The Maximus Formula Thread - Help/OCing/Guide/Rampage conversion

[ShawnTRD]

I wouldn't push your board to 500 X 7. Wait till you get your new CPU then start playing. Read though this thread, and see what people have for Q9550 and Q9650 settings. You should be able to get the Q9550 to 450 X 8 (3.6). Just make sure your RAM is set so doesn't go past 1066. And change some settings now. I don't like DRAM Voltage (to low is as bad as to high), NB, and CPU Voltages.

[thelawns]

Wooooo! The Q9550 arrived next day, although I chose the cheap 7-10 delivery option. Some fun to be had for me at the weekend then!!!

Don't worry about commenting on my current E6550 Bios screenshots just above, that's coming out now...

I have some Thermaright coolers on my mosfets, so hopefully they will help me out a bit!!!

[thelawns]

ShaunTRD, i'll try those voltages, EXCEPT the DIMM/DRAM one at 2.1V(2.2V) because my memory is suppose to have a max of 1.9V ???

And my Ram shouldn't go past 1066, until I have a FSB of at least 533 anyway??? Not that I will get that high!

[thelawns]

Whats making my Motherboard temperature so much higher than yours??

[ShArKo]

Whats making my Motherboard temperature so much higher than yours??

Maybe he have a WC System, or maybe he´s on north pol

[ShawnTRD]

Whats making my Motherboard temperature so much higher than yours??

I'm guessing better air flow. The Antec P182SE doesn't look like it lets air in very well. Plus no side fan. How are you fans setup.

[thelawns]

The motherboard temp, is based on the Mosfets, right? Do you have fans on your Mosfets or better heatsinks?

I'm actually rather worried now. As I could have sworn I had Thermalright HR-09 heatsinks on them. Just checked in my case and I haven't, it's the standard copper heatsink supplied with the board. The worrying thing is I remember having the HR-09's, but now can't remember why I never fitted them. I don't have a clue where they are either.

[ShawnTRD]

Can you take a picture of the inside of your case, and point out the fans and the direction they are blowing. The only extra fan I have blowing on anything is the NB has a 60mm fan wedged above my video card.

My Fans
Front: 120mm blowing in (Mid Speed)
Side: 120mm blowing in (Mid Speed)
Rear: 120mm blowing OUT (High Speed)
CPU: TRUE 120 with one 120mm Fan (Mid Speed)
NB: 60mm fan wedged above my video card

[thelawns]

After a mammoth search through my old posts, it turns out I never did get the mosfet coolers... http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=2994

Completely forgot about that!!! I think I will have a search to see if the other size Thermalright Mosfet coolers are availble in the UK now...

I also found some pics of the inside of my case while I was looking through old posts... http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...postcount=3027

My Fans are as follows in the TOP chamber:
Bottom at the Front: 120mm blowing In (was Mid Speed but have just changed this to High...)
Top UP at the Back: 120mm blowing Out (Mid Speed) this needs replacing as it's started squeeking on High speed.
Top at the Rear: 120mm blowing Out (High Speed)
Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU cooler has a 120mm Fan on it too.

And as follows in the BOTTOM chamber:
All my hardrives are at the front with a 120mm Fan (Low Speed) in the middle blowing onto the PSU at the back, which is suprisingly cool...

I have a spare 80mm fan, which I am going to attach to my NB Thermalright cooler, seeing as it runs a bit hotter than the SB. My 8800GTS has it's own air duct blowing out the back of the case.

[ShawnTRD]

Hmmm

I don't know why your MB is running so hot. What's the temp in the room your at?

[thelawns]

What coolers have you got on your Mosfets?

[ShawnTRD]

All SE stock on air. No water

[thelawns]

Hmmm. Well I have swapped to the Q9550 now and here are my temps again. The bios is back at default, except I have changed to Manual overclock, 400FSB. All CPU Configuration is Disabled. So with very little effort it's running at 3.4Ghz. Lol.



So now, I need to start from scratch and get this bad boy to something a bit higher! It's been a long time, so where to start...

[ShawnTRD]

Turn down your NB Voltage. Shouldn't need more then 1.45V. And with only 2 x 1GB RAM maybe less.

[thelawns]

[thelawns]

Ok, at 440FSB I can post, but not get into Windows. At 422 I can get into Windows but it's not very stable. At 420 (3.57Ghz) it seems ok generally, but Battlefield Bad Company 2 screwed up the VGA drivers after playing for a while?

Most of the Bios settings are still on Auto. What should I be changing to get some more out of it??

[ShawnTRD]

CPU Spread Spectrum could go to 100 delay
Set your dram frequency so your not pushing it past 1066.
Read up on PCIE frequency (mine is at 105) http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/1328...frequency.html

[ShawnTRD]

CPU Spread Spectrum could go to 100 delay
Set your dram frequency so your not pushing it past 1066.
Read up on PCIE frequency (mine is at 105) http://www.overclock.net/nvidia/1328...frequency.html

[thelawns]

Hmmm, tried those and still no better. Currently at 420FSB still.

[thelawns]

Well that's it. I'm back at 400FSB using the 400 FSB Strap which means my memory is running at 1066. A 3.4 Ghz overclock will have to do. Shame I couldn't get any further with it but i'm bored of the freezing and restarts at 3.6Ghz.

Thanks for your help ShawnTRD.

[ShawnTRD]

Have any benchmarks you can run on your CPU and Memory? Mostly the CPU. I want to see if it's worth upgrading from my Q6700 to a Q9550 or Q9650.

[thelawns]

Hmmm I do yes, what Benchmark do you have so I can run one on the same one for you to compare against??

[NLight95]

I took the 4 screws out and turned it around. The problem there was no way to screw them in on the other side. Believe me. I tried for an hour to find a work around.
NBK

I know this reply is late, but you CAN reverse the fan. I have done exactly that for my LL A77 case. It didn't come with a side fan so I used the one from a previous LL case.

One of my LL fans has socketed nuts so I used 1.25" long screws to reverse the fan and shroud. If you don't have a fan with socketed nuts you can always use washers with nuts instead. I reversed the shroud to face towards the side door. That way it draws air into the case and targets the motherboard, specifically the northrbridge (which previously had a TR HR-05). It makes about a 5 degree difference and even cools the back of my 4890. Definitely worth any "trouble" I had in modding the side fan & bracket.

Here are some photos. They're not all that clear because my digital camera no longer works and I had to use my old Sony camcorder, which really doesn't take good pics.

[[B]attery]

Well that's it. I'm back at 400FSB using the 400 FSB Strap which means my memory is running at 1066. A 3.4 Ghz overclock will have to do. Shame I couldn't get any further with it but i'm bored of the freezing and restarts at 3.6Ghz.

Thanks for your help ShawnTRD.

this seems like a really poor overclock. i know not all boards will run 500fsb, but you shouldn't have a problem getting 450fsb and i would think that processor is good to ~4ghz. i would seriously give it another shot.

[[B]attery]

so, after reading this i thought i'd try 400 fsb with trd 5. i'm running 1.43v nb and i tried voltages up to 1.49 (in bios settings) and nothing posted. i'm also running a 5:4 divider to set memory to 500 @ 5-5-5-18. which is the rated speed of these ocz reapers ddr2-1000


any suggestions?