weak processor? determining max bclk

[nilkilla]

So now that my motherboard troubles are settled I'm working on the determining my max base clock.

As my signature indicates I'm doing this on my height i7-920 d0.

I'm using a formula I found on the evga forums.

I'll post details as to what I started with and where I'm at, once I'm at home and settled.

The 1 thing I can tell right now is I seem to be capped at 182 bclk. Though other people with the same motherboard and processor seem to be able to get over 200 pretty easily.

[nilkilla]

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=5266

To start with, I lower the CPU core multiplier to 17x in BIOS. I choose 17x because the odd-value multipliers tend to let me lower the Vcore a bit compared to even-value multipliers (18x and 20x). The reason to lower the CPU multiplier is so that we are not overclocking the cores as much along with everything else at once. Chances are if the chip is set to 21x and you try to push a bclk of 210 or greater that there will be some kind of issue that will come up and at that point it will be difficult to determine where the problem is. Since some chips need considerable Vcore even at lower frequencies, I would suggest starting at an even lower multiplier such as 15x. If you know you have a chip that can handle low Vcore at higher frequencies, then 17x should be fine. To start with, here are the configuration settings I would suggest:

Frequency Settings

CPU Host Frequency: 160
CPU Multiplier: 15x
Uncore Multiplier: 16x (Minimum allowed)
Memory Multiplier: 2:6 (Equivalent to 6x and the minimum allowed)
QPI Frequency: 4.8 GT/s (Equivalent to 18x multiplier for the processor’s QPI link)
PCI-E Frequency: 101

Voltage Settings

Vdroop control: With Vdroop
Vcore: 1.3v
VTT: +100mv for Classified boards and +200mv for E758 boards
DRAM Voltage: 1.65v

CPU PLL: 1.65v
QPI PLL: 1.2v
IOH PLL: Auto (Default 1.8v) *

IOH Vcore: 1.1v
IOH/ICH Voltage: 1.5v
ICH Voltage: 1.125v (To help prevent USB related issues at higher bclk)
NF200 Voltage: Auto **

CPU Impedance: Less *
QPI Compensation: Middle or Less (My system fails to post with less, but feel free to try what works best) *

PWM Frequency ( 800 KHz ) (Keep at minimum due to higher Vreg temps otherwise with upgraded Vreg cooling, this can be increased)
VTT PWM Frequency ( 610 KHz ) *
CPU PWM Frequency ( 1200 KHz ) *

* Classified E759/E760/E761/E762/E769
** Classified E759/E762

[nilkilla]

The two items we have to concentrate on when increasing the bclk at this stage is the Uncore frequency and QPI Link Frequency. Using the above configuration, we use the minimum 6x memory multiplier to start with so that we do not find ourselves limited by memory frequency and we use the lower CPU multiplier so we are not limited by core frequency. We set QPI Frequency to 4.8 GT/s even on 965/975 processors. This is because 4.8 GT/s is equivalent to 18x QPI Link multiplier, and we want to keep this frequency as low as possible to prevent freezing issues as we increase bclk. This frequency and the GT/s increases with bclk.

The VTT voltage is important at this stage, because VTT is the voltage for the processor’s Uncore, which includes the L3 Shared Cache, Integrated Memory Controller (IMC), and QPI. The base VTT voltage is 1.1v for the E758 and 1.2v for the Classified boards. It is for this reason that I suggest above to set a smaller increase over base with the Classified boards because it has the higher default VTT. I do not know the base voltage for the Micro/LE boards, but the intended target voltage to start with is 1.3v.

Stage 1 (Base clock):

Now we can start working on the bclk. I would suggest first starting at a bclk of 160, which is generally not an issue for the i7 processors. My advice is to use the E-Leet utility once everything is set in BIOS as shown above. For stress testing, we will want to use LinX 0.6.2 because of how quickly it can stress the system. For a 6GB system, I normally allocate 3GB of memory to LinX and run 10-passes while working on bclk. Make sure you have Real Temp running so you can keep the temps in check. Core temps should stay below 85C.

