The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Actually Russ running in unganged mode vs ganged is not 64 vs 128 bit nor single channel vs dual. Ganged and unganged determines if it uses both sticks separately or as one piece. It is actually highly recommended to run in unganged mode. It is faster and more stable.

 

I was expecting to see one module not running in dual channel so I wasn't exactly sure what to make of it. About this the manual says:

So I'd assume cpu-z was picking up on the 2x2GB modules that were in dual channel configuration rather then the one 2GB module that was operating in single channel.

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It seems this cpu is no longer good for speeds past 3Ghz. It might fair better if I changed a few more voltages (namely the NB iirc) although seeing as that wasn't necessary in the past it wouldn't be surprising if it didn't help.

 

I can't touch my NB frequency. Last time I did, it caused weird hiccups, without stabilizing my OC. I tried running at 2000Mhz, but an Optical drive would drop out erratically. Turned it back down to 1800Mhz, and problem solved. Yes, I tried upping both the southbridge voltage, and the northbridge. Both I tried as much as .2V for a short amount of time, with no change. The .1V boost didn't bother me, but the .2V boost made me somewhat nervous.

Can't wait to play with my new machine, but it may be a while before I can now. I have a collection agency trying to get money from me. Hopefully I can come to some kind of arrangement, but they've already handed it to the courts, so we'll see...

 

Maw: Have you actually tried with just the two sticks of RAM?
Omega: You bought PC hardware when there are bailiffs after you? :S

 

LOL nice. Gotta get your priorities straight ;P

Got a component to S-Video adapter for my 360. I must say, Halo 3 is absolutely transformed at 1080p. I dare to think the graphics are actually good :S

 

I trust there is no confusion, how much I am "in love" with my pc's! LOL! Pc's are my future. But I do need to get my priorities straight. Hopefully it doesn't get as serious as it could become. From what I heard, it sounds like the lady I'm dealing with may be a complete Female Dog! LOL! She's already screwed with me once. I may have to give payments in change(all coins)!

 

Jeff: It does take you by surprise. Look closer and you'll suddenly realise they're still naff graphics, but from a TV viewing distance it comes out rather well.
Omega: A feeling I know all too well

 

Yeah that was with just the 2x2GB sticks so the system was exactly the same as it was before except for a few more hdds, the corsair psu and win7. If I had to blame something besides the hardware getting older it would be win7 since it didn't seem to like the higher OC. Booted up into some uber basic version of win7 (looked like 2000 to me) which was my first clue things weren't going to turn out well lol.

This system has some how gotten so many odd problems I just can't wait to build another.

 

Actually playing on my 2407WFP right now with my face maybe 2-3 feet away from the monitor. Sure Halo has never been absolutely jawdropping, but overall the game looks damn nice. Certainly one of the best looking console games I have seen. I'll be trying out my TV tonight sometime. It's a regular 4:3 CRT but it can do 1080i(1280 * 1080, the Xbox is supposed to be able to use it). Never actually tried HD on it so I'm curious to see what it can do.

 

An unusual bug to get from an overclock. If I were you I'd make sure you've got a clean install of windows before trying to overclock.
As far as your TV goes, I imagine it will look something similar to playing 1080 content through a large 720p TV, i.e. quite heavily interpolated, but perhaps worse since the native resolution isn't the correct ratio either. It will look better than SD I'm sure, but I'm a bit of an IQ sceptic on non-standard setups like that

 

Actually it displays in the correct ratio. The Xbox detects the TV and everything just fine. Nothing is distorted or stretched. Makes sense to me because it can do widescreen and 4:3, whose to say it's stuck to certain resolutions? As far as heavy interpolation well no duh. But it looks miles better than SD.

You know I'm an IQ freak like you Sam, but I don't let stuff bother me so bad. SO who cares if it's not 1080p on the perfect TV? It's a damn console game

 

Actually, I'm a dumbass, it's a CRT isn't it? The native resolution wouldn't even matter.

 

Yeah it is so the IQ is actually pretty decent. It isn't near as good as a full 1080p HDTV doing it's magic but certainly leaps and bounds ahead of SD.

 

Estuansis,
That has not been my finding at all. I get better benchmarks in Ganged Mode than I do in Un-Ganged Mode. Better Memory Bandwidth too!

Russ

 

From the reading I've done since (not a lot, I admit) it seems that ganged mode is the high performance option, and is also the standard. Unganged mode is apparently a new feature enabled by AMD memory controllers, and seems to reduce read performance substantially, but provides a very small boost in write performance.

 

Sam,
It substantially impacts the overall performance of DVDRB/CCE, even though the Rebuild phase is faster by a minute or two! I guess that would be the write performance affecting it during the rebuild!

Russ

 

Perhaps, but the chart I looked at, it was something like a 5% reduction in write performance for unganged mode, hardly landmark when you consider how variable memory bandwidth can be... I assume there's something else at work that's not evident in the graph.

 

Sam,
Here's the Processor in Ganged Mode.



And in Un-Ganged Mode. Un-Ganged is slower!



Here's the Memory BW in Ganged Mode.



Same thing with the Memory BW. Less Bandwidth in Un-Ganged Mode



About 2000 MIPS on the CPU, and almost 500MB/s slower on the memory. I'm going to spend some time using it in Un-Ganged mode and see if there's any meaningful difference, and which one runs better all around. You are right though, it does seem a bit smoother in Un-Ganged Mode. Time will tell which way works best!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I saw a screenshot of someone running a 965BE at 4.0Ghz, in unganged mode. Perhaps it helps to stabilize HIGH OC's?
Here it is...
http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/7974/276busprime.jpg

 

Oman7,
That's also a C2 stepping 965BE. That's why I would want the C3 Stepping Phenom IIx4 955BE. 4.0GHz seems pretty easy to hit with the C3 stepping. I even saw a review and test at 4.0GHz at stock voltage! 4.3GHz seems do-able, if you have the right motherboard. There were even a couple at 4.4GHz, but not quite stable. I don't know where that leaves the C3 Stepping 965BE compared to the C3 955BE, but I doubt that the difference will be worth the extra money. The C3 955BE is going on my wish list, Pronto!

Russ