- Jan 18, 2009
- 14
- 0
- 18,510
I'm sure the more experienced overclockers here are quite used to newbies asking for help when their attempts go awry, so I apologize for adding another one to the pile.
My old P4 GeForce 7800 machine is definitely showing its age anymore. I've been meaning to replace it for a long time, and after being totally hosed by a mainstream manufacturer's machine (who will go unnamed), I decided that the best thing to do would be to build a new one. I settled on Don Woligroski's $1,250 Enthusiast PC from the November System Builder Marathon. Since the new i7 cores are so new and the future of GPUs is a little murky, I figured a (relatively!) inexpensive machine with proven components would serve me well for a good while.
I followed the build as exactly as possible with two exceptions: first, the DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R motherboard used by the build is now a deactivated item on NewEgg. I replaced it with the X38-T2RB, which seemingly only differs in its cooling setup, so I didn't think it'd be a problem. Second, the Antec Neo Power 650W power supply is also a deactivated item on NewEgg. I replaced it with the Antec NeoPower 650 Blue. 650W Antec PSU vs. 650W Antec PSU. No problem, right?
The build came together fine, the system ran without a hitch the first time and I got my OS installed and so forth. I then decided to get to work trying to match the overclock settings the SBM outlined (with the help of a more experienced friend--I'm not so masochistic as to try to go it alone). The Catalyst Control Center auto-tuned the Radeon HD 4870 X2 to higher clock speeds than the 777/950 the SBM uses, but I haven't had the chance to test it in-game to check for artifacts. Minor fan adjustments brought idle temperature to about 37 degrees.
When we decided to tackle adjusting the CPU and RAM, we hit a bit of a snag. The friend I'd brought in for help has overclocked a number of machines, but even he couldn't decipher all the DFI board's settings. Changing the CPU multiplier was straightforward--we even had to enable the CPU N/2 Ratio setting just as the SBM had warned--and bringing the RAM up to DDR2 896 was just as simple, but for the life of us we couldn't figure out how on earth to adjust the core voltage for the CPU, nor the timings for the RAM.
Regardless, we decided to leave the adjustments as we'd made them and stress test. CPU-Z informed us that the E8500 was indeed using our 9.5x multiplier, and SuperPi and Prime95 worked without a hitch. However, upon restarting, the machine failed to POST. No display, no beep, no nothing. The diagnostic LCD on the motherboard displayed the ever-so-helpful code "C1." DFI's manual lists no error codes, and Google searches for same provide unclear results or completely different interpretations of the same codes. We cut off power and tried starting up again. No POST, code C1. We removed the battery to reset the CMOS, and everything booted fine--of course, we had lost all our changes we'd made to the CPU and RAM setting. A BIOS flash has not resolved the problem. The machine will keep our changes for one Windows session, and any subsequent restarts result in failure to POST. Only resetting the CMOS will allow me to work normally, but I'm not getting any of my fancy overclocking results from anything but the GPU!
I know this may be a more generalized issue than a pure overclocking matter, but any troubleshooting I can get from more experienced users would be extremely helpful!
UPDATE: This just keeps getting more and more bizarre...
Reset the CMOS again, 'cause I figured I'd just run the rig with no overclocking while I got help. At first it didn't boot from the HDD. Restarted again, no POST, code C1. Reset CMOS AGAIN, and then went into the BIOS and reset it to "optimized defaults." Oddly enough, this bumped my CPU multiplier up from 6 to 9.5, and pulled my CPU clock down to 333 MHz! Started Windows, and then Catalyst Control Center crashed nonstop. Uninstalled it, reinstalled it, restarted... and everything booted fine. Did some Windows Updates. Restarted. Rebooted fine. I decided to push my luck and increase RAM speed back to the SBM's prescribed settings. I used to be able to get it up to DDR2-896, but now I can't. DDR2-887 is as close as I can get, since the CPU clock came down to 333. Regardless, the machine seems to be running okay, though I still haven't tested any high-stress graphics-intensive programs. I would really like someone to tell me what's going on, especially someone who's familiar with DFI boards who could walk me through the BIOS. I'm going to try bringing the CPU clock up to 448 MHz to match my target 4.25 GHz clock and my target DRAM speed. I'll see if I lose stability.
UPDATE UPDATE: Yeah, I lost stability.
Seems like system power crapped out part-way through the reboot. It tried again, then lost power again. Tried a third time, and started running, but now I'm back to not POSTing with a C1 code.
