Losing USB connectivity when stress testing

after_shock3000

I'm overclocking my Q6600 on an Asus P5K SE-EPU board.
At the moment I'm at 9x400MHz, giving me 3.6GHz.

The problem I'm having is that after a few minutes of stressing with Prime95, all of the usb ports disconnect. No keyboard, no mouse etc.
There are no errors in prime, and the stress testing and any other applications on the screen continue to run normally. Its just the USB ports that I lose.

My Northbridge is passively cooled, just an aluminium heatsink on top, could I be losing USB because it's overheating? As for an exact temperature, I don't know. I just found out the hard way that it's finger-meltingly hot

If I back off the FSB a little then I have no problems with the USB disconnecting. The max multiplier on my CPU is 9, so the only option I have to push it faster is to raise the FSB.

So if its the NB causing the problem, would adding a fan to the NB give enough extra cooling to allow me to push a bit further, or even just stabilise at 3.6GHz?

game4it70

It does sound like it might be a heat issue but also lack of volts to the NB also.

Everest should show you NB temp while testing.http://download.cnet.com/Everest-Ultimate-Edition/3000-2086_4-10499291.html

after_shock3000

game4it70 wrote: »

It does sound like it might be a heat issue but also lack of volts to the NB also.

Everest should show you NB temp while testing.http://download.cnet.com/Everest-Ultimate-Edition/3000-2086_4-10499291.html

Thanks for the link. I tried it there but the only temps it gives me are the CPU cores, GPU, hard drive temps and 1 "Motherboard" temp.
The Motherboard temp that it give is only at 30/31 degrees celsius and it doesn't change under load. The chip is definitely much hotter than 31 so that can't be it.

As for the NB voltage, thats the 1 thing I don't like about this board, I have no control over the NB voltage.

Solitaire

Oh dear... Asus aren't the best for mobos anymore (at least not budget boards, they tend to suck) and it looks like you might be stuck with dropping your OC back a notch :(

game4it70

after_shock3000 wrote: »

Thanks for the link. I tried it there but the only temps it gives me are the CPU cores, GPU, hard drive temps and 1 "Motherboard" temp.
The Motherboard temp that it give is only at 30/31 degrees celsius and it doesn't change under load. The chip is definitely much hotter than 31 so that can't be it.

As for the NB voltage, thats the 1 thing I don't like about this board, I have no control over the NB voltage.

That sucks.:(

Zip tie a fan to the Nb as a temporary measure if you can just to test but if you get no joy it will have to be what solitaire says "drop the clock back".

after_shock3000

I'll have a root around for a fan in a while to test it.
If I drop back the FSB a little, even by 4-5 MHz it seems to be fine.
I want to see how far the CPU will go though, I haven't hit 1.5V yet and the temps are ok, it sucks the the mobo is limiting it.

PogMoThoin

Solitaire wrote: »

Oh dear... Asus aren't the best for mobos anymore (at least not budget boards, they tend to suck) and it looks like you might be stuck with dropping your OC back a notch :(

The p5k is a fine mobo and should deffo have northbridge voltage settings called nb voltage. I have a p5k deluxe in another pc and a p5q deluxe in this one. 400 fsb is very high for auto settings