• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Questions about Biostar i45 Intel mobo, ddr800, & E8500 Wolfdale

T

trala

Junior Member
Hi All, nice to be here on the forum.

I just purchased the new Biostar T-Power i45 motherboard with the P45+ICH10R chipset (http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/.../content.php?S_ID=365). Also, check this out for sure: http://forums.tweaktown.com/f6...5-oc-612mhz-air-26797/

I also bought the E8500 Wolfdale 3.16Ghz Dual Core processor.

Now, from my old system, which had an AMD X2-5400, I still have 8gb or ddr2 800 ram from G.Skill (F2-6400CL5D-4GBPQ), which are two sets of 2 x 2gb. This stuff has been running well, though I never really attempted overclocking with it. Now I would like to use this RAM with my new build, but I'm not sure how it's going to take to it.

Now that I've moved to the Intel platform (which really just was inevitable 🙂 ) I want to look into some overclocking, tho my knowledge level of this is very low. I was getting real tired of all the limitations of the AMD platform, especially since mobo manufacturers are putting out all these mobo's for AM2/AM2+ that can't even handle 125 watt processors and burn! That is just unacceptable. So I ordered an X2 6400, but before it arrived I already decided that was it for me and RMA'd it, and would rather go with a E8500 that runs @ 30-something watts.

Anyway, given the above configuration, what do you think are the possibilities for overclocking with this kind of RAM? Later on, if monies permit, I may upgrade to 1066 RAM, but I would like it to be 8gb of RAM since I am running Vista x64, and it does make a difference.

Furthermore, my specs are that I have a 750w Corsair PSU, Enermax Chakra case with 250mm side fan, 2 SataII drives (no RAID), and for now I have a ATI 3650 video card, but this is temporary.

I know most overclockers are gamers, but I'm not really but just like to get performance out of my PC, and love enthusiast parts; I do a lot of graphics work tho, mainly in Photoshop and Flash and a bunch of other graphics programs, and I think it is of IMMENSE importance that I can run through my menus and actions without delay or lag 🙂

Any suggestions and info is welcome. Thanks
 
Actually, the SB750 chipset for AM2+ can overclock the Phenom 9850 to nearly 3.7ghz. Not bad an o/c for an AMD build. But Intel rules in terms of price & performance ratios.

800mhz ram is good for o/cing 65nm. 1066mhz+ is good for o/cing 45nm. The reason being is that 65nm usually has a higher multiplier than 45nm. In your case, the E8500 is 9.5 x 333 = 3165.875 or 3.16ghz. With that ram, 9.5 x 400 = 3800 or 3.8ghz. If the ram chips are micron d9's, 9.5 x 500 = 4750 or 4.75ghz. However, your 1st limiting factor would be heat. You most likely hit 4ghz-ish prime stable.

http://processorfinder.intel.c...tails.aspx?sSpec=SLAPK

If you want to go higher, you need a better cpu cooler & faster ram. I would start with no less than an Xigmatek HDT-S1283 & 1066mhz DDR2.
 
Thank akhilles,

Yeah, I did look into the sb750 mobo's; my old mobo has sb600/nb770, it's a Giga-Byte. So by force of habit I started looking around AMD boards and procs, but everything along the way kept bringing me to Intel. The Phenoms I wasn't that interested in, mainly because I'm not an intense gamer, and most of the applications I run, tho they can take quite a bite at cpu and memory, are only along 2d graphic lines (I have to do a lot of Photoshop and program like this) and so I don't think the 4 cores would be very well utilized in my case, so I thought having higher stock ghz's per core would serve me better.

Funny, I was just looking at that Xigmatek cpu cooler, and was about to order it yesterday. What kept me from doing that was the fact it is 160mm high, and my current case (Enermax Chakra) is not very wide (but ok), but the limiting factor would be the big 250mm side fan on the left panel, which, being inside mount, makes me have around 1.5 inches less width across the case. So I think that cooler is not going to work. Shame, because that is the one I wanted, due to functionality and quietness. But, I do have the Scythe Zipang at the moment, but it is so huge that I'm not sure it's going to work on my new setup. The Zipang is very good in my opinion, and it does keep the AMD system a little cooler than the AC Freezer Pro. But it is very big and due to the 130mm (but therefore less air-moving fan), I sometimes get the feeling it kind of chokes the whole area around the cpu, even tho it blows downwards.

