Gigabyte EP45T-Extreme 14K+ across the board

I posted a bit of a teaser last week and promised the details after the GOOC, so here they are...

EP45T-Extreme
F3 Final BIOS
2x1GB Crucial Ballistix 1600s
1.80Vmch (wish they would increase the BIOS option to 1.90-1.95V)

LN2 on the proc, WC on the NB for everything including the CPU-Z. Obviously I was going for FSB and not CPU clocks on the validation. It went to 700 so easily, I tried straight to 710, but it didn't like that and I never went back to try 701-705 since it cracked 700 already.

I can keep PL=8 up to ~670FSB IIRC. I am hoping with LN2 on the NB, I can keep PL=8 and bench b/w @ 700FSB (or at least 700FSB period). I didn't do anything with primaries because it's a bit harsh at this level...just enough on secondaries to get 14K+ across the board, but there is some room for improvement and I have some new sticks to try too :)

Just for the record, these are all on the same boot/one Everest opening, just had to screen individually because it's the trial version :(

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...45t/685_bw.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5t/685_bw2.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5t/685_bw3.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...5t/685_bw4.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...45t_700fsb.png

fantastic work

can you give heads up on settings you used. Also it would be nice if you could show max stable 3D clocks with '01 or '03/05

:up:

try dual GFX cards and see if you can still maintain the clocks :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

fantastic work

can you give heads up on settings you used. Also it would be nice if you could show max stable 3D clocks with '01 or '03/05

:up:

try dual GFX cards and see if you can still maintain the clocks :)

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I am going by memory here, so take these with a grain of salt. The next time that chip is in on LN2, I will double-check. For the most part, I have 2 8600s and run basically the same settings with roughly the same results.

- Vc as needed (sometimes more than needed :))
- 700/700 on the drives
- 100-300ps CPU
- 0-150ps MCH (can't be more than 150ps diff between CPU/MCH)
- Perf Enhancement: try them all, 1 will work better than the other 2 and which one seems to change by BIOS and/or CPU/PCIe drives if you change them.
- PLL/VTT = 1.56/1.80
- MCH voltage = 1.80V, but IIRC, it doesn't gain much/anything over 1.68-1.70V and on some BIOSes, too much is just as unstable as too little :shrug:
- Vddr = 2.14

All "advanced" mem timings are AUTO and no set skews. I can't think of anything else off the top of my head, so if you need anything else specific, just ask ;)

Does 3Ds with CF @ 620-640FSB with CPU and NB on WC only and lower multis. The 10x multi is a real pain though. Even with LN2, so far 620-625FSB is about the limit on 10x for 3Ds...haven't tried 9-9.5x, but I guess I could. I just put up a couple 6.1-6.2GHz 3Ds on hwbot (all CF) and I should have a couple more of them at 6.2GHz on my bench HDD as soon as I unpack the rest of the rig and hook it back up :)

Both procs have the exact same cold bug (-110C loaded/-107C unloaded) and both have the exact same FSB limit on 10x (~630), CF or not, even 1:1 or not. I am really not sure if they just are identical like that, if I am missing some setting that is causing that wall or if it has something to do with the mobo itself (at least as far as the identical cold bugs for all the 8600s I've tried in it). It would be nice if someone would post the anti-cold bug mod so I could run these things cold :confused: :D

All of the following benches:

CPU Cooling: NexXxos XP waterblock
NB Cooling: Swiftech MCW-30
Loop: MCP-350 pump, BIP2 rad with 2x ~35CFM case fans on it ;)
Ambient temp: ~78F
Vid cards: 4850 CF

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...d06_620fwm.png

I also find it a bit odd that it won't finish 3D05 at least at the same FSB/settings as 3D03, but ATM, it definitely needs to be less...might need to reinstall it :shrug:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...3d05_620wm.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...3d03_640wm.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...3d01_640wm.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1.../32m_620wm.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/8m_640wm.png

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/1m_665wm.png

those volts make a lot of sense
from what i've seen with 45nm chips it's really good to keep both VTT and VNB very close to maximise stability

I've been playing with both DDR2 and DDR3 boards. i've been using about ~1.4VTT and 1.55VNB on the DDR2 board to bench 640MHz 8M SuperPi >> had some issues with GTX280 past 620MHz FSB which was good for 3D .......

