E6600 and P5W Deluxe Overclock Help

[MikeR397]

My Rig: Conroe E6600 (stepping 6)/Asus P5W Deluxe with Bios 1101/Corsair DDR 800 Cas 5/Zalman 9500

Just like everyone else, it seems i'm hitting a fsb wall at around 360. The system is stable at 333 fsb with auto voltages (Vcore around 1.35 and CPU temps at 28c idle/32c load), but past that I have to increase the voltages pretty significantly. I am able to get through some benchmarking (haven't tried prime yet) at 365 with 1.550 Vcore and at 375fsb with 1.575 Vcore. The idle temps for both of these speeds are about 37-39C with load temps in the low 40's. Is this too much voltage for the E6600, even if it still runs pretty cool thanks to arctic silver 5 and Zalman 9500? What is a safe Vcore for the E6600, and does it just depend on temperatures mostly?

Things I have tried thus far (in my attempt to reach 400fsb = 3.6ghz stable):

1) Using bios 0801 and 1101
2) Disabling most features in bios, including Hyperpath 3.
3) Using SPD for ram timings and also manually rating them at thier suggested ratings
4) Dropping a lower fsb:ram ratio including 1:1 and whatever the lowest setting is.
5) I have tried maxing motherboard voltages (MCH/ICH) and VCore up to 1.575, but am afraid to go higher on Vcore and can barely get to 375fsb this way.

If anyone has some suggestions or can provide me with specs that have worked for you, please let me know!

 

[lopri]

Yes, that's too much voltage even considering that it drops under load. Also do not trust ASUS Probe's temperature readings. Use CoreTemp. There is no way that CPU is @37~39C load with 1.575V.

Do not set vFSB too high. 1.2~1.3V should suffice. vMCH can be set at max for testing. So can vDIMM. Did you test your memory at default FSB (266)? What is your GPU and PSU? Try giving "Heavy" slot power for the GPU.

 

[Brahmzy]

I've got your chip and mobo and BIOS version. In fact I've tried two different mobos with my E6600. Same EXACT OC. I've tried every BIOS setting combination imaginable. Still stuck. The 4mb cache C2D's just don't clock like the 2mb's.

I guess I'm satisfied @ 3.2GHz @ 1.45, but I too was hoping for 3.4GHz/3.6GHz stable.

You've reached all she's gonna do I think.

 

[MikeR397]

Yes, I tested my memory at default FSB (266) and several others. The memory seems great up to speeds of DDR 1000 with 2.1v, but I am leaving it at a 1:1 ratio for CPU testing for now. Also, I have a single 512mb Sapphire X1800GTO2 Video card that is running at 692/665 speeds and with voltages for the X1800XT OC, so it does consume a lot of power. I have a new 500 watt Ultra V Series power supply.

As far as temps, the 37-39c was idle (with pcprobe) and the load was about 43/44c with 1.575 vCore. However, right now I am using 1.475 Vcore and my CPU idle is 33c in pcprobe and in the motherboard bios hardware monitoring, but coretemp says the temps for the two cores are 52/48 idle right now. Is core temp really more accurate even though pcprobe and the bios say the same things for temps?

Also, I tried changing slot power to heavy, 1.3v for vFSB, 1.500 Vcore at 375fsb, vMCH at 1.65 and vICH at 1.20 along with hyperpath 3 and all the thresholds disabled, Ram at 1:1 so about DDR 750 (rated to DDR 800). However, as soon as started 3dMark05, the computer locked up and restarted within 20 seconds.

If you have any more suggestions, I'd love to try them out. I'm not quite ready to give up on overclocking this system to 3.6, as was supposedly a "shoe in" on high quality air cooling according to all the reviews on the ES samples of Stepping 5 of this processor. Also, what do you think is the max safe voltage for this CPU?

Thanks!

 

[FallenHero]

Did you also remove the northbridge heatsink and apply some AS5 as opposed to the crap they put on there in the factory? I seem to be able to get a better overclock with a lower voltage than some of the other people around here.

 

[imported_drummerboy]

Like FallenHero, I removed the north and south bridge heat sinks for modification. I scraped off the factory junk replacing it with AS5. I believe it improves overclocking.

