Testing / comparing : Intel D975XBX2 / Asus P5B DX ***56K WARNING***

I've been doing loads of searches, and am still wondering what the effect of VT tech is on an overclock. I know people recommend disabling it, but whether it's on or off doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me. I'm only running a single OS (Vista 64) but I've read alternately that VT tech will only work in a multi-OS virtualization setup, or that it can also help with individual processes within a single OS.

I've got nearly the exact same setup as gtj, with the following:

Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
E6600 CPU
4x 1G OCZ DDR2-800 Platinum Rev2
Antec P180
Corsair 620HX Power Supply
Raptor 74G
320G Seagate 7200.10
eVGA 8800 GTX
Scythe Ninja Rev B and Artic Silver 5 (which I needed to modify to get to fit next to the capacitors)

Running at 356FSB for 3.2GHZ with the vCore, vFSB and vMCH at the board stock, and the ram at 4-4-4-15 at 2.04 vdimm (which is also pretty much stock).

My temps seem a little on the high side so I haven't really overclocked much more than that. With Speedfan my temps report for the CPU at 37 idle and 62 under heavy load with Orthos, with the board (chipset) running around 45 idle and 52 under heavy load. Of course in gaming and heavy Photoshop use the CPU maxes out at around 47 and the chipset hits 52. Ambient temps in the room are around 26-27c. (I'm using the Bios and Speedfan "Cpu" figure for the temp ... each core always reports about 8c cooler than the "Cpu" number).

Haven't done anything extra to cool the chipset, other than getting an Antec Spot Cool and running it at low, and my case is filled with Scythe and Nexus fans all running low (quiet trumps speed for the time being).

Just wondering if, when I decide to overclock further, I should really disable VT tech and at what temp range I should begin to worry. I've tried upping the vCore to 1.4 in bios but can't seem to get the CPU stable at 3.4, and figure I'll need to bump up the other voltages a bit.

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Originally Posted by gtj

Got a cat that's playing with your mouse? :)

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nope. :confused:

oh, one more thing that isnt quite right. i have no front audio.
i am using the vista drivers, and it says i dont have a HD audio device attatched.... my case has AC97 headers. suggestions?

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Originally Posted by argylesocks

nope. :confused:

oh, one more thing that isnt quite right. i have no front audio.
i am using the vista drivers, and it says i dont have a HD audio device attatched.... my case has AC97 headers. suggestions?

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The only way I could get the front audio to work is to install the Sigmatel audio drivers from the Intel site. Only problem is that there's some sort of incompatibility between Sigmatel's latest and Supreme Commander which results in no sound ... so I've just been using the Vista drivers and plugging my headphones into my desk speakers which have a jack.

why is cpu-z only showing 1.6 ghz on my e6300 on the badaxe 2 motherboard?

is there something wrong with my processor?

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My xeon is L631b115

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Naah this would be a Malaysian CPU.

Hmmm... I think I have a dud. :(

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Originally Posted by slappynutz

I've been doing loads of searches, and am still wondering what the effect of VT tech is on an overclock. I know people recommend disabling it, but whether it's on or off doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me. I'm only running a single OS (Vista 64) but I've read alternately that VT tech will only work in a multi-OS virtualization setup, or that it can also help with individual processes within a single OS.

I've got nearly the exact same setup as gtj, with the following:

Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
E6600 CPU
4x 1G OCZ DDR2-800 Platinum Rev2
Antec P180
Corsair 620HX Power Supply
Raptor 74G
320G Seagate 7200.10
eVGA 8800 GTX
Scythe Ninja Rev B and Artic Silver 5 (which I needed to modify to get to fit next to the capacitors)

Running at 356FSB for 3.2GHZ with the vCore, vFSB and vMCH at the board stock, and the ram at 4-4-4-15 at 2.04 vdimm (which is also pretty much stock).

