Help Overclocking E8400 on P5E3 Premium

[Soapman72]

I am having some difficulties overclocking my E8400 and I am getting deseperate. I read the AnandTech review of the Asus P5E3 Premium motherboard,and decided this was my next board. I purchased an E8400 cpu and a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme handles the cooling. I have a Coolermaster CM690 case with 6 120mm fans moving lots of air and a coolermaster 850 watt powersupply taking care of the power. The RAM is OCZ Platinum 1600mhz 2x2048gb with rated timings of 7-6-6-24-2N

My problems startes soon after putting all of this together. I set the FSB to 400mhz so as to be able to run the ram @ 1600mhz, I dropped the multiplier to 6 to underclock the CPU, and began to test for stability. Without writing a novel here, I will summarize that I THOUGHT I had the memory stable before starting to bring the multiplier up i increment at a time (in half steps).The problem was that soon after beginning that process, I began to get weird Prime95 errors. Sometimes with a given set of voltages and settings, I could run prime for a few hours, and sometimes with very little change (like maybe a small bump in NB Voltage) I would see an error in the first 10 minutes or less. The puzzling thing is that the length of time prime would run was VERY inconsistent.

After several frustrating days of this I decided to get memtest86 and check the RAM. I was getting errors after about 14 minutes of running. Weird, because earlier in the testing I could run memtest through a couple of complete passes and see no errors. I talked to OCZ and they agreed that the RAM should be RMA'd.

The ram came in and I replaced the old ram, but guess what-----errors at almost the exact same time as before. All the settings in the bios were the same of course. I then dropped the multiplier on the CPU and loosened the timings, but I was still getting errors at the same time-everytime in MEMTEST.

I Ended up getting a new CPU and guess what------No Memtest errors!

The trouble is that I am still not stable with the FSB set to 400 at any multiplier that runs the CPU faster than stock. For that matter, I don't know if the system is COMPLETELYT stable at Stock speeds. I can say that the system will run OCCT ( I switched programs because OCCT seems to bring out the errors sooner than Prime, and I am spending alot of time on this) for 2.5 hours without error if the cpu is running at stock speeds.

I am currently running the following settings in the BIOS:

Vdimm 1.9
NB 1.49
SB Auto
Vcore 1.3625 (reported by OCCT at 1.30 load and 1.32 idle)
Ram is at 7-6-6-24-2N
Common performance level is 6 (one lower than default)
all other settings are set to auto.
Spread spectrum is disabled
C1E and speedstep are disabled.

Thats all I can think of.

I have had the NB as high as 1.53 but still no help, although I was running less VCORE at the time.
I see people adjust the CPU PLL, GTL, and FSB termination sometimes, but these are all set to auto,as I don't know what they do. I am always very conservative when raising voltages.

Can someone PLEASE help. I am ready to give up and just buy a Playstation! Well, maybe not, but I could really use some advise on what I am missing.

OCCT is running right now and has made it 43 minutes so far. All I really want to do is run the Ram at the rated timings with the perf level dropped 1 level, and clock the CPU @ 3.6ghz. This should be a walk in the park.

Thanks in advance.

Sean

 

[zfooz]

You are going to have to up the FSB termination which I think defaults to 1.10 , you need about 1.25, and the VDIMM I am almost positive you are going to need at least 2.1v or more for 1600mhz unless that OCZ ram specifically says 1.9v and even then i'd bump it up a notch 2.0 or so.
I wouldn't touch the GTL.. My board doesn't have CPU PLL.

Best way to test this is set your multiplier so you get as close to 3ghz as possible which is stock speed. Set CPU voltage 1 or 2 notches higher to help with FSB, set FSB termination 1.25, set northbridge to 1.50, read the sticker on the ram chip and see what voltage it wants and set it a notch higher in the BIOS, manually set the timings in the BIOS that the ram is supposed to run at.

DO THIS FIRST:
But before you do any of this. Clear CMOS, load optimized defaults, and then only set your ram settings/timings and change ram multiplier to 1:1.50 that will give you 1000mhz ram, and set the ram voltage to whatever it's supposed to be (i'm guessing 2.1 or 2.2). That's it. Test with everything else default. Run ORTHOS in blend test. Let it go for 12 hours. If that passes then do the above.

Do not try and push the CPU over 3.6-3.8ghz range because it will require a lot of voltage and it's just not worth it.
3.6ghz is perfect for E8400 and most will do it at stock voltage. (1.2v)

 

[Soapman72]

Thanks for the reply.