Board and CPU are coming in today (yay!), and tomorrow new videocard should be in. Because I like performance but also quietness, I opted for the Sapphire 3850 silent card, which will do everything I need it to do graphics-wise. I'm not trying to get off topic too bad, but wanted to let everyone know a little more about the configuration.

About the memory, G.Skill does have a performance edition of the 800mhz RAM, but also have a 1066 edition (F2-8500CL5D-4GBPK ) that I was interested in, which are 2 x 2gb sets, which have CAS latency of 5, timing of 5-5-5-15, voltage 2.0V - 2.1V.

What kind of 1066mhz RAM has "micron d9" in it? The G.Skills don't, I already looked it up. From another site:
"No they are not Micron. I was told they use PSC (powerchip semiconductor Corp.) ICs. The 2x2GB 8500's use the same ICs as the 2x2GB 8000"
Click to expand...

Maybe G.Skill is not my best option for the future. What kind of 1066 RAM do you think would be good for use with the E8500 and Intel P45 chip? And, before I forget, I need to mention that I would like to remain with having 8gb of RAM, so I don't want to go 4x1gb or anything like this. I think this may limit the OC possibilities, so I guess what I'm asking is what would be the best config within the 8gb context.

One more question: Is there any gain to running 1066 RAM in my setup but not overclocking. I have heard some people say their systems run better and faster at stock settings with 1066 ram vs 800 ram, while using core2 and/or x2 cpu's. Could there be any validity to this?
 
All good 2x2GB kits are Powerchips, AFAIK there are no Micron D9 2x2 kits. So if you run at 400FSB, that's... 3.8GHz. But you probably wouldn't be able to push those RAM chips very far... Overclocking with 4x2GB is very stressful on the motherboard.
 
As said, DDR2-800 can take you up to 3.8GHz on that chip without overclocking the memory. DDR2-1000 is enough to completely maxout the chip, and can generally be had for significantly less than DDR2-1066. If you want more overclocking room than 3.8GHz, my vote would be for DDR2-1000.
 
I know Chakra side fan can be switched to blowing in & out. It should be in in your case since your cpu fan is blowing down.

This list is what I use to find micron d9's. It can be down sometimes.

http://ramlist.ath.cx/ddr2/

Since there are few to no D9's in 2x2GB, you might want to get ram as fast as your budget allows. Especially, if Yorkfield is your plan. Yorkies have lower mutlipliers than Kentsfields (65nm quad), so they need higher FSB to hit high o/c's.

If you don't o/c, the 1066mhz ram can be set to about 1066mhz in bios using a cpu/ram ratio. i.e. e8500 is 1333mhz FSB. 1333 / 4 = 333.25 * 2 = 666.5 (stock ram speed) * 1.5 = 999.75mhz. It's 1:1 ratio vs 1:1.5 ratio. It's a bit faster than 800mhz. If your board is capable, you can fine-tune the memory to the fullest potential. It might not worth the time and effort though.
 
Thank you all for the helpful replies, it help make everything quite a bit clearer in my mind. Yesterday my stuff came in, so I put it together and reinstalled Vista x64 SP1, and it is nice... I do think the BIOS of this new Biostar board needs some work, because I am experiencing strange lags and strange HDD access at times, which I didn't experience with my old amd5400 setup. And at the same time, certain tasks and actions run faster again. Strange. It could be it needs better chipset drivers and the like, and also the P45 intel chipset is so new I imagine some upgrades are in order.

Had a huge Zipang cooler, but this thing will not fit because the cpu location on the board is up too high to accommodate it. That was both disappointing and relieving in a way. So I had to use the stock cooler for now, which keeps the cores at 38c which is not bad (without heavy use that is). Can someone explain how it is possible that the cores read 38/39 celsius, but then the CPU temp itself is @ 29 celsius? Anyway, the stock cooler coming with the E8500 is SO small! But I kinda like the low profile, but inevitable we'll have to get a better cooler.