My temps seem a little on the high side so I haven't really overclocked much more than that. With Speedfan my temps report for the CPU at 37 idle and 62 under heavy load with Orthos, with the board (chipset) running around 45 idle and 52 under heavy load. Of course in gaming and heavy Photoshop use the CPU maxes out at around 47 and the chipset hits 52. Ambient temps in the room are around 26-27c. (I'm using the Bios and Speedfan "Cpu" figure for the temp ... each core always reports about 8c cooler than the "Cpu" number).

Haven't done anything extra to cool the chipset, other than getting an Antec Spot Cool and running it at low, and my case is filled with Scythe and Nexus fans all running low (quiet trumps speed for the time being).

Just wondering if, when I decide to overclock further, I should really disable VT tech and at what temp range I should begin to worry. I've tried upping the vCore to 1.4 in bios but can't seem to get the CPU stable at 3.4, and figure I'll need to bump up the other voltages a bit.

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Well, VT doesn't hurt anything and is only going to help you if you're running software that actually explicitly makes use of it. I always disable things I don't need but this is one that just isn't going to matter one way or the other.

When you look at temps ALWAYS use the core temps. They are the most accurate and relevent. The "cpu" temp could be higher or lower depending on the circumstances just because of where that particular sensor is located.

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Originally Posted by argylesocks

nope. :confused:

oh, one more thing that isnt quite right. i have no front audio.
i am using the vista drivers, and it says i dont have a HD audio device attatched.... my case has AC97 headers. suggestions?

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I think the newer bios revisions have a setting to change between Intel HD front panel and AC97, now you have me wondering so I will have to reboot and look :confused: I tried to run off the onboard sound for a while, but two major things drove me back to my (not fully functional anymore) X-fi:
1) I have what is now an oddball/unconventional speaker setup, a Klipsch 4.1 set. There are only 2 minijack leads from the speaker set, front and rear channel. I guess there is a built in crossover inside the subwoofer/amplifier that grabs the bass from the front and rear channels. However, there is no way to configure the sound setup to work properly with my speakers :( If I had 2.1, 5.1, 6.1, 7.1 etc I would be fine but this 4.1 setup is the redheaded stepchild of PC audio. Too bad because it sounds pretty good.
2) My headphones aren't driven adequately by the output of the onboard card, but the headphone out on the X-fi front bay works fantastic for this. Maybe I will build a mini headphone amp someday so I can try the HD audio again, no sound in Linux really sucks and prevents me from using it more often.

As far as VT tech, Idont' think the setting really makes any difference as far as overclock, but most experienced clockers shut off features they don't use out of habit, and don't really spend much time weighing the benefits/consequences since the feature wasn't being used regardless. So many boards have had so many quirks about overclocking it is just a natural first step.

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Originally Posted by gtj

No problems with any slots here. I use 1 & 3 out of habit.

Leave the power connectors ganged together so you have the 2x12 main connector and the 2x4 cpu power connector and use them both. Also if your video card doesn't have it's own pci-e power input, plug 1 of the 1x4 molex "hard drive" power connectors into the socket right behind the LAN connector on the MB.

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Wait so that molex on the mobo is just for extra power to GPU's without a 6-pin? So if someone mistakenly plugged it in would they fry their CPU?

also what is the bios I should have on this female dog

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Originally Posted by cursivearmy1

Wait so that molex on the mobo is just for extra power to GPU's without a 6-pin? So if someone mistakenly plugged it in would they fry their CPU?

also what is the bios I should have on this female dog

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Won't fry anything. You just don't need it if you power the video with its own 6-pin. It's been mistaken for a fan supply sometimes but even that isn't going to fry anything.

2333 is the Generally Accepted Most Stable (GAMS) BIOS however, it has the bug that leaves your HDD light on all the time if you disable the marvell SATA controller. So if you don't use that one, use the latest which is 2634.

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The only way I could get the front audio to work is to install the Sigmatel audio drivers from the Intel site. Only problem is that there's some sort of incompatibility between Sigmatel's latest and Supreme Commander which results in no sound ... so I've just been using the Vista drivers and plugging my headphones into my desk speakers which have a jack.

