Overclocking Experiences!!!
Hi everybody, I own two MSI cards and I want to know everybody´s experiences:
MSI 8866-T Geforce4 MX 440 64 MB DDR
MSI 8907-TD128 Geforce FX 5200 128 MB DDR
Tested with:
AMD AthlonXP 2000+ Thoroughbred
ASUS A7A266 1012 BIOS (ALi M1647 northbridge)
Elixir 256 MB DDR SDRAM PC2700U CAS 2
Western Digital WD400BB 40 GB 7.2k rpm ATA 100
Viewsonic E655-2 15" monitor
These are my overclocking experiences: with 52.16 nVIDIA Drivers
Without overclocking: (MX 440)
8703 3Dmarks 2000
5703 3Dmarks 2001 SE
210 3Dmarks 2003 3.2.0 (it runs 1 of the game tests and the fill rate tests)
Not overclocked yet...
Without overclocking (FX 5200)
6650 3Dmarks 2001 SE
1438 3Dmarks 2003 3.2.0
At: 290 MHz core, 525 MHz memory. (however, at 290 MHz core at 3DMark2001 SE pauses up to 15 seconds, but the PC doesn´t hang, the score drops considerably, so 3DMark2001 SE has been tested at 285 MHz core)
7325 3Dmarks 2001 SE
1725 3Dmarks 2003
Original clock speed: Core=250 MHz
Memory=400 MHz (although chips are rated at 4 Ns, teorically speed can easily reach 500 MHz)
3DMark03 has been always tested without last patch, so scores are higher than with 4x.xx line
I hope to see many more experiences, don´t burn your cards!!!
Actually when I o/c my VGA cards, I will go for the first 50MHz boost first for all the Settings, thereafter a 10MHz boost for Memory Core Clock and 5MHz boost for 2D/3D Settings.
For FX cards, the boost for 2D settings is not a must, so leave it to defaults and go for the 3D boost.
I've had a MSI Ti-4200TD 128MB card where I o/c'ed it to get near the 12,000points margin, though it can still run the 3DMark03 to a fairly good 1500+ points for a DX8 card.
Results as follows for MSI Ti-4200TD 128MB:
3DMarks2001 SE: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=6552634
While on my FX5900Ultra, I did the same o/c method and achieved the following:
Results as follows for MSI FX5900Ultra 256MB:
3DMark2001 SE: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7156108
3DMark03: http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k3=1476076
Similar Messages
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P45 Platinum, some overclocking experience needed !
Hi,
I have bought a new computer last winter and been busy with it all the time.. when i bought it i had problems with MY CPU and memory but both fixed, CPU with BIOS 1.4 ( at that point the most recent BIOS ) and memory fixed with the help of some other guy with the same problem and the same hardware.
When all that was fixed and my PC runned stable i began overclocking the CPU by taking off the FSB jumpers so it wouldn't run on 333 MHZ but 400 MHZ FSB.
Now i wanna know if someone has experience with overclocking a Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550 on a P45 platinum, my CPU is now running on 3.4 GHZ ( stand 2.83 GHZ ) and I wanna know if a Vmod is nessecary need to get it to.. lets say 3.6 to 3.8 GHZ ?
I also want to know if someone has overclocked his Corsair Dominators above 1066 MHZ and how he did it, because nothing is working for me ( little changes direcly give BSODS etc. )
Thanks for everyones time,
TimTry your overclock first by setting your memory to 5.5.5.15 at 800MHz. This will eliminate or at least minimise any possible memory instabilities that are more than apparant in the forum when trying the 1066 overclock. If you are succesful, let me know, as I have the same set up, except that I have OZC Reapers. I must say that my 3,4 GHz (I have followed the same route as you via the jumpers) has not encountered a program or game yet that yielded unsatisfactory results. In actual fact my average frame rate in Far Cry 2 allgraphics maxed out runs between 70 and 80 fps. (MSI 9800GTX+). Unless you are running some scientific programs that need speeding up or you want to increase a theoretical benchmark, I wonder if the extra ,2 or,4 GHz will justify the potential temp increase or possible instabilities. But please advise once you have achieved that, what your system settings are what the percentage temp increase is on your CPU. I would be interested as I am too conservative at this stage to go beyond the 3,4.
-
Overclocking Guide
Disclaimer: Overclock at your own risk!
Data and information provided in this guide are for informational and educational purposes only, and are not intended for trading purposes. Neither MSI nor any of this thread’s authors shall be liable for any errors or delays in the content or be held responsible for any damage caused by modifying or overclocking your computer. Manufacturers may or may not honor the warranty on any overclocked or modified computer components. Perform any modifications to your systems at your own risk.
Why Overclock?
Today, overclocking is not any secret. It has become more popular and almost become an addiction to some people. The definition of Overclocking is simple: it means operating an Integrated Circuit beyond its specified clock speed.
But why overclock? Some people say to get more out for the same money. “It’s there; why not get more out of it?” However, the best business reason for overclocking is that it can make “out of date” equipments useful again. If the equipment is already out of warranty, the risk is very limited. (I personally suggest any beginners to overclock any out of date PC first just to have some first time experience.)
Know more about the Central Processing Unit (CPU)
Processor speed is based on two factors. The first is the interface between the motherboard and the front side bus (FSB). From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia), FSB is the speed at which the CPU communicates with RAM (memory). Many system components - including the PCI and AGP buses usually run at speeds derived from the frontside bus' speed. In general, a faster frontside bus means higher processing speeds and a faster computer. The other factor controlling a CPU's speed is the clock multiplier. It defines the ratio of processor speed to the FSB.
The FSB on new processors ranges from 400 MHz to 800 MHz. These are not straight clock speeds but instead they are quad-clocked speeds. These processors actually transmit data four times per clock cycle, for example, 800 MHz FSB is actually four times the 200MHz clock (200 MHz x 4 = 800 MHz).
The core speed of the CPU is the product of the front side bus clock and the multiplier. A processor running at 3600MHz (i.e. 3.6 GHz) might be having 800 MHz FSB, this means there is a clock multiplier setting of 4, and thus the CPU is set to run at 4 times the MHz speed of the front side bus.
But we said earlier that they are quad-clocked speeds, so 3600 MHz actually came from 18 times 200 MHz (200 MHz x 18 = 3600 MHz).
Please note that not all processors have quad-clocked speed FSB. For example, the Intel Pentium 4 (Northwood core) has quad-clocked speed FSB. But for example, the Intel Pentium III, AMD Athlon XP and AMD Duron have dual-clocked speed FSB only.
To know more, please read:
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2178
Let’s lock the clock multiplier
Few years ago, you could overclock processors by choosing a higher multiplier. This option was eliminated in order to fight CPU remarking. Counterfeit processors have regularly appeared in the market, as the CPU speed was only defined by your setting. Nowadays, the restriction to only one multiplier is both of overclocking and counterfeit prevention.
As you can see, the only way of overclocking today is choosing a higher front side bus clock and the offer of small increments e.g. 1MHz in today's motherboards give us a great advantage in overclocking.
However, some CPUs nowadays are still unlocked, for example, the AMD Athlon MP and AMD Athlon64 families. And some motherboard companies offer the chance to unlock the Pentium 4 (Socket 775 CPUs only) overclocking potential by using special bios, for more please read:
http://www20.tomshardware.com/motherboard/20040916/index.html
Look at your motherboard
Before you overclock anything, have a look if your motherboard can overclock CPU. Look at the CPU installation section in the motherboard manual. Normally you will find either BIOS setup options or jumpers on the motherboard that allow you to adjust the FSB, CPU voltage, PCI/AGP ratio etc.
