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

[STaRGaZeR]

how far can you guys push you FSB on settings:
* 266 ref.freq.
* ~1,7V MCH
* 4:5 divider

I did 385FSB this morning and didnt try higher (however I know 400 cant be done):

395FSB is my limit.

[heikis]

395FSB is my limit.

and how stable is it? and is your mem or the board holding you back from going for more?

[STaRGaZeR]

and how stable is it? and is your mem or the board holding you back from going for more?

Is the board. I can do wihout problems 400FSB/DDR2-1000 rock stable on an Asus P5W DH, and on a DFI RD600 my sticks do DDR2-1100 4-4-3-4 with no problems. BTW I haven´t test the stability at that freq, 1:1 ratio is where the perfomance is best in this board. And the 1333 strap sucks, timmings are waaaay relaxed.

[SLi_dog]

Hi All,
I got a BadAxe2 last Friday and have spent the weekend trying to install windows with no success.

Basically it installs ok but on loading into windows on the second install reboot the system just hangs. I can get to windows using safe mode but just not normally.

Issue moved to --> http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=136898

[lad]

Last week I thought my board had killed one memory stick (sitting in the second blue slot ) I tried all kinds of different things (higher voltage, lower timings) but it would not boot, the other stick was working just fine. So I tried it on my friends DFI infinity 975 and the "dead" stick posted just fine. Came back home popped it back in and it was working, ran orthos for 10 hours at stock speed and everything was fine.
Yesterday I shut down my computer; this morning it refused to boot. I wasn't getting usual 3 beeps (no memory error) but the board was not posting either. It seemed like it was restarting itself every 2-3 seconds. Took one memory stick out now it's posting again.

Did anyone experienced anything like this before?

Thanks for your input

I've had to reseat my second stick a few times. Might be a bad batch of connectors?

[minsc_tdp]

I just had my first crash:

FSB: 365 -> 380
Mem: Ref 266, Freq 533, 2.2 V
Volts: Core=1.45, MCH=1.625, FSB=1.325

Mem/Volts were unchanged since all the way back at 266 FSB. Rebooted a minute or two into Windows. I have been jumping in 10 MHz increments on the FSB, figures the first time I do 15 MHz, I push too hard.

Above settings at 365 FSB was around 62C after 1 hour of Small FFTs.

Trying now:
FSB: 375
Mem: same
Volts: Core=1.5, MCH=1.65, FSB=1.35

Looks like around 65C under Small FFT load.

How much further do you think I can go with the additional volts here? Due to the temps I'm thinking of going back to the previous volts (maybe 1.475 CPU) and getting 375 stable there and calling it done.

Thoughts? Am I wimping out at a mere 65C? Not sure how high to go there.

[minsc_tdp]

Is the board. I can do wihout problems 400FSB/DDR2-1000 rock stable on an Asus P5W DH, and on a DFI RD600 my sticks do DDR2-1100 4-4-3-4 with no problems. BTW I haven´t test the stability at that freq, 1:1 ratio is where the perfomance is best in this board. And the 1333 strap sucks, timmings are waaaay relaxed.

What are your temps?

[gtj]

I just had my first crash:

FSB: 365 -> 380
Mem: Ref 266, Freq 533, 2.2 V
Volts: Core=1.45, MCH=1.625, FSB=1.325

Mem/Volts were unchanged since all the way back at 266 FSB. Rebooted a minute or two into Windows. I have been jumping in 10 MHz increments on the FSB, figures the first time I do 15 MHz, I push too hard.

Above settings at 365 FSB was around 62C after 1 hour of Small FFTs.

Trying now:
FSB: 375
Mem: same
Volts: Core=1.5, MCH=1.65, FSB=1.35

Looks like around 65C under Small FFT load.

How much further do you think I can go with the additional volts here? Due to the temps I'm thinking of going back to the previous volts (maybe 1.475 CPU) and getting 375 stable there and calling it done.

Thoughts? Am I wimping out at a mere 65C? Not sure how high to go there.

Try backing off a little on the MCH. You can get unstable with too much voltage and I've never needed more than 1.6v

[screwtech02]

GTJ, does 4 gig of mem require a higher mch voltage??? Or should i start at 1.5???

[SLi_dog]

Thoughts? Am I wimping out at a mere 65C? Not sure how high to go there.