 

[MikeR397]

Ya, I think part of my problem is the motherboard temperature. With auto voltages to the MB, the temperature goes from 45-49 and even up to 51-52 with 1.65vMCH. I did take the pastic coverings off the heatsinks already but have not tried applying some AS5. The problem I am having with doing so is that I really dont' want to have to take the motherboard out of the case to get the heatsinks off, which it appears i would have to do. Also, if i use a good room fan and blow on the motherboard (temporary) it gets the temps down to about 37C even with 1.65vmch, but even with that temperature, my overclock cannot go about 355fsb without going over 1.475vCore. Therefore, do you really think applying AS5 will help my overclock or does it sound like I have maxed it out with medium level voltages? Thanks!

 

[MikeR397]

Also, like Brahmzy, I'm at 3.2 (355fsb) but with 1.475vCore, I haven't tried 1.450vCore yet. It seems like anything above 3.2 needs excessive VCore and that MCH/ICH/FSB voltages don't make any difference from leaving them at auto. This also includes 1:1 or downclocking RAM. I've also tried a massive room fan with lowers the MB/videocard/cpu temps drastically and still can't get above 3.2ghz with out going into to 1.50vcore or above.

Earlier, I was able to get 365fsb(3.29ghz) but i needed 1.525v and to get 375fsb(almost 3.4ghz), I had to go all the way up to 1.575vCore. Even though my temps were still reasonable (idle 38 in bios/pcprobe and 52 in CoreCenter), I dont' think using this much voltage is worth it for the extra 100-200 mhz. Do you?

 

[Henny]

After a point Conroe loves voltage to get higher Ghz. I did some characterization and it looks like an extra 100 mv is needed for every .4 Ghz gain.

I picked 3.3Ghz at 1.475 as the sweet spot. I could get to 3.5Ghz stable by going to 1.525V but I really want to keep my Vcore under 1.5.

I really don't know what the maximum safe 24/7 Vcore is assuming good cooling but it seems like >1.5 should probably be avoided.

I found that nothing else seemed to matter like MCH, FSB voltage etc.

I'd suggest you go as far as you can on stock Vcore then start throwing it voltage at the rate I mentioned above but stop somewhere <1.5Vcore.

About 1Ghz worth of OC on a new CPU is pretty good IMHO.

 

[MikeR397]

Henny,

what are you other settings to get 3.3 at 1.475? I am only able to get 3.2 with 1.475 as of right now.

Progress Update:

- unstable at 355fsb with 1.450
- unstable at 355fsb with 1.4625 with max other voltages and high speed fan on
motherboard with mb temps of 37c

- stable at 355 with 1.475 with auto other voltages

 

[FireChicken]

Did you see this guys

http://i36.photobucket.com/albums/e49/hellojmy/3dmark06.jpg

Do you think he did this with out a volt increase. CPUZ says that its at stock. Or do volts only increase under load????

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: MikeR397
Henny,

what are you other settings to get 3.3 at 1.475? I am only able to get 3.2 with 1.475 as of right now.

Progress Update:

- unstable at 355fsb with 1.450
- unstable at 355fsb with 1.4625 with max other voltages and high speed fan on
motherboard with mb temps of 37c

- stable at 355 with 1.475 with auto other voltages

I disabled Hyperpath 3 and went 1:1 with the memory. Just about everything else is on Auto or Stock settings. I'm using Bios 0903.

I messed around with MCH voltage but it had no affect.

 

[MikeR397]

Ya, I've also got Hyperpath 3 disabled and with 1:1 memory. However, I am using bios 1101, which I've heard has raised some peoples overclock and lowered others (mostly those transitioning from 0903 to 1101 have got lower overclocks); so i might try bios 0903. Could you send me a link to where you got your 0903 at b/c it's not on Asus's webpage. Thanks!

 

[tylerw13]

Originally posted by: MikeR397
Ya, I've also got Hyperpath 3 disabled and with 1:1 memory. However, I am using bios 1101, which I've heard has raised some peoples overclock and lowered others (mostly those transitioning from 0903 to 1101 have got lower overclocks); so i might try bios 0903. Could you send me a link to where you got your 0903 at b/c it's not on Asus's webpage. Thanks!

here is the link...enjoy

http://wiki.p5wdh.de/doku.php?id=downloads:bios

 

[Henny]

Originally posted by: MikeR397
Ya, I've also got Hyperpath 3 disabled and with 1:1 memory. However, I am using bios 1101, which I've heard has raised some peoples overclock and lowered others (mostly those transitioning from 0903 to 1101 have got lower overclocks); so i might try bios 0903. Could you send me a link to where you got your 0903 at b/c it's not on Asus's webpage. Thanks!

