Overclock advice needed: System crashes on P95 but rarely anywhere else.

[Albear]

Hi, I've been messing around with overclocking for the past year with my Phenom II X6 1055t CPU. Slowly I've been hitting higher and higher stable clock speeds. My max at the moment is 3990MHz. I decided to go higher and I managed to pull it up to 4060MHz which I think is the peak as my computer does not boot with a FSB > 290. So it is not completely stable but satisfactory for me as it crashes maybe once every 1-2 weeks with the 'IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL' BSOD. However whenever I run P95 it bluescreens with 'SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION'. It's only ever these two bluescreens, what could be the issue? Is the overclock just too high or is it a hardware fault? Also general advice on my overclock would be nice thanks

+ I have reasons to believe my ram is in not very good condition/

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-880GM-UD2H motherboard
PC3-12800 (800MHz) Kingston HyperX Savage 2x8GB RAM

Voltages:
RAM @ 1.75v
NB @ 1.5v
SB @ 1.3v
CPU-NB @ 1.4v
CPU @ 1.625v

 

[EarthDog]

The attachments do not work (at least for me), FYI.

 

[Veraxis]

Not just you EarthDog, I can't see the attachments either.

It is interesting that P95 outright BSODs your system rather than just returning errors, but then again, you seem to be running a lot less stable than some would. If your memory is suspect, have you tried running a pass or two of memtest86? I would lower your CPU down before testing the RAM, as an unstable CPU can also throw errors in memtest, and all you need to do is check the RAM. Best to just eliminate any possible doubts about RAM problems before debugging the CPU.

That motherboard you have seems to have a 4+1 phase count and no heatsinks on the VRMs, so additional cooling or air over the VRMs may help improve stability if you are not doing that already (I learned some hard lessons on that not too long ago on my build). If your BIOS has any LLC or Vdroop options, I would definitely look into using those, but this board may not have that.

Even if your system is stable most of the time, P95 will almost always crash it. Few things max out a CPU the way P95 does.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Stable is when the computer doesn't crash due to the OC...ever, not it crashes once in a while. You can't run Prime because it's not stable. This may be because it's not getting enough voltage or maybe the motherboard cannot provide it with enough, due to what Veraxis mentioned. Please use the inforum hosting tool so we can see the attachments.

 

[Veraxis]

Actually, reading through your voltages again, why is your RAM at 1.75V yet only 800MHz (the lowest possible setting for DDR3)? unless you have changed around the timings on your RAM, I wouldn't think you would need to have it that high.

Also, to clarify my comment earlier, I would personally not consider "crashes once in a while" to be a stable system. Some may be willing to tolerate a certain degree of instability (i.e. P95 throws an error after a long time) but P95 crashing immediately would seem to indicate that your system is pretty unstable.

I suppose another question that should be asked is what is your PSU? A low wattage PSU might struggle in an overclocked system.

 

[Kenrou]

Actually, reading through your voltages again, why is your RAM at 1.75V yet only 800MHz (the lowest possible setting for DDR3)? unless you have changed around the timings on your RAM, I wouldn't think you would need to have it that high.

Good catch, assuming the model is the link below it really should not go above 1.575v, might be what's crashing your setup.

http://www.kingston.com/dataSheets/HX316C9SRK2_16.pdf



EDIT : why CPU/NB so high ?

 

[Albear]

Sorry, fixed attachments
Uh, the ram is hugely defective at lower voltages and what's wrong with cpu/nb being high?

 

[EarthDog]

Uh, the ram is hugely defective at lower voltages

If it is defective at stock speeds and voltages, RMA the memory.

EDIT: Holy cow... look at your CPUz screenshots, the Memory and SPD tabs. In the SPD tab, you can see your XMP profiles. The 2133 MHz profile shows timings of 11-13-13-30-1T, you (according to CPUz) are at 6-6-6-15-1T. I would imagine THAT is why you need your voltage cranked up that high. Adjust that properly and lower the voltage before you kill the sticks.

 

[Albear]

Ah okay, yeah that does make sense. I'm not very sure about changing ram timings but ill look up some guides, cheers

 

[EarthDog]

Its in the bios... it should show those values/names. Change those to match was the SPD tab says for your sticks. How it got to those values is beyond me... those are DDR2 timings!!!

 

[caddi daddi]

2132 on a thuban?????
more like 1333 @9-9-9 timings.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Albear, overclocking is a process, especially when one is using the Fsb to do so. Life is a lot easier when one changes one value at a time, if this were my chip I'd drop the Nb Frequency to 2000 Mhz, set the ram and timings to 1333 Mhz with 11-11-11- timings and then try and find a stable Cpu Oc. After that work on getting the ram stable at near or above 1600 Mhz. Then work on the Nb freq and Ht link speed. The two Thuban PII chips I have, like having the HtLink and Nb freq locked in tandem and also both will run 2600 + Mhz without an issue.

As mentioned above when one Oc's with the Fsb they are changing multiple variables, which does make it a bit harder. When one removes as many variables that can cause instability as they push, life is a lot easier.

 

[Veraxis]

2132 on a thuban?????
more like 1333 @9-9-9 timings.

Agreed. His mobo is only rated to 1333 with up to 1800 on OC, but that's necessarily a guarantee it will work, especially given that the bus speed is way up at 290 MHz. I would start by dialing the timings way back, figuring out whether the CPU is stable at 4GHz or not, checking the ram for errors, and only then beginning to mess with the RAM again.

 

[Albear]

having the HtLink and Nb freq locked in tandem and also both will run 2600 + Mhz without an issue.

pretty sure HTL is meant to be around 2k?

if this were my chip I'd drop the Nb Frequency to 2000 Mhz

I've been through the process of dropping Nb to stock and then upping the Nb multiplier if the comp wasnt booting, that's how i got so high. I just never really took ram into account at all when overclocking

I can't change my ram timings or frequency whatsoever, it's literally not booting and setting to default if i do anything to it :/

 

[EarthDog]

Default is the 11-13-13-15 timings... that is good if it is doing that.

Is your bios updated to the latest version?

 

[Kenrou]

Reset BIOS, then check ram voltage/speed/timings

 

[Albear]

Default is the 11-13-13-15 timings... that is good if it is doing that.

Is your bios updated to the latest version?

How do I check if it is? And if its not how on earth do you update bios?


Also, after fiddling about for about 2 hours now, my PC ONLY boots when the ram is at the frequency and settings shown in the cpu-z screenshot (timings on auto). In bios it's clocked at 1166mhz (x4.00).

 

[EarthDog]

CPUz is telling you it is (on the SPD tab). The memory tab is what it is current at.

Updating the bios? Check the manual. Easy breezy.

 

[Albear]

Alright my bios is fully up to date. I have no idea what to do now, I guess I just start over from 200 FSB and work my way back up? What do I do with RAM timings and frequencies while overclocking? Or shall I just leave it how it is?

 

[chrisjames61]

Keep your ram divider set so it runs at default speed while you raise the BCLK. The timings should be what is shown in the SPD tab of CPU-Z.

- - - Updated - - -

Keep your ram divider set so it runs at default speed while you raise the BCLK. The timings should be what is shown in the SPD tab of CPU-Z. JEDEC #6 I would imagine.