My new 2.6C and IC7 Experiment

[oldfart]

What Vcore (as set in BIOS) do you need for that FSB? Mine will be here tomorrow.

 

[jdogg707]

It's sitting at 1.625V, which on the IC7 resembles 1.6V-1.62V due to the undervolting. I believe I could increase the timings to 2-3-3-6 if I could just give the memory some more juice...but anyway, guess I'll have to get some better memory! I do believe also that I am hitting a wall with this CPU/Motherboard combo, I have heard that most of the canterwoods crap out at around 270-275, so mine is no exception to that rule. Hopefully an Abit BIOS update will further performance increases and maybe offer a little more overclocking headroom!

 

[groebuck]

I just upped mine to 260 fsb - dang these things are schweet ! you might not need better ram - mine is some no name ddr400 (not sure of the chips on it , it came with vantec heat spreaders) and it is chewing away in dual channel mode @ 2.5 3 3 7 - no voltage uppage -

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: oldfart
BTW, congrats on the 10 MHz overclock improvement from the old CPU!!

LOL! i just couldnt help but laugh at that one

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK

Originally posted by: oldfart
BTW, congrats on the 10 MHz overclock improvement from the old CPU!!

LOL! i just couldnt help but laugh at that one

Thanks for all of the encouragement there...haha

 

[RandySavage]

I'm testing right now @ 270 fsb on a 2.4C and IC7... the board undervolts on freaking everything... I am running @1.575 in bios, but its about 1.55ish.

DUDE WHERE DID YOU GET THAT SANDRA SCORE! I'm using khx 3500 @ ddr 432 @ 2337 and the best mem bandwidth I have ever obtained was in the upper 5100's.

What bios settings are you using? any of the performance modes? what is your nb strap?

 

[jdogg707]

To get the best out of your Sandra scores, go to BIOS 1.3, then set to optimal default settings in BIOS, and then set FSB strap to 800, my timings are a little high at 2.5-3-3-7. BTW, don't use the Performance settings, they made my machine very unstable and offered little to no performance increase.

 

[RandySavage]

ya, I agree on the performance settings... I can't even get fast to run @ default w/o errors... but I have done the afore mentioned procedure and cannot recreate the scores... what sandra version are you using?

 

[Tom]

UPS dropped off my 2.4C about 2 hours ago. So far I'm very happy with it, I'm trying to establish how high I can go using default vcore of 1.525(1.49 volts reported)
Started at 200fsb, no problems of course. Same thing at 250FSB. Decided to jump all the way to 270FSB , again no problems running 3dmark and Sandra. Went another 10 to 280FSB(3.36gig) again seems completely stable at default vcore ! Of course I haven't done any real stability testing yet, like Prime95 but so far seems very stable at 280fsb.

This is with the standard retail HSF, and 2 old 256mb Samsung pc2700 modules(default bios timing settings), using the 3:2 ratio. HT activated. Using the shipping IS7 bios. Default vcore. 280FSB.

Sandra memory 5290/5307
Sandra multimedia 15534 24076
Sandra math 10265 2905/6509

 

[Lyfer]

Nice overclock.

 

[RandySavage]

wow.... your 2700 pieces are killing my 3500.... I gotta figure out what the hell is going wrong...

 

[Tom]

Was able to 285FSB and complete 3DMark2003 and Sandra benchmarks which is all I'm trying for in these early stages. At 290FSB it completed Sandra but 3DMark2003 did not finish. This is still at default voltage.(1.525, 1.49 actually reported)

Later I wasn't able to complete 3DMark2003 at 285FSB, I think possibly because the ambient temp has gone up a bunch. I'm just using the retail HSF. Everything finishes and feels stable at 284FSB. Later tonight r tomorrow morning I'm going to test this theory when the ambient temp goes back down.

At this point I think I need better cooling to go further, parlty because I would need to raise the vcore above default which increases the need for better cooling. Another variable is I'm pushing this old pc2700 pretty hard at 285FSB it's running at DDR380 which is very close to the most I ever got it to run in my old computer. And that wasn't dual channel, of course.

I'd also like to try a new bios revision, there is a beta version for the IS7 which might be similar to the IC7 version 1.3.

Here are the results at 285FSB..I'm using a Radeon 9700tx from a Dell, a notch below a standard 9700 at 263/263
FSB 285 (3.42g) ratio 3:2 HT-on
3DMark2003 4456
Sandra memory 5404/5373
Sandra mm 1581 24453
Sandra math 10396 2954/6625

 

[groebuck]

Nice OC!! what are your temps at that fsb using the stock HS? idle and load?

