GUIDE: Overclocking On EP/P35-DS3L v1.3.1 [UPDATED: 10/2/2008]

UPDATES:

Google:
P35-DS3L Overclocking Guide

Update 3/4/2008:
Images now hosted by Flickr.com instead of MediaFire. Also added helpful information provided by homerdog

Update 3/18/2008
Included more detailed explanation of BIOS options and recommended settings.

Updated 3/19/2008
Minor corrections.

Updated 4/14/2008
Added new Prime95 Images. More text edits. Added Disclaimer

Updated 4/17/2008
Fixed text errors (phrasing errors, ie random %$# symbols through out page) after THF forum updates.

Updated 4/22/2008
Included new note under "CPU Host Frequency" about BIOS versions.

Updated 4/25/2008
Included note to future P35-DS3x DS4x owners.

Updated 5/15/2008
Included update that effects newer owners of P35-DS3L. (aka EP35-DS3L)

Updated 6/7/2008
Included new BIOS setting image with explanations. Version updated to 1.3.

Updated 10/2/1008
Minor updates in the text.
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IMPORTANT NOTE TO FUTURE P35-DS3L ( and P35 DS3x /DS4x and other P35 chipset based) OWNERS:
If you are planing on getting RAM natively higher than DDR2 800 be aware that there will be compatibility issues. Many users reports and my personal testing has shown that there is a very good chance you will run in to issues with RAM higher than DDR2 800, such as DDR2 1066. I recommend you get quality DDR2 800 RAM and run them at 1:1 ratio or overclock the RAM. This issue dose not apply to DDR2 800 RAM that has been overclocked.

Note to EP35-DS3L owners: To "Disable" DES all you have to do is to not install DES program.
Special thanks to knotknut for his information.
Link 1
Link 2


Disclaimer: I (or any one else on THF) is not responsible for damage to equipment due to incorrect overclocking/excessive overclocking,etc. Do overclocking at your own risk. Due to the nature of the manufacturing processes for CPU,etc your results might not be exact as others.



BIOS OPTIONS IN DETAIL:

Note: These settings are very smiler/ same on all Gigabyte Motherboards.
Note: Users have reported that to successfully use 400Mhz FSB you must have F8b BIOS(For P35-DS3L) and F5 (For EP35-DS3L installed

R.G.B.: Helps to enhance the performance of the GPU and
VRAM. "Auto" allow the BIOS to automatically set the R.G.B. mode based on system configurations. This Option must be set to "Auto" for successful overclock.


CPU Clock Ratio: This is the CPU Multiplier. The lowest it can reach is 6x (most of the time) and the highest is dependent on the CPU. I recommend that you set this to the highest possible due to the fact that it puts fewer limits on the FSB (i.e. Less likely to hit an FSB wall etc.). But, there are cases in which it should or could be lowered.

CPU Host Clock Control: This option is "Disabled" by default. You MUST change this to "Enabled" in order to overclock the CPU.

CPU Host Frequency (Mhz): This is the FSB. Increase this value by 50-70Mhz over your Stock FSB during your first attempt.

For an 800 MHz FSB this is set to 200 MHz.
For a 1066 MHz FSB this is set to 266 MHz.
For a 1333 MHz FSB this is set to 333 MHz.
You can also enter any other value like 300 (1200FSB).

Change this item to reach the desired speed. This multiplied by the CPU multiplier gives the clock speed. I recommend that you change this by 50-100Mhz during the first few test phases to narrow down the stable overclock. Then after you reach the Maximum Clock speed (the point at which Prime95 fail in less than 5 hours) decrease the FSB by 20-50Mhz or increase the CPU core voltage .

Note: Users have reported that to successfully use 400Mhz FSB you must have F8b BIOS installed

CPU Frequency: This is the speed after any changes in the FSB and/or Multiplier.
This is equal to:

PCI Express Frequency (Mhz): This is the PCIe frequency for the PCIe slots. Keep this at 100Mhz or "Auto" .

C.I.A.2: CPU Intelligent Accelerator 2 (C.I.A.2) is a system designed to automatically adjust the CPU Clock speed by a given percentage. This option is "Disabled" by default. It must be set to "Disabled" in order to successfully overclock the CPU .

Performance Enhance: Must be set to "Standard" for a successful overclock.


System Memory Multiplier (SPD): This is the RAM SPD. Change this item so that the "Memory Frequency" shown below the SPD is not exceeded. It is OK to be under the "Memory Frequency" shown.


