[Nebulous]

Extremely informative read! I vote icky sticky!

[Brutal-Force]

I have used this guide, and I agree... it works!

[MIAHALLEN]

WOW! It's great to hear all the positive responses, thanks again guys...spread the word

[aoch88]

One question: Some people say that by increasing your VTT, it reduces your Vcore. In my case, it never happens. How true is this?

[MIAHALLEN]

No true at all taken by itself...but I'd be interested in seeing this comment in the context in which it was originally stated

[hokiealumnus]

Me too. I've never heard anything like that. Link?

[Brolloks]

Originally Posted by aoch88

One question: Some people say that by increasing your VTT, it reduces your Vcore. In my case, it never happens. How true is this?

What you propably have heard that you could lower your v-core if you increase your Vtt slightly to stabilize your OC, but is does not happen automatically.

[Dataman2]

start by going into your system’s BIOS, and load defaults,

Whoa there. If somone is running ACHI and set's BIOS defaults won't it default to IDE?

Then they get Error Code

"STOP 0x0000007B INACCESSABLE_BOOT_DEVICE"


http://support.microsoft.com/kb/922976

I know it's easy to go back into the BIOS and change it back to ACHI, but telling novice not to write down the setting BEFORE they change the BIOS is asking for trouble.

Of course if they never changed it to ACHI it's one of the 1st things they should do before the OS install.

Otherwise loved the writeup.

DM

[hokiealumnus]

IMHO, if someone is using ACHI and doesn't know to set it back prior to booting, they may want to consider learning more about their setup prior to overclocking.

I guarantee, at some point and some overclock, they're going to need to reset CMOS. Doing so will remove any ACHI setting. They'll need to know how to recover from that just as much as they would from setting defaults.

You are correct though, it will default to IDE.

Oh, and welcome to OCF!

[Dataman2]

But a warning to write down your settings and make sure of the mode would be safe way to do it. Trust me someone will do this and blame the OC.

Telling them to start off with changing to "default" is just asking for trouble. Most of us don't need the guide. But this is for the person who is not experienced. That person will do this.

When I build a system the 1st thing I do is reset to Default, then Kill the Stupid Splash Screen on the BIOS, then the ACHI Mode if Sata.

I have seen too many people change the BIOS settings and not have a CLUE. A+ Classes, MCSE Classes, Network Classes etc.

[MIAHALLEN]

Point taken DM...My thinking was inline with Hokie...that when I said "reset to default", hopefully the use would realise they may need to consider the context of their situation.

Anyhow, thanks for the feedback, I'll be working on a follow up shortly to address some of the suggestions I've recieved, and I'll definitely consider adding a note on this

[Dataman2]

It will help that Sys Admin who thought of removing the MB screws with POWER ON and said

Oops

Snap, Crackle Pop. It don't work anymore. Give me another one please.
(Novell Class where they took everything apart for Practice, they just could not put them back together and functional).


One other thing to consider. When I build I go into BIOS and check the temps. Good way to make sure you have those STUPID Push Pins on right! Before I load OS or try to OC it. So many don't bother to check until they ask "Why is it running so HOT or keeps shutting down".

Also put in there something about "Never Flashing BIOS on OC System" unless you play Russian Roulette with S&W Model 410. Good way to make a brick out of running system.




Dm

[MIAHALLEN]

But...uhhh I thought I included that step???.....<goes to check>.....yup, it's here:

After you’ve restarted your system with your manually configured voltages and returned to the BIOS, I always recommend going to the temp/voltage monitoring section and checking the CPU temp. If the temperature seems too high for your cooling, then shut the system down and double check that your cooling system is properly mounted, and making good contact.

[Dataman2]

Must have scanned past it.

Thanks

[xtkxhom3r]

nice article man

[ivwshane]

Awesome!!!

This is exactly what I needed. I've been out of the seen for so long that all these new terms in the bios totally threw me off!

Thanks!

[MIAHALLEN]

Glad this has been helpful for you guys

[HunterZ]

This is an interesting guide, but a lot of what you're talking about seems to be X58-specific and doesn't make any sense for a P55 user like me. It would be helpful if you could revise it to make more sense from and/or be more applicable to a P55 perspective, or else split it into two separate guides.


Just a few examples - please don't get hung up on just these:

- What the heck is IOH? There's no such thing in my EVGA E657 BIOS.

- Vcore is much more critical than VTT on P55. It really is! I run VTT at Auto but had to bump Vcore up significantly (but reasonably) to reach 4.2GHz on a Core i7 860.

- What about the 1.65V hard-limit for safe RAM voltage on P55? Your guide only says VTT for i5 can get as high as 1.55V but that RAM voltage can go up to 0.5V higher; if people take that to mean 2.05V for RAM on P55 (NO!) then they'll fry their hardware.

[Brolloks]

@HunterZ

Most of what is in this guide is applicable to the P55 platform, remember that the micro-architecture of the CPU's that go into the X58 boards are the same as those that go into the P55 boards, they all belong to the Nehalem (45nm) or Westmere (32nm die shrink of Nehalem) family. Bloomfield is X58 based and Lynnfield is P55 based and both is 45nm micro-architecture, they all have the memory controllers on the CPU die. The P55 CPU's also have base clocks and multis which determine the CPU speeds. Both have uncore and QPI speeds that are key to CPU performance.

Vtt, or also known as QPI voltage, is just as important on the P55 CPU's as it feeds the IMC (Internal memory controller) and aids in memory OC as well as higher base clock stability. Vtt should also be used with more care on the Westmere 32nm chips whereas the 45nm Nehalem CPU's can tolerate much more.

The 1.65 VDIMM limit is a myth really and has been disproved thousands of time over, as long as you keep your RAM voltage and VTT within 0.5v you will be good.

Please read the guide, use what works for you and adjust, that is how you learn, that is how we all learned, from the masters, then a few like Miahallen became a master himself

[ihrsetrdr]

A good read, Miahallen- thanks for giving us[former] skt 775 guys a guide for this next breed of Intel processors.