GUIDE: Overclocking On EP/P35-DS3L v1.3.1 [UPDATED: 10/2/2008] - Page 6

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This guide seems pretty helpful and I was thinking of getting this board. Would you say a Q6600 would be a good choice for overclocking with it?

^Yes, many ppl have been able to OC the Q6600 to ~3.4Ghz on this board.

I just got a new GA-EP35-DS3L and am attempting to overclock it with an E2160, per the recent article on the $500 build. Admittedly I am a n00b at OC'ing, but I thought this would be fairly straightforward because of the article and massive online postings regarding the ease of OC'ing GA-P35-DS3L and E2160. I am able to tweak the settings to 9x266, 2.0 multiplier (C1E etc. disabled) and it boots. Have not bothered with a stability test yet.

However... every time I try to change the vcore in BIOS (I am on F4 version), it will not "stick" to the next boot: the setting is still set in BIOS but it has no effect on the actual voltage as measured in BIOS/PC-Health, CPU-Z, or HWMonitor. Various postings on other sites have suggested CTRL-F1, resetting CMOS jumper, etc. Some people get it to "stick" for the next boot, but if the system is powered down for a few minutes to a few hours, the setting is "lost" and one has to go back in and reset it. This is the case even if no FSB or multiplier settings are changed from stock, so it is not really an OC-related issue.

Also, it seems like it is specific to the new "-EP35" and not the older "-P35". Supposedly the only difference between the two is the DES feature, which per this guide I did not even bother installing.

I am wondering if anyone has figured out a way to get the vcore setting to stick beyond a power-down?? (Or alternatively, I am wondering if I missed something in the 50+ google searches I did trying to find a solution to this issue...)

Thanks!!

When do the components start to fry? What makes it do so? I've never OCed before, so I'm kinda worried... I don't wanna ruin my rig.

So If I set the voltages for both the RAM and CPU at the max manufacturer's specs, there will be no risks? If so, I'd just have to tweak the FSB until the system is unstable, right? I understand this wouldn't give as much OC as higher voltages would, but it would at least be safe.
By the way, is the 4-4-4-12 timing for RAM the first four timing settings for RAM in the BIOS (Cas Latency and the next three)?

For RAM set it at manufacture settings. For CPU you can go high as stock voltages (aka VID) let you go. Please list full specs so I can provide more accurate info.

By stock voltage I am referring to your VID. Run CoreTemp and look under VID for stock voltage. Generally you should be able to hit around 3.0-3.2Ghz on stock voltage.

1. No, it seems like a BIOS issue, so Gigabyte has to fix that.

2. Yes, the S1283 will fit (P35-DS3L) in an Antec 900. If going with the XIGMATEK HSFs, a bolt in kit is highly recommended.

You know, tbh, Gigabyte just screwed up with this EP series of boards. I still would recommend this as only some boards (only some DS3L, some DS3R,etc) seems to have a problem, in any case if it doesn't work you can RMA it and grab a P5K.

It is fine to under clock the RAM, so if your RAM is DDR2 800, set SPD to equal DDR2 800, under CURRENT RAM SPEED. Generally I recommend running at 5-5-5-15 timing as timing won't have much effect in real life performance. As long as the RAM is below the RATED RAM speed you should be fine.

I guess if the timings don't give much performance boost, i'll just get 5-5-5-15 ones to save some money. I haven't bought the components yet, I'm thoroughly investigating and researching before I buy them, it being my first time.
By the way, I think I've been misunderstanding something. I didn't know the RATED RAM speed was detected and displayed by the MB ( now it makes sense to use the word "RATED" ). lol... I feel stupid- the CURRENT RAM SPEED is the variable that I can change, right? So the rated should show something like 800 if a DDR2-800 is installed.

Anyway, thanks a lot! I've learned a lot of stuff and feel more confident on overclocking now; I'll definately try when I get them.

EDIT: FEW MORE QUESTION!
hehe.. just a few. Should I set RAM voltage to 2.0v or 2.1v as the manufacturer's spec(is it called the VID?) says 2.0v-2.1v? Does this MB support 8800GT GPUs? In other words, PCI Express X16 2.0? I couldn't find the info on Gigabyte's website spec, etc. Also, is the EasyTune software for the MB useful?

Seconding the thanks here... and seconding the request for Mem. timings and settings needed for proper OCing..

and seconding esp. the DS3R additions! I know DS3L was very very popular but is it better to get the DS3R for a newer chip like the Q6600?

Is the quality of the DS3R really better than the DS3L for reasonable OCing of the Q6600 (say to 3.0 GHz) -- or is the construction the same (voltage handling etc) and do you just get more SATA sockets, USB etc (which I don't really need).?

Thanks again!

From initial post.
Should read.

You can also enter any other value like 300 (1200FSB)?

Great guide, thanks.

By backwards compatibility, did you mean PCIe 2.0 X16 cards will work in normal PCIe X16 slots? I thought you meant PCIe 2.0 X16 slots were compatible with PCIe X16 cards... If I can't get the full potential of the GPU with this mobo, anybody have other MB similar to this one that have PCIe 2.0 support?

So the PCIe slot on this MB would be sufficient enough to run an EVGA 8800GT(I don't see why they listed it as PCIe 2.0 when they can't even com close to using PCIe 1.1) at its full potential? Also, when I was looking at the MB's manual, I found out it has 2 SYS_FAN headers and one PWR_FAN header. What's the difference between PWR_FAN and SYS_FAN? And are these the headers where the case fans are connected? I'm planning on getting about 7~8 case fans- is it possible?
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Seems like i'm not really staying on the OC topic now... I'll make sure I post questions in appropriate sections in the future.

