Throttling on an 805 :(

[greatromances]

I've been using my new system mostly for gaming, playing alot of F.E.A.R. I didn't like the choppiness i was getting, so I came here for answers and narrowed it down to me having too little ram (1gb). So, I made a cheap upgrade to 2gb of ddr2 pc5400 ram to fix the problem, but there is still some parts that get rather choppy in the game even with 2gb. So I finally narrowed it down to the only other thing it could be. Throttling. I was initially running my 805 @ 3.62ghz and decided to lower it down to 3.42 just to be safe for my initial testing. So I ran the tests, using CPUz, my mainboards thermometer application, and prime95. Running 2 torture tests, at 100% load the cpu starts to throttle back down to 2.66ghz when it's overclocked at 3.4ghz. Maybe every 3 or 4 seconds it throttles itself down to 2.66ghz for about a second or 2, sometimes longer (about an hour into testing it starts to stay at 2.66ghz for about 3 seconds or more each time it throttles down). So, i'm guessing it's doing this in the game while i'm playing, thus causing the random choppyness. Is there any suggestions about what I can do to prevent this throttling? Turn it off or adjust the ratio to it somehow, or is it just hardwired into the chip itself, nothing i can do? I'm running it on an arctic freezer pro 7, with temps under load at 61c while at 3.62ghz and 58-59c at 3.42ghz on a Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI running an x1800xt 650/750

 

[stevty2889]

TM2 throttling can be turned off in the bios, but there is nothing you can do to turn off TM1 throttling. TM2 drops the clock speed. TM1 doesn't actualy drop the clock speed, but pauses the proccessor every 2-3 cycles, which also greatly reduces performance. Also, you should make sure speedstep is turned off in the bios as well. What are your load temps? I am using a scythe ninja and getting about 55c max load at 3.6ghz, and definatly not throttling.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: greatromances
I've been using my new system mostly for gaming, playing alot of F.E.A.R. I didn't like the choppiness i was getting, so I came here for answers and narrowed it down to me having too little ram (1gb). So, I made a cheap upgrade to 2gb of ddr2 pc5400 ram to fix the problem, but there is still some parts that get rather choppy in the game even with 2gb. So I finally narrowed it down to the only other thing it could be. Throttling. I was initially running my 805 @ 3.62ghz and decided to lower it down to 3.42 just to be safe for my initial testing. So I ran the tests, using CPUz, my mainboards thermometer application, and prime95. Running 2 torture tests, at 100% load the cpu starts to throttle back down to 2.66ghz when it's overclocked at 3.4ghz. Maybe every 3 or 4 seconds it throttles itself down to 2.66ghz for about a second or 2, sometimes longer (about an hour into testing it starts to stay at 2.66ghz for about 3 seconds or more each time it throttles down). So, i'm guessing it's doing this in the game while i'm playing, thus causing the random choppyness. Is there any suggestions about what I can do to prevent this throttling? Turn it off or adjust the ratio to it somehow, or is it just hardwired into the chip itself, nothing i can do? I'm running it on an arctic freezer pro 7, with temps under load at 61c while at 3.62ghz and 58-59c at 3.42ghz on a Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI running an x1800xt 650/750

what revision GA-8N-SLI are you using...I'm looking to upgrade to dual core and I'm interested in that mobo, what is your opinion of it?

 

[stevty2889]

I'm using the 8N-SLI as well. I'm pretty happy with it. Thats what I am using to run my 805. Didn't OC very well with my 920 though, so if you are getting an 800mhz FSB cpu, I would recomend a differant board, such as the Asus P5WD2.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I'm using the 8N-SLI as well. I'm pretty happy with it. Thats what I am using to run my 805. Didn't OC very well with my 920 though, so if you are getting an 800mhz FSB cpu, I would recomend a differant board, such as the Asus P5WD2.

what revision?....a few guys at the local computer store keep telling me that the Gigabyte board doesn't support the dual core Intels

according to Gigabytes website the rev 1.1 does...is there any higher?

I tend to stay away from asus boards...I've had a few die on me...so I stick with what I know, which is Gigabyte...I've always had good experiences with them

 

[stevty2889]

I have rev 1.1. The only dual core it doens't fully support is the 820. It only supports one of the cores on an 820.

 

[Stumps]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I have rev 1.1. The only dual core it doens't fully support is the 820. It only supports one of the cores on an 820.

but works fine with the 805, which is what I want to get?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Stumps

Originally posted by: stevty2889
I have rev 1.1. The only dual core it doens't fully support is the 820. It only supports one of the cores on an 820.

but works fine with the 805, which is what I want to get?

Yep, works good with the 805. Just get good cooling if you want to overclock. Scythe Ninja seems to be doing the job nicely for me.

 

[greatromances]

Okay, so as far as the TM2 and Speedstep, I can disable those on my 8n-sli. How can I tell if TM1 is on and throttling when i'm overclocked? Hopefully it's not doing that, cuz I will be forced to downclock as I'm thinking that *might* be my issue in F.E.A.R. It seems likely, if it's getting choppy whenever TM1 stops the clock. load temps were at 61c/3.62ghz and 59c/3.42ghz. Meh, performance is going to be terrible if I have to back off the overclock, the 805 only shines at these higher speeds.