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Zero problems here with the front audio, but I had to buy a soundblaster external card for Voip. Sound drivers of Vista solves the famous problem of the low level mic-input in the Sigmatel?

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Originally Posted by gtj

Well, VT doesn't hurt anything and is only going to help you if you're running software that actually explicitly makes use of it. I always disable things I don't need but this is one that just isn't going to matter one way or the other.

When you look at temps ALWAYS use the core temps. They are the most accurate and relevent. The "cpu" temp could be higher or lower depending on the circumstances just because of where that particular sensor is located.

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Cool about VT Tech ... everyone said to disable it but never explained how it would hurt an overclock. With the C1E bug it seems like I'm really only disabling EIST and Watchdog. Good to know.

And if everyone else is reporting temps from the core reading, I guess my own are remarkably low. Idle is 31c for me in an ambient of 26c right now. Max temp at peak is around 54c. Guess I have a lot more headroom to overclock in my system, which is nearly silent with all my fans. I suppose it's normal for the chipset temp to be high on this board ... never took the northbridge sink off and applied proper thermal grease. During gaming the northbridge is the hottest thing in my system, hitting 51-52c. Thinking of moving the video card down to the #2 PCI-e slot to help airflow and give the chipset some space.

Don't know how much a difference I'll feel between 3.2ghz and 3.6ghz. With the 8800GTX (stock model ... thinking of flashing to the eVGA Superclocked bios but even that is only a few more FPS) I'm fairly good performance-wise. Should probably just leave well enough alone.

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Originally Posted by ChaosMinionX

Has anyone had a problem with this board killing ram? It seems the 2nd blue slot is killing ram like its job for me. thats the 2nd stick of dominator c3 that its killed, the other one runs fine.

Vmch was at 1.5v and the fsb was 1.4v 3-4-3-7 2.4v just dropped the last timing by 1. What is with this board its a new board too as I had to buy a new one because last one had bent pins after. hmmm

the supposed dead stick will still boot, but soon as I use memtest it racks up about 1000 errors right after it loads and starts running the test.

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Yes i think it is killing mem in that slot also. I lost 1 ocz pc2 8000 titanium alpha stick and 1 OCZ flex xlc stick. What i have found is that the baord kills d9 chips but does not hurt elpida based chips. Using OCZ pc2 6400 platinum edition ram using elpida chips and have never had a problem also with these sticks i have never had to use the 1 stick boot method .

So would it be a good idea for people running Micron D9 based RAM to maybe move the RAM in the other 2 slots? I don't wanna be buying new RAM as well. :)

[QUOTE=J@mmer]So would it be a good idea for people running Micron D9 based RAM to maybe move the RAM in the other 2 slots? I don't wanna be buying new RAM as well. :)[/QUOT

Thats a good question..but it prolly wouldnt hurt . Im sticking to elpida with this board untill some one figures this out. So far i have killed 3 very high end and very expensive d9 based sticks in second blue slot. This is my 24\7 stable clock using chilled liquid cooling. with elpida sticks.

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Originally Posted by J@mmer

GPSeek, dude we seem to have the same setup. May ask how u got yours stable at 3.6? I've been breaking my balls but so far no joy. What are your BIOS settings for that OC? Cheers mate.

EDIT: ChaosMinionX or yourself, it seems your rig is similar as well.

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I show it on my signature:

CPU: Xeon 3060 400*9 = 3.60GHz @1.40v in Bios
DDR2: Crucial Ballistix 2Gb + Crucial Tracer 2Gb @ 400MHz (1:1) 3-3-3-8 @2.32v

I just leave the vMCH and vFBS at their default.:stick:
Disabled Watchdog, C1E and EIST.
That's it. Nothing special.:fact:

PS: Each version of bios from 2333 to 2618 works for me just fine in terms of overclocking.

okay guys this is very important to me I am getting my bx2 soon and I use d9 memory. I don't want it to die.
So should I put it in the black slots?

