ASRock 775Dual-VSTA overclocking experiences?

[Conky]

Originally posted by: lepump
The stock cooler was too loud for me.. got me a ninja on 900prm and i'm enjoying the silence 🙂

Have to say that I'm no longer missing Asus, this board is great (for 50?)

I find the stock cooler much quieter than what it replaced... a Delta 80CFM 80mm fan on top of my Alpha 8942 heatsink. :shocked:

My system is too quiet now... I actually sorta miss the hum of that old Delta... maybe I will replace one of the current wimpy 80mm's in the back of my case... talk about airflow through a computer. 😀

 

[xcelr8]

I just recieved my ASRock along with an e6300 and arctic cooling freezer 7 yesterday, got it set up today. I'm running it with my old agp 6600gt and kingmax ddr1-433mhz ram. I was able to get it to boot into windows and mess around for a while at 320mhz fsb. Then i got greedier and went for 330, it didn't even post, i had to clear the cmos, and now I can only get it to boot into windows at 317fsb, still not bad if it's stable. I'm running prime95 now on both cores to see.

Has anybody else gotten this high? It seems most people are ending up stable around 295 or so, but what's the highest anybody out there has booted into winxp at?

 

[Ammocyte]

I have 2 of these boards with 2 6300's with both ddr and ddr2 ram sitting at the office waiting for me to get back from this long weekend to play with I cant wait....also there is a 1.70 bios revion that adds support for new clock gen.....i will post all overclocking info early next week....keep up the good work guys

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: xcelr8
I just recieved my ASRock along with an e6300 and arctic cooling freezer 7 yesterday, got it set up today. I'm running it with my old agp 6600gt and kingmax ddr1-433mhz ram. I was able to get it to boot into windows and mess around for a while at 320mhz fsb. Then i got greedier and went for 330, it didn't even post, i had to clear the cmos, and now I can only get it to boot into windows at 317fsb, still not bad if it's stable. I'm running prime95 now on both cores to see.

Has anybody else gotten this high? It seems most people are ending up stable around 295 or so, but what's the highest anybody out there has booted into winxp at?

I'm only totally stable at 290 which is a bit disappointing but I think if I went with looser memory timings I could get higher. But I knew this mobo was a crapshoot overclocking wise going in.

Having almost a E6600 for the price of an E6400 is pretty cool though... I am replaying Quake4 right now and it's like a whole new game with the framerates up in the "highly playable" zone with the res maxed at my monitor's limit of 1280x1024 with everything on High. :thumbsup:

I've spent more for videocard upgrades and got less in return than this E6400/ASRock combo has given me. I am seriously happy with this cheap upgrade. 🙂

 

[lepump]

found some old 3dmark scores.. incase someone is interrested

-with my old 3200+
3DMark Score 791
SM2.0 Score 381
CPU Score 795

-now
3DMark Score 914
SM2.0 Score 428
CPU Score 1708

 

[Conky]

OK, I have taken several benchmarks since my upgrade from a 3.06 Northwood w/HT to my new E6400.

These benchmarks are what they are. And all the components are the same as my sig except for the cpu and mobo.

Disclaimer, all benchmarks were at the same settings as before. I am not Anand I am not doing a perfect review only a relative facsimile. 😛 These are a genuine "same settings on the same O/S in the same games" comparison. I am still running on my old Catalyst 6.4's.

Half Life 2 Lost Coast vidoe torture test:
P4 3.06 : 60.27FPS
E6400 : 102.34FPS
E6400* : 109.26FPS

3DMark05:
P4 3.06: 5497
E6400: 6455
E6400*: 6540

Quake 4 id_demo001.netdemo:
P4 3.06: 46.67FPS
E6400: 82.69FPS
E6400*:83.81

E6400* = 290x8=2320 cpu speed

These demos show many things but the main thing probably being that the overclock is not that significant. The new processor made a very huge difference. 🙂

 

[tenax]

interesting..i've been running 297 for the past few days and it's very stable..but it actually "feels" faster at 290. i note the temp difference also doesn't bear out my overclocking "boost" from 290 to 297 is worthwhile for benchmark performance differences..

at 290- case temp- 38C, cpu rest-39C, cpu full load-42C

at 297- case temp-41C, cpu rest- 45, cpu full load- 49C

all readings using stock cooler..that's not bad in either case for a stock intel heatsink.i have very limited options given my htpc case allows me only a 4inch high cooler including fan. if i was going to go aftermarket, it has to be a non tower convention or if i wanted heatpipe type..thermalrite xp90. i have one in my basket at ncix and this close to punching the button but...i don't know if it's worth the bother..especially cause at this point i have no interest in removing the mobo to add the back support.

it was fun and if they release a bios that gives more overclocking options, i'll play some more, but meanwhile, i'm liking 290 best for a bit of overclock bonus.

the computer definitely felt "snappier" at 290 for sure.