 

[foosa]

1. clean all dust from your computer and heatsink as it will cause things to heat up alot.

2. while playing or running tests take your side panel off and put a fan.(floor fan or box fan. something that moves hella air) pointing right into your case. See if this helps with your problems. If it does then look into better cooling ideas. More ventilation or money permitting water cooling would not be a bad idea.

 

[greatromances]

yeah, i've actualy been considering a watercooling setup, i'm just to tight on money right now for that. I will reseat the HSF and see if that helps, but I would think 2 120mm case fans and an arctic freezer 7 pro all on a fan controller on high whenever I need that much cooling would be enough. Oh well, i'll see what I can do about that TM2 and Speedstep and hopefully not run into any TM1 problems. Thanx again though guys. Hopefully reseating the HSF will help a bit w/ the temps, as I have actually noticed them rise over the past month.

 

[996GT2]

Try the MX-1 Thermal paste that came with your Freezer 7 if you haven't already, that paste has been tested by me and RallyMaster and in both instances it outperformed AS5 with no burn-in period.

 

[greatromances]

Didn't come with any I had to go buy a stick of radio shack thermal paste

 

[dguy6789]

I also want to know. How can you find out if your processor is TM1 throttling?

 

[996GT2]

Originally posted by: greatromances
Didn't come with any I had to go buy a stick of radio shack thermal paste

Well, I think you should have gotten either a separate tube or it may be been pre-applied on your heatsink, but since you didn't get any, you should get a tube of Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX-1 and remount your HSF with the new thermal material. If applied correctly your temps should drop anywhere from 3-6 (or more) degrees C.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just a thought, but have you raised your processor's vcore at all? It was found earlier that Smithfields throttle more aggressively when you raise vcore. Dropping vcore will cause it to wait for higher temperatures before throttling.

 

[alex123]

Just wanted to share my throttling temps....

My PD 820 started throttling clearly at around 71-72 C. But I was using stock cooling.

Also, because mine is PD 820, it does not have TM2, so it was always doing TM1 throttling - "If the CPU reaches a certain temperature this technology inserts idle clock cycles into the system to try and cool it down"

P.S. I put some OCZ termal compaund and that dropped temps like 5 degrees down, so it does not throttle anymore

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Just a thought, but have you raised your processor's vcore at all? It was found earlier that Smithfields throttle more aggressively when you raise vcore. Dropping vcore will cause it to wait for higher temperatures before throttling.

Oh thats true... I also dropped my VCORE from 1.35 and 1.4 down to 1.3 on both boxes. That did not reduce much temps, well, maybe 1 or 2 degrees. But I did it anyways because my PDs are not overclocked and they are happy with 1.3V

 

[greatromances]

vcore was at 4.125 up from 3.125

 

[foosa]

If it has been a steady increas like you said get some canned air and go to town on the whole inside of you case. Clean all the dust out. From off of fan blades and your heatsink and where ever else it maybe.

If your case is cluttered with wires, work on wire management. It will increase air flow and cool your whole case down.

 

[Noubourne]

It's a Pentium D 805. How old are those chips, 6 months? His problem isn't dust, it's the space-heater/toaster Pentium D 805.

Do what Tom's Hardware needed to do to get respectable performance out of their D 805: spend $250 on water cooling.

 

[dguy6789]

Not to thread jack, but rather than start a new thread, I figured it would be simpler to ask here. If I run Super Pi by itself, I get 47 seconds. If I run two instances of Prime 95(To get maximum heat and expose any possible throttling) and Super Pi at the same time, I get 49 seconds. Does this two second delay mean that my processor is throttling, or is it just some overhead caused by running two Prime 95s?

 

[alex123]

Originally posted by: dguy6789
Not to thread jack, but rather than start a new thread, I figured it would be simpler to ask here. If I run Super Pi by itself, I get 47 seconds. If I run two instances of Prime 95(To get maximum heat and expose any possible throttling) and Super Pi at the same time, I get 49 seconds. Does this two second delay mean that my processor is throttling, or is it just some overhead caused by running two Prime 95s?

You could look at the Task Manager, and see "Elapsed CPU Time" for each of Prime 95 processes, and see how much CPU time they use during 47 seconds real time. So you will know for sure how much of CPU time Prime 95 "eats" during your Super Pi run.

I think that since Super Pi is 100% CPU bootlenecked, any additional CPU usage (i.e. Prime) would slow your Super Pi down.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: greatromances
vcore was at 4.125 up from 3.125

??what did you set the vcore to in the bios. If it was at 3.125 or 4.125v the chip would have burned up long ago. Try using ThrottleWatch to look for TM1 throttling. It didn't work right with my 830, but never had my 805 throttle on me. You could always switch out for a scythe ninja with some artic silver 5, it's keeping me to 55c load at 3.6ghz. Also, do you have good airflow in your case? An intake fan, as well as an exhaust fan?

 

[zephyrprime]

Yeah, use throttlewatch to get precise look at your problem.

Consider getting a better heatsink like the scythe ninja which is pretty cheap at newegg.