Q9450 on Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6

[jg0001]

So, I've been toying with my Q9450 C1 on a Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 (the DDR2 version)... I'm coming from an ASUS mobo background and trying to get my footing...

*** Most importantly: how can I tell what the DEFAULT "AUTO" VOLTAGES are so that I can properly compare them and adjust them versus what others are getting? The whole +1/-1 system is a touch annoying. ***

I have a few overclocking questions with respect to this combo. Generally, I'm trying to get an idea of how to translate the few BIOS changes it permits vis-a-vis the BIOS settings I read others are using.

Using FULL AUTO on ALL of the voltage selections, I can easily amp the Q9450 to 3.6 GHz (8x450), but it seems awfully hot (50 C idle, 70 C at load - as read by RealTemp, I know CoreTemp reads 10C higher due to an incorrect TJ Max) [prime stable at around 1hr+, I was afraid to run it longer than that due to the temps]. On full auto, it is putting the CPU volts at 1.45 as read in CPU-Z in Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit, which I can only imagine means nearly 1.50 in the BIOS. If I take it OFF of full auto and even if I manually set this to 1.45, and nudge up a bunch of other items by 0.15, I can't even OC it to 3.2 GHz.

Someone, please, help me translate the volts so I know what to set.

I wish anyone that posted an O/C also posted EXACTLY what settings they used, as they appear in the BIOS, leaving nothing out. It would help the newb-ier among you greatly in discerning which items matter most.

[Richard Dower]

Don't use full Auto, manually select voltages...the Q9450 should have a default Vcore of 1.2375V, for me thats good enough for 3.4GHz, then manually try upping FSB and (G)MCH voltages until you attain stability, normally +0.10-.0.20V should be enough.

[jg0001]

What about the other choices? Do you toy with anything else? Also, is there anyway to know what ACTUAL voltage level is getting applied to those items when +0.1/+0.2 is used? i.e. how would I possibly compare this to what someone else has done?

[Richard Dower]

The NB voltages are not reported in bios, i just toy with FSB/(G)MCH and Vcore....on the memory i just up the DDR2 voltage to 2.1V (+0.3V in bios), PCI-E and other voltages set to normal or Auto.

Memory timings, manually input 5-5-5-15 with all subtimings set to Auto, then you've got FSB/DRAM ratio...i set 2.50A which gives me 1063MHz memory speed.

FSB set to 425x8=3.4GHz, setting voltages to Auto in bios and starting to overclock will push the voltages way up, much more then you'll probably need.

The only way to find your limits and what is the least amount to voltage needed to gain a certain overclock is trial and error...might take you days to find the right voltage settings for your particular hardware.

[jg0001]

Thanks so much for helping push me in the right direction.

So far, my new best is listed below. I have yet to set the memory latencies manually (it defaults to even LOOSER timings than 5-5-5-15) AND I am still using probably too much vcore at 1.4000 in the BIOS. I will try to notch that down tonight.

I did small steps on FSB and GMCH while testing 450 x8 (3.60 GHz). Here is a bit of what happened:

(all at 450 x8)
FSB +V.....(G)MCH+V .....Posts? ....WinBoot?
0.10 .........0.100 .........YES .........NO = Windows freezes pre-GUI
0.15 .........0.100 .........YES .........NO = Windows freezes at GUI
0.20 .........0.100 .........YES .........YES = BSOD in under 1 min
0.20 .........0.150 .........YES .........YES = 12 min P95 then hardlock
0.20 .........0.200 .........YES .........YES = 13 min P95 then hardlock
0.20 .........0.250.........YES .........YES = P95 ran for 1hr+

The full details for the last line are below. I was only changing FSB OverVoltage and GMCH OverVoltage in the above tests. (I did do many other tests, not listed).

CPU Speed 3.600

Robust GrBstr Auto
CPU Clock Ratio 8
Fine CPU CR 0.0
CPU Host Freq 450
PCI Express Freq 100
C.I.A.2 Disabled
Performance Enh. Standard

Sys Mem Mult 2.40B
MemSpeed 1080
Timings Auto
Timings (by CPU-z) 5-7-7-20-2T <-- will toy with manually later

CPU/PCIEX CD Ctrl 800mV
CPU Clock Skew Ctrl Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Ctrl Normal

System Voltage Control Manual
DDR2 OverVoltage Ctrl 0.30
PCI-E OverVoltage Ctrl Normal
FSB OverVoltage Ctrl 0.20
(G)MCH OverVoltage Ctrl 0.250
Loadline Calibration Auto
Vcore 1.40000
Normal CPU Vcore 1.23750V
Vcore (@load, by CPU-z) 1.360

Idle Temp 41-44
Load Temp 61-64//67-69
P95 set1//set2
Posts? YES
Windows Loads? YES
SuperPi - 1M 13.025
SuperPi - 2M 31.784
SuperPi - 4M 75.127
SuperPi - 8M 170.880
Prime95 1hr+ stable (will do more later)

[Jaco]

Go easy on the vFSB (also called VTT)
+0,2v is pushing it for 45nm cpu's in my opinion.

