Official eVGA 780i Discussion/Review/Overclock/Guide Thread

[Hughyhunter]

got my 780 i yesterday. config in sig. i flashed bios right away to p03. when i could not install vista 64 (blue screens) i googled and found that i should install with only 1 2gb stick installed. which i did (G.Skill pc2 8000 PQ, which is on the compat list), and vista 64 installed ok. but it still blue screens whenever i try to run with 2 sticks. any speed, any vdimm, linked/unlinked, synced/non-synced, any dimm slots, dc or sc. i have tried with all at auto, and default, but with nb voltage set to 1.5v (as spec'd in first post) and vdimm set to 2.3v. it always blue screens at the splash screen. with only one stick, either stick, it runs great. both sticks pass the nvmem test, fast. medium and slow, both sticks pass memtest86. my hardware is fine, i just swapped it out of a dfi lp ut p35. what am i missing here? i really, really dont want to rma this board, i got my first d.o.a. board in 6 years with my last mb (my first lp ut p35) i am hoping this isnt 2 in a row. thanx.

I have vista 64 too... did you install all the updates for windows? I had no problem and I installed with both 2 gig sticks in. I would probably reformat and try again.

[politenessman]

it is now fixt. i installed the ms hotfix kb40105 and now it works fine. it would even bluescreen going into safe mode before. according to the hotfix notes, this fix is for some issue with allocating memory while gaming (?) whatev, it worked. thanx anyway.

[GutterZ]

cool.. but how long have you had them running now? do you know of any cases where a board or cpu has died because of the mod?

6 months on the 680i. I havent read anywhere of one dieing from the mod.
But 2.3volts on yur dimms for ram Ive read lots.

[btdvox]

Hi guys, Have a question for all of you-

Im clocking my RAM- its pretty much stock- but stock for me is prettty nutty i bought Patriot PC2-9600 Ram. Its rated at 2.3 volts @ timings of 5-5-5-12-34 (TRC)

This is what my question is about- What should i set my TRC as- when its set on auto it gets 31 automatically- is this good? It seems stable- Should i be lowering this at all? On older forums i see people saying it should be TRP+TRAS (5+12 in my case- 1st number and 4th number for above) But this might be dealing with 1T which i cant figure out because 34 would be double that.

Let me know Thanks

[Hughyhunter]

I run my OCZ reaper DDR2800 PC6400 2X2GB set at 4-4-4-15-2T with TRC set to 11. It's very stable and the 11 helps with memory bandwidth... I am going to try to run my at command rate 1T but will get memtest before I try that...

[Hughyhunter]

This guy gave me the idea of 11 for trc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApUiWgzUkGM

[lohoutlaw]

So what would one set the TRC at if you were running PC8500 1066mhz Crucial Balistix Tracers?

Mine is currently set @ 30 with no O/Cing of ram

[douirc]

question, is this a limit of the mobo or a limit of the cpu?

my 680i ran my q6600 @ 3.6 1.400v 24/7 orthos and occt stable. i've upgraded to a 780i and was hoping for a better oc. my goal is 1666QDR with 9x multi and 6:5 with 500mhz mem.

I put all the bios voltages for the mobo to the highest Green value, left the mem on auto and cpu at 1.475v (real vcore - did the pencil mod). I put the multi at 6x and occt passed. bumped the multi to 7x, passed, 8x, passed. Tried 9x and the mobo won't reboot (error A0). Did a hard reset, booted into windows, but occt failed after a few mins. Tried 1.500 and bumped all the mobo voltages to max, still didn't pass occt.

Is this a mobo limitation or a cpu limitation? I'm surprised the mobo would be stable at all other multis but 9x, and I can't imagine going from 3.6 @ 1.4 to 3.75 @ 1.5 is that big of a leap. I've read a lot of people having problems with the evga 780i. anyone have a suggestion?

UPDATE
hm...i might have an answer. 1800qdr with 8x multi and the mobo rebooted, using highest Green voltage values. Put the vcore at 1.450v. so guess that means my cpu is limited to 3.6ghz?

UPDATE
so this is weird. I'm guessing it's maybe a combo of mobo and cpu? I tried lowering it to 1750QDR and 8x multi and the system wouldn't reboot. This definately can't be the cpu since it's less than the 1800QDR that passed OCCT. Is this one of those "holes" in the FSB? It really seems to limit what combinations fsb and multi I can use?!

UPDATE
ok, just for grins and giggles, I left QDR at 1800 and put the multi to 9x and vcore to 1.600v and the thing not only booted, but i could run SPi 1M!!!!!! Man, this is awesome! I've never come close to running anywhere near this speed! I'm peeing my pants...I can't stop laughing!!!! now i just need this sucka stable!



UPDATE
ok, so i can't get it stable, but I think it's fair to say that it's the mobo holding me back, not the cpu. so, question is, what to do about it? Again, I'd like to shoot for something faster than 3.6 since i'm sure the cpu is capable, but this stupid mobo doesn't seem to play nice. Any suggestions?

