GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

[profJim]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

The Noctua NH-C12P is a very highly rated, downdraft cooler (read the TweakTown review and others). The True is top tier, the NH-C12P is at worst, a close 2nd, is lighter and less expensive (the fan is included). No push-pull dual fan setup with this Noctua.

It looks like overclocking can be similar to racing....how fast are you willing to spend?

[Psycho101]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Then I stand corrected. It can be easy to confuse NH-C12P and Noctua NH-U12P, model numbers being so similar.

You should definitely get the TrUE. I can't stand down draft coolers.

One reason often quoted for the use of a downdraft is to cool VRMs. However if your VRMs are getting so hot as to need active cooling, chances are you're running a massive overclock, and probably using water to cool the CPU any way.

Its a shame they don't compare ambient case temps in any reviews. Its almost certain downdraft case temps would be higher.

It seems that the Noctua NH-C12P performs as it does purely because Noctua are excellent engineers. If the same tech was applied to a tower cooler (NH-U12P doesn't count as compared to the Noctua NH-C12P it's last generation as far as Noctua design is concerned) I'm certain cooling performance would be even better.

This is just my opinion. Hurry up Noctua and design another tower cooler.

[profJim]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

I like down-draft setups because they're cool.

**edit** Hexus did an extensive cooler comparison about 2 years ago.
Back then, down-draft coolers were mostly middle-tier units good for moderate but not extreme overclocks.
AnandTech came to a similar conclusion a little over a year ago.
Since then Enzotech and several others have developed down-draft units that qualify as top tier setups.

[devoh]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Well I'm 14 hours stable @ 4.160 with prime95 torture testing.. The bad news is the temps are 69-70 degrees. I ran IBT and nailed 79 within 60 seconds.. I'm sure it would have gone 80+ if left to run more than 2 loops. Room ambient is 25.5 degrees. I guess after I prove stability... I will be dialing it back to 4.02 - 4.05 and trying that... until I figure out what I am going to do about cooling.

-devoh

[D-an-W]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Good work!

The cooling hardware in my sig dropped my temps around 20degC from the previous cooler (Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro) so don't give up hope, just dump your heatsink

Update the template with your settings and post it please devoh

[devoh]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

D-and-W,
Where did you find your TrUE Black 120 at? I don't see them at Newegg...

My system did a spontanious reboot at 18 hrs of prime95 torture test.. so I dropped er down to 4.05.. I still nailed 78 degrees with 5 runs of IBT.. still a wee too high for my liking. I dropped it to 4.024 and lovered some volts and I am now at 74 for 5 runs of IBT and 64 for prime95 torture.. I think that will have to be acceptable until I get my cooling "fixed". My FSB is rocking away @ 503Mhz!! weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
I'll update my stats and a listing of BIOS setting in a bit.

-devoh

[D-an-W]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

I'm UK based buddy, had plenty over here.

If you are brave / rich / have a horizontal case, take a look at the TrUE Copper too (I know psycho101 wants one bad!)...

[devoh]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

I'm UK based buddy, had plenty over here.

If you are brave / rich / have a horizontal case, take a look at the TrUE Copper too (I know psycho101 wants one bad!)...

ya I could tell by the accent!

It really dropped your temps 20degrees?!?! was that both at idle and load or just load?

-devoh

[D-an-W]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Load temps, got to 85degC with IBT prior to fitment, 65degC is the norm now on a 20 trial run.

[Psycho101]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Yeah, I would love a TrUE Copper. I'll have to sort my case out first though. It's a Lian Li, so well built, but I must have gotten one that a blind guy made/drilled. I admit, I've removed the board(s) multiple times, but so far I seem to have destroyed the fixing threads on three of the case stand offs. A little epoxy should do the trick, but I'll wait until I next need to remove my board.

900g (2lb in American-eese ) is extremely heavy. The board will be able to cope with it, not a problem, double weight copper layers make it noticably sturdier. My previous no-name Packard Bell board bowed quite severely using my current cooler, where as the UD3P is perfectly flat after I tighten the sink down.

