ASRock P55 Deluxe, i7 860, and overclocks

[MacAttack]

I just purchased this mobo for an i7 860. I have to say that I really like the quality. I am not an expert and will definitely not be in the running for world record breaking overclocks. The setup went very smoothly (when disregarding additional time of 3yo daughter helping), boots up like no tomorrow (may also be due to the new SSD).

I have just started doing some OC'ing and can get 3.7GHz "stable" with 1.3375V on CPU. I am an OC newb, so I may be doing a few things incorrectly. I have a Megahalem on the CPU. I only let Prime95 go through about 6 tests last night(maybe 15 minutes or so). Because I have not been able to run a longer test, I am not sure how "stable" it is yet. I will be running a longer test this weekend when I have more time. The temps got to around 75^C using RealTemp 3.0. What would be a max temp you would want if you are looking for max overclock? My newb-ness is telling me not to let it hit 80^ at load with Prime95.

Pros:
Very nice board and layout, IMO
Easy to setup (as long as your 3yo daughter is not "helping")
OC Tuner helps this OC newb
Boots quickly
3.6GHz-3.7GHz stable overclock is possible I believe

Cons:
I am not a techno freak, so I really don't see any for my uses

Observations that may become a Con:
The Megahalem, with fan facing the rear of the case, butts right up to the PCIe x16 slot. My 4850 (soon to be 5850) only has about 1/8th of an inch of clearance. I think it is too close. I am going to try to turn the Meghalem 90^ so it is facing upwards. I think this will give about 0.5" to 0.75" of clearence. When I do this, I think it is going to block the memory slot preventing me from having 4x2GB. I may have to have a lower profile memory set for the slot set that is closest to the Megahalem.

 

[lopri]

Thank you for sharing your experience. It'll help many AT'ers here.

How stable is the vCore, when overclocked/overvolted?

 

[JAH]

I ordered the lesser version (ASRock P55 Pro, $115 vs. $180), since I didn't need the extra features of the Deluxe, to also go with the 860 and the 5850. What brand of memory are you using? I got the G.Skill 4GB kit (F3-12800CL9D-4GBNQ).

I haven't read up on overclocking i7 platform yet, since it has been two years since my last built. Mind sharing your settings? I'm looking to do a half decent overclock while keeping Turbo Boost on at the same time.

Major reason I bought this board is because of the Combo Cooler Option. Will save me $50 by reusing my Tuniq Tower 120...hopefully it'll fits.

 

[MacAttack]

I got it for the LGA775 compatibility also. I have a Tuniq Tower 120. I didn't jerk around with it too much, but I found it difficult to get it on. I had the Megahalem on the way, so it was not worth my time. Now, the Meghalem with the LGA1156 kit does not allow me to turn the HSF 90^. The screw holes on the mounting brackets do not line up. There may be a separate bar that goes through the heatsink, but it did not come with mine. I though the Megahalem and 4850 butt up against each other. Once I screw the 4850 down, there is at least a 0.25" gap between them. I was able to verify I can fit the second set of memory in without issue. I would have to take the Megahalem out to do it though.

Overclock:
I have been building my own systems since college. I am a newb OC'ing and do not want to blow up my system. I used the OC Tweaker in BIOS to set it to 3.7GHz. This automatically sets the other parameters. System is definitely not stable using that. I manually set Vcore to 1.25 and the system boots, but that is about all. I have to use OC Tuner to tweak the voltages to get it stable. For 3.7GHz, I have the CPU voltage at 1.33125v in OC Tuner (I think I had it stable at 1.30625v last night, but I have a lot of checking to do today). CPU-Z shows the voltage as 1.248v. I am not sure what the actual usage voltage is though. Prime95 gets the temps to the upper 60s with a few spikes into the 70s. It did peak to 78 for a few seconds when transitioning to another test in Prime95, but goes back down to 70 and just below a few seconds after.

Once I have the time to run a prolonged stress, I will do so.

Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
This case is pretty quiet, but I am finding it EXTREMELY cramped for me. With my 4850 in it, the middle drive cage is unusable. Getting to the SATA ports is a pain too. Cable management is almost worthless because PSU cables are not long enough to use the feature. The 120mm side fan cannot be used with the Megahalem in it. It may be overkill, but I will probably convert this case to a NAS case. I really like the Corsair Obsidian case from the videos. That may be overkill as well, but I have big hands and fat fingers. I need space when working inside a system.

 

[lopri]

Originally posted by: MacAttack
Case: Antec Nine Hundred Two
This case is pretty quiet, but I am finding it EXTREMELY cramped for me. With my 4850 in it, the middle drive cage is unusable. Getting to the SATA ports is a pain too. Cable management is almost worthless because PSU cables are not long enough to use the feature. The 120mm fan cannot be used with the Megahalem in it.

Wow that's exactly what I did with my Antec 900. I use it for WHS box.

 

[lopri]

Vdroop is common and normal. But the different vCore you're seeing can be caused by SpeedStep/C1E as well.

 

[Axon]

Are you getting rounding errors in blend on Prime 95? I've found that's heavily linked to RAM voltage and timings on my ASRock. I was convinced it was the mobo but it wasn't so...or is it just other stability issues?

 

[MacAttack]

Yes, I am getting rounding errors in Prime95. I have touched memory settings. Was primarily looking at CPU. Maybe I will play with the memory settings to see if that is what is throwing the error.

 

[RussianSensation]

Originally posted by: MacAttack
I got it for the LGA775 compatibility also. I have a Tuniq Tower 120. I didn't jerk around with it too much, but I found it difficult to get it on. I had the Megahalem on the way, so it was not worth my time. Now, the Meghalem with the LGA1156 kit does not allow me to turn the HSF 90^. The screw holes on the mounting brackets do not line up. There may be a separate bar that goes through the heatsink, but it did not come with mine.

I had the same problem. You just have to flip one of the 2 supporting brackets the other way. You'll get those 2-3mm of space you are looking for

 

[SmCaudata]

Keep us posted on how things are going with the board. I was considering the Extreme since it is the price of the other provider mid-level boards but has most of the features of the Deluxe that I want. Tom's Hardware compared the Pro to the UD3 and other similarly priced boards. I with they would have thrown the Extreme in there as well since it closer in price.

 

[JC1970]

I'm running the 860 on the EVGA P655 board and couldn't get the processor 100% stable at 3.8 with HT on. With HT off it's fine and could go higher. At 3.8, I never found much difference in stability going above 1.25 volts.

For power consumption/features/performance reasons I've settled on 3.3 GHZ (22*150) with HT, C1E, Speedstep and C-states enabled. As a result processor runs from 3.3-3.9 depending on load and will power down much lower during idle. vCore is at 1.25, vdimm at 1.65, vdroop off and everything else is auto. Temps are in the 35-50 C range for normal use on the CM hyper 212 plus and only get to around 70 with LinX or OCCT.

 

[mapesdhs]

MacAttack, how are you getting on with your system? Did the 5850 arrive ok? I was wondering if you were still using the 3.7GHz setting, and what kind of results you're seeing with the 5850, eg. 3DMark06?

I have the same CPU/mbd, but am trying to reach 4GHz (close, but not quite there yet; stable enough for 3DMark06 runs, but not for Prime95). I've been collating results with 1 or 2 x 8800GTs:

http://www.sgidepot.co.uk/misc/pctests.html

Thanks!!

Ian.