P6X58D-E + i7 930 OClock on multiple lanes.

[Xandrino]

Oi!

If you decide to contribute your opinion (which i'd indeed like to hear), please know why you say what you say, cause its too easy to confuse a soul who lacks experience on the subject with tips that show confidence but are prehaps a bit hastily put togather. Also, for the same reason id like to point out that im calling for people who got at least a basic understanding and some actual experience on OCing modern systems. Thanks.

Sys:
Corsair TX950 (936 Continuous)
P6X58D-E, BIOS v0602 - 2011/03/24 (Rev/Step: NB: 13/B0, SB: 90/A0)
Core i7 930 (D0) + Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B + Zalman ZM-STG2 TIM
3x 2GB Dominator 1600MHz, 8-8-8-24 (CMP6GX3M3A1600C8)
Win7 Ultimate x64 SP1

Running on stock speeds/volts atm. SpeedStep, C1E, TM Fuction, C-State is off. HT, LLC is on.

On RealTemp 3.60 sys at idle but warmed up, temps are: 51/48/47/44 celsius on core 1/2/3/4 respectively. That is at 1.232V acording to CPU-Z 1.58. After 10mins of Prime95 small FFTs temps are: 69/67/68/65 at 1.240V. How would you feel about these temps?

Dont know how much of value it'll be to anyone but since i see LLC is so controversial, a tiny bit of info i give: LLC disabled my volts are 1.224 idle, 1.192 load. All is the same as above stated.


First thing im lookin for is a volt lacker setup at 3.6GHz.
BCLK 172 x 21, RAM at 8x BCLK, uncore at 2x RAM. Other thing would be 200x21.

What i need firmer knowledge on is quite funnily enough the volt department.
vCore
PLL
QPI/DRAM (VTT)
IOH
IOH PCIE
ICH
ICH PCIE
DRAM Bus (VDIMM)

How low can they be on 3.6GHz and how low on 4.2GHz in your opinion (/experience perhaps)? I know VDIMM will be 1.65 for 4.2GHz since the RAM runs at the exact specs that its certified to, but how much the 3.6GHz setup needs is of particular intrest to me. Very important question would be if - for either setup - the RAM needs a dedicated cooler or not!. How much do you think a 120mm 1200RPM fan hung in front of the sticks, (runnin at how high RPM (if at all)) would count as proper cooling? Also, on 3.6GHz do mention ram latency! How would you manage volts vs timings?

Does the 3.6GHz setup need any differential amplitude or clock skew in your opinions? ..And how much the 4.2GHz needs (if any)?
What do you think about the argument of Load Line Calibration / VDroop?
So Spread Spectrums best left disabled i understand. Any counter arguments?
Is there a program that picks up the value of volt overshoot when the sys is put under load and VDroop is off via LLC?
Is there a program that monitors ram voltage/temp realtime?

Quite alright i'll start testing these setups out myself when i gain some more knowledge on this, but meanwhile id like to keep this channel of info up as well, cause i feel like im gonna introduce some mysterious bugs to the sys and of those i had oh so enough...

Hm.. I'll write back when i remember what i forgot to mention...



Regards

 

[EarthDog]

Im not sure how to feel about the temperatures. Unless I missed it, I didnt see what cooler you are using, ambient temp, case, etc. That information would help. That said, if you are in a relatively normal envirnoment, with stock cooling, that sounds a bit warm at idle and load for the settings (Stock), but still nothing to worry about.

No clue what your temps will be at those clockspeeds. But you need to keep that CPU under 80C stress testing and you dont have much room, especially if you increase voltage.

Ram does not need a fan/cooler.

3.6ghz would not need clock skew, and neither should 4.2Ghz. Those functions are used closer to the brink and usually under extreme cooling.

Been using LLC since it was on motherboards and have been fine. I prefer my voltage to match and not sag if possible.

If anyone counters about spread spectrums, they are wrong, LOL! Not sure really how much it matters as I have left them on for moderate overclocks (4Ghz).

CPUz shows live voltages. Have that up, note voltage. SStart Prime 95, note voltages. You just saw Vdroop OR LLC in action if it matches or goes up.

