so after 3 weeks of f**cking with the bios, I figured it was time to share my experiences overclocking this bad boy.
also, i should mention, right now, my goal is to get everything prime stable at 465x8. 460x8 has been accomplished.
---
a quick brief as to whats inside my box,
q9450 2.66 c1 stepping.
asus p5q ws running latest bios off their site, as of aug. 3rd/08.
2 x 2GB mushkin ascent xp2-8500.
intel / lsi logic srcu42x u320 raid controller on the pcix bus, with 512meg ram for the cache.
3 x st3365075lw u320 15k drives in raid0 mode. (err got the model # wrong, st336...., basically seagates 36.7 u320 15k drives...)
1 x 1tb sata2 seagate drive.
1 x 36.7 sata Raptor.
antec triopower 650W power supply.
1 x xfx 8800gt.
skythe ninja 2 heatsink + fan on the cpu.
all inside an antec p182 gunmetal black (sexy case...).
oh, and i use vista 64, with the latest drivers for everything, including the p45 chipset driver off intels site (took me a bit to figure out just to use the regular package as clicking p45 -> vista 64, intels site says no drivers available...).
---
i'll just sum up what my experience is, forgive me if it seams a little scattered, but i'll throw together everything i have experienced over the last 3 weeks.
currently running at 8 x 460, ram at 1105.
voltages look like:
vcore 1.39 (big difference, this is going nowhere but up... anything lower, overall cpu speed will have to go down)
pll 1.58 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
fsb term 1.36 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
ram 2.2 (big difference, if anything 2.18, altho 2.20 seams to be the magic number but if i manage to get things stable at 465x8 i'll probably try bumping this up to 2.22)
nb 1.44 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
sb 1.2 (doesnt seam to make a difference, but just to be sure i bumped this up)
cpu gtl 0/2 .630 (doesnt seam to make any difference)
cpu gtl 1/3 .690 (doesnt seam to make any difference)
pcie fsb at 100mhz.
load line calibration, enabled
execute disable bit enabled
memory timings, 5-5-5-15, everything else auto.
ram pr level set to 8.
regular ata ide disabled.
sata running in ahci mode.
only 1 of the 2 onboard ethernet controlers have been enabled.
overall ambient temperature in my place rite now is in excess of 20c durring the day, and right around 20 at night.
---
general stuff i have noticed:
memory at 2.2 is pretty much essential. anything between 2.0 and 2.1 gives me errors within the first pass when using the microsoft memory diagnostic tool, as well as the occasional bsod complaining about 'MEMORY_MANAGEMENT'.
vcore, since iv done quite a bit of reading on this forum and others, everyone says with air, dont go over 1.40. so i decided to stay at 1.39 max. 1.38/1.39 at 460fsb works 100%, but going anything lower the 1.38 i get pretty much an instant fail in prime95 within the first 10-20 minutes.
ok, since most people dont use u320 scsi stuff (altho i'm telling you, your missing out...)... setting the pcie fsb at anything over 101 basically causes instant failure. either sometime durring vista boot, or shortly there after. 101 is a stretch, at 100, everything is a-ok. i think my u320 caching controler is just sensative to the pcie settings.
going anything over 463+ gives me a failure on core 2 (1 if you count from 0). sometimes it takes 20 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half, but its always #2 that craps out first. if i could just figure this out (using the cpu glls? cpu clock skew?), i have a feeling 465 x 8 would be attainable.
i have a strange situation. basically, i dont really have a choice as far as ram speed. if i try to set it to 921 (or whatever the 900 one is at 460x8, 921 from what i remember) the board simply refuses to post. very wierd. even when i set everything on auto (memory related that is), and try to boot it, it just wont post. the only other choice is to go 1105. so at least at 460, 1105 is my only choice as far as ram is concerned.
idle temps are between 40-45C, load temps after 5 mins are between 65-70c, using real temp of course. +10 when using core temp, but thats cause of the incorrect tjmax setting in coretemp. oh and at load core 1 is always at around 69-71, the others always around 67ish.
execute disable bit, doesnt make any difference enabled or disabled. not quite sure why everyone seams to be turning this off. is there a reason to turn this off when running vista 64? which supports this feature, and from what i read, renderers a large portion of viruses inoperable? i leave it on always.
