E6600, can't get stable at 3.6ghz (400x9) FPO#L632B086

[adamsleath]

my 1.57v is too high...i got a cpu init failure this morning for the 1st time (oh no)

so have dropped back to 1.5 vcore. i agree with deeds especially with the droop factor...do you know you are getting 1.5v real?

i am sure i'm on the limit of my cpu...it "seems" to me that because i'm near my cpu limit the ram timings need to be looser and/or ram at lower speed....that's how it seems at my end anyway......btw my load temps at 1.5v are now 65c maximum.

(coretemp) lapping cpu will help if you do it properly and get a perfectly flat cpu ihs; as5 compound will help; a good tight mounting pressure of cpu sink to cpu ihs will help.

[smsmasters]

I'm too scared to up the vcore to 1.55v or 1.6v

or maybe I should try the vdroop pencil mod.

[adamsleath]

how would a pencil mod help? to give you even more voltage that you cant cool?????

y not try setting the vcore to 1.525 if that's possible in your bios...i dont know your board

have you tried 8x or 7x multis ? i just trial and error....this my 3rd build only but i havent killed any components as yet

i suppose the million dollar question is how much time and or money are you prepared to invest on cooler temperatures to get a few 100 mhz more cpu speed?

i'm thinking about playing with a water kit for my next upgrade...just for something to do.

[vafan13]

I'm currently running my Xeon 3060 at 3.6Ghz (514x7) with 1.42v, 1.38v under load (don't remember what it is in bios, right around 1.475 I believe). Of course, I can only run orthos for between 5-7.5 hours before I get an error. IMO, 3.5Ghz is stable for me for 9+ hours at ~1.32v (1.4v in BIOS) and it stays sig. cooler, so that's what I run 24/7. Besides that, when my FM121 gets her to replace the weak stock fan on the tuniq, I'm going for 3.85Ghz and I'm rather hopeful that I can get it to run stable with the extra CFM (I've actually booted and started Orthos at 4Ghz, but the temps shoot directly past 75C and it blue screens me.)

I currently have an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. I think I might have to get a Tuniq Tower cooler instead as my load temps at 1.5+V is around 75+C

If you get the tuniq, make sure to buy some aftermarket compound because the stuff that comes with it is like putty and is almost impossible to spread evenly over the proc.


On a side note, how much is too much voltage for the NB and FSB for the P5BD? Currently I'm at 1.45 and 1.3 respectively because I don't feel any higher is a good idea for the long run.

[ineedaname]

I built my buddy's computer with the same specs and it had the same problem even had the same week processor L632. It would be stable at about 3.4ghz but couldn't go above. The load temps were 54C too using a modded TTBT. At 400x9 i got the same orthos fail problems. More voltage didn't fix the problem and just made it hotter.

I ended up getting 3.6ghz 100% stable (could've went higher but his ram couldn't take it). The problem was the North Bridge being too hot. All you have to do to fix it is rip off that stupid asus sticker on the NB and stick a 10CFM+ 40mm fan on it. After that mod it ran perfectly at about 1.43v. You can also try reapplying some AS5 or Ceramique under your nb heat sink but i only needed the fan. I do want to note one thing though. My buddy had VERY good airflow in his case with a few 120mm 100CFM fans. If your case does not have decent airflow i can't say you'll get the same results.

You can also try the vDroop pencil mod and lower the voltage but I'm pretty sure you just need more air in your NB heat sink. I'm gonna do the vDroop mod this weekend to see if i can lower the volts even more.

OH YES and I almost forgot USE 401FSB so that you enter the next strap and it should b more stable than 400mhz. Also which bios are you running? I was using the 0910. I hear that bios is the most stable, even more stable than the newer 1004 bios.

Here's a link to the 0910 bios
Here's where u can get good fans if you need, its where i got mine.

I personally don't believe that you need to be really lucky to get 3.6ghz on air. Seems like there's plenty of people who can get there. I'm sure you can get there just don't give up.

[adamsleath]

lol; i have found that the nb thing is the key...i had set it too HIGH....by setting it at 1.4v the nb must be cool enuf now to handle a few more fsb...went from 437 up to 458x8 stable...even setting 1.45v was too high. (i previously had it set to auto and it was at 1.5+)...i'd actually found another thread and someone had said dont put in more than 1.4v nb...then i came back to this thread and found the same advice....

pencil mod lowers voltage? sounds a bit hard/risky/unknown for me....

[smsmasters]

I built my buddy's computer with the same specs and it had the same problem even had the same week processor L632. It would be stable at about 3.4ghz but couldn't go above. The load temps were 54C too using a modded TTBT. At 400x9 i got the same orthos fail problems. More voltage didn't fix the problem and just made it hotter.

