Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

[profJim]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please


Oh ya....
My wimpy Balder only cost me $24 after rebate, no sales tax, no shipping charges....nada

....and I can easily mount a second fan for a push/pull setup for a few more degrees of cooling if needed....

The Xigmatek just comes with a standard 120mm 2200 RPM fan.

....and it wimps out with air flow = 89.45 CFM (Max.) and air pressure = 4.1 mmH2O (Max.)
How unwimpy is your Zalman fan?

Balder is a god in Norse mythology (wiki) "The second son of Odin is Baldur, and good things are to be said of him. He is best, and all praise him; he is so fair of feature, and so bright, that light shines ...."

C N P S 1 0 X E X T R E M E <--- that looks like something I ate in my alplabit's cereal as a kid

OK OK, so I'm a sore loser

So when are we getting an o/c update?

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Hehe it's ok you gave me a good laugh again :)

Price wise, your cooler defeats me because I paid like 90 USD for it... so FAIL for me... these things are really expensive in Israel, and I don't have the technical knowledge about the fan to compete with you :)

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to meet up with Chike this week due to our national memorial and independence day, on Friday I'm also going to upgrade my GPU to the Radeon 6950 which will be unlocked to 6970 :)))

So I will only get to meet him next week for our OC session, however, today I will again try to stabilize my 3.6 OC and see how we take it from there :)

Will provide updates after that, sorry for the delay, and again thanks for all your help so far, you all gave me very good information which should help me get better results!

This thread isn't over just yet!

Zach

[Chike]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Are you selling the 6950? This board is CrossFireX capable you know.

[profJim]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

I'm also going to upgrade my GPU to the Radeon 6950 which will be unlocked to 6970 :)))

OH POOP!!!
We could have done a wimpiness test with my GTX460 versus your HD5850 Xtreme.
Side note: do you have feelings of inadequacy? Extreme model gpu, Extreme model cpu cooler, hmmm....

What's the maximum resolution that you can run with your LG TV/monitor?

Cpu: you win win easily
Mobo: P45 easily trumps P35 (my EP45-UD3P died and won't power up)
Cpu Case: Let's call it a draw
PSU: HA, Gotcha, I just upgraded to a Seasonic X-650, although your Enermax, is excellent!! It's just that my Seasonic is more excellenter.
Monitor: I think my ASUS 24" monitor comes up a bit short (pun intended) to your 42" monster.

What's the maximum screen resolution that you can run with your LG TV/monitor?

BTW, even with my too tall memory, I was able to easily mount the Balder horizontally, so that the cpu heat can be exhausted out of the top of my case which has two 140mm fans pulling heat out of the case. I won't mention how many 120mm and 140mm cpu case fans I have installed, but I can't install any more unless I get into case modding.

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

About the inadequacy, nah, it just so happens that I picked up the Sapphire Xtreme and the Zalman Extreme :)

Chike, I'm not selling my 5850, I'm replacing it for a 6950, I have a chance to add 100 USD and upgrade so I'm going for it and it can be unlocked to a full 6970 so I'm getting a 6970 at the price of the 6950 = STEAL!

Jim, my TV can display full HD 1920x1080 @ 120Hz (60Hz output, but the TV has a frame doubler which makes it look much smoother), plus, I game with the XBOX360 wireless controler + USB gaming receiver so I have the full console controller + big screen TV experience with the graphic quality and performance of a PC

About the PSU, yeah it is a very good model but I sometimes feel like I should have went for a 600W+ unit, perhaps the Modu82+ 625W model, although I'm told that my 525W can sustain the 6950 with ease so I'll stick with it for now, but the Seasonic, is one fine built PSU my friend, I just checked a review about it the other day and I might upgrade to it in the coming months, will sell my Enermax of course, plus its modular, which is so important for cable management, with my Enermax I was able to achieve a very clean look inside my case with all the cables going in the back and just popping out into the motherboard :)

EDIT:

Just read this about my PSU:

600W with 85% efficiency, that's not too bad for a 525W PSU! Maybe it can do CF after all? It does have a Crossfire + SLI certified logo on the cover :)

My case has 3 built in 3 speed adjustable 120mm fans, top, rear (Just behind the Zalman cooler, which means that the heat exhausted from the Zalman is directly exhausted by the rear fan, they are perfectly parallel, could have also mounted it horizontally, but it wouldn't look as cool...) and one to cool the PSU on the bottom, and I added another 120mm Scythe fan in the front to provide more airflow onto the board and GPU, so overall I got 4 120mm fans cooling it and my Zalman unit to cool the CPU.

I was actually surprised that the Zalman left room for the UD3P heatsinks, at first when I bought it I didn't know if it will fit but to my surprise it fits in perfectly and I could have also mounted a second fan if it was possible.

:)

[Chike]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

I think you can CS different cards, and if not have one as dedicated PhysX card(whatever that is :) )

EDIT: oh do you mean trade it in?