Core2Duo should stop at a max of 65C CoreTemps while running Small FFTs for at least 10 minutes.
If you've got a quad core you could probably push it to low 70s.

Make sure you run the Blend test for 8-24 hours to catch any possible chipset and memory errors too.

[minsc_tdp]

chip is E6600 dualcore
will try 1.60 MCH for a while

I've decided to take it to the hoop, trying this now:

FSB: 380x9 at 1.35V
MCH: 1.6V (per suggestion)
CPU: 3.42 GHz, 1.5V
RAM: 266/533, 2.28V (first increase in a while)

I just did 10 minutes orthos here (except MCH at 1.65) and it leveled off at 60C. I think the 1.5 helped me hit 380 and the Ram at 2.28 might have helped.

[gtj]

chip is E6600 dualcore
will try 1.60 MCH for a while

I've decided to take it to the hoop, trying this now:

FSB: 380x9 at 1.35V
MCH: 1.6V (per suggestion)
CPU: 3.42 GHz, 1.5V
RAM: 266/533, 2.28V (first increase in a while)

I just did 10 minutes orthos here (except MCH at 1.65) and it leveled off at 60C. I think the 1.5 helped me hit 380 and the Ram at 2.28 might have helped.

Holy Moly. 380x9 at 1.35 vcore?? If it works.

[gtj]

GTJ, does 4 gig of mem require a higher mch voltage??? Or should i start at 1.5???

I just added another 2 gig and didn't have a problem. If you're already running 400x9 and you're stable then don't change anything until you need to. Definitely don't make any other changes or you'll have trouble sorting things out of there are problems.

[scaryogre]

CPU Temp Question:

Just fired up my new rig for the first time. I'm in the BIOS and just wanted to monitor the CPU temp for a bit before proceeding. I want to ensure I don't need to make any modifications to the 9700 Zalman cooler I have on it before I go any further.

BIOS CPU Temps after 10 minutes with CPU, memory, etc. ALL at default speeds. e6600 CPU:

Processor Temp: 38C
Internal Temp: 32C
Remote Temp: 31C

Is this acceptable, good, bad, normal, or ???

Thanks.

-scaryogre

OK, first an embarrassing admission. I had the 9700 on backwards. Fan was fighting against the rear 120mm fan. Didn't even realize it.

OK, so now I also changed my case to an Antec Nine Hundred and my Zalman 9700 is on correctly. My temps are as follows according to Everest (again everything at default e6600 speeds...NO overclocking....yet):

Processor Temp: 27C
CPU Core #1: 21C
CPU Core #2: 19C

Quite a difference!

Next Question: I notice that my cores are seldom at the same temp. I am running browser windows, Everest, MSN Messenger, etc. Occasionally they will both go to 19C, but not that often.

I am concerned my thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5) may not be equally applied, or I have another issue with the 9700 mount. Is it normal in Windows for one core to be higher temp than the other? Is it a problem? I guess I was thinking (hoping) that perhaps the Core#1 (which is always the one that is higher in temp) was doing some "work" and that is why the temp is a bit higher?

I really do not want to take all this apart again and re-apply thermal grease. I did it according to the instructions on Arctic Silver's website and am sure I got it right. I just am not sure about the dual-core temps and if they should vary by ~2C (or less) on a regular basis.

Thanks for any help!

-scaryogre

[gtj]

I really do not want to take all this apart again and re-apply thermal grease. I did it according to the instructions on Arctic Silver's website and am sure I got it right. I just am not sure about the dual-core temps and if they should vary by ~2C (or less) on a regular basis.
-scaryogre

Not to worry. It's normal.

[minsc_tdp]

Holy Moly. 380x9 at 1.35 vcore?? If it works.

That's FSB voltage dude, CPU is 1.5

[minsc_tdp]

not sure about the dual-core temps and if they should vary by ~2C (or less)

Mine vary by 4C and are stable so far up to ~380 FSB.

[minsc_tdp]

Ok I just did an hour of Orthos blend with no problems, temps at 60C. I stopped it, and pretty quickly ran ATITool and while that was loading, I right clicked my desktop to change some settings (Nvidia option in the right click menu). Both ATITool and context menu never appeared, system froze, and got a bluescreen in nv4_disp.

