LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

[Rooster45]

OK I hope you can help me out again with my EP45C-DS3R! RMA'd the Crucial RAM that was giving me so many headaches, and now I have 2x2 GB of GSkill in this thing running at 4-4-4-12 800MHz. CPU is an e7200.
Currently, I have it overclocked to 3.163 GHz (FSB= 333 and multi=9.5) and it is perfectly stable. Ran Memtest+ for 8 hours or so without an error, coretemp shows around 35 degrees idle and 57 degrees per core while running prime 95 on both cores 100% load (after 12 hours, also with no errors). All I've really tweaked so far is the Vcore (I think thats at 1.2 or so). MCH and advanced RAM timings are at stock/auto for this.
The problem is, I'd like to see this thing go just a bit faster, say 3.5 GHz or so, and I can't obviously get the multiplier any higher, but it won't even post for me with FSB at 400. Just goes into a reboot cycle until finally it rolls back the cmos. I've tried increasing the Vcore as high as 1.35 and the MCH to 1.3 or so with no luck. Any idea on where I should start?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Hmm, try this for 3.6 >>>>

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster ...............: Auto
CPU Clock Ratio ..........................: 9
Fine CPU Clock Ratio.....................:.0
CPU Frequency ...........................: 3600


Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control..................: [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ............: 402Mhz
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)....................: <<< 50-100
MCH Clock Skew (ps)...................: <<< 100-200


DRAM Performance Control
Performance Enhance...................: [STANDARD]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P.).....: Disabled
(G)MCH Frequency Latch...............: [333] << 400 may work as well
System Memory Multiplier ..............: 2.00
Memory Frequency (Mhz) ..............: 804
DRAM Timing Selectable ................: [Manual]

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time........................4/5
tRCD .........................................4
tRP'...........................................4
tRAS..........................................12/15

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD...........................................3-6
tWTR..........................................4-6 (May need 8-12)
tWR............................................6-8 (May need 12-14)
tRFC...........................................52-62
tRTP...........................................4-8
Command Rate (CMD) ....................:2

Channel A
Static tRead Value.........................:7-10
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:<<< Leave for all below as well
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.........................:7-10
tRD Phase0 Adjustment...................:<<< Leave for all below as well
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….……….........................: 1.35 - 1.38 (Keep on mind what you get is less for sure) So you may end up needing less, but this is a good starting point to find out

CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< Leave
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< Leave

MCH/ICH
MCH Core…………….....1.100V...........: << 1.2 +/-
MCH Reference….…….0.800V...........; <<< Leave
MCH/DRAM Ref.…......0.900V...........: <<< Leave
ICH I/O……………….....1.550V............: <<< Leave
ICH Core…………...……1.100V............: <<< Leave

DRAM
DRAM Voltage ……....1.800V............: 2.1 or stock setting
DRAM Termination .…0.900V............: <<< Leave
Channel A Reference 0.900V............: <<< Leave
Channel B Reference 0.900V............: <<< Leave

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]

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Ok, tried those settings and could not get it to post. Just get a reboot cycle until it lowers bios settings on its own and if it gets into windows after that without me manually adjusting things its actually below stock clock speed. The new memory seems pretty stable and I've heard of people running these GSkills harder than I am so I don't think thats the issue, especially with them basically at stock. Could vdroop be the issue? I set the vCore to what you had listed in my bios, but I've never compared my stable bios values to what the windows based tools show to see how bad my vdroop is. Is the value you listed what I should see in bios or in windows? Or is something else more likely the problem?

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Did you use the highest here >>>
tWTR..........................................4-6 (May need 8-12)
tWR............................................6-8 (May need 12-14)

And do you have Drive Strength profile set? If not set it to 800

What you see in windows would likely need to be 1.325 or so for 3.6, But I am not for sure with your CPU

If you set the ram on all highest and it is failing, then it is more then likely CPU voltage.

Try upping it a bit and also setting this >>>
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< 1.34
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< 1.56

[BongWizard]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

your really gonna have to pump the vcore (sometimes more than 1.4V) with the ep45c boards because you'll get a huge cpu droop with this chipset. also try upping the northbridge voltage to around 1.3V

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Did you use the highest here >>>
tWTR..........................................4-6 (May need 8-12)
tWR............................................6-8 (May need 12-14)

And do you have Drive Strength profile set? If not set it to 800

What you see in windows would likely need to be 1.325 or so for 3.6, But I am not for sure with your CPU

If you set the ram on all highest and it is failing, then it is more then likely CPU voltage.

Try upping it a bit and also setting this >>>
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< 1.34
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< 1.56

Did all this, with tWTR @ 12 and tWR @ 14, even cranked vCore to about 1.4 and northbridge to 1.3 as BongWizard suggested (thats obviosly the voltage shown in bios) and still no post. Perhaps it still needs to be higher, but how high can I go without worrying about burning up my CPU? Also, I'm not sure what a Drive Strength Profile is or where to find it. As always, thanks for the replies!

