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

[Utnorris]

Ok, I will apologize up front as the answer may be somewhere in this thread, but after reading about 6 different forums my head feels like it will explode if I keep going. That being said, is there a consensus for the voltage settings as what is normal, what is reasonable overclocking, what is probably "pushing it" and "Hey, break out the marshmellows you're going have a bonfire soon"? I only ask because my voltages are all set to default except my core. When I set the voltages manually to the ones that the board automatically sets them too I get yellow and red on some. For instance my Pll voltage is at 1.84 auto and that setting when done manually is Red. Now, I have the Blitz Formula SE P35 model, but I have been told this is almost identical to the Maximus, so I figure what is good for the Maximus should be good for the Blitz. I am currently at 400x9 at 1.46v core. If you need more info, just let me know and I can post it.
Thank you in advance for your patience,
Utnorris

[kup]

vCore - Whatever you need for the clocks (not above 1.55v IMO).
vNorth Bridge - 1.6v should be enough.
vSouth Bridge - Leave on Auto.
vFSBT - 1.6v in Bios Maximum, IMO.
vPLL - Set to 1.6v.

That should be safe on your Blitz, I certainly didn't need more than that on mine for 475x8 on a Quad with 2 or 4GB of ram...

[Utnorris]

Thanks Kup.

Utnorris

P.S. anyone been able to hit 450x9 stable on a q6600. I am still reading the thread, but thought I would ask.

[Diss]

v0602 was the best for me on a Q6x00 and E6x50. Those settings look very like to mine so I can see they work for others too. If it is stable and you like its feel, I'd stay away from th4e BETA's unless there's something you must have. Then by all means, go for it at your own risk just like the rest of us. I would first try the 500x8 like mine to see if you get the like of an OC. Mine was on air, so you have an edge already, and using lees vcore.

Play with the settings I colored in RED, see notes. Compare to see if it feels any better and especially before you go BETA BIOS so you have something to compare it to.

I've read a little about the GTL but I don't completely understand it. Can anyone spell it out in newb terms.
Thanks for the ideas.

[MrHydes]

can someone give me some help, handling this DRAM SLK Skew on channel A B

Advance 100Ps
Advance 50Ps
normal
Delay 50Ps
Delay 100Ps

that this in fact does in terms of performance?

[Grnfinger]

Thats a setting that will need to be adjusted yourself, not everyone will have the same needs and its of no use unless your running all 4 dimm slots

[ElEctric_EyE]

I've read a little about the GTL but I don't completely understand it. Can anyone spell it out in newb terms.
Thanks for the ideas.

n00b or newB? that is the question. Are all you newies scared to blow up your cpu's? I recommend reading thoroughly your q6600 datasheets and the 2 thermal protection methods this CPU uses. If you are on air alone you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You could overlock all day long without even a heatsink, and you r little CPU will struggle through it's ordeal. Now if you OC and supercooling the cpu AND subject it to high vlts and freq, then you have something to worry about becaue you are bypassing the 2 thermal limit protections embedded in the cpu, that no software can change. READ YOUR cpu DATASHEET on intel.com! come on lamers do we have to do all the work for you?! Show me your settings...

[Grnfinger]

n00b or newB? that is the question. Are all you newies scared to blow up your cpu's? I recommend reading thoroughly your q6600 datasheets and the 2 thermal protection methods this CPU uses. If you are on air alone you have absolutely nothing to worry about. You could overlock all day long without even a heatsink, and you r little CPU will struggle through it's ordeal. Now if you OC and supercooling the cpu AND subject it to high vlts and freq, then you have something to worry about becaue you are bypassing the 2 thermal limit protections embedded in the cpu, that no software can change. READ YOUR cpu DATASHEET on intel.com! come on lamers do we have to do all the work for you?! Show me your settings...

+1
I couldnt have said it better myself
I was wondering who else was getting tired of the "please do it for me" requests

[ElEctric_EyE]

#'s: This is with Rampage BIOS 0308. Still trying to lower Volts on CPU and NB. Core temps with Volts shown are approaching 75C on 28C ambient, 32WC loop temp. After 3 days finally got it "stable". Stable to me is posting, loading to windows vista x64, and putting up with 10 min OCCT 50/50 blend. I am overvolting my corsair ram way above spec's which worries me, but it almost time to upgrade anyway, and they are doing well with "normal" usage of gaming with front lines and video encoding with tpmgenc.

[Grnfinger]

#'s:

you should tighten your timings ALOT, I run 2 MHz faster on my ram @ 1174MHz and my bandwidth is alot better



5-5-5-15-3-30-6

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [7]

[ElEctric_EyE]

Thats the E8400 for ya! I've tried it all to match your 10K settings, I've seen them b4, and it is a thing of envy!. Can't do it with my Q6600. However, look at the OC percentages.

[Grnfinger]

What version is your current ram?
When you get the new kit are you keeping the 8500 ram? If you plan to part with them and there the right version please pm me I will be very interested in them.

[Zucker2k]

@ Grnfinger: Per my sig., I've gone beyond 525 fsb with my 8400. However, 525 fsb for 24/7 is pushing it. My sweet spot is 8.5x506 for 4.3Ghz 24/7.

I'm contemplating moving back to a Q6600 as the Q9450 seems to be "crippled" by Intel in the oc dept.

[Grnfinger]

@ Grnfinger: Per my sig., I've gone beyond 525 fsb with my 8400. However, 525 fsb for 24/7 is pushing it. My sweet spot is 8.5x506 for 4.3Ghz 24/7.

I'm contemplating moving back to a Q6600 as the Q9450 seems to be "crippled" by Intel in the oc dept.

What are you running your ram at using 506FSB, my Corsair can do 1200+ MHZ but they get a little hot for my liking.

