Safe 3.0C oc for 24/7 Use

Safe 3.0C oc for 24/7 Use?

First post to this forum, although I've been trolling for quite some time. The info has been invaluable, to say the least! I cannibalized the 3.0C, Radeon 9800Pro, 74GB Raptor, and SB Audigy 2 from my Dell XPS Gen 1 earlier this month to build something a little more robust. I coupled them with an Asus P4P800SE, Big Typhoon, 2x512 Crucial Ballistix DDR500, and a FSP 450w in a Tt Tsunami case and am amazed at the temp and performance difference.

The idle temp of the 3.0C is around 28C and am running a mild overclock with the FSB at 220 (1:1 FSB/DRAM) and a stock ("Auto" setting) Vcore for around 3.3GHz. I have successfully taken it to 3.47GHz, but didn't press beyond that as 3.3GHz is enough to make WoW (the most taxing thing I currently run on the rig) run glitch-free with all the settings maxed.

The reason I'm seeking input is because I am used to leaving desktops running 24/7. If the rig is unquestionably stable, using stock/auto Vcore, and the hottest it gets under load is ~40C...is it safe to leave it running 24/7 or should I get into the habit of suspending/hibernating (or just powering down) the system during the daytime when I'm at work so as not to tax the Northwood? I've read a lot about SNDS, and thought that perhaps electromigration could be mitigated by reducing the number of hours during which the rig is running...but that might be faulty logic on my part (or a moot point since Vcore tends to max at 1.616).

Thanks for any and all input on this, or any other pertinent subject that might be eluding me!

DC

if you keep your vcore under 1.65v at all times (idle/load) then SNDS should not be a worry at all for you.

you could probably bump it up a bit, perhaps 3.6ghz is in reach.

my rig (2.4c @ 3.5, 1.625bios, 1.6ish load) has been running 24/7 since the day i got it basically, some 3 years ago. you should have no probs running 24/7 at your current oc or higher.

Welcome to the forums!

hUMANbEATbOX said:

if you keep your vcore under 1.65v at all times (idle/load) then SNDS should not be a worry at all for you.

you could probably bump it up a bit, perhaps 3.6ghz is in reach.

my rig (2.4c @ 3.5, 1.625bios, 1.6ish load) has been running 24/7 since the day i got it basically, some 3 years ago. you should have no probs running 24/7 at your current oc or higher.

Welcome to the forums!

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Can you list out your specs? I'd like to know what you use to get to 3.5Ghz.

acyf said:

Can you list out your specs? I'd like to know what you use to get to 3.5Ghz.

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oh yes, i forgot i deleted my sig

my 2.4c is a revision M0 meaning it is a Gallatin core, not a Northwood. some Northwood 2.4c's oc as good or better than mine tho.

you'll have to excuse me, going off memory pretty much on this. right now i'm running 292fsb giving me 3504mhz. ram is on a devider, 3:2, as i've got mix and match 4x256mb. when i was just running my 2x256 bh5, i would run the 5:4 devider. agp/pci locked, 1.625vcore set in bios. PAT settings at disabled/disabled/auto/auto/auto.

motherboard is a IC7MAX3, psu is a TrueBlue 480, ram is 2x256 khx3000 + 2x256 generic samsung, x800pro unlocked to 16 pipes. cooling on cpu is a slk800u with a tornado fan on a dial for quiet when i like, power when i need.

anything else you'd like to know?

Thanks for that input, bro. I'll definitely try bumping it up a bit and see what I can get. 3.5GHz was smooth, for sure. I might have to try some extended benchmarking at that speed and see if she'll hold together.

The lowest vcore I can manually set in the p4p800se bios is 1.6v. I'm not entirely sure why that is, since I believe the recommended voltage for the 3.0C is somewhere around 1.5. Idle voltage is usually steady at 1.618v when set to auto, but if I manually set it to 1.6, then it idles at around 1.65v+ (when viewing vcore in Asus' PC Probe utility). 3.5GHz seemed stable on "auto" so I might try that again.

Again, I appreciate your suggestions and thanks for the welcome as well!

DC

if auto is stable, just use that. make sure to check "actual" voltages in windows. (i say "actual" because the only true vcore reading is one read with a multimeter).

with snds, the danger really comes as you approach 1.7v, but because of potential fluctuations, i would try and keep it close to 1.65v.

for a quick stability test, try PcMark or SuperPi (run the 32m test on this).

i never really liked the pcprobe utility. i've always used mbm5 myself, you may look into that, see if it reprts diff voltages.

the vcore option in the bios seem strange. you're right, it should run stock around 1.5-1.55v. have you looked for a newer bios?

hUMANbEATbOX said:

oh yes, i forgot i deleted my sig
anything else you'd like to know?

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How's the idle/load temp at 3.5Ghz?

idle right now at 45c, its hot in here. if i turn on my ac, it will idle at around 42. this is with all fans turn low.

if i play cs:s for a few hours, with the fans cranked and the ac on (wimpy ac unit), it will get as high as 55c. even benching at 3.6ghz, 300fsb, it doesn't really go over ~55c.

I'll have to download MBM5...that's what I was using on the cannibalized XPS (and one of the determining factors in parting it out...power was not stable and temp was way too high). As far as vcore settings in the BIOS goes, I did find one other post in a forum where someone was reporting that the lowest setting he had access to for his 3.0C was 1.6v on a p4p800se. It was an archived post with no resolution, so who knows. I am using BIOS 1011, the only thing newer is a beta BIOS 1012. I might try that...but so far the "auto" setting has the Vcore steadily bouncing around 1.6v...which is fine (even if not "stock").

I'll see what MBM5 reports tonight!

I installed MBM5 last night, but the P4P800SE wasn't a board option so I selected the P4P800-E Deluxe. Although it did show vcore at ~1.55V, some of the other readings were a bit screwy such as the processor fan speed.

