G1.Sniper 2 Overclocking guide and Support for Gamers and OC'ers.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/7494/headereh.png

Hey Dudes and gals!





THREAD SECTIONS

#1 Overclocking Guide
#2 Voltage report
#3Game tweaks and tricks (coming soon)





#1 Overclocking Guide

I set up a very basic guide to overclocking the Gigabyte G1.Sniper 2. It's suitable for newbies and the knowlege'd.

I will give any Overclocking support needed regarding this board in this thread. So ask away

Not every system is the same! So it's hard to "fine tweak" a guide.
Remember cooling is important, do not follow this guide with only a stock cooler.

In this situation i will be using a 2600k (applies to 2500k aswel)
and Memory that can run 1866mhz.

Let's get started!

Get in the BIOS! (spam delete key at boot)

Load Optimized defaults, just to clean all the settings.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5205/75520705.jpg



Now lets enter the motherboard intelligent tweaker, this is where we will be setting all our main settings.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4319/13891908.jpg



Jump into advanced frequency settings, this is all the CPU related stuff.

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/4610/93811454.jpg



Boom! Go straight to 45 multi, just for the purpose of this guide. It's rare that a cpu can't do 4.5ghz so it should be fine. Also set your memory Divider to what your memory is rated at. In MY case 1866.

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/2951/73711375.jpg



Now we will have a look at the Advanced CPU Core features. We won't change much but there is a very important setting in here.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/5704/69176438.jpg



Yea that important setting i was talking about.. It's called Interal CPU PLL Overvoltage, and without this you can forget about ever reaching high mhz. Some Cpu's can reach 4.5ghz without this turned on, but it's better for overall overclocking stability to keep it on always. For a 24/7 overclock leave everything else as it is.

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/6439/98106036.jpg



Ok! Lets get into memory. Sandybridge memory is very hard to get stable in some cases, so i won't go too hard into this, it will be good to ask questions in this thread on getting your memory propperly overclocked and stable. But i will show you the basics.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/7913/67696510.jpg



RED: Disabled X.M.P. We will manually tune our memory.
GREEN: Select the multiplier of your memory.
YELLOW: Set your Timing selection to "QUICK". So we can change the timings of 1 memory stick and it will be applied to the other.

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/7042/68423588.jpg



Now go into the Channel A timings menu.

GREEN: Timings with most effect on performance. Also the timings that cause system instability if too tight.
ORANGE: Timings with less effect on performance but can be lowered quite a bit from stock.

If you are a bit scared just stick to changing the Standard settings to what your memory is rated at. In my case 9-9-9-24 is fine. I would recommend making CMD (right at the bottom) 1.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4774/78366108.jpg




Last but not least the MOST IMPORTANT THING that makes everything work. Voltage.

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/4993/71303855.jpg



RED: Important voltages. 1.35v is safe, for anyone using aftermarket cooler. Multi-step Load Line on level 5 is the best setting. This means you won't lose any volts when the CPU is under Load. 1.35v with level 5 Multi-step will be around 1.4v real voltage, and it will stay 1.4v under load. Memory Voltage on 1.65 or whatever your memory is rated at.
Orange: Not so important, but MAY help for some in some cases. If your memory is unstable increase this voltage to around 1.15v.
GREEN: Not important volts at all. But Having PLL low is better than having it High, might help for temps.

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/3863/65636728.jpg



WHEN YOU ARE DONE SAVE YOUR OC SETTINGS TO A PROFILE.
PRESS "F11" WHEN YOU ARE ON THE MAIN BIOS SCREEN.

This is what i acheived with the above settings

Config:

G1.Sniper 2
GTX 580
2600K

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/1518/2006v.png

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/681/vantages.png

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/8633/3dmark11.png

Ok that's it, i told you it was basic! Now experiment more yourself and ask questions here if you need help getting it stable.

FAQ:
What voltage is safe ?
Watch your temperature, but for CPU 1.35v and LLC Level 5 is very safe. Memory 1.65 - 1.7v should be ok Depending on how good it scales. Don't just increase volts if it doesnt help your clock or stability.

I am getting blue screens of death?
You are obviously unstable, take it one step at a time. Put your memory on stock speeds (if you have 2133 memory, put it on 1866), and only clock CPU to see if it's CPU instability. And so on. Possibly requires more volts or just can't reach your desired clock.






#2 Voltage Report

From my G1.Sniper 2 Power Check Thread.

If you want to know what voltage output you will get from what you put in the BIOS and what it ACTUALLY is look at the tests below.

Bios vs Multimeter (real)


http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/634...ltvoltages.png

Pretty damn accurate, memory is spot on.

Next up we have Gigabyte's famous array of LLC (Load Line Calibration) levels.

What is LCC? LLC counters the voltage lost when the CPU go's under load.
So what LLC does it tries to equalise the difference between IDLE and LOAD voltages.

Gigabyte has 10! Levels, this is how they perform.


BIOS SETTINGS

Vcore 1.3
Memory 1.65
VTT / IO 1.10



http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/2227/llcd.png
Very acceptable no LCC result!



http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/7035/llc1.png

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/6789/llc2.png

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/2356/llc3.png

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2554/llc4.png

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/4699/llc5.png

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/8550/llc6.png

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/4644/llc7.png

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/2312/llc8.png

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/28/llc9.png

http://img109.imageshack.us/img109/6015/llc10.png


http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/1271/memidleload.png


http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/583/vttio.png

I would not recommend going above LLC6. It will just become more dangerous. So stick to 4 or 5. As stated in my OC guide, cool!

