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

[AkumaX]

sorry to hear about that. i don't know why you're complaining, since you're the only one i know that has a quad @ 8.6ghz :|

 

[jenny9580]

haha, I wish

 

[darkfalz]

Did you try setting your RAM timings manually. On my board if I increase to FSB to 333, for some reason the board still tries to use 266 timings (resulting in obvious instability). I had to manually set them to 333 timings and then it was perfect.

 

[jeffw2767602]

this would be so much easier with a p35 board

 

[jenny9580]

I just RMA'd the 680i, and the Gigabyte P35 DS3L will be here tomorrow. $32 restocking fee, but I don't care at this point. Still wind up ahead about $85, plus no more 680i headaches.

Chapter 3 of this saga will resume tomorrow afternoon (Chapter 1 was my previous thread where the CPU wouldn't do a 9x mult until I got a new PSU).

 

[aigomorla]

Originally posted by: 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.

eVGA's policy is your allowed to replace the stock cooling without voiding warrenty.

Another reason why i love evga. However if you break somethign while removing it, your SOTL.

 

[jeffw2767602]

use that $85 you saved and buy a thermalright ultra 120 extreme. youll be able to get 3ghz with temps in the mid 40s at load

 

[InterTech]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
sorry to hear about that. i don't know why you're complaining, since you're the only one i know that has a quad @ 8.6ghz :|

That had me wondering if the BIOS flash was done successfuly. I had to flashed mine a couple of times before it was stable.
1. set the BIOS back to default.
2. flash the P30 BIOS using the Alt-F2 (I think) and shutdown after flashing.
3. pull psu cable, remove battery and jump the clear CMOS. Let it sit for about 5-10 minutes.
4. reverse what you did in step 3.

 

[The-Noid]

BSEL mod to 333, and you will get a few more mhz.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: AkumaX
sorry to hear about that. i don't know why you're complaining, since you're the only one i know that has a quad @ 8.6ghz :|

I got mine to 10.4GHz . same problem with P30 BIOS.

Well, i'm sorry to hear you returned your 680i. best of luck to ya.

 

[JAG87]

I beg to differ. See sig. If this board had better mosfet sinks I could easily pull 3.8 to 4G.

I honestly cant understand how a 300 dollar board has black painted aluminum mosfet sinks that dissipate as well as plastic, christ.

OP, the evga 680i A1 is one of the best boards to overclock quads. The only problem with it is the poorly engineered cooling solution.

nonetheless, if you did not need SLI you made the right move to switch to P35. good luck with your overclock.



PS. yoxxy, what's that ???? in your sig

:evil:

 

[PCTC2]

Here. Just to compare. Got my new eVGA 680i-A1. Again with crappy vDroop, however.

1.375v set, 1.32v in BIOS ....1.31v idle in CPU-Z.... 1.29v under load.
350*9=3.150GHz.
Using Prime95 v25.2 4-thread torture test.... 70 load (need to lap Ultra120... it has a deltaT of 30C (40C idle))

 

[jenny9580]

Just a quick update.. finished installing the Gigabyte board, and no bizarre 333FSB failures. Tested it at 6x333, then 9x333, didn't notice anything funny.. going to play with it and see how far it can go. I did notice one strange thing, though.. with this board, all of my core temps are about 10c cooler than they were on the EVGA. I wonder if it had something to do with the chipset fan that blows all of the piping hot NB air directly into the CPU fan on the EVGA. I'm just using an Arctic Freezer 7 for now, which has the big intake fan right in front of the NB.

 

[imported_Baloo]

Wait a sec, according to the pic, he is setting the bus at 1333 with a 9x multiplyer. That is not 9 x 333, it's 9 X 1333, which is way more than 3 Ghz. I am not familiar with the board, so maybe I am missing something here.

 

[PCTC2]

Originally posted by: Baloo
Wait a sec, according to the pic, he is setting the bus at 1333 with a 9x multiplyer. That is not 9 x 333, it's 9 X 1333, which is way more than 3 Ghz. I am not familiar with the board, so maybe I am missing something here.

The 680i Motherboard shows the QDR (Quad-pumped) FSB, so setting it to 1333, means 333 in actuality, and 1600, 400 in actuality.

Same with RAM. it shows the DDR (Double Data Rate) speed, so DDR2-800 PC2-6400 shows up as 800, not 400.