GA-X58A-UD3R i7-950 Problem

patrck17 · Oct 20, 2010

Hey guys I recently purchased a new build with the goal of a slight overclock, though nothing extreme. Here is the build:

CPU: i7-950
MB: GA-X58A-UD3R
Ram: 6gb Corsair dominator, rated 1600Mhz w/8-8-8-24 @ 1.65V
Vid: EVGA 460 GTX
PSU: Corsair hx650
CPU Cooler: H70
Case: 600T

I did a search on the MB and read a few discouraging post about some bad experiences with my board but none of them seemed to describe my problem so I figured I would post my details with the hopes that somebody may have had a similar experience or read about someone who had.

So the computer isn't taking well to the overclocking. Infact I didn't even try a real overclock I just set my ram to its rated speed, 1600Mhz @ 8-8-8-24 with 1.66V. I did this leaving the bclk at 133 and using the System Memory Multiplier and the Uncore multiplier (my understanding was uncore frequency should be 2x the memory frequency). Anyways the comp boots up fine and runs, but shortly after I start Prime95 I hear the sound the comp makes when you unplug hardware and the USB devices stop working, for me this is the mouse and headset, but the comp is still running and I can use the keyboard to click around. I may have missed another voltage to increase to account for the higher uncore frequency, I only changed the ram voltage.

I may step back and take a more systematic overclock approach I was just messing around yesterday and wanted to see if I could run the ram at least at its rated speed. I doubt the ram is the problem, and have no reason to suspect the processor is weak, I am suspicious of the MB though, just running normal stock speeds there is a slight noisy cackle on the output of the audio jack and when I play eq2 and stream youtube after about 10 minutes all the audio starts to studder, getting worse and worse as time goes on (this is at stock speeds). I am wondering if the chipset is overheating causing the problem I am having.

Sucks too I've had multiple gigabyte motherboards including my last one (P35 chipset), and I have never had a problem. Really thinking I may have got a bad board though.

MIAHALLEN · Oct 20, 2010

Cooling does sound suspect, because it's getting worse with time....do you have any cooling directed to the mobo? How's airflow in the case.

You can use GBT EasyTune6 for monitoring chipset & VRM temps

patrck17 · Oct 20, 2010

MIAHALLEN said:
Cooling does sound suspect, because it's getting worse with time....do you have any cooling directed to the mobo? How's airflow in the case.

You can use GBT EasyTune6 for monitoring chipset & VRM temps

No additional motherboard cooling. I am not sure if you've ever seen the 600T case but it appears to have pretty good airflow. Two giant fans one on the top one on the front, along with the 2 that I have mounted on the H70 and the fan on the power supply. I do beleive that temperature is causing it to start studdering but I doubt it is at too high of a temperature. Also the noise on the audio line happens all the time, and I don't think the USB rails are dying cause of temperature either cause it is immediately after I press the start button on prime95.

I have opened HWmonitor and looked at temps and none of them see unusually high. I also hadn't thought to consider that 1600Mhz may be too high for the MB to handle, I wouldn't have thought it would be though.

redduc900 · Oct 20, 2010

You might want to post all of your current BIOS settings, or give these settings a try for 4.0GHz and DDR3-1528 (191 BCLK x 8); or even 200 x 20 and DDR3-1600 w/ VTT at ~1.25V...

Code:

Advanced CPU Features:
CPU Clock Ratio ................................ [21]
Intel(R) Turbo Boost Tech ...................... [Enabled]
CPU Cores Enabled .............................. [All]
CPU Multi Threading .............................[Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) ........................ [Disabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support ......................... [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor ............................ [Disabled]
CPU EIST Function .............................. [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology ...................... [Enabled]
Bi-Directional PROCHOT ......................... [Enabled]

Uncore & QPI Features:
QPI Link Speed ..............................[x36]
Uncore Frequency ............................[x16]
Isonchronous Frequency ......................[Enabled]

Standard Clock Control:
Base Clock (BCLK) Control .......................... [Enabled]
BCLK Frequency (MHz) ................................[191]
PCI Express Frequency (MHz) ........................ [100]

Advanced Clock Control:
CPU Clock Drive ..............................[900mV]
PCI Express Clock Drive ................... [900mV]
CPU Clock Skew ............................. [0]
IOH Clock Skew ............................. [0]
PCI Express Frequency (MHz) ........................ [100]

Advanced DRAM Features:
Performance Enhance ...................... [Turbo]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P) ........... [Profile1]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) ........... [8.0]
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) ............. [Quick]

Channel A + B + C

Channel A Timing Settings:
##Channel A Standard Timing Control##
CAS Latency Time ......................[8]
tRCD ..................................[8]
tRP ...................................[8]
tRAS ..................................[24]
CR.....................................[1]