Vivi for president :) Hope you are ready for a zillion of questions mate !

Im ready for em :P. I hope to have some help haha

More info added at the bottom!

Thx to leeghoofd for the idea.

nice work, i like your LLC testing shots and that avatar heheh

have you tested any games, might be more interesting to gamers if they see something they can relate to better :)

yea I'll be more game based in section 3,

i just have to install them :P.

I've seen some people running on LLC7, i don't know if they know it's not that safe

Steve did some testing and found LLC7 to be like your LLC5 I think, maybe that's why.

yea i guess it varies?

probly changes with bios updates too in some cases. and volts, will try higher volts this weekend maybe it jumps less then at high LLC

hey guys make sure you update to this bios if you have issues clocking ram with 21.33 ratio. it'll open it up properly :)

F4G bios

http://www.mediafire.com/?hlzbulildmth4c6

i couldnt do 2133 before with this particular ram, now ok past 1100 on air, this cpu isnt much of a bclocker but you get the drift

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/3562/11158mpi.png

Thx will try. Does it help with mem bw as well? Im working on UD5 review now and as I did mem testing last night I noticed mem bw a fair amount higher with UD5 (10-25%) and latency lower by around 5ns. Same speed and timings of course.

C states ElDonko ?

What about em? C state has an effect on mem perf? how

run Everest, AIDA 64, on and off... think you will see a difference... for pi32M or such no... I assumed you measured the bandwith and latency via one of the two former tests, if not never mind...

Interesting, didnt realize that. Can the difference be that big though, over 10%? I believe I had c states off for both boards but I will double check that. Measured via MaxxMEM.

Eldonko's results are correct, there is something working and not working with F5G bios,

will post my results now, im getting better scores on f4f 1866 32m, vs f4g 2200 CL7 32m. But the amazing thing is that 22000 cl7 WORKED!! (Hyper MGH-E)

Getting my screenshots together :). posting in like a hour

Ok finished testing of bios F4G,

looking very good, We got 2133+ working with Dominator GT MGH-E Hypers. 32m stable, but not verrrry 3D stable. Which is strange, normally was the other way around.

So far 2133 is very slow, slower than 1866, but F4G 18.66 strap performs just as well as F4F 18.66 strap. One more bios and we should be good to go!


BIOS F4G - 2214mhz 7-8-7-21
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/1808/2133f4g.jpg


BIOS F4G - 1866 7-7-7-21
http://img831.imageshack.us/img831/757/1866f4g.jpg

BIOS F4F - 1866 7-7-7-21
http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6416/1866f4f.jpg

Yeah BIOS def still needs work. F4G improves 2133 but bw is still low and the mem freq is still not fully stable. Plus forget tightening anything up. Huge difference between Sniper and UD5/UD7 for memory clocking. Overall it is a minor issue I guess since very few will be buying this for benching.

Is it JUST the top PCI-E slot that's x16? Or can I put a 590 in the bottom PCI-E Slot?

Block diagram shows that only slot 1 will run at 16x

Anybody here try the F4J BIOS yet? Curious as to any improvements that are worth it, or should I just wait until the next "stable" BIOS comes out? I'm still running stock F3, but the board hasnt left my test bench yet. One thing keeps leading to another and I've yet to finish prepping my CPU loop. I hope to have it finished by sunday so the overall rig will be done. Waiting for the GPU loop until Keppler launches and will just use part of my old SLI setup until then. Anyway, I'm really loving what I've seen out of my test bench on this sniper 2 the past few weeks. Not going to try overclocking until I get the water running as I just decided to run the stock 2600k cooler for general setup and testing.

On a side note, it hit me that this is really the last great mobo we may see that uses the old style BIOS. As Gigabytes contract that forces them to use the old Award BIOS system runs out in a couple of months and they are ready to launch a slew of new boards with their long in devlopment UEFI. I'll miss the old BIOS system, but if its got to go then this was the best board to do it on. From now on, we will only see low end boards still use it. Just a thought to pass along to my Sniper 2 brothers.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain_Harlock

On a side note, it hit me that this is really the last great mobo we may see that uses the old style BIOS. As Gigabytes contract that forces them to use the old Award BIOS system runs out in a couple of months and they are ready to launch a slew of new boards with their long in devlopment UEFI. I'll miss the old BIOS system, but if its got to go then this was the best board to do it on. From now on, we will only see low end boards still use it. Just a thought to pass along to my Sniper 2 brothers.

---

true that, very perceptive

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Captain_Harlock

Anybody here try the F4J BIOS yet?

---

F4 is out 3 days ago.

If thats correct, then Gigabye needs to update their webiste as its only showing beta releases for the F4x BIOS files. Let me guess, I'm gonna have to use the online update program to pull it down since they havent bothered to link it on their site? I did that with an ASUS board about a decade ago when that concept came out lets just say that I had to replace the board because their online system was for crap. I learned to never tust those things ever since and always do it the old fashioned way. But since the Sniper2 is a dual BIOS mobo I'll give it a whirl.

Never use online BIOS update(btw,you want found).
Fere is F4 BIOS.

Yeah like I said before, When my board was wiped out almost a decade ago never used an online update again and will never trust them. Thanks for the link. Just curious why the file isnt posted on the main BIOS page for the board?