Xeon X5470 overclock help

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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I am trying to overclock an Intel Xeon X5470 on a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3R

I would like to achieve a 4GHZ overclock, or if not possible the highest stable overclock under 4GHZ. So far I have not been very successful with the bios just going to default and underclocks my CPU to 2GHZ.

My RAM is quite slow as I have
Crucial DDR2
CT2KIT51264AA667 667 MHz ( PC2-5300 ) 1.8 V. I have 16GB of this RAM, as that is the largest DDR2 RAM I could find in 4GB modules. Problem is it is not so fast, but I need 16GB RAM for video editing.

Could anyone suggest some Bios settings that may work for an overclock? Even if I could not get 4GHZ, any improvment would be welcome.
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Well, that's a good board for overclocking, but I'm afraid that you also need fairly fast DDR2 RAM for a successful OC.

You need to set the DRAM Ratio to "2.0" in Gigabyte-speak, which is 1:1 with DRAM clock:FSB clock.

Set PCI-E clock, from "Auto" to "100".

Set vcore voltage to 1.35V, for now. (You DO have aftermarket cooling, or water-cooling, don't you? Don't try to OC on a stock Intel heatsink, especially with a quad.)

Set FSB to 333Mhz, or 1333 setting. Try that out.

If it POSTs, then boot into Windows, and run OCCT:CPU for 10-15 minutes. If it doesn't crash or blue-screen, increase FSB freq by 5. Once it starts to crash, lower the FSB freq by a little bit again, and then test for an hour. If it's good to go, then congratulations, you're overclocked!

Edit: Note that with DDR2-667, the DRAM clock speed is 333Mhz, and with a 1333 FSB, that's an FSB clock of 333Mhz, which, with the DRAM:FSB ratio set to 1:1 (or "2.0" in Gigabyte-speak), then that all makes sense.

As you then raise the FSB past 333Mhz, you will be slowly overclocking your RAM too. This may require increasing the vDIMM slightly, and possibly, loosening the timings (increasing them).

A popular DRAM timing (manual setting) for DDR2-800 RAM, is 5-5-5-18. For your RAM, you might try 6-6-6-18 or 6-6-6-20.

I will say, though, that I don't expect that you will be able to overclock significantly over 333Mhz FSB, because of your RAM holding you back. My understanding is that 4GB DDR2 DIMMs don't really OC very well, in fact, it's hard enough to get them to clock up to faster stock speeds, which is one reason probably that yours are rated at 667 rather than 800.
 
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david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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Well, that's a good board for overclocking, but I'm afraid that you also need fairly fast DDR2 RAM for a successful OC.

Thanks for your reply. I guessed that would be the case, but changing the ram is not an option. This is the only DDR2 RAM that works on an Intel CPU which comes in 4GB modules. I need 16GB RAM and that was the only option. Plus I don't want to spend any more money on the computer, as it is an older system and is used as a second computer.
 

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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When you say RAM Ratio do you mean "System Memory Multiplier" ?

I now have a 3.6 GHZ overclock with a FSB of 400. It seems to run stable. Here are my Bios settings - does everything look okay and is there anything that should be changed / improved:

Robust Graphics Booster: Fast
CPU Clock Ratio: 9X
Fine CPU Clock Ratio: +0.0
CPU Frequency: 3.60GHZ (400x9)
CPU Host Clock Control: Enabled
CPU Host Frequency(MhZ): 400
PCI Express Frequency(MhZ): 100
C.I.A.2: Disabled
CPU Clock Drive: 700mV
PCI Express Clock Drive: 700mV
CPU Clock Skew: 0ps
MCH Clock Skew: 0ps

DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance: Turbo
(G)MCH Frequency Latc: Auto
System Memory Multiplie: 2.00B
Memory Frequency (Mhz): 667 800
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD): Manual

CAS Latency Time: 5 [6]
tRCD: 5 [6]
tRP 5 [6]
tRAS 15[18]

Advanced timing control
tRRD 3 [Auto]
tWTR 3 [Auto]
twR 5 [Auto]
tRFC 66[Auto]
tRTP 3 [Auto]
Command Rate(CMD) 0