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: tenax
interesting..i've been running 297 for the past few days and it's very stable..but it actually "feels" faster at 290. i note the temp difference also doesn't bear out my overclocking "boost" from 290 to 297 is worthwhile for benchmark performance differences..

at 290- case temp- 38C, cpu rest-39C, cpu full load-42C

at 297- case temp-41C, cpu rest- 45, cpu full load- 49C

all readings using stock cooler..that's not bad in either case for a stock intel heatsink.i have very limited options given my htpc case allows me only a 4inch high cooler including fan. if i was going to go aftermarket, it has to be a non tower convention or if i wanted heatpipe type..thermalrite xp90. i have one in my basket at ncix and this close to punching the button but...i don't know if it's worth the bother..especially cause at this point i have no interest in removing the mobo to add the back support.

it was fun and if they release a bios that gives more overclocking options, i'll play some more, but meanwhile, i'm liking 290 best for a bit of overclock bonus.

the computer definitely felt "snappier" at 290 for sure.

Well, I know that the 290 setting has my RAM at it's highest settings. I am sure I could get a higher over clock with loose timings but what fun is that? Look at these RAM timings Text">http://pics.bbzzdd.com/users/Beachboy/290solid.gif</a>

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: xcelr8
I just recieved my ASRock along with an e6300 and arctic cooling freezer 7 yesterday, got it set up today. I'm running it with my old agp 6600gt and kingmax ddr1-433mhz ram. I was able to get it to boot into windows and mess around for a while at 320mhz fsb. Then i got greedier and went for 330, it didn't even post, i had to clear the cmos, and now I can only get it to boot into windows at 317fsb, still not bad if it's stable. I'm running prime95 now on both cores to see.

Has anybody else gotten this high? It seems most people are ending up stable around 295 or so, but what's the highest anybody out there has booted into winxp at?

From what I have read around that?s about the highest FSB that anyone?s has reached!

That?s a very good result, please keep us all updated as to the max FSB you achieve STABLE and the set up and Bois options that you are using thanks. 😛

 

[tenax]

beach, my ram timings etc are the same as yours except for that last #.my system sets it at 5, rather than 6. note your cpu and case temps as well..i'm assuming that's during the orthos test. i'll have to run that as i'm curious what my temps will get to.

 

[tenax]

curious what you're using for cooling,beach..i'm using the stock intel cooler and getting 41 C on case 50C on cpu during the orthos test. i'm ok with that..just curious.

 

[xcelr8]

Alright, I read the sticky about stability checking, but still haven't run memtest86. However, at 315fsb with my e6300 i was prime stable with small fft for 24hours. However, with large fft I get an error after about an 1.5hours. Also, I was able to run all the way through super pi on both cores at 16M, but 32M really lags the system down, the hd grinds away and cpu usage falls below 50%. I guess i should run memtest to see if my ram isnt' completely stable and if that is why prime fails when it uses more ram, however, for now my settings are:

CPU @ 315fsb
Ram @ 266mhz in bios and auto settings for everything (ram actually running 420mhz and 2.5-3-3-6-2T)
Fast vlink (or whatever) is enabled
I think that's all of the important stuff. Idle with the arctic freezer i'm at about 38C and under full load of prime i reach about 52C

The ony disappointing thing is my 6600gt agp scores exactly the same now in 3dmark05 as it did with my barton 2400+ at stock. I get about 3300points.

-Oh, my mobo came with bios 1.10 which i am still running now. I don't know if i should flash to 1.70 or not if it's stable as is.

