Q6600 no longer overclocking with 4890 installed!?

[omenire]

Hi

I have been O/C for around 10 years, and this is the first time I've had to post..

My specs are:
Q6600
2gb PC9200 ocz reaper
Gigabyte P965P-DS3 v3.3
Saphire 4890 1gb
X-fi gamer
500gb sata samsung spinpoint
750w Thermaltake toughpower

Issue: Upgraded gfx to the 4890 from a 8800gts g92, system always ran at 3.3ghz with no issues, 365x9 ram@913mhz. However when I installed 4890 the system reboots before POST screen. Ram will O/C still no issues, however even if I manually set the clock speeds in bios to stock, it will not post. I had initially a seasonic 600w, which I thought was the culprit. I have tried again with the 8800, and it O/C no probs with it in. Amp rails are way over what I need for this set up with the 750w. I have went back to basics, the ram will O/C, as soon as I touch enable cpu clock in bios, it will not post. I have troubleshot all voltages being provided, and upping them makes no odds or causes any reboots so I don not believe power is the issue.

PC is running worse with the 4890 in at stock speeds, than it was O/C with the 8800gts :/

This is doing my head in, any help would be very Very appreciated!

 

[fenderjaguar]

Hi man. I don't know if this is relevent, but I am also the owner of a gigabyte board and 4890 that's having problems overclocking. I made these threads over at another forum:


http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/884464-wanting-test-video-card.html

http://forums.techguy.org/hardware/878480-cpu-wont-o-c-anymore.html

 

[omenire]

Funny, your threads were the only ones relevant to this issue I was able to find before posting this thread, but it doesn't seem like you were really getting any where. What model of gigabyte mobo do you have? And 4890 maker?

I had convinced myself it was a power issue, and frickin needlessly spent £90 on a brand new PSU...........!!! *rage*

 

[omenire]

I have also flashed the bios on my mobo to previous revisions and back, and today had the 8800gts card back in it, and straight to 3.3ghz again...

I just don't understand how this card, supplied with ample power, can affect O/Cing. Beggars belief! If I can't sort it out in the next week, I'll have to ebay it.....

 

[fenderjaguar]

Well, my situation does differ quite a lot from yours. I was having other problems, with lack of knowledge and a PSU that was not quite powerful enough. Also, I am having better framerates with my new card (you said your 8800gts runs better than the 4890 in your PC). For instance I can benchmark Street Fighter 4 and got 80fps with the HD4850 but get 130fps with the 4890.

Still, I cannot overclock and that will never do. It might just be a coinsidence that we're both using Gigabyte boards with Sapphire HD4890 1GB cards. Our cards are exactly the same, but my board is a bit lowlier than yours. Here's my rig anyway:

Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-G31M-S2L mATX

Processor - Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3 GHz

Memory - Corsair 4GB DDR2 XMS2-6400C5 800 MHz

Power supply - Coolermaster Silent Pro M 700W

Video card - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD4890 1 GB

 

[fenderjaguar]

Oh, btw, are you having a bit of a slow time with your video card displaying things at or around the post screen, bios or boot loader?

 

[omenire]

Now that you mention it I do find after post that it tends to hang with a flashing cursor in the top left corner flashing for around 15 seconds.

I found that my 3dmark score was about the same or a bit less using stock and 4890 vs 8800 andO/C though thats not really definitive. I compared the results that I saw in reviews for similar systems and found that my 3dmark06 score was about 60% off what was found in the reviews.

It does sound like a very similar issue, I bought this card from pixmania a couple of weeks ago. You know, if it was a ram issue I would just say its a bad batch, but really the gfx card has a lot less to do with the operations on the mobo than ram does...

 

[omenire]

And dropping teh Q6600 from 3.3ghz to stock 2.4ghz makes a big difference. My wee bro has a 4870x2, I might just get it off him to test it in my rig.

 

[fenderjaguar]

Now that you mention it I do find after post that it tends to hang with a flashing cursor in the top left corner flashing for around 15 seconds.

Yes, that's it. I don't know if you're dual booting any other operating systems, but I have to wait a while for the post, then again for that flashing cursor, then for a linux grub boot loading, then if I'm booting windows xp or 7 I have to wait again for the windows 7 loader. Strange thing is, If I were doing it blindfolded, it wouldn't be a problem, as you can select different things before you can see them on the screen. Not sure if this is part of the problem, but it's certainly something I didn't expect.

 

[4745454b]

Seeing as you have enough power, have you checked your PCIe bus frequency? If its locked at 100, try locking it at 110. You might need to up any PCIe/NB voltages you have as well.

