Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

[TiK]

As the title suggests I am stable at 3.77 with the help from LSD and Nickel. Ive had a few goes at 4.0 but without success. Now, Im suprised i got so far and would be quite happy staying put but the addiction... you know! :D

I would luv if you guys could help me with 2 things. I would like to get a few pointers with my 3.77 setup - can I clean up somewhere? A little tweak here and there to get it perfecto.

Secondly, I really want to try 4.0 but have no clue how far I have to go without damaging anything. What to do???

Anyway, heres my code for 3.77 and guyz! much appreciated as always!!!

******Gigabyte EP45 UD3P******

Q9550 444 X 8.5 3774MHz 

Robust Graphics Booster.........................[ Fast ] 
CPU Clock Ratio.................................[ 8 ] 
Fine CPU Clock Ratio............................[ 0.5 ] 
CPU Frequency 4.0GHz...........................[ 444 x 8.5 ]

******Clock Chip Control******

CPU Host Clock Control..........................[ Enabled ] 
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz)........................[ 444 ] 
PCI Express Frequency (Mhz).....................[ 100 ] 
C.I.A 2 ..................................................[Disabled] 

******Advanced Clock Control******

CPU Clock Drive.................................[ 800mv ] <- ??
PCI Express Clock Drive.........................[ 900mv ] <- ??
CPU Clock Skew..................................[ 0ps      ] <- ??
MCH Clock Skew..................................[ 0ps     ] <- ??

******DRAM Performance Control******

Performance Enhance [Standard] 
Extreme Memory Profile (XMP)....................[ Disabled ] 
(G) MCH Frequency Latch.........................[ 333MHz   ] 
System Memory Multipler.........................[ 2.40B    ] 
Memory Frequency 1066...........................[ 1066     ] 
DRAM Timing Selectable..........................[ Manual   ] 

CAS Latency Time................................[ 5        ] 
tRCD............................................[ 5        ] 
tRP.............................................[ 5        ] 
tRAS............................................[ 15       ] 

******Advanced Timing Control******
Manual
tRRD............................................[ 4 ] 
tWTR............................................[ 4 ]
tWR.............................................[ 6 ] 
tRFC............................................[ 57 ] 
tRTP............................................[ 4 ] 
Command Rate (cmd)..............................[ 2T ] 

******Channel A Timing Settings******     

Static tRead Value        [ 10 ] ................[ 8 ] 
rest auto

******Channel A Driving Settings****** 

Drive Strength Profile..........................[ 1066 ] 
rest auto

******Channel B Timing Settings******     

Static tRead Value        [ 10 ] ................[ 8 ] 
rest auto

******Channel B Driving Settings****** 

Drive Strength Profile..........................[ 1066 ] 
rest auto

******Motherboard Voltage Control******

Load-Line Calibration [Disabled] <--- WHEN DO I ENABLE?? 
CPU Vcore         [ 1.16250 ]...................[ 1.30625  ] 
CPU Termination   [ 1.20    ]...................[ 1.220     ]
CPU PLL           [ 1.50    ]...................[ 1.57   ]
CPU Reference     [ 0.760   ]...................[ auto ] or normal? Dif?

MCH Core          [1.1      ]...................[ 1.2    ]  
MCH Reference     [0.760    ]...................[ auto ] or normal? Dif? 
MCH/DRAM Refernce [0.900    ]...................[ auto ]  or normal? Dif?
ICH I/O           [1.500    ]...................[ 1.570   ] 
ICH Core          [1.100    ]...................[ 1.200   ] 

DRAM Voltage      [1.800    ]...................[ 2.000    ] 
DRAM Termination  [0.900    ]...................[ Auto   ] or normal? Dif?
Channel A Ref     [0.900    ]...................[ Auto   ] or normal? Dif?
Channel B Ref     [0.900    ]...................[ Auto   ]  or normal? Dif?

[K91NE]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

can u post temps.If you don't have it use RealTemp 3.0 http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/.If the current temps are OK then for sure go 4 it but i would take a look at temps Idle and at load.The new RealTemp has a Prime95 connection to help stress test to see what load temps are.I my self have Q9450 and am at 3.65 that's about the max for me.Temps get to high 60ish at load if i go any higher.

