Advice Needed: Overclocking ASUS P5K-E/WIFI + Q6600

[meanhoe]

these are my computer specs:

Asus P5K-E/WiFi
Intel Q6600 G0 Stepping
Crucial Ballistix 4GB (4 x 1GB) DDR2 800 4-4-4-12
Thermalright U120 Extreme (lapped)
Scythe S-FLEX SFF21F
Arctic Cooling MX-2

i've read the thread about overclocking but i'm still rather lost. i tried to do a moderate OC with what little i've learned so far.

hopefully, i havent messed anything up.

CPU-Z
Core Speed: 3006MHz
Bus Speed: 334MHz
Rated FSB: 1336MHz
Core Voltage: 1.208

i only changed the FSB and the Core Voltage. is this ok? i'd like to get more but not sure what else i would have to do exactly. any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

[meanhoe]

26 views and not a single reply? i'd love some advice here.

 

[MetaDFF]

Yes, you are on the right track by changing the FSB and core voltage.

Have you seen the overclocking C2Q and C2D sticky thread yet? There is some good advice there.

What are your temperatures under load when running Orthos on all 4 cores as read by CoreTemp? Around 50 C is a good number for a quad core machine. Yours should be pretty low since your core voltage is low for a 3.0 GHz overclock (which is good). Make sure you run Orthos atleast a few hours to ensure stability. I like to run it for more than 8 hrs once I have found an overclock speed I want to keep.

I'm assuming you are running your RAM to FSB ratio as 1:1.

You can probably push your chip more. I would start by increasing your FSB in steps of 10 MHz and see when you start hitting instability when either booting into Windows or running Orthos before bumping up the voltage by an increment. Personally, I wouldn't go over a core voltage of 1.45 V to keep a reasonable core temperature as well as preserve the life expectancy of the chip.

Your RAM will be able to handle a FSB speed up to 400 MHz with the 4-4-4-12 timings, so RAM instability shouldn't be an issue until you start going above FSB speeds of 400 MHz (i.e. 3.6 GHz overclock)

 

[meanhoe]

thanks for replying MetaDFF.

yes. i read the thread about C2Q & C2D. i normally like to browse through forums and make use of the search function before i ask questions. thanks for pointing the thread out though. i appreciate it.

i ran Prime95 for about 6 hours and i had about 48C-50C. is Orthos better?

to just clear things up and double check before i fry my new rig, can i just raise my FSB to 400MHz and just up the core voltage without touching the ram settings? how do i know when to start upping the voltage for NB and anything else i might not be thinking about?

 

[MetaDFF]

Cool, you did some research before hand

As long as you use either to stress-test your PC it shouldn't matter if you use Prime or Orthos.

I wouldn't just raise your FSB to 400 MHz as your system might not POST, and your chip might not be able to handle a 3.6 GHz overclock regardless of the core voltage you set. It is better to make gradual increments.

If you want to make a jump, try to get it stable at 3.2 GHz and see what temps and voltages you need. If the voltages and temps are reasonable try 3.4 GHz. The overclocking guide recommends 65 C as a good conservative maximum load temperature.

Make sure you have your RAM set to 1:1 ratio so you aren't trying to overclock both the FSB and the memory. Your RAM will operate with 4-4-4-12 timings up to 400 MHz FSB, so unless you go past the 400 MHz FSB mark you won't have to touch your RAM timings or voltage.

You probably won't need to touch your NB voltage until you get into extreme FSB overclocking. I have a P5K Deluxe and just left my NB voltage at AUTO and was able to get the FSB up to 445 MHz. Unless you have an amazing overclocking chip (9 x 445 = 4 GHz) it's unlikely you'll need to touch the NB voltage. There is a thread here about which voltage to raise first.

Basically:

1. Vcore
2. Northbridge
3. VTT
4. GTLREF

 

[meanhoe]

i notice that in CPU-Z my Core Speed fluctuates from 3006.0 - 3005.6. is this normal?

 

[MetaDFF]

Yes that is normal.

 

[meanhoe]

cool. i was getting freaked out for a second. laff.

going to try to OC to 3.2 and see if this baby gives me any problems. will run Prime95 and post results when done, unless i run into some problems.

i appreciate the help so far MetaDFF. keep the help coming, brother!

 

[meanhoe]

i got 3.2GHz@1.264V with temps under Prime95 running for approx. 7 hours @ 55C 55C 51C 52C.

think i can push it further? will i just have to up FSB and Core Voltage if i push it further to either 3.4GHz or 3.6GHz?

what are these BIOS settings? what should the setting be? i wish the stupid manual would explain these BIOS settings.

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?


In CPU-Z for Memory it says...
Freq: 356MHz
FSBRAM: 1:1

is this what it should be?

 

[Acanthus]

Originally posted by: meanhoe
i got 3.2GHz@1.264V with temps under Prime95 running for approx. 7 hours @ 55C 55C 51C 52C.

think i can push it further? will i just have to up FSB and Core Voltage if i push it further to either 3.4GHz or 3.6GHz?

what are these BIOS settings? what should the setting be? i wish the stupid manual would explain these BIOS settings.

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?


In CPU-Z for Memory it says...
Freq: 356MHz
FSBRAM: 1:1

is this what it should be?

If your memory is DDR2-800, then youre fine.

356mhz is actually a little underclocked.

 

[meanhoe]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: meanhoe
i got 3.2GHz@1.264V with temps under Prime95 running for approx. 7 hours @ 55C 55C 51C 52C.

think i can push it further? will i just have to up FSB and Core Voltage if i push it further to either 3.4GHz or 3.6GHz?

what are these BIOS settings? what should the setting be? i wish the stupid manual would explain these BIOS settings.

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?


In CPU-Z for Memory it says...
Freq: 356MHz
FSBRAM: 1:1

is this what it should be?

If your memory is DDR2-800, then youre fine.

356mhz is actually a little underclocked.

how would i correct this?

what about the BIOS settings? any ideas?

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?

 

[MetaDFF]

Originally posted by: meanhoe

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: meanhoe
i got 3.2GHz@1.264V with temps under Prime95 running for approx. 7 hours @ 55C 55C 51C 52C.

think i can push it further? will i just have to up FSB and Core Voltage if i push it further to either 3.4GHz or 3.6GHz?

what are these BIOS settings? what should the setting be? i wish the stupid manual would explain these BIOS settings.

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?


In CPU-Z for Memory it says...
Freq: 356MHz
FSBRAM: 1:1

is this what it should be?

If your memory is DDR2-800, then youre fine.

356mhz is actually a little underclocked.

how would i correct this?

what about the BIOS settings? any ideas?

Transaction Booster?
Clock Over-Charging Mode?
Load-Line Calibration?
FSB Termination Voltage?

It is OK to be underclocking your RAM for now as you want to figure out what your fastest CPU speed is. Once you find an overclock you are happy with, you can play with the RAM divider later to operate it faster (asynchronously with the FSB).
For your RAM to run in 1:1 ratio you would need to use an FSB speed of 400 MHz (3.6 GHz overclock).

3.2GHz@1.264V sounds pretty good and your core temps are good as well. I would try to see if you can hit 3.4 GHz while keeping your core voltage below 1.35 V. Make sure you watch your core temperatures though, as increasing the voltage linearity will cause the core temperatures to rise exponentially.

As for the BIOS settings:
Clock Over-Charging Mode - Quoting Anandtech "Maximum of 1.00V. Phase change, dry ice (DI) and liquid nitrogen (LN2) benchers may find higher settings here useful when cooling the CPU and surrounding area down to very low levels. All others would do best to leave this on Auto."

Transaction Booster - Some ASUS setting used to improve memory bandwidth. According to Anandtech it can improve memory performance by up to 15 %. I think it changes some memory latency timings. Leave the setting at AUTO.

Load-Line Calibration - As you may have noticed, under load, your core voltage drops a little bit from the idle voltage. This is known as Vdroop. Load-line calibration reduces this Vdroop so that you do not need to set such a high core voltage to compensate for the droop. You should ENABLE this setting.

FSB Termination Voltage - This setting is for extreme FSB overclocking (FSB 450 MHz+). I think this setting determines the I/O voltages of the FSB. You should just leave this setting at AUTO.

 

[MetaDFF]

I just noticed in your sig that you have your RAM operating at 4-4-4-12 timings with 2.2 V.
Did you just manually set that voltage or was it necessary to keep your RAM stable? Since you are operating your RAM below stock speed, you will probably only need 1.9 V on it.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: MetaDFF
Since you are operating your RAM below stock speed, you will probably only need 1.9 V on it.

Not a chance in hell that Ballistix will do >700 Mhz on 1.9v, at least not at 4-4-4-12 timings. I wouldn't go any less than 2.1v with it. BTW, have you guys seen this P5K overclocking thread?

 

[meanhoe]

i set the RAM Voltage manually. i will try 1.9V then 2.1V once i am done getting the OC stable at 3.4GHz.

i notice a difference in the Core Voltage i set in the BIOS and in CPU-Z. is this normal? from what i've seen on posts, i feel it is but i would like to double check.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I've been "OC'ing" for nearly 4 years, but in many ways feel like a noob. I keep learning "new stuff."

My take from forums is that 3.4 Ghz is reasonably achievable with the G0 stepping without pushing the voltage outside, or too far outside -- the retail-box maximum.

Today I was checking some forum posts by people who'd overclocked the B3 stepping with air-cooling. Some had pushed the Vcore to 1.5 and higher. I can't be sure that their speed achievements would stand up for at least a half a day under PRIME95 testing, and I wouldn't push my vCore that high unless I had money to burn and wanted to take the time and trouble to do more frequent component replacements.

