Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

[kawai]

Hello I was wondering if anyone who has experience overclocking an e8400 on this certain mobo could help me get to 4.0Ghz.

My e8400 is currently at 3.8GHz stable for 2+ orthos hours (i'll do some more testing). Due to the vdroop on this mobo (less than stellar), I have my vcore set to 1.418v in bios which cpu-z reports as 1.360v in windows during idle. The current settings i have set would be:

c1e and eist turned off

Pcie frequency to 100
Frequency latch to Auto
System Memory Multiplier : 2.00D

Memory performance: Standard
Timings are set to 5 5 5 18 and 2.1Volts as reccomended by manufacturer.

I have yet to touch MCH or CPU skew. Or MCH voltage... Does any1 have suggestions for what to set these? It also seems like i cant even post at higher clocks with 2.00B system memory multiplier where 2.00D works..

Please share your findings if you have overclocked with this board before.
I have tested with rasiing vcore up to even 1.5v in Bios to try to pass ORTHOS @ 4.0 GHz however have always failed. Windows boots up with a clock of 4.0GHz @ 1.418v + however adding more vcore up to 1.5v doesnt help to stabilize it. Perhaps my Northbridge is overheating?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Please post your full specs

You just might have reached the limit for your chip and your cooling solution. What cooler are you using? That is a HUGE Vdrop you are right, how much lower is the Vdroop at load?

Have you tried a lower Multi like 8 or 8.5 so that you can get around the NB strap?

[kawai]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Here are my system specs:

Intel C2D E8400 3.8GHz (1.360v)
Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3R
Xigmatek HDT-S1283
2x2GB DDR2 800 PC6400 OCZ Gold
625W MODU+82 Enermax PSU
Radeon HD 3870x2
Western Digital SE16 640GB
CoolerMaster Cavalier 3

I bumped MCH core + 0.1v up to 1.2v last night and ran orthos for 7+hours @ 3.8GHz with a vcore setting of 1.418v in bios which shows up 1.360v in CPUZ.. however it think this reading is wrong because under PC health in bios it shows that vcore is 1.380v. I think I am pretty much stable at 3.8 and would like any tips on getting up to 4.0. Once I bump FSB from 422 to 427 I start getting errors in orthos.

I have tried setting my FSB to 444 to get 4.0 and tested ram at that frequency off 444.1 with memtest86+ and it passed 100% so i don't think my ram is the problem. Windows boots up but orthos fails within secodns. I will get back to you on vdroop at load @ 3.8GHz stable and also try lowering multi to see if i can get 4.0 Stable

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

You may just need a bit more MCH voltage. But yeah you could also try a lower multi, but I would try more mch and less CPU voltages first. As most all E8400's do 3.8-4.0 at 1.325-1.35 and I see you are already above that.

I use 1.325 set in BIOS for 4.2 on mine. How hot is your NB when running memtest? Can you touch it with your finger for more then 10 seconds?

You may also be hitting a FSB hole or Strap at 427, I havent messed around much under 4.0 on mine. Have you tried just jumping right to 450 FSB with 9 Multi?

[artureal]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Greetings from Poland to all forum users!

Kawai, since we have similar systems, I can assure You, that reaching 4GHz is possible, but I spent a lot of time overclocking, making mistakes, having BSODs etc. - everything to find out, that there's a 4.2GHz wall impossible to overcome - it seems like these are maximum frequencies my CPU can do (RAM could easily go higher and so the motherboard, I suppose).

Here's what I managed to reach with 4.1GHz (yesterday I hit 4.2GHz stable and I'm not going to surrender yet, heh):

ORB - Compare

I'll stick some snapshots as soon as I return home, hoping it will help.

[kawai]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Played around with 500 and 8x multiplier last night and had a hard time getting it to boot... Ill try increasing MCH voltage more, how much would you reccomend? I read that 1.26-1.28v is needed for the 4.0GHz OC.

I managed to bring my voltage settings down in bios and stay stable (8+ orhtos) at a 1.40625v instead of 1.418v for a 3.8GHz OC. Do you have any reccomendations for the other settings like termination,ppl and reference for both CPU and MCH? I think i might sit at 3.8GHz for now till i get a better case.. looking at either antec 900 or p182, whichever i can get for <$100.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

I use < 1.325 for 4.0 on my chip, but I have P35 so I cannot suggest any Termination or PLL voltage amounts for you until I get a P45. But it does sound like you need more of one or the other as you should not need to use 1.4 or more for 4.0GHz. Auto should bring them up for you by itself, have you tried 9x450 with 1.36?

I can do 4.2 on 1.325 I use the 9 multi as well, but have used 8 too.

Just posting this as info for ya

[artureal]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Here is a screenshot of my settings: And these are my Bios settings: CPU Clock Ratio......................9x CPU Host Frequency...............470MHz (G)MCH................................Auto CPU clock skew......................150 MCH clock skew......................250 System Memory Multiplier.........2.00B DRAM Timing..........................manual 5-5-5-12 CPU V Core............................1.44375 CPU Termination.....................1.24 CPU PLL................................1.59 CPU Reference.......................Auto MCH Core..............................1.16 MCH Reference.......................Auto MCH/DRAM Reference..............1.00 ICH I/O.................................1.59 I'm now trying to overcome 4.2GHz, but Mr Orthos says after a few minutes, that it's no use, heh. Still, with 4.203GHz - the system run stable. Reading Your earlier posts, I noticed that You reach almost 4GHz with CPU V Core near 1.40V - I must have set it to 1.44375 (in Bios), which was drooping down to even 1.36 when in stress (in CPU-Z). Higher voltage doesn't help, except that CPU is getting too hot (over 75C). Don't play around with bus speed about 500MHz - it makes rated FSB 2000MHz, which is (since I know) the wall for this motherboard. You'd better keep to 9x or 8.5 clock ratio and <500MHz bus speed. I also didn't notice any difference between MCH 1.1V and 1.26V - perhaps it is not very important for two sticks of RAM. Searching in the net I found such an interesting post, but remember, that this is about Quad core CPU: Overclocking 45nm CPUs with the Gigabyte EP45-DS3R - [H]ard|Forum Keep on trying!

[kawai]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Thank you both your informative posts, ill keep trying!
First with 450 x 9 and then i'll give your bios settings a shot. I'm planning to upgrade to a better case soon (p182)+ couple of 120mm scythe fans as well as a 4870x2 so no doubt they will throw my PC out of stability if/when i achieve that 4.0Ghz.

[Drapol]

Re: Ga-ep45-ds3r + e8400

Hello from Poland:) This is my first try with ga-ep45 ds3r,e8400,hyper x 2gbx2 800 mhz.
Here are my settings...end results - so far ultra stable...