i haven't been able to do the same on this DDR3 board but this is certainly a lot of extremely useful info to try out :up: i've tried up to 1.66vTT and 1.7VNB but it yielded no better results even on LN2.......but i think i am just not hitting the right mix on the DDR3 board just yet

however doing PL8 at such high FSB is not possible with the volts i was trying...particularly vNB so it's good to see you've been getting similar results that Jody(3oh6) has been doing in terms of supertight PLL and high VNB volts :)

supernice tweaking man supernice :up::up::up::up:

That's very impressive bandwidth and some nice times & 3D scores. Good work. Someone with a board should work out the vMCH mod so you can really get aggressive, the P5Q-Deluxe and Maximus II Formula have 2v+ settable from bios, 1.8v max is comparatively low especially for a DDR3 board.

really nice work boostedevo :up: but why you still use F3 bios? you can't reach this brandwith or fsb with F4x bios?

btw, im also improving, my max fsb on air also over 600+ now with crappy E8400 :D 647.51 MHz

That's pretty good on air,still think the board can do more :)

are kidding ??/ 14k is awesome men .. i am still working on 11k stable without luck , congrats .

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

those volts make a lot of sense
from what i've seen with 45nm chips it's really good to keep both VTT and VNB very close to maximise stability

I've been playing with both DDR2 and DDR3 boards. i've been using about ~1.4VTT and 1.55VNB on the DDR2 board to bench 640MHz 8M SuperPi >> had some issues with GTX280 past 620MHz FSB which was good for 3D .......

i haven't been able to do the same on this DDR3 board but this is certainly a lot of extremely useful info to try out :up: i've tried up to 1.66vTT and 1.7VNB but it yielded no better results even on LN2.......but i think i am just not hitting the right mix on the DDR3 board just yet

however doing PL8 at such high FSB is not possible with the volts i was trying...particularly vNB so it's good to see you've been getting similar results that Jody(3oh6) has been doing in terms of supertight PLL and high VNB volts :)

supernice tweaking man supernice :up::up::up::up:

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A lot of times I leave VTT/PLL on AUTO. I have played with them lower (1.40-1.44 and 1.60) with decent results, but nothing seems to be quite as good as the high values for duals. I've tried up to 1.66 VTT also, but it actually seemed a lot worse any higher than 1.58, so I stopped messing with it that high ;) I even tried it on F4b with manually playing with the available GTLs and didn't get very far.

The board actually goes pretty high on FSB even with only 1.50 or 1.60 Vmch, the difference with anything higher than that seems to be just how high it will be "benchable" FSB ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CryptiK

That's very impressive bandwidth and some nice times & 3D scores. Good work. Someone with a board should work out the vMCH mod so you can really get aggressive, the P5Q-Deluxe and Maximus II Formula have 2v+ settable from bios, 1.8v max is comparatively low especially for a DDR3 board.

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I've dug around on the board for an MCH mod and even PMed Hicookie after I didn't have much luck (no response). I've found a couple of hits from the NB chokes, but my DMM leads are so big (or the SMTs/legs are so small), that it's almost impossible for me to hit just one at a time LOL. I don't want to take any chances on a guess, so I'll defer on a MCH vmod til someone confirms one ;)

Yeah, I've asked a couple times if MCH voltage options could be raised in a BIOS update. 1.80V is definitely not "extreme", especially when comparing the other voltage max options that are available. I don't know if I'd run >2.00V to the NB, but would definitely do 1.90-1.95V if possible.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Achill3uS

really nice work boostedevo :up: but why you still use F3 bios? you can't reach this brandwith or fsb with F4x bios?

btw, im also improving, my max fsb on air also over 600+ now with crappy E8400 :D 647.51 MHz

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That was before the F4b was out. After I installed F4b, I pretty much only played with the quad on it for the GOOC. I will definitely give the latest F4 a shot ASAP.

The 8600 that I used for the above Everest boots from BIOS to the desktop @ 660FSB with WC proc and NB in this board. You have some nice FSB on a C0 :up: Get some WCing going or run a duct from your air conditioning vent :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by makaka

are kidding ??/ 14k is awesome men .. i am still working on 11k stable without luck , congrats .

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Thanks. I think I can crack 15K in Write with 700FSB, but the others probably don't stand a chance. I'll keep trying though :)

Hope you can sort out a MCH mod at least with it done you know its not the MCH holding you back.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by makaka

are kidding ??/ 14k is awesome men .. i am still working on 11k stable without luck , congrats .

