• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

BIOSTAR TPower I45: New Build

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

PolRoger

Member
Joined
Jul 31, 2005
I just put together this new build for testing. I'm currently running at 533x7.5=4.0 it appears to be Orthos stable but I haven't tried a 12hr or 24hr test yet. I did try 533x8=4.264 and it will boot into Windows but it is not Orthos stable.

Equipment: BIOSTAR TPower I45, E8400 Batch# Q814XXX, TRUE Black, OCZ PC2-8500 Reaper HPC 2x2GB, Corsair HX520W, EVGA 7950 GT, Western Digital WD2500KS, Windows XP Pro SP3.

I have most overclock settings on AUTO but I did bump up the DDR2 voltage a little and I’m using a 1/1 divider at DDR2-1066.

Stock voltage settings:
CPU: 1.176V
NB/SB: 1.080V
DDR2: 1.856V
FSB: 1.104V

Overclocked voltage settings:
CPU: 1.368V
NB/SB: 1.304V
DDR2: 2.272V
FSB: 1.336V

Overclocked temps are 32C/35C Idle and 51C/53C Load.

The P35/P45 chipset is new to me and I was wondering if these overclocked chipset voltage settings seem reasonable?

Any other comments or suggestions are welcome.
 
Last edited:
I've been continuing to adjust the overclock settings on this board and I've also been searching for info about the various bios settings but posts regarding the TPower I45 are currently rather scarce. I did find this forum link that other Biostar owners might find of interest.

URL="http://www.rebelshavenforum.com/sis-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=33;t=000186"

I’m now trying to stabilize my setup at 533X8=4.269. Some of the BIOS settings I’ve been working with are DDR2 RCOMP, static tREAD, CPU Clock Skew Control and of course the various voltage settings including CPU Core1 and Core2 GTL Ref Voltage.

If anyone can give some advice as to what happens when changing the values in DDR2 RCOMP configuration I would appreciate the input. Most other settings on the web I’ve seen recommend 2 or 4.

I’ve experimented with 550FSB and a lower multi but my 2x2GB Reapers had too many errors in Memory Test. I’ve ordered two new sticks of OCZ 1GB PC2-9200 Reapers from NewEgg and will be testing them soon. I hope they will overclock to DDR2-1200.
 
Last edited:
E8600 FPO/Batch# Q820A597

I 've been testing my new chip. Stock V.I.D. is 1.25v shows 1.20v in Bios. Load temps get pretty high... with water and some hopefully lower temps there might be some more headroomat 1.40v.
 

Attachments

  • E8600cpuz.png
    E8600cpuz.png
    44.4 KB · Views: 898
  • E8600occt.png
    E8600occt.png
    59.3 KB · Views: 899
Last edited:
TPower I45 575FSB

A little while back I got some OCZ Reaper PC2-9200 2X1GB. I found them to be a little tricky to get running stable any where close to DDR2-1150. I kept getting errors in MemTest at higher FSB settings but I was having some success at stock settings. I thought maybe that I had some under performing sticks but I found that after changing my DDR2 RCOMP settings from auto to Configuration 2 it made a big difference. With this change I had been running with my E8400 at around DDR2-1100. While testing my E8600 I thought I would see If I could get FSB 575 with 1/1 memory divider. I have continued to experiment with higher speeds but nothing with stabilty so far. The following settings passed more than an hour on OCCT memory before I cancelled and completed OCCT 2hr blend.