If you have a computer that came from a major manufacturer like HP, it is likely that your motherboard does not provide any overclocking function although it is very rare nowadays.
You need more Power!
This is also the time to check the power supply in your computer. Like a car, speed requires power, and unstable power inevitably leads to unstable processors, so I would recommend the power supply has to be at least 350 Watts. You can find six power supply guides in this forum below:
A Power Supply Guide
AND
Powersupplies(Written by Bas)
AND
Choosing The Right Power Supply
AND
Powersupply calculation....
AND
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/articles/guides/Power_Supply_Guide_1.html
Both Intel and AMD processors are power hungry, consuming 40 to 100 watts (e.g. the new Prescott) of power. Also, your graphics card may take another 55 watts of power. Now you are consuming more than 100 watts of power for merely two components in your system.
You can also voltmod your Power Supply Unit, for more please read:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/psu-voltmodding.html
Using higher voltages
Today, almost each processor can be run faster than the speed it was labeled for. This applies even more if you raise the core voltage a little bit. This is just like a car running at higher speed requires more power. But this is one of the “riskiest” aspects of overclocking - by using too much power you could burn your CPU. You should always raise the voltage step by step and never go higher than 15% beyond the specification. This way it is quite easy to get a faster system without risking the processor. Apart from raising the voltage of the CPU, similarly you can raise the voltage of memory as well. One problem is of course the increasing chip temperature, so cooling is very important. We will cover that later.
Memory Speed
Memory speed is often tied to the FSB. For example, a Double Data Rate (DDR) 400 memory has frequency 200MHz and the module rating is PC3200. Half the performance increase you may see from overclocking a CPU comes from increasing the speed at which the processor can talk to the memory.
When you buy memory, you may see it has label 2-3-3-7-1T. And you may also hear people saying my memory is a 2-3-3-7 one. But what does it mean? The answer is:
CAS Latency = 2 clock cycles
tRCD = RAS to CAS delay = 3 clock cycles
tRP = RAS Precharge = 3 clock cycles
tRAS = Active to Precharge = 7 clock cycles
Command Rate = 1 clock cycle
Different motherboards may call the above differently and not all of them will appear in the BIOS. You may need to check with your motherboard’s support team and the motherboard manual. If you have any option above in your BIOS, you can also start to adjust them. Obviously, the smaller the number the faster the memory will be.
To know more about memory please read:
http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/tech/memory_basics/153707/index.html
AND
Memory Roundup
AND
http://www.anandtech.com/memory/showdoc.aspx?i=2223
Video Card
To overclock video card, we need a third party utility to overclock the card. Although increasing numbers of manufacturers include utilities to allow customers to overclock their cards in their drivers or through an extra application, most of them do not provide this facility. Simply because overclocking stresses the system and voids manufacturer warranties. Third party utilities tend to be universal that they work on different cards irrespective of manufacturers.
Some utilities and the places to download included:
1. OMEGA Drivers
http://www.omegacorner.com/
2. StarStorm Drivers (Nvidia cards only)
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?id=10
3. RivaTuner
http://www.guru3d.com/
4. PowerStrip
http://www.entechtaiwan.com/
5. Rage3D Tweak (ATI cards only)
http://www.rage3d.com/index.php?node=r3dtweak
6. RadLinker (ATI cards only)
http://www28.brinkster.com/chrisww1942/
7. ATITool (ATI cards only)
http://atitool.ocfaq.com/
Please read their own manuals in their corresponding web pages. Also, if you want to be able to have the hidden functions in Nvidia card, create a file with notepad and put this in it (thanks for Deathstalker to provide this source):
Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\NVIDIA Corporation\Global\NVTweak]
"Coolbits"=dword:ffffffff
"NvCplEnableHardwarePage"=dword:00000001
"NvCplEnableAGPSettingsPage"=dword:00000001
Save it as agpsetting.reg to your desktop or anywhere you like. Then run it and it will give you all the hidden options from Nvidia which include extra resolution settings for your desktop and overclocking for both the memory and core.
For ATI Radeon X800 Pro softmod, please read (link provided by mopey):
http://www.ocforums.com/showindex.php?t=312063
For ATI Radeon X800 Pro voltage mod, please read (link provided by NovJoe):
http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=817&s=1
For ATI Radeon 9800 XT voltage mod, please read (link provided by NovJoe):
http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/?i=760&s=1
To can change your Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB graphic card to Radeon 9800XT card, please read (in English):
http://www.rojakpot.com/(jiljtv55hwgq5uabzft0f5re)/default.aspx?location=3&var1=92&var2=0
To change your GeForceFX 5900 graphic card to GeForceFX 5900 Ultra, please read (in Traditional Chinese):
http://www.oc.com.tw/article/0403/readocarticle.asp?id=2410
To change your GeForceFX 5700 Ultra graphic card to QuadroFX 1100, please read (in Traditional Chinese):
http://www.oc.com.tw/article/0403/readiyarticle.asp?id=2387
Get the temperature down
Cooling is probably the most important aspect of overclocking. Overclocking causes circuits to cycle faster, generating more heat. If the CPU is not cooled properly, your CPU will not run reliably and there is a very good chance that you will permanently damage your CPU.
The heat sink and fan unit that Intel and AMD ship with its CPU are fairy good. However, for maximum stability, we need to get something better than that. For example, for CPU fans, we have Vantec Tornado, Thermaltake volcano 7+, CoolerMaster Aero 4 and Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu etc.
Be sure that the cooling solution you choose is specifically designed for your processor. Improperly mounting a heat sink, using the wrong model can damage your processor.
Also, the airflow in the case is very important. If heat cannot escape the case, the CPU is still at risk. Thus, more case fans are needed apart from the power supply's exhaust fan. Tidying up the cables inside the case can help too. In addition, clearing the dust in the case by using canned compressed air can enhance the airflow but never use vacuum cleaner as it may generate electrostatic and harm the IC components.
For more about cooling, you can also read these:
http://www.antec-inc.com/pdf/article/info_DIYArticle3.html
AND
http://www.antec-inc.com/pdf/article/info_DIYArticle2.html
AND
Cooling guide(Written by J*A*G)
AND
http://www.community.tomshardware.com/forum/postlist.m?Cat=&Board=over_cooling
For more about CPU fan, please read:
BEST Overclockers CPU cooler????
For more about Water Cooling, please read:
Water cooling...
Keep the Noise Down
Unless your computer is cooled by a water cooling system, it will be pretty noisy. To keep the noise down, please read this:
http://www.antec-inc.com/pdf/article/info_DIYArticle_quiet_computing.html
Overclocking Process
Essentially, overclocking processors consists of increasing the FSB in the BIOS, booting the computer, and then testing for stability. You repeat the process until you identify the maximum stable speed.
In case your board offer 1 MHz-increments (which most of your boards do), you have the chance to find out the maximum clock speed by slowly closing in on the final limit MHz for MHz. Of course this cannot be done in an hour, but you will have to spend one or two days just playing with different clock speed settings. In the end you should have your CPU running at the highest possible core speed. The Most important thing to remember is that you must go Slowly!
