Did I get a dud, or am I doing something wrong?

[jenny9580]

This is making me crazy!

I wanted a relatively moderate OC to 3GHz, but I am having terrible luck. I can't get this thing stable at 3GHz. It fails Prime almost immediately. I've tried upping the voltage as high as 1.4, but I don't want to increase it any further (temperature is becoming an issue at that point).

I have heard of some motherboards having FSB "holes", but I don't think it's likely at 1333 considering that's a stock FSB on this board. I did the pencil mod to prevent the voltage from dropping under load, but no dice.

I currently have it @2.7 with 1.25v (Priming it right now, no core failures yet). Core temps appear to peak at 61c, 63c, 69c, 69c with the current OC.

My BIOS settings are:
Unlinked, stock RAM timings
SLI-ready disabled
NVidia GPU ex disabled
Spread spectrum disabled

Here are the full specs:
EVGA 680i A1
2x1024 Corsair DDR2-800
EVGA 8800GTS 320MB
Antec NeoHE 550W
AC Freezer 7 Pro

I know the cooler isn't the best, but as I said my temps don't appear to be the problem here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated

 

[firewolfsm]

It could be your ram or northbridge holding you back. If it's stable at 2.7 with 1.25V, 1.3 should hit 3GHz.

 

[jenny9580]

I'm not sure I understand. The ram is unlinked and runs at 800MHz regardless of FSB.. it isn't being overclocked at all. Also, this board is designed for 1066/1333.. why wouldn't the northbridge be able to handle a stock FSB? Does overclocking tax the northbridge more, even if it's within the board's specifications?

 

[ChronoReverse]

Try setting your RAM to another frequency and increasing the voltage to 1.35. Another possibility is horrible vdroop.

 

[jeffw2767602]

680i cant go above 325MHz fsb for quads. that same chip on a p35 could likely hit 3.6ghz

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: jeffw2767602
680i cant go above 325MHz fsb for quads. that same chip on a p35 could likely hit 3.6ghz

No, he has the A1-revision which can OC a quad over 325MHz (the AR rev cannot).

Try dropping the multiplier to 8 and run 400*8 @ 1.325v and bump the SPP and FSB voltage 1 setting

 

[jeffw2767602]

ah...thats good to know. on a side note i hope nVidia does a lot better on the 700 series chipsets, either that, or they give up the license for SLI.

 

[jenny9580]

Chrono: I did the vdroop mod, the voltage doesn't budge under load.

jeff: That would explain it. I just tried 8*333 and again, it failed immediately. As an additional WTF, I just took a photo of my BIOS.. look closely and you'll see something interesting.

http://www.clan-dm.net/members/jen/wtfbios.jpg

Luckily, I just bought the board less than a week ago so I can return it.. this is seriously disappointing. Are there any known 325+ quad OCs on this board? Is 325 some artificial limit that will be fixed by a bios revision later on?

If I go the new board route, which one is good? I was originally going to get one of the Gigabyte ones. Don't care about SLI or any extra features, just want good NB/SB cooling so I don't need to sacrifice lambs to get a decent OC.

pctc2: Not that it is relevant to this thread at all, but I'm not a he

 

[jenny9580]

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: jeffw2767602
680i cant go above 325MHz fsb for quads. that same chip on a p35 could likely hit 3.6ghz

No, he has the A1-revision which can OC a quad over 325MHz (the AR rev cannot).

Try dropping the multiplier to 8 and run 400*8 @ 1.325v and bump the SPP and FSB voltage 1 setting

Blech, I'm sorry but my Intel noobness is showing (this is my first Intel rig, have had AMDs since forever). Right now SPP and FSB are at "auto", so I'm not actually sure what voltage would bump them up 1 setting.

 

[jeffw2767602]

i have a gigabyte p35-dq6 but i just bought it because i wanted to be sure i could get to 3.6 on a q6600, but now that there are more p35 boards reviewed i would probably go with the p35-ds3r. its cheaper and still has raid. i would stick with gigabytes p35s although asus has some good p35 boards, asus's quality control hasnt been so good lately or i would go asus (better memory performance).

 

[jenny9580]

What about the DS3L? To be honest, I've never really bothered with RAID.. so I don't think it's a feature I'd really use.

 

[jeffw2767602]

i havent read the reviews but i imagine it is similar. check the reviews at newegg

 

[PCTC2]

sorry. i don't read names, just subjects.