Voltage Settings:
CPU Voltage: 1.344v (+0.150v)
NB/SB Voltage: 1.368v (+0.300v)
DDR2 Voltage: 2.160v (+0.325v)
FSB Voltage: 1.432v (+0.350v)

DRAM Timing Configuration in the O.N.E menu:
DDR2 RCOMP: (Configuration 2)
Static tREAD: (Auto)
Configure DRAM timing by SPD: (Enabled)
 

Attachments

  • TPower I45 E8600 575FSB#2 CPUZ.png
    TPower I45 E8600 575FSB#2 CPUZ.png
    43.6 KB · Views: 887
  • TPower I45 E8600 575FSB#2 OCCT.png
    TPower I45 E8600 575FSB#2 OCCT.png
    57.9 KB · Views: 891
get rid of that auto on the static tread set it between 8-10. helped my stability tons. and your final fsb voltage is a little high for 24/7 you wanna keep that under 1.4 by what i hear. i found the ram settings to be crucial on this board. getting them right might take some time but once you get them right youll be all set. if i can get a quad to 4.0 im sure you can do wonders with that dual. good luck and keep us posted. let me know if you find anything else out about the rcomp settings. ihave mine set to 1 but i have no clue what it does, just know 1 made it stable. good luck
 
Just picked up this board tonight. Was gonna get the P5Q-e but saw this one and figured I'd play with it.

Will be putting in the q6600 and a tunic tower. I'll be happy with 3.6 stable and nice and cool if possible. Any particular bios suggestions?
 
check out my thread in the intel cpu section. too lazy to link right now but its called biostar tpower 14 oc adventure or something like that. tons of useful info in there.
 
Just a little question... I have no idea what I might have done, but my multiplier on my i45 is now locked to x9.0.

What did I do? I remember being able to change it freely before. E8400.
 
@Automiketic
I agree that the FSB voltage is most likely too high on the 575 run but they were just temporary settings to see if I could do it. The Northbridge chip seems to be the main chip to look at for memory stabilty. Early on while testing I left Static tREAD on "auto" and SPD "enabled" because I was trying to see what the different RCOMP settings would show in MemSet. If I remember correctly on that overclock tREAD (Performance) with RCOMP 2 defaulted to 9/10... 9 on one bank and 10 on the other. As I mentioned before I hope to have a decent low voltage overclock (4.3) posted soon. 4.5 overclocks seem to require more voltage than what I'm comfortable with for 24/7 but I'm still working it.

@Satsumomo
I don't know offhand. I'll take a look... Still on manual overclock/SpeedStep disabled?
 
TPower I45 E8600 4.5Ghz DDR2-1200

I have been working on some overclocks that are lighter on the T-Power chipset voltages (my previous 575FSB was a little heavy handed in that regard) so here is 500x9.0 at DDR2-1200.

Voltage Settings
CPU: +0.200v (1.392v)
DDR: +0.400v (2.272v)
Chipset: +0.175v (1.240v)
FSB: +0.150v (1.248v)
Core 1 GTL: 0.63VTT
Core 2 GTL: 0.63VTT
MCH GTL: Auto
CPU PLL: 1.5V

RCOMP: Config. 2
Static tREAD value: 8T
FSB Finetune: enabled
DDR2 Enhanced Mode: enabled

CPU and DDR voltage are still a little high for what I would like to use 24/7. I'm
currently working on high FSB overclock... I hope to have something worth posting soon.
 

Attachments

  • TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 CPUZ.png
    TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 CPUZ.png
    48.8 KB · Views: 785
  • TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 OCCT.png
    TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 OCCT.png
    47.8 KB · Views: 781
  • TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 MemSet.png
    TPower I45 E8600 500FSB RCOMP2 MemSet.png
    35 KB · Views: 782
so you get it running nice and stable yet? the ram cooperating with you. i was thinking of picking up the pc2 8000 version of these. let me know i am very interested?
 
@Automiketic
Do you have a pair of the good doublesided Ballistix? I'm not sure what kind of Micron chip is being used in the 8000 speed OCZ. I have read that the older really good Micron chips that were spec. to 2.3+ v are great performers but could also have high failure rate. I don't know if Micron did a revision or what but I do know that memory companies have come out with lower voltage sticks that may or may not be using the same chip. I guess I need to spend more time reading in the memory sections of the various forums. Here are a few links to some that I find interesting:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104059
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231065
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820146114

Patriot also makes a DDR2-1200 2x1GB @ 2.3v that goes for around $100. The Mushkin Redline is out of production (still available) and replaced by a lower cost - low voltage unit.
 
yeah i have d9ghm's. besides the one little hiccup i had there they have been good to me. im trying to find a second set but it seems impossible. as far as what you have there id say go pc8000 or better. and i wouldnt trust the kingston. theres a good set of g skill for cheap. i have abandoned my thoughts of going with the reapers im going to try and get another set of mine or something compareable.
 