Yes, I have the air blowing inside from the 250mm fan on the Chakra side panel 🙂 I think it is a pretty good concept, as it blows air over the whole motherboard. This particular board from Biostar (T-Power i45) comes with a additional fan/sink that you can screw down on the heatsink on the left side of the CPU; but the stock cooler for the E8500 won't allow this extra fan/sink to be installed because of a fan support leg sticking out too far. This can be remedied by filing down the bottom part of the additional fan, but didn't feel like that the first day of owning it!

This motherboard has a feature in the BIOS called Automated Overclocking, which has 3 settings for overclocking. Right now I have the average overclock active which has the processor run at HUH!?? When I first did this it ran at almost 3.4 ghz.. now that I check again in CPU-Z, it says 2100mhz (mutiplier switches from 6 to 9)!! Something is not right here. I don't think I rebooted since either.. hmm... Gotta figure this out.

I'll update later..

EDIT: do you guys think this problem could be due to Everest and CPU-Z not (latest versions) having the ability to perceive E8500? I do know Everest doesn't have support for my mobo cause it's newer. When using the OS overclocking utility from Biostar, the GHZ frequency seems as it should be.

EDIT 2: OK, this is a known quantity after all:
It's CPU throttling in ur BIOS theres an option, like that last guy posted, it's lowers ur cpu temp by taking down speed of cpu and multipliers wen idling or doing less cpu demanding things, it's good because it'll save u power, and cpu heat like he said. SO THERMAL THROTTLING: ENABLE it if you are NOT overclocking, DISABLE it if you ARE overlocking. Note: if you are not overclocking and you enable thermalthrottling(recommended), CPU-ID and other cpu reading programs may read ur cpu multiplier at 6 instead of 9 sometimes, but the multiplier will go back up and ur cpu will automatically perform at full speed once you begin to game or do other high demanding processor tasks.
Click to expand...
 
Originally posted by: trala
EDIT 2: OK, this is a known quantity after all:
It's CPU throttling in ur BIOS theres an option, like that last guy posted, it's lowers ur cpu temp by taking down speed of cpu and multipliers wen idling or doing less cpu demanding things, it's good because it'll save u power, and cpu heat like he said. SO THERMAL THROTTLING: ENABLE it if you are NOT overclocking, DISABLE it if you ARE overlocking. Note: if you are not overclocking and you enable thermalthrottling(recommended), CPU-ID and other cpu reading programs may read ur cpu multiplier at 6 instead of 9 sometimes, but the multiplier will go back up and ur cpu will automatically perform at full speed once you begin to game or do other high demanding processor tasks.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

That's not correct at all. Throttling is what protects your CPU from overheating, and shouldn't be turned off, especially when overclocking. What you're experiencing is Intel's version of Cool n Quiet, called SpeedStep. All Core 2 Duo's and quads have this capability, as well as some of the later model P4's. It should be left on, if running @ stock speeds, as well as when only overclocking an E8500 200 Mhz. Here's more info on SpeedStep.
 
Thank you myocardia for the info. I, by this time, also figures out it was Intel SpeedStep that was causing the throttling and left it on. On this particular mobo's bios it is located in the overclocking section. I read somewhere else that the switching or stepping between full speed and reduced speed has a zero time lag, maybe someone here can vouch for this?

The strange lag problems (unrelated to the above) I've been having are resolved now; I had a new hard drive coming, as well as a 3850 radeon, and I don't know what happened but the system is so snappy now, it's great. After I make a full driver backup and system backup, I will start playing with the overclocking features again, and we'll see where it goes.
 
You can disable C1E & EIST in bios if you don't want throttling, but I think Biostar's overclocking setting greys these out. I have them off during overclocking & on after.
 
Originally posted by: trala
I read somewhere else that the switching or stepping between full speed and reduced speed has a zero time lag, maybe someone here can vouch for this?
Click to expand...

Well, nothing has zero time lag. It's about the same as Cool n Quiet-- about a tenth of a second or maybe two tenths. Nothing you would ever notice, in other words. Good luck with your new hardware.
 
I wonder if I should get this Biostar I45 motherboard, or get the new Asus P5Q Pro motherboard. They're pretty comparable feature and price wise, both P45 chipset, but the I45 is top of the line Biostar board aimed at enthusiasts, and P5Q Pro is only a mainstream board from Asus, but the P5Q Pro has options that make it very OC friendly.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top