Funky overclocking issues with my Winchester

Funky overclocking issues with my Winchester - Clock speed deterioration

So I finally was able to try out one of these fancy smancy Winchester's in replacement of my CG Newcastle as my mobo was holding me back due to a RAM upgrade (and we can't have that overclockers, now can we??). Anyways, for first two weeks or so, was stable at 2.7Ghz @ 1.6v, 270x10 but felt I was pushing a little too much and dropped down to 2.6 @ 1.55v. Hell I even got it to boot at 3.0gig just to take the screenshot. However, just recently, I've been getting some very odd issues. I haven't throughoughly tested these problems because I am going to reinstall AGAIN because of some different hard drives, but I think I'll run into the same problems anyways. Basically, the problem is this: I play World of Warcraft, and what was happening at 2.6 gig was after playing for say two hours or so, sometimes more, my game would either lock and drop me to a blue screen citing nv4disp.dll as the problem, or go into one of those horrible sound loops where it would loop the sound, and in between each sound loop there would be a horrendous screeching come from my speakers. Dropping down to 2.4 so far has alleviated this problem, but man I really want that extra clock speed and memory bandwith back. Vid card even at stock settings at 2.6gig causes this, but I can overclock the video card at 2.4gig and do not see this issue, so I am not sure it is the video card. Reinstalls of drivers as well as Windows has not fixed this either, so again, I can't say I blame the video card but why in the Hell is it cititng nv4disp.dll as the problem? Also, what is up with the horrendous screeching? A buddy said this might be overheating, but is this true? I am using an SLK-948U and a Vantec Tornado, so I HOPE it's not overheating.

The sig info below is what I am using currently, so I don't think it's an issue of parts either. My CPU is a week 48 CBBHD I am *pretty* sure, as I'm at work, so the stepping is of good quality as well. My HUNCH lies in either my application of arctic silver, which I followed directions and placed a small drop of the stuff on my core and then bolted down my heatsink so I don't think I did that wrong, OR a cooling issue with my northbridge, as I didn't remove it and check the TIM present on the stock cooler. Could THAT be my issue perhaps, northbridge overheating? I know the chip isn't the issue, as in it's early days it was running Prime at 2.7gig nonstop for 10+ hours.

I need to install some more 3dapps and compare the issues to both World of Warcraft and Prime95, but basically what perplexes me is the deterioration of the CPU overclock, the nv4disp.dll citations in the blue screen, and the sound looping/screeching locks. Any info any of you hardcore folks could supply me with would be GREATLY appreciated, as I know the headroom is there, but something just isn't playing nice anymore.

Looks like you've made some good guesses. Yes, you should get some AS5 under that NB cooler, but I'm guessing that's not the problem. How stable was the original overclock? I would get the same thing on my board and it turned out to be the ram. When I ran memtest I found errors at speeds that I had passed prime for 9 hours. When I pulled back down to the no error level it was fine. I wonder if over time you corrupted your windows insallation and undermined it's ability to maintain a fragile overclock. Another thing, is if you put too much AS5 then over time you could get higher temps instead of lower as it sealed in more heat. I doubt that cpu overheating is the issue and that's something you can easily check with MBM or SpeedFan. Good luck with it.

Roger on those notes mate. I've reinstalled a few times and still get the same errors, so I don't think it's Windows as much as I wish it was The original overclock was pretty stable I never encountered these errors or any crashes besides World of Warcraft crashin to the desktop of it's own accord and Counter Strike Source played flawlessly. Now when I crash it's a straight hard lock, blue screen, or the horrible screeching of pain. It was fine for like 3 weeks then just all of a sudden started doing the stuff I described above consistently. And it's after I've been playing for a fair amount of time never like after 5 minutes of gaming or something so that led me to the NB/heat speculation.

Gonna scope out my northbridge tonight when I get home, as some people have suggested that the most and have said the coverage was horrible for one and that they put waaaaaaaaay too much TIM on. After that, definately gonna run some memtest and see what we get there. If errors still persist, power supply comes next but man, 33A on 12v rail I figured I'd be good for awhile. Damn chips eat so much juice, I shudder at duel cores!

Thanks for the suggestions though, definately going to check both fronts.

yes, I have that same psu and I doubt it's the problem If you are running a 1:1 ram speed, then those timings may well need to be loosened. See how you make out with memtest.

ok, lol, i had that issue also, first, it happened when my ram was in wrong slots, make sure ur ram is in slots 1&2 if u only have 2 sticks, then i also had that prolem when i ocd my gfx card too much, so make sure ur not doin that

What IDE drivers are you running? Nforce or windows...? Had a similar issue here, random BSODS even on a 10 hour prime stable setup... Installing the Nforce IDE's sorted things...

oh ya, also, u only need 1.475 v +3.3 % to run 260 x 10 (2.6ghz)

trance said:

oh ya, also, u only need 1.475 v +3.3 % to run 260 x 10 (2.6ghz)

Click to expand...

Not all CPU's clock the same... His may not clock that high and those voltages...

well, mine does, and i have a 3200+ also

Highlander said:

Not all CPU's clock the same... His may not clock that high and those voltages...

Click to expand...

Nicely said i'd need damn near 1.85v to get to 2.6ghz *LOL*

Mine will go there on stock voltage. Doesn't it p**s you off when someone sprinkles salt in a womb? Yes, they're all different and it's luck. I'd swap this cpu for the $500 I dropped in Vegas last summer.

i get to 2.5 stock voltage