First Intel build Headaches!

Problem solved, thanks!

My first Intel build and if this continues, maybe my last.....
2.4C (after I looked all over the place for nice stepping), Abit AI7, Mushkin BL II 512X2, SLK 947 with a midspeed 92mm Panaflo, good case cooling with 2 120mm fans. Not overclocked yet, running 2,2,2,6 Turbo,Auto, auto, auto, auto..., 200FSB, stock Vcore, Vdimm 2.8 but overvolts to closer to 2.9 on uguru.

Problems -
1. Prime95 and Toast won't run with 100% cpu usage on any priority. 50% at most and 50% idle. CPU throttling is at 50%, but not sure that's the problem. Temps at 50% usage are about 38-39 for Prime, 34 for Toast. Sometimes Prime95 will just stop running I think, usage to about 2-3% and using 30-40K of memory. It keeps running though, no fails. Any suggestions?

2. Any other suggestions for monitering the temps? MBM5 and speedfan won't work and UGURU is so bulky and updates all the time. Not even sure if it's reliable for temps.

3. I applied AS5 to the spreader like I did to the die on the AMDs, very thinly with a credit card instead of one small amout and then mushing it down. Has anybody encountered problems doing it the AMD way all the time?

4. Thinking about just turning off throttling and seeing what happens.

ARG, need some help. Thanks!

Edit - crazy light bulb went off in my head. Is it reading 50% cpu usage because of hyperthreading? Does that mean I have to disable HT somehow to test stability/temps or is it really stressing 100% of the CPU? Maybe I'll run Toast and Prime together?....

Two get 100% usage of the cpu, you need to run two instance of prime95. Since hyperthreading is recognize as two cpu and one prime95 only going to use up 50% of the cpu. So if you install prime with the installer, just install the second one into another directory(I think). I use the zip packages and I just unzip both(prime95) into a different folders and run both at the same time to test for stability. Hope I explain it well enough, Good Luck!

its kind of deceiving really, its just that windows doesn't show the usage correctly.

the way i understand it is this:

you load up one instance of prime, it shows 50%, but actually, its going full boar. windows sees the other "cpu" completly free, and says its at 0% load. really, that other "cpu" is only consuming about 2% of the processors actual clockcycles. if you run 2 instances in order to get 100%, then you'll find one ticks away all night, the other will only be done like 4 tests.

i find that if i run one prime, then turn on the ATI gargoyle screensaver, it goes all the way to 100% as well, but my temps do not go up over just having prime on.

i think the prob with it only using 30-40k happens when you load up another program that hogs all its resources. like, i'll have prime open, its will be going fast, then i'll open superPI, and it goes full speed, while prime slows.

1. The reason Prime 95 drops down to 2-3% occasionally is that the priority setting for Prime95 is very low and some other program is occupying the system resources. If you want to change this, then change the priority setting accessible under the Advanced menu. Really though, the behavior you've described is normal so there's nothing to worry about in this department.

2. Stick with uGuru for monitoring temps. Realize that the AI7 and other Abit boards reports temps on average about 10 degrees higher than other boards.


BTW, any app that is not multi-threaded will only utilize a max of 50% as shown in the Task Manager. And that basically means you're running the processor close to 100% with spare "headroom" available due to HT.

Isn't GAT suppose to be Auto, Auto, Auto, Disabled, Disabled?

InvisGreenMan said:

Isn't GAT suppose to be Auto, Auto, Auto, Disabled, Disabled?

Click to expand...

That's what I'm trying to figure out. I just left my Mushkin 3500 at SPD (but it's going at 2.5,2,2,6 - hope that's not all it'll do), currently at 220 FSB at 1:1. What about the NB Strap? Some people say 633, some say 800, what is everybody using anyways? So many variables on this board.

I'm pretty sure it is suppose to be A,A,A,D,D and the NB strap at 800. I would suggest putting the ram ratio at 3:2 to start with, so you know it is not the ram limitting the O/C. Later try 5:4, which I am confident the mushkin level II will do.

The boards in this are by Abit, and I am guessing that they have the same general BOIS.

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=258345

Edit: I would not bumb up your vcore like the thread says, unless you have stability issues. You can also tighten up your ram timings a bit since it is BH-5.

Good luck

Toaster Oven said:

1. The reason Prime 95 drops down to 2-3% occasionally is that the priority setting for Prime95 is very low and some other program is occupying the system resources. If you want to change this, then change the priority setting accessible under the Advanced menu. Really though, the behavior you've described is normal so there's nothing to worry about in this department.

Click to expand...

I'm have even more problems than that. I do set the priority to 10 or at least to high using task manager and I've watched the CPU usage drop from 50 to 0-3 now, and nothing else is competing with it. The overall CPU usage is less than 5%. The memory usage for the Prime95 is hovering around 30K. Temps have fallen from 40 to 30. I have Prime Version 23.7.1. It does seem to have stopped calculating too because it's not moving on, but no error statements, just says it's still calculating. Ideas?

Well, first off try switching to a newer version of Prime95 and see if that changes anything. I'm using version 23.8.1 currently with no problems.

If you want to enable performance mode on the AI7 while overclocking, you currently have 2 options that I know of:
1. Set your NB strap to 667
2. Set your NB strap to 800, set timings to 2-2-2-5, and enable F1 mode

Problem with #1 is that you probably won't be able to enable 667 at your max overclock settings. I have to swtich over to NB strap 800 at 261FSB even though my max stable OC is at 292FSB. Problem with #2 is that you need some damn good memory to do this. Anyhow, if you can run 2-2-2-5 settings then don't worry about it as that'll beat out using GAT with lesser settings.

When overclocking the AI7, the safest (slowest) settings are A-A-A-D-D. Always keep the last 2 settings disabled. If you enable GAT, then you'll obviously want to at least set Game Accelerator to Turbo or above to get any benefit. Otherwise what's the point? I don't see much benefit from changing Refresh Cycle Time. However, adjusting Read Delay gives a noticeable benefit. Switching from Auto to 4 boosted benchmarks in Sandra by about 250MB/s.

Some general suggestions for you. Bump up the VDimm to 3.2. That capability is one of the huge benefits of this board, don't ignore it. Don't use the SPD settings. SPD sets my memory to 2-3-3-7 or 2.5-3-3-7 whereas I can run 2-2-2-5 all the way up to my max OC limit. This board seems to absolutely HATE dividers used with loose timings. Counterintuitive as it is, I actually get higher OCs by tightening my timings versus running sloppy loose timings. I can only OC to 3.1 at 2-3-3-7 versus 3.4 at 2-2-2-5. I dunno why but I'm not complaining. (Don't ask me how LONG it took me to figure that one out...) Keep your Vcore at default or one step above default and keep it there until you've exhausted other options. uGuru is cool but overclocking from the BIOS is still a better option. Changing settings in uGuru sometimes requires a reboot before taking effect. So if you choose to use uGuru, then monitor any changes in Abit EQ, CPU-Z, etc to make sure they take effect. Good luck!

Thanks Toaster, the newer version of Prime95 doesn't cause the problems. Currently testing the RAM individually to make sure I didn't get a dud.