How do I make it stable?

[Mr. Smith]

I was overclocking my new 7900gto and was running 3dmark05 to see how it faired.

PC sailed through the 3d part, but after a few frames of the cpu test my PC reset and re-booted fine.

This is the first pc I have built and overclocked. My e6600 is at 3.2ghz, modest enough.

The only stability tests I had run previously were sisoft burn in and hours of gaming here and there...

After this sudden re-boot I ran dual prime95 - the prime95 set to core 1 in the affinity failed almost instantly. The other continued to run happily???

cpuz reads volts at 1.2 but in the bios it is set at 1.35...

 

[ionicle]

up it to 1.4....should give it some more stability

if that doesnt work, then ...clock it down to 3.1

it seems one of your core's is a better clocker than the other....its summet you have to live with

 

[NoL]

Have you tried a 32m pi?

 

[llwyd]

up it to 1.4....should give it some more stability

if that doesnt work, then ...clock it down to 3.1

it seems one of your core's is a better clocker than the other....its summet you have to live with

CPU-Z does not have accurate readings for conroe afaik but what he says in right, increase both your CPU and ram voltage a little and maybe loosen your memory timings a little depending on what theyre at now? also try putting them to 2T (if that still applies to DDR2 *shrugs*)

 

[FragTek]

Up your vcore... If you have good air cooling that chip can take up to 1.5v safely.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Nice one for the support fellas.

I was trying to keep the volts as low as possible... I'll up them tonight. I haven't done a super pi 32m just a 1m a few times. As for ram timings they were 5-5-5-15, I knocked them down to 4-4-4-12.

So it could be the volts or the timings, I'm sure there is more to be had from this conroe - i'm stuck at 360x9...

CPU & GPU are watercooled. Temps start at (cpu) 27 deg C idle and climb to 32 after a couple of hours surfing, after a few hours gaming cpu reached 40 deg c. gpu starts at 34 and reached 40 after a few hours gaming. Is there a way to chill my res to lower temps further?

A little off topic - Frag, your gto clocked all the way up (you had the sliders in coolbits to the top) - mine won't budge past mem 752mhz, gpu 700mhz on coolbits - how did you manage to get yours maxed? Is it luck of the draw?

Thanks again - i'll let you know if its stable tonight

 

[FragTek]

yah mate, luck of the draw on the GTO's. This is why the debranded them as GTX's and made em GTO's. Some of the cards had some memory issues which wouldn't let the cards run correctly at 800mhz like the GTX's. Looks like you may have gotten one of those cards. Your gpu clock is pretty good though. I have my GPU clocks at @ 725 and my memory is at 840.

 

[FarFarAway]

And generally a higher clocked GPU is better than higher clocked RAM

 

[FragTek]

And generally a higher clocked GPU is better than higher clocked RAM

Yup, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it MrSmith... Still a fabulous card at an unbeatable deal no matter what your overclocking outcome is.

 

[Mr. Smith]

Yup, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it MrSmith... Still a fabulous card at an unbeatable deal no matter what your overclocking outcome is.

Amen to that - I was just checkin you hadn't got any tricks up your sleeve to squeeze the extra hertz out.

I read a comparison of gfx cards not too long ago. Thir conclusions (strangly enough ;D) agree with your comments - gains made from extra ram, 256mb to 512mb were small where as the gains made from gpu mhz were hugely significant.

I'm happy, my games look slick.

Thinking about my oc'in more - i did do dual prime for the oc, but not after I changed the latencys of the ram...

 

[Ham]

Well they do know what theyre talking about.

About your ram timings though. When they say 'losen' you need to put the numbers up, not down.

 

[Mr. Smith]

LOL - Cheers Ham, I'm a noob ,but not that much of a noob. I was simply stating them for reference.

I upped the volts to the cpu to 1.4, ran super pi 32m no probs - started dual prime. My temps went through the roof. Hit 70 degC in about 1min so I stopped the test. What is a safe temp? I don't want to fry my beloved conroe!

 

[FarFarAway]

70*C deffo too high. 60 is *ok* if you're not on water

 

[Mr. Smith]

Cheers Kemp. I thought that was too high.

With the higher volts it will run 3dmark05 but I cant get a stable prime95 - im not even clocking high.

To be blunt: What is the deal with lowering the clock multiplier and raising the fsb? Is that the route I should go for bigger clocks?

I left my pc on all day at work downloading so its warm but 70 degC! WTF!

Think I might set the ram back to 5-5-5-15 and drop the volts back to 1.35 then see if I can get a stable prime

 

[FarFarAway]

You can clock up the FSB and lower the multi but tbh I've never seen this working over leaving the multi

 

[Mr. Smith]

All is good again. Had to knock down to 3.195ghz (which dual primes at 56-60 deg C) also put the volts up from 1.350 to 1.375, oh, and knocked down the oc on my gto a little. Thanks peeps

 

[TJS]

Something isn't quite right, MrSmith... you should be able to go a bit further than what I'm getting, using a MAX over my vanilla AW9D, and Corsair Dominator RAM compared to my standard DDR2-800 G.Skill memory...

First off, you said this is your first build? Did you apply thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5, something similar), use a paper-thin coat over the entire proc, and screw down tight the WC block (not too tight, but definitely getting good even contact)?

