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**wazza300** · 10-28-2011, 06:28 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

for 3.8ghz i would leave everything as it is and change bclk to 23x156
set dram voltage according to your ram,either 1.5v or 1.66v
set qpi/vtt voltage to 1.39v (may need more if unstable)
set cpu voltage to normal in cpu voltage list
if your ram speed is 1600mhz then set spd system memory multiplier to 10x
set uncore freq to 20x

**davidffa** · 10-29-2011, 08:02 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

Ok, those settings worked for 3.8ghz. Didn't do a long test, just 30min on prime95 and temps maxed at 71c.

What would I do for 4.0ghz?

Specifically, how do I know how to adjust voltage? Which voltages are adjusted and why?

**wazza300** · 10-29-2011, 08:38 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

theres only two main voltages you need to focus on,at 4ghz+ or if you run into stability issues you can tweak other voltages but in general the qpi/vtt voltage for the integrated memory controller inside the cpu and the cpu voltage would need to be raised if overclocking,its best to manually set dram voltage according to whats printed on your ram too

the more amount of ram you have and the faster the speed/tighter the timings the more qpi/vtt voltage you will need,the higher the speed of the cpu the more cpu voltage you will need

you can now either stay at 3.8ghz and try to gently lower cpu and qpi/vtt voltages untill it starts to blue screen,then raise one/two clicks in voltage untill stable or raise bclk to 23x175 keeping voltages as they are,however with this blck combo you can only run ram at 8x (175x8) which will give you 1440mhz ram speed and set uncore to 16x

or use 21x191 and use 8x mem multiplier (191x8) which will let you run ram speed at 1528mhz and set uncore freq to 16x

if you are unstable then you might need a little more cpu voltage,you can either set a fixed amount and cpu will use that amount all the time without clocking down when idle or light loading or look in dvid and set +0.0500v,this will add 0.0500v to you cpu only when its at load/full speed allowing cpu to clock down when idle saving power/heat,your total full load voltage at 4ghz would be 1.248V plus dvid of +0.0500v = 1.298v,you can add more if needed for example +0.0600v ect but keep an eye on total cpu voltage and core temps

as for qpi/vtt voltage you might need a few clicks more from 1.39v you would need to test

if you do get a blue screen error try and catch the code followed by a series of noughts, a 101 error code is not enough cpu voltage and a 124 error code is not enough qpi/vtt voltage

**davidffa** · 10-29-2011, 10:44 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

Thank you! That was very helpful :)

I did the following,

1. bclk of 175
2. disabled all power saving features and turbo
3. multi 23
4. uncore x17 (x16 wouldn't post)
5. memory at x8
6. CPU voltage at 1.3v
7. dram 1.66v (mine is rated at 1.65v)
8. qpi at 1.375v

Booted fine. Idle temp is 43C, which is only 3C more than at stock.

All my settings check out on CPUID exact CPU voltage, which is at 1.264V. Is that normal?

Anyhow, on a prime95 test, I got an error immediately on worker 8. The other workers were running but I stopped them after the first error. What does that mean? Which voltages do I have to raise?

**wazza300** · 10-29-2011, 11:09 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

cpu voltage will drop under load due to vdroop,so thats why your seeing 1.264v when you set 1.3v,you will probably need more cpu voltage if a worker has failed,try around 1.32-1.35v

you can combat vdroop by either setting a slightly higher cpu voltage or enabling llc (loadline calibration) in the bios

**davidffa** · 10-29-2011, 02:43 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

Ok, so I creeped up the CPU voltage step by step all the way up to 1.35V. After the first bump, I had no error with the prime95, but I got a bluescreen after a few minutes. I couldn't see the error codes you mentioned. It was a string of characters and no 124 or 101. Everytime the bluescreen showed up consequently, I couldn't find those numbers. I did notice however sometime about an IRQL error or something like that. I'm not sure of all them were doing that, cause I was too busy looking for the code you mentioned.