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

What do you have the MCH latch set to?

Driving strength profiles may not be in your BIOS unless you are using the latest. They will be in The advanced memory timings page. So if you have everything for the ram on one page then you either have a older BIOS or you BIOS will not have them as of yet.

Here is a example of where you will see them in the latest BIOS >>>

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

MCH Latch = 333. Honestly didn't try 400 because it seemed that was less likely to work. i do have F4 bios since it went non-beta, so I think the driving strength profile may be there, I didn't pay much attention to the changes I didn't recognize straight away yet. Thanks for the pics, I'll check to see if I have that setting when I get home tonight.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

How you coming along with this?

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Just got a chance to try. F4 bios for this board does have the driving strength profile options, so I set that to 800, have Vcore cranked all the way to 1.45 (in bios) and it still won't post. Have I maybe gotten a weak chip or do I need to play with other settings, like loosening the main RAM timings? Everyone seems to suggest Vcore but I'm afraid to go higher, especially for regular use.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

What CPU is this? And What Freq are you trying to run it now? 1.45 is likely only 1.4 or a bit less in windows but at 3.6 if that is what you are trying for you dont need that much unless it is a older 65nm CPU, then you may need more.

And yes you may need some ram timings set higher to get a initial boot, then you will be able to more freely changes things.

Can you post what you are trying that fails exactly.

And while you wait, one thing you can do to be sure your CPU does not need more volts is set all the ram on Auto, manually set the MCH voltage and ram voltage. That should let you load windows if you have enough Vcore set

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

CPU is an e7200 (45nm) and yeah I'm trying for 3.6, with all the settings you have suggested in this thread. I'm currently running 9.5 multi and 333 FSB with everything practically stock, no problem. Nothing has worked so far at all when I try for FSB @ 400, so I don't know if it's the board holding me back, my CPU or what. I'll try setting the RAM to Auto and see what happens.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Yes, please do then so you can see if you are trying enough volts. Then if it boots see how low you can set the CPU voltage before it fails, then raise it back up a bit.

Then move onto the things I suggested. Start with MCH latch 400 by itself, then reboot. If all is well set Driving strength profile to 800, then reboot. Then set Static Tread 8-10 and reboot. Then you can move onto the rest of the ram timings all at once.

And please use FSB 402 not 400

You may also want to adjust these voltages as well once you find a stable Vcore >>>
CPU Termination…..... 1.200V*.......: <<< 1.3-1.36
CPU PLL…………………....1.500V*.......: <<< 1.5-1.6
CPU Referen.…………....0.755V*.......: <<< .61% Of Vtt (Termination above)
CPU Reference2………,,0.800V*.......:<<< .67% Of Vtt (Termination above)

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

OK, hopefully I will have time to get started with this tonight, but I may have to play a little TF2 instead. Do you think it may be possible that my PSU (500w Antec) or HSF (large Gigabyte unit I bought about a year ago, I forget the exact model but surely its better than stock) could be part of the problem? That seems unlikely to me, as everything seems rock solid w/ FSB at 333 and multi at 9.5, even with stress testing, and temps are OK as well. On top of that its only running a few seconds and rebooting with the higher settings before posting so I would doubt that is enough time for it to have overheated due to the HSF being too weak, but I'm not certain.

Anyway, thanks for sticking with me on this. I've seen plenty of people claiming to get a whole lot more out of this chip than I'm going for, so around 3.5GHz for daily use dosn't seem unreasonable. BTW, how do you like your new P45 (bet you went for the extreme, huh)?

[Rooster45]

Re: LSD, a little GA-EP45C-DS3R overclocking help?

Did some more testing. Seems that 1.20625V is the MAX CPU Vcore I can set and still get this thing to post. Does this indicate a problem with the HSF or maybe the PSU? Seems like most crank it a lot higher (1.35 or more) with few issues.

I set MCH latch to 400, rebooted posted and loaded windows. Then, I did the same for Driving strength profile to 800 with a reboot into windows, and then static Tread to 10 and rebooted into windows. Everything seemed OK (did not stress test, was mainly making sure it would post). Then manually set all RAM timings with your previous suggestions to the highest values, and it still posted and loaded windows.

All at once, without touching the FSB (still have it @ 333 from my mild OC), I changed only the Vcore to 1.35, CPU termination to 1.34 and CPU PLL to 1.56, (leaving the CPU referances untouched) and finally MCH Core to 1.3. Saved, rebooted and no post.

At this point I left everything else alone and adjusted CPU Vcore all the way back to 1.20625V (and MCH Core Back to stock somewhere in there), 1 or 2 increments at a time, and it finally posted. So, it would seem 1.20625 is the highest CPU Vcore I can get right now.

Just to see what would happen, I left everything like that and upped the FSB to 402, rebooted and it posted. I let windows load and checked the core temp w/ RealTemp, both were about 31 degrees at idle. Tried to run a blend test in Orthos and it failed immediately, so I'm sure the voltage is way too low to run the FSB that high.