It looks like you need high chipset voltage (also called vMCH) for 450FSB (+0.25v) , that's ok but try with lower vcore and vFSB.
I'm sure you don't need 1.36v for 3.6Ghz . My cpu does 3.5Ghz at 1.24vcore , +0.05 vFSB.

[jg0001]

Without +0.2, I couldn't get it to boot into windows fully...

If I lowered VCore, do you think I could also lower FSB volts? Doesn't make sense to me that it would, but I'm no EE.

[jg0001]

I managed to lower VCore in the BIOS to 1.325 (reads 1.28 under load via CPU-z) and keep it P95 stable with considerably lower temps. I ran P95 for 3 hours before I shut it down. I tried some lower voltage steps, and while they were okay in general, they failed P95 within 3-15 minutes every time. (BIOS setting of 1.30 failed at small FFTs, 1.25 failed after 3 minutes). I could test a level between 1.3 and 1.325, but it's probably not worth it... the temps were just about the same, anyway.

[side question: why is this a sub-thread to the Intel thread? I don't get why there is so much branching in this forum]

[Richard Dower]

Go easy on the vFSB (also called VTT)
+0,2v is pushing it for 45nm cpu's in my opinion.

It looks like you need high chipset voltage (also called vMCH) for 450FSB (+0.25v) , that's ok but try with lower vcore and vFSB.
I'm sure you don't need 1.36v for 3.6Ghz . My cpu does 3.5Ghz at 1.24vcore , +0.05 vFSB.

vFSB?...in the Gigabyte bios, is that refered to as "FSB" or "(G)MCH)"?
I also think pushing more then +0.20V on either is troublesome.

[Richard Dower]

Thanks so much for helping push me in the right direction.

So far, my new best is listed below. I have yet to set the memory latencies manually (it defaults to even LOOSER timings than 5-5-5-15) AND I am still using probably too much vcore at 1.4000 in the BIOS. I will try to notch that down tonight.

I did small steps on FSB and GMCH while testing 450 x8 (3.60 GHz). Here is a bit of what happened:

(all at 450 x8)
FSB +V.....(G)MCH+V .....Posts? ....WinBoot?
0.10 .........0.100 .........YES .........NO = Windows freezes pre-GUI
0.15 .........0.100 .........YES .........NO = Windows freezes at GUI
0.20 .........0.100 .........YES .........YES = BSOD in under 1 min
0.20 .........0.150 .........YES .........YES = 12 min P95 then hardlock
0.20 .........0.200 .........YES .........YES = 13 min P95 then hardlock
0.20 .........0.250.........YES .........YES = P95 ran for 1hr+

The full details for the last line are below. I was only changing FSB OverVoltage and GMCH OverVoltage in the above tests. (I did do many other tests, not listed).

CPU Speed 3.600

Robust GrBstr Auto
CPU Clock Ratio 8
Fine CPU CR 0.0
CPU Host Freq 450
PCI Express Freq 100
C.I.A.2 Disabled
Performance Enh. Standard

Sys Mem Mult 2.40B
MemSpeed 1080
Timings Auto
Timings (by CPU-z) 5-7-7-20-2T <-- will toy with manually later

CPU/PCIEX CD Ctrl 800mV
CPU Clock Skew Ctrl Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Ctrl Normal

System Voltage Control Manual
DDR2 OverVoltage Ctrl 0.30
PCI-E OverVoltage Ctrl Normal
FSB OverVoltage Ctrl 0.20
(G)MCH OverVoltage Ctrl 0.250
Loadline Calibration Auto
Vcore 1.40000
Normal CPU Vcore 1.23750V
Vcore (@load, by CPU-z) 1.360

Idle Temp 41-44
Load Temp 61-64//67-69
P95 set1//set2
Posts? YES
Windows Loads? YES
SuperPi - 1M 13.025
SuperPi - 2M 31.784
SuperPi - 4M 75.127
SuperPi - 8M 170.880
Prime95 1hr+ stable (will do more later)

Try set memory timings to 5-5-5-15, leave the subtiminsg to Auto, you should be able to get 1080MHz ok, but what memory are you using?

Setting 1.400V for Vcore is too high IMO, what you do is set 450x8 in bios, you start at 1.2375V and work up, in each bios step. You've got to test each Vcore increase for stability, it'll take ages...days, but you'll get to know the limits of your hardware.

