The Xeon Thread

[DonP]

I saw Yitsan's setup, but I thought that might be an exception because of the mixed steppings, but 3.33 with a C1 is 3.33 with a C1, no doubt about it.

edit: I'm not familiar with hiw heat sinks, are they water? MC 'W' 5002 for water?

 

[zachj]

We do have a Xeon database, but it's relatively unpopulated, and it doesn't include 1.6 Xeons at all.

I think that the vast majority of 1.6LVs are running no more than 2.85 at the moment. As such, I think it's a little misleading to say that they'll run at 3GHz. I think that C1s in general CAN run up to 3.2GHz, but I don't think most do, and people trying to do the Moosemod with C1s seem to have a pretty high rate of failure. And, just to let you know, you left out the D1 stepping in your list.

Z

 

[mateo]

Good point about the D1, except that I don't have any good idea of how it has done compared to the C1s and M0s. I'll add in a note about the 1.6LVs, too, that was pure speculation by me based on the stepping.

I'm not sure how soon I'll be able to fill out the rest of the thread, but in the mods I'm planning on general CPU pin mods with diagrams (BSEL, voltage) and then motherboard-specific mods or links to motherboard-dedicated sites. That brings us to:

CPU Info
Chipset/Motherboard Info
Other Platform Info
CPU Mods
Motherboard Mods
OC Database
Benchmark Database

What else can we add?

PS- DonP, MCWxxxxs are Swiftech's waterblocks

 

[zachj]

I don't think there's too much more to add . . .

I think the D1s do about as well as M0s, and at least can do the Moosemod (nothing's a gaurantee, so I won't say it's always going to work, but I've not seen a D1 not go to 200MHz . . .). I'd say 3.3 is a good advertised ceiling for them, and if they happen to go higher, then you've delighted the user by underestimating the product, so no harm done.

Z

 

[MLMIB]

for the moosemod, when ya need to isolate/insolate a pin for a volt mod, how do you do it? need to give my mo's 1.6 volts(pcdl is undervolting me bad)

 

[Yitsan]

MCW5002 are waterblocks, I like my computer cool and quite.

I have 4 x 512Mb PC2700 @fsb185 timing2.5,3,3,7.
Maybe I can push the C1 higher if I can get some PC3200's.
I am too afraid to do vDimm mod.

If it makes any difference, I have the D1 in CPU Soket 1 and C1 in CPU socket 2.
The C1 is about 1.5 year old(usage),and the D1 is about 2~3 month old(usage).

As for benchmarking, can I recommand CrystalMark2004 and PCMark04?
These benchmarking software recognize ClockGen(Software) OC.

edit: sp

 

[arabarabian]

I would have to agree with everyone else that this would be a great sticky. Considering we have an Opteron sticky this makes a lot of sense.

 

[Audioaficionado]

Well if I had green stars, it would be done already. Give it some time as we're trying to get rid of reduntant/outdated stickies or consoledate them. Once this thread gets filled out with some more in depth info, it will happen.

 

[DonP]

Once again, I am wondering about C1's. If you need watercooling to hit 3.33, what is the real life overclock possibility with this stepping, with a high end air cooler? Like others, I think it's around 2.85Ghz.

 

[zachj]

Also, what's up with sudden northwood death syndrome? I just suddenly stopped hearing about it. Were people running excessively high voltages to hit good overclocks, and the release of a newer, better stepping made that not necessary, or did people just back off on what they were doing, or did Intel fix whatever was causing it? Seems to me that a C1 at a very pushed overclock would be much more vulnerable to SNDS than a moderately pushed D1 or M0 . . .

Z

 

[Yitsan]

I really don't think watercooling is needed for C1 to hit 3.33.
@2.97GHz(18 x 185), I had 2x Swiftech MCX-603V + 4 x 80mm TT smart case fan @3000rpm
The load temp was very nice
Room temp: 80 F
CPU1: 50 C
CPU2: 48 C
MB: 50 C

This setup was loud for my liking, so switched to watercool.
To be honest, I was happy @2.97 with aircool. And watercool gave me the confidence to play with ClockGen, i.e. higher OC.

 

[Yitsan]

update on my setup:

Yitsan | 2x 2.4/533 | 3.31 GHz (16*207) | 1.5v | C1, SL6NQ + D1, SL6VL | Asus PC-DL | 2x Swiftech MCW5002 /Moosemod

 

[zachj]

How likely are C1s to take the Moosemod? I ask because there are NO D1 or M0 steppings on eBay, only C1s. I'm so stung by the 1.6LV deal that I can't fathom paying 225 per Xeon at Newegg, even though it's pretty much a certainty that I'd get a D1 or M0 from them.

Z

 

[MLMIB]

I dunno, I got mo's 'n I still gotta put them up to 1.6 volts to make the full moosemod

 

[zachj]

But at least you can make the moosemod. How upset would you be if you dumped all kinds of money into your Xeon rig only to find out it couldn't do it at all? That'd really bug the garbage out of me, considering JUST how cheap I am. I know I'm looking at a halving of my encoding times with a good dual Xeon, but I still think it's too much money.

Z

 

[Audioaficionado]

Those C1 LVs can do 2.4 easy and most likely 2.6 too. If I was going to build the best bang for the buck Xeon duallie, I'd go with those LV Xeons and the PC-DL. Add a $100 550W EPS PS and 512Mb of good value dual channel RAM sticks plus spare parts, you've got a Xeon duallie for ~$500

When you get it to 2.4GHz, you'll be able to run just about anything you want.

 

[MLMIB]

yea, 'n in all honesty my dual xeon I havn't even gotten up yet(I just don't have the desire to get it up anymore.....) but they are nice, I got into windows with them at 3.0 'n it's nice seein 4 processes(gunna hafta see it rip through workunits... ^_^)

I think it's worth it, but if u can wait out for the M0's, give it 2 weeks.

 

[Graphicism]

Excellent thread mateo, makes me want one more than ever now that I have an idea of what I would be getting.

 

[zachj]

I'd love to get my hands on a pair of 1.6s . . . Got any I'm furious the deal's over. Right after I had enough money, they were all gone. And they're not expected to come back into stock, either! BAH!

Considering I'm so cheap, I may never upgrade until a deal like that comes along. Oh when oh when will Opterons get cheap and boards allow for good overclocking? That's what I really want (shhhhh . . . I'm in a Xeon thread )

Z

 

[Yitsan]

this will be my final update.

Yitsan | 2x 2.4/533 | 3.45 GHz (17*203) | 1.5v | C1, SL6NQ + D1, SL6VL | Asus PC-DL | 2x Swiftech MCW5002 /Moosemod + 1.6v U-wire mod

It boots into windows @3.55(17x209), and does benchmarking programs w/o problems, but not prime95 stable.