So the PWR_FAN and SYS_FAN headers are for case fans that could report RPM. If some of the fans are connected to the PSU, do they just run at full speed all the time?

Thats pretty sad.. lol

Yeah, I was thinking about getting a fan controller... can't find a decent one currently, I'm gonna do more research-

^ Haha... the reviews say the LEDs on it blinds you. But just in case, can a 4-pin fan connect to a 3-pin port, and vice versa?

EDIT:
I'll just get 3/4 pin fans to eliminate the hassle. (3/4 pins mean they come with 3pin and 4pin?)

Ok I'm having a bit of a problem. I have an e8400 with GA-P35-DS3R and 4gb of ddr800 ram. I OCD to 3.600ghz using a 400fsb with 9multiplier and basically left voltages on auto and adjusted memory to 1.1 so it stays at 800mhz. How would I go about increasing the speed further? If I increase the fsb when I restart my computer gets stuck in a restart cycle and eventually will load up but having reset bios settings to the stock 333mhz x 9multiplier.

I managed to get it up to 425fsb. I have 1.3vcore and ram voltage is 2.0. The rest of the voltage settings at bottom of the bios are on normal as I don't know what they are for really. I heard these things can easily crank up to 4ghz so I must be doing something wrong, any higher and I'll just get stuck in the restart cycle until it resets my bios.

Thanks for this thread, very helpful information.

Here's where Im at:

Q6600 B-Step G0 VID 1.2875
Water Cooled
GA-P35-DS3L
G-Skill DDR2-1066 (2.0-2.1v) 5-5-5-15

Temperatures dont seem to be a problem, under full Prime95 load the highest I hit is ~55C

Im completely stable at
9x 375 FSB (regular and voltage upping)

Somewhat unstable (occasional prime95 errors, but no hard-locks)
9x 385 FSB
DDR2 +0.3v
PCI-E +0.1v
FSB +0.2v
GMCH +0.2v
CPU 1.375v

Unstable (hard locks after a bit of Prime95)
9x 400 FSB
DDR2 +0.3v
PCI-E +0.1v
FSB +0.2v
GMCH +0.2v
CPU 1.40v

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I'd like to get it to 400FSB (3.6GHz) as it seems I still have plenty of temperature to spare.

I bought the RAM before reading this thread, should I try switching to DDR2-800?
Or
Should I bump up some more of the voltages?

Thanks for the advice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820231166

Thanks, I'll try those tests.
Should I do the Blend test with stock settings, or with things overclocked?

If the RAM turns out to be good, where should I go from there to try and hit 400FSB, more voltage?

I have a question.

Could I up my FSB to 400, drop my CPU Multiplier to 6X and run memtest/blend to make sure my FSB/RAM is stable?

After being stable on this, up the multiplier to 7X. Repeat testing process and adjust CPU voltage until stable.

After stable, up multiplier to 3.2 and repeat process again.

This would allow me to isolate the troubleshooting/testing more.

I think I will be happy running my Q6600 at 3.2 (400X8) and FSB at 400.

I have a EP35-DS3L with the beta F5c BIOS that is floating around overclocker message boards. This BIOS doesn't have the voltage "stick" problem that people have reported in this, and other, threads.

I'm having stability issues with OC'ing my E2180 to 3GHz (9x333MHz) when manually changing the voltage. If I set all of the voltage settings to Auto, then Orthos Blend, Small FFTs, and Memtest all go for 8+ hours without a problem. The CPU's temp peaks around 60C for the first hour or so, then backs down to around 52C for the duration of the test.

Unfortunately, the motherboard wants to set the Vcore to 1.536 according to CPU-Z. If I manually set the Vcore to 1.46-1.48, Orthos Blend stress tests fail either within minutes or after 9 hours. I've changed the DDR2 voltage, FSB voltage, and MCH voltage per Shadow703793's post above and still have instability.

Here's a rundown of my system and settings:

EP35-DS3L
E2180 @ 3.0GHz 9x mulitplier 333 MHz
Geil DDR2-800 5-4-4-12 @ 5:6 ratio (still at 800)
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro


How are the rest of you able to OC your E2180 @ 3GHz without keeping the voltage at 1.5v+? Is this a problem with the EP35's?

EDIT: I just read on another board that I need to load optimized defaults after flashing the BIOS, which I did not do. I will try that when I get home.

Nice thread. Really helpful, but unfortunately I am having troble.
System Specs:
CPU: Q6700@2.66(266fsbx10)
Ram: Corsair XMS2 4-4-4-12 ddr2 800
Case: CM 690(2 fans on top, 1 front, 1 side, and 1 back)
Heatsink: Coolermaster Hyper TX2

I did a slight overclock to 2.8 by raising the CPU multiplier and lowering the fsb. I just ran crysis with coretemp and got up to 53C within 5 minutes of play. I then set the bios to optimal default which lowered my clock speed to 2.66Ghz with the CPU multiplier at 10.
Running CoreTemp with this setting(2.66Ghz) I go above 60C in about 7-8 minutes.

At idle I am getting:
0: 37C
1: 37C
2: 34C
3: 36C

That seems a bit high. What should i do to lower my Core temp so I can OC. I only want to go up to about 3.0 or 3.2Ghz.