ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

[BazeMK]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

[profJim]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

If your DRAM Voltage was 2.00 volts you might need to increase it, possibly up to 2.10 volts.

It's possible that using AUTO for some of the memory related settings might give you a stable but not quite optimized setup.
With AUTO settings for the primary memory timings, I remember seeing some Gigabyte P35 and P45 motherboards give 5-6-6-17 primary memory timings when the memory speed was set to 1066MHz; the idea being that bios would err on the conservative side so that the system would boot and appear to be stable.

Another option is to use the 2.40 memory multiplier with your 444 bus speed for 2.40 x 444MHz = 1066MHz with 5-5-5-15 memory timings and tRFC =64.
Your G.Skill memory is rated for 1000MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings but I don't know if the A-Data memory will do 1000MHz or 1066MHz speeds.
I know that you want to run your cpu at 4.0GHz but you might need to lower the 444MHz bus speed temporarily to find stable settings with a somewhat lower memory speed.

It's best if you also post an updated bios template where you make it easy to see which settings were changed.

Also double check what HWiNFO reports as the highest cpu core temperatures for each core and make sure that none of the cores were throttled down due to core temperatures that got too hot.

[BazeMK]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

ASUS P5Q-E Template : 
Ai Tweaker 
AI Overclock tuner: Manual 
CPU Ratio Setting: 09.0
FSB Frequency: 444
PCI-E Frequency: 101
FSB Strap to North Bridge: Auto
DRAM Frequency: DDR2-889Mhz 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A1: AUTO 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel A2: AUTO 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B1: AUTO 
DRAM CLK Skew on Channel B2: AUTO 
DRAM Timing Control: Manual 
1st Information : 5-4-4-12-3-52-6-3
[B]CAS# Latency: 5 
DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay: 4
DRAM RAS# Precharge: 4
DRAM RAS# Activate to Precharge: 12[/B]
RAS# to RAS# Delay : Auto
Row Refresh Cycle Time: Auto
Write Recovery Time: Auto
Read to Precharge Time: Auto
2nd Information : READ to WRITE Delay (S/D): Auto 
Write to Read Delay (S): Auto
WRITE to READ Delay (D): Auto 
READ to READ Delay (S): Auto 
READ to READ Delay (D): Auto 
WRITE to WRITE Delay (S): Auto 
WRITE to WRITE Delay (D): Auto 
3rd Information : 
WRITE to PRE Delay: AUTO 
READ to PRE Delay: AUTO 
PRE to PRE Delay: AUTO 
ALL PRE to ACT Delay: AUTO 
ALL PRE to REF Delay: AUTO 
DRAM Static Read Control: AUTO 
DRAM Read Training: AUTO 
MEM. OC Charger: AUTO 
AI Clock Twister: AUTO
AI Transaction Booster: Manual
[B]Common Performance Level: 11[/B] 
CPU Voltage: 1.300V
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (0/2): 0.670
CPU GTL Voltage Reference (1/3): 0.670
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.58
FSB Termination Voltage: 1.30
[B]DRAM Voltage: 2.10[/B]
NB Voltage: 1.30
NB GTL Reference: Auto 
SB Voltage: 1.20 
PCIE SATA Voltage: 1.50
Load Line Calibration: Enable
CPU Spread Spectrum: Disable
PCIE Spread Spectrum: Disable
CPU Clock Skew : Normal 
NB Clock Skew : Normal 
CPU Margin Enhancement: Optimized 

Advance CPU Settings 

CPU Ratio Setting: 09.0
C1E Suppport: Disable 
Max CPUID Value Limit: Disabled
Intel� Virtualization Tech: Disable
CPU TM Function: Disable
Execute Disable Bit: Disable
Intel (R) SpeedStep (TM) Tech: Disable
Intel (R) C-STATE Tech: Disabled

The bolded text is the last change i did.
I did test in prime whole day, the 4th core failed all the time, i increased the DRAM voltage and still got the 4th one failing... here is HWInfo screen

This Temps are from whole day, running prime.
Copy my template and mark the settings u think i should change to and witch value.
Also take a look at my voltages, i wanna know if they are good, or i can put some of em lower.
Gonna try to up my ram to 1000 or 1066 and do some testing with the same settings.



