Overclocking Escapades: Intel socket LGA1366 Xeon L5630

This one is coming later than expected, because I got to 3.2GHz and then kind of distracted by multiple other things I had going on (and/or bored with overclocking this chip).

Stock is 2133MHz, with 2267MHz Turbo Boost speed.

CPU: Intel Xeon L5630
Motherboard: Asus Rampage III Formula
Memory: G.Skill 6GB (3x2GB sticks) F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM (DDR3-1600/PC3-12800) 8-8-8-24-2T @1.6V
Graphics: Nvidia GTX 570
CPU cooling: Cooler Master Nepton 280L with stock fans
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 60GB

Intel Xeon L5630 overclock settings
VID: 1.20v
stock 2.13GHz (133x16): 1.216v (1.2v) (haven't tried lower)
3GHz (188x16): 1.216v (1.2v)
3.2GHz (200x16): 1.224v (1.2125v) (idle: 24-20-22-29) (load: 51-44-48-57)
3.4GHz (200x17): 1.25v (1.2375v?)*
3.5GHz (206x17): 1.264v (1.25v)*
3.6GHz (212x17): 1.264v (1.25v) (idle: 26-21-24-32) (load:52-45-51-58)

*needs further testing

So far, I'm fairly surprised by what this chip can do. It's exceeding my expectations, as I didn't expect it to hit a 1.5GHz overclock with such a minimal voltage boost. It might actually hit 3.7-3.8GHz, or maybe more, considering how low my voltage is at 3.5GHz and 3.6GHz (though I haven't tested it for stability with Prime95 or something similar, just running basic benchmarks so far).

Looks good T_T how's the temps?

Johan45 said:

Looks good T_T how's the temps?

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Not certain. I haven't been running HWMonitor or RealTemp because they were using up resources (cpu clock cycles) and slowing my benchmark runs down.

I'll have to get back to you on that.

No worries man, just curiosity. I know sometimes it seems those low volt chips can run hot.

Johan45 said:

Looks good T_T how's the temps?

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Not too bad under full load with Prime95, but there's a lot of heat coming off the exhaust fans (particularly the exhaust fans mounted on the radiator of the AIO). Even shutting off the A/C for 30 mins causes the room to get uncomfortably warm.

3.6GHz (212x17): 1.264v (1.25v) (idle: 26-21-24-32) (load:52-45-51-58)

Still plenty of headroom for overclocking based upon the voltage used and the temps, or at least I think there will be.

The L5630 is a surprising little chip, I benched one on hwbot a while back. It was the last chip for my RampageIII RIP.
Edit: lol don't beat all my subs, hopefully your chip likes less volts.

Scout said:

The L5630 is a surprising little chip, I benched one on hwbot a while back. It was the last chip for my RampageIII RIP.
Edit: lol don't beat all my subs, hopefully your chip likes less volts.

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Sorry to hear about your board. Sounds like my Rampage II Extreme, used it for six months then put it away in storage (in anti-static bag), the next time I tried to boot it up I found it to be dead.

You may be in trouble there Scout (or alphascout, as that's apparently you). I'm at 3.7GHz, still at the same 1.264v, and it seems to be stable so far (ran Cinebench R11.5 and R15, and 3DMark Firestrike). Saw you were at 1.49v for 3.7GHz, so I'm guessing you had a below-average chip and were really having to push it hard to do what you wanted. I'm not really sure what average is for an L5630 though, having only owned one of them, so my impressions of your CPU and mine might not be based upon a large enough sample size to really define what average, below-average, and above-average are for this model.

Hitting 3.8GHz is looking like a foregone conclusion at this point, and 4GHz may not be outside of the realm of possibilities (which is hard to believe for me, being an ambient overclocker).

Tech Tweaker said:

Sorry to hear about your board. Sounds like my Rampage II Extreme, used it for six months then put it away in storage (in anti-static bag), the next time I tried to boot it up I found it to be dead.

You may be in trouble there Scout (or alphascout, as that's apparently you). I'm at 3.7GHz, still at the same 1.264v, and it seems to be stable so far (ran Cinebench r11.5 and R15, and 3DMark Firestrike). Saw you were at 1.49v for 3.7GHz, so I'm guessing you had a below-average chip and were really having to push it hard to do what you wanted. I'm not really sure what average is for an L5630 though, having only owned one of them, so my impressions of your CPU and mine might not be based upon a large enough sample size to really define what average, below-average, and above-average are for this model.