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Originally Posted by cursivearmy1

okay guys this is very important to me I am getting my bx2 soon and I use d9 memory. I don't want it to die.
So should I put it in the black slots?

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Frying ram sticks happen once in a while nowadays due to memory module makers' aggressive binning process that leave much less tolerance than before. If you touch them, they are hot!:slapass:

I think the blue slots are the lower banks (dimm0), which are the first natural place where you first 2Gb pair goes. I don't see any reasons to avoid them.
However, there are still chances that your sticks may fail over time, that is one of the reasons I'm running 4Gb. In case of one or two sticks fail, I still have 2 sticks working.:)

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Originally Posted by cursivearmy1

okay guys this is very important to me I am getting my bx2 soon and I use d9 memory. I don't want it to die.
So should I put it in the black slots?

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Sorry but i really cant tell you what to do because i dont know what is causing this. All i can do is tell u my experience using this board for past couple months. Every d9 stick that I have tried has died in second blue slot. The stick will still boot but it errors like mad in memtest using any timings . I have removed it and tried it in other computers with same results. Chips that have died for me are OCZ flex xlc 1150mhz, Corsair 8500c5, OCZ pc2 8000 titanium alpha VX2.

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Originally Posted by gtj

Won't fry anything. You just don't need it if you power the video with its own 6-pin.

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So there is NO reason at all for hooking this up? I'm currently preping a P180/neo HE 550 for this board and was thinking I'd build a harness just for that molex. I'll be running crossfire x1950 pro's which do have their own 6-pins. Just hate to leave a power connecter unfilled ya know!
I was thinking about using the stock 4-pin cpu connector (modded to molex) for this. Obviously it wouldn't have a 5V feed so I'd leave that pin blank. Any idea if that would make any operational difference? If this molex connector is just for the pcie then the 5v feed wouldn't be used for anything anyway right?

Great thread! Had to sign up. :toast:

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Originally Posted by GPSeek

I show it on my signature:

CPU: Xeon 3060 400*9 = 3.60GHz @1.40v in Bios
DDR2: Crucial Ballistix 2Gb + Crucial Tracer 2Gb @ 400MHz (1:1) 3-3-3-8 @2.32v

I just leave the vMCH and vFBS at their default.:stick:
Disabled Watchdog, C1E and EIST.
That's it. Nothing special.:fact:

PS: Each version of bios from 2333 to 2618 works for me just fine in terms of overclocking.

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Thanks for that. I have tried all that but no joy, I may need to borrow a CPU and a board from a friend to ascertain wether it is the board or the CPU. I should have known better than to stray from Asus boards I guess. *sigh*

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Originally Posted by Severance

Sorry but i really cant tell you what to do because i dont know what is causing this. All i can do is tell u my experience using this board for past couple months. Every d9 stick that I have tried has died in second blue slot. The stick will still boot but it errors like mad in memtest using any timings . I have removed it and tried it in other computers with same results. Chips that have died for me are OCZ flex xlc 1150mhz, Corsair 8500c5, OCZ pc2 8000 titanium alpha VX2.

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Dang that's upsetting. I have 4 sticks of 1GB OCZ Titanium Alpha that no longer boot (even 1 at a time) at stock voltages in this board. I've been talking with OCZ about RMA, but they're being slow to issue me a number. They don't believe all 4 sticks went bad. The board runs perfectly stable with my G.Skill HZ's though... but I'm wondering how long until this board murders them too... :(

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Originally Posted by vega22

Zero problems here with the front audio, but I had to buy a soundblaster external card for Voip. Sound drivers of Vista solves the famous problem of the low level mic-input in the Sigmatel?

