Finally 4.0Ghz !

[Triton05]

Got my new hardware in yesterday, new mobo / ram / cooler, Everything booted first shot!

GA-EP45-UD3L rev1.1
E8400 E0 3.0Ghz @ 4.0Ghz
G.SKILL PC8500 2x2GB 5-5-5-15 memory
Arctic 7 Freezer Pro Rev2 cooler
500Gb Seagate Barracuda
GTX285 OC 1Gb video card
OCZ 600watt SXS PSU
Windows 7 Ultimate 64

EDIT : Changes made the 19th :

GA-EP45-UD3L rev1.1 ( MCH core: 1.26 / VTT: 1.30 / PLL: 1.55 / DRAM: 2.08v )
E8400 E0 3.0Ghz @ 4.0Ghz ( Vcore: 1.35 bios with LLC enabled. 1.32 windows ) Win7 64bit
G.SKILL PC8500 2x2GB 5-5-5-15 memory 1068Mhz w/445FSB | GTX285 OC

IBT : 10 pass max stress
Prime95 : Blend 4 hours pass



After I got my system loaded with "optimized settings" I went back into the bios and made my changes.

FSB 444x9
Memory multiplier (2.4B)
Memory running at 1066Mhz

Enabled Load Line Calibration and set CPU Vcore to 1.35v ( 1.32v in windows ) "to minimize Vdroop"
MCH Voltage to 1.3
Vcore Termination 1.30
PLL 1.55

Set DRAM to 2.04v ( 5-5-5-15 )

Booted into windows flawlessly.

Ran Prime FFT's for 30min, several times, never got hotter then 58*C
Ran Intel Burn Test ( 5 ) passes, several times, never got hotter then 65*C <this test puts Prime to shame

No errors on either of the tests.

Played Bad Company 2 with everything maxed for a couple hours, CPU temps never went above 58*C on either core.

Windows rating is ( 7.0 cpu 7.1 mem 7.3 graphics 7.3 graphics 5.9 hard-drive )


So far so good! Finally using my E8400 how I had intended last summer when I bought it



I kinda winged those bios settings via posts Ive read online, do they appear safe?

Thanks for any input.
Regards,

 

[treefrog07]

Good work.

 

[RJR]

Geese, my Asus P35 board needed 1.4v NB and never was able to reach 1066, your doing good.

 

[Triton05]

Cool!

I didn't know if 1.3v was too much for the MCH.

I'm actually quite surprised at the CPU cooler I got. Mixed reviews, but this version 2 of the cooler was a great and simple to install. Plastic banquet with pins, then you screw the cooler to the plastic banquet.

Are the temps ok ? 58C for prime and 65C for InteBurn?

Idle I'm at 28 - 31C, depending if I have the AC on or not!

 

[spentshells]

that's pretty sweet I see all these overclocks with such low voltage
My CPU is @ 1.37xxxx to get to 4.0 and higher to 4.16
cheers on the overclock



3d mark yet ?

 

[Triton05]

3DMark 06 = 17,800
Vantage (with Physx OFF ) = 10,972 ( 8151 CPU / 12403 GPU )

I assume those are where they should be ?

My rig plays Bad Company 2 flawlessly which is all that matters for the moment

 

[Raidur]

Very nice, and gratz.

Yeah Bad Company 2 is my GPU's main task lately as well.

I scored around 18k vantage (default/trial settings). ~19k GPU ~15-16k CPU if I remember right. You seem about right.

2GB RAM (at the moment) Q9550 4ghz 4890 crossfire ~930/1050.

Your 3Dmark06 seems right... I got ~16k with a 4870 and E8400 @ 4ghz back when (if I remember right).

Your volts seem good. Remember to back off one at a time, stress testing each setting, so you can minimize power/heat (if you haven't already).

 

[Triton05]

Only thing I did notice with the new build is my Video card seems to be running hotter then normal. Might be summer time temps. Idle 48C and while playing BC2 for a couple hours, I see it maxing around 88C.

While I had my rig apart I cleaned up the fan best I could. Not sure if the increased speed on the CPU is making the GPU work harder. But I don't think I ever noticed it running this hot.

Im using 197.45 Drivers at the moment. Used a driver cleaner and did a reinstall to be safe, but still temps arent moving any lower. *shrug*

 

[wolfram23]

Great job. Just want to point out that you're not necessarily stable. For Intel Burn Test you want to do at least 15 passes at High stress or more. And for Prime95 you should try at least 8 or 10 hrs Small FFT. I've had it stable in IBT but fail after 3 hrs P95, upped voltage, stable for 6hrs, upped voltage, stable for 12hrs. So yeah, it might not be 100% yet, but still, nice work.

