Q9550 + EP45-UD3R Overclocking questions

[California Roll]

I'm coming from a Q6600 (1.325vid) that I got stable at 3.0ghz at 1.23volts. I was really happy getting this speed undervolted.

For whatever reason, I could not get 3.2ghz stable at respectable temps. I had to push vcore to 1.35+v but the temps were too high. I chalked it up to my budget cooler (Arctic Cooling Freezer) and was happy with 3.0.

Now I replaced my Q6600 with an E0 Q9550 with 1.1875vid. I'm kinda shocked right now and want to know if this is normal. I'm currently at 3.8ghz (447x8) with the exact same cooler. Bios vcore is 1.2v (1.168v in CPU-Z). Load temps at 59-55-60-60C (idle 38-40C).

I'm flabbergasted to be honest. Do these numbers seem right? Going to try 4.0g now.

 

[error8]

It seems odd that it's stable at such a low voltage. How are you testing for stability?

 

[n7]

I'm coming from a Q6600 (1.325vid) that I got stable at 3.0ghz at 1.23volts. I was really happy getting this speed undervolted.

For whatever reason, I could not get 3.2ghz stable at respectable temps. I had to push vcore to 1.35+v but the temps were too high. I chalked it up to my budget cooler (Arctic Cooling Freezer) and was happy with 3.0.

Now I replaced my Q6600 with an E0 Q9550 with 1.1875vid. I'm kinda shocked right now and want to know if this is normal. I'm currently at 3.8ghz (447x8) with the exact same cooler. Bios vcore is 1.2v (1.168v in CPU-Z). Load temps at 59-55-60-60C (idle 38-40C).

I'm flabbergasted to be honest. Do these numbers seem right? Going to try 4.0g now.

Congrats on your nice low VID!

You've got a lot left in that chip...it'll be motherboard that holds you back before CPU does.

My Q9650 did 4.1+ GHz @ just under 1.25v, & there are lots of Q9550/Q9650s better than mine (most likely yours will be as well).

 

[California Roll]

It seems odd that it's stable at such a low voltage. How are you testing for stability?

Quick Prime95 small, large, and blend for 10 minutes each. Once I figure out where to stop at I'll run Prime overnight and/or Linpack while I tweak.

I can already tell that 4.0ghz is going to require work. Locked up immediately at 1.2v. Prime fails immediately but computer doesn't crash at 1.25v and bumping up MCH and ram voltage. Temps don't break 65C tho at load.

3.8 seems where I'll stop. All voltages are close to stock. Just bumped MCH from 1.1 to 1.2. Ram is 5-5-5-15 1.9v. Going to see how low I can undervolt at 3.8. Stock voltage of 1.1875 is stable so far 30 minutes into Prime large.

edit: For some reason when I try 4.0ghz (477x8), my fan is on high and stays on high right from boot up. Doesn't happen from 3.8ghz on down, fan only goes high during load.

edit 2: Any FSB from 450+ makes cpu fan run at full speed. Doesn't happen at 449.

last edit: Going to test more tomorrow. Tried to see how high I could get at stock settings.

3.81ghz, 449x8.5, 1.1875v (bios)
MCH 1.1v, PLL 1.5v (all stock)
ram 5-5-5-15, 1.8v (stock)

Basically everything is on stock/auto settings except the fsb. Max load temp 57C (Prime large) or 62C (Prime small). I'm pretty sure there's room to go higher but not an option for me if my cpu fan goes on full all the time at 450+ fsb. If I can't figure this out, I'll just tweak how low I can go on vcore at 3.81.

 

[California Roll]

ugh, double post

 

[California Roll]

triple post.

 

[elconejito]

You should be able to hit 4Ghz on that chip. The board can easily go over 450, and likely will be able to goto ~500 if not beyond.

That CPU voltage is pretty typical, i think. Temps will probably stop you before the voltage does.

When you say "stock" do you mean the default voltages or you left them on auto? If you left them on auto, they will creep up on you and may go too high.

Good luck!

 

[California Roll]

You should be able to hit 4Ghz on that chip. The board can easily go over 450, and likely will be able to goto ~500 if not beyond.

That CPU voltage is pretty typical, i think. Temps will probably stop you before the voltage does.

When you say "stock" do you mean the default voltages or you left them on auto? If you left them on auto, they will creep up on you and may go too high.

Good luck!

Default voltages. I try not to use Auto voltages unless I know they won't change.

 

[swanysto]

My 9550 does 4.2 @ 1.26v Unfortunately it only passes 4/5 tests in intel burn test. I think that is cause I don't have enough voltage to my chipsets though. I think this thing could hit 4.4 if I really wanted it too.

Your numbers seem right to me. My temps are a little better, but that is probably the cooling choice. However, your voltage is better.

 

[aigomorla]

triple post.

i think they allowed us to delete our own posts when this happens.



Go in edit and see if u can delete it.
Reason put down double or triple post.

Also yorkfields were very nit picky with FSB Termination voltage.
What voltages are u running there?

 

[California Roll]

i think they allowed us to delete our own posts when this happens.