But I see you flashed the P30 BIOS. It reads multipliers incorrectly, and thus you get the 26x multiplier. happened with my board as well.

but anyways, try flashing to the P29 BIOS (P30 is having some problems) and then setting everything to these voltages:
vCore:1.325-1.35
vDIMM:whatever the specs say.
vSPP: 1.25v-1.30v (default is 1.2v)
vFSB: 1.4v
vMCP: 1.5v (default)

then go the clock menu and set the PCI-E buses to 100MHz and disable all of the spread spectrums (which you have).
then disable C1E, EIST, Virtualization, and LinkBoost (it doesn't do anything).
then try setting it to 375FSB with a 9x multi or 400-410 FSB with an 8x Multi.

 

[jenny9580]

I set everything as you said, and it's still failing Prime immediately.

(edit: I also flashed P29)

I couldn't find EIST or LinkBoost.. but I'd heard that LinkBoost was removed from the BIOS (not sure when).

 

[PCTC2]

Actually, EIST=speedstep, which is disabled when you OC.

Are you running Small-FFT or blend? Try Small-FFT's only.

 

[jenny9580]

I've been doing Small-FFT.. that's the one that dies immediately.

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: jenny9580

Originally posted by: PCTC2

Originally posted by: jeffw2767602
680i cant go above 325MHz fsb for quads. that same chip on a p35 could likely hit 3.6ghz

No, he has the A1-revision which can OC a quad over 325MHz (the AR rev cannot).

Try dropping the multiplier to 8 and run 400*8 @ 1.325v and bump the SPP and FSB voltage 1 setting

Blech, I'm sorry but my Intel noobness is showing (this is my first Intel rig, have had AMDs since forever). Right now SPP and FSB are at "auto", so I'm not actually sure what voltage would bump them up 1 setting.

lolol... You can goto PC Monitor and view the current voltage the board is running.

But, first off, b4 you overclock the NB and SB, you need to reapply TIM on them. The stock application is absolutely horrible.

http://i125.photobucket.com/al...aigomorla/IMG_0562.jpg

The main chipset tends to also heat up like hell's furnace. So if you didnt put the active fan on it, then you better do so now.

Be very carfeful with the voltage. The board CAN NOT HANDLE stress very well.

 

[jenny9580]

I'm still just trying to get it stable at 333fsb.. I was scared of trying 375 or 400 when it fails even at 333x8. I'm not even technically overclocking the NB yet. I do have the fan installed, though.

I think I may just get a P35.. this is incredibly frustrating. Not to mention the Gigabyte board is $120 cheaper. I probably won't even bother redoing the TIM because then I won't be able to return it.

 

[PCTC2]

well, you actually are overclocking the northbridge. anything over the stock 266, you are OCing the NB.

 

[n7]

1. I see an Intel quad core
+
2. I see an nV chipset
=
3. I see overclocking not going well

Then again, it's certainly possible it's the CPU, but the conclusion i've gathered from XS on OCing C2Qs is pretty simple: no nV chipsets; Intel ftw.

 

[jenny9580]

Ah. I'd assumed that because it claims to support 1066/1333 CPUs out of the box, that they would have at least made their cooling sufficient for 333/1333. What would it be doing if I'd dropped in a QX6850 at stock speed? I suppose I could try redoing the TIM and hope that NewEgg doesn't notice in case I do decide to RMA it.

 

[n7]

A CPU that runs at a 333 MHz FSB by default wouldn't be overclocking the NB afaik, as 333 MHz is default.
So it's not the same thing as running a 266 MHz FSB chip @ 333 MHz afaik.

I might be wrong on this; gurus on this are welcome to correct me if so.

 

[ChronoReverse]

Well, I can vouch for my Gigabyte board (GA-P35-DS3P). Vdroop is minimal and I don't need to touch the voltage of the northbridge to get 450MHz. Plus with the beefy Rev.1 northbridge heatsink, I know everything's cool.

 

[PCTC2]

well, tomorrow I get my new A1 revision of the 680i in and I have a Q6600 B3. I'll let you know how I go and then compare.

 

[jenny9580]

@#$&^

Just pulled apart the NB/SB, applied AS5, and I'm now testing 6*333. Still failing Prime. Going to call NewEgg tomorrow and RMA this thing before I take a sledgehammer to it. I'm fresh out of ideas.