 

[lepump]

e6300 needs 1.40 bios
http://www.asrock.com/support/CPU_Support/show.asp?Model=775Dual-VSTA

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: xcelr8
Alright, I read the sticky about stability checking, but still haven't run memtest86. However, at 315fsb with my e6300 i was prime stable with small fft for 24hours. However, with large fft I get an error after about an 1.5hours. Also, I was able to run all the way through super pi on both cores at 16M, but 32M really lags the system down, the hd grinds away and cpu usage falls below 50%. I guess i should run memtest to see if my ram isnt' completely stable and if that is why prime fails when it uses more ram, however, for now my settings are:

CPU @ 315fsb
Ram @ 266mhz in bios and auto settings for everything (ram actually running 420mhz and 2.5-3-3-6-2T)
Fast vlink (or whatever) is enabled
I think that's all of the important stuff. Idle with the arctic freezer i'm at about 38C and under full load of prime i reach about 52C

The ony disappointing thing is my 6600gt agp scores exactly the same now in 3dmark05 as it did with my barton 2400+ at stock. I get about 3300points.

-Oh, my mobo came with bios 1.10 which i am still running now. I don't know if i should flash to 1.70 or not if it's stable as is.

You should definitely flash your bios to the latest 1.7 version. The ASRock website has a Windows-based installer that makes it really easy. The newer bios fixes many issues.

And I wouldn't count on any more overclocking out of this board. I can only get a stable fsb of 290 or so but maybe if I played with the RAM settings some more I could do better? Anyway, Anand was only able to get 297 stable out of his test board so 315 is really pushing the edge on this board.

 

[xcelr8]

That's my concern with flashing the bios, it seems to be running fine now, and i'm worried if i update it i might lose some of my o/c potential. Plus, i'm lazy and don't have a floppy installed, but if I can do it from windows then tehre shoudln't be a problem there.

 

[lepump]

i had a bad flash when doing it from windows to 1.70 🙁
..but i got a new board a few days later though 🙂

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: xcelr8
That's my concern with flashing the bios, it seems to be running fine now, and i'm worried if i update it i might lose some of my o/c potential. Plus, i'm lazy and don't have a floppy installed, but if I can do it from windows then tehre shoudln't be a problem there.

You can always flash it back to 1.10 if you want.

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: lepump
i had a bad flash when doing it from windows to 1.70 🙁
..but i got a new board a few days later though 🙂

Never flash when the system is unstable due to high overclock or memory timings are too tight, as the system may crash during bios flash and you might be up for a new bios chip. 😉

 

[aussieburger]

Originally posted by: xcelr8
Alright, I read the sticky about stability checking, but still haven't run memtest86. However, at 315fsb with my e6300 i was prime stable with small fft for 24hours. However, with large fft I get an error after about an 1.5hours. Also, I was able to run all the way through super pi on both cores at 16M, but 32M really lags the system down, the hd grinds away and cpu usage falls below 50%. I guess i should run memtest to see if my ram isnt' completely stable and if that is why prime fails when it uses more ram, however, for now my settings are:

I have my system @300fsb running 24/7 with no problems running normal everyday stuff and lengthy BF2 & BF2142 sessions so I was very happy with it. But when I tried a orthos test (Blend cpu and mem) it detected an error after 2hrs 🙁

Now my question is how dangerous is this to keep running on this setting when everything else has been flying ??? If I lower my RAM frequency may this fix that error ?

Originally posted by: xcelr8The ony disappointing thing is my 6600gt agp scores exactly the same now in 3dmark05 as it did with my barton 2400+ at stock. I get about 3300points.

3Dmark05 scores are only gpu dependent ... you would notice improvement comparing your 3DMark06 scores 😉 ... I got a 300+ point boost going from my AMD 64 3000+ system to this one 🙂

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: aussieburger

Originally posted by: xcelr8
Alright, I read the sticky about stability checking, but still haven't run memtest86. However, at 315fsb with my e6300 i was prime stable with small fft for 24hours. However, with large fft I get an error after about an 1.5hours. Also, I was able to run all the way through super pi on both cores at 16M, but 32M really lags the system down, the hd grinds away and cpu usage falls below 50%. I guess i should run memtest to see if my ram isnt' completely stable and if that is why prime fails when it uses more ram, however, for now my settings are:

I have my system @300fsb running 24/7 with no problems running normal everyday stuff and lengthy BF2 & BF2142 sessions so I was very happy with it. But when I tried a orthos test (Blend cpu and mem) it detected an error after 2hrs 🙁

Now my question is how dangerous is this to keep running on this setting when everything else has been flying ??? If I lower my RAM frequency may this fix that error ?

