so i have a new dilemma

[cyrusm]

alright folks, its been a couple weeks now since i built my computer (check out the thread, 49 pics!).

im more then happy with it so far.
the specs are in my sig.
keep in mind i have an arctic freezer 7 (maybe i shouldve invested double the cost to get a tuniq, maybe not who knows) and its gonna stay that way. its a HUGE hassle to change the hsf from what i can tell.
anyway, so im at 8x400. everything, and i mean EVERYTHING else is set to default (ram timings etc etc). ive disabled a few things as per the instructions in that massive "how to oc c2q" guide. (which was extremely helpful).

i run orthos on all 4 cores just fine at this rate.
if i try to do 8x450, my comp restarts after a few minutes (i assume either the temperature is too high or just not enuff juice, i really dont know).

so i want to know a few things:
1) is my ram good enough that i can somehow overclock it or otherwise increase its performance? (something about the timings. btw on the ram box it says 5-5-5-12)
2) any way to increase my cpu speed while keeping it stable?
3) is there any recommendations from the veterans on what i should do to increase my overall performance?
4) once and for all, should i upgrade to vista? if i do it would be the 32bit ultimate. i hear things take performance hits, while others get better.
5) anything about my vid card i should change? (o btw i went to rivatuner and set it to 100% speed fan at all times).


im worried that i wont be able to play bioshock (for example; others as well) at full settings.
my friend with an xbox360 keeps gloating how hes gonna play at a much better quality then me but had to pay way less for his console.

many thanks.


.edit...
this is offtopic but..
if i choose to dualboot (ie xp sp2 and vista), would i have reinstall everything on vista as well?

and another offtopic question...my 500 gb harddrive shows up as only 127. ive tried everything to fix it but cant seem to find a way. i thought sp2 would fix it, but no luck.
suggestions welcome thanks.

 

[Markfw]

Your memory probably won;t let you go much over 400, so to get more than 3.2 (not great odds, if you check the q6600 OC thread, unless you have a G0 stepping) you have to use 9x3xx something. SP2 should have fixed the 127 gig, but check the microsoft site, you can manually update the registry as well.

My gut feeling ? leave well alone at 8x400, thats a good OC, and fix the 127 problem. Check the disk manager. It might say you have a 127 gig partition, and have the rest available to create more partitions, or use partitionmagic (or other similar software) and expand the partition.

 

[cyrusm]

i tried searching for the microsoft thing, couldnt find it. if you could kindly link me.
and yes i have GO stepping. i suppose youre right i should leave it at 3.2...good enough i guess.
and it is NTFS and everything so thats not the problem.

 

[Mattz0r]

Originally posted by: Markfw900

My gut feeling ? leave well alone at 8x400, thats a good OC, and fix the 127 problem. Check the disk manager. It might say you have a 127 gig partition, and have the rest available to create more partitions, or use partitionmagic (or other similar software) and expand the partition.

To chime in on the off topic stuff, I think you hit the nail on the head. SP2 probably enabled the other 363GB, but now leaves it in an unpartitioned state. You can look at the Disk Manager by going Control Panel -> Administrative Tools -> Computer Management, and looking at the Disk Management tab on the left to confirm this; you should see a whole load of unpartitioned space. Unfortunately, WinXP doesn't allow you to join this back onto your primary partition, if it's something you wanted to do; you can create a new partition out of it (which is something I don't suggest doing) or you can use ParitionMagic, like Mark suggested, to merge it back onto your original partition.

As for all the other stuff, increasing CPU speed while maintaining stability is all matter of testing and re-testing. You can play with minuscule MHz bumps, voltage bumps on the NB and CPU, straps, etc., etc. etc. Trial and error, and tons of patience, are really the only determinants of how much higher you can go.

 

[Markfw]

This mentions SP1, but check the registry entry mentioned, even though you have SP2, it should be there.

And did you check disk manager for your other space ? And boing a G0, try 9x367 or something and up the vcore a few notches (1.325 max under 100% load while watching cpuz in windows.) Mine dropped to 1.2 vcore, and on a G0 that might even work, but... If you need more use it.