I ended up getting 3.6ghz 100% stable (could've went higher but his ram couldn't take it). The problem was the North Bridge being too hot. All you have to do to fix it is rip off that stupid asus sticker on the NB and stick a 10CFM+ 40mm fan on it. After that mod it ran perfectly at about 1.43v. You can also try reapplying some AS5 or Ceramique under your nb heat sink but i only needed the fan. I do want to note one thing though. My buddy had VERY good airflow in his case with a few 120mm 100CFM fans. If your case does not have decent airflow i can't say you'll get the same results.

You can also try the vDroop pencil mod and lower the voltage but I'm pretty sure you just need more air in your NB heat sink. I'm gonna do the vDroop mod this weekend to see if i can lower the volts even more.

OH YES and I almost forgot USE 401FSB so that you enter the next strap and it should b more stable than 400mhz. Also which bios are you running? I was using the 0910. I hear that bios is the most stable, even more stable than the newer 1004 bios.

Here's a link to the 0910 bios
Here's where u can get good fans if you need, its where i got mine.

I personally don't believe that you need to be really lucky to get 3.6ghz on air. Seems like there's plenty of people who can get there. I'm sure you can get there just don't give up.

Woah, thanks for the advice, I'm going to try that!

So you're telling me you removed the northbridge heatsink or just removed the sticker and placed a fan on top of it? How exactly do you do this?

I'm using the 0910 BIOS.

Also, what voltage did you set the NB at? Mine is currently at 1.4V

Please let me know how you get on with the vdroop mod.

Thanks!

[ineedaname]

I did NOT remove the northbridge heat sink, just the metal sticker on top. Then I put on a 15CFM 40mm delta fan on top by just screwing it between the fins. You prob only need any regular 40mm fan that's about 10cfm cuz the delta is LOUD. Just use a knife or something to pry off the asus sticker, that's what i did. I just stuck the knife between the fins and pushed right thru the sticker then just peeled it off.

I have to double check what the nb voltage was at cuz i don't rmb atm. I'm gonna b doing the vdroop mod 2night or tmr night so i'll let you know

Here's a link to the Pencil Mod if you want to try it. I'd suggest using a 4b pencil. A pencil only costs 50 cents so no point going cheap.

The reason why a vDroop mod allows you to lower the voltage is because although ur voltage is stable at lets say 1.45v the droop might go down to 1.38v at load where it is no longer stable. So normally you'd have to put in a higher vcore to compensate for the vDroop but with the mod you don't need to.

[smsmasters]

Thanks.

What temp is your NB at? What is the mobo temp as reported by speedfan? Mine is around ~40C.

Is the metal ASUS sticker easy to put back on? Is it true that it's only glued with double sided sticky tape?

[adamsleath]

I did NOT remove the northbridge heat sink, just the metal sticker on top. Then I put on a 15CFM 40mm delta fan on top by just screwing it between the fins. You prob only need any regular 40mm fan that's about 10cfm cuz the delta is LOUD. Just use a knife or something to pry off the asus sticker, that's what i did. I just stuck the knife between the fins and pushed right thru the sticker then just peeled it off.

I have to double check what the nb voltage was at cuz i don't rmb atm. I'm gonna b doing the vdroop mod 2night or tmr night so i'll let you know

Here's a link to the Pencil Mod if you want to try it. I'd suggest using a 4b pencil. A pencil only costs 50 cents so no point going cheap.

The reason why a vDroop mod allows you to lower the voltage is because although ur voltage is stable at lets say 1.45v the droop might go down to 1.38v at load where it is no longer stable. So normally you'd have to put in a higher vcore to compensate for the vDroop but with the mod you don't need to.

interesting...thx

[bleeble]

I'm not familiar with your RAM, but am I the only one that thinks running DDR2-675 rated sticks at DDR2-800 might be the problem?

I can run my E6600 at 400x9 all day long, but 450x8 is horribly unstable because my RAM is DDR2-800... I'm just surprised that nobody else mentioned it (unless I'm just horribly ignorant and have completely missed something lol).

[ineedaname]

Er no the sticker is not easy to put back on. They use some kind of glue that you could stick back on but the metal sticker will b warped from taking it off.

The mobo temp on the comp read at 35C

[MrDeeds]

I'm not familiar with your RAM, but am I the only one that thinks running DDR2-675 rated sticks at DDR2-800 might be the problem?

I can run my E6600 at 400x9 all day long, but 450x8 is horribly unstable because my RAM is DDR2-800... I'm just surprised that nobody else mentioned it (unless I'm just horribly ignorant and have completely missed something lol).