---
questions:
first and foremost, my plans for the near future (week or so). im going to grab one of them true120 extreme heatsinks. throw a couple of 120 high rpm fans on there. wise choice? i will also, at the same time, be lapping both my cpu and the heatsink aswell. i would like to see my load temps at 65 (or less, on the hottest core that is).
i was also looking at thermalrights site, and they have some nice looking nb / sb and mosfet heatsinks available. any point of buying these? are they better then the asus p5q deluxe (and ws, they have pretty much the same layout outside of the 3rd pcie slot, which on the ws is pcix) heat pipe? and most of all, will they fit?
8gb vs 4gb. ok, i dont really want to get into a discussion about weather or not theres a point of going 4gb -> 8gb, but i'll just mention, i use vmware, and would love it if i could just autoload my 2 linux virtual machines right at boot, as well as osx86 (once i decide to dump the time into getting that setup...). i also use photoshop often, and pretty much do development work on my pc all day every day. so yea, id love to go 8gb. now... i heard that 8gb vs 4gb is alot 'heavier' on the nb. should i expect to loose so overclockability if i move to 8gb? does anyone have any direct experience with this?
cpu gtl... yes, i read that page about what they do, but frankly, its well beyond me... i write software for a living, not design microchips... any one wanna give me a short and simple in laymans terms what this does? should i be bumping this up, or down when trying to stabilize this core 2 issue i seam to be running into?
cpu clock skew... i havent been able to find much info about this, but once again, as far as stabilizing goes, should i be moving this in the + direction, or the - direction?
ddr2 vs ddr3. am i correct in assuming that the asus p5q boards support ddr3 ram ASWELL as ddr2? i know the p45 chipset supports both. if so, lets say i throw in a set of ddr3 1600 ram, will i be able to bump up my ram speed in the bios? from what i saw 1500-somthing was the highest option. does changing the ram frequency affect antyhing outside of the memory itself? or does it have anything to do with the nb -> ram 'connection' aswell?
---
if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
and i will be sure to update everyone on my experiences when upgrading to the true120, 8gb ram (or ddr3, if my last question gets the answer im hoping for...) as well as possibly changing the nb/sb/mosfet heatsinks to thermalrights ones.
tom3k.
also, i should mention, right now, my goal is to get everything prime stable at 465x8. 460x8 has been accomplished.
---
a quick brief as to whats inside my box,
q9450 2.66 c1 stepping.
asus p5q ws running latest bios off their site, as of aug. 3rd/08.
2 x 2GB mushkin ascent xp2-8500.
intel / lsi logic srcu42x u320 raid controller on the pcix bus, with 512meg ram for the cache.
3 x st3365075lw u320 15k drives in raid0 mode. (err got the model # wrong, st336...., basically seagates 36.7 u320 15k drives...)
1 x 1tb sata2 seagate drive.
1 x 36.7 sata Raptor.
antec triopower 650W power supply.
1 x xfx 8800gt.
skythe ninja 2 heatsink + fan on the cpu.
all inside an antec p182 gunmetal black (sexy case...).
oh, and i use vista 64, with the latest drivers for everything, including the p45 chipset driver off intels site (took me a bit to figure out just to use the regular package as clicking p45 -> vista 64, intels site says no drivers available...).
---
i'll just sum up what my experience is, forgive me if it seams a little scattered, but i'll throw together everything i have experienced over the last 3 weeks.
currently running at 8 x 460, ram at 1105.
voltages look like:
vcore 1.39 (big difference, this is going nowhere but up... anything lower, overall cpu speed will have to go down)
pll 1.58 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
fsb term 1.36 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
ram 2.2 (big difference, if anything 2.18, altho 2.20 seams to be the magic number but if i manage to get things stable at 465x8 i'll probably try bumping this up to 2.22)
nb 1.44 (unsure, still have some testing and possibly room to drop this a little)
sb 1.2 (doesnt seam to make a difference, but just to be sure i bumped this up)
cpu gtl 0/2 .630 (doesnt seam to make any difference)
cpu gtl 1/3 .690 (doesnt seam to make any difference)
pcie fsb at 100mhz.
load line calibration, enabled
execute disable bit enabled
memory timings, 5-5-5-15, everything else auto.
ram pr level set to 8.
regular ata ide disabled.
sata running in ahci mode.
only 1 of the 2 onboard ethernet controlers have been enabled.
overall ambient temperature in my place rite now is in excess of 20c durring the day, and right around 20 at night.