Also, you can overclock the processor by using software although it may not be as effective as overclocking using the motherboard BIOS. Such software includes:
1. ClockGen
http://www.cpuid.com/
2. CPUFSB
http://mitglied.lycos.de/podien/
3. 8rdavcore
http://www.hasw.net/8rdavcore/
Here is a thread that talks about overclocking an Intel Pentium 4 2.4cGHz to 3.0GHz using Intel 865PE chipsets. (You may treat it as an example of overclocking.):
Best 865PE Overclock for 2.4C to 3.0+
Changing the FSB is a relatively simple matter of entering the computer's BIOS setup screen, switching from automatic to manual configuration and selecting the FSB speed you want. Here are some utilities that you can check your computer’s setting, especially CPU speed:
1. CPU-Z
http://www.cpuid.com
2. WCPUID (Linux supported)
http://www.h-oda.com
3. AIDA32
http://www.aida32.hu/aida32.php
http://aumha.org/freeware.htm
4. PC Wizard
http://www.cpuid.com/
5. EVEREST
http://www.lavalys.com/
6. Motherboard Monitor
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/
7. HWiNFO and HWiNFO32
http://www.hwinfo.com/
8. SpeedFan
http://www.almico.com/
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php
9. Motherboard Monitor
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/
http://mbm.livewiredev.com/download.html
10. Intel Processor Frequency ID Utility (Intel CPU only)
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/tools/frequencyid/
11. AMD CPU Information Display Utility (AMD CPU only)
http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871,00.html
For more, you can go to the following to have a browse:
http://www.3degs.net/
Bear in mind that if the processor is capable of a 20-percent or more speed increase say, it is unlikely that your video card or memory can have the same amount of increase. And the one thing that you must remember to do if you overclock the FSB is to Set (i.e. Lock) your AGP/PCI Buses, to as close to their Default Frequencies as Possible (to PCI bus at 33 MHz and the AGP port at 66 MHz for example), or you will most definitely experience problems across the whole board e.g. your graphics card, onboard sound and IDE channels may start giving you data and other errors.
Test for Stability and Benchmarking
The purpose of testing is to apply a heavy workload to every aspect of your system to ensure that there are no hidden problems and stability issue. You can do testing by using special testing suites, software and games. The aim of benchmarking is to measure the performance of your system. In overclocking, benchmarking can tell you how far the system’s performance has increased when you adjust certain settings.
For a test suite, you may try Winbench, which you can download from:
http://www.etestinglabs.com/benchmarks/winbench/winbench.asp
Special software for testing and benchmarking included:
1. CPU Burn (Linux supported)
http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/
2. PCMark 04
http://www.futuremark.com/
3. Aquamark 3
http://www.aquamark3.com/
4. SiSoftware Sandra Standard 2004
http://www.sisoftware.net/
5. Prime95 (Linux supported)
http://www.mersenne.org/
(For more about Prime95, please read: how to use prime 95 properly)
6. Memtest86 (Linux supported)
http://www.memtest86.com/
7. Memtest86+ (Linux supported)
http://www.memtest.org/
8. Super PI (Linux supported)
http://pw1.netcom.com/~hjsmith/Pi/Super_Pi.html (Windows version)
http://ftp://pi.super-computing.org/Linux/super_pi.tar.gz (Linux version)
9. ScienceMark
http://www.sciencemark.org/
10. SETI @home (Linux supported)
http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/
For testing video card, you can run Games like Quake 3 and Unreal Tournament demo mode and left running in loops. You should be able to run a game in a loop for at least two hours after a reboot without a problem. Also, you can use 3DMark05 from FUTUREMARK (download from http://www.futuremark.com/).
1. Unreal Tournament (Linux supported)
http://www.unrealtournament.com/
2. Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory (Linux supported)
http://games.activision.com/games/wolfenstein/
3. Quake (Linux supported)
http://www.idsoftware.com/games/quake/
4. Call Of Duty
http://www.callofduty.com/index.asp
5. X2 - The Thread
http://www.egosoft.com/
6. Colin McRae Rally 4
http://www.codemasters.co.uk/colinmcraerally04/uk/colinmcraerally04.php
7. Nascar Thunder 2004
http://www.easports.com/games/thunder2004/home.jsp
8. Halo
http://www.microsoft.com/games/halo/
9. Farcry
http://www.farcry.ubi.com/
10. Half-Life
http://games.sierra.com/games/half-life/
11. Doom 3 (Linux supported)
http://www.doom3.com/
Tips: The benchmark can be performed by using “demo1” which ships with Doom 3. Open the console (Windows: Ctrl+Alt+~; Linux: ~) and type “timedemo demo1”.
12. Battlefield Vietnam
http://www.eagames.com/official/battlefield/vietnam/us/home.jsp
13. Serious Sam
http://www.serioussam.com/
14. Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness
http://www.tombraider.com/
15. Halo
http://www.bungie.net/
16. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
http://www.splintercell.com/
Conclusion
I suggest you to read this guide one more time before you overclock to make sure that you have not missed anything. Wish you have a good overclocking experience, have fun! Here is also another guide to make your have a Happier and Healthier System:
http://www.antec-inc.com/pdf/article/info_DIYArticle4.html
The following teaches you how to change an AMD Athlon XP 1700+ to an Athlon MP 1700+ (in Traditional Chinese):
http://www.oc.com.tw/article/0304/readocarticle.asp?id=1390
Also, for a Step By Step Overclocking Guide and other overclocking guides, you can go to:
1. General overclocking tips
2. more overclocking help
3. Hardware & Overclocking FAQ in bit-tech
http://forums.bit-tech.net/showindex.php?t=51323
4. Overclocking Guide in OC Forums
http://www.ocforums.com/showindex.php?t=263753
5. Link Guide for anyone new to Overclocking in PC Perspective
http://forums.pcper.com/showindex.php?t=173635
6. Overclocking Guide in Help Overclocking
http://www.helpoverclocking.com/english/index.htm
7. AMD Optimal BIOS settings + Overclocking Guide
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=43
8. Tom's Hardware CPU Overclocking Forum (contains a few overclocking guides)
http://www.community.tomshardware.com/forum/postlist.m?Cat=&Board=over_cpu (for CPU)
9. Tom's Hardware Graphic Cards Overclocking Forum (contains a few overclocking guides)
http://www.community.tomshardware.com/forum/postlist.m?Cat=&Board=over_graphics (for Graphic Cards)
For a guide on Modding Tools, please read:
Modding Tools
Please post any comment and/or suggestion as well as dead link of this guide (Version 1.49) at the following thread:
Overclocking Guide Suggestion/Comment
I would like to thank for the help and support from Bas and Wonkanoby as well as advice from Raven_, Slimbooyphat and The Fellow in setting up this guide.Quote from: ferohh on 01-March-05, 04:39:20
I tried to overclock my p4. 2,66ghz to 3.18ghz.
l increased the cpu fsb only since the multiplier is fixed at 20x.
l tried to change it but couldn´t.
l then increased my cpu voltage from 1.525v to 1.732v.
At 3.2ghz, the computer was on and restarts automatically, so l turned it to 3.18ghz.
does it mean the cpu will not overclock further or l need a new cooler?
I did not overclock anything except the fsb.
any help?
I have a 2.6C Northwood pentium 4 on an MSI 875P Neo2-FISR mobo. On air I'm able to get it to about 3.14Ghz stable. I don't believe it's a good idea to go past 1.6 for the voltage, from what I've read, voltage doesn't help too much with the northwoods.
I can overclock mine higher without any significant changes in temperatures, but the overclocks aren't stable and the system freezes up from time to time. I'm using Kingston HyperX PC4000 DDR, which can run at up to 500mhz, so I can do a 1:1 ratio on the overclock. I'm using a modular 500-watt power supply, Arctic Silver 5 and a huge honking Swiftech heatsink with an 80mm fan. -
Overclocking a MSI P6N Diamond (Q6600) I need help before I cry
So its about time for me to start overclocking. I have read the overclocking sticky and downloaded the appropriate programs to make sure I have a successful overclocking experience .
But... How do I do it?
So far I have found a site (Via google) that OC'd with my Mobo.
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2182&page=4
Looks pretty legit so I tried it, the only thing is. I cant change the CPU, Memory, and SB voltage.