Memory Frequency (Mhz): The first RAM value listed (I will call this the "Rated RAM Speed" to make life easier) (to the left ) is the normal speed of the RAM being used; the second (to the right) is the memory frequency that is automatically adjusted according to the "CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)" and "System Memory Multiplier" settings. I would strongly suggest you decrease the SPD to stay at or below the "Rated RAM Speed". If your RAM is overclockable (i.e. RAM like the Crucial Ballastix) you should still set the SPD to the "Rated RAM Speed" as it would be one less variable in a CPU overclocking failure until you find the best stable overclock. I recommend that you DO NOT overclock the RAM until you reach a stable CPU speed.

System Voltage Control: Determines whether to manually set the system voltages (i.e. CPU core voltage, RAM voltage, PCIe voltage, etc). "Auto" lets BIOS automatically set the system voltages as required. I recommend that you set this to "Auto" only if your overclock is small like 10-11%. Set this to "Disable" if your overclock is high (i.e. 400+Mhz CPU speed increase). Also set this to "Disable" if you need to change RAM voltages, this is specially true for most high performance RAM like the Crucial Ballastix and Corsair XMS2, etc. If your RAM is higher than 1.8v you must set this to "Disabled" . ***(see near end of this section)

DDR2 OverVoltage Control: This is the RAM voltage. Increase this by +0.1v increments to reach the voltage specified by the ram manufacture. The standard voltage is 1.8v. So if your voltage is rated as 2.2v increase this to +0.4v since 1.8 + 0.4 = 2.2.

PCI-E OverVoltage Control: Allows you to set PCIe voltage. There should be no need to change this value for 98% of the overclockers.

FSB OverVoltage Control: Allows you to increase the FSB voltage. Increase this to reach stability under high FSB (i.e. 310Mhz+).

(G)MCH OverVoltage Control: This is the Northbridge voltage. Most overclockers will not need to change this setting. Change this to increase stability under certain FSBs (i.e. 420Mhz+). Note that an increase in this setting WILL produce increase motherboard heat output. A Northbridge cooler is recommended for most P35/X38 motherboards even if you are not changing the MCH voltage. Gigabyte motherboards with out Ultra Cool should have a small Northbridge fan ( I noticed a 8C drop in my motherboard temperatures once I installed a 40mm fan on the heat sink on my P35-DS3L.).

CPU Voltage Control: Allows you to set the CPU voltage. Increase the voltage little by little until you reach stability at a given CPU speed*. Increasing this setting WILL cause an increase in CPU temperatures, so therefore a good CPU cooler is highly recommended. You should also monitor your temperatures through software like CoreTemp. DO NOT LET CPU TEMPERATURES EXCEED 65C. If your temperatures exceed 65C you are still safe but long term operation will not be advisable. You should NEVER let the CPU reach thermal threshold (Tjunction). This is the point where the CPU automatically decreases the Multiplier to 6x, even if SpeedStep is disabled.

Normal CPU Vcore: This is the standard CPU voltage at stock settings.

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*** Some users have reported that decreasing the CPU voltage will allow an increase in the overclock/stability. This is due to the fact that less voltage means less heat therefore more stable overclock. This is mainly true for most of the E6xxx CPUs and E8xxx.
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++Go with the SpeedFan temps. Those temps were calibrated according to the Core 2 Quad and Duo Temperature Guide by CompuTronix ++


The CPU on that motherboard is a E2180. The CPU has been stress tested with Prime95.








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CHANGING THE tRD VALUE

Note: To gain acces to these settings press "Ctrl"+ "F1" in the main screen. tRD value is listed as "Static tRead Value". It is recommended to have F5 BIOS or later.

One of the most important and often overlooked settings is the MCH read delay (tRD). Without going into too much detail I will say that, similar to memory timings, the lower this value is the better your system will perform. However, setting this too low will compromise system stability, and if you go REALLY low your system will fail to POST.

This review from AnandTech does an excellent job explaining this critical setting. I recommend starting at page 4, but the quick and dirty can be found on page 9.

Setting tRD on the DS3L can be a bit tricky. The "Performance Enhance" setting adjusts it as follows:
Standard__tRD=11
Turbo_____tRD=6
Extreme___I have never been able to POST at this setting, so I don't know

On my system I am able to boot into Windows with Turbo, but Prime fails after ~2 seconds. Backing off to Standard will make things nice and stable, but the performance hit is noticeable. So how do we go about fine tuning the tRD on this board?

It's easy really actually. The DS3L refers to tRD as "Static tRead Value." Manually setting this will override the default "Performance Enhance" value. Weird I know, but that's it. Setting this to 8 allows my system to be completely stable at a FSB of 400MHz while yielding a nice performance boost over the default "Standard" setting of tRD=11.
(by: homerdog)
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Please post your settings, OCing success, BIOS settings image,etc. This would help people with smiler set ups to narrow down voltage ranges,etc.

