EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

[oldmark]

Hi,

Its been 10 years since I've built and overclocked a machine. That's right !...... it was 1998 and the Celeron 300A... so I'm a little rusty and more than a little nervous.

I've read all the guides from this forum and alot of others and I feel I have all the hardware and software for a successful overclock adventure.

My budget machine is built for gaming and will not be run overclocked 24/7. I live in Australia heading in to a hot summer.

A modest overclock to 3 GHz is what I'm aiming for !

Here are my specs.

E7200 - 2.53GHz (266 x 9.5)
EP45-DS3P Rev 1.0 Bios F3
Geil 2 x 1gig PC2 8500 5-5-5-15 2.2V
Noctura U9B Heatsink
Palit Radeon 4850
Antec NeoPower 650watt
Antec Three Hundred Case with lots of extra fans
Samsung 500gig Sata HDD
XP Pro SP3

After building the machine I ran Memtest and Prime95. Everything is stable and temps max out around 45 Celsius under 100% load. I ran some gaming benchmarks for my baseline performance as a reference. 3D Mark06 and Crysis "built-in" timedemos.

I have played with the FSB straps and my Ram speeds and timing but I have not changed any voltages from the defaults.

I pushed my FSB from 266 to 276 for a stable but minor overclock of 2.62GHz. If I go to 286 @ 2.71GHz Prime95 gets errors very quickly.

All this at default voltages.

Interesting note. If I manually set my Geil sticks to run at 1066mhz there is no noticeable difference in the two game benchmarks compared to the default speed of 800mhz.

I know I could just dive in and go for it but I thought I may run it by you guys just in case......and because the service you are providing to Gigabyte owners is first class and I can't resist asking for your opinions.

Keep up the excellent work.

So here goes !


My current settings. Voltages manually set.

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.5
CPU Frequency ...........................: 2.53


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 266Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:Set to 100
C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: <<< 800
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: <<< 900
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: <<<
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<<


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [266]

System Memory Multiplier ..............: 3.00A
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 800Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5
tRCD .........................................5
tRP'...........................................5
tRAS..........................................15

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................aut o
tWTR..........................................auto
tWR............................................aut o
tRFC...........................................aut o
tRTP........................................... auto
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:auto

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:auto
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................:auto
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….………...... 1.100V........:<<< set
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< set
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< set
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< set
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< set

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: << set
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< set
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< set
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< set
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< set

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: <<< set
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< set
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< set
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< set

Advanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

Sounds like you are ready then eh! Picked a good board with many options for yourself this time around!

Ya, the difference between 800 and 1066 is not much really, you will see a difference at 800 though if you tighten the timings down to 444-12 though.

I will assume you want 1066 for now, If not I will post back tonight. I am about to get outta here to install my P45 so I wont be around until later today or tonight. So good luck with your venture and read the guides or search around if you are not sure there is many setting tables posted here for P45 boards and 2x1 ram, most would be the same I would suggest to you

For 3Ghz, Here is some suggested settings and ranges with 2x1 1066 ram >>>

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.0
CPU Frequency ...........................: 3.00 (333 FSB X 9.0 = 2.997)


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 333Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:Set to 100
C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: <<< 800
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: <<< 900
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: <<<
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<<


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [333] 400 may also work, test anytime

System Memory Multiplier ..............: 3.20x << ^^ choose corresponding Letter For above value ^^
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 1066Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5
tRCD .........................................5
tRP'...........................................5
tRAS..........................................15/18


Start with higher, tweak later lower one at a time testing with Memtest86+ between each move otherwise you will not know what is causing errors if you move many at once, or one setting many places
Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................3-5
tWTR..........................................3-6 (May need 8-12)
tWR...........................................4-6 (may need 8-14)
tRFC...........................................38-42
tRTP........................................... 3-6
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:7-12
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................7-12
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Motherboard Voltage Control
Voltage Type.………... Manual
CPU
CPU Vcore….………...... 1.100V........:<<< You will have to guess here, set high and if it dont boot then it is not enough. Once you find where it will boot you can lower until it fails again, then raise back up a few. I'd suggest starting 1.2-1.3 maybe
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< 1.4 MAX
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< 1.4-1.55
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< set
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< set

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: << set
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< set
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< set
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< set
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< set

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: <<< 2.1-2.2 << 2.1 will likely be fine
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< set
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< set
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< set

Advanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]

Good luck, and dont get frustrated if you do not get it quickly. This is a very mature BIOS and may take you some time to find how things affect each other.

Good luck, and remember to search around if you do run into issues you may find perfect settings for your board posted elsewhere.

Ill see ya this afternoon or tonight

[oldmark]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

Thanks for your fast reply and advice !!

I hope your P45 board is doing fine.

I followed your voltage settings for my E7200 and timings for 2 x 1 gig Geil Ram and I was able to boot into windows at 3GHz @ Vcore 1.25.