So... yeah everytime I try to change what I can (FSB and NB voltage) Windows isn't able to start up.
God Please help me.Quote
I cant change the CPU, Memory, and SB voltage.
Use the +/- keys on the numpad of your keyboard.
Quote
So... yeah everytime I try to change what I can (FSB and NB voltage) Windows isn't able to start up.
Please post the Cell Menu Settings you have tried so far. -
MOVED: MSI X58A-GD65 Overclock Problem
This topic has been moved to Overclockers & Modding Corner.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=141883.0I bought the MSI X58A-GD65 because I am a complete moron who wanted a hardware Easy Switch.
It works really well,but I was pissed when I noticed that my 12GB's of RAM was no longer recorgnized. Only showed 8GB's..............
So I set the Easy Switch to deafualt ( 133 ) and decided to overclock the CPU and tweak the RAM.
I just read every forum where people had problems w/ various settings, and since I only want 3.2GHz w/ 12GB's of RAM @1.4v it was a walk in the park.
Clearing the CMOS after a day of torturing myelf and committing Human errors,I easily was able to simply undervolt the RAM from the 1.65v default,and raise the 133 default setting up by a factor of 5 and rebooting.
So this is my first OVerclocking experience and MSI seems like a worthy board..
I use this to perform hardware and virtual musical synths and instruments 6 nights a week.
Since I cam from a solid 32bit DAW that ran 100% for 3 yerars,I didn't upgrade, but actually did an entire new rebuild since I wasn't sure ofthe stability in x64.
But this DAW has worked for days on end now flawlessley.
I Declare This Dog Will Hunt............. -
Overclocking... Must go faster!
Heya, I'm new to the overclocking game, but think I have all the right gear... anyway here's my system specs;
Intel Pentium 3.0Ghz 800FSB
Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu
Zalman ZM-F1 80mm
2x 512MB MB PC3200 DDR
MSI 875P Neo Motherboard
MSI 52x24x52x CD-RW
Samsung 20 Gigabyte HDD
Western Digital 80 Gigabyte HDD
MSI Geforce Ti4200MX (4x AGP) 128MB
Now I've got some decent cooling in there, notched up to full RPM... still need to invest in a Northbridge fanless cooler though.
Basiclly can anyone suggest some BIOS/voltage FSB clock speeds that you reckon my system can handle. I'd preffer to do it all within the BIOS if possible, I had a little play around with CoreCentre but that gets upto FSB 220Mhz then freaks out... surely I can go faster!?
Anyway hope someone out there can help!
Andy_ABC1 ([email protected])Yes, And the First and Best Advice that I will and Can give you is A) Dont use "Core-Center" to overclock , as this Utility is still a project in the Works, so I would Use the BIOS for any OCing, But if you Must use a Software Based Overclocking Utility, then Please use "Clock-Generator" http://www.cpuid.com ....As this is the Best FSB Management Program out there , And the One thing that you Must remember to do if you Overclock the FSB is to Set (Lock) your AGP/PCI Buses, to as close to their Default Frequencies as Possible 66/33, or you will Most definately experience Problems accoss the whole Board ..ie Your Graphics Card will act up, your onboard Sound, and your IDE Channels may start giving you Data errors....Wow that was alot for just the letter A
And for B) The Most important thing to remember, is that you Must Go Slow!!, If you rush, you will not have a very Successful Overclocking Experience...Set your FSB to 220, and Leave you V-CORE set to Default (1.550 V), and you should NOT have to Up your CPU Voltage until you Approach 240 or 250 MHZ, as these New "C" P-4's rarely require a Voltage Boost, now the Next thing you are going to have to do, is to set your Memory Timings, I would start out at SPD, and As Long as you Keep your FSB OCed to a Minumum (Under 225 MHZ) you should be fine with your Memory staying at a 1:1 RATIO, if you go much Higher you will eventually have to Lower your Memory Ratio in Order to Keep it withen it's Speed Rating.... And after you Up it to 220 Leave it there for a Day or More, Play games, or Loop some Benchmarks for a good Hour at a Time, just to see where your CPU Temps are, and how long it takes them to return to Normal and it would be a good Idea to go into the MSI P-4 and Celeron Forum, to see what other Members have their Systems Set to, and dont Forget...Go Slow, And a Few More MHZ is NOT worth Ruining your CPU or Motherboard...................Sean REILLY875 -
MSI X58A-GD65 Overclock Problem
Hi there,
I have been trying to overclock my mainboard and it doesnt change my Clock Frequency, actually it changes but when I try to reboot system, it comes back to 133mhz again! I'm sure that it is not failure of overclocking, what should I do about this problem?
Every detail can change but clock frequency...!
I updated mainboard by the way to the last firmware.
NOTE: I manually change frequency on mainboard to 200mhz. now Setup says 200 mhz, while computer starts, startup says 200mhz, in Windows, it says 133 mhz! even CPUZ says 133mhz!... what is going on :SI bought the MSI X58A-GD65 because I am a complete moron who wanted a hardware Easy Switch.
It works really well,but I was pissed when I noticed that my 12GB's of RAM was no longer recorgnized. Only showed 8GB's..............
So I set the Easy Switch to deafualt ( 133 ) and decided to overclock the CPU and tweak the RAM.
I just read every forum where people had problems w/ various settings, and since I only want 3.2GHz w/ 12GB's of RAM @1.4v it was a walk in the park.
Clearing the CMOS after a day of torturing myelf and committing Human errors,I easily was able to simply undervolt the RAM from the 1.65v default,and raise the 133 default setting up by a factor of 5 and rebooting.
So this is my first OVerclocking experience and MSI seems like a worthy board..
I use this to perform hardware and virtual musical synths and instruments 6 nights a week.
Since I cam from a solid 32bit DAW that ran 100% for 3 yerars,I didn't upgrade, but actually did an entire new rebuild since I wasn't sure ofthe stability in x64.
But this DAW has worked for days on end now flawlessley.
I Declare This Dog Will Hunt............. -
Hello. I have a P67-G45 that I bought several years ago. Lately, I have been trying to overclock my CPU to about 4.2 ghz or so. Being new to overclocking, I made many mistakes at first, but I think that I have the hang of it now. I set the CPU Ratio to 42 in my BIOS and set the voltage to 1.3. After tweaking a few other things according to a tutorial on an overclocking forum, I restarted my system and opened CPU-Z, RealTemp, and Prime95 to test it. However, when I run a Prime95 test, for some reason my CPU ratio will not go above 3.9. When not running Prime95, it breifly can go to 4.0 or even 4.1 sometimes before going back down to an idle 1.6 or so. What is going on? According to the control center, everything is set to 4.2 (well, 42 I guess), but the multiplier is staying at 39 maximum when running a stress test. You can read this thread over on another forum with full details of my overclocking experience thus far here :http://www.overclock.net/t/1542410/overclock-i7-2600k
And here are my specs:
Summary
Operating System
MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
Intel Core i7 2600K @ 3.40GHz 91 °F
Sandy Bridge 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00 GB DDR3 @ 800MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard
MSI P67A-G45 (MS-7673) (SOCKET 0) 83 °F
Graphics
E2350 (1920x1080@60Hz)
LogMeIn Mirror Driver
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
Hard Drives
488GB Western Digital WDC WD5002AALX-00J37A0 ATA Device (SATA) 83 °F
Optical Drives
ASUS DRW-24B1ST a ATA Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition AudioQuote from: Chike on 04-March-15, 04:33:02
It's common to suggest to upgrade BIOS. I recommend not to unless it is essential, and reading the comments on manufacturer site do no harm either.
There are two ways to OC SandyBridge and above CPUs, one is change the clock, and the other is change Turbo settings, so lets try that way.