My opinion about the memory settings follows thus: if you're over-clocking, you might as well set it immediately to just below the warranty limit, maybe leaving some wiggle room of a couple notches. Then you can test the limits of the CPU and the mobo, and make minor adjustments in the NB, SB, CPU_VTT(FSB) and 1.2HT voltages -- carefully -- sparingly.

Your voltage setting thus far shows how much better the G0 stepping can be, and you have plenty of wiggle room their -- you shouldn't worry about punching it up to just above 1.35V, but only in tiny increments as you increase the bus speed.

A lot of people are using different memory-multipliers/ dividers with the newer higher-performance RAM. I've chosen to stick with 1:1 for now, and I'm running high-performance Crucials way under stock-rated Mhz specs, but with really tight latencies. I'm getting benchies of about : 8,600 MB/s read, 6,600 MB/s copy, 6,600 MB/s write. As I said on another post in a different forum -- it seems pretty snappy. And especially, for reducing the bank-cycle-time tRC from (Auto) stock value of 21 to a fixed value of 12. I may experiment with running the RAMs asynchronously at higher speeds and looser timings, and people can feel free to comment on my Everest bench results -- let me know if something else would work better.

So at 355+ Mhz (CPU_FSB), my timings are 3,3,4,8,1T and tRC = 12. That's with CPU at 3.2 Ghz, FSB over 1,400 and DDR around 710 Mhz.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Meanhoe --

You may not get it stable -- for running up the FSB to achieve it -- without a higher RAM voltage.

I can pretty much assure you now from ample experience that if the RAMs are "good" with lifetime warranty, you should be able to run them at (or even a bit beyond) the warranty spec. If you keep them just at -- or just below that voltage spec, you shouldn't have any trouble getting the maker to replace them free if something "goes wrong."

Until recently -- several months ago -- I would set the VDIMM at maybe 2.0V and edge it up if a VCORE increase didn't help (after dropping the VCORE back to the previous value). This is tedious, and unnecessary. The voltage will affect both how well the modules can run at higher FSB, and how well the latencies can be tightened.

This leaves you free to focus on the VCORE and other system voltages, as you adjust the speed upward.

It's true, of course, that if the maufacturer rated the modules at 800Mhz @ 1.9V, they'll run at that speed, and there's really nothing wrong with doing it that way -- until, that is, you attempt to tighten the latencies on those modules.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

[Keep in mind, per advice just given, that I found reviews and other confirmation sources for lower latency settings, and just began the process with the lower settings. That would qualify my remark that "you may not get it stable . . . . without a higher RAM voltage."]

 

[MetaDFF]

Originally posted by: meanhoe
i set the RAM Voltage manually. i will try 1.9V then 2.1V once i am done getting the OC stable at 3.4GHz.

i notice a difference in the Core Voltage i set in the BIOS and in CPU-Z. is this normal? from what i've seen on posts, i feel it is but i would like to double check.

You should check what the default DDR2-800 voltage you need for your RAM to get 4-4-4-12 timings and set that as your RAM voltage.

Yes, it is normal to see the voltage you set in your BIOS being different from that read from CPU-Z. The voltage you see in CPU-Z is the the actual voltage. For most motherboards, the voltage you set in the BIOS will be different from that you actually get. I believe that they call this Vdrop.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Apparently the only way to know precisely what the resultant voltages are is to measure them with a multi-tester or similar device.

Different BIOS versions may affect the voltage settings. For instance, early BIOS versions for my 680i board would allow you to think that you had "set" the vCore to 1.5V, but it would show up in BIOS monitor as something around 1.39, and the actual measured voltage as 1.36V. New BIOS versions corrected it . . . . . more or less . . . . for this voltage, more . . . . for that voltage, less . . . .

And of course, you will see, by checking your BIOS "voltage monitor" under the "Power" menu, that when you "set" the FSB_VTT or NB voltage (for example) to some value, it can be "off" by as much as 0.07V. If I set my memory VDIMM voltage to 2.175V (warranty limit is 2.2V), I find that it shows up in the BIOS monitor as 2.22V and in Windows as 2.22V.

And based on what I said already, you can't be 100% sure from the monitored values as to "what it really is," either . . . .

Another thing I've noticed, to use another example. Let's suppose you determine from BIOS monitor that the "AUTO" setting gives you an HT Voltage of 1.23V. And you want to tweak it ever so gently, just to bump it up a notch, adding 0.05V to the minimum setting of 1.20. So you set it, "Exit and Save," and check the BIOS monitor upon reboot. It may still show "1.23V." So you bump it up another notch, and suddenly, it shows "1.31V" or something like that.

I'm not going to elaborate on what I only guess are the tricky aspects of "control and monitoring circuits" in some analog to Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, since I'm not that "electrically savvy." But it's probably the complication of having "fleas on the backs of fleas, and fleas on the backs of 'em, too."