OCZ rates this ram at 1.9v so that is where I set it. According to several reviews, this board over-volts the memory by.03 to .05 volts, so I am trying to keep it there, at least untill I try to push past 1600mhz. 2.1v is pretty crazy for DDR3,and this will be a 24/7 overclock.


There is absolutely no way that THIS E8400 will do 3.6 @1.2v vcore.

Do you know what FSB Termination voltage does? I read that you have to be more careful with these 45nm cpu's when increasing that setting.

I will try increasing the FSB Termination voltage before adding mire Vcore.

I'll let you know if that helps.

BTW, I just got an error after 50 minutes of OCCT wit 1.49 nb, 1.9 vdimm, 1.32 vcoer (as reported by OCCT under load)

 

[Soapman72]

Well,


moving up the FSB termination voltage certainly seems to have helped. OCCT has made it nearly 2 hours, which is the longest that the system has run without errors at this clock speed.

Out of curiosity, if I still get an error, how high can I safely go on FSB termination voltage and still be safe for 24/7 operation?

 

[Soapman72]

Ok,


OCCT was 4 minutes away from completing a 3 hour custom test when it FROZE. No error, the program just froze, but I guess that needs to be treated as an error.


I bumped the FSB termination voltage to 1.24 and ran Prime, which failed in an hour and 5 minutes.

I bumped FSB termination voltage to 1.26 and Prime is running still. It has been on for 1 hour and 15 and I just got an error.


Should I bump up the NB Voltage to 1.52 or add more VCORE?

 

[Soapman72]

OK.

Now were getting somewhere!


Prime95 ran for approximately 7 hr 35 min but still showed an error.

I am running the following settings:

7-6-6-24-2N
Common Performance level 6
400mhz fsb x 9 = 3.6ghz Cpu speed
400mhz boot strap
2:1 Ram (1600mhz)
CPU Voltage 1.39375 (bios) 1.336 as measured by CPU-Z under load
Loadline calibration AUTO
NB voltage 1.45
FSBT 1.24
DRAM 1.9
CPU PLL Voltage AUTO

Everything else set to AUTO

I am going to try to LOWER NB Voltage 1 click to 1.43,since going from 1.49 to 1.45 helped. If I dont see further improvement, I will put it back to 1.45.

Can you suggest what I might want to try next?

I must be getting CLOSE!!

PC Probe cant tell me actual PLL Voltage, should I take that off of auto, or leave it alone? The bios says that 1.5 is standard.

It concerns me that I am still getting errors at all, but it is now difficult to test changes as it takes almost 8 hrs to see the error.

Thanks for your help and input so far!!!!!

Sean

 

[The-Noid]

7hr 35min is more than enough.

Nothing else really needs to be done unless you are trying to overclock farther.

 

[Soapman72]

Yoxxy,

Thanks for the comments. I shouldn't have complained about the 7.5 hour run. I tried lowering the NB voltage and got an error almost immediately (3minutes). So I put the NB Voltage back to 1.5 and bumped the VCORE 1 increment, ran prime and got an error again in 10 minutes.

THis morning, I put everything back to the way it was except the FSB termination voltage which I bumped up to 1.3 and CPU VTT which I took off of auto and set at 1.54. Got an error in 15 minutes.

After this madness, I put everything back to the way it was and ran PRIME and lasted 1 hour before getting an error!

How can I go from 7 hours to 1 hour on the same settings?

I remembered reading that these boards tend to overvolt the ram, so I backed that down 1 increment to 1.88 and left every thing else at the settings that lasted 7 hours. So far it has been running about 30 minutes. Well see what happens here.


I am curious though. Earlier in testing I wasseeing worse results the higher I went with my NB voltage, and I am only at 1.45. Does the X48 not require/tolerate voltage like the X38? Would I likely need more if I was running a higher FSB? I have never seen my motherboard temp (as reported by EVEREST) go above 39c, but I am not sure if that is actual chipset temp, or a sensoe located somewhere else on the board.

Any thoughts?

I was hoping to pas 8-9 hours and not see an error, but of course that does not mean one wouldnt occur at hour 10 or 11.

If I am worrying too much, let mme know, but I want a computer that is stable for 24/7 operation at these speeds. I am not getting Blus screens or anythinglike that though.