[stevehat1]

Thx for the great post and all the links. Think I'll try the Rampage conversion.

[ZenEffect]

+1
I couldnt have said it better myself
I was wondering who else was getting tired of the "please do it for me" requests

i hate those pm's

"can you mod my 2900xt for higher volts and clocks?"

for a while i was getting like 15 a day... thank god for rbe

[Utnorris]

I am not sure if all the "I hate lazy people posting" were aimed at me or the other guy. If it was me I assure you me asking about the voltage settings was only after I had spent the last 4 days looking at various forums. All i could fine was what people were setting theirs at and since I sometimes like to push the envelope I wanted to know if there was established guidelines to the max settings. If I pissed someone off, I truly apologize as that was not my intention.

Utnorris

[Zucker2k]

What are you running your ram at using 506FSB, my Corsair can do 1200+ MHZ but they get a little hot for my liking.

I was running 1:1, (DDR2 1012) @ 4-4-4-12-3-30.

@ E_E: Those voltages are insane for 3.8 Ghz.

[BigKriss]

I am not sure if all the "I hate lazy people posting" were aimed at me or the other guy. If it was me I assure you me asking about the voltage settings was only after I had spent the last 4 days looking at various forums. All i could fine was what people were setting theirs at and since I sometimes like to push the envelope I wanted to know if there was established guidelines to the max settings. If I pissed someone off, I truly apologize as that was not my intention.

Utnorris

Yo,relax ! Everybody has to start somewhere and we all ask these questions at some stage...
Some guys will help,others will ignore you flat..
Sad thing is what works for me will probably not work for you..Follow some settings you find that closely resemble yours and play !
Cheers.

[zlojack]

Guys get frustrated from answering the same questions over and over.

Everyone starts out as a n00b....

Anyway, I'm not getting anywhere right now with 500 FSB with this RAM.

It wants to go to performance level 10 or higher to post. When I scale it back to 450 x 9 I can post with PL=8

[XtremeTiramisu]

you should tighten your timings ALOT, I run 2 MHz faster on my ram @ 1174MHz and my bandwidth is alot better



5-5-5-15-3-30-6

DRAM Static Read Control: Enabled
Ai Clock Twister : Stronger
Transaction Booster : Manual

Common Performance Level [7]

Thats the E8400 for ya! I've tried it all to match your 10K settings, I've seen them b4, and it is a thing of envy!. Can't do it with my Q6600. However, look at the OC percentages.

I concur, I've a near identical memory bandwidth with Electric eye. I used to not get why some of the 45nm quad/dual core OCers get much higher overall memory bandwidth with the exact same memory clock speed, FSB strap, timings as I do. Later on when I compare my Q6600 G0 with several other 65nm Quad and 45nm dual/quad users, I realized that the architechture of the cpu does matter significantly for our overall system bandwidth, especially when you compare the memory write/copy benchmark scores under everest. It seems the new 45nm dual/quad will gives you almost like a linear result for all read/write/copy memory bandwidth performance and relatively faster latency than a system config based on a 65nm dual/quad with an identical ram clock speed, fsb strap, performance level, and timings. After I realized all this, I've nothing to be worried about.

[Grnfinger]

I am not sure if all the "I hate lazy people posting" were aimed at me or the other guy. If it was me I assure you me asking about the voltage settings was only after I had spent the last 4 days looking at various forums. All i could fine was what people were setting theirs at and since I sometimes like to push the envelope I wanted to know if there was established guidelines to the max settings. If I pissed someone off, I truly apologize as that was not my intention.

Utnorris

My comments were not directed towards you
Sorry if it seemed like they were

I concur, I've a near identical memory bandwidth with Electric eye. I used to not get why some of the 45nm quad/dual core OCers get much higher overall memory bandwidth with the exact same memory clock speed, FSB strap, timings as I do. Later on when I compare my Q6600 G0 with several other 65nm Quad and 45nm dual/quad users, I realized that the architechture of the cpu does matter significantly for our overall system bandwidth, especially when you compare the memory write/copy benchmark scores under everest. It seems the new 45nm dual/quad will gives you almost like a linear result for all read/write/copy memory bandwidth performance and relatively faster latency than a system config based on a 65nm dual/quad with an identical ram clock speed, fsb strap, performance level, and timings. After I realized all this, I've nothing to be worried about.

For fun I poped my quad back in, seems your right

[ElEctric_EyE]

What version is your current ram?
When you get the new kit are you keeping the 8500 ram? If you plan to part with them and there the right version please pm me I will be very interested in them.

They're the 2.20V ver1.2. I think the ver2.2 are the sticks to have. These are headed to my P5WDG2WS Pro, they should survive. So is the 550W Thermaltake. My wattage monitor is hitting 425 at times. I wonder if my little Q6600 is sucking all 125Amps!

[Grnfinger]

They're the 2.20V ver1.2. I think the ver2.2 are the sticks to have. These are headed to my P5WDG2WS Pro, they should survive. So is the 550W Thermaltake. My wattage monitor is hitting 425 at times. I wonder if my little Q6600 is sucking all 125Amps!

It was my understanding that vers 1.x were the dimms to have.
I also have 2.20V ver 1.2 dimms, and have been looking for another ver 1.2 kit. If you ever changed your mind and want to part with them keep me in mind

[Sources]

When my Ballistix Tracers died on me (it was the single sided new version)I begged the guy at crucial to get me some old double sided PC8500's to match my other set and he pulled some strings and got some from a sales guy or a test machine or something, so now I have both sets of 2 x 1G PC8500's and they run AWESOME !

I was having so many problems and couldn't run higher than around 912mhz, now I can hit 1066 easy.