The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Russ, how is the vdrop on your board? I set mine to 1.5 and it reads 1.42. I'm guessing that's pretty horrible.

 

I finally got around to overclocking my system, but since it my first time it seems I don't quite know what I'm doing and it seems I need a little help. First off, do I need to set the PCI clock synchronization to 33.33Mhz, and is it safe to leave voltages set to auto?
I attempted to overclock my E6600 by 100mhz, so I moved the clock speed up to 277 and kept the multiplier at 9. That was the only thing I changed in the bios. When I saved and exited, my computer shut off, gained power for an instant(I could here the fans spin) and then remained on(lights and fans worked). The only way to tell the system was on were the lights and fans; there was no output to my screen, I couldn't access the bios and the reset/reboot button did nothing. If I cut the power via the rocker switch on the back of the psu and then turned on the computer again, it would post and inform me that my OC failed and to press F1 to enter the bios(or press F2 to reset everything to default values). Why does the power need to be cut through the psu before the computer will restart? Also, after I reset everything to its default value, I continued to have that problem (wouldn't restart and "OC failed" error message) until I pressed F2 to have everything reset to default values?

CPU - Intel E6600
MB - Asus Commando

Thanks for your help.

 

abuzar1,

That setting has nothing real to do with what you get. Vdrop is not the difference between what you set and what you get, it's the difference between the drop in the actual CPU voltage when fully loaded, and it's voltage at idle! On mine that would be 2-3/100s of a volt. I use Everest Corporate Edition to show the voltages. The bios and Everest agree. I always set my CPU voltage by what's reported in the bios rather than what I set it at, then confirm it with Everest. I don't ever make large changes either!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Russ, alright so people with the same board were having that problem. So they did a mod and then the voltages were almost the same as set in the BIOS.

Anyway I'll try it and tell you guys how it went. I don't have a video card right now but when I get a new one I'll report on my, hopefully, success.

 

abuzar1,

It just lets the voltage scale better between what you sees and what you gets! It really doesn't do a thing to help vdrop! You also have to consider that some motherboards actually increase the CPU voltage under load, so keep that in mind too!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

The DQ6 for P35 and X38 actually now support a BIOS integrated vdroop fix, something like ASUS's own "Loadline Calibration". I expect their X48 offerings to include this as well.

On the ASUS X38/X48, if set to a certain FSB, and PLL, you will actually get a small vboost somewhere close to +0.08v Just recently there was a v-mod for the DQ6's and it did appear to work for zeroing out the vdroop under load. It is also available for ASUS most P35's and X38/X48's even though not really need anymore since they are often dead on the "0" line.

 

Theone: Are you sure it's the fault of the E4300? No matter what I set the overclock to for this CPU, as long as the memory multipliers are set right, it will work! (up to a point, obviously, but my point is there aren't any black holes).
Abuzar: 80mV is not a good Vdrop! I'd expect 50 at the most...
eparker: The reason that happens is because the PC can't boot as the overclock you chose wasn't stable, resetting the power activates the BIOS reset feature which restores the last working setting. Gigabyte boards do this automatically, Asus boards require you to shut down the power sometimes - often the reset button works, but often it doesn't, it seems.
Nuck: Interesting, but I hope the DQ6 has more to offer above the DS4 than that, because last time I checked it was significantly more expensive!

 

eparker@
You obviously have some basic setup problems with your PC.
With that mobo and a Q6600 you should be flying.
What BIOS ar you using for a start? and how far do you want to take the Q6600 up to, also what cooling and psu have you got for it (so I know the limitations of the setup)
Might help to just list the whole system
BIOS, CPU Stepping, PSU make and model, HDD, PSU, GPU, memory & Cooling and any other items that may drain the power.

I'll get my Commando fired up and will stick my Q6600 into it over the weekend to see what works best.

You should lock the PCI-E freq and PCI clk sync to 100/33.33

There are some basic settings to stick to when OCing the board, so confirm what you have changed from default.

 

I was going to tell him to make sure the PCIe frequency was locked at 100 too and to keep the memory underclocked until he reaches his desired cpu OC but I don't offer any help/recommendations anymore unless I'm specifically asked to do so. too many ppl throwing out suggestions. you are the #1 exception BigDK. everyone should listen to you.

 

Hi Mort,

Thanx for the vote of confidence.

It helps I have the same board and CPU to give some hands on advice, I tend to now limit my comments/advice to kit I either have now or have previously owned, rather than having to second guess or just relay others findings.