Advanced Voltage Control:
CPU Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping
Load Line Calibration ................. [Level 2]
CPU Vcore ..............................[1.26875v]
QPI/VTT Voltage 1.150v .................[1.175v]
CPU PLL 1.800v .........................[1.80v]
PCIE 1.500v ...........................[1.50v]
QPI PLL 1.100v ........................[1.10v]
IOH Core 1.100v .......................[1.10v]
ICH I/O 1.500v ........................[1.50v]
ICH Core 1.1v .........................[1.10v]

DRAM
DRAM Voltage 1.500v .............. [1.65v]
DRAM Termination 0.750v.......... [Normal]
Ch-A Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[Normal]
Ch-B Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[Normal]
Ch-C Data VRef. 0.750v ...........[Normal]
Ch-A Address VRef. 0.750v ........[Normal]
Ch-B Address VRef. 0.750v ........[Normal]
Ch-C Address VRef. 0.750v ........[Normal]

patrck17 · Oct 20, 2010

Hey Red,

I'll give those settings a try later tonight. Also kind of want to try to run prime95 at stock settings and see if it goes. I've never actually had the computer crash while at the default settings only had the problem with the sound, but I did see a BSOD when I pressed the power button yesterday to shut down the comp, wonder if I don't have something going on even before OC.

redduc900 · Oct 20, 2010

It's probably just a case of one or more BIOS settings set incorrectly.

patrck17 · Oct 20, 2010

I actually just remembered something that would have prevented me from making this post. When I was installing windows 7 for whatever reason it was taking forever, like 5-10 minutes to get between windows when nothing was happening. Anyways I looked it up online and other people seem to have the same problem, they say it was attributed to floppy disk being enabled in bios. Unfortunately this did not apply to me so to get around the long wait I installed my HD into my old computer, which is a GA-P35 something chipset with a intel core 2 duo. I installed it and then swapped the HD back into the new system right at the first bootup. I thought it was a long shot but it ended up booting up. I installed my Mb drivers and display drivers and for the most part everything worked, (with the exception of the sound issue and the problem I see during OC).

I think it is very possible that there may be a problem but before I worry too much about it I think I need to install the OS fresh on the HD and make sure all drivers are up to date. Hopefully this will take care of the problem and if it doesn't then maybe I will worry. Thanks for the comments I will follow up in a few days when I get a chance to reformat.

patrck17 · Oct 21, 2010

To update:

Think I have confirmed that the USB crashing issue is a thermal problem, specifically I would suspect the chipset. When I touch the passive heatsink or heat pipe on the board it is scorching hot. I put a fan on it, then overclocked to 4.0Ghz w/ram @ 1600mhz using the above settings and it booted and ran Prime95 fine for about 10 minutes, I'll have to do longer test to determine if it will eventually crash, but the cpu temp never got above around 68C, which I think is acceptible. My concern is if there is a problem with the heatsink on my MB or if this board gets hotter than it should because it would crash after less than about 2 minutes of Prime95 at all stock settings with no overclock. Additionally the noise on the audio line never goes away.

I will wait till my SSD arrives and perform a fresh install of win7 and all drivers before I throw in the towel but if I cannot get the audio to work right I am going to replace the board, for $220 I shouldn't have to deal with noisy crackling on the audio output.

The only question is if I will be replacing the board for an identical version or trying the Asus P6X58D-E LGA 1366 X58. When I compared the two in the store they seemed to pretty much be the same thing and since I had success with Gigabyte in the past I went with it. I wouldn't mind sticking with GB but this noise thing makes me nervous. Anyway will wait and see what happens when the SSD gets in, thanks for the help guys.

patrck17 · Oct 22, 2010

Update:

Windows was only showing 2gb of my ram so I did a bunch of crap to try to figure out the problem. Long story short I found it to be due to some ram settings in bios but in the process I reseated my ram and cpu. Anyways, my audio output no longer has noise. I pushed the setup to 4.2ghz @1600Mhz but got BSOD after a few minutes of prime. Since I do not really want to go over 70C at load I will probably stick to a goal of 4.0ghz. I set it at 4.0 last night and ran it while I played games and it never crashed, but I havn't done any extensive prime95 test to confirm stability. This weekend will give me some time to play with getting it stable. I am hoping I can get it to run prime95 for 24h without the usb dying, but since it appears to be stable right now at stock settings I don't feel like I can pin it on gigabyte and try for a refund/exchange. Maybe just bad luck with the board or still a driver issue since I installed win7 on a different hardware configuration. Once my SSD comes in I will start fresh and see what I can do. Anyways sorry to continue to litter the forum but I figured I should try to document my progress in case somebody else runs into a similar problem.

GA-X58A-UD3R i7-950 Problem

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