I attempted to push the 3.0C up to 3.5GHz, but no go. FSB was stable up to 229MHz, but once I pushed 230 Windows wouldn't complete the booting process. I tried different variations of locking the AGP/PCI bus, setting the DRAM timings to auto (also 2.5-3-3-8 and stock 2.5-4-4-8), and vcores from 1.55v-1.65v with no luck (Down to 1.6V is only displayed initially, if I actually down-arrow past it, the lower vcore settings appear). Since the Ballistix DDR500 is rated up to 2.8v, I thought tonight I might force them to 2.85v (no selection for 2.8v, only 2.65, 2.75, and 2.85).

On the flipside, 3.3GHz with the DDR500 at 2.5-3-3-8 is exceptionally stable on stock/Auto voltages at 1:1 with PAT/Turbo enabled. Even under the highest load of WoW for over an hour the temps were only 35C for the CPU and 45C for the i865PE North Bridge. So, I'm not disappointed with that at all. For less than $300, the improvement will definitely allow me to better take advantage of the parts I had.

Any ideas or suggestions are appreciated, as always!

DC

DC:

I have the P4P800SE and P4 3.0 Prescott and I'm currently in the process of OC'ing also. I hope to see your final stable results and I will post mine here also.

My rig in a snapshot:
Asus P4P800SE
Intel P4 3.0 Prescott w/ XP-90
2*512 Micron PC3200
ATI 9500NP @ ATI FireGL Z1 w/ Zalman VF700-CU
Ultra X-Connect 500W

Sheba:
Excellent! Definitely keep me posted. I think I'm going to be satisfied with ~225FSB in a 1:1 with 2.5-3-3-8 with my PC4000 for now. It seems that I really just can't get the chip to go above 230FSB and remain stable. Maybe that will change as the system ages and the RAM gets broken in...we'll see!

I am quite curious to know what your Board Temp average usually is. As you're playing around with the oc, if you could just post back what your average is, I'd appreciate it! Mine is usually around 45C in a room that is about a 20-25C room.

Maybe next week I'll play around with the oc some more just to see if I can at least hit 230FSB with stability!

DC

DC:

Right now I'm testing with 220FSB and 1.5v in a 1:1 with 3-4-4-8.
Using MBM5, my CPU is reading 40-41C idle.

I'll be doing more testing and pushing the limits abit more.
I'll keep you posted too.

DamienChaos said:

Sheba:
Excellent! Definitely keep me posted. I think I'm going to be satisfied with ~225FSB in a 1:1 with 2.5-3-3-8 with my PC4000 for now. It seems that I really just can't get the chip to go above 230FSB and remain stable. Maybe that will change as the system ages and the RAM gets broken in...we'll see!

I am quite curious to know what your Board Temp average usually is. As you're playing around with the oc, if you could just post back what your average is, I'd appreciate it! Mine is usually around 45C in a room that is about a 20-25C room.

Maybe next week I'll play around with the oc some more just to see if I can at least hit 230FSB with stability!

DC

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Instead of going 1:1, why don't you run 5:4 so that you can get higher FSB?

acyf said:

Instead of going 1:1, why don't you run 5:4 so that you can get higher FSB?

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Ok totally honest answer here...because I didn't know I could achieve a higher FSB by using a 5:4 ratio! I'll have to try that out. I had just assumed that 1:1 would be best for gaming, but if I can get a significantly higher OC from 5:4, that might improve my performance even more.

Thanks for that suggestion! I'll give it a shot early next week when I get back to the computer, and I'll post back the results.


Sheba: Thanks for posting the temp. Hopefully you'll be able to push it much higher than the 220FSB. I look forward to seeing your results!
DC

running the 5:4 ratio will run your ram slower than your fsb, so if your ram simply cannot run 230mhz+, you will have to drop your devider. you won't really incur too much of a hit doing this tho, and it will certainly be offset by the increased CPU clocks you may get out of it.

I haven't tried anything yet, but shouldn't PC4000 RAM be able to run at 230+ at a 1:1 ratio since it is rated at 250MHz? I'm still very new to oc'ing so I might be completely incorrect in that thought, however!

I run my 3.0C at 3.6 on watercooling with the FSB @ 240 on a 1:1 ration and PC4000 @ 2.5,3,3,7. I was never able to achieve a solid overclock on air over 3.4

I recommend you invest in better cooling.

if i remember correctly, the northwoods are not as heavy on the motherboard mosfets as the prescotts. therefore there might not be that much vdroop.

i would say around 3.6 is realistic for you. but as other people have stated, try to keep your vcore down, so that the northwood doesnt die.

I'm not sure heat is the problem, as even under load at ~223FSB the CPU temp never reaches 40C. The board temp may get upwards of 46C, but I've never seen the CPU hit 40C (even after 3+hrs of WoW). If I can't boost my FSB any higher than this, I'm still pretty happy. This overclocking stuff is fun, but my main goals were to make WoW run better and the hardware run cooler than in the Dell XPS Gen 1 shell. Both of those goals have been achieved. It's amazing, even at 3.36GHz, this box puts out significantly less heat and noise than virtually the same hardware did in the XPS Gen 1 shell.

As far as vcore goes, I've left the setting to "Auto" which reads at about 1.616V at idle on both CPU-Z and Asus Probe. I get that same reading when setting 1.6V in the BIOS. I tried 1.625V, but I did see the vcore bounce up to 1.67, and thought that might be too much for the Northwood. I also did want to try 1.650 for one boot out of curiosity, but the PC wouldn't even POST. Perhaps my limitation is the 450w FSP SAGA PS, although the software reads the voltages as pretty stable...so who knows.

Thanks again for the continued input guys!

DC