Don't forget that not all Conroes are the same. There are variances in the process that can lead to some units being slightly better or worse then others for overclocking. If you're in the range of 3.2-3.5 with an E6600 the you have a successful overclock.

 

[jeffwads]

Just for the record:

I have the same board/CPU using A-Data 533 memory 2GB kit. I currently run at 3.33Ghz with Vcore at 1.45 set in the bios. Memory is 1:1 (5-6-6-18-24) Freq 370. The ram gets a 2.00V in bios. FSB is 370. This system has been stable for almost 2 days now under a pretty good load on both cores using an application called "crafty-smp". The video card is a 7900GT. 3DMark06 gets 5010. Anything higher than 370 or so just won't enter Windows at all, though it does boot up.

As a side note, I first had issues with my sata raid setup getting corrupt data due to my lame-brained assumption that the PCI and PCI-E bus would be hard set at 33.33/100 during overclocking using the AI deal. That cost me a few days of BS until a friend of mine brought up the now obvious oversight. Suffice it to say that the AI crap is on my "never use again" list.

I am using the 1101 BIOS.

 

[MikeR397]

Thanks for the info and links. I'm going to flash to 0903 (from 1101) and see what happens with the overclock. If i can get 3.2 with 1.450v or 3.3 with 1.475 I'll be a happy camper. Updates to follow.

 

[kmmatney]

I don't if anyone answered your previous question, but yes, COreTemp is way more accurate than your other temp readings, as it directly measures temperatures using the on-die temp sensor on the cpu. What you'll also notice is how quickly the temperature changes in the cpu - it will heat up very fast, and cool down almost as soon as you stop doing anything intensive.

 

[jeffwads]

Originally posted by: kmmatney
I don't if anyone answered your previous question, but yes, COreTemp is way more accurate than your other temp readings, as it directly measures temperatures using the on-die temp sensor on the cpu. What you'll also notice is how quickly the temperature changes in the cpu - it will heat up very fast, and cool down almost as soon as you stop doing anything intensive.

I get some crazy temps with this tool. At full load, 66 and 64C on a E6600. Every other temp application I have shows 44C. This is highly suspect and needs independent verification IMHO.

With this kind of heat, I may simply get rid of my central heating system and run Crafty 24/7.

 

[MikeR397]

Ok, just tested out Bios 0903. Things I tried:

3.3ghz with 1.475v = fail
3.3ghz with 1.4825v = fail

3.2ghz with 1.450v = fail
3.2ghz with 1.4625v = pass (note: this speed took 1.475v in bios 1101, all other settings the same)

It seems that 360 is my fsb wall that just takes way too much vCore to get past. One thing interesting to note is that I did pass with Bios 0903 at 355fsb (3.2ghz) with 1.4625v, where as this failed on the 1101 bios as I had to use 1.475v in order to be stable.

Anyone have any inputs on running the E6600 24/7 with 1.4625v at 3.2ghz? Shouldn't hurt the life of the processor too bad right? If it lasts 3-4 years I be happy and in need of another one anyways.

Now off to figure out if 1:1 at 4-4-4-10 timings are better than running the ram at is fastest stable speed (around DDR 933) with 5-5-5-12 timings.

 

[MiS Nemesis]

Can someone post their BIOS for the P5W DH Deluxe? I have the E6600 as well and want to over clock it.

 

[Skott]

Nem, Check out the Official P5W DH thread in the motherboard section. Last night Phile posted a good starting OC setting for myself. Your RAM settings may be different though depending on what you are using for RAM. I think he's using a E6600 in his rig and I know he's posted his settings. Might want to check it out.

 

[MiS Nemesis]

Thanks man, going to search for it now.

 

[imported_itsmezed]

I've actually gotten my setup (E6600, P5W DH Deluxe) stable at 375fsb w/ 1.40vcore. The Intel thermal analysis tool does report some hot idling in the mid 40s, but otherwise it's been great. I've been using the 1305 bios version, FWIW. Oh, and water cooling. Still can't get the ram to run at anything but SPD timings tho