Can i suggest something, set (G)MCH to +0.175V and leave FSB voltage at Normal...see if that will boot. Also...you can try setting Performance Enhance to Turbo as well.

[jg0001]

Okay, I did lower VCore to 1.325 (I could probably try a few notches between 1.30 and 1.325; 1.30 failed though at 15min on P95), and I set the RAM to 1:1 and 5-5-5-15... there was no good reason to run it at 1080 and from what I read elsewhere, running it like that may have put more stress on the other parts. I should probably try lowering the other volts a bit next...

First, a pic of the Prime95 screen after 7.25 hours, includes RealTemp screen showing min and max temps:
Q9450 @ 3.60 GHz -- Prime95 -- 7.25 hr run

Here're the current MOBO settings...


CPU Speed 3.600

[Note: other settings are made in other areas of the BIOS. I turn OFF the following: C1E, EIST, Virtualization, Exec Disable Bit. Set HPET to 64-bit mode. BIOS is set up for AHCI on SATA drives, not IDE emulation, etc.]

Robust GrBstr Auto
CPU Clock Ratio 8
Fine CPU CR 0.0
CPU Host Freq 450
PCI Express Freq 100
C.I.A.2 Disabled
Performance Enh. Standard

Sys Mem Mult 2.00B
MemSpeed 900
Timings 5-5-5-15 (rest set to auto)

CPU/PCIEX CD Ctrl 800mV <-- this is the default
CPU Clock Skew Ctrl Normal
(G)MCH Clock Skew Ctrl Normal

System Voltage Control Manual
DDR2 OverVoltage Ctrl +0.30 <-- takes memory to 2.1 V
PCI-E OverVoltage Ctrl Normal
FSB OverVoltage Ctrl +0.20 <-- don't exceed this!
(G)MCH OverVoltage Ctrl +0.250
Loadline Calibration Auto
Vcore 1.32500
Normal CPU Vcore 1.23750V <-- as read by BIOS
Vcore (@load, by CPU-z) 1.280

Min Idle Temp 39-42
Max Load Temp 56-59//60-62 (the higher set is under max heat generation tests; the lower set is from 100&#37; load, but not geared towards max heat generation)

SuperPi - 1M 13.025


Here are the parts:

Q9450 PC running Vista Ultimate 64-bit w/SP1

CPU: Intel&#174; Core 2 Quad Processor Q9450 OEM -- OEM about $350
HSF: ZALMAN CNPS9700 LED 110mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler -- on sale for $54
CASE: Antec P182 in Gunmetal Black -- $140 (often on sale)
PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX ATX12V / EPS12V 750W -- $99 AR
Optical Drive: Samsung SATA Model SH-S203N -- $34
O/S: Windows Vista Ultimate 64-bit w/SP1 (OEM) -- $189
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-X48-DQ6 -- $280
Memory: 2x G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) (yeah 8 GB!) -- $145 x2
Video Card: ASUS EN9600GT TOP/HTDI/512M GeForce 9600GT 512MB
--$140 AR -- this is a temporary vid card until the 9900 GTX comes out
Hard Drives: 2x Seagate Barracuda ES.2 ST3250310NS 250GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s
--$80 x2

Above adds up to $1736... pre-shipping, pre-tax, though I very much plan to upgrade the video card when the 9900 GTX comes out... for someone wanting a machine NOW, I'd say get the 8800GT or better if you are running at high res.

Monitor/Keyboard/Mouse
--all were re-used from one of my other older setups.

[jg0001]

Try set memory timings to 5-5-5-15, leave the subtiminsg to Auto, you should be able to get 1080MHz ok, but what memory are you using?

-- 5-5-5-15, done, subs on auto, done
-- reduced to 900 (1:1) from 1080... 1080 offered no real benefit
-- 4x 2GB of G.Skill PC2-8500 (see link in my prior post for it on the 'egg)

Setting 1.400V for Vcore is too high IMO, what you do is set 450x8 in bios, you start at 1.2375V and work up, in each bios step. You've got to test each Vcore increase for stability, it'll take ages...days, but you'll get to know the limits of your hardware.

--understood... I started from what I saw the FULL AUTO mode do and worked down; you are very correct that I should have gone the other way

Can i suggest something, set (G)MCH to +0.175V and leave FSB voltage at Normal...see if that will boot.

--I did try other setups of MCH and FSB, but only when I had the memory at 1080 and the VCore at 1.4000; with memory now 1:1 and the VCore much lower, perhaps I can lower MCH and FSB and remain stable

Also...you can try setting Performance Enhance to Turbo as well.

--I'm not sure if this is just one of those things that may haunt me later... if this isn't always affecting the PC, I don't know if I want it cropping up sometime weeks from now... explain to me a bit more why it's worth trying this and I'll reconsider

Thanks again!