error and needs to close...0xc0000005) Usually after a longer period of time (45 mins+) - Also ran 16+ runs of IBT Max, failed on #17. I USED to get "worker stopped" errors in P95, but i think that was a voltage issue, and now i'm just getting app crashes.

Added a 2nd fan to my CM 212+ EVO, my highest temps now around 72ish, used to be over 80. Don't think cooling is an issue. Case is always open and fans are blasting - Noise\power usage is not an issue - Last night I REALLY wanted to push it hard to I ran a 7000mb p95 blend test, set the priority to idle, then ran furmark at the same time. Didn't hit over 74 degrees with both running. Ran for quite a while before I stopped it, so no issues w/ pcie or heat...


I was just wondering on what you guys\gals are using when "fine tuning" an almost stable box - I've pretty much removed IMC\Vcore voltage out of the equation in fact i'll give a list of things i've done:

Memtest86+ 16+ hrs 19 passes (both sticks in, also tested each stick individually seperate and they each pass as long as im using the single-core test, didn't like when I enabled multi-threads, always locked the computer up at a certain point) - The 19 passes passed were with the timings\speed manually set - 7-8-8-24-1t-1600 - 1.5v

IMC\Vcore up\down - No change, still crashes apps - Too low and stability takes a nose-dive as expected....As i'm around 1.4v I don't think Vcore is the issue if i'm only @ 3.8. Bumping it up to 1.46 didn't help either.

Dropping my CPU\QPI\Ram multipliers to lowest (Ruling out some ram, cpu issues) seems to run all tests with flying colors ok. Bumping the RAm back up to normal speeds doesn't crash apps - Only when upping the CPU multiplier. I haven't changed the QPI back, just left it at its lowest setting (6.4ish Ghz?)

Upping the DRAM voltage to 1.55ish, no change apps still crash. (Although my ram is rated at 1.5v for 1600, don't think i need to add any more voltage if i'm not going beyond the rams specs....I've been wrong before though!)

LLC on\off\auto Even with it on i'll get some decent dips, but I may be a tad over-volted so changing this hasn't had any effects, good or bad. Hell even with it on I still get some dips 1.4 will fluctuate down to 1.386 usually no lower.

PCIE - bumped it up, no difference, apps still crashing.

2nd CPU - Tried a i7 860 I also have, it shows the same symptoms, gets mostly stable, then crashes apps similar so the issue must be M/B\RAM related?


I have noticed in the middle of a P95 or IBT\OCCT test sometimes the multiplier will drop to x9, 1800mhz, for 10 seconds or so and then jump back up to x19. Don't know if that is throttling, but when that happens its not overly warm, have disabled CPU TM to no effect. The test doesn't fail or die when that happens either - could be the apps? I have all power states disabled - BUT P95 UNDER SETTINGS SHOWS EIST IS CHECKED OFF i.e. ENABLED?!?! I can un-check it, but shouldn't it be using the BIOS's settings?

Basics:
Bclk - 200 (x19 cpu)
Xtreme Phase Power - En
All powersaving\C1E\C-States\A20 disabled
RAM set to timings (Some confusion around 1t or 2t, tried both, didn't make a difference to the crashing apps)
Turbo mode(s) always off
PCIE - 100
Vcore - +.024 (roughly around 1.396\1.4 total)
IMC\VTT - 1.22 Bumped up to 1.25\1.3 no difference
H/W prefetcher - En
Adj Cache line prefetch - En
MAX CPUID value - Disabled
Intel Virtualization - Disabled
CPU TM Function - Enabled (Disabled doesn't seem to make any difference to app crashing\stability)
Execute\Disable Bit - En
Intel HT - Disabled
Active cores - All (Haven't tried changing this)
C-State - Disabled
RAM - 1.5v 7-8-8-24-2t 1600 - Have set this to auto, apps still crash, bumped v to 1.55, no change


Have NOT tried:
-Manually setting ram timings to higher values, tried setting everything to AUTO (timings, command rate) but apps still fail
- trying my 2 sticks in the other 2 slots. Running any\all tests with just one stick of ram, although they both pass 15+ passes of memtest. Not defective, but doesn't rule out issues w. timings either....
-Using a larger PSU
-Changing Clock skew at all



So...sorry for the rant-sized post. Just wondering if anyone has any recommendations for stability. I'm into my 4th week of overclocking these 1156 machines, and to be honest i'm getting somewhat tired of thinking its stable just for it to crash after hours and hours of testing.


I'm getting pissed to the point i'm getting sloppy and not even documenting what i've changed...or changing 2 or 3 things at once and getting no stability so I "instantly" rule out those 3 things, when a combo of 2 of them could react differently than all 3 together? You know what I mean...rolleyes.gif

Thanks ahead of time for your brain-cycles, I appreciate it! As you can tell i'm not exactly a noob at this...but not experienced enough that I can't figure it out on my own haha - Or at least know that asking here will save me 2 more weeks of ******* around.