 

[Tom]

That's a good question ! My mbm readings are 41c idle and 60c running 3dmark2003. This is at 285fsb or 3.4gig. That's one reason I don't want to increase the vcore much to overclock it more until either it's determined that the numbers are wrong and Abit releases a bios that fixes it, or I get a better HSF.

 

[groebuck]

weird - I am at 265 right not stock voltage and no problems - but if I set my memory divider to 3:2 I get BEEEEEP BEEEEEP BEEEEEP - (running 5:4 right now) - @ 3:2 it would be 353 - well under it's ddr400 rating and way below the 424 it is running now... My cpu is @ 3.2 Ghz and with Dual Channel DDR 424 my sandra scores are just a hair above yours - guess the cpu speed matters more than the ddr speed!!

either way It seems I cannot run my ddr400 at sub 400 levels when I use it with a C proc...

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: Dead Parrot Sketch
Was able to 285FSB and complete 3DMark2003 and Sandra benchmarks which is all I'm trying for in these early stages. At 290FSB it completed Sandra but 3DMark2003 did not finish. This is still at default voltage.(1.525, 1.49 actually reported)

Later I wasn't able to complete 3DMark2003 at 285FSB, I think possibly because the ambient temp has gone up a bunch. I'm just using the retail HSF. Everything finishes and feels stable at 284FSB. Later tonight r tomorrow morning I'm going to test this theory when the ambient temp goes back down.

At this point I think I need better cooling to go further, parlty because I would need to raise the vcore above default which increases the need for better cooling. Another variable is I'm pushing this old pc2700 pretty hard at 285FSB it's running at DDR380 which is very close to the most I ever got it to run in my old computer. And that wasn't dual channel, of course.

I'd also like to try a new bios revision, there is a beta version for the IS7 which might be similar to the IC7 version 1.3.

Here are the results at 285FSB..I'm using a Radeon 9700tx from a Dell, a notch below a standard 9700 at 263/263
FSB 285 (3.42g) ratio 3:2 HT-on
3DMark2003 4456
Sandra memory 5404/5373
Sandra mm 1581 24453
Sandra math 10396 2954/6625

Before getting to happy you'll probably want to run some Prime95, it will let you know a lot better than Sandra and 3D Mark if your system si stable! Congrats on the overclock though, very nice. I am convinced with some better RAM I will be able to get a little bit more out of this thing, but right now I am pretty happy with my investment!

 

[jdogg707]

Originally posted by: RandySavage
ya, I agree on the performance settings... I can't even get fast to run @ default w/o errors... but I have done the afore mentioned procedure and cannot recreate the scores... what sandra version are you using?

I'm using version 2003

 

[groebuck]

actually -

I had a system (2.26 oc'ed to 2.8) that made it through prime no problem but would fail 3dmark2001 - I use three stress tests, prime95, 3dmark2001 and super pi - if I can make it through all three and pass memtest (okay so I use 4 tests) then I stamp it stable

 

[groebuck]

Rumor has it that there is a new IS7 bios coming out that is supposed to increase performance "dramatically." (not my words) - I wonder if it will enable PAT in the 865 - I hear that you can on the ASUS 865 board in the bios.

 

[Tom]

Cool ! btw, I think 3DMark2003 might be more stressful than 3DMark2001, but I run them both anyway. An update on my results above, Prime95 runs without error overnight when I stopped checking, at 280fsb. 285FSB it does everything but Prime95, I'm fairly confident it's the memory I'm using that doesn't pass muster at 285fsb and beyond. Something for the future when pc3200 is cheaper and better.

 

[groebuck]

Well now that is weird - I ran 3dmark2003 last night and got in the 5500's..hmm. (9800pro card not oc'ed)..

I don't like the new 3dmark but that is my thing.....if you suspect it's your memory get memtest (do a google search) that will tell you if you have memory woes or no

 

[groebuck]

oops that should read 9700 pro

 

[Tom]

I did a little testing to see if one or the other of my el cheapo memory modules was better than the other in single channel mode. With the better one this little cpu boots right into Windows at 300FSB, that's 3.6gig. At default voltage !

Prime only runs a couple iterations tho'. I'll have to try some real pc3200 someday just so I can be sure if it's the memory, the cpu, the motherboard, or the cooling, any of which could be the weakest link. As I said tho' it's all just for fun since I'm happy running at 280fsb where everything is stable.

 

[groebuck]

http://www.ocsystem.com/oc25pc43ddrs.html

50 bucks for some ddr3500 cas 2! I think this is where I got my cheap ddr400 that runs right now at 424

two sticks for 100 bucks - includes heatspreader!

 

[jdogg707]

Good night...I just got my Raptors and installed them in my system...one word...wow! I just did a drive index on Sandra and got 67953 using a 16KB Stripe...they are noticeably fster also...but not much louder than my 120 JB drive.