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With DDR3 and reasonable FSB 11K should be relatively simple to get, I can do 11K stable across the board with my Maximus II Formula and DDR2.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boostedevo

A lot of times I leave VTT/PLL on AUTO. I have played with them lower (1.40-1.44 and 1.60) with decent results, but nothing seems to be quite as good as the high values for duals. I've tried up to 1.66 VTT also, but it actually seemed a lot worse any higher than 1.58, so I stopped messing with it that high ;) I even tried it on F4b with manually playing with the available GTLs and didn't get very far.

The board actually goes pretty high on FSB even with only 1.50 or 1.60 Vmch, the difference with anything higher than that seems to be just how high it will be "benchable" FSB ;)

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yeah man good to see that work for you
unfortunately it's different for most boards but at least ppl get an idea

i'll see if i can grab hicookie on msn when he finally surfaces

hope you guys are staying indoors with that typhoon battering the place left right and centre

If you can get in touch with him dino, tell him we need that mod BAD :) G H Z and I left on Sat. afternoon. We must've made it out just in time because people with flights after ours were stuck. The weather was already pretty nasty when we took off, so I am glad we got out when we did :)

I am not really liking the new F4f BIOS...over 600FSB, 1:1 400 strap is all that works :( For some reason it doesn't boot over 620FSB either, but clocks all the way up to 670 (all WC) after it hits the desktop. F3 would boot at 660 with 3:4 and clock up. Not very different for max FSB, but better mem ratio and saved a lot of clicking on SetFSB. Maybe I just haven't found the right combo yet, but it seems to be much better suited for 500-550FSB range.

One weird thing I noticed on F4f too (unless I managed to hurt something) was that with both sticks in channel A slots, POST message said "Memory runs Single Channel" :eek: Popped them back in B and all is well :confused:

Really nice and fast b/w there Ross....Will tune mine next week after long holiday. Thanks for the guide anyway

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CryptiK

Hope you can sort out a MCH mod at least with it done you know its not the MCH holding you back.



With DDR3 and reasonable FSB 11K should be relatively simple to get, I can do 11K stable across the board with my Maximus II Formula and DDR2.

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lucky u :D , my motherboard refuse to do 550+on the memory :mad:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Benny Lodewijk

Really nice and fast b/w there Ross....Will tune mine next week after long holiday. Thanks for the guide anyway

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Hey Benny, nice meeting you and thanks for sticking in there with us for all our unscreened WRs LOL ;) I feel like a break too, but I think I am still wired from the trip so I am going to mod these cards and get some real 3Ds done this week :up:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by makaka

lucky u :D , my motherboard refuse to do 550+on the memory :mad:

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Try a different strap/ratio/performance enhance/CAS? That seems really weird. On the F4 BIOSes, really fast mem @ 550FSB or less is pretty easy, might want to give one a try :confused:

lol some of the bioses can be just plain weird

i will have to flash back i think because i am in a need of FSB badly and F4b just won't do it for me

i don't think anyone goes to work in TW when typhoon hits so it will be a few extra days before everyone crawls out of their holes over there and goes outsite heheh

oh
i asked hicookie to knock up a vNB mod for us
so he'll do that i think in the next few days
when i get it i'll post it up here :up:

very nice man! congrats :toast:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

oh
i asked hicookie to knock up a vNB mod for us
so he'll do that i think in the next few days
when i get it i'll post it up here :up:

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NICE! I have my iron plugged in and waiting :D If you're talking BIOS for dual core, F3e or F3 Final seem to work best for me. Max FSB doesn't seem to vary much at all, but what mem will do >600FSB on the F4's that is putting me off. I can't get it run anything other than 1:1 over 600FSB on F4f, so don't waste your time....or figure out what I am doing wrong and report back :p:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by saaya

very nice man! congrats :toast:

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Thanks saaya! Awesome meeting you at the event :up:

Great results. I neet to play with my boards NB cooling as I lost those damn mounting screws.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boostedevo

NICE! I have my iron plugged in and waiting :D If you're talking BIOS for dual core, F3e or F3 Final seem to work best for me. Max FSB doesn't seem to vary much at all, but what mem will do >600FSB on the F4's that is putting me off. I can't get it run anything other than 1:1 over 600FSB on F4f, so don't waste your time....or figure out what I am doing wrong and report back :p:

Thanks saaya! Awesome meeting you at the event :up:

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i think Bala must have figured something out cause he's getting fairly decent results with F4f

http://ocxtreme.org/forumenus/showthread.php?t=3958

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

i think Bala must have figured something out cause he's getting fairly decent results with F4f

http://ocxtreme.org/forumenus/showthread.php?t=3958

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It might have something to do with that low CAS he's using for 3:4. I've never used 8 and only used 7 for >650FSB.