 

[cyrusm]

yea its there alright, 336 gbs in unpartitioned free space lol.
is there any free program that can do the same thing?
i tried this partition manager demo and it seemed liek it was gonna work, made me restart but it changed nothing.
gonna try "parted magic" now.

thanks for the replies.
right after i get this working i'll try 9x367

 

[idiotekniQues]

that ram should be at 2.1v spec and if you use the 9x multiplier you are underclocking the ram anyways so that is just dandy. make sure you are at 2.1v

use the 9x multiplier and try to get up to 9x380. kick up the cpu voltage a lil bit to do so (what cooler do you have) and monitor temps carefully.

you can oc your vid card with riva tuner easily, my 8800gts oc's a nice lil bit on stock volts.

you will be able to play bioshock and it should look better than his xbox 360 especially with vista and dx10.

 

[cyrusm]

im glad to hear that from someone. i mean i look at the specs of an xbox360 and theres no WAY it can perform with a high end computer.
yea ive oc'ed mine to like 626/920...925 mem speed was causing some weird artifacts in oblivion after like 3-4 hours of play.
(126/120 mhz in improvement, iirc).
i use arctic freezer 7. ive been trying what the other dude said (9x367) and quad orthos has been running no problem so far. (about 12 minutes in)
temps are 63-65-63-65

when i use easytune 5 (from gigabyte), it says the voltage going to the ram is 2.1v. im pretty sure the f4g bios update automatically sets it to 2.1? im not sure. the bios doesnt say much (ive left everything on auto).
ps: this is exactly the kind of thing i need some advice on: most of the stuff in my bios is set to auto (the volt management for example). iget nervous because as soon as i say manual red text starts flashing everywhere lol.

one other thing: is there anyway to change the ram speed to say 800 while keeping my fsb at around 367 (or 380 if i manage to try that later)?
do i have to use the spd ratio? am i on the right track?


/edit//
just now about 16 minutes in, the first thread halted, saying it got 1 error? what does this mean

http://img.photobucket.com/alb...38/mythicExile/huh.jpg

 

[Markfw]

up the vcore one more notch or two. What is it under full load ?

 

[idiotekniQues]

i think it is better to keep memory at 1:1 ratio but i am not sure though.

the spd ratio is the right thing to do that with though.

i downloaded and installed the latest easytune5 and with my dq6 rev. 2.0 (p965) mobo it reads voltages wrong and my q6600 g0 shows up at 0ghz

i use the latest speedfan for voltages, and coretemp for my cpu temps.
while you are oc'ing now use speedfan and see what your voltage reads idle and under load and post the results.

 

[cyrusm]

http://img.photobucket.com/alb.../mythicExile/huh-1.jpg
i brought the thing down to 365 gonna try it this way now.

and once again, i have no clue about anything to do with voltages.
what is "up the vcore a notch or two"? keep in mind all the voltages are set to auto.


i tried to use coretemp for the longest time (latest version blah blah)
it just spontaneously reboots my computer regardless of configuration or version

edit:
heres another pic like 5 minutes later:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.../mythicExile/huh-2.jpg


on another note, i can maybe do an spd of 2.4 meaning i get a 876 mhz memory (76 over stock).
should i try this?

edit:
5 minuetes after that:
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.../mythicExile/huh-3.jpg

 

[idiotekniQues]

thats really good gettin almost 3.3ghz at stock volts with 1.26v under load.

right now you are limited by your cooler. i wouldnt want to run too much higher than the high 60's under full load, which you will get if you start goin for higher ocs with more voltage.

even though real world usage wont get that high though, as in nothing you use will stress your cpu like prime/orthos. even at 100% cpu utilzation with encoding dvd's, i still get 10c less than a prime test stress.

slap a better cooler on that thing, from the looks of it you have a pretty sick chip.

throw in like 1.4v in the bios for your chip, with vdroop you will be well within a voltage that will not hurt your chip at all - volt your ram to 2.1v, and those are all the voltage settings you need to mess with. and do 9x800 for a full 3.6ghz and i bet you will be stable. and that is a damn fine oc for a quadcore.

 

[cyrusm]

the thing about my ram in the bios is that it gives me the + thing
like i can add +1 or +2 or +3 etc to the stock volt...but it doesnt display what it considers to be the stock.
meaning that if it has automatically adjusted from 1.8 to 2.1 without me knowing, and me adding another +3 would make it 2.4 (which i DONT want).

as for the chip itself im not sure what you mean by 1.4v and vdroop...can you explain further please?
and its about 10 miuntes later and still 1.26v with same temps...nothing failed yet

 

[idiotekniQues]

stock is 1.8 on the gigabyte bios.

so you add +.3

i do the same thing my ocz plat rev. 2 ram is same spec as yours.