However, it was very unstable. Prime95 would error very fast and Memtest86+ would give many errors.

So I worked the settings downwards but could not get any stability at any overclock.

I then flashed the Bios to F7 using QFlash ..(thanks for the quide !!!) and started the process again.

WOW !!

Prime95 and Memtest are stable at 9 x 333 @ 3.0GHz. Temps Max at 54 degrees.

Vdroop and Vdrop are much better under F7 and all the memory latches are now working. (Some latches under F3 bios would fail to boot)

Ram is running at 800mhz on default voltage and I will now experiment with tighter timings that you suggested in your advice rather than going 1066MHz

Current settings for stable 3.0GHz

Voltages manually set.

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.0
CPU Frequency ...........................: 333


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 333Mhz
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz) .........:Set to 100
C.I.A.2 .................................:[Disabled]


Advanced Clock Control [Press Enter]
CPU Clock Drive...........................: <<< 800
PCI Express Clock Drive.................: <<< 900
CPU Clock Skew (ps)....................: <<<
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<<


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [333]

System Memory Multiplier ..............: 2.40B
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 800Mhz
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................5
tRCD .........................................5
tRP'...........................................5
tRAS..........................................15

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................aut o
tWTR..........................................auto
tWR............................................aut o
tRFC...........................................aut o
tRTP........................................... auto
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:auto

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:auto
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Channel B
Static tRead Value.........................:auto
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:auto
tRD Phase1 Adjustment...................:Auto
tRD Phase2 Adjustment .................:Auto
tRD Phase3 Adjustment..................:Auto
Trd2rd(Different Rank)....................:Auto
Twr2wr(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Twr2rd(Different Rank)...................:Auto
Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..................:Auto
Dimm1 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps
Dimm2 Clock Skew Control...............:Auto ps

Motherboard Voltage ControlCPU1.25MCH/ICHAdvanced Settings
Limit CPUID Max. to 3.....................: [Disabled]
No-Execute Memory Protect............: [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E)................: [Disabled]
C2/C2E State Support....................: [Disabled]
x C4/C4E State Support..................: [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor 2(TM2) ...........: [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function.........................: [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology................: [Disabled]

[BongWizard]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

45 degrees! god i love that cooler *sighs*

with the DS3P you can push the FSB well past 400MHz, but because its the P45 chipset you'll wanna set the vcore pretty high (around 1.325V at 400MHz, ive got mine at 1.4V at 502MHz) to counter the droop. and if you're gonna keep your RAM underclocked you can tighten up the timings (to say... 4-4-4-12), which should give you a noticably better response

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

Right, if you plan to keep things at 800-850ish then you can use 4-4-4-12 likely for your main ram timings. This will of course depend on other things as well though.

So where are you at with this now? Getting things going smooth I hope!

[oldmark]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

So, I'm at a stable 333x9 @3.0 GHz with only one voltage bump required. Vcore @ 1.25.

The last two days I've been playing with the RAM and gaming benchmarks. It seems that 800mhz @ 4-4-4-12 is a fraction faster than 1066mhz @ 5-5-5-15 , which itself is only a fraction faster than stock 800mhz @ 5-5-5-15. I realize that non-game benchmarks will show more variance but as I'm only gaming so I'm not really interested. All this is running on default voltage of 1.8v. I have not needed to bump vdimm yet.

After reading your post about Ram voltage

http://forums.tweaktown.com/f58/opin...voltage-27100/

I have decided to leave the Ram at 1.8V @ 800mhz @ 4-4-4-12.

Question 1: will underpowered RAM show up errors in Memtest86+ and if not is there a risk that if the DIMMs are not supplied enough voltage that there life span will be shortened?

Question 2: when lowering the timings on the Ram is more voltage required like when you increase the speed?

It feels weird to not have to bump up more than one voltage. It seems just too easy!! HaHaHa !!

Anyway.......

Now I'm going to play with the different memory dividers and make some more gaming benchmarks. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Clear Skies is keeping me awake at night.

Next week I will attempt to take the FSB to 400.

As this seems to be the only way to increase the scores in those gaming benchmarks.

Thanks for your attention and input. This forum has been the single best resource for my gigabyte board! I don't know how you do it!!!

Will be back with my results.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: EP45-DS3P and E7200 and a nervous noob.

Well 1.8 may be a little low though still. Does it test out stable in Memtest86+? If so then you are likely fine. Most will do 1.8, but not with tight timings

1. Yes, it sure can give you errors, this is why I said the above. Test it out, you may need to use at least 2.0. Lifespan will not be shortened but errors will be increased. Running ram over 2.1 with no fan will decrease life for sure. 2.1 is safe for most all DDR2 ram even if it is out of the ranges, but not all.

2. Yes, more voltage is likely required where you are now, since you are asking about memtest, seems you have not ran it yet, or ran it and passed. Test it all out and you will see if you need more

Good luck with testing, and thanks for the kind words! Post back anytime