DS3 is not allowing my E6600 above 3.4GHz

[njdevilsfan87]

Something is wrong with my DS3. I cannot get my E6600 to go above 3.4Ghz for some reason. This is not the chip's the max - I can do 3.4Ghz at 1.4V and have tested 3.6Ghz before at around 1.47V to be stable on my old Rev1.0 board.

I hit a wall a 379x9 and everything above that seems to cause problems. The computers boots and posts but freezes right before the memory check, shuts off and restarts with factory settings. I tried 425x8 and was always to get it to boot into Windows and run Orthos stable. However, I tested a cold boot, and the same problem occurred - the post froze right before the memory check, restarted, and dropped the FSB back to 266.

Now I'm trying 425x6 and this runs fine. I don't get any freeze ups at a cold boot, and everything seems stable.

So is my DS3 not letting me overclock my chip to beyond 3.4Ghz? Today is pretty cool rainy day and my load temps were only in the mid 50s when overclocked at 3.4Ghz so I wanted to push further and try to find a new max overclock for the cooler months.

I tried both the Patriot's and the Ballistix and neither helped.

Pic of where the post freezes

378x9 4:5 - 3402MHz = Post Success [Windows & Orthos stable]
379x9 4:5 - 3411MHz = Post Freeze

425x8 1:1 - 3400MHz = Post Success [Windows & Orthos stable]
426x8 1:1 - 3408MHz = Post Freeze

486x7 1:1 - 3402MHz = Post Success [Windows stable have not Orthos tested]
487x7 1:1 - 3409MHz = Post Freeze

Did I reach the board's maximum?! Though it doesn't make sense to me as to why this is happening...

 

[Conky]

What happens when you use 1:1 and the 9x multi?

 

[Acanthus]

Ive hit a clock wall in the same place on a E6300, ill keep a watch on this thread to see if there is a solution.

Exact same symptoms with the same mobo.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Originally posted by: Conky
What happens when you use 1:1 and the 9x multi?

Same issue - I just put down 4:5 so I can even about even speeds when changing the fsb so I don't need to make any real changes on the ram.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Bump

 

[VirtualLarry]

Maybe your chip just wont handle it anymore? Perhaps the 1.47V vcore burned the chip slightly?

 

[manimal]

nothing is guaranteed in OC'ing. Be happy you got 3.4, some people get 3.2 at 1.55 Volts and are happy.

 

[spinejam]

try 426 X 8 = 3408mhz! mine is rock solid! my P965 S3 doesn't like 425 fsb though.

 

[firewolfsm]

Chips do decay over time, my Opty 144 which could hit 2.7 has slowly decayed to 2.45 since I got it. 3.4 is a great OC anyways.

 

[MrK6]

Your mid 50s load temp, is that the motherboard sensor or the sensor in the die (read by CoreTemp or intel's TAT)? What's your cooling like on your northbridge? The stock heatsink doesn't cut it when you get higher. I usually pull it off, scrape off all the TIM and apply AS5, and also get rid of the rubber gasket/buffer on the heatsink so it'll sit perfectly flat. Also try putting a fan over it once you're done. If that still doesn't work, crank your voltage on everything (NB to +0.3V, MCH to +0.3V). Also, what speed is your RAM? DDR2800 I hope.

 

[njdevilsfan87]

Mid 50s was according to TAT, though that was on a cooler rainy day of about 65F. Now that's over 90F outside and over 80F inside, I can't overclock because God only knows what my load temps are. My bios reads about 10-15C lower than TAT.

I have a Scythe Mine with a 120mm fan, and HR-05 (no fan) on the northbridge. Temps are not my issue. My RAM is PC2-6400 Ballistix which have PC2-8000 5-5-5-15 listed in the PCB so pretty much my RAM is more than efficient for this type of overclocking.

Maybe my chip did decay, but it doesn't seem right that it can hit 3.4GHz on 1.4V and then not be able to go any higher when people put as much as 1.55V in their chips. My chip has never required more voltage over time, as far as I remember, it's always been about 1.4V needed under load to keep a stable 3.4GHz overclock.

And then there is someone how has the same exact issue as me, so surely it must be a motherboard problem.

I've tried cranking up all the voltages with no luck. Wish I had another motherboard to try - oh well.