 

[Fitz1980]

I will be overlocking my E8400 very soon. I have read a few articles that I found by googling "E8400 overclock" so my first question is, are you overclocking with a 6x multiplier or the stock 9x. You mentioned earlier you brought it down to 6x but I don't understand why. I have a water cooling system but I have seen an article online showing the E8400 overclocked to 4Ghz with air cooling. Voltage was up around 1.47 I believe. Multiplier was set at 9x w/ 450Mhz bus.

http://en.expreview.com/2007/1...re-2-duo-e8400/?page=1

 

[felang]

Maybe try a higher TRD (common performance level). My Asus p5E X38 flashed with Rampage bios won't run stably at less than 8 (using 4x1gb of ddr2), q6600, fsb at 425mhz on 333 strap. If i set TRD to 7 the board boots fine but I get all sorts of problems and instability. As I understand it, lower TRD levels put more stress on the memory controller and can cause instability. You seem to have tried everything else I can think of so it might be worth a try. If you already tried that and somehow I missed it... sorry

 

[demiurge3141]

Originally posted by: Soapman72

How can I go from 7 hours to 1 hour on the same settings?

It could be the time of the day. You can get 8 hours stable over a cool night and 10 minutes in a hot afternoon.

 

[zfooz]

Listen.. the first thing you have to do is make sure your FSB is ok, especially with E8x00

Set the multiplier so that the cpu is as close as possible to the factory 3ghz. Set the CPU voltage maybe just 1 notch higher than default.

Set the FSB to whatever you want like 450, set the ram divider so it runs at most likely
try 1.2 (2.40) and then change it higher later.

Set Northbridge voltage somewhere around 1.45, set cpu VTT around 1.25
Set DDR voltage to whatever it says on the chip plus another 0.025
Put the ICHs voltages up about 0.05 each

Test in this configuration running orthos or 2 primes for 24 hours.

If this works, the FSB is OK, the RAM is OK at this speed (1080mhz)

Then change nothing except the Ram divider and run it higher and then run again for 12 hours +

Then if that works, change cpu multiplier. Change cpu voltage to 1.3, change ti 8x multiplier and do prime again, if it fails keep bumping the cpu voltage until it doesn't fail.. and I wouldn't go higher than 1.4v in the bios for the cpu.
Mine needs 1.3875v to do 4ghz on air which is a lot and the temps are high. One of my cores maxes out at 35C to TjMAX which I have no idea what the real temperature is.. if Tjmax is 95C then it's 60C, if it's 105C then it's 70C
My room is not cold, about 29C.

I hope this helps.. This is the only way to do it. You have to make absoultely sure each setting is 100% stable by doing at least 12-24 hour of prime or orthos on blend tests.
Make sure to do blend so it stresses your ram. I prefer it to run 36+ hours of prime before I call it stable.

 

[Soapman72]

Guys,


Thank you very much for all of the input. Here is what I found out after ALOT of frustration. The problem with my system stability is due to one of two things. It is either BIOS related, or the Memory I purchased does not want to run at advertised speeds.

I was chasing my tail early on, wondering if the CPU could run at the speed I want it to (3.6ghz) I get seemingly random stability issues (mostly only while running prime95 or a similar benchmarking program.

I swapped out the ram, CPU, and even the MOBO and still have the same issues UNTILL I ran the bus speed a little slower than 400mhz.

I can wun the computer all day long if everything is set to AUTO in the bios with no prime errors. Once I select a 400mhz fsb it is a crap shoot. The problem is that I cannot find the limit on my CPU because the board will not even post with a different divider. If I select 400mhz for my FSB the board will not post with ddr1333 selected.

I have been over and over this, and right now I have the FSB set to 385, the cpu running @ 3.45ghz using the stock 9x multiplier, and the ram at the advertised timings. OCZ has admitted that they are recieving numerous complaints of similar issues running these 1600mhz kits at advertised speeds/timings on x48 boards.

What I would like to know, is this; Will a bios update likely take care of this RAM issue, or is OCZ having diffulty producing these RAM kits at these timings. I think they are the only one with a 4gb kit with 7-6-6 timings.

 

[zfooz]

E8400 4050mhz

Don't run it at 1600.. Run the cpu higher and the ram slower with tighter timings.. Be better anyway.

It will run.. Check out my link and see how high the temp is :/ and it still runs.. this is 1.39v in bios

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: zfooz
Don't run it at 1600.. Run the cpu higher and the ram slower with tighter timings.. Be better anyway.