It does seem to depend where you live as to what's available. There's alot of brands which are much more popular in the states than here, eg: Roeswill... never heard of them until I did a Google search, Patriot, Team Extreme etc.

If you do want to try a down draft cooler though, I won't mock you too much. It can work well. If you have a side case vent and use ducting to make sure it takes air from the outside of the case, temps could possibly drop compared to a tower cooler. Then again, you could always get a 3 5 1/4" bay fan, and position that level with your tower cooler, on low(ish) RPM. Keep trying to make inquiries with Lian Li, but they don't speak great English.

[devoh]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

I'm UK based buddy, had plenty over here.

If you are brave / rich / have a horizontal case, take a look at the TrUE Copper too (I know psycho101 wants one bad!)...

The reviews seem to indicate that the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme is the same as the 120 Black.. just without the extra fan clips and black color. It appears to be $10 cheaper.. anyone see a reason against the Ultra 120 eXtreme over the 120 Black? I will not be using 2 fans..

D-and-W how was the fit on the GA-EP45-UD3P? any problems?

The 120 copper... wow.. 2lbs of copper goodness! pretty sweet.

-devoh

[Psycho101]

[D-an-W]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

It fitted fine, mount it to the board before fitting the fan and all is good.

The fan is excellent too, voltage speed control works well and I have yet to try the in-line resistors to slow it down even futher.


I am part way through some stress testing and will update with pics and a template once confirmed ok...

[devoh]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Well gang I seem to have found my procs sweet spot... it appears to be about 4.123Ghz before it requires a large bump in voltage. I ran IBT for 10 loops and the temps stayed @ 70.. prime95 torture was low 60's.. hmmmm I have only been running for 3 hours.. so not sure on stability yet. But here is where I am playing @...

*************************************
*************************************
Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P (Rev. 1.0) - F9
*************************************
*************************************

******************************
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) 
******************************
Robust Graphics Booster ..............: [Auto]
CPU Clock Ratio ......................: [8X]
x Fine CPU Clock Ratio................: +0.5
CPU Frequency ........................: 4.123GHz( 485x8.5)

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

>>>>>  Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control................: [Enabled]
x CPU Host Frequency(Mhz).............: [485]
PCI Express Frequency(Mhz)............: [100]
C.I.A.2...............................: [Disabled]

>>>>> Advanced Clock Control..........: [Press Enter] 
CPU Clock Drive.......................: [800mV]
PCI Express Clock Drive...............: [900mV]
CPU Clock Skew........................: [  100ps]
MCH Clock Skew........................: [  0ps]

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

Performance Enhance...................: [Standard]
Extreme Memory Profile(X.M.P.)........: [Disabled]
(G)MCH Frequency Latch................: [Auto]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD)........: [2.00D]
Memory Frequency(Mhz).....800.........: 970
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD)..........: [Manual]

>>>>> Standard Timing Control
x CAS Latency Time................5...: [ 5]
x tRCD ...........................5...: [ 5]
x tRP.............................5...: [ 5]
x tRAS...........................18...: [15]

>>>>> Advanced Timing Control.........: [Press Enter] 
x tRRD............................3...: [ 0]
x tWTR............................3...: [ 0]
x tWR.............................6...: [ 0]
x tRFC...........................52...: [0]
x tRTP............................3...: [ 0]
x Command Rate (CMD) .............0...: [ 0]

>>>>> Channel A Timing Settings.......: [Press Enter] 
x Static tRead Value.............11...: [ 9]
x tRD Phase0 Adjustment...........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase1 Adjustment...........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase2 Adjustment ..........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase3 Adjustment...........0...: Auto

x Trd2rd(Different Rank)..........6...: Auto
x Twr2wr(Different Rank)..........6...: Auto
x Twr2rd(Different Rank)..........5...: Auto
x Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..........8...: Auto

x DIMM1 Clock Skew Control (ps).......: Auto
x DIMM2 Clock Skew Control (ps).......: Auto
x DDR Write Training..................: Auto