As a matter nobody else asked about what the memory actually was. I looked over the thread twice and i dont see any memory specs. Maybe they get edited out.

If its decent D9 then it should have a problem doing ddr2-800. Promos will even do that. But regardless, let us know what kind of memory you have.

@bleeble
Do you increase the voltage when you try and run out of spec. If you've got decent ram it should be able to handle 450x8 just fine with a little more juice.

[smsmasters]

My RAM can handle 400 mhz fine. It is the corsair 2x 512mb xms2 5400 I ran memtest.

Anyway, I upped the vcore to 1.5125V (1.45V droop under 100% load) and I've been running orthos for 40mins so far...

Here's a screenshot. I think 1.5125V should be safe? ~70C load.

[smsmasters]

I've been running orthos for 3hrs 34mins now and my northbridge and the heatpipe feels so HOT....

[Zeus]

Put a fan over it.

[fhpchris]

I'm currently running my Xeon 3060 at 3.6Ghz (514x7) with 1.42v, 1.38v under load (don't remember what it is in bios, right around 1.475 I believe). Of course, I can only run orthos for between 5-7.5 hours before I get an error. IMO, 3.5Ghz is stable for me for 9+ hours at ~1.32v (1.4v in BIOS) and it stays sig. cooler, so that's what I run 24/7. Besides that, when my FM121 gets her to replace the weak stock fan on the tuniq, I'm going for 3.85Ghz and I'm rather hopeful that I can get it to run stable with the extra CFM (I've actually booted and started Orthos at 4Ghz, but the temps shoot directly past 75C and it blue screens me.)

75+c at 3.9 ghz can pass prime for 7+ hours.

You are BSODing @ 4ghz because your cpu isnt stable...

[erwinz]

I currently have an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. I think I might have to get a Tuniq Tower cooler instead as my load temps at 1.5+V is around 75+C

better get a tuniq tower.. i think its heat related..

[smsmasters]

I've been running orthos at 3.6ghz for 5hours, 75C load temps no errors so far

[smsmasters]

Wierd...I decided to drop my RAM voltage to 1.9 and my cpu vcore to 1.4875V. 400x9 and orthos hasn't errored yet. I would have got errors in the first few seconds of orthos at this voltage previously.

I think the burn in made my cpu more stable at low volts???

[bleeble]

@bleeble
Do you increase the voltage when you try and run out of spec. If you've got decent ram it should be able to handle 450x8 just fine with a little more juice.

I've got OCZ Platinum (OCZ2P8002GK). Rated at DDR2-800 4-5-4-15 @ 2.1V. I can run Orthos for 72 hours (literally) using both blend and small FFTs all the way up to DDR2-940. But the second I open up Quake 4 (or some other new-ish game), I get hard locks and reboots. I've tried different video card drivers and updating some games and there was no change, so it must be my RAM.

I've tried increasing vDIMM up to 2.4V, but I don't want to push it too far because I don't have the money for new RAM right now. Timings are loosened to 5-5-5-15. Maybe I need to loosen the timings more... I haven't tried updating my BIOS from F8 to F10 either, maybe that will do some good. Of course, that's all kind of hard to do when I'm 1300 miles away from my beloved computer.

Anyways, back on topic...

Wierd...I decided to drop my RAM voltage to 1.9 and my cpu vcore to 1.4875V. 400x9 and orthos hasn't errored yet. I would have got errors in the first few seconds of orthos at this voltage previously.

I think the burn in made my cpu more stable at low volts???

I've had similar experiences before with a friend's computer. He couldn't get it stable and, for some reason, decided to increase the FSB and vCore. After some stress testing, his old settings apparently worked.

[smsmasters]

Ok, I have now found my stable settings to be:

400x9
Vdimm 1.9V 4-4-412
NB: 1.45V
Vcore: 1.5V or 1.5125V

My loads temps are too high though, around 75C

I'm going to go back to 400x8 @ 1.3V.

[smsmasters]

Ok, I found out that my side intake fan was actually the wrong way around and was blowing air out!

I also did the pencil mod and my voltage is 1.43V idle and load.

I am now running 400x9 (3.6ghz) and I ran orthos for 2 hours yesterday with no errors. I will run orthos again today for longer.

My temps at load as reported by core temp are ~65C and 30C idle.

Are these temps ok? Speedfan says 74C though?

[safan80]

My temps at load as reported by core temp are ~65C and 30C idle.

Are these temps ok? Speedfan says 74C though?

Is that air or water temps?

[smsmasters]

Is that air or water temps?

Air on Arctic Freezer 7 Pro