[TiK]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Spec:
EP45-UD3P
Q9550 (C1)
2x2GB Transcend AxeRAM 1066+
Gigabyte 9800 GTX+ 1GB
Corsair 750TW
Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU COOLER
3 x Case fans

Temps are:

36C @ Idle
59C @ Load

both measured for 30 mins @ average room temp of 18C (measured by my baby monitor) :D

TiK

[kick]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

no you dont quit(mho) because your temperatures are so low on air.
Check thru the posts here,there are 2,500 of them but scroll thru the non quad ones ,a lot of them are based towards duals..
Some of the posts are geared towards"mine is the fastest cpu,even if it only lasts 3 months.but keep the max intel specs in mind and you should be good
** Official ** Gigabyte UD3 P45 Series -- EP45-UD3 / EP45-UD3R / EP45-UD3P - Page 27 - XtremeSystems Forums

Put absolutely everything in your sig.memory type etc.
and remember the volts that might reduce your components lifespan 2.3v ram.1.5v mch and 1.45+ for quad core.
Ive had pretty much 490 and a slightly toned down 500 fsb since before i really kew what i was doing on the board.
Theres no real reason you sholdnt get 480-500fsb.

/em *****slaps Tik for lsdmeasap cos he started a new thread

[K91NE]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Spec:
EP45-UD3P
Q9550 (C1)
2x2GB Transcend AxeRAM 1066+
Gigabyte 9800 GTX+ 1GB
Corsair 750TW
Zalman CNPS9700 NT CPU COOLER
3 x Case fans

Temps are:

36C @ Idle
59C @ Load

both measured for 30 mins @ average room temp of 18C (measured by my baby monitor) :D

TiK

Those temps look good.The one thing that i would be careful of it what I'm running in to. I have CPU at 3.64 at 1.25 volts in Bios for me to get any high of a OC i have to starting raising all voltages this starts giving a all around system temp jump of 8-10c at load.I have not been able to get any higher than 3.8 with out getting crazy high temps.This may not be the case for you. See if raising CPU FSB buy small increments with small voltages increases a little at a time big jumps will just give more trouble than is worth.

[TiK]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Thanks guys for all the responses! All well noted and appreciated. Im still a bit scared to up the settings too far especially when im so new to overclocking. It would be great to know what the safe limits are for my board and chip.

Anyways, ill give it a go, step by step, but any further input is really really welcome :)

Also, are my settings for 3.77 ok? What about the ram settings?....

Cheers,

TiK

[clo007]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Go for 471x8.5. That's what I run and it is breadcrumbs for these motherboards. I just wish my board would run in dual channel mode.

[kick]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

If you are doing all your testing with the case side off?,remember its going to get a little hotter in summertime too(depending on where you are).So when you hit the max performance thats stable and you are happy with, you may have to back things off a little for 24/7 use.

I have a 120mm fan mounted at 45* angle blowing air over the memory and the mainchipset heatsink.
Its connected to the system fan header that is closest to the memory and so it speeds up a bit when temps increase.
(my board doesnt have the "pretty blue hats" over the heatsinks)

I dont know your 3 case fan layout,but a fan blowing directly on those items gives more peace of mind.

[TiK]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Well, all was going well until yesterday. It seems my settings for 3.77 are not as good as I had hoped. Now I ran a good few tests to know that it is stable but what I didnt realise until today is that it has issues booting from a COLD COLD start so anyone got any suggestions???

BTW, thanks for the infos so far. Great stuff!

TiK

[K91NE]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

I'm not sure if this is your problem but when i used the Zalman 9700 CPU cooler if i cold started computer and fan was not manually set to high from time to time i would get a restart.Not sure if this was a temp issue or may be a smart fan set to on in Bios kicking it in to restart due to slow fan speed and climbing heat of CPU.

[Lsdmeasap]

Re: Do I try 4GHz? Or quit @ 3.77GHz? (Q9550 - EP45 UD3P)

Try these changes >>>

CPU Termination [ 1.20 ]...................[ 1.220 ] << try 1.24-1.28
CPU PLL [ 1.50 ]...................[ 1.57 ]
CPU Reference [ 0.760 ]...................[ auto ] or normal? Dif? (Auto means motherboard will decide, normal means stock) Set all to Auto for now, for that you have asked this on

MCH Core [1.1 ]...................[ 1.2 ] << try 1.24,a nd also try 1.05
MCH Reference [0.760 ]...................[ auto ] or normal? Dif? ( See above)
MCH/DRAM Refernce [0.900 ]...................[ auto ] or normal? Dif? ( See above)
ICH I/O [1.500 ]...................[ 1.570 ]
ICH Core [1.100 ]...................[ 1.200 ]

DRAM Voltage [1.800 ]...................[ 2.000 ] << What is the ram rated for? Maybe you need 2.05-2.1

DRAM Termination [0.900 ]...................[ Auto ] or normal? Dif? ( See above)
Channel A Ref [0.900 ]...................[ Auto ] or normal? Dif? ( See above)
Channel B Ref [0.900 ]...................[ Auto ] or normal? Dif? ( See above)