>>>>> Channel A Driving Settings......: [Press Enter] 
x Driving Strength Profile............: [1066MHz]

x Data Driving Pull-Up Level..........: Auto
x Cmd Driving Pull-Up level...........: Auto
x Ctrl Driving Pull-Up Level..........: Auto
x Clk Driving Pull-Up Level...........: Auto

x Data Driving Pull-Down Level........: Auto
x Cmd Driving Pull-Down level.........: Auto
x Ctrl Driving Pull-Down Level........: Auto
x Clk Driving Pull-Down Level.........: Auto

>>>>> Channel B Timing Settings.......: [Press Enter] 
x Static tRead Value.............11...: [ 9]
x tRD Phase0 Adjustment...........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase1 Adjustment...........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase2 Adjustment ..........0...: Auto
x tRD Phase3 Adjustment...........0...: Auto

x Trd2rd(Different Rank)..........6...: Auto
x Twr2wr(Different Rank)..........6...: Auto
x Twr2rd(Different Rank)..........5...: Auto
x Trd2wr(Same/Diff Rank)..........8...: Auto

x DIMM1 Clock Skew Control (ps).......: Auto
x DIMM2 Clock Skew Control (ps).......: Auto
x DDR Write Training..................: Auto

>>>>> Channel B Driving Settings......: [Press Enter] 
x Driving Strength Profile............: [1066MHz]

x Data Driving Pull-Up Level..........: Auto
x Cmd Driving Pull-Up level...........: Auto
x Ctrl Driving Pull-Up Level..........: Auto
x Clk Driving Pull-Up Level...........: Auto

x Data Driving Pull-Down Level........: Auto
x Cmd Driving Pull-Down level.........: Auto
x Ctrl Driving Pull-Down Level........: Auto
x Clk Driving Pull-Down Level.........: Auto

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

Voltage Types..........Normal...........Current
-----------------------------------------------
>>> CPU
Load-Line Calibration.................: [Disabled]
CPU Vcore..............1.27500V.......: [1.2875V]
CPU Termination........1.200V.........: [1.260V]
CPU PLL................1.500V.........: [1.570V]
CPU Reference..........0.760V.........: [0.823V]
>>> MCH/ICH
MCH Core...............1.100V.........: [1.260V]
MCH Reference..........0.760V.........: [0.758V]
MCH/DRAM Reference.....0.900V.........: [0.890V]
ICH I/O................1.500V.........: [1.570V]
ICH Core...............1.100V.........: [1.200V]
>>> DRAM
DRAM Voltage...........1.800V.........: [2.000V]
DRAM Termination.......0.900V.........: [Auto]
Channel A Reference....0.900V.........: [Auto]
Channel B Reference....0.900V.........: [Auto]

******** Advanced BIOS Features ********
Hard Disk Boot Priority...............: [Press Enter]
First Boot Device.....................: [USB-HDD]
Second Boot Device....................: [Hard Disk]
Third Boot Device.....................: [CDROM]
Password Check........................: [Setup]
HDD S.M.A.R.T. Capability.............: [Enabled]
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]
Delay For HDD (Secs)..................: [ 0]
Full Screen LOGO Show.................: [Disabled]
Init Display First....................: [PEG]

******** Integrated Peripherals ********
USB Keyboard Function.................: [Enabled]
USB Mouse Function....................: [Enabled]
USB Storage Function..................: [Disabled]

[Psycho101]

Re: GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB

Not bad. Depending on how large a voltage bump you mean, you could likely incease your clock speed once you get cooling sorted out. With a decent high end air cooler, temps should be acceptable up to and maybe beyond the recommended 1.3625V. If it's truely only Vcore limiting you, you could also try using LLC if you can't get stable on 1.3625V without it.