Forgot to mention. Disable SpeedStep before OCing. Also see:
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide
for more help about over clocking in general.

Comments Welcomed!

GUIDE: Overclocking On EP/P35-DS3L
I posted this here cause I can't update my Original Post any more
edit: For those that are interested, here is a vdrop/vdroop mod for the P35-DS3L: Overclockers Forums :GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L VOLT MOD

^Will edit the text ASAP.

edit: Text finally edited on v1.3.

THANK-YOU! I was looking for this but nobody seemed to have it. I have a e6750 like ^this guy. When i want some more speed i'll use this. Again thank you.

yeah, one last thing. just set the PCI Express Frequency(Mhz) to 100Mhz.

yeah, they work with any processor. just make sure ur pc is stable after overclocking, n dont fry ur cpu (overvoltage).

use the settings in the bios above. AND read http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] uals-guide for fully detailed information.

i heard one guy saying (in some forum) that primer should be ran for 24hr for maximum stability!

Mugz......48 hours seems a little much..no?

Will you ever have your PC on full load for that long. I usually do an 8 hour test and then a 12 hour Blend test.

Heh, a weekend? In my case a fail after 6 hours was good enough, I've using it for week or so now and have not had anything funky happen yet. I thought the recommended was 8 hours or so? Also isn't the HS considered 'fully absorbed by 10 minutes. I guess it's true considering after checking it out for 10 minutes and then many hours later it was the same using core temp. Just for an experiment prime it for 10 minutes and compare those temps to the final temps you got.

^Agreed. Prime95 duration depends on personal preference or if you want to fell better about the stability . The MINIMUM should be 4-5 hours.

lol oni.


Great guide shadow, I'll be referring to this with my DS3L and E8400 next week when my parts arrive =)

Well, I finally got around to running memtest86+ and had an error! So I decided to go back to 3Ghz on the E2180 and set my voltages to a safe stable level as well as the timings on the memory, and 17+ hours later im memtest86+ stable. I guess this will be my holding ground. I'm to lazy to see if it was the OC high voltage on the CPU (because memtest does more than the ram modules, it does the cpu cache's etc') or If it was because I put my timings on auto. Either way all my corners are covered in the posistion im in. I think thats way it's good to run the blend test because it tests big chunks of your memory, and will find some problems if there are some. You can have one stupid little error like I did, but in the end murphy will get you, so I fixed it.

Its Jedec standard.....its like that for all motherboards with DDR2

Thats pretty much explains it. So if my ram is rated at 2.1v I should have the setting to +.3? I'd also like to ask if it helps with stability to set it higher? I had initially set the memory timings to 4-4-4-12, which my ram is rated at, but I didn't know what the default voltage on the board was so I didn't make any changes. Once I started o/c, I relaxed to the timings to 5-5-5-15, but haven't changed them back. Would raising the voltage to 2.1 and lowering the timings again be better? I'd assume so, but this is my first time o/c'ing.

If you do add too much voltage, the ram would be unstable.

Tighter timings require more voltage too.

Me? Waste electricity? Damn, my secret's out.

The reason I run it the entire weekend is usually because I can't be bothered to test it for longer than about 30 minutes during the week, whereas over a weekend I'm usually involved in playing various forms of paintball and/or hiking up a mountain and/or socialising and/or getting shagged to smithereens (lately) and/or partying and am thus not in the immediate vicinity of my PC.

Hey - it works for me...

Did you ever change the purple writing?

Thanks for the link shadow, when i get my PC i will refer back to this guide to OC it.

Hey guys, I will be updating this thread during this weekend to better explain the BIOS options and to include the options for DS3R,etc. since the options are very smiler (in OCing at least)

^I am not planing on going in to RAM timing and RAM over clocking in general. This is meant to be for CPU OCing only. I would be glad if you could post the explanations here or on another topic and link it here.

^Thanks.

^nice find. thanks...


shadow. ur pics have being removed. u gotta do something about it.

Yeah, looks like it. Got to update the pics.

Updated the pics on 3/4/2008. Along with new helpful information posted by homerdog

The green is OK, but the purple is kind of difficult to read against the blue background.

What a minute though, let me get this straight as there was no Static tRead Value on my DS3L. I changed a sub memory timing named Refresh to ACT delay, is that it? I changed it to 8 and everything seems to be stable....

Ya I did, it's the only way t show the hidden memory sub-timings....lol then what the heck did I set to '8'....system hasn't acted funny though...As a matter of fact I have an old picture of me messing around and I have all the memory timings in this screenshot. This doesnt reflect anything I have set right now but if you could just point to the one that would be good enough