It think these (and all P45 boards) repsond a lot to different mem too. With my Ballistix in, it will boot to desktop at ridiculously high FSB (660) and with the C7Ds, nothing over 620 (F3 BIOSes). F4 BIOSes, both sets are 620 or less. Makes me think they changed the way secondaries or PL are calculated or something (PL seems to boot tighter on the C7Ds) :shrug:

I still like F3 for dual core though. I think Freestyle finally broke this board in :D I did this last night, WC CPU/NB, 4850 CF (stock). Check out that FSB and PL :up:

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...t/3d01_650.png

Awesome job Ross, you've extracted stellar performance from this board. :clap:

Do your two chips cold-bug at the same temperatures on other boards? Those are almost exactly what my E8600 bugs on my EP45T-Extreme and I haven't tested it on LN2 on any other board. -107C at idle and -111C under load. Unfortunately my EP45T-Extreme has issues booting with low MCH volts now, needs 1.45v to boot dual-channel :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gautam

Awesome job Ross, you've extracted stellar performance from this board. :clap:

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Thanks Gautam...now if I could get it to run with 10x like this :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [XC] gomeler

Do your two chips cold-bug at the same temperatures on other boards? Those are almost exactly what my E8600 bugs on my EP45T-Extreme and I haven't tested it on LN2 on any other board. -107C at idle and -111C under load. Unfortunately my EP45T-Extreme has issues booting with low MCH volts now, needs 1.45v to boot dual-channel :D

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I honestly don't know Chris. I ran an 8600 in the P5Q3 once, but I was still on DI then, so I'm in the same situation there. Weird that you have the exact same CB in the same board. I should probably send one of these to G H Z or Gautam to try in an RE or something and see what happens :shrug:

so you take a 30MHz FSB hit on FSB with corsairs outch

that happened to me on 965 asus boards stangely enough but not on other chipsets

i might try different ram as well during testing

Only for boot. Either set will clock up to ~670FSB on this setup after it's on the desktop. F4f seems to have tighter boot PLs, so that's probably the hold up on it for boot FSB. The C7Ds definitely have some tighter secondaries than the Ballistix too, so that probably has a lot to do with why they won't boot as high either :)

I will be messing around some tonight and will see if the C7Ds will do 3D01 at the same FSB/primaries/PL that the Ballistix did. I'll report back ;)

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Originally Posted by boostedevo

Thanks Gautam...now if I could get it to run with 10x like this :D

I honestly don't know Chris. I ran an 8600 in the P5Q3 once, but I was still on DI then, so I'm in the same situation there. Weird that you have the exact same CB in the same board. I should probably send one of these to G H Z or Gautam to try in an RE or something and see what happens :shrug:

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I'll test out on the Rampage Extreme and 790i FTW this weekend.. I'm crossing my fingers that it's the EP45T-Extreme exhibiting some weird cold-bug like my 780i had. The highest I can bench is ~6250MHz but 6100Mhz is a struggle with 3D. Will report back :up:

Please do, we'll all be curious :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [XC] gomeler

I'll test out on the Rampage Extreme and 790i FTW this weekend.. I'm crossing my fingers that it's the EP45T-Extreme exhibiting some weird cold-bug like my 780i had. The highest I can bench is ~6250MHz but 6100Mhz is a struggle with 3D. Will report back :up:

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no funny cold bugs with EP45T Extreme i have man except for cold boot bug of -76C :( but i can boot at 6GHz at that temp so no probs here :D

operating temps on my chip go down to -151C before it crashes heheh

in terms of nvidia chipsets and funny behaviour under cold make sure you do not flex the board much....also loosen F1 mounting enough that it;s just holding it in place first and then just do small turns

i was able to increase my cold bug with 790i like that.....but it was still not going past say -110C on chips which did -140C with biostar for example or other intel chipsets which is weird as Vince didn't have those problems heh

i don't know if Vince knows hipro5 cold mod for CPUs though...i wish i could have that mod

Try covering the thermtrip pin on the socket.

http://download.intel.com/design/pro...hts/318726.pdf

Cell 2M on page 45.

