Can't get past 3Ghz on E2180 with reasonable voltage

[overst33r]

Hi,

Motherboard: Gigabyte P35-DS3-L
CPU: E2180
RAM: 2x2GB G.Skill PC8000-1066Mhz
PSU: Rosewill 500W 34 Amps on 12v
Cooling: Stock Intel HF and Ceramique

My CPU will not go past 3.0GHz without seriously pumping juice through it.

I took the RAM out of the equation by running a 3:5 divider and the timings are looser than most hookers... DRAM: 501mhz (actual 1002mhz?) 5-7-7-19-T2

On stock voltage (1.28v) I manage to get to 2.6 Prime stable.

I need 1.424v to get to 3.0GHz and Prime fails after 20mins. That seems unreasonable compared to what others are getting with the same stepping and revision as I have.

I have the latest BIOS from Gigabyte. I have disabled the EITS, T1C, etc features in the BIOS...

I have some screen shots of the 3.0GHz OC that fails at 20mins or so in Prime:

CPUZ

system temps/rails/etc

What am I doing wrong here?

 

[thilanliyan]

It could be the ram couldn't it? Running at 1000MHz is not easy. How much voltage are you giving the ram?

I was able to get a friend's 2180 to 3.2GHz recently with 1.4v on the Gigabyte P35-DS3R but had to back off on the ram. Did you up the northbridge voltage as well?

You might also want to see if the northbridge is really hot...that will affect your OC as well.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: mariok2006
What am I doing wrong here?

Maybe nothing? Have you considered that your CPU just can't ramp up any farther? Suddenly needing huge amounts of voltage to get a bit higher is a sign that the CPU may be reaching limits. As for other people getting better results, well, have you considered that often only people getting really good overclocks will trumpet their success in the forums?

About the only thing I can think of that might get you some more overhead is to do a BSEL mod to default your CPU to 2.66GHz. What this might do is tell the motherboard to run at a more relaxed CPU strap. It works in some cases, other cases doesn't do anything.

I've had three E2140 chips and two could hit around 3.2GHz but the third barely got 3.0GHz. Does that mean two out of three chips can do 3.2GHz? No, just that some can and some can't. There's no hard numbers and your particular chip can be better than everyone else's chip, or can be worse.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: thilan29
It could be the ram couldn't it? Running at 1000MHz is not easy. How much voltage are you giving the ram?

I was able to get a friend's 2180 to 3.2GHz recently with 1.4v on the Gigabyte P35-DS3R but had to back off on the ram. Did you up the northbridge voltage as well?

You might also want to see if the northbridge is really hot...that will affect your OC as well.

The RAM is rated to run at 1066MHz, anything below that rating should be no problem. I have tried an increaset .2v on the northbridge with no success.

Maybe nothing? Have you considered that your CPU just can't ramp up any farther? Suddenly needing huge amounts of voltage to get a bit higher is a sign that the CPU may be reaching limits. As for other people getting better results, well, have you considered that often only people getting really good overclocks will trumpet their success in the forums?

About the only thing I can think of that might get you some more overhead is to do a BSEL mod to default your CPU to 2.66GHz. What this might do is tell the motherboard to run at a more relaxed CPU strap. It works in some cases, other cases doesn't do anything.

I've had three E2140 chips and two could hit around 3.2GHz but the third barely got 3.0GHz. Does that mean two out of three chips can do 3.2GHz? No, just that some can and some can't. There's no hard numbers and your particular chip can be better than everyone else's chip, or can be worse.

Yeah. I think I'll just keep it at 2.6Ghz on stock voltage topping out at 52C, because I just got 3GHz prime stable and its topping out at 75C. 400mhz is not worth 23C to me.

The reason I mentioned other people is because I was under the impression that a CPU with the same stepping and revision should over clock similarly in most cases. I guess not.

 

[superstition]

Make sure you run your RAM at a 1:1 ratio if you can. Try lowering your multiplier. If you use a FSB speed of 400, a 1:1 RAM ratio, and an 8 multiplier, you can do 3.2 GHz with DDR2-800 RAM speed. Faster RAM speed makes little difference. The 1:1 ration is what's key. It's more efficient, generates less heat, and doesn't require as much voltage. It's more likely to be stable.

I have my e2140 running at 3 GHz at 1.350 volts. I think it can run one notch down but I didn't want to do a huge amount of testing again so I bumped it back up. I can do 3.2 GHz but only with auto voltage on, which I'm not thrilled about because I like to know what the voltages are and don't want to shorten my motherboard's life. I have the same motherboard by the way.

 

[VirtualLarry]

You should at least give it a shot with a 1:1 CPU:RAM multi. I need to give my E2140s 1.418v in BIOS to hit 3.2Ghz. They hit 85C under full load.
Did you change "Performance (something)" to Standard, instead of Turbo? Is your PCI-E freq set to 100 or auto?
You shouldn't need a BSEL mod with that mobo.

 

[superstition]

They hit 85C under full load.

