OC Problem with 6600 - Not detecting drives at 320 FSB

[Unearthly]

Hello. I've been overclocking my system to decent results so far:

FSB: 315
vCore: 1.275v
vFSB: 1.3v
vMCH: 1.55v
vDIMM: 2.0v

Memory 1:1 at 4-4-4-12

My temps are ~50C idle and 60C load.

Now, my problem is when I increase the FSB to 320, my mobo completely fails to detect my HDDs. Sometimes it even starts making a loud click noise (after which I quickly revert). I tested with 1.30, 1.325, 1.35, and 1.4 vCore, all same result.

My BIOS is version F2 (though 965G not P). The changelogs listed here don't seem to address anything that might affect me, but I'm not sure. One reason I haven't updated the BIOS yet is because I don't have a floppy drive and am very hesitant to use a windows BIOS updating utility.

So, can anyone help me out in trying to figure out why this 320 FSB wall appears?

 

[godman]

I'd update the BIOS through the @bios utility, run it and dont run anything other programs at hte same time (just like when you install a new game and it says close all open programs etc). Just to be safe....

I'm at a 355mhz FSB with 965p-DS4 F6 BIOS, I updated through @BIOS, and I had no problems. Although its a different board to mine you should be able to break the fsb wall and the drive problem might be fixed.

What did you measure you temps with? I think my e6600 is around 30c idle and 50c load with easytune, 1.375v vcore, of course i haven't checked for a while...

 

[Unearthly]

I used CoreTemp to check my temps. I think the reason they are a little high is my thermal paste application (removed heatsink after applying :x ), but I'm going to wait to reapply.(when I can get some arctic 5 silver this Christmas) In the meantime I'll just make sure my temps are <65C load.

I'll try the BIOS utility later today then, I'll also set everything back to stock, don't want anything possibility messing up that update. I'll report back after I've updated.

 

[Unearthly]

Alright, I updated the BIOS, but the problem still persists. Some other side effects of updating is now my BIOS has a stupid splash screen, my temps are 2-4C lower, and when I to a 'Save To CMOS' the computer no longer starts back up automatically, it sort of hangs with no monitor output. Turn on/off works, a little annoying though.

So, any ideas as to why it can't detect my HDDs? I'm stumped.

 

[Unearthly]

Another update:

So I tried playing with more settings. I tried changing the SATA ports I used (both orange and purple Gigabyte RAID), tried changing the power slot on the PSU, tried using only 1 drive instead of 2, none worked. I also tried increasing the FSB to see if it was specific to the frequency, but the same effect happens. Although, it did post at 370 FSB so I think I can get a lot more out of this overclock than it's letting on!

However, I'm still stumped on this HDD issue. I heard someone say set the PCI Bus frequency to 33Mhz, but I cannot find this option in my BIOS.

:?

 

[Rashind]

Yeah, that's a weird problem. Maybe you're drawing too much power from a single rail and it's just not delivering, or something... I'd expect that to throttle your processor or fail POST before HDD problems, but hey... weird problem, maybe it's a weird cause.

I'm pretty envious of the overclock you are getting, though! My FSB isn't overclocking for crap... I'm hoping for a 680i BIOS update to make things better, 'cause I'm stumped. =(

 

[Unearthly]

This is my PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103937

I really doubt it is the problem, but at this point I don't have a better answer. It has 4 outputs besides the motherboard cable, right now its configured to:

[]- DVD Drive
[]-
[]- HDDs
[]- PCIE Cable - 7950 GT

Before it was

[]- DVD Drive
[]- HDDs
[]-
[]- PCIE Cable - 7950 GT

Both give the same result. Does it matter which plug they are in? Do the plugs have any relation to the different rails (as mine does have 2 12v rails)?

 

[Rashind]

It shouldn't really matter which HDD power cables is plugged into your drives... and since it's not working either way, there's not too much to worry about, there.

With a single 7950GT, two hard drives, a DVD Drive, and an E6600 @ 2.881GHz, 500 watts should NOT be buckling... but, it might be a bad PSU. Could also be a motherboard problem. Or, it could just be a really weird misbehavior signifying that your FSB doesn't like 320+ at all. Though, I really can't work out why such a problem would show up in the HDDs or on the SATA bus.

 

[Unearthly]

Ok, so it seems the problem was a combination of not enough voltage not and not using the Gigabyte RAID SATA ports. After doing that, I've been able to overclock further. Right now I'm stopped at 330x9 with 1.325v as my load temps are 59 with 1 core running Prime95 and ~60-62 with both running. I plan to purchase some Arctic 5 Silver and an aftermarket fan so I can push it a bit further. Right now I'm looking at the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro and the Tuniq Tower 120. Any suggestions? Also the TT looks pretty heavy, would I have to unmount it every time I move my PC a significant distance or would it not strain the mobo?