We start at bclk 160 and run LinX. If all is well, I would suggest the following increment scheme:

160-180: 10 notches up for each test
180-200: 5 notches up for each test
200-210: 3 notches up for each test
210-215: 2 notches up for each test
215+: 1 notch up for each test

The higher we move up in bclk, the more difficult it will be to maintain stability, which is why I suggest smaller increments for higher bclk.

The thing is, when I hit 180, if I go up 5 notches, I get a blue screen "0x00000050" error, so I tried bumping the VTT from +200 up to +275, and DPI PLL up to 1.2hz, at this point I overcome the blue screens, but LinX starts erroring out.

Any suggstions?

Ideally I am going for a stable 4ghz to reduce bottlenecking of the CPU on the video card(and the soon to come 680gtx upgrade).

Thanks.

[Redmax]

ok so where to start.

4Ghz is quite possible on the 920 but it really depends largely on your processor and cooling since BCLK tends to scale with temp. For instance to get a BCLK high enough to run 5Ghz the processor needs to be around -100c (something I found out when benching with Hondacity)

I am struggling to remember what settings I used to get this result http://www.ninjalane.com/reviews/motherboards/ga_x58a_ud3r/page8.aspx but you can get an idea as to what frequencies you need to get close to 4Ghz. (btw the proc would run all day at those settings)

Let me find my notes and I'll post some more details on what I set my VTT voltage at. QPI you shouldn't need to touch, and if anything you would lower it which is what they indicated. PCI Express clock you can leave at 100, you won't need to change this until after you get past 200Mhz. There is also a setting you need to enable to get 200+ to work smooth.

I do remember for 2000Mhz memory I did set the uncore to X17 (I think that is right) works out to be half something else for the ramclock to run good. (man I so many architectures to keep straight and lately I have had SB-E on the brain)

[Redmax]

Ok found them. (on a side note I really should just make an article of these overclocking things I have discovered)

Now I'm just going to transcribe my notes so don't hate me if they don't work or damage your gear.

Notes:
VTT needs to be within .5 volts of the dram voltage. (ie 1.65 dram VTT needs to be 1.15+, keeps memory controller from frying)
VTT can be the same voltage as the core. (ie core voltage 1.35, VTT 1.35, just adds heat)
Uncore cannot be less than half the ram speed. for 2000Mhz memory I used X17 and it ran good. if you set this too low or too high you will have stability issues and crashes. (Not sure the multi for 1600Mhz but double the multi and set your unicore to match. you can raise it to improve superip scores)
QPI Voltage raise for stable VDimm overclocks (one of my notes, not sure I ever used it)

4.5Ghz on Gigabyte X58A-UD3
BCLK 215
Multi 21x (turbo enabled)
Mem x8
unicore x17
PCIE 101 (doh still not sure its needed but 200+ this does help)
Mem timings 7-8-7-20 1T (Corsair Dominator GT 2000Mhz modules)
vCore 1.54375
VTT 1.36
IOH 1.34
DRAM 1.64
CPU PLL 1.9 (found that raising PLL voltage helped make this speed stable, people have told me lowering it has the same effect)
QPI PLL 1.4
ICH I/O 1.62 (not sure this is needed, its chipset voltage)
ICH Core 1.2 (not sure this is needed, its chipset voltage)

Looks like that is all I ever changed for this speed. for 200 BCLK you'd just lower the vCore and PLL voltages.

[nilkilla]

Thanks red! I am remembering a few of those tips, from when I'd first purchased the board. I had a pretty stable 4ghz with my first board, but it had a chipset issue. Then, I just started to find time to play again, just to find 2nd board had slot issues. Now I'm going to find my original overclocking notes and see where i left off, and hope this board/CPU are strong enough (cooling seems to be pretty good, though I'm going to purchase 2 more fans for push/pull on h100).

[nilkilla]

and then i was forced to move....unfortunately programming and overclocking have been pushed down by massive overhaul of living arrangements and school...cisco routers and windows server 2008 are fun though!

[Redmax]

Happens to the best of us. good luck with the relocation.

[nilkilla]

Tried for a little bit tonight. Using your settings as a basis I can get through BOOT, but windows won't start. I think this is a memory issue, but if I can't seem to get past it in the small window I have tonight. Maybe tomorrow.