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yeah. i figured it would work fine with a soundblaster.
however, im using onboard audio. my decoder/amp has an optical in, so i use that & it works great. i watched superman2 in Dolby Digital 5.1 last night & it never sounded so good.

for some reason, SB cards dont have a s/pdif output (coax or optical)... and i could never get that digital 1/8th to s/pdif plug to work on my old sound card.. so i want to stick with the optical line.

guess its no go for the front headphones. ugh. no biggie, i guess. but a little annoying.

no, i dont believe there is a section in the bios to change this.. i looked & emailed Intel about it.

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Originally Posted by GPSeek

I show it on my signature:

CPU: Xeon 3060 400*9 = 3.60GHz @1.40v in Bios
DDR2: Crucial Ballistix 2Gb + Crucial Tracer 2Gb @ 400MHz (1:1) 3-3-3-8 @2.32v

I just leave the vMCH and vFBS at their default.:stick:
Disabled Watchdog, C1E and EIST.
That's it. Nothing special.:fact:

PS: Each version of bios from 2333 to 2618 works for me just fine in terms of overclocking.

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I don't know how you guys do it either. I can't even post at 400mhz. Orthos causes blue screens after 5 min @ 360mhz, 1.5v cpu... *sigh*... Seems like it's stable at 350mhz, 1.48v though.

What's the trick for 350+? Is it the memory divider? I've been using 1:1 (266/533) and 4-4-4-12 timings on my G.Skill HZ's @ 2.04v. I'd even be happy with 375! :(

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Originally Posted by slappynutz

I've been doing loads of searches, and am still wondering what the effect of VT tech is on an overclock. I know people recommend disabling it, but whether it's on or off doesn't seem to make much of a difference to me. I'm only running a single OS (Vista 64) but I've read alternately that VT tech will only work in a multi-OS virtualization setup, or that it can also help with individual processes within a single OS.

I've got nearly the exact same setup as gtj, with the following:

Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard
E6600 CPU
4x 1G OCZ DDR2-800 Platinum Rev2
Antec P180
Corsair 620HX Power Supply
Raptor 74G
320G Seagate 7200.10
eVGA 8800 GTX
Scythe Ninja Rev B and Artic Silver 5 (which I needed to modify to get to fit next to the capacitors)

Running at 356FSB for 3.2GHZ with the vCore, vFSB and vMCH at the board stock, and the ram at 4-4-4-15 at 2.04 vdimm (which is also pretty much stock).

My temps seem a little on the high side so I haven't really overclocked much more than that. With Speedfan my temps report for the CPU at 37 idle and 62 under heavy load with Orthos, with the board (chipset) running around 45 idle and 52 under heavy load. Of course in gaming and heavy Photoshop use the CPU maxes out at around 47 and the chipset hits 52. Ambient temps in the room are around 26-27c. (I'm using the Bios and Speedfan "Cpu" figure for the temp ... each core always reports about 8c cooler than the "Cpu" number).

Haven't done anything extra to cool the chipset, other than getting an Antec Spot Cool and running it at low, and my case is filled with Scythe and Nexus fans all running low (quiet trumps speed for the time being).

Just wondering if, when I decide to overclock further, I should really disable VT tech and at what temp range I should begin to worry. I've tried upping the vCore to 1.4 in bios but can't seem to get the CPU stable at 3.4, and figure I'll need to bump up the other voltages a bit.

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I had no problem fitting in my scythe ninja rev b on my badaxe 2 without modifying any of the capacitors, all i did was rotate the ninja to the shorter side of the heat pipes so that it will be in clearance with the bulging capacitors

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Originally Posted by J@mmer

Thanks for that. I have tried all that but no joy, I may need to borrow a CPU and a board from a friend to ascertain wether it is the board or the CPU. I should have known better than to stray from Asus boards I guess. *sigh*

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If I had to pick one between the CPU and board, I would pick the CPU for sure as a safer bet.

Not every CPU can go over 400*9. :fact: Don't forget the chip is still the primary key for overclocking.

My 3060's IHS is very concave and running hot. If I had lapped it, I could probablly push it to 3.8GHz (24/7) without much effort.