Load optimized defaults, change vcore as before then set all cores boost ratio (in CPU Features) to 42 (Turbo must be enabled). On my board is enough if I set 4 cores to 42 but would be safer to begin with all of them at 42.
Try with OverSpeed Protection disabled, or enabled and power limits 130 for short and 120 for long.
My CPU runs 4 threads of Prime95 (v28.5 AVX) at about 100W at 4.2GHz. So maybe for testing only, disable hyper-threading.
Another thing may be insufficient vcore maybe? Not sure what safe vcore is for 2600k, so look it up before increasing.
Ok, I tried this all and still got the same results. I enabled Turbo, then changed all the values that you suggested with the ratio at 42 and vcore at 1.3. When running 8 test threads in prime95 I still only get up to 3.9. I tried again, enabling enhanced turbo, but it didn't change anything. The only thing that I did not try was disabling overspeed protection, and I'll try that now, but if it doesn't, what is going on? -
MSI 648 Max (Ms-6585) overclockability... Anyone?
Just bought a Ms-6585 which is also known as 648max. I wonder anyone else can share your overclocking experience on this board, and how is this board's overclockability.
I plan to get a P4 2.0A (tight budget) and overclock to 2660mhz which is running on 133x20. Do you guys think it can work?
By right P4 2.0A (not OEM version) overclock well through increase CPU voltage. I hope i can reach 2660mhz, pls point me out if anyone concerns. :]
thanksGive me a chance to show mine here. I'm really fedup for this moment. ;(
P4 2.4B w/ C1 stepping SL6EF
MSI 648 max rev1.0 w/ 1.2v bios
Samsung DDR2700 256x2 (K4H5609838D)
GeForce 2 GTS 32mb DDR
Maxtor 20GB - D740X-6L
Generic 450w PSU (+5 = 5.107 in bios)
temperature 32c idle 38 load
Ok now, my problem is can't get stable when overclock to 2610mhz (145x18') in WinXP. 2610mhz won't be the bottle neck for this C1 sweety and i don't think my ram giving me problem because i've down clocked it. What do u guys think what is wrong with my system can't clock higher. X(
i have one question here: the PCI/AGP bus for this board are - 33/66, 34/68, 35/70... Is it fixed by setting or it will raising follow by system bus increment. ?(
Appreciate IF someone willing to help. thanks ;( -
This topic has been moved to Overclockers & Undervolting & Modding Corner.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=152929.0Geez... You Too?
Plus RAID issues
Plus Crossfire issues
This is my first new build in a while.
MY initial overclocking experience involved a #2 pencil and a 750mhz AMD Duron,
after that it was more like microsurgery with magnified optics, soldering traces.
I haven't done much since AGP got phased out by PCI.
What sounded like, in the initial reviews, to be a Board "Sent by the Gods"
I bit... I bought...
and now I'm finding that there is no documentation anywhere on
initializing any of the features that I bought it for in the 1st place.
Sure, I can Convert(x) 2 .avi movies per DVD in 20 minutes instead of 2 hours...
But I'm walking around feeling like I just PAID to be a BETA Tester.
LiveUpdate5 keeps telling me "Your Drivers are current, You have nothing to update'
When I KNOW there are more current point releases. I've SEEN them.
I make $10 an hour... after taxes and child-support payments, that leaves $195 a week.
Any ideas on How Long you have subsist on Ramen Noodles and multi-vitamins to do this?
I've got about a month's pay sunk into this system
New Coolermaster HAF case w/ 200mm red led fans
It Looks good... It LOOKS like it wants to run
4G of 1600 mhz Corsair VENGEANCE RAM
and another 4G in reserve for Win7 (current XP)
MSI R6670 Graphics Card
a Terabyte of Fresh Barracuda's...Raid 0 would SO pump out those GB/s
Half the frustration was that my 1st 7696 had a bad RAM slot #2
5 hour round-trip to MICROCENTER on public transportation- THREE TIMES
only to find out that it WASN'T the RAM being quirky.
Once I figure this thing out...and I will figure it out
I'll post my findings.
I just don't get it though...
in the reviews... snip, snap, plug, power... bada-bing bada-boom
... HUMMING!!!
and I wonder if I'm too stupid or too smart to solve the problem.
I'll be in touch -
I am trying to build the system (indicated below).
I have been able to power up the system, but nothing is displayed on screen. The following things occur when attempting to boot:
1. Everything powers up with the D-LED's all red. Powers off, then back on.
2. D-LED's briefly turn Red-Red-Green-Red then powers off, and back on
3. D-LED's start Red-Red-Red-Red, briefly switch to Red-Red-Green-Red, then back to Red-Red-Red-Red, power off and back on
4. System repeats step 3 (let it run for 2-3 minutes before killing power)
I have attempted the following troubleshooting:
1. Moved memory to different slots, also trying 1 stick at a time -- No Change
2. Removed memory completely -- hangs at Red-Red-Green-Red
3. Disconnected hard drive and DVD drive -- No Change
4. Removed Video card -- No change
5. Removed Video card and Memory -- Hangs at Red-Red-Green-Red
6. Removed Video card, Memory, and Hard Drives - Hangs at Red-Red-Green-Red
So, I'm went out on a limb and I have ordered some different memory: Corsair TWIN3X2048-1066C7
If anyone has any other insight, I'd love to hear from you!
(I have another 600W PSU available, but I didn't want to take apart one of my other systems to test it.)Hi jabetcha,
I built a new PC very recently with a P35 Platinum board, and I had some problems getting it to work as you have.
My system has a new MSI RX2600XT-T2D512EZ graphics card, which I see is from the same ATI family as your graphics card. Like you, initially I did not get anything on the monitor when I booted. However, I began to make good progress when I just tried putting the 15 pin VGA adapter on the DVI output from my graphics card, and connected that to my monitor's 15 pin input. This produced output on the screen, and I could then get into the BIOS and sort things out.
Further notes...
To get my 2 sticks of Crucial Ballistix RAM to work consistently, I had to change the BIOS setting to output a fixed voltage, rather than leaving it to Auto. I do not have much overclocking experience, so I don't even know if this should have worked.
Then, when I tried to install Windows XP, I encountered a BSOD with a STOP error relating to pci.sys. After searching the forums, I discovered that only Windows XP with Service Pack 2 supports PCI Express cards. So, I had to create a new copy of my XP disc with SP2 "slipstreamed" into it, and then it worked ok. Phew.
I hope these thoughts at least give you something to try!
Cheers,
jonnyboy -
I got A75MA-G55 mainboard last month and i can't get oc genie 2 to work since then. When i enable this option in Control Center and reboot, the system won't start and PC just keeps restarting. I tried loading the default options (i really didn't change anything in BIOS) in BIOS and activating OC genie 2, but it's the same as for enabling it in Control Center. This results in me clearing CMOS. I don't know why, but I can't get Overclocking Center and AMD Overdrive to work, either. I updated BIOS to the latest version v1.3. Do i need to install drivers or am i doing something wrong? I installed all drivers from Liveupdate 5 but it says I haven't got the latest versions of display driver, network and audio drivers even when i installed them.
Thanks for your help in advance.
My system specs:
MSI A75MA-G55(MS-7696)
AMD A6-3650 APU 2,6 Ghz
Radeon HD 6530D
BIOS v1.3
DDR3 4096 MB
Windows 7 64-bitGeez... You Too?
Plus RAID issues
Plus Crossfire issues
This is my first new build in a while.
MY initial overclocking experience involved a #2 pencil and a 750mhz AMD Duron,
after that it was more like microsurgery with magnified optics, soldering traces.