**wazza300** · 10-29-2011, 03:35 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

try raising qpi/vtt voltage now,you might need moretry between 1.35-1.42v

**davidffa** · 10-29-2011, 04:19 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

Ok, I did a memtest86+ check on all the ram just to be sure (read on some places that IRQL errors can be ram modules).

I did the first run on the default BIOS settings (1066hz, everything on auto) and had an error.

Then I did a run using XMP profile 1 and ran it for an hour with no errors (1 pass completed).

I have read that using XMP profile 1 is not good and it is better to manually set the ram. Is this true and why?

Haven't tried above yet, but getting that first error in the memtest scared me into thinking I could have damaged the Ram (even though it turns out I didn't). I will give it a go.

**wazza300** · 10-29-2011, 05:53 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

You won't damage your ram,that's what memtest program is for,it will simply give errors if the voltage isn't enough or it turns out to be faulty ram due to manufacturing fault,xmp is fine to use aslong as it doesnt overvolt the qpi/vtt voltage,you will need to look how much xmp uses and decide to set it manually if you want or if xmp uses too much

**davidffa** · 10-30-2011, 10:07 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

I haven't been able to break 4ghz. I keep getting blue screen with irql message.

I have it now with 3.8ghz:
Multi-23x with turbo boost 24
All power saving features off
Blck-160
Qpi-x36
Unclock-x21
Ram-x10
Performance profile standard
CPU-normal
Vtt-1.375v
Vdram-1.66v

Idle temps are only 1deg higher than stock, peak on prime95 was 74, usually at 71.

I think my ram is the problem. When it is not at 1600mhz it seems to freak out.

I will have to try 200bclk later on. Question, what does load lone calibration do and which setting should I use? (auto, standard, level 1 or level 2)

**Acebmxer** · 10-30-2011, 11:04 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

i7 cpus tend to like odd number multi's. For example lets say for 4ghz 22x181 may take more vcore then 23x173.

As for load line use level 1 if your on air or lowend watercooling. With LLC off and 1.4v set in bios load would be like 1.35 or less. With LLC level 1 with vcore set to 1.4 you could see 1.375. Level 2 with 1.4 set in bios you could possibly see 1.425 under load in windows.

**wazza300** · 10-30-2011, 11:09 AM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

you have cpu voltage normal,what amount are you using for 4ghz? set qpi link speed to 44x,and try with 1.39v qpi/vtt(you can lower it later once stable)

**davidffa** · 10-31-2011, 09:34 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

Hey, haven't tried anything for the past few days. This current setup has been working very well with no problems. My Vtt with the template in my last post was actually 1.315V.

I want to try and squeeze just a bit more and break 4ghz. I want to use the BCLK at 200 so I can hit 1600hz on the ram and use a 21x multi without turbo. I just got to play with the voltages more I guess. How high can I the VTT and CPU voltages go safely? I also haven't touched the LLC yet, I guess I should set that to level 1 then?

My system is all air cooling (antec 900 and 2 v3, with the CPU on a hyper 212+). The idle is 40C, under load prime95 it holds a stead 71C, spiked at 74C briefly. The room temperature is 70F (21C).

**wazza300** · 10-31-2011, 10:04 PM

Re: Help overclocking a ga-x58a-ud3r r2.0 for i7 950

its up to you if you want to use llc,personally i dont use it,i just raise cpu voltage to compensate

you can use anything between 1.3-1.38v for cpu,even more but thats up to you,you wont need that much for 4ghz,id say around 1.35-1.36v for cpu and anything between 1.35-1.4v qpi/vtt,can go higher upto 1.45 if needed but i dont think you would need that much,it all depends on your cpu,some need more voltage and some need less,

once you get it stable at 4ghz you can clock through dvid if you want,it will help idle temps alot but load temps will remain unchanged,or you could just stick with a fixed cpu voltage

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