Lost the ability to overclock on Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3

[cprince]

Hi! A week ago, I used to be able to overclock the E6600 on Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 rev. 3.3 to 3.0GHz by setting the FSB to 333MHz. The RAM(G.Skill PC6400) ran at 833MHz(2.5x) at 5-5-5-15 @2.0V, from stock 4-4-4-12@1.8V. The CPU voltage was 1.35V. I have aftermarket CPU and Northbridge coolers that keeps the CPU at 35C @ full load and the Northbridge @ 40C. However, a few days later, the system failed to boot. I tried all different ram voltages and timings, but nothing seems to help. I thought it was the RAM, so I changed it to GEIL PC6400(1.9V-2.3V) at 4-4-4-12 stock, but I still couldn't overclock to 3.0GHz anymore even when the RAM is at 5-5-5-15@2.3V. Currently, I'm running at stock CPU and RAM speed(4-4-4-12@2.0V). Thanks for your help!

 

[aigomorla]

im thinking overheating NB.

Try to put a fan in front of it, and feel if its hot or not.

Also if its not hot, then im thinking too little voltage. Try to give your NB a bit more voltage.

 

[cprince]

Thank you, aigomorla, for your help. It was the overheated Northbridge. Before the problem started, I replaced the original heatsink with the Thermalright HR-05. I made the big mistake of using the cushion pad that came with the HR-05. The cushion pad was too thick. So the HR-05 didn't get a good contact with the NB. I removed the cushion pad, cleaned up everything, and reinstalled the HR-05 with some arctic silver 5. Everything works fine now. Currently, I'm running the FSB@333MHz, E6600@3GHz(9x, 1.35V), memory@833MHz(4-4-4-12-2T, 2V). I might try to overclock some more later.

 

[Cheex]

Welcome to the forums cprince!!

I have a question for you....

What program do you use to measure your temperatures and how do you take the readings?

 

[cprince]

I use the latest version of SpeedFan with default settings. It reported Temp1@47C, Temp2@32C, Temp3@-2C, Core1@37C, Core2@37C under loading condition. I don't know where the temperature sensors are, and Giga-byte tech support does not know or would not tell me. I think that Temp1 is at the Southbridge, Temp2 is at the monitoring chip itself, and Temp3 doesn't exist. I also have a non contact thermometer, and I measured the temperature at NB to be around 40C(after I reseated the NB cooler), southbridge to be 48C, and CPU 37C.