Which is too hot.

Excessive heat is likely to generate errors in conjunction with high voltages. My maximum load temp with Orthos running priority 9 and small FFTs is 50c at 3 GHz. I have a lapped Tuniq and headspreader, a 140mm fan blowing on the northbridge/Tuniq/chipset, and all my fans set to low.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: superstition
Make sure you run your RAM at a 1:1 ratio if you can. Try lowering your multiplier. If you use a FSB speed of 400, a 1:1 RAM ratio, and an 8 multiplier, you can do 3.2 GHz with DDR2-800 RAM speed. Faster RAM speed makes little difference. The 1:1 ration is what's key. It's more efficient, generates less heat, and doesn't require as much voltage. It's more likely to be stable.

I have my e2140 running at 3 GHz at 1.350 volts. I think it can run one notch down but I didn't want to do a huge amount of testing again so I bumped it back up. I can do 3.2 GHz but only with auto voltage on, which I'm not thrilled about because I like to know what the voltages are and don't want to shorten my motherboard's life. I have the same motherboard by the way.

I tried running 3ghz with a 9 multi and 333FSB, it needed about 1.44 to even boot into windows and was unstable in prime.

Currently the best I can do is 2.6 on stock voltage. Anything more requires inefficient voltage increases. It's already maxing out at 55C.

I want to figure out how to run 1:1. Here are some CPUZ proc and RAM shots. If I leave it on default options in the BIOS, which i assume is 1:1, the CPUZ says 1:2. How do i get it to say 1:1?

http://img138.imageshack.us/im...28/cpuz26stablewe7.jpg

http://img187.imageshack.us/im...8955/cpuz26ram2wd7.jpgIsn't it supposed to say PC8000 (533mhz) in max bandwidth??

http://img397.imageshack.us/img397/50/cpuz26ramdk9.jpg

EDIT: I figured out how to run 1:1. I had to change the spd to 2.0. Now I will try to go higher and report back.

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
You should at least give it a shot with a 1:1 CPU:RAM multi. I need to give my E2140s 1.418v in BIOS to hit 3.2Ghz. They hit 85C under full load.
Did you change "Performance (something)" to Standard, instead of Turbo? Is your PCI-E freq set to 100 or auto?
You shouldn't need a BSEL mod with that mobo.

Yes, I run it in standard. PCI-e has been set to 100 the entire time.

 

[cpemma]

Originally posted by: thilan29
It could be the ram couldn't it? Running at 1000MHz is not easy. How much voltage are you giving the ram?

I don't see an answer on the RAM voltage, but the 1.86V showing in CPUID-HM looks low. I'm under the impression this is 2V RAM?

 

[overst33r]

Originally posted by: cpemma

Originally posted by: thilan29
It could be the ram couldn't it? Running at 1000MHz is not easy. How much voltage are you giving the ram?

I don't see an answer on the RAM voltage, but the 1.86V showing in CPUID-HM looks low. I'm under the impression this is 2V RAM?

It says 2.0~2.1v on the box. I suppose that is at default speeds... but I'm running it much slower...

 

[nerp]

Strange. My E2180 hits 3.2ghz at just 1.36v (1.41 in bios). I haven't done any real analysis but it seems that some people don't have as much luck with that Gigabyte board as other boards, like the Abit IP35-E. But as others have said, you could just be looking at the limitations of your particular chip.

You could just ram down the memory and see if that helps during primeing.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Something is wrong. My E2180 is oc'd to 3.2ghz (320x10) at 1.375v using the stock cooler. And at load, temps hit 53c.

 

[21stHermit]

Originally posted by: Zap
. . . often only people getting really good overclocks will trumpet their success in the forums?

This makes a lot of sense and would greatly bias the "perception" of what's possible.

 

[Mondoman]

Mario, you can't really assume anything about RAM these days with all the non-standard specs being sold. Based on what you said, I'd certainly set the RAM voltage to 2.1V. Try running the CPU at stock speed and run memtest86+ to make sure your RAM is working properly. Then, you can test it and the CPU at higher speeds.

PS - Nice Miata! I've got a '95 Montego.

 

[cpemma]

Originally posted by: nerp
Strange. My E2180 hits 3.2ghz at just 1.36v (1.41 in bios).

And I need 1.40V in BIOS (1.36 showing in Speedfan, etc) to get 2.9GHz stable and considerably more to go over 3GHz. This thread suggests trying 1.4625V (in BIOS) for around 3.2GHz, worked for me.

(zap)
have you considered that often only people getting really good overclocks will trumpet their success in the forums?

QFT. Overclocking a cheap processor over 50% is not a given.

But on default the P35-DS3L will only set 1.8V to any memory, so upping the memory voltage is worth a try with those sticks rather than pushing Vcore, etc.

 

[superstition]

Don't increase RAM voltage beyond the module's specs, though. I'm running mine at 1.9x even though it's supposed to be at 2.1 for CAS 4 and it's running with no trouble.