EDIT:

Running prime now, gonna post updates later.
changed the timings 5-5-5-15, tRFC 65 cuz i had no 64 on the list and running on 1067Mhz ram, 444 FSB. All the rest settings are the same

[profJim]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

Your goal right now is to get your system stable, even if it means lowering memory performance a little.
Final performance tweaking will be the last step after you have reached your overclocking goals.

Try the following, but only change one or two at a time:

• set the bus speed to 417MHz so that you can test your memory at 1000MHz speeds with 5-5-5-15 primary memory timings.
• set Mem.OC Charger to Enabled which migh help enhance DRAM overclocking.
• set Ai Clock Twister from AUTO to light or lighter to enhance DRAM compatibility.
• set Common Performance Level from 11 to 15 which might help with memory compatibility.
• raising FSB Termination Voltage in small steps often helps with delaying or eliminating Prime95 worker errors.

There is very little information on adjusting CPU Clock Skew and NB Clock Skew settings. With my EP45-UD3P motherboard I found that increasing the NB Clock Skew setting two clicks helped solve my system's stability issues with my 3.80GHz - 4.00GHz settings. YMMV.

Changing multiple bios settings at one time can cause additional problems or it might help with stability. The problem is with multiple changes at one time makes it impossible to determine which specific changes hurt or helped. I usually only change one or two settings at the same time and then test my new settings.

[BazeMK]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking


This is the most stable i found, and i will keep my config like this, tweaking ram a little wont change much, thanks for your help profJim, i finally found a stable setup for my xeon 5450 with P45 on Asus P5Q-E.
I'm gonna lower voltages to see if i can get a little less core temps!
Thanks again profJim!

[profJim]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

You're welcome, glad to hear that your system is stable at 4.0GHz.

It sounds like you were not able to find an inexpensive, LGA775 compatible AIO cpu water cooling unit for your system.

Your Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus cpu cooler with a push-pull fan setup is doing better than I expected with cooling your X5450 cpu.

[BazeMK]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

I'm really happy with my setup now, the overclock is working, been testing it for so long, no errors/crashes, now i wanna put the frequency on auto so the system will run at low freq speed when i search google or read forums, and when i need a better performance, the frequency goes up again for my needs.
Can u tell me what should i enable or disable, and witch settings in the bios?

Best regards,
Baze


EDIT: Also i wanna lower the noise from my coolers, i wanna put them on auto too, i want the system to control them as well.

[profJim]

Re: ASUS P5Q-E and Xeon X5450 Overclocking

To avoid confusion, please update your hardware list in your PC Specs.

Set:

C1E Suppport: Enabled
CPU TM Function: Enabled
Execute Disable Bit: Enabled
Intel (R) SpeedStep (TM) Tech: Enabled
Intel (R) C-STATE Tech: Enabled

Load Line Calibration: Disabled

TM (Thermal Monitoring) and Execute Disable Bit should always be enabled, even when you are overclocking.

You will need to set CPU core voltage higher, probably need to be in the 1.37 - 1.39 range.

Check out the AnandTech article that explains vdrop, vdroop and the problem with LLC enabled.

Overclocking Intel's New 45nm QX9650: The Rules Have Changed, pages 5 -6

For system stability with high cpu loads, the minimum reported cpu voltage will probably be in the 1.29 - 1.30 volt range.

Check out the Cpu Fan Speed and Cpu Q-Fan settings in your bios where the Cpu Fan Profile setting might take care of automatically adjusting fan speeds.

You might get better fan speed control using SpeedFan's custom fan speed settings.
Check out the SpeedFan tutorial for setting up fan profiles for PWM fans:

SpeedFan article: Advanced Fan Speed Control

My CPU Vcore is set to 1.38750 and with vdrop + vdroop, HWiNFO shows that the maximum cpu voltage is in the 1.344 volt range with low loads.
My Q9550 system is similar to yours and these are my stable settings, YMMV: