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

E6420, can't get stable past 350 FSB. Help?

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

sremick

Registered
Joined
May 11, 2007
Location
Vermont, USA
Ahh, first post. Be gentle. :beer:

You might as well consider me technologically-adept but new to modern OCing. I understand what's going on but I'm having trouble getting the right details to make things work well here. I just built a new PC and tried to do everything right (see my signature for the hardware list). My goal was to get at least 3.2GHz, most-likely 3.4GHz, and maybe a tad more if I was lucky. You can imagine my frustration where anything past 2.8GHz (350 FSB) is unstable. :bang head:

I've been reading. A lot. I've tried more combinations of settings than I could possibly list up-front (we won't talk about how late I was up last night). I'm aware of the issues 360-400 FSB. But geesh... seems 95% of people with the E6420 and a decent MB can pass 3.2GHz as easily as passing a turtle in your sportscar... what's my problem??? I must be missing something stupid.

I know my memory timings are tight, but I'm not trying to OC this RAM... this is what it's rated for. I chose it specifically so that I could go to 450 FSB and still be operating in the memory's specifications.

So anyhow... looking for a forum of intelligent and helpful people who would be willing to take on a challenge and help this newbie cut his teeth on modern overclocking and turn this system into a decent performer. :)

Like I said... on 350FSB, Orthos can run all night. But on my current settings, it dies in a matter of seconds (at least it boots). Here's what I'm on right now:

FSB: 401
DRAM: 802MHz (1:1)
PCI-E: 110MHz
PCI clock sync: 33.33MHz
Spread Spectrum: disabled
Memory: 2.25V
CPU Vcore: 1.50V
FSB Term: 1.40V
NB Vcore: 1.55V
SB Vcore: 1.60V
ICH Chipset: 1.215V

C1E: Disabled
Vanderpool: disabled
PECI: disabled
Speedstep: disabled

Memory timings: 4-4-4-5-6-42-10-10-10-10
Static Read Control: disabled
PEG Force X1: disabled
PEG Link Mode: Auto
ASUS CGI: disabled
 
dudleycpa said:
:clap: WELCOME TO THE Forums!:clap:
Well, trial by fire, dude: if you guys can't help me, I'm outa here! :beer:

Just kidding. Thanks for the link, batboy... I'll read that thread and be back...
 
Ok I read the thread... Humanbeatbox has the board, but not the E6420 CPU. Anyways, his setting scare me, because of lots of collaborated evidence on other forums that you do NOT want to use "Auto" when overclocking on this board... apparently Asus scales up the voltage as you scale up the FSB and the volts can go to levels that kill things. People have blown their northbridge, for example.

I did try this modified set though:
FSB: 450
DRAM: DDR2-900 (1:1)
PCI-E: 101MHz
PCI Clock syn: 33.33MHz
Spread Spectrum: disabled
Memory: 2.25V (2.20 actual, I can't use 2.1 since my RAM requires 2.2-2.3)
CPU Vcore: 1.50V
FSB term: 1.45V
NB Vcore: 1.65V
SB Vcore: 1.60V
ICH: 1.215V

Wouldn't even POST.
 
First of all, let me also say :welcome: to the forums!

The P5B Deluxe is definitely a popular board, in fact I'm getting one with my new system in the next few weeks (e6420 as well). There are lots of guys on here with that board, and several with E6420's as well. Hopefully we can get a few ones in here with some advise.

Are you completely unstable at anything over 350? Like 351-360 will fail orthos? I'm just trying to get a better idea of where the wall is for you. Also, have you tried lower the multi to 7 and using a FSB of 400 (same as 350 @ 8x) and upping it from there?

I really feel at a loss. It looks like you have everything set right (to me at least). Hope you get it worked out.

Edit: Did you say you've tried a different BIOS as well? That might help.
 
E6420 FPO/Batch: L644G451

the worst batch of em,as far as i know,a friend of mine,got one of em,and i m having similar problems geting 3,2 gig stable,wont even boot windows without uping the vcore...

btw on my asus p5b the biggest problem with high fsb is the pci-express frequenzy,f.e if i set it to 100,and use 436 fsb it gives me a long and 3 short beeps,and lowers my pci-express to x1(currently running 438 fsb with 95 frequency on pci-ex),
lowering the frequenzy to 90 is enough for ~470 fsb,anything higher and pci-express problems...
 
I might be totally wrong here, but I've heard that if you set your frequency to something a little above 100 (101-105) that will take care of the problem. Give that a shot.
 
sremick said:
Ok I read the thread... Humanbeatbox has the board, but not the E6420 CPU. Anyways, his setting scare me, because of lots of collaborated evidence on other forums that you do NOT want to use "Auto" when overclocking on this board... apparently Asus scales up the voltage as you scale up the FSB and the volts can go to levels that kill things. People have blown their northbridge, for example.