Weird about 790i, I had 3 chips doing -125 in it no problem, one of them was good for -130.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by [XC] gomeler

Do your two chips cold-bug at the same temperatures on other boards? Those are almost exactly what my E8600 bugs on my EP45T-Extreme and I haven't tested it on LN2 on any other board. -107C at idle and -111C under load. Unfortunately my EP45T-Extreme has issues booting with low MCH volts now, needs 1.45v to boot dual-channel :D

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I think you jinxed me Chris ;) It was flying through 3Ds yesterday like 650FSB was 500. I realized that 3D01 above was on SPi tweaks, not 3Ds, so I messed around and did like 10 3D01s getting things as tight as possible, rebooted for a fresh run with the settings and it kept locking on boot. It would stop just about anywhere, but "CE" was the most prevalent code. I thought I killed the mem or something, but it wouldn't boot with the other set of Ballistix either. For some reason, it likes the C7Ds when that happens though :shrug:

It's a pain because now every time it's a bad BIOS setting and tries to reboot with defaults, I either need to swap mem or try 20x to get into BIOS and raise MCH before it locks. If we get an MCH mod, that should fix the default voltage problem just the like Vddr mods did for the old Corsairs :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by dinos22

no funny cold bugs with EP45T Extreme i have man except for cold boot bug of -76C :( but i can boot at 6GHz at that temp so no probs here :D

operating temps on my chip go down to -151C before it crashes heheh

in terms of nvidia chipsets and funny behaviour under cold make sure you do not flex the board much....also loosen F1 mounting enough that it;s just holding it in place first and then just do small turns

i was able to increase my cold bug with 790i like that.....but it was still not going past say -110C on chips which did -140C with biostar for example or other intel chipsets which is weird as Vince didn't have those problems heh

i don't know if Vince knows hipro5 cold mod for CPUs though...i wish i could have that mod

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I wish I could have those temps. I don't think G H Z paid much attention when I told him how close I was benching to crashing it on temps until Taipei LOL.

The quad I used before the event bugged in this board at -68C :( With a load, it would go all the way to -71C LOL. I was petrified we would wind up with something like that there.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gautam

Try covering the thermtrip pin on the socket.

http://download.intel.com/design/pro...hts/318726.pdf

Cell 2M on page 45.

Weird about 790i, I had 3 chips doing -125 in it no problem, one of them was good for -130.

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Nice Gautam! Getting just the right one will be tricky though ;) Is it feasible just to cover its pad on the proc instead? Just curious since you specified the pin rather than the proc. I am thinking maybe some silicone or nail polish on a toothpick would be really easy on the CPU. Got any recommendations on how to do it? :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gautam

Try covering the thermtrip pin on the socket.

http://download.intel.com/design/pro...hts/318726.pdf

Cell 2M on page 45.

Weird about 790i, I had 3 chips doing -125 in it no problem, one of them was good for -130.

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hey man its board related
let me give you an example
we had -87C boot and window bug during comp and on second board it was -135C boot no problem :rofl:

just plain weird

that mod doesnt do much aside from increasing cold boot to -100C or so but not always from what we've tried
i've been luck with GB boards i guess cause i always get really good results with them....with best temps of all boards including Biostar which everyone reckons gives good temps

I figured it was the board. Just seemed so odd that the temp limit on so many different 8600s was +/- 1-2C in mine. You should've asked if you could buy that one that was -135C, I would have :D

I might give that pin mod a shot anyway, just to be sure, but it will probably be at least a week or 2 before I can think about it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by boostedevo

I figured it was the board. Just seemed so odd that the temp limit on so many different 8600s was +/- 1-2C in mine. You should've asked if you could buy that one that was -135C, I would have :D

I might give that pin mod a shot anyway, just to be sure, but it will probably be at least a week or 2 before I can think about it.

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hehehe that's the same board that could not go past 340Mhz FSB on a quad :rofl:

you sure you want that sucker :rofl:

LOL, I forgot about that, that sucked :down: One or the other, but not both :( I like my FSB and the cold limit isn't that bad, so I'll live it with :D