[btdvox]

Yeah I dont think TRC of 11 is going to work out well in the long run, Ive done some crazy tight timings with my ballistix and they all end up failing within a couple of months, I want this to last a year at least lol.

anyways my ram is specd for DDR2-1200 @ 5-5-5-12. Which in itself is pretty impressive, Its TRC is rated for 34- i might try to put that to 25, but i have a feeling it wont be Prime blend stable.

Any ideas waht a good setting is- for this- 11 is way too low for prime stable im sure of it. Have you tested it on prime 95 hughy?

[fadetoblack]

hey guys i need some advice - a few weeks ago i was thinking about doing the pencil mod because i couldnt get my qx9650 stable at 4ghz, but held back. anyway i finally got it stable at 4ghz without the mod, but it requires a voltage of 1.475 (bios) which comes out to 1.44v idle and 1.368v under load. i heard that 1.44v idle is high for one these 45nm cpus, so if you were me would you just do the mod or let it run at 1.44v?

[btdvox]

^^ Depends, purely on temps- I see most people are running this chip at that for 4 GHZ. Anyone who says 1.3 obv dont have it Prime Stable for more than 2 hrs or have a 1/10000 Miracle Chip lol which does happen.

[fadetoblack]

yeah sorry i forgot to mention, max temps are 76C only on the first two cores. i ran prime small ffts and it was stable for 33 hours. occt i ran only for 30 mins but it was stable. as for the 76C, i know its kinda high but which real world apps would actually push the temps up that high?

[btdvox]

Hmm I dno.... Im watercooling my Chip with Dtek fusion and a PA 120.2 on it (only thing in that loop) So My temps are much less. 76 is pretty hot, IMO i wouldnt go over 70 on a chip i spent 1000 bucks on

But Im sure it can handle it, Im not positive on all the specs but you should be able to find the Thermal specs of this Chip on intels site.

[CCC]

hey guys i need some advice - a few weeks ago i was thinking about doing the pencil mod because i couldnt get my qx9650 stable at 4ghz, but held back. anyway i finally got it stable at 4ghz without the mod, but it requires a voltage of 1.475 (bios) which comes out to 1.44v idle and 1.368v under load. i heard that 1.44v idle is high for one these 45nm cpus, so if you were me would you just do the mod or let it run at 1.44v?

the pencil mod is so easy to do i just cant see any reason not to do it. for me it made a huge difference.. i run my 9650 at 420x10 with 1.42v bios - 1.42v windows - 1.42v full load... i also needed around 1.46-1.47v before the pencil mod

[fadetoblack]

alright im gonna do it tonight. just want to confirm though, i got an HB 2 pencil, is that right?

[CCC]

alright im gonna do it tonight. just want to confirm though, i got an HB 2 pencil, is that right?

exactly the same one i used.. make sure you dont go crazy with the pencil.. 3times and your golden

[douirc]

how do you check the temp of the NB? I'm running 475*8 @ 1.475v and my machine shuts off (loses power) after 20-25 mins into occt! my cpu temp never exceeds 55C on load, so i'm wondering if my NB is overheating?! Anything else I could check as to why my the whole machine just shuts off?

[CCC]

unfortunately as far as i can see the only way to check the nb temp is in bios

[bunun]

so can someone clarify, if you use opt for 3 way sli, there will know longer be any more room for any other pci cards ? thanks in advance.

[fadetoblack]

unfortunately as far as i can see the only way to check the nb temp is in bios

i dont see it in the bios.. nothing about NB or SPP. what is it for you?

[fadetoblack]

i was just about the do the mod, and i noticed these pics point to two different resistors. this pic points to the one on the left:
http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?i...1212121il9.png

and this points to the one on the left:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...3&postcount=16

which one is it?

[X.T.R.E.M.E_ICE]

i was just about the do the mod, and i noticed these pics point to two different resistors. this pic points to the one on the left:
http://img261.imageshack.us/my.php?i...1212121il9.png

and this points to the one on the left:
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...3&postcount=16

which one is it?

just pick either 1. It doesn't matter.

[CCC]

MCP is northbridge temp

and i did the pencil mod according to the second picture in your post


EDIT: actually come to think of it the EVGA does have the nb temps in windows, its the striker2 that doesnt

im on a different pc at the moment but i think even in windows software like everest its under MCP if i remember correctly

someone correct me if im wrong

[msgclb]

MCP is northbridge temp

someone correct me if im wrong

Wrong

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...&postcount=535

[fadetoblack]

just did the mod and it seems to be working great. just a few questions. i set 1.3 in the bios and its being reported as 1.28 idle and load. it hasnt budged from that ever even during priming and occt. is that normal, because i noticed that for others it would increase from idle voltage when under load. is that more desirable?


edit: never mind, i take back what i said above. i just set it to 1.3625 in bios at 4ghz and idle voltage was 1.344. now that m running occt its at 1.352