I did try this modified set though:
FSB: 450
DRAM: DDR2-900 (1:1)
PCI-E: 101MHz
PCI Clock syn: 33.33MHz
Spread Spectrum: disabled
Memory: 2.25V (2.20 actual, I can't use 2.1 since my RAM requires 2.2-2.3)
CPU Vcore: 1.50V
FSB term: 1.45V
NB Vcore: 1.65V
SB Vcore: 1.60V
ICH: 1.215V

Wouldn't even POST.

i'm not sure what settings you mean of mine that were on auto. the only thing i keep on auto is ich. that thread that was linked is a pretty old thread, back when i was just getting used to the board. *EDIT* HAHA, now that i've actually looked at my post in the linked thread, i see what you mean. really tho, 450fsb is not very taxing for this board. i am sure that for 450fsb, it requires little voltage. even if auto were to surge the voltages at times, it would probably be still at safe levels. when you start getting past 520fsb, then i could see auto creating problems.

on to your oc. are you trying to run 450*8? if so, that could be a problem, not all cpus can do 3600mhz with 1.5v set in bios. you might have to put a lot more voltage into it.

if you are still at the 8 multi, try setting it to 7 under the cpu options. this way, you can find out the limits of your mobo without the cpu getting in the way. 450*7=3150mhz. if you find that is stable, then try perhaps 400*8=3200mhz and work up from there, to find out your cpus limits.
 
L644 is very bad stepping.
It demands about 1.5V for only 3GHz.

My E6420 L645 works perfectly at 3.45GHz with 1.42V of juice (load).
 
Here is what I believe to be a very good tweaking guide for this motherboard. It includes BIOS shots with explanations and suggested settings. It also discusses memory ratios and chipset straps...both can come into play during your overclocking adventures.

http://www.thetechrepository.com/showthread.php?t=41

With respect to the comments about your cpu's stepping...it does appear that the L644Gs, shipped from Tenn. (check to see where yours shipped from per the tracking info), seem to be given the most difficulties, although a few have done better after a bit of burn in time.

Humanbeatbox's suggestion to drop the multi and and go with 8 x 400 is a very valid suggestion, especially in light of the "FSB hole" that exists with these boards (see linked article).

*********************
Quote from the Guide:
Now Asus have been quite slick with the P5B range of boards as they allow the chipset to overclock quite a bit before they slow it down by altering the strap, what this means is that once slowed down by the 1333 strap it is already in an overclocked state. The bad part is that between 360 and 399fsb the chipset is massively overclocked and really does struggle some what, the consequence of this is an "FSB hole" where it is hard to get the board stable. In reality all you have to do to avoid this "hole" is set 400fsb or higher as the strap changes here to 1333 and the board takes off again usually all the way to 500+FSB. I explain more on what exactly is happening here in more detail.
********************

The "here" that is bolded is a link in the article that takes you to another, more detailed thread, explaining what is going on with the northbridge chipset straps. It is also a very good and informative read.

Good luck and I hope you get things sorted out so that you can start enjoying your new rig.
 
Sorry I've been absent, busy weekend!

The PC is now home, and I'm noticing that I'm able to do a little better than when I began (I'm currently running 366 FSB stable, and that's not necessarily the current max... just inching up and testing slowly. But I wasn't able to do above 350 before). However the rate that I have to bump voltage per FSB increase still seems disproportional to what most people see with this chip... so I'm thinking that it's the whole "L644s are the worst" thing. Strange that the "pack date" on this CPU was 4/3/07 if the manufacture date was week 44 of 2006! Geesh... anyhow, I'm curious if anyone has done an RMA of an Intel CPU direct with Intel before and what their experiences were as far as how old the replacement processor was that they got in-return? And does Intel offer advance cross-ship?
 
sremick said:
Geesh... anyhow, I'm curious if anyone has done an RMA of an Intel CPU direct with Intel before and what their experiences were as far as how old the replacement processor was that they got in-return? And does Intel offer advance cross-ship?
why would Intel accept the RMA? the cpu works at stock speeds with the stock cooler, how is it defective?

i'd say, if you are truely convinced that you are stuck at ~3.3ghz, and you NEED more, then your only option would be to sell the cpu at a place like these forums (we have a classifieds section, but you don't get to see it until you have 100 posts) or on fleabay and try another one (or a e6420).
 
cpu features

Turn off all the CPU features. I had the same problem and I turned off all features except VT. That solved my problem. The P965 chipset will go to powersave mode (speedstep) with the CPU and mess up your stability. I am now running my e6420 on a quadgt at 3.2GHz (1.4v), where I couldn't get above 2.4GHz before (FSB of ~360) - dropping the multiplier got me a little more FSB, but the CPU still crapped out above 2.4GHz(ish). Good Luck!

Edit - nevermind... you already tried this. Well, good luck anyway.
 
same boat

Hi-

This is my first time building a system for overclocking and I am also having a similar problem except I can't get past 375FSB. When I move it past that, my system will post but as it goes to load the first Vista screen (the "moving bars") it reboots. When I move it too high system will not post at all. I've tried changing the voltages to all kinds of combos. Right now I have it set to 375 and Orthos crashed in 40seconds! I can't figure this one out. Here is my specs and screen shot. Abit Quad GT, current BIOS update. 2GB Crucial Ballistix 6400. Antec HE power supply. Evga 7600 Video card. Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. CPU: e6420. Clipboard01.jpg
 
lovegunphoenix said:
This is my first time building a system for overclocking and I am also having a similar problem except I can't get past 375FSB. When I move it past that, my system will post but as it goes to load the first Vista screen (the "moving bars") it reboots. When I move it too high system will not post at all. I've tried changing the voltages to all kinds of combos. Right now I have it set to 375 and Orthos crashed in 40seconds! I can't figure this one out. Here is my specs and screen shot. Abit Quad GT, current BIOS update. 2GB Crucial Ballistix 6400. Antec HE power supply. Evga 7600 Video card. Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme. CPU: e6420.
What's your batch#?
 
lovegunphoenix said:
batch L707A320 pack data 4/13/07
Hmm that's a pretty recent batch. Surprised you're having such trouble (based upon what I've seen). What store did you get it from that had that batch?
 
Back