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Yeah I'm gonna trade it for a 6950 sorry if that wasn't clear :)

About CFing with different cards, its possible, but then the system would be limited to the clock rates and memory amount of the weaker card, so not worth keeping the 5850 and adding a 6950.... besides the Radeon can handle PhyX, I installed it to play Metro 2033 and there are no issues, works like a charm :)

I actually thought to do CFX with the 5850s but that means I will have to upgrade my PSU because 525W with a CPU on 1.35-1.4 Vcore + CFX won't cut it I think... so I'm better off with a single 6950 unlocked to 6970 with my current setup :)

[profJim]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Sounds about right as far as CrossfireX with your current psu.
When overclocked to 910 - 920MHz with my GTX460, some graphics demo benchmarks draw up to about 350 watts (total system). With a second video card attached, the system power load could go up another 225+ watts.

Newegg has a one day special on the Seasonic X-750 for $119.99 with free shipping when you use a special Newegg subscriber promo code. This offer expires tonight (Wednesday) at 11:59 PM (2011-05-11). Their "regular" current price is $159.99 plus $5.99 shipping and the newer X-760 currently sells for $183.99 plus $11.30 shipping.

The X-650 is currently still available at the regular price + shipping.

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

That's a great price, however, living in Israel is not so simple :) Anything over 50 USD shipped into the country will be taxed by customs by another 40% , which means that a 120 USD PSU will eventually cost around 170 USD, and that's even higher than the retail price here I think...

EDIT

Surprise surprise, I just checked, even after customs its still almost 300 NIS (90 USD) cheaper :eyes:

Like I said, everything is really expensive here, the retail of the X-750 is almost 240 USD :(

But considering the fact that I'm going to plunk another 100USD for the card + 150 that I already spent on my 5850 + 90 USD I spent on the Zalman, I'm gonna hold off the PSU upgrade for now and settle with my 525W...

[profJim]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

I missed your previous post #80.
Most better made power supplies can temporarily sustain 110 - 125% of their rated power, but only for brief periods of time. Efficiency will drop off a bit, but they will still be in spec with voltage and ripple (electrical noise) regulation. The general recommendation seems to be that your psu should not be run above 80% of its rated power for extended periods.

[H]ardOCP is one of the best psu review sites, and their extended eight hour torture test is run at 80% of rated power. For me, HardOCP, JonnyGuru, PCPER, and HardwareSecrets are the best psu review sites and their overall findings and ratings are very similar.

I'm a Seasonic fan and you can buy some excellent Seasonic made power supplies from Antec, Corsair, and XFX. XFX is currently 100% made by Seasonic, and most companies sell power supplies made by two or more different suppliers. The XFX models and Antec TP-xxx "TruePower New" models, are Seasonic made power supplies that offer excellent performance that is often significantly less expensive than the Seasonic branded units. Naturally you'll get most of the quality features, but the efficiency might be somewhat lower and psu fan noise won't be up to Seasonic's level. My Antec TP-750 is based on the Seasonic MD12 series and I bought it during the end of year holiday sales 18 months ago for $70 after MIR. Most of the Corsair models are top notch, including the models that aren't made by Seasonic.

I'm willing to bet your life that the quote you posted is from HardwareSecrets.

**edit**
My Newegg/Seasonic post was for the benefit of USA customers that might want to jump on today's deal.
I'm well aware that prices in Europe, Australia, and most other countries are considerably higher than prices on this side of the pond. That's why I listed the less expensive Seasonic made models.

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Well Jim, what more can I say, I am impressed...

That quote was indeed from the Modu82+ review by HardwareSecrets, I'm no match for the Guru :notworthy: :)

My opinion is (And that's for every aspect in life) if you buy something, buy the original, I have been eying the Seasonic PSUs for a long time now and they are definitely produced extremely well, plus I love their modular models, so I think my next PSU will be a Seasonic one, but I assume that this will be in a year from now, after the warranty of the Enermax expires.

[profJim]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Thanks, but don't be impressed, I've read so many psu reviews from the sites I mentioned that I often recognize psu quotes that I see elsewhere.
It's pretty clear from my animated gif in my signature that I'm a firm believer in quality power supplies. We all have to make comprises in our hardware selection, but to me it's just plain dumb to cut corners when it comes to power supplies. How many of us would build a quality house on a crappy foundation?

I cringe when I read power supply reviews where they can't produce their claimed power or their voltage/ripple/efficiency results are only borderline passing. I don't even want to talk about the cheapy garbage that catches fire or produces fireworks during testing.

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

Erm erm...

We interrupt this program to bring you an OC update, live from Tel Aviv...

So, looks like I was finally able to stabilize a 3.6GHz overclock, BIOS:

Motherboard: Gigabyte Model: EP45-UD3P  Rev#: 1.0  Bios Version: F8
Cpu: Q9550
Ram: 4GB G.Skill PC2-8500 DDR2-1066 PI Edition
Power Supply Unit: Enermax Modu82+ 525W (580W Peak)

Default settings for new setups that are not overclocked.

note: replace all ?? with the value displayed in your bios.
----> Replace "Auto" with manually set values.

MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.)
Robust Graphics Booster -------- : [Auto] 
CPU Clock Ratio ---------------- : [8.0]
Fine CPU Clock Ratio ----------- : [0.0] 
CPU Frequency -------------- : 3600

Clock Chip Control
Standard Clock Control
CPU Host Clock Control --------- : [Enabled]
CPU Host Frequency (Mhz) ------- : [450 Mhz]
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 (ps) ------------ : 0ps
MCH Clock Skew (ps) ------------ : 0ps

DRAM Performance Control Performance Enhance ------------- : [Standard] Can't disable, only Standard, Turbo or Extreme
Extreme Memory Profile - (XMP) - : [Disabled] 
(G)MCH Frequency Latch --------- : [400MHz]
System Memory Multiplier ------- : [2.00D]
Memory Frequency (Mhz) --------- : [900]
DRAM Timing Selectable --------- : [Manual] 

Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time ------- 5 ---- : [5]
tRCD  ------------------ 7 ---- : [5]
tRP -------------------- 7 ---- : [5]
tRAS  ------------------ 20 ---- : [15]

Advanced Timing Control
tRRD  ------------------ 4 ---- : [Auto]
tWTR  ------------------ 4 ---- : [Auto]
tWR -------------------- 8 ---- : [Auto]
tRFC  ------------------ 68 ---- : [Auto]
tRTP  ------------------ 4 ---- : [Auto]
Command Rate (CMD) ------------- : [Auto] <-- Auto or 0 is OK

Channel A Timing Settings -- {Press Enter to change settings)
Static tRead Value ------------- : [10]
tRD Phase0 Adjustment ---------- : [Auto] <-- leave this and below set to 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 Timing Settings {Press Enter to change settings)
Static tRead Value ------------- : [10]
tRD Phase0 Adjustment ---------- : [Auto] <-- leave this and below set to 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 A and B Driving Settings ------ {Press Enter to change settings)
Driving Strenght Profile ------- : [Auto] <-- setting for channel A
Driving Strenght Profile ------- : [Auto] <-- setting for channel B

Motherboard Voltage Control
CPU
Voltage Types--------- Normal ----- Current -----
Load-Line Calibration ---------- : [ENABLED]
CPU Vcore ----------- 1.2500 -- : [1.375]  

CPU Termination ----- 1.200V -- : [1.300] 
CPU PLL ------------- 1.500V -- : [1.570] 

CPU Reference ------- 0.760V -- : [0.823] -> 0.760 @ 1.2V

MCH/ICH
MCH Core ------------- 1.100V -- : [1.240]
MCH Reference -------- 0.760V -- : [0.823] -> 0.760 @ 1.2V
MCH/DRAM Ref --------- 0.900V -- : [Auto]
ICH I/O -------------- 1.500V -- : [1.500]
ICH Core ------------- 1.100V -- : [1.100]
DRAM
DRAM Voltage --------- 1.800V -- : [2.100]
DRAM Termination ----- 0.900V -- : [Auto]
Channel A Reference -- 0.900V -- : [Auto]
Channel B Reference -- 0.900V -- : [Auto]

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] 

Integrated Peripherals
Legacy USB Storage Detect  ----- : [Disabled]

Screenshot

Temps at 65C full 100% load on a Quad core CPU with 3200MB test, that's what I call a good cooling performance

It's not fully stable yet, need to run Prime95 overnight to make sure the RAM is stable.

Jim, Chike, thoughts on how to move on? :)

[Chike]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

How do temps compare to what they were before? Did you use the thermal paste that came with the cooler?
How much vcore in CPU-Z?
How to move on? Like the song say, the only way is up.

[Zach_]

Re: Q9550 + EP45-UD3P, need help hitting 4 Ghz please

I just finished running Prime95 blend test overnight, ran for 8 hours and no issues, so looks like this is stable!

I did use the Thermal paste that came with the cooler... previously I was using MX-2 but tbh I don't really think that there is a difference between the two...

About the temps, IBT peaked at 65C and with the previous OCZ Vendetta 2 my peak was 69C so that's 4C like you said, in Prime95, the maximum was 54C compared to 60C with the Vendetta, it's weird, guru3d reported that their i5 peaked 46C when using P95 on the Fan's 100% setting, I expected to peak at 50 tops... maybe the Q9XXX just runs hotter than the i5/i7?, but it's still a good cooler, plus my room is located on the top floor where the ambient temperature is a bit hotter so there's a difference between my room and their testing environment.

Vcore in CPU-Z as shown in the screenshot is between 1.34-1.36 with LLC enabled.

Gonna try 3.8 tonight again, will need Vcore 1.4 I assume and probably a notch up in VTT... I discovered that my CPU can't reach high clocks with VTT below 1.3...