e6600 + DS3, Memory timings?

Druid

Hi,

Ok Im a noob to OC, been reading up a lot but still a little gray in some areas.

My new rig is
GA-965-DS3 (rev 3.3)
E6600 (Orb II cooler)
2x1GB Ballistix PC-6400 4-4-4-12 (2.2v)

NB has no fan (yet - only read the threads about that after I got the board).

Ok so far I have disabled stuff in the BIOS (as per online guides). Set RAM to the specified timings (4-4-4-12), Voltage + 0.4 (1.8+0.4=2.2v)

Increased FSB to 333, mult = 9.
CPU voltage = 1.375

Running stable (I hope). I ran memtest on the above settings for 1 pass and there was no errors. Orthos also ran for about 20 mins - before I stopped it. CPU temp Idle was around 35 and full load about 50-ish.

If I increase the FSB higher (say 336) Orthos fails RAM test (quite quickly too). Im a little unsure on what to do in order to get CPU higher (system is built to do number crunching not gaming). Im guessing my memory needs to be loosened ?

TIA

Anti

you will need to lower the ram timings to something like 5-5-5-15 for a big overclock, and also give it slightly more juice. Same with the cpu and shipset.

Druid

Thanks, will try what you said.

FSB and MCH have +0.1v already, reckon these need more juice? (note: dont have fan on NB yet).

Also would you give the RAM more than +0.4?

Cheers

Chosen

Change the ram divider to 1/1. This way, when you pump your fsb up to 333 from 266, your ram will stay at 667 and not 1000 MHz. This way you can rule out the memory from being the culprit and continue to find whether you have a dud proc or just an "fsb hole" in your board.

Anti

0.1/0.2 should do the job nicly for you. Also you really shouldned need fan on the nb just yet. Hopefully you have adequate cooling in your case. but with ram at 1/1 you sould be able to jump straight up from 266 to 333 no hassle at all.

DirkVoodoo

My DS3 northbridge gets awful hot too, a common problem with them. One akasa 40mm fan and a custom mounting job later, temps are a little more bearable.

EDIT: And +0.1V on each of those should be stable for up to 350, which is only as far as I have pushed mine.

DemonOfTheFall

As far as I know the DS3 can't do RAM dividers. I have one and I have to run the memory synced with the FSB. Loosen your timings out to 5-5-5-15 and then just start raising the FSB.

Things might have changed with the DS3 though, I got one of the quite early boards.

DirkVoodoo

It gives you options 533, 667, 800, etc. Setting your memory to run at any of these is like putting it on a divider is it not?

Inspector Gadget

I have a rev. 3.3 DS3, and it definitely does RAM dividers (there were rev. 1.0 and 2.0 boards as well, maybe they didn't?)

I was concerned with the puny little heat sink on the northbridge - though I haven't read any of the threads there appear to be on the subject having read this one, I got around the problem by dropping in a Scythe Andy (rest of stupid name omitted) on the CPU which hangs well out over the northbridge and keeps it nice and cool

On the subject of RAM timings, (and I'm definitely a newbie when it comes to this sort of thing) I got decent results letting my 4-4-4-12 PC-6400 GeIL sticks out to 5-5-5-15 - with my 7x multiplier e6320, I'm getting a rock-solid 3.3GHz (472MHz FSB) at 1:1 memory timings (with everything at stock voltage, as far as I remember), though I don't think it has much more left in it even if I did start throwing voltage at the problem.

If you could get anywhere close to that with the e6600 (which has a 9x multiplier), you'd be looking at something in the region of 4.2GHz - I don't honestly think that can be done (without serious cooling at least?)

Hope this helps,
Gadget

Druid

Thanks for all the help guys. Spent most of today messing about in BIOS.

Have gotten a 3.2GHz (stable so far) which Im very pleased with.

3.2GHz (8*400)
cpu V ~ 1.44 (any less and I crashes)
DDR2 overvolt +0.4v
4-4-4-12 timings

Im wondering if 1.44-1.45 on cpu is too much? Ive a golden Orb 2 planted on and it keeps things around 26-30 idle and about 48 full whack

Also when doing a "Ghetto" mod on the NB, is it best to remove the "Gigabyte" nameplate or just superglue(?) the 40mm fan directly on with not further mods?

TIA

DirkVoodoo

I used superglue, those stupid plastic pins are a pain in the ass to remove to get the NB off. Of course if you do, reseating it with some AS5 would help. Just make sure you don't block the fan motor when supergluing and that you have enough clearance from your cpu cooler.

Inspector Gadget

I don't know if this is too late to be useful, but there is such a thing as thermal epoxy you can buy that works like thermal grease except that it (surprise surprise) has adhesive qualities too - for example, this. I remember people ages back mixing it 1:1 with regular thermal grease to achieve a consistency that's sticky enough to hold heatsinks on (at least smaller northbridge types) but would come off if you pulled a little, might be useful?

[Edit: Also, those pins are relatively easy to remove as long as you go to the underside of the board and squeeze both halves of the protruding bit of each pin together gently with a pair of pliers and push through...]

Gadget

DemonOfTheFall

Yeah it's probably just my rev. 1 not having RAM Dividers. Or hell, maybe it does, haven't been in the BIOS since the first few days of getting the components. Whacked the FSB to 350MHz and settled for 2.8GHz, not gonna get any benefit out of higher clocks with the x1900xt holding performance back.

DirkVoodoo

Arggh, excuse me I was getting my wires crossed. Its my M2N-E that has those dividers. The Gigabyte has multipliers from 2.0 upwards. Don't forget the annoying ctrl+f1, tho I think they got rid of this in the F11 BIOS.

Sorry, its been a while since I've been tweaking, hope I wasn't causing any head scratching with my tomfoolery.

Incidentally, tested at 3.4GHz on my E6600 (375x9) last nite, Orthos running fine, no errors and temps were within reason (33C idle and 51C load) and my comp just rebooted. Could this be some VDroop? I had Vcore set at 1.375V, a bit low maybe, but I didn't think 3.4GHz would require a dramatic increase as I had 3.2GHz on 1.35V

Anti

When in doubt give it more juice

snipe3000

50'ish load temp seems a bit high at 1.375 vcore, you wont be able to push vcore much higher safely. Have you checked that that cpu cooler is correctly mounted. If it is then consider some arctic silver 5 and changing cooler from stock.

I was also surprised that Orthos failed the ram test at 336 fsb, PC6400 ram is rated for 400 Mhz fsb. Therefore you should be able to keep your rated timings up to that speed then loosen as you over clock memory over 400+

Don't have any experience with your board but doubt that any further NB cooling is required, until you start pushing the fsb a bit

nibble

Ballistix; pretty well binned Micron D9GMH so you'd probably good @ 4/4/4/12 and 2.2v all the way to ~475FSB 1:1 I'd say. 533 is 1:1 btw, <1.5v is good for running 24/7, for once off benching you can go up to 1.6, or for dice/ln2 1.7 is doable:D .