I see the P5WDH is still going strong, mine is currently rigged up to my phase cooler, but that has died and needs fixing (shame I was starting to have fun pushing my first e6600 to its limits with the vmod it was getting a good speed).

I was was planning on using the phase on the Commando next with the e6600 and then the q6600, now I'm waiting to get it fixed

 

That's unfortunate, you're very privileged to have something like that for extreme overclocking. How much did it set you back?

 

Thanks sammorris.

 

hi BigDK,

yeah the asus P5W DH is still going strong. been a very good mobo. I'm right in the middle of a new build at the moment. here's what it consists of and here are some pics. more pics and even more pics wish me luck.

 

you should still be able to hold in the power button for 3-5 seconds to shut it down. I've never had to turn off the rocker switch on the psu to turn it off.

 

Yeah, the whole thing was rather strange, especially because after I set everything back to stock it still failed to post. Anyway, it hasn't done it again so hopefully it was just some strange fluke. By the way, is it safe to overclock with voltages set to auto?

Thanks.

 

It's supposed to at least. But if you remember last yr, I had this issues with my older P965-DQ6 in my m8's recent X38-DQ6. It must be a Gigabyte thing cause even on known good daily stable profile, if for any given reason I resume from S4 or warm reset after app install for example, it looses all of its basic OC settings settings, ie. voltages mostly. However, YES, under a bad OC sttempt, Gigabyte just dropps back to auto on overvoltages and last OC attempts. It has required me to hard pwr off the PSU at sturbern trys. The ASUS method, and has been for over 5+ yrs now is the auto paramiter recall feature wich upon hard tweaking, recalls ONLY OC Extreme Tweaker Settings back to last attempts. Or if normal fail, just prompts to renter CMOS to view and or change. This is nice as you get to refresh on what got set (in case it was by mistake) so you can adjust correctly. On few occassions, it is required to pwr off PSU (especially Abit and YES Gigabyte too) to clear caps of stored energy for a few secs. For ASUS, it takes you right back to where you just left off. My Gigabytes, you have to re-enter all voltagers (or actually just move them out of Auto, cause sometimes, it remembers the last manual setting) and some basic OC tweaks.

YES, the DQ6 of any chipset offers more then the rest, just for the PWR system and cooling alone, voltage control, FSB straps, RAM sub timings tweaks for RAM tweakers, etc. But overall, just better select quality of parts and chips onboard to OC with. although, their methods of refferences to FSB strap & RAM dividers is something to get used to, it does come close to that of the ASUS Ai and almost the ROG seties.

 

It was about £450 I think, I've got a receipt stuffed away some where, but there was no warranty as it was a custom build.

Its actually been a very good performer and was tuned very well, head cooled to -72`C, I had the E6600 running at just under 1.7V and it was still running below 0`C.

Its been a learning curve getting the boards/cpu insulated effectively thus stopping any condensation.

Its now a case of sealing the board with lacquer and nail varnish, then building up layers of neoprene , armourseal tape, then good old plasticine, that gives me 100% seal which I now perfected.

I've also built a custom frame to hold up to 4x 240V 12cm fans, these things are extremely noisy, but for serious stress testing and benching they are the most effective cooling I've found on the chipset etc...

It's just a shame that now I've got the process working just right I've been forced to stop.

 

Nuck: Yes, I'm happy to admit the setting restore function works better for Asus boards. I leave my voltage settings on auto anyway though, so it doesn't concern me much.
BigDK: -72 degrees, nice. That said though, at 1.7V cooling isn't going to be your only issue...

 

This E6600 has always been a hungry CPU for power.
I know I'm taking risks with the kit, once you start soldering mods and applying coats of protector you leave behind any warranty and start to panic when things appear to have died.
But that half the fun with it (no risk - no gain) the trouble is, I get bored too easily with the kit and tweaking it to perform to its limits certainly takes the boredom away.
You have to accept that you risk killing the kit and saying goodbye to the money spent on it when you cross a line, otherwise you don’t go far enough to make it worth doing at all, and will end up banging your head on wall regretting what you just did to kill the kit.
So far I’ve killed 2xCPUs (only P4s though), 1x P5B Deluxe Mobo, 1x7900GTX GPU, and some ram, all in a good cause though!
I’m waiting for some bits to complete the mods on the Commando, but now the phase is out of action the mods aren’t yet required.

 

Well it's one thing damaging equipment, but it's only a disaster if you can't afford to replace it. If you know you can, no harm in seeing what happens I suppose! Have you had a chance to play with a 45nm Quad yet?