I haven't done much since AGP got phased out by PCI.
What sounded like, in the initial reviews, to be a Board "Sent by the Gods"
I bit... I bought...
and now I'm finding that there is no documentation anywhere on
initializing any of the features that I bought it for in the 1st place.
Sure, I can Convert(x) 2 .avi movies per DVD in 20 minutes instead of 2 hours...
But I'm walking around feeling like I just PAID to be a BETA Tester.
LiveUpdate5 keeps telling me "Your Drivers are current, You have nothing to update'
When I KNOW there are more current point releases. I've SEEN them.
I make $10 an hour... after taxes and child-support payments, that leaves $195 a week.
Any ideas on How Long you have subsist on Ramen Noodles and multi-vitamins to do this?
I've got about a month's pay sunk into this system
New Coolermaster HAF case w/ 200mm red led fans
It Looks good... It LOOKS like it wants to run
4G of 1600 mhz Corsair VENGEANCE RAM
and another 4G in reserve for Win7 (current XP)
MSI R6670 Graphics Card
a Terabyte of Fresh Barracuda's...Raid 0 would SO pump out those GB/s
Half the frustration was that my 1st 7696 had a bad RAM slot #2
5 hour round-trip to MICROCENTER on public transportation- THREE TIMES
only to find out that it WASN'T the RAM being quirky.
Once I figure this thing out...and I will figure it out
I'll post my findings.
I just don't get it though...
in the reviews... snip, snap, plug, power... bada-bing bada-boom
... HUMMING!!!
and I wonder if I'm too stupid or too smart to solve the problem.
I'll be in touch -
A realistic assessment of your experiences of hardware needed for the type of editing I do please.
Introduction:
I apologise for the length of this post but from experience of reading here, I'm working on the principle of the more I explain about myself now, the less anyone willing to help me will have to ask later.
I have lurked around this forum on and off for a few years, read the various threads in the FAQ section, particularly PPBM5 and What PC to build thread and other related topics around what system to build. I have found them very useful and in particular have enjoyed reading about Harm Millaard's experiences First Ideas for a new system. For about about 12 months I've been delaying upgrading my PC but in Mr Millard's latest updates on his PPBM6 site he talks about new systems and provides a link to Intel's time line which suggests they are in no rush to replace the i739xx series CPU chip - which has I believe amongst other things 2 cores disabled. Normally bitter experience has taught me not to rush out and buy the latest technology but let others "test" it first and then benefit from reduced prices as that model is replaced. However, it now seems like last years technology is going to remain as this years technology and probably the first 2 quarters at least of next year and, if anything, the price of the i739xx series is at best staying at it's existing launch price or even rising. So it's time to take the plunge for me and upgrade.
My current hardware for editing:
I started with Premier 6.5 after I bought it as part of a bundle with a Matrox RTX 10 card - one of the most temperamental pieces of hardware I've had the misfortune to work with. I later upgraded to Premiere Pro 1.5 and edited with that using a Pentium 4 2.6 (overclocked to 3.2), 3 hard drives (no raid) and 4G of memory. The video footage used was avi recorded using a Canon MVX 30i and Panasonic NVGS27 and now I've added the Casio Exilim EX -FC100 (mpeg format) and a Panasonic HDC S90 (AVCHD).
My PC coped with the editing I did with avi footage but couldn't handle AVCHD format and this convinced me to upgrade to Premiere Pro CS5.5. At the same time I switched to editing on a Dell XPS M1530 (Centrino duo chip) - I upped the memory to 4GB, put Windows 7 64 bit home edition on and replaced the existing hard drive with a faster one. In addition I use a SATA Quickport duo attached to my laptop via an eSATA card. However, either the Quickport, eSATA card or XPS is extremely temperamental - I never see two external hard drives, 50% of the time see 1 external drive or none at all - when that happens I edit around it doing things I can with just the one internal drive - but this problem is not my question.
The type of editing i do:
I know people usually say around here not to try editing on laptops and believe me, I understand why, but using this setup I have been able to edit lots of videos - see here for examples of the type of editing I currently do:
http://www.youtube.com/user/PathfinderPro
The equipment test videos place the biggest strain on the hardware when editing. And, to do this editing I have to convert my AVCHD footage in to it's YouTube format before editing and even after I've done that it can be tediously slow to edit and playback even with premiere set to play at 1/4 normal quality. To convert the AVCHD footage to the YouTube format I edit in has to be done over many nights.
Now I am not a professional, I typically edit with up to 4 tracks of video with additional tracks for titles and my target audience is YouTube - which is why I can get away without editing in my prefered option of native AVCHD video format. However, I'm tired of all the waiting, stuttering, and many many days and hours of converting videos into a format I can use so I'm looking to upgrade. My problem is though I'm uncertain what path to take. The PPBM results are dominated by overclocked chips, and whilst the motherboard make and model is listed, the hard disks used, graphic card makes and models and memory modules are not. This is not a criticism of the PPMB tables (big thank you to Bill Gehrke & Harm Millaard for taking the time and effort to pull this much information together) but for me, I am not interested in being in the top 1000 in the world, nor overclocking like mad, and having had horror experiences of using matrox products and compatibility and stability issues with other hardware I'm more interested in compatability and practicality than speed when deciding what to build. I've also read the threads about marvel controllers, dual and quad channel memory support, the pro's and cons of SSD or standard drives, raid setups, the heat problems with overclocking the newer ivy bridge chips and general build advice etc so I'm not coming here without having done some reading first.
The type of system I'm thinking of:
So far based on what I've read here, I've come to the conclusion - but I'm open to suggestion:
- Chip - regrettably due to the cost and unlikely successor anytime soon - a 39xx (with appropriate cooler) because I want to edit in native AVCHD which seems to require the warrior type chip as opposed to the "economical" build regardless of what my target audience is and this suggests
- X79 motherboard (which must have an old PCI slot such as the Asus Sabertooth and which has room for the cooler I'm considering). As I will be carrying over my old terretec DMX 6 fire 24/96 soundcard - all my videos have their audio mastered in Audition using this card - best piece of advice I read was the audience will watch a bad video with good sound editing but not the other way round)
- 4 hard drives plus additional hard drive for operating system using onboard raid controllers (not sure whether the operating system drive will be WD caviar black or SSD and can't justify cost of external raid controller for either my type of use or number of hard drives being used)
- Video card - I can now buy a GTX 580 for less than the 670 - so not sure on the card especially based on Harm Millards observations that memory bandwith seems to be as important as CUDA cores
- Case - I have an Akasa 62 case with room for 5 hard drives - I won't be exceeding that, and if I overclock it will only be by a little so is it really necessary to replace it for a Tower Case - although I would prefer a case with a front connection for esata so I may have to change the case regardless
- Maximum memory 32G - so is it necessary to upgrade to windows 7 professional?
- Power source - I'll work out when I've decided on my components.
Help please:
For me it's video source/dictated software chosen and hardware/audience(youtube) dictates format edited in. As I don't intend to change my camcorders format (AVCHD or mpeg) in the next couple of years and I'm not interested in having the "fastest" system around what I'm really interested in learning is:
what system setups people use now for doing similar editing to me
what make/models of the component parts in your system work well together
and if you do have a bottle neck in terms of hardware, where is it and what hardware would you change to (not a dream model change, just a practical and realistic one)
I have deliberately not given a budget for the changes I'm intending because budget should not be the deciding factor in determining what I "need" to upgrade to for the "type of editing I do" - especially bearing in mind I've got by so far (admitedly at a tortoise pace) with by todays standards a standard spec laptop. Basically I don't want a Rolls Royce to go shopping at Wallmart but I'm tired of walking there and carrying everything back by hand!