Hitting 3.8GHz is looking like a foregone conclusion at this point, and 4GHz may not be outside of the realm of possibilities (which is hard to believe for me, being an ambient overclocker).

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I wasn't entirely concerned about the voltage with my water loop my temps were always okay in the end I was Bclk limited by the chip. I was also overvolting because of my issues with the board, it may not have been that bad of a chip.
but now it sits unused next to my x5650 with no board to use lol.

Okay, the CPU wasn't stable with 1.264v, 1.272v, or 1.288v at 3.7GHz. I think I've got some other voltage that's too low, maybe QPI/DRAM (at 1.25v at the moment) or IOH Core/IOH Chipset voltage (at 1.1v at the moment), or maybe my QPI link speed is too high (I'm at 3930MHz, when stock is 2933MHz), or it could be that my memory timings are too tight for the frequency the sticks are at (rated to 1600MHz at 8-8-8-20, but I've got them at 1747MHz with 8-9-8-20 timings with 1.6v). Kept crashing in 3DMark Sky Diver during the Combined test, which was very odd because I could run Fire Strike as much as I liked without crashing (and it's a more strenuous benchmark).

At first I thought it was a problem with my GPU, as I'd just swapped a different one in for testing, but after swapping the GPU the problem remained.

Not entirely certain which is the problem, but I'll probably find it eventually after some more testing.

It's not you T_T, Sky divers physics/combined test is harder to pass than any of the FireStrike benches. Your mem looks fine, I'm not all that familiar with that platform but whatever runs the NB is where I would look. You can try loosening the ram just to rule it out but I still think it's whatever handles the ram on the CPU end is likely the culprit. That and core voltage.

WOO! Shoot for the 2GHz overclock Tweak! I'd love to see a chip taken that far over stock on conventional cooling.

Well, 4GHz is definitely a bust, and so is 3.8GHz.

Board seems to have a FSB/BCLK wall at 221MHz, any higher than that and the board won't POST. It will power up and stay running at 223 and 224MHz, but doesn't give video output. At 222MHz it would power on, but immediately shut down and restarted (which was odd that it did worse at a lower setting). Setting QPI link speed to slow mode doesn't help, setting memory to lowest available speed doesn't help either and neither does setting a much higher vCore than at 3.7GHz (I was up around 1.35v). QPI Link voltage and IOH voltage are both at 1.35v (which is safe maximum IIRC), which unfortunately didn't help for reaching 3.8GHz. EDIT: I'm wrong, the max recommended QPI voltage is apparently 1.45-1.5v.

So, I'm kind of board-limited to 3765MHz with this CPU. Odd thing is that it says the 18x multiplier is available in CPU-Z, but it won't let me set it in the BIOS even if I have Turbo Boost enabled.

EDIT: Yeah, went up to 1.4v on the QPI and IOH (effectively the northbridge voltage IIRC), didn't help though. Tried every setting between 222 and 230MHz, with the CPU multiplier turned down a notch so that wouldn't limit it, and it wouldn't boot at any of those settings.

Well, at least I know now what my FSB/BCLK limit is on this board. I am disappointed though, because I'm fairly certain this CPU is capable of 3.8GHz if it weren't limited by some other component or components.

Dang! That's too bad man. Still pretty cool that you got this far though. I love watching these little overclock logs progress. Hopefully one day I can take part in an OC'ing competition where they bust out the liquid nitro...

Thats some sweet OC. Always nice to see what some older chips pushing for that really high OC.

Vishera said:

Dang! That's too bad man. Still pretty cool that you got this far though. I love watching these little overclock logs progress. Hopefully one day I can take part in an OC'ing competition where they bust out the liquid nitro...

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cOME TRY YOUR HAND IN THE MONTHLY MARATHON HERE IN THE BENCHING SECTION. iF YOU LIKE IT MAYBE EVEN TRY TO JOIN THE TEAM. wE ALWAYS HAVE ROOM FOR MORE.