Hello, first post on this forum but I read through quite a bit of overclocking stuff and ran through this sites OC guide; which helped out tremendously. At first I was sketchy on even doing an overclock because I didn't know every little setting the bios that needed to be enabled/disabled, specific setting etc and making sure some settings weren't on AUTO otherwise it could mess things up like the PCIE Freq and PCI Clock Synch.
Anyways off to the good stuff my system specs.
Intel XFX 780i LGA775
Intel 2.83Ghz w/ Arctic Freezer Pro 7 AMCooler
4GB DDR2-800 (PC26400)
2x 8800GTX in SLi
So my goal in this endeavor was to increase my 2.8Ghz up to 3.0 and when I figured out 1:1 FSB/DRAM ratio, to about 3.4Ghz would be max for a 1:1 ratio with my setup and 800Mhz RAM.
So I went through the guide, made all the bios setting changes that pertained to my specific bios:
- Disable C1E until stable then re-enable.
- Disable Limit CPUID MaxVal.
- Enable CPU Thermal Control (for mine I went with enabling TM1 and TM2 which has thermal throttle and reduces cpu multiplier and cpu voltage.
- Enable Execute Disable Bit.
- Disable Speedstep until stable then re-enable.
Settings I could not find in my BIOS that seemed important were, but did not pertain to me were:
- Memory Remap
- PCI Clock Synch 33.33Mhz
- Enable PECI
As far as volts I left those like the guide said all on auto, except for my RAM; which is at 2.3v at a rating of 3-4-4-15-2T
So now on with the actual tests after the BIOS settings were made.
I unlinked the RAM and CPU so I could specify exact adjustments to both.
I set the ram to 800Mhz and decided to start off with 3.0Ghz a simple 167Mhz OC.
Rebooted PC posted fine no problems tested some games out and ran prime for a bit to see temps. Everything seemed pretty kosher so time to increase it again.
Again I decided with another 200Mhz OC so that would of got me to 3.2Ghz, rebooted all good. Now for the finale.
3.4Ghz at 400Mhz FSB x 4 for 4 cpus = 1600Mhz FSB.
Rebooted, all was good. Again did testing ran Prime for 7hrs all was fine, everythings stable from what I see, no blue screens, lockups or crashes.
Now for the hard part, chaging volt values from auto and specifying. Well looking at CPU-Z I can see under load my vcore was hitting 1.208v for core voltage and at idle it was hitting around 1.168 or something like that, cant remember exactly.
So I setup a specific vcore of 1.25 to test it out, posted fine everything was good, did a reboot again this time I decided since the CPU was only maxing out under load at 1.208 that I should probably try my next step to 1.21 and give it some buffer.
Ok so posts fine, but now when I look at CPU-Z and I'm running prime, temps on cores as follows 58 64(63) 59 59(58) (parenthesis meaning the 2nd number is what that core will bounce down to frequently)
--- Here's the question ---
I look at my vcore and its at 1.120v-1.128, so here is my situation at a 3.4Ghz OC is it possible I can even lower my vcore further to 1.120 or a little higher for a buffer? that is what it is showing under load, if I disable prime and all that stuff the vcore is at around 1.168v.
Also is it possible my mobo is making accomodations and reducing what my processor needs to use automatically with the thermal control and multiplier/vcore reduction bios setting?
Will that bios setting keep using lower vcore than what I specify in the bios and never use more than that specific amount as a safe buffer for this automatic setting regardless of how low I reduce my vcore?
Other than that, that's all I can think of, for a first time overclock I think I did pretty good for OC with my current temps on idle I get 44 49 44 44.
Also theres other voltage settings such as CPU FSB, nForce SPP, nForce MCP and HT nForce SPP <-> MCP. I left these all on auto other than the obvious Memory one; which again is at 2.3v spec'd for my ram's timings.
Anyways off to the good stuff my system specs.
Intel XFX 780i LGA775
Intel 2.83Ghz w/ Arctic Freezer Pro 7 AMCooler
4GB DDR2-800 (PC26400)
2x 8800GTX in SLi
So my goal in this endeavor was to increase my 2.8Ghz up to 3.0 and when I figured out 1:1 FSB/DRAM ratio, to about 3.4Ghz would be max for a 1:1 ratio with my setup and 800Mhz RAM.
So I went through the guide, made all the bios setting changes that pertained to my specific bios:
- Disable C1E until stable then re-enable.
- Disable Limit CPUID MaxVal.
- Enable CPU Thermal Control (for mine I went with enabling TM1 and TM2 which has thermal throttle and reduces cpu multiplier and cpu voltage.
- Enable Execute Disable Bit.
- Disable Speedstep until stable then re-enable.
Settings I could not find in my BIOS that seemed important were, but did not pertain to me were:
- Memory Remap
- PCI Clock Synch 33.33Mhz
- Enable PECI
As far as volts I left those like the guide said all on auto, except for my RAM; which is at 2.3v at a rating of 3-4-4-15-2T
So now on with the actual tests after the BIOS settings were made.
I unlinked the RAM and CPU so I could specify exact adjustments to both.
I set the ram to 800Mhz and decided to start off with 3.0Ghz a simple 167Mhz OC.
Rebooted PC posted fine no problems tested some games out and ran prime for a bit to see temps. Everything seemed pretty kosher so time to increase it again.
Again I decided with another 200Mhz OC so that would of got me to 3.2Ghz, rebooted all good. Now for the finale.
3.4Ghz at 400Mhz FSB x 4 for 4 cpus = 1600Mhz FSB.
Rebooted, all was good. Again did testing ran Prime for 7hrs all was fine, everythings stable from what I see, no blue screens, lockups or crashes.
Now for the hard part, chaging volt values from auto and specifying. Well looking at CPU-Z I can see under load my vcore was hitting 1.208v for core voltage and at idle it was hitting around 1.168 or something like that, cant remember exactly.
So I setup a specific vcore of 1.25 to test it out, posted fine everything was good, did a reboot again this time I decided since the CPU was only maxing out under load at 1.208 that I should probably try my next step to 1.21 and give it some buffer.
Ok so posts fine, but now when I look at CPU-Z and I'm running prime, temps on cores as follows 58 64(63) 59 59(58) (parenthesis meaning the 2nd number is what that core will bounce down to frequently)
--- Here's the question ---
I look at my vcore and its at 1.120v-1.128, so here is my situation at a 3.4Ghz OC is it possible I can even lower my vcore further to 1.120 or a little higher for a buffer? that is what it is showing under load, if I disable prime and all that stuff the vcore is at around 1.168v.
Also is it possible my mobo is making accomodations and reducing what my processor needs to use automatically with the thermal control and multiplier/vcore reduction bios setting?
Will that bios setting keep using lower vcore than what I specify in the bios and never use more than that specific amount as a safe buffer for this automatic setting regardless of how low I reduce my vcore?
Other than that, that's all I can think of, for a first time overclock I think I did pretty good for OC with my current temps on idle I get 44 49 44 44.
Also theres other voltage settings such as CPU FSB, nForce SPP, nForce MCP and HT nForce SPP <-> MCP. I left these all on auto other than the obvious Memory one; which again is at 2.3v spec'd for my ram's timings.
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