Learning to OC, help needed (miahallen's guide)

[steelle]

So I've recently just built my new rig (specs in sig are correct, minus the 570 which should arrive tomorrow. I have an old radeon x1800 as a placeholder), and I'm looking to start OCing my i7 950. I've started by following miahallen's updated guide over at techreaction, but I'm having a tough time getting this going. I'm at step 1, Maximze Bclock & Uncore Frequency. Here's what I've done so far:

My goals for the OC are Bclock = 200Mhz, CPU Freq = 4.2Ghz, Memory Speed = DDR3-1600(uncore @ 3200Mhz).

1. Set CPU Clock Ratio to x15
2. Set CPU Uncore Frequency to x16
3. Set Memory Frequency to 6
4. Set bclock to 150
5. Set IOH Vcore to 1.1v
Save & Exit then boot to desktop. Run OCCT for a minute or two (CPU:LINPACK). It's stable so I reboot and enter bios.

6. Set bclock to 160
Save & Exit. Here's where I'm having problems; my computer restarts, but the monitor stays blank. All the lights are lit up on the mobo and all the fans are running, but it doesn't beep and the monitor stays off. So after giving it a few minutes I press the clear CMOS button and restart the computer. I go back into bios and give CPU VTT Voltage +.025v and Save & Exit. Same thing as before - mobo lights up, fans run, but again no beep and monitor stays off. I try giving CPU VTT Voltage up to +.1v (1.3v total) and still nothing happens.

So whats going on? I thought any x58 mobo over $200 and any i7 CPU could do 4ghz with ease (200x20 and call it a day), yet this board can't even get a bclock over 150?

 

[psionic98]

What about the normal CPU voltage.. it is different than the VTT voltage.

Not that this will work 100% off the bat, but give this a shot:

Load defaults/save/exit

Then set this:

CPU Clock Ratio : 20x
CPU Host Frequency (stands for QPI/BClock): 200MHz
CPU Uncore frequency: 16x

Under memory feature:

Memory Frequency: 2:8
Mem timings to your manufac specs (cas7 is like 7-8-7-24-1t) or w/e yours is
but set the tRFC to 74

Now Voltage Control

EVGA VDroop Control - Without VDroop
CPU Vcore - 1.275 (give or take.. no lower than 1.25 to start)
CPU VTT: +125mV
CPU PLL: auto
DImm Voltage: 1.65
DIMM DQ Vref: +0mV
IOH VCore: 1.4
QPI PLL VCore: 1.4
IOH/ICH I/O: 1.65
ICH VCore: 1.25
PWM Freq: 1067 KHz

Under CPU Feature:

Disable all the power saving stuff (Speedstep, CxE, disable bit, virtualization) (these should all be disabled)
Turbo: disabled (don't really need this)
Hyperthreading: Enabled
QPI Frequency: 4.800 GT/s


All this should get you to 4.0, but its hit or miss.. might need more CPU Vcore or heat could become a factor.. thought the silver arrow is big and works well!

 

[kayson]

Make sure your PCI-E frequency isn't getting changed with your BCLK. That could cause your gpu to be unstable and stop displaying anything. In any event, you should definitely be able to hit 160 BCLK at 1.3V. I hit 210 on 1.3V on my board

 

[steelle]

Make sure your PCI-E frequency isn't getting changed with your BCLK. That could cause your gpu to be unstable and stop displaying anything. In any event, you should definitely be able to hit 160 BCLK at 1.3V. I hit 210 on 1.3V on my board

PCI-E freq of 100 sound right? Yeah I thought it would run a bclock of 180 at the very least with stock voltages, was very surprised at these results...

 

[kayson]

PCI-E freq of 100 sound right? Yeah I thought it would run a bclock of 180 at the very least with stock voltages, was very surprised at these results...

Yep that's right. Try values between 150 and 160?

 

[steelle]

Yes, after I tried 160, dropped back down to 150 and upped it in increments of 2mhz, making it to 154. 156 wouldn't "post" even with more VTT. (i'm assuming thats what those series of screens where you spam your "delete" key to get into BIOS are called )


EDIT: Psionic, thanks for the recommended settings, but I'd like to learn actually how to do it, rather than copy paste some settings. That being said, I'll give it a try and see what happens

 

[kayson]

Try bumping IOH to 1.2V see if that helps. You should definitely be able to go above 160 BCLK especially if your memory/cpu are underclocked

 

[steelle]

Nope, no good kayson. PCI-E freq at 100 and IOH Vcore at 1.2, VTT at 1.3, still wont post with a bclock of 160.

EDIT: So threw in psi's settings for a laugh and it works perfectly Still would like to know what I was doing wrong.

 

[psionic98]

well my settings are above stock for cpu volts for one.. though that shouldn't have stopped your video from showing up.. I would have agreed with the PCI frequency, but locking it at 100 or I believe 105 is ok.. i never went above 100 though.

Not sure what you could have had set.. you didnt have all the pics on the "before" settings to see what really changed. Could have been some of the things i said to disable or using vdroop etc..

Anyways... glad its working. Now start to turn down the cpu voltage 1 notch at a time and run prime till it fails then turn it back up 1 notch and you're good to go

 

[steelle]

Well at default, CPU Volts were 1.3v for 3.2ghz, so running at 4.0ghz is using less voltage than stock...

As for PCI-E freq; I thought it might have been on auto when you mentioned checking it, but it was actually already at 100.

Disable bit, and EVGA Vdrop Control were the only features I had on earlier, but I kept Vdrop on because mia's guide recommended to keep LLC.

I do have the previous profiles saved, I'll grab the settings.