Usually your motherboard contains a utility on a disk that shows you the other major voltages (ram, vtt). If not AIDA64 does.

As far as ram temp. Nope. It isnt a worry.

If I was you, I would check out the guide linked in my signature before you started on your way. That should be plenty to chew on and get you started on your journey. We will be here to assist along the way.

 

[Xandrino]

Been playing with voltages what i got so far is the 3612MHz like this:

CPU Ratio Setting......................[21.0]
Intel(r) SpeedStep(tm) Tech............[Disabled]
Xtreme Phase Full Power Mode...........[Enabled]
BCLK Frequency.........................[172]
PCIE Frequency.........................[100]
DRAM Frequency.........................[DDR3-1379MHz]
UCLK Frequency.........................[2758MHz]
QPI Link Data Rate.....................[Auto]

CPU Voltage Control....................[Manual]
CPU Voltage............................[1.21250]
CPU PLL Voltage........................[1.80]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage..................[1.21250]
IOH Voltage............................[1.12]
IOH PCIE Voltage.......................[1.50]
ICH Voltage............................[1.20]
ICH PCIE Voltage.......................[1.50]
DRAM Bus Voltage.......................[1.50]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHA...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHA...........[Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHB...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHB...........[Auto]
DRAM DATA REF Voltage on CHC...........[Auto]
DRAM CTRL REF Voltage on CHC...........[Auto]

DRAM Timings....................[8-9-9-24]

Load-Line Calibration..................[Enabled]
CPU Differential Amplitude.............[Auto]
CPU Clock Skew.........................[Auto]
CPU Spread Spectrum....................[Disabled]
IOH Clock Skew.........................[Auto]
PCIE Spread Spectrum...................[Disabled]

C1E Support............................[Disabled]
Hardware Prefetcher....................[Enabled]
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch...........[Enabled]
Intel(r) Virtualization Tech...........[Disabled]
CPU TM Function........................[Disabled]
Execute Disable Bit....................[Enabled]
Intel(r) HT Technology.................[Enabled]
Active Processor Cores.................[All]
A20M...................................[Disabled]
Intel(r) SpeedStep(tm) Tech............[Disabled]
Intel(r) C-STATE Tech..................[Disabled]


I got a Scythe Mugen 2 Rev B with Zalman ZM-STG2 TIM on it. I got this case sitting on the ground, its fans are not in place but its side is removed, i blow air to it if need be with a large "desk ventillator" (in lack of better describtion). Dont forget that i got (had for those temps too) the power saving feats off. That is why its ~50 degrees on idle, not ~40 which is what i had with all settings at default (like 36-42 celsius across the cores). Or would you say that i should get ~40 with 1.20V?

With this OC i got 72/71/72/66 after 6 hours of prime, CPUZ shows 1.20 vcore at all times, load or idle. No errors/warnings btw. Its downed 7+ hours (7 passes) of memtest86+ as well, no errors. I will test it more to down the volts if possible (not that 6 hours are utterly stable i understand). Do you think it clears it with 1.10 IOH/ICH volts? Is it worth at all to pull the volts on those? Gonna see if the timings can be lower with this volt too..

You say "match and not sag", it matches for 99% of the time but as i read in those split secs when the sys is put under load, if theres no VDroop it overshoots the voltage cause the voltage regulators are not good enough quality. Thus if some1 runs a sys with volts close to dangerous, with LLC on, the poor fella fries the CPU. Certainly not somethin i should worry about but its also floatin around that even if its not so high a volt setting, the overshootings are weary for the CPU. True or not i cant know, but i also cant keep myself from poppin it up for some more disection (sry)...

By not giving a system enough voltage one cant do permanent damage to it, is it correct?

That guide was about the first thing i came across a few days ago when i started thinkin about OCing this new sys, very very nice whats in there yea.

Anyway. Thanks for the infos.



Re

 

[EarthDog]

You can't do damage win llc unless you are pushing really high voltage (u r far from that). And that can be mitigated by knowing what the load voltage is.