 

[omenire]

Yes, I have locked the PCI-x bus to 100 101 110 and 120 and no difference. As I mentioned even enabling the cpu clock (rather than auto) causes the machine to restart and not post.
I think getting the 4870x2 is prob the best idea, as it is in the same series and draws more power than the 4890. Plus I will get my bro to test my card in his e8400@4ghz.

 

[omenire]

Oh nad before it is suggested, I have approached the issue thinking that it may need more power to overclock, and tried all diff configs of ram vs cpu, plus diff voltages. It will hold ram and voltage settings ok, won't O/C at all, even though the cpu is at 1.375V (1.5V over stock)

 

[fenderjaguar]

I have the GA-P965-S3 Rev. 1 and I upgraded from a 8800GT to a HD4850 and have had no such overclocking issues with the E6300 or the Q6700.

But he doesnt' have a 4850. If you read those threads I made at another forum, you'll see I was using a 4850 with no overclocking issues, until I put a 4890 in there.

 

[omenire]

So sorry, typo 0.15V over stock.

And yes, funny, I have tried O/C individually the cpu, thought I mentioned that??!
I've been O/C since Duron chip, so think I can t/shoot ok...

Will try to get this 4890x2 tonight, and try my 4890 in his machine. Maybe if it works ok, he'll do a swap??

 

[omenire]

Jesus, 4870x2 fs, before I am trolled again

 

[fenderjaguar]

Dear dear dear.....

So, out of sheer desperation, I reflashed the bios on the video card. Risky, I know. But I've done this several times before with various cards. I did everything right as well.

The card is now an expensive paper weight

 

[4745454b]

Ouch. I've heard you can reflash a bios, you just need to use a PCI video card so you can see what your doing. Other then that, not much you can do.

 

[fenderjaguar]

I've heard about all this. But I don't really understand, because I can actually already see what I'm doing. I did so by taking the card out, then going into the bios and forcing it to use the onboard (even with the card in the PCI-e port), then putting the card back in. Though when the bios is flashed again and you set the bios back to read the PCI-e port, the card shows nothing. And you have to take the card out again and plug into the onboard to see the bios again. So yeah, I can have the card in the port and flash the bios and see what I'm doing (obviously). So why is everything I'm reading out there on the net talking almost exclusively about using a PCI card?

Honestly, I flashed it right first time, and then again and again. I knew what I was doing and these were verified bios (I could tell that after I'd flashed it, because the numbers were exactly the same as the bios it had flashed over). So yea, the card is apparently fried. I almost feel....ill.

But yeah, I was gonna try to pick up an old PCI card up for a quid or something to try this out. Though, I'm not even sure that I could fit a PCI card in. The board is mATX and the card is a real double slotter...

 

[4745454b]

You use a PCI card when you don't have on board. If you have on board, you don't need the PCI card. Try flashing a different bios? You got nothing to lose. Use an older one, or the backup you made before you flashed.

 

[fenderjaguar]

But I wasn't even aware there were motherboards around that didn't have onboard graphics?

OK, cheers. I've already tried many other bios though, including older ones and the original one that was flashed. *** this, isn't it.

 

[omenire]

Fender thats gutting news... Though as mentioned, you should be able to flash it ok, with a diff bios if that one did not work. *fingers crossed*
And anyone using a PCI card, as mentioned (again), have no onboard to fall back on, hence the need.

I did have some head way tonight, as it would turn out! I went to little bros, put my 4890 into his machine, and it booted no issue at all. His mobo is an asus P5K board e8400@4ghz, 4gb ram@970mhz and 850w PSU.
Went home then with his 4870x2, and NO ISSUES! Put it in, set O/C and away it went. So as bizarre as it is, I can only conclude that this is an issue, between 4890 cards and gigabyte mobos.

Maybe he'll let me keep this card...........

 

[fenderjaguar]

I knew old motherboards didn't. But every motherboard I've looked at recently seems to have onboard. Is it high end boards that don't bother having it, or something?

 

[4745454b]

Usually its only the low end boards that have it. They also have a G in the name. G31/41, or the 780G. I personally haven't owned one since I had my Celeron 700MHz machine from dell, also the last time I owned an OEM machine.

 

[fenderjaguar]

hmm, sounds like a bit of a gear-snobbish thing to say, but ok thanks for the info. I never really looked at high end boards.

 

[omenire]

I think that essentialy, the mobo manufactureres realise that ppl buying high end mobos will be putting them in high spec machines with decent gfx cards, and who don't want mobo resources and power wasted on an onboard gfx chip, that will never be userd when the power/resources can be spent better operating and O/C the rest of the board. Ppl buying low end mobos generally tend to be on a budget, not gaming, or using for htpc (matx boards) and hence the inclusion of onboard.