Oddball OC stability

[Juddog]

I got my E8500 up to 4.05 Ghz this morning; FSB set at 1800 Mhz along with memory (I tested memory at 2000 Mhz using EPP settings using a 6 hour OCCT run and it was completely stable at that level).

So I ran 3dmark06 and it worked fine, left it running but OCCT seems to have bombed out stating error on processor 1. I thought that increasing the CPU / FSB voltage would improve the stability, but the same thing occurs even when setting my CPU at 1.4v core with vdroop disabled (the chipset attempts to compensate for vdroop by increasing voltage during stress on the CPU).

Any other things I can do to get this baby stable at 4.05 Ghz? Cooling seems to be ok with my new CPU cooler, although I am going to add in another fan tonight behind the CPU for exhaust, even at 1.4v and 4.05 Ghz the top temp it reaches is about 55 degrees C.

 

[n7]

3DMock is a joke for testing any kind of stability, which is precisely why benchmarkers love it.
They can run it all day long on unstable systems.

You might need to work on your GTLs, & NB voltage as well, especially as your chipset is known to be rather temperamental.

Just pumping up vcore does not always work once you reach higher FSBs.

 

[Juddog]

Originally posted by: n7
3DMock is a joke for testing any kind of stability, which is precisely why benchmarkers love it.
They can run it all day long on unstable systems.

You might need to work on your GTLs, & NB voltage as well, especially as your chipset is known to be rather temperamental.

Just pumping up vcore does not always work once you reach higher FSBs.

I noticed the GTL's and MCP / SPP as options but didn't mess with the voltages on them.

 

[Dravic]

Originally posted by: n7
3DMock is a joke for testing any kind of stability, which is precisely why benchmarkers love it.
They can run it all day long on unstable systems.

You might need to work on your GTLs, & NB voltage as well, especially as your chipset is known to be rather temperamental.

Just pumping up vcore does not always work once you reach higher FSBs.

3Dmark has its place, I've had Prime + OCCT stable overclocks that failed to run 3Dmark. Making sure the system can loop 3damrk at least proves the subsystems are all working together (CPU, RAM, GPU, drivers all at once). It should def not be used to gauge CPU stability alone, as that is not its focus/purpose.

 

[lopri]

If left auto, 780i/790i tend to overvolt everything when it detects user overclocking. Sometimes to an unnecessary degree. This causes overheating gradually and over time this heat can affect south bridge stuff as well (since the heat pipes are connected).

Most of the time it's the SPP voltage that does the trick after vCore, especially for dual-core CPUs. Unfortunately there is no software temp reading for SPP (there used to be, but NV removed it - aren't they smart?), so you will need to physically make sure the SPP isn't running too hot. Touching it with your fingertip is often good enough to learn the reality..