That isn't possible with DDR3, at least with the X38 &X48 chipsets. 2:1 is the slowest the RAM will run.

Soapman, it sounds to me as if you've done everything right, except updating your BIOS. That's a requirement with new chipsets, nearly 100% of the time, and the probability that you'll need to is way higher, if you're overclocking..

 

[zfooz]

Ouch.. stuck at 2:1.. No wonder they are making the ram go such high mhz.
DDR3 hasn't matured yet so that's why I didn't get it .. although it is fast :>

 

[Soapman72]

Originally posted by: zfooz
Ouch.. stuck at 2:1.. No wonder they are making the ram go such high mhz.
DDR3 hasn't matured yet so that's why I didn't get it .. although it is fast :>

I did the BIOS update first thing. I am running the latest.

Stuck on 2:1 divider? CORRECT! I can only run at 1333 if I leave everything on auto. Once I take control of FSB speeds manually, the board will only boot @ 1600mhz for memory. I find that weird, but there it is.

I will continue to work with OCZ because I don't have much choice at this point anyway. Hopefully, a future BIOS update improves stability and I can run the full 400mhz FSB-My CPU seems more than up to it ans I am at 385 on the default voltage now and stable.

 

[zfooz]

There is no reason any E8400 shouldn't run at 400 fsb ..
400*9 should be no problem.
You can set it at 400*8 and then try and get it stable, or 400*7.5 and you can probably rule out the cpu. Running the memory at 1600 probably requires a lot more MCH(NB) voltage and maybe a tad more DDR voltage. I'm sure OCZ can help you figure out what voltage is safe to use with their ram. If you are only using 2 ram modules there is no reason for the errors.

 

[Soapman72]

Originally posted by: zfooz
There is no reason any E8400 shouldn't run at 400 fsb ..
400*9 should be no problem.
You can set it at 400*8 and then try and get it stable, or 400*7.5 and you can probably rule out the cpu. Running the memory at 1600 probably requires a lot more MCH(NB) voltage and maybe a tad more DDR voltage. I'm sure OCZ can help you figure out what voltage is safe to use with their ram. If you are only using 2 ram modules there is no reason for the errors.

Been there, done that. I get errors regardless of what voltages I run to the NB, RAM, FSBT, CPU VTT, etc.

The CPU is not the problem, it is the RAM that will not run at RATED speed. I can drop the multi and play with all the settings, but none of them make any difference. I confirmed with OCZ today, if the bios needs an update to help with compatibility on this ram kit, additional voltage will not help. My testing only confirms this.

 

[zfooz]

Try changing the ram settings to even higher maybe can get it stable for now.
like 8-7-7-32 or something similar and performance level 9 or 10

 

[Soapman72]

Originally posted by: zfooz
Try changing the ram settings to even higher maybe can get it stable for now.
like 8-7-7-32 or something similar and performance level 9 or 10

I tried setting things to the default performance level with 7-7-7-24 timings. No help.

Benchmarks show that the performance is better with 7-6-6-24 Perf level 6 @ 385mhz fsb rather than fsb of 400 mhz and way loose timings. The loose timings negate any improvements from memory speed and =even cpu speed.

At 385 mhz i am getting no BSOD's and was able to run prime for at least a few hours. So untill a bios update comes out, I will be stuck with these settings.

OCZ did say they would even be willing to send me 4-1gb sticks to try, but I am sick of watching my new computer running Prime95 all weekend long, so I'll wait it out.

As I said, with the original BIOs NOTHING was stable, and there has been some improvement with this one. They are supposedly testing one of the kits that they sent to me as a replacement in a P5E3 at their facility. As I said, they are aware of the problem, and are at least trying to help.

 

[ball0fire]

i feel your pain mate

ive had nothing but trouble trying to o/c my 8400 too. 3.7 is all it does....no scratch that...., FSB 415 is all it does. doesnt matter what multi i use or ram speed if i go over 412 - 415 blink reboot
and this is with 3 diff sets of ram by 3 diff brands and 2 diff mobo's P35 and now P45 , all voltages changed and tweaked, skew's adjusted, the works.

i know mines a diff problem and dont wanna hijack the thread , just thought i'd say i feel yah pain

 

[GrumpyMan]

Have you tried setting your fsb at 400, turn off express gate and all the power saving features and run everything else on Auto? Oh yeah vcore dim to 1.35. And leave the multiplyer at 9. After you upgraded your bios did you reset the CLRC jumper for a couple of minutes?
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