Make sure your case has good air intake/ ventilation, sure-fire way to cook pc components (silicon stew?) even using watercooling on your cpu and gpu's... hope the room your pc resides in isn't hot either, like to keep mine about 66-69F.

Get the latest BIOS update, got a beta that works great from the ABIT website... download it, then use the Windows flash-update, works like a charm. (Could never get it to work on my ASUS A8N32SLI )

RAM: you should get 4-4-4-12 timings easily, check to see what the mfr suggests the voltages should be, and then up them a little at a time. Mine are rated 5-5-5-15/1.8-2V, but I can keep them at 4-4-4-12/2.25V (tRef @30 instead of 28 [believe that's default])... The tRef (tRFC) on its own enabled me to go past 390FSB, but at 38 my overclocking benchmarks sucked, gotta find how low you can go... Edit: almost forgot, if you manually set your RAM timings, make sure you switch to a 1:1 divider to start; if your RAM can handle the higher FSB settings, you can switch to another divider. The Uguru in the BIOS will let you know the estimated speed of your Ext. Clock and RAM in MHz after you make changes... let me find a picture... ah, even better is Kempez's review, look at the BIOS page and screenshot to see the 'estimated' part...

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews....e=1&desc=abit_aw9d_max_socket_775_motherboard

You should be able to fiddle with the settings and just reboot if a setting doesn't take (crashes, reboots on its own, or wrestles with you and gives you a wedgie). You can try to go lower, but past experience hath shown that going for lower timings can really

off your BIOS if you go too low... be ready to play doctor and pull CMOS and clear using the jumper.

I've seen a whole

LOAD of C2D E6600's overclocked to 3.5, 3.6 on 3dmark05/06, you'd think someone held a clearance sale and you could get a trade-in rebate as well...

412FSB=3.708GHz

3dmark06 stable

3dmark05 stable (

program kept shutting me down at higher FSB's, even if 3dmark06 wouldn't)

Prime95 stable

That's stable enough for me.

If I think of anything else I'll let you know...

TJS

 

[Mr. Smith]

TJS - woah! You are thinking about my pc more than me lol. Cheers!

Ok, lots to address. Yes I have thermal paste AS5, a nice thin spread, the block is fastened down not too tightly put nice and even. I have 2x120mm fans on my rad in pull setup, on 120mm exhaust fan and one 80mm intake fan at the front of case.

I started with 1:1 timings but that produced really low ram mhz - these puppys are rated at 1066 so i went for the 4:5 ratio. As for latency - I knocked it down but put it back to 5-5-5-15 due to instability. ram volts are at 2.2.

I also lowered the oc on my gto as a got the occasional flicker on the screen - a moment of blackness - me thinks twas set too high.

I have seen plenty of e6600's at 3.6 myself but is that not luck of the draw?

Room temp is average.

I'm tired and have work early. My brain hurts from today! I'll get the new bios, go back to 1:1 ram ratios, bang on some more core volts if needs be etc etc.

This is my first rig and oc - however I do read the guides on here and other places 1st before attempting these things. I may just have a dud e6600 that doesn't want to clock high, it is only rated for 2.4...

Cheers friend

 

[TJS]

EXPERIENCED OVERCLOCKERS, PLEASE READ... NEED HELP WITH THEORY!

No problem, MrSmith, I like to do this

... helps when I do this stuff to my own pc's...

I'm not here to patronize you either, just covering the bases... I miss some things, or don't know about them, and have to ask what's what.

Back to the issue at hand, I don't think you have a dud. Neither in the mobo or proc itself... but with the N/B strap - RAM. Been trying to work it out in my head, but I don't have the experience with Intel configurations to give expert advice based on knowledge, but rather what I think the issue is.

When I had an AMD pc, I used DDR-500 to pump up my overclocking ability... and took a 2GHz Opty to 2.5GHz. Then it came to a dead stop, and I couldn't figure out why... until I noticed a monitoring program I had showing me that my HTT went through the roof. I had to back it down from 1GHz to 800MHz, then I could push my "FSB" higher, and my HTT and RAM would continue to go further as well.

I believe that you need to pull your N/B strap down from 1066 to 800, and then continue the slow process of overclocking again, I'm positive you can hit 3.6GHz stable no sweat with the components you have and the configuration you describe.

TJS

PS: 'Experienced overclockers', weigh in and tell us if I'm on the right track or ass-backwards... if MrSmith needs to change the N/B strap and DRAM setting (533/667/800), whatever else I may be missing. Thanks!

PPS: Bear in mind MrSmith is using an E6600, AW9D-MAX, and Corsair Dominator @1066 RAM...

 

[TJS]

BTW, 'luck of the draw' it may be concerning how well your E6600 oc's, but it should still scale past 3.2GHz. Some people I've seen with monster overclocks know how to manipulate all the BIOS settings very well (I'm thinking Kemp and Frag, Devious, plenty of others)... but for the average oc'er like me and you, the simple settings should still net us the good overclocks. Only if the proc is a lemon should you be stuck at 3.2GHz with an E6600; I'll be damned if it doesn't do at least 3.6GHz stable!

Where you want to keep your final overclock is up to you, but I'll find out (undoubtedly with help) what's holding you back.

TJS