Thank you very much for any help / experiences people can share.Thank you both for your prompt and helpful replies.
Mr Millaard, regarding your excellent article Planning and Building an NLE system, I have read it a couple of times now and it was your article which finally convinced me the time was now to upgrade but within it you said for good reason "Initial choice of CPU: i7-39xx with the intention to overclock to 4.6 - 4.8 GHz", hence my uncertainty about the CPU to use. I have seen a video you posted here - I think it was based on your cats (which I incidently enjoyed) so working on the editing done there (but not remembering if you mentioned what video format you used) and others who have mentioned many pro's for the i7-39xx I was leaning towards that - but I'm financially relieved at least - if the i3770 will do, although now with the possible recommendation by JEShort01 (sorry not sure of the forum etiquette for use of names) of the 2600K overclocked I'm a little bit back in the position of which is more suitable especially with the update to the i3770 being nearer than i7-39xx. This still makes me lean towards the i7-39xx.
Regarding the editing, the match play you can see on the channel is indeed 1 camera basic edits - multiple titles used to provide the score board. However, the coaching videos use mulitple cameras - 3 to 4 sometimes (another reason for upgrading to CS5.5 for the multi cam editing support) and the equipment testing video can use 3 or 4 tracks layered on top of each other other with each track having opacity settings and multiple motion effects and titles with occasional keying video effects added. For example this video at approx 2 mins 50 and 5 mins 10 seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1E5T7xo57c&list=PL577F7AB5E31FC5E9&index=13&feature=plpp_v ideo
Monitor wise I use dual monitor setup. My laptop screen and I link out to an LG M2394 D for widescreen and I sometimes use an old Neovo F-419 for 3 / 4 editing. I won't be using more monitors than 2. If the 580 drops a bit more I'll probably go for that - although I'll have to make sure it's size isn't an issue for the motherboard combo setup. Interestingly there is a thread shown on the forum home page which discusses the 570 vs the 660ti and the opinion was go with the 660ti which surprised me a bit.
Windows 7 professional it is then - I should have known that too - apologises for asking a question already asked.
"Accepted, your correct criticism of the lacking hardware info on the PPBM5 website. That is the overriding reason that for the new site http://ppbm7.com/ we want to use Piriform Speccy .xml results to gather more, more accurate and more detailed hardware info."
No criticism intended Mr Millaard - more an observation and I really look forward to that evolution with PPBM7. I'm assuming the .xml results will use pre populated drop down lists people can select their hardware from - that way you can control and ensure consistent entries - downside being the work required by you to populate the lists in the first place and maintain them.
Thanks again for your help but I'm still unsure a bit about the CPU and video card though. -
Overclocking the i7, a beginners guide
To give credit where credit is due: This was not written by myself. I have only edited parts of it.
I found this on the internet, but it was such a great article, that I wanted to draw your attention to it. Credits go to Chad. Thanks for all the effort you put into this.
What is overclocking?
Overclocking is a process of making various components in a computer to go faster than their stock speeds. So if you buy a processor (lets say an i7-920 2.66 GHz) and make it go faster (lets say 3.6 GHz), that can be deemed as overclocking.
HALT! Do not proceed any further until you have read this:
Dell, Gateway, eMachine, etc... do not overclock very well, so proceed at your own risk. You break it, it is your fault.
A little bit more of some explanation:
This guide is intended to explain how to overclock and its uses. It was made for those who have computers (moreover, motherboards and other components) that support overclocking. If you bought a brand of computer like Dell, Sony, Gateway, HP, eMachine, or any other crappy PC (not saying all of them are) that comes for a store like Walmart, Best Buy, or Circuit City, then this guide does not pertain to you. Even though it is possible to overclock these systems with software, it is not recommended nor advised. This guide is meant for anyone who has a motherboard made by ASUS, GIGABYTE, Abit, DFI, (sometimes Intel), or any other well known brand known for their boards and overclocking abilities. But be forewarned, not all boards made by these companies are made to overclock. Check and see if yours does before going any farther than this final line.
Note: There are ways to bypass hardware overclocking via software, but it is not recommended and can make your PC unstable, even rendering it unable to stay stable till the system is returned to normal. Overclocking software is made for boards that supports overclocking so that changes can be made without having to restart.
Further notes:
-Motherboards not designed for overclocking will not go as far in overclocking, become unstable sooner, and heat far quicker.
-Computers with boards that do not support overclocking do not have adequate cooling.
Why would you want to overclock if it could be damaging?
Simple, to get more out of what you payed for. Overclocking is similar to going and upgrade a car's engine by boring out its piston chambers and adding better fuel injection, air intake, transmission, etc..., but there is always a risk in doing so. But it all boils down to one thing: performance. It is hard to fry your system if you are careful and know what you are getting yourself into. If you are careful about what you do, then it is rather hard to do any kind of permanent damage to your system by pushing it to its sheer limits.
As with any kind of performance enhancement, there is a level of risk involved. The first and foremost danger is heat. Heat will degrade and damage your components beyond repair if left unchecked and will most definitely lower your system's life span. When you overclock, you are making your computer do more work than it is used to, thus it is going to generate more heat, so having a good cooling system is essential. If you do not have sufficient cooling, then your system could and will overheat. Overheat by itself cannot kill your computer though, the only way for that to happen is to repeatedly overheat it time and time again past the recommended temperatures. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRY TO STAY AT OR BELOW YOUR CPU's MAX RATED TEMPERATURE! If you go above this, you can risk harming your CPU. Do so at your own risk. Run your CPU at 5-10C above its max temp for short periods only and ONLY for benchmarking purposes only. DO NOT DO IT FOR LONG TERM!
And as luck would have it, you do not have to be overly worried about your system overheat as there will be signs before you system becomes a fried potato. Random crashes are probably the most common sign. Overheat is easily prevented by the use of thermal sensors which can tell you how hot your system is getting. If you see temperatures that you think is too high, then either run at a lower speed, or get better cooling, which I will cover later on.
The other danger of overclocking is voltage. Too much, and you can significantly shorten your components' lifespan. A small boost will not do much, but if you plan on a rather hefty overclock, you may want to be aware that it will decrease the lifespan of your computer's components. But this is usually not an issue since most people who will overclock do not use their components for more than 4-5 years and there is a good chance your components will not fail before 4-5 years regardless of the voltages running through it. Most processors are designed to last in upwards of ten years. So most of the time, loosing a few of those years is worth the performance gained for overclocking.
Disclaimer for my own protection:
WARNING!!! READ THIS DAMN WARNING!!! I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOU WHINE YOU BROKE YOUR COMPUTER SO READ THIS WARNING!!!!!!
Overclocking can really mess things up, and it wares down your hardware and its life-expectancy. In other words, the more you overclock, the shorter your computer will live (like how an F1 car's engine must be replaced after every other race). If you attempt to overclock, then I am not responsible for any damage or destroyed hardware when using this guide. Follow at your own risk.
Overclocking
This guide is meant for beginners and not for people looking to squeeze out every last bit from their processor. That’s when things become extremely motherboard specific. The goal of this guide is to try to make overclocking the core i7 an easy and enjoyable experience. Overclocking your core i7 is a must; if you don’t you’re a chump. This guide will focus more on core i7 920s, but ideas will probably carry over into EE and higher end chips with locked multipliers.
Recommended hardware:
1. A good cooler (Do not use stock if you plan to go past around 3.5. You will run your processor way too hot) (Noctua, ThermalRight Ultra Extreme or Megahalem are my preferred ones but read around.