I think it's a fluke and has nothing to do with the overclocking. Thoughts? I'm going to run ATITool artifact check for a while.

NV drivers are 96.89. Obviously the 8800 drivers have a lot of problems so I wouldn't be surprised if this was a random fluke...

I should add that my GPU temp is 90C under load with the crappy Automatic Fan Control (when I force it to full it drops nearly 10C). I'm running the ATITool artifact scan on Automatic Fan to make sure this card is good at hottest temps.

I'm also wondering if this new RMClock 2.3 beta is buggy..

[SLi_dog]

Holy Moly. 380x9 at 1.35 vcore?? If it works.

That's FSB voltage dude, CPU is 1.5

I've had CPU's that can do 3.4Ghz at around 1.35vcore.

Next Question: I notice that my cores are seldom at the same temp.

As others have said, that's normal. Try running a stress test like Orthos, they should max out at the same value. If not, try re-seating your HSF.

Ok I just did an hour of Orthos blend with no problems, temps at 60C. I stopped it, and pretty quickly ran ATITool and while that was loading, I right clicked my desktop to change some settings (Nvidia option in the right click menu). Both ATITool and context menu never appeared, system froze, and got a bluescreen in nv4_disp.

I think it's a fluke and has nothing to do with the overclocking. Thoughts? I'm going to run ATITool artifact check for a while.

NV drivers are 96.89. Obviously the 8800 drivers have a lot of problems so I wouldn't be surprised if this was a random fluke...

I should add that my GPU temp is 90C under load with the crappy Automatic Fan Control (when I force it to full it drops nearly 10C). I'm running the ATITool artifact scan on Automatic Fan to make sure this card is good at hottest temps.

I'm also wondering if this new RMClock 2.3 beta is buggy..

I found that ATITool would cause instablity with moderate overclocks on an 8800 series card. Try another vga overclocking app.

Also, you should run the Blend test for at least 8 hours to test stability. 24hours is preferred.




BTW, loving this new multiquote feature

[gtj]

That's FSB voltage dude, CPU is 1.5

Whew!

[gtj]

I'm also wondering if this new RMClock 2.3 beta is buggy..

What kind of problems are you seeing?

[nanoprobe32]

iam at

FSB: 400x8 at 1.20
MCH: 1.575V
CPU: 3.2 GHz, 1.28V
RAM: 266/533, 2.1

motherboard been solid for me
my cpu goes all the way upto 3.2 at lowest vcore setting in bios

only problem i had with this motherboard
seems to be iffy with my external hard disc.


found out how i had a slow black screen on boot
it was my ide dvd rom that was causing it, disabled drive
now computer boots up very quickly.

iam using latest bios, for all you people saying a bios has an affect on
overclocking well no matter what bios i use, i can always overclock.

[Skerlnik]

So, for all of you guys running @ 400mhz FSB - do you all have water cooling?

With my Zalman CNPS9500, I need to up my CPU (E6600) to 1.51v at 360FSB, 1:1 266/533 in order to be stable. TAT reports idle temps around 50c, and no more than 65c under Orthos blend. I can't seem to load Windows at any higher FSB, or even post at more than about 370. I am a little frustrated since I do follow this thread and see all of the jealousy inducing *stable* configurations.

Am I doing something wrong? I'm not too humble to ask for advice. How do I go faster?

Current settings:
FSB: 360x9 at 1.35v
MCH: 1.6v
CPU: 3.25 GHz, 1.51v (seems a bit excessive to me)
RAM: 266/533, 2.0v (4-4-4-12, 2GB G.Skill HZ)

I have a FSP 700W PSU with power to spare I'm sure. Only 1 X1900XTX, 2 opticals, 4x HDs.

Regards,
Sker

[STaRGaZeR]

Holy Moly. 380x9 at 1.35 vcore?? If it works.

NP here 3700Mhz 1.38vcore, and there are much better CPUs in terms of voltages

[cryptocat]

Okay, my E6600ES arrived today.

The strange thing is that i RAISE the multiplier but it wont boot when i do that.

Does the BIOS just show all multiplier-settings even if my CPU is unlocked downwards?
I have tried to set it to 10x266 but the board just wont boot, as if the OC was too high.

Oh by the way, i wanna run this CPU at FSB1333, will i need to raise the vMCH? I dont wanna raise voltages :/