Originally posted by: xcelr8The ony disappointing thing is my 6600gt agp scores exactly the same now in 3dmark05 as it did with my barton 2400+ at stock. I get about 3300points.

3Dmark05 scores are only gpu dependent ... you would notice improvement comparing your 3DMark06 scores 😉 ... I got a 300+ point boost going from my AMD 64 3000+ system to this one 🙂

Why worry about a problem that only occurs during one program only that you will not run frequently?

Errors in memory don?t mean that your pc ram is going to burn out, it just means that the ram is probably operating at a higher speed than it was designed for, wrong setting in the bios, or that it is not 100% compatible with your chipset etc.

I have run PC?s with some persistent ram errors in some programs for years with no ill effects to my ram due to the above. :beer:

 

[aussieburger]

ok cool thanks for the advice 😉 ...

Testing with small fft now (cpu only) and no problems (>3hrs) ... my ram is working at 400 @300 fsb so should be ok as you say 🙂

 

[Conky]

Originally posted by: tenax
curious what you're using for cooling,beach..i'm using the stock intel cooler and getting 41 C on case 50C on cpu during the orthos test. i'm ok with that..just curious.

I'm using the stock cooler with a properly applied dab of AS3(I think that tube is out and I will have to try some other sort of AS in the future, lol)

The highest I've been able to manage with this board and my mild overclock was 50C. Text

I don't think cooling is really an issue with this board... it just plain sucks for overclocking. I've been trying like hell to get 300fsb but it just isn't stable with this $55 dollar board, lol. I will wait until a good cheap HIGHLY OVERCLOCKABLE comes out... which should be by thanksgiving or at the latest Christmas. Patience always pays off in the computer game. 😉

 

[Mr Vain]

Originally posted by: Beachboy

Originally posted by: tenax
curious what you're using for cooling,beach..i'm using the stock intel cooler and getting 41 C on case 50C on cpu during the orthos test. i'm ok with that..just curious.

I'm using the stock cooler with a properly applied dab of AS3(I think that tube is out and I will have to try some other sort of AS in the future, lol)

The highest I've been able to manage with this board and my mild overclock was 50C. Text

I don't think cooling is really an issue with this board... it just plain sucks for overclocking. I've been trying like hell to get 300fsb but it just isn't stable with this $55 dollar board, lol. I will wait until a good cheap HIGHLY OVERCLOCKABLE comes out... which should be by thanksgiving or at the latest Christmas. Patience always pays off in the computer game. 😉

Maybe xcelr8 is on to something with the 1.10 bios letting you reach higher FSB with this MOBO and that might satisfy your overclocking ambitions?
Maybe you want to give it a go, and flash back to the (1.10 Bios) and let us all know if that is the higher FSB bios to get. 😉

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...&STARTPAGE=6&FTVAR_FORUMVIEWTMP=Linear

 

[tenax]

okay..now i'm weirded out..re: ratio of fsb/mem frequency and 3/4 at for example 285 fsb and many other variations..for unrelated to overclocking reasons, reset my board to default fsb of 266 and mem to auto. my fsb is 266, but my memory is now 444...so, has anyone tried teeny increments of fsb adjust to see if the 3/5 will hold to a certain point? also, does the memory efficiency in something like sandra take it off the fsb rather than the mem frequency? i'm assuming so as at 387 on the memory it was saying about 35% of the bandwidth..at 444, it's only 36% or so..not what i expected.

 

[xcelr8]

Well, with the 1.70 bios i am nowhere near stable at 315fsb, even norton antivirus has problems there, at 310 it wasn't stable either, for now i have brought it down to 295 like most others it seems to run there. It never seemed completely stable at 315 with 1.10 bios, it would pass prime small fft but not large and that occt program would fail within seconds, but i had no noticeable problems in games or with programs at 315 with the 1.10 bios. I installed and ran 3dmark06 with it's default settings, i get a 705 at stock and a 785 at 315fsb, this is with 2x256 ddr1 ram (different timings and speeds with each bus though) and a 6600gt agp non-overclocked.

It does seem like the 1.10 bios might be more stable for overclocking. The only difference i saw with the 1.70 bios is that it allows for speedstep as well as another option, i can't remember what it is called, involving the cpu, i don't know what it does though either.