---
general stuff i have noticed:
memory at 2.2 is pretty much essential. anything between 2.0 and 2.1 gives me errors within the first pass when using the microsoft memory diagnostic tool, as well as the occasional bsod complaining about 'MEMORY_MANAGEMENT'.
vcore, since iv done quite a bit of reading on this forum and others, everyone says with air, dont go over 1.40. so i decided to stay at 1.39 max. 1.38/1.39 at 460fsb works 100%, but going anything lower the 1.38 i get pretty much an instant fail in prime95 within the first 10-20 minutes.
ok, since most people dont use u320 scsi stuff (altho i'm telling you, your missing out...)... setting the pcie fsb at anything over 101 basically causes instant failure. either sometime durring vista boot, or shortly there after. 101 is a stretch, at 100, everything is a-ok. i think my u320 caching controler is just sensative to the pcie settings.
going anything over 463+ gives me a failure on core 2 (1 if you count from 0). sometimes it takes 20 minutes, sometimes an hour and a half, but its always #2 that craps out first. if i could just figure this out (using the cpu glls? cpu clock skew?), i have a feeling 465 x 8 would be attainable.
i have a strange situation. basically, i dont really have a choice as far as ram speed. if i try to set it to 921 (or whatever the 900 one is at 460x8, 921 from what i remember) the board simply refuses to post. very wierd. even when i set everything on auto (memory related that is), and try to boot it, it just wont post. the only other choice is to go 1105. so at least at 460, 1105 is my only choice as far as ram is concerned.
idle temps are between 40-45C, load temps after 5 mins are between 65-70c, using real temp of course. +10 when using core temp, but thats cause of the incorrect tjmax setting in coretemp. oh and at load core 1 is always at around 69-71, the others always around 67ish.
execute disable bit, doesnt make any difference enabled or disabled. not quite sure why everyone seams to be turning this off. is there a reason to turn this off when running vista 64? which supports this feature, and from what i read, renderers a large portion of viruses inoperable? i leave it on always.
---
questions:
first and foremost, my plans for the near future (week or so). im going to grab one of them true120 extreme heatsinks. throw a couple of 120 high rpm fans on there. wise choice? i will also, at the same time, be lapping both my cpu and the heatsink aswell. i would like to see my load temps at 65 (or less, on the hottest core that is).
i was also looking at thermalrights site, and they have some nice looking nb / sb and mosfet heatsinks available. any point of buying these? are they better then the asus p5q deluxe (and ws, they have pretty much the same layout outside of the 3rd pcie slot, which on the ws is pcix) heat pipe? and most of all, will they fit?
8gb vs 4gb. ok, i dont really want to get into a discussion about weather or not theres a point of going 4gb -> 8gb, but i'll just mention, i use vmware, and would love it if i could just autoload my 2 linux virtual machines right at boot, as well as osx86 (once i decide to dump the time into getting that setup...). i also use photoshop often, and pretty much do development work on my pc all day every day. so yea, id love to go 8gb. now... i heard that 8gb vs 4gb is alot 'heavier' on the nb. should i expect to loose so overclockability if i move to 8gb? does anyone have any direct experience with this?
cpu gtl... yes, i read that page about what they do, but frankly, its well beyond me... i write software for a living, not design microchips... any one wanna give me a short and simple in laymans terms what this does? should i be bumping this up, or down when trying to stabilize this core 2 issue i seam to be running into?
cpu clock skew... i havent been able to find much info about this, but once again, as far as stabilizing goes, should i be moving this in the + direction, or the - direction?
ddr2 vs ddr3. am i correct in assuming that the asus p5q boards support ddr3 ram ASWELL as ddr2? i know the p45 chipset supports both. if so, lets say i throw in a set of ddr3 1600 ram, will i be able to bump up my ram speed in the bios? from what i saw 1500-somthing was the highest option. does changing the ram frequency affect antyhing outside of the memory itself? or does it have anything to do with the nb -> ram 'connection' aswell?
---
if anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask.
and i will be sure to update everyone on my experiences when upgrading to the true120, 8gb ram (or ddr3, if my last question gets the answer im hoping for...) as well as possibly changing the nb/sb/mosfet heatsinks to thermalrights ones.
tom3k.