Go in edit and see if u can delete it.
Reason put down double or triple post.

Also yorkfields were very nit picky with FSB Termination voltage.
What voltages are u running there?

I'm not seeing a delete post option when I try to edit. Can you point me to it please (PM ok)?

I'm not seeing a FSB termination in my bios, only CPU and DRAM termination.

I'm still trying to figure out why my cpu cooler fan stays on high speed when I go 450+ FSB. I'm guessing because temp sensor tells it to but it's still 38-42C at idle when it boots up and fan is going full speed.

 

[aigomorla]

I'm not seeing a FSB termination in my bios, only CPU and DRAM termination.

Ummm what does cpu termination say?
Whats the voltage on that?

The second question is probably because the board knows your overclocked.
It must be triggering a bios setting to turn fan on high when temps reach past a X point.

Higher FSB will make the chip run hotter. But faster.

Example. 20x100 does not equal 10x200

But math wise they are the same.

 

[California Roll]

CPU termination is at 1.20v which is default.

 

[aigomorla]

CPU termination is at 1.20v which is default.

bump it to 1.3 and see what happens.

Try not to go higher then 1.4 unless you have really good cooling.

When pushing high fsb, you need to bump the termination voltage up a bit.

 

[California Roll]

So digging around the bios and I find a setting for CPU fan control. It's set to AUTO which means BIOS controls fan speed. This is probably why it kicks in full speed at 450+FSB. Changed it to vary fan speed based on temp (other options were voltage and pwm) and now it starts off on low and ramps up during load. Sweet.

So just to check out voltages, I set all the voltages to AUTO and dial in 4.0 (471x8.5). EasyTune 6 showed the following voltages for 4.0:

CPU PLL 1.75v
CPU Termination 1.5v
CPU Vcore 1.3375v

DRAM 2.0v
MCH Core 1.2v

I know those CPU voltages are pretty crazy but I ran a short Prime test and it didn't fail. Load temps 65C.

Went back into bios and turned off the auto settings to following:

CPU PLL 1.5v
CPU Termination 1.3v

DRAM 2.0v
MCH Core 1.2v

Playing around with vcore to try to get stable 4.0. 1.25v froze up my system.

 

[spinejam]

UD3P (F9 Bios): LinX (Max Mem) 20X Stable - Yes

Q9550 E0 (L835B166) pack date: 11/11/2008

Robust Graphics Booster.....................[ Auto ]
CPU Clock Ratio.............................[ 8 ]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio........................[ 0.0 ]
CPU Frequency 4.0GHz........................[ 500*8.0 ]

******Clock Chip Control******

CPU Host Clock Control......................[Enabled ]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)....................[500 ]
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz).................[100 ]
C.I.A 2.....................................[Disabled]

******Advanced Clock Control******

CPU Clock Drive.............................[ 900mv ]
PCI Express Clock Drive.....................[ 900mv ]
CPU Clock Skew..............................[ 0ps ]
MCH Clock Skew..............................[ 50ps ]

******DRAM Performance Control******

Performance Enhance.........................[ Turbo ]
Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)................[ Disabled]
(G) MCH Frequency Latch.....................[ 400MHz ]
System Memory Multipler.....................[ 2.00d ]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) .....................[1000 DDR2]

DRAM Timing Selectable......................[ Manual ]

CAS Latency Time............................[ 5 ]
tRCD........................................[ 5 ]
tRP.........................................[ 5 ]
tRAS........................................[ 15 ]

******Advanced Timing Control******

tRRD........................................[Auto ] PL=9
tWTR........................................[Auto ]
tWR.........................................[Auto ]
tRFC........................................[Auto(52)]
tRTP........................................[Auto ]
Command Rate (cmd)..........................[Auto ]

******Motherboard Voltage Control******

Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Vcore [ 1.25 ]...............[ 1.3500 ] (1.328 CPU-Z)
CPU Termination [ 1.20 ]...............[ 1.28 ]
CPU PLL [ 1.50 ]...............[ 1.570 ]
CPU Reference [ 0.760 ]...............[ 0.835 ]

MCH Core [1.1 ]...............[ 1.32 ]
MCH Reference [0.760 ]...............[ 0.850 ]
MCH/DRAM Refernce [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
ICH I/O [1.500 ]...............[ 1.500 ]
ICH Core [1.100 ]...............[ 1.100 ]

DRAM Voltage [1.800 ]...............[ 2.02 ]
DRAM Termination [0.900 ]...............[ 1.000 ]
Channel A Ref [0.900 ]...............[ Auto ]
Channel B Ref [0.900 ]...............[ Auto ]

******Advanced BIOS Features******

Limit CPUID Max to 3........................[ Disabled ]
No-Execute Memory Protect...................[ Enabled ]
CPU Enhance Halt (CIE)......................[ Disabled ]
C2/C2E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
C4/C4E State Support........................[ Disabled ]
CPU Thermal Monitor.........................[ Enabled ]
CPU EIST Function...........................[ Disabled ]
Virtualization Technology...................[ Disabled ]

 

[California Roll]

I heart you.