Channel A
Channel A Timing Settings
Static tRead Value: 10 [Auto]
tRD Phase0 Adjustment: 0 [Auto]
tRD Phase1 Adjustment: 0 [Auto]
tRD Phase2 Adjustment: 0 [Auto]
tRD Phase3 Adjustmen: 0 [Auto]
Trd2rd (Different Rank) 6 [Auto]
Twr2Wr (Different Rank) 6 [Auto]
Twr2rd (Different Rank) 5 [Auto]
Trd2wr (Same/Diff Rank) 8 [Auto]
DIMM1 Clock Skew Cohtrol [Auto]
DIMM2 Clock Skew Control [Auto]
DDR Write Training [Auto]

Channel A Driving Settings: All Auto

Chanel B: - all same as channel A


CPU:
Load-Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Vcore: 1.35000V
CPU Termination: Auto
CPU PLL: Auto
CPU Reference: Auto
MCH Core: Auto
MCH Reference: Auto
MCH / DRAM Reference: Auto
ICH I/O: Auto
ICH Core: Auto
DRAM Voltage: Auto
Dram Terminatio: Auto
Channel A Reference: Auto
Channel B Reference: Auto
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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That sounds like a decent overclock then. Just do some stress-testing, with OCCT or Prime95, and watch your temps. (Use HWMonitor, or CoreTemp to monitor temps. If downloading CoreTemp, make sure to click on "more downloads" first, and then download the ZIP package. Don't use the installer, it contains adware.)
 

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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That sounds like a decent overclock then. Just do some stress-testing, with OCCT or Prime95, and watch your temps.

In testing I found it more stable if I lowered the FSB and put the CPU clock Ratio to 10. By putting the CPU Ratio to 10, am I doing any harm. Will it fry something?
 

SPBHM

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2012
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on the contrary, higher multiplier means you can use a lower FSB for the same clock and also lower memory clock, since your memory is 667 it makes sense to keep the fsb as low as possible, also since you are 4GB sticks it's probably not going to be a good memory for OC anyway...
since your CPU stock clock is relatively high for a core2 (3.33GHz) I wouldn't bother to much with OC given your memory configuration.
 

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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on the contrary, higher multiplier means you can use a lower FSB for the same clock and also lower memory clock, since your memory is 667 it makes sense to keep the fsb as low as possible

Okay thanks for clarifying that. Is it worth also adjusting the Fine CPU Clock Ratio [+0.5]
 

VirtualLarry

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Yeah, you want your multipler and fine multipler (+0.5) maxed out. I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. I guess I assumed that chip just had a 9x multi.
 

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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Yeah, you want your multipler and fine multipler (+0.5) maxed out. I'm sorry, I forgot to tell you. I guess I assumed that chip just had a 9x multi.

Sorry you were right, the maximum is 9x, I got confused. If you put it to 10X, nothing happens and it even underclocks to 3ghz

In the end I went for the FSB of 400, but had to increase the voltage a little on the RAM. I left the CPU voltage at 1.35V. With these settings I have run OCCT:CPU for a few hours and also run for a few hours Prime95. Everything seems stable. Temp wise it reaches around 70 degrees at 100% CPU.

Kind of happy with the 3.6GHZ, as I don't think it's wise to push for more with my setup. The overclock has actually made quite a bit of difference, as the latest edition of Davinci Resolve is much smoother. It even copes with 4k footage quite well. You would not expect that for from such an old system!
 

VirtualLarry

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Aug 25, 2001
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Congratulations!

You may or may not need the full 1.35V (but should be safe if you want to keep it there). You could try decreasing that slightly, and re-testing for a few hours, if you want to lower temps by a little bit.

But if it's stable, and you're happy with it, then I would just leave it.
 

david151

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Oct 17, 2016
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You may or may not need the full 1.35V

I forgot to say that to keep it stable I also made some other changes which were suggested on another thread many years ago. Below are the voltages that I changed - Please let me know if you think they look safe? You will note my RAM voltage I changed from 1.8v to 1.9v.

DRAM Voltage: 1.900V
CPU Vcore: 1.35000V
CPU Termination: 1.240V
CPU PLL: 1.570V
MCH Core: 1.220V
ICH I/O: 1.570V
ICH Core: 1.200V

I have now been stress testing for 12 hours and there have been no stability issues.