 

[Triton05]

Ive read posts by mods here in these forums that state not to run those tests for hours on end. Thats why I limited my IBT to 30min chunks, but repeated the test at least 5 times yesterday alone.

Also, does 3 hours of consecutive Bad Company 2 show anything for stability? I mean it does keep my cores at 90%+ utilization.

I haven't had one hiccup / BSOD / or freeze. 3Dmark06 / Vantage / IBT / Prime small FFT's / Blends.. everything. But no ONE single test for excess of 30min.

Bottom of this threat : http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/255249-29-probably-benchmark-need

"A stress test is running all of your CPU cores flat out for however long you run the test, unless of course a core drops out because your overclock is unstable, I see the need for short term testing say an hour or so, because it won't take that long for an unstable overclock to show itself, but 24hrs is not necessary."

 

[Triton05]

Successfully lowered my MCH core to 1.28v today. Ran 10 passes of IBT and then prime small FFT's for over an hour, then 30min of Blend tests. All rock solid

Intel claims safe max voltage for the P45 chipset is 1.25v so I was a bit hesitant keeping it at 1.30v.

 

[Triton05]

Additional question :

My NB heatsink gets HOT. I don't have a sensor in it, but the motherboard temp probe is right next to it, which reads 41C. So its hotter then that.

My concern first off : Is 1.28v on the NB/MCH ok for 24/7 use?

Secondly, my Slot 1 memory is within a 1/4 inch of the NB Heatsink. So heat coming off the NB is warming up my memory in slot 1. Will this create an issue? The memory is shielded, I currently have it running at 2.04v for 1066Mhz. Its rated for 2.0 -2.1v so its not being stressed.

Just curious...

Thanks kindly for any input!

 

[Triton05]

Lowered NB to 1.26v so far so good. Just completed 10 maximum stress IBT passes. Kicking off Prime95 now for a while Ill be quite content to keep it at that voltage

 

[wolfram23]

I would defintely say stay within specs if you're concerned for longevity. I was trying to OC my i5 750 a while back and max vtt is 1.21, at 1.283V my mobo died. I'm not going over 1.21 again. lol.

 

[Triton05]

Man Crysis still is a demanding game!

64bit gpu benchmark

1440x900 DX10 | no=AA | HIGH = 62.8 FPS
1440x900 DX10 | no=AA | Very HIGH = 36.5 FPS

Jeesh... I should start eyeing a GTX470

 

[Raidur]

The NB voltage tolerance is going to depend mostly on the model of the motherboard, more than the chipset type. I can't confirm how much voltage/heat your NB/mobo can handle because of this. =/

 

[dEAne]

That was good, I didn't have that experience when I started overclocking, I have lots of scars but it's worth it.

 

[4Ryan6]

Only thing I did notice with the new build is my Video card seems to be running hotter then normal. Might be summer time temps. Idle 48C and while playing BC2 for a couple hours, I see it maxing around 88C.

While I had my rig apart I cleaned up the fan best I could. Not sure if the increased speed on the CPU is making the GPU work harder. But I don't think I ever noticed it running this hot.

Im using 197.45 Drivers at the moment. Used a driver cleaner and did a reinstall to be safe, but still temps arent moving any lower. *shrug*

If you're using the GPU stock heat sink you may get better results if you pull it, clean off the old thermal compound from the GPU die, and apply new thermal compound at least on the quality level of Artic Silver 5, and its a perfect time to see if any dust bunnies have gotten into the cooling fins.

Be careful with the thermal pads on the memory chips, and voltage regulators, as you will be reusing those, unless of course you have replacement thermal pads.

And as far as thermal compound on the GPU die, the least you have to use for full coverage, the better the temperature end result will be.

Nice OC by the way!

 

[Triton05]

I moved my HD to the top slot, this way the HD heat isnt getting sucked up by my 285. Now It has the entire bottom of the case to its self

I made a minute change, upped my FSB to 445 x 9 with a 2.4B strap. 1068Mhz memory now and its officially at 4.05Ghz. At 444 x9 I was actually 3.997Ghz LMAO!

The only other change I did was up my DRAM to 2.08v rather then 2.05v. The memory is rated for 2.1v at 1066Mhz. Since Im actually at 1068Mhz now, figure the little bump might help with stability.

Ive kept the NB at 1.26v and it appears to be happy.

Other then that, everything else appears to be great.

FYI Nvidia released new drivers today for Win7 64 + ( http://www.nvidia.com/object/win7-winvista-64bit-257.21-whql-driver.html )

So far so good.

 

[Triton05]

The moving of the HD seems to have helped.

Idle temp for my 285 is now 44C. My E8400 is sitting at 28C with my HD at a comfortable 25C.

Looks like that put my system in check! Surprising how moving one item 4 inches in a case can make such a big difference.