Please help!
My old P4 GeForce 7800 machine is definitely showing its age anymore. I've been meaning to replace it for a long time, and after being totally hosed by a mainstream manufacturer's machine (who will go unnamed), I decided that the best thing to do would be to build a new one. I settled on Don Woligroski's $1,250 Enthusiast PC from the November System Builder Marathon. Since the new i7 cores are so new and the future of GPUs is a little murky, I figured a (relatively!) inexpensive machine with proven components would serve me well for a good while.
I followed the build as exactly as possible with two exceptions: first, the DFI LANPARTY DK X38-T2R motherboard used by the build is now a deactivated item on NewEgg. I replaced it with the X38-T2RB, which seemingly only differs in its cooling setup, so I didn't think it'd be a problem. Second, the Antec Neo Power 650W power supply is also a deactivated item on NewEgg. I replaced it with the Antec NeoPower 650 Blue. 650W Antec PSU vs. 650W Antec PSU. No problem, right?
The build came together fine, the system ran without a hitch the first time and I got my OS installed and so forth. I then decided to get to work trying to match the overclock settings the SBM outlined (with the help of a more experienced friend--I'm not so masochistic as to try to go it alone). The Catalyst Control Center auto-tuned the Radeon HD 4870 X2 to higher clock speeds than the 777/950 the SBM uses, but I haven't had the chance to test it in-game to check for artifacts. Minor fan adjustments brought idle temperature to about 37 degrees.
When we decided to tackle adjusting the CPU and RAM, we hit a bit of a snag. The friend I'd brought in for help has overclocked a number of machines, but even he couldn't decipher all the DFI board's settings. Changing the CPU multiplier was straightforward--we even had to enable the CPU N/2 Ratio setting just as the SBM had warned--and bringing the RAM up to DDR2 896 was just as simple, but for the life of us we couldn't figure out how on earth to adjust the core voltage for the CPU, nor the timings for the RAM.
Regardless, we decided to leave the adjustments as we'd made them and stress test. CPU-Z informed us that the E8500 was indeed using our 9.5x multiplier, and SuperPi and Prime95 worked without a hitch. However, upon restarting, the machine failed to POST. No display, no beep, no nothing. The diagnostic LCD on the motherboard displayed the ever-so-helpful code "C1." DFI's manual lists no error codes, and Google searches for same provide unclear results or completely different interpretations of the same codes. We cut off power and tried starting up again. No POST, code C1. We removed the battery to reset the CMOS, and everything booted fine--of course, we had lost all our changes we'd made to the CPU and RAM setting. A BIOS flash has not resolved the problem. The machine will keep our changes for one Windows session, and any subsequent restarts result in failure to POST. Only resetting the CMOS will allow me to work normally, but I'm not getting any of my fancy overclocking results from anything but the GPU!
I know this may be a more generalized issue than a pure overclocking matter, but any troubleshooting I can get from more experienced users would be extremely helpful!
UPDATE: This just keeps getting more and more bizarre...
Reset the CMOS again, 'cause I figured I'd just run the rig with no overclocking while I got help. At first it didn't boot from the HDD. Restarted again, no POST, code C1. Reset CMOS AGAIN, and then went into the BIOS and reset it to "optimized defaults." Oddly enough, this bumped my CPU multiplier up from 6 to 9.5, and pulled my CPU clock down to 333 MHz! Started Windows, and then Catalyst Control Center crashed nonstop. Uninstalled it, reinstalled it, restarted... and everything booted fine. Did some Windows Updates. Restarted. Rebooted fine. I decided to push my luck and increase RAM speed back to the SBM's prescribed settings. I used to be able to get it up to DDR2-896, but now I can't. DDR2-887 is as close as I can get, since the CPU clock came down to 333. Regardless, the machine seems to be running okay, though I still haven't tested any high-stress graphics-intensive programs. I would really like someone to tell me what's going on, especially someone who's familiar with DFI boards who could walk me through the BIOS. I'm going to try bringing the CPU clock up to 448 MHz to match my target 4.25 GHz clock and my target DRAM speed. I'll see if I lose stability.
UPDATE UPDATE: Yeah, I lost stability.
Seems like system power crapped out part-way through the reboot. It tried again, then lost power again. Tried a third time, and started running, but now I'm back to not POSTing with a C1 code.
Please help!
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