Thanks to both Automike and PolRoger, your posts have helped me a lot on trying to OC the I45. The Bios is a lot different than my old Gigabyte P35 board. I haven't got too far in my OC yet but to get in 4.2 running stable is a milestone for me. I just manually set my memory timings and then left voltages on auto and ramped up the FSB and got to 4.2 in minutes. Once your figure out the Bios this board kicks...
 
I'm glad you have gotten off to a good start. You can probably manually back off some on the chipset voltages (if you haven't already) instead of using "auto" defaults. What BIOS version are you using?... the most recent official is "0710" which I'm using now although I also used what came on my board "0620" for a few weeks as well. I see you are running 4x1gb at 4-4-4-12... what speed are you running it at? Keep me posted on your overclock experience/results. We can all learn more about this board from each other.
 
0710 version BIOS is the one I'm using. I love it when the lastest BIOS comes already on the board. Sorry for signature not same memory as what I'm testing now in board. Took out Reapers for a bit and trying OCZ Platinium 1066 at 5-5-5-15 but they like running 4-4-4-12 up to 2.0v. I took your suggestion and manually backed off some on the chipset voltages. I was able to get to 3.8 with the lowest setting of v-core, FSB, NB .025v and .05v for Dimm. I'll try getting lowest voltages at 4.2 later tonight. I also have a pair of Patriot Extreme DDR2 1200 I want to try on this board.

It does seem to "up" the voltages more than you really need, so backing them off a bit is a good thing.

Have you noticed how good the stock audio is on this board? I didn't even install my sound card as it sounds so good.
 
@Alien432

In the beginning I started off with mostly auto settings as well and got my e8400 quickly up to 4.0+ they are easy to use but you can do better/tweak further by going manual and with all the different voltage, memory and the RCOMP settings there are quite a few to choose from for maximizing your overclock.

I have a pair of Kingston HyperX DDR2-1150 as well as pair of Patriot Viper Extreme DDR2-1200 (shipped and on the way) and they both spec at 2.3v. One thing I like about DDR2 these days is the relative low cost.

It seems onboard sound improves with each new generation/design. My "good" card is still in one of my old rigs.
 
TPower I45 600FSB

Over this past Labor Day weekend I went back to explore high fsb overclocks so here is 7.5 x 600 DDR2-1200 on air. It boots to Windows and passed OCCT 2.0 2hr. mix. I might have been able to tighten up some more on the memory but my OCZ Reaper DDR2-1150 is the newer 2.1v version and I didn't want to go over 2.272v

Settings:
CPU: +0.200v (1.392v)
DDR: +0.400v (2.272v)
Chipset: +0.250v (1.304v)
FSB: +0.300v (1.384v)
Core 1 GTL REF: 0.63VTT
Core 2 GTL REF: 0.63VTT
MCH GTL: Auto
CPU PLL: 1.5v

FSB(Bsel) to Northbridge Latch: FSB1333
FSB Compensation FineTune: Disable
DDR2 Enhance Mode: Disable

CPU Clock Skew: 200ps
GMH Clock Skew: Auto
CPU Clock Driving: Auto

RCOMP: Config. 2
Static tREAD: 10T
Configure DRAM by SPD: Disable
5
5
5
18
with
DRAM tRFC: 49
Refresh Counter:3120T
 

Attachments

  • TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 CPUZ.png
    TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 CPUZ.png
    36.8 KB · Views: 679
  • TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 OCCT.png
    TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 OCCT.png
    28.4 KB · Views: 682
  • TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 MemSet.png
    TPower I45 E8600 600FSB DDR2-1200 MemSet.png
    32.9 KB · Views: 674
Back