tips on getting my setup stable?

[Trike007]

I can't seem to get 3.6 stable on my Xeon 3060. I set the Vcore to 1.55 and bios shows vcore at 1.49. I've gone as high as 1.52v Any lower and xp wont even boot. My idle temps seems to be really high though. 51C at 3.6. Once I hit start in Orthos, it dies instantly.

Some specs I can remember off the top of my head.

Asus p5b dlx/wifi Bios 910
Xeon 3060 400x9
Tuniq Tower 120 w/AS5
Corsair 620HX PSU
ATI 1950XT
Gskill DDR2 6400 4-4-4-12
Ratio: 1:1
PCI-E Freq: 100
PCI clock sync: 33.33
Spread Spectrum: disabled
Mem voltage: 2.1v
Vcore:1.55v (shows 1.49 in bios)
NB Vcore:1.65v
SB Vcore: 1.6v
ICH Voltage: Auto
Ram is set to 4-4-4-12 (Can't remember the rest)

Http://turborocco.com/3600mhz.jpg

Thing is, I can't even get the machine stable at 3.2ghz. 355x9 @ 1.42v and above.
But i'm running at 3.15ghz @ 1.38vcore and runs rock solid.

Any tips or suggestions? I've been running the machine for about 4 days now.
Thanks!

[CGR]

Sounds like you need better cooling. If its only crashing once you start orthos testing then its getting to a temp that it doesnt like imo.

51c idle is very high, chances are the moment you start orthos your chip is going way up, probably past 70c.

[BMac420]

the idle temp is WAAY to high. what kinda cooling you using? try running 400x8 and see if the board has any issues, i ran 400x8 on 1.32vCore on my conroe, so see if that helps. whats your ram speed set to? auto?

[hUMANbEATbOX]

that idle temp is not alarming. i'm idling at 51c right now. if i run orthos, it will climb up to about 63-65c. my ambient temps change so much, my idle can be anywhere from 13c (with my duct) to 43c (when i've just got it cool in here) to 51c (when i crank the heat a bit because i'm cold).

BUT that said, the temps are obviously too high for your cpu and those clocks, because you lock up right away. at 3.6ghz, i can't run with those temps either. i've gotta get it down to around 42c-45c idle to run 3.6ghz reliably. 3.5ghz however, i can run orthos fine, even if i let temps climb up to 70c.

[Trike007]

well could it be possible that the AS5 hasn't completely cured yet? The tuniq was pretty much running on full blast. Maybe i'll try runing without the case cover on. I'm just curious if there is a setting that i'm missing. At 400 it's not overclocking the ram so that should be alright. I ran orthos at 3.2 last night and it stopped at around 1hr. I'll also run memtest at stock speed with the divider set to make the ram run at 400mhz.

Thanks!

[Trike007]

Well so far, i'm at 3.3ghz stable in orthos for 8hours with the side panel open. cpu is running at 1.44v but at 65C at load. about 50 idle. That just doesnt sound right. I know my ambient isn't over 70F. I've re-mounted the cpu once already. Just curious if i got a bad chip. I have a L629A780. seems like I got a 'A' chip.

What should the next step be? I kinda want to lap it, but I don't know if it's worth doing that. Not knowing if i can get any higher and hurting resale value. My original goal was to get around 3.4-3.6. Seeing that the temps at 3.3 is discouraging. Temps will rise by 3-5C if i put the side panel back on.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

do you really neeeeeed 1.44v to run 3.3ghz? your vcore and temps are about right for each other. with 1.42v, i idle at around 48c, and load around 60-62c. lapping the cpu may only save you 1-2c, i don't think its worth it unless you have a very concave IHS.

[Trike007]

I tried lower than 1.44v once at 3.3Ghz and it crashed at around 6 hours in orthos.

As for the chip being concave. I'm pretty sure it is. Just not sure how much. When I Remounted the Tuniq, i noticed marks from the cpu on the outer corners and nothing in the middle.

Maybe the chip just needs to break in a little. I guess I'll try to lower the vcore a step and see what happens.

[bing]

As for the chip being concave. I'm pretty sure it is. Just not sure how much. When I Remounted the Tuniq, i noticed marks from the cpu on the outer corners and nothing in the middle.


Check the "flatness" both IHS & Tuniq base here (http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4727309&postcount=12). :D

[Trike007]

well i've been slowly dropping the vcore down. But i still think i'm running kinda hot. i helped a friend install his tuniq yesterday and it got high 20's idle and mid 40's load at 3ghz. I can't get anywhere near that. I can't run any lower than 1.43v@3.3, just wont run stable. tuniq fan is at full blast as well.

This is with my side panel open.

http://turborocco.com/3300mhz.jpg


With it closed, temps are around 60-65. I don't know what my ambient in the room is, but doesn't it seem high? Should I try and remount the heatsink again?

[hUMANbEATbOX]

you could try remounting. i would try what bing said first, check the flatness of your IHS. you can use his method, or just get a straight line, like a ruler, and put it on the edge of the ihs, then shine a light behind it. if you see a huge gap, then you may benifit from a lapping, but i would use that as a last resort personally.

[Trike007]

I remounted and tried the straight line with a credit card. I didn't see a huge gap. I've remounted with a very very thin layer and temps were just off the charts. 60 idle and 70 load. took it off and applied more. temps are back where they used to be. Tried clocking it to 3.4 but would fail around 15mins or so with 1.44v

I'm just wondering how big of a difference does ambient temperture affect overall temps? I just can't believe that my friend with the identical setup is about 10C cooler and over 20C at idle.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

well, basically, from my experience, every C added in ambient temps will reflect directly in your cpu temps. this is with air cooling of course.

[Trike007]

so if my ambient temp is about 21-23C (~70's). Are my temps of 50C @ idle and ~60-65 @ load in line?

Thanks!