vdroop is what you set in bios and what the board actually gives your cpu. generally it gives it less voltage, this lowering is called 'droop'

generally speaking, when the load on the cpu increases the vdroop becomes more severe.

some boards are better at controlling vdroop than others, and there are some mods for some boards to virtually eliminate vdroop.

but say in bios i set 1.4v for my cpu voltage. i load up windows and monitor the voltage with a program, i will see it at say 1.38. so i am vdrooping .02v just idling.

now i launch prime95, my cpu voltage drops to say 1.34v. now i am losing .06v so while this whole time in bios my chip is set to get 1.4v it is not really at that voltage.

that amount is the vdroop.

the more vdroop the worse it is for hardcore oc'ers.

like i know my chip can hack 3.5ghz+ on 1.39v but to get that voltage under load with the ridiculous vdroop my board has, i have to set it to 1.525 in bios, which gives my chip 1.47v idling when i only really need 1.39v at the most needy time.

if i had no vdroop i could run at 1.39v 24/7 be happy about temps/volts and my oc.

 

[cyrusm]

ok so lemme aska dumb question
lets say my mobo does handle vdroop well and it stays at 1.4v at all times
would this damage the chip?
id rather have a much safer environment thena few more mhz thats all.

ok i just put the ddr2/ddr3 to +.3v
and put the cpu volt to 1.3875.

im so nervous right now, but i'll run some tests and post

ok so after trying 1.3875/9x380, one of the test threads failed within a minute
so im at 1.4/9x375. gonna test this out.

about 5 minutes in, so far ok
http://img.photobucket.com/alb.../mythicExile/huh-4.jpg

 

[idiotekniQues]

depends on your temps.

2 things kill chips. heat and voltage.

intel says 1.35 as max v for these quad cores i think. ive seen an intel engineer say that adding 10% (1.485v) really wont do anything long term (and by long term he meant like 6+ years) to your chip as long as temps are kept in check.

so basically, thats why i said get a better cooler cause 1.4v is not gonna kill your chip if you keep temps nice.

the arctic cooler 7 is not hardcore enough to handle an overvolted quad, whereas an ultra 120x or something else top of the line will be beautiful.

edit: as you can see by your pic, your vdroop is pretty significant like mine.

you are at 1.4v in bios but 1.30 real v under load.

 

[cyrusm]

is that ok?
is my computer gonna last at the exact settings it is at right now?
or should i tone it down.

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: cyrusm
is that ok?
is my computer gonna last at the exact settings it is at right now?
or should i tone it down.

looks ok to me. what are your idle temps and your idle voltage?

your default ram voltage change it to +.2 and show me a pic.

 

[cyrusm]

i set the voltage to 1.4 in bios, idle temps are like 47-50 across the cores

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: cyrusm
i set the voltage to 1.4 in bios, idle temps are like 47-50 across the cores

thats hot for idle.

also lower your ram voltage to +.2

your default may be 1.9v unlike mine.

id go back to auto until you have better cooling.

 

[cyrusm]

you mean put all the voltages back to auto? and go back to 8x400?

and keep in mind that TAT has always shown me anywhere from 45-50 as idle

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: cyrusm
you mean put all the voltages back to auto? and go back to 8x400?

and keep in mind that TAT has always shown me anywhere from 45-50 as idle

what does speedfan show in idle? you should add +15 to what it says for your cores and that should be the right temp.

but like i said. that cooler is not hefty enough for an overvolted oc'd quad core IMO.

 

[cyrusm]

32-30-31-30
so around 45-46 i assume?
and to which step should i go back to exactly? 9x365, or 8x400, or stay or what lol. (at least in your opinion)

 

[idiotekniQues]

Originally posted by: cyrusm
32-30-31-30
so around 45-46 i assume?
and to which step should i go back to exactly? 9x365, or 8x400, or stay or what lol. (at least in your opinion)

personally, i would not be comfortable idling that high.

see even on auto your mobo is goign to add voltage to your chip to make it stable hence why your idles are even high when at 8x400.

i would go see if you could handle 8x400 at like 1.33v in bios and keep it low like that until i would strongly advise a better cooler. it does look like you have a nice oc'ing chip that just needs better cooling.

 

[cyrusm]

ok gonna try 1.33 and 8x400 now
speed fan shows 28-30c idle
TAT shows 43-46.

i think im gona take your advice. justleave it at 3.2ghz (i think 800 mhz increase over stock isnt bad, eh?).
besides, this way i get the full 800mhz from my ram
spanks for all the input