2. DDR3 1600+ - You can get away with 1333 but with ram being as cheap as it is, why not.
3. Pretty much any x58 board (although some are better than others, read some reviews).
4. A good PSU with an EPS(8 pin) plug.
5. Paper, Pencil, and Patience – Write things down so you can remember your successes and failures. There is not much to play with in terms of the i7, but keeping track of what you tried can eliminate any frustrating experiences and also allow you to go back to a known stable settings.
Recommended software for stability testing:
1. Prime95.
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
2. Memtest86+ http://www.memtest.org/
3. Realtemp http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/
4. CPUZ - http://www.cpuid.com
Many people have personal favorites but the above are what I use.
Not all I7s are created equal:
1. So you read on a thread that someone hit 4 ghz on a C0 stepping processor with only 1.28 vcore and you’re wondering if yours will do the same. It’s doubtful, but who knows. It may take you up to 1.4 volts at least with a C0. That’s life; if you're unhappy, sell it and buy a D0.
2. Not all i7s have the same quality IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). Some are more temperamental than others and will refuse to run your ram at its rated speed without a huge raise of qpi/uncore (VTT). This is not common and often it can be a sign of the quality of the ram.
3. For the most part, D0's overclock higher and at lower voltages than C0 chips, due to refinements in the fabrication process. Late C0 chips benefitted from the same refinements, and random other batches hit 4.0 ghz at really low volts. I have been told that some D0's do not hit 4.0, but most will do so at a lower voltage than most C0's. A D0 is a more desirable chip, but it's not a must and this guide is still useful to owners of C0's.
4. Toms Hardware article about speed vs power consumption is flawed and based on one really terrible C0 that needed 1.5 vcore to hit 4ghz. Is a D0 at 1.2v at 4 ghz going to consume more power than a C0 at 3.6 and 1.32 volts? No. The D0 will use less. Power consumption at any given voltage will increase about 3-11 watts (avg 5 for every 100 mhz you increase). Something brough to my attention recently though is that this may differ because some chips are leakier than others. A D0 is by no means a guarantee that it will consume less power.
5. If you want to reach higher clocks, you may need a better motherboard, cooler, chip or whatever. This guide is not for advanced overclockers.
Key Terms and Settings Quick Guide:
BCLK – Base Clock - This clock controls your memory speed, QPI speed, and core speed based on whatever multiples for those settings you have. It's the most important part of overclocking the Core i7. It's stock setting is 133
Uncore – This is basically the speed of everything which isn't your core (i.e. L3 cache, IMC, etc). It should be 2x your memory speed but allows for multipliers higher than 2x as well. Stability will be greatest at 2x.
QPI – Quickpath interconnect - It's basically the intel equivalent of AMD's hypertransport. It's how the CPU and the X58 chipset communicate. It has multipliers of 18x, 22x, and 24x. The 920 should be left at 18x creating a 9:8 ratio between the uncore and the memory multiplier assuming you use the 8x ratio, which some claim offers the greatest stability. Although people have been able to run it at all sorts of ratios.
Memory - Memory is calculated based on either a 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, or 14x of your base clock. I recommend 6x and 8x. Depending on your mobo bios it may be called ratio or multiplier.
Ram Timings – This guide will only deal with the first four and the command rate. There are other guides regarding these. You can use XMP (intel's memory profile system) to have these values plugged in but it may set your QPI/uncore voltage automatically to 1.35 which may be more than you need (although it will be stable).
Turbo mode – This enables the 21x multiplier on the chip. Most boards allow you to do this with eist disabled, but some boards require it enabled. See if a newer bios lets you change things.
CPU Multiplier – On the 920 the range is from 12x – 21x (22x on one core when at stock speeds). It has been found that the 19x and 21x multipliers are more stable than the 20x.
Vcore – Voltage of your cpu. See below for tweaking instructions.
PLL – phase-locked loop – Just use the settings recommended below (1.8 – 1.88 is within specification).
QPI/Uncore (VTT) – This voltage is the VTT although it does play a role in feeding the IMC with voltage enough to overclock your ram, the L3 cache and a number of other things (Specification is that it should be less than 1.35 but when taking droop into account you can go higher, probably 1.4 is safe. Some ram modules have XMP profiles which call for higher QPI so some will argue that this is safe. I'm not going to argue one way or the other.)
Vdimm – Your ram voltage (Specification says 1.65 max but 1.66 is fine and so is a bit higher depending on your QPI/uncore voltage).
Important to do before you overclock:
EIST – Enhanced intel speedstep technology - It's a power saving tech that should be disabled while testing overclocking stability. This should be disabled while finding your OC, but can be enabled after you are stable (Disable if you have stability issues).
C1E – Another intel power saving technology. Disable while overclocking, enable afterwards.
Anything Spread Spectrum – Disable it.
PCIE frequency – Always at 100, but see FAQ questions below.
LLC - Load Line Calibration - This gets rid of vdroop when enabled and can help stabilize overclocks. It breaks intel spec, but it is highly recommended to enable it, since it will reduce the needed vcore for a stable OC. The argument for vdroop is that it's a standard and reduces voltage spikes. I have not been able to find anyone who's done any damage by enabling LLC and thus disabling vdroop. In an old anandtech review from 2007 they found that it increased power consumption on an X38 asus board; a newer xbitlabs article using X58 found that it actually decreased with more threads or was otherwise the same. This guide pretty much assumes you use it, but like anything else you are taking the risk. Then again, on my board, enabling it doesn't give you any red letter warning like when you maybe tap your vdimm above 1.65.
All other settings leave at auto unless needed for stability.
Initial steps:
If you've played around with any settings before reset your bios to its stock options. There's probably no need to reset your CMOS, but it can't hurt; if you don't know how to reset your CMOS then I suggest you learn to do so. It's unlikely that you will have to as most modern motherboards will usually have some sort of protection against bad overclocks and automatically allow you to reset the bios upon a bad boot.
Once your bios is at its stock configuration disable EIST, turbo mode, C1, and any other power saving options that may interfere with an overclock as well as any spread spectrum settings. Now, boot into windows (If you want to use the 21x multiplier then go right ahead and set it as long as you can do so without enabling EIST). Open up cpuz, load up prime and see where the voltage goes. This is your approximate vid for stock. The chip may very well run under this voltage, but this is the vid that the bios is seeing.
From here we have a number of different methods we can try. I always change my BCLK in my bios settings so that anything set to auto will adjust itself if need be, although you are free to use whatever windows based tools you want although beware of any problems they may cause you.
You should always set your memory to 8x or 6x depending on what you have and your uncore to 2x the memory. Leave the QPI at the lowest setting.
Set windows not to restart on a bsod (You want to know what the error was):
Windows XP and Vista Directions, but it is the same for Win7.
Method #1: Optimizing for max performance per watt.
This method takes by far the most amount of time but for many its worth it in terms of its power efficiency.
Begin by going into the bios and changing your voltage to your vid and setting QPI/uncore (VTT) to 1.25 (I have raised this due to concerns about droop at 1.2) and vdimm to 1.65 (Most boards can't do this; 1.66 is safe, ignore your spaz bios warnings; you are not going to explode anything, although if you do, it's not my fault. Set it to 1.64 if it helps you sleep easier. I recommend at this point to be working with either the 21x multiplier if possible in order to keep your ram as much out of the equation as possible. 20X has known problems and 19x will land you with high ram speeds quicker which will require raises in the QPI/uncore voltage sooner.
Open up real temp and run Prime 95 with 8 threads and check stability for an hour at least (The more the better. I recommend overnight just to make sure all is good). Record your settings on a piece of paper or email them to yourself. Make sure to have Realtemp open in order to watch your temperatures. Temperatures should not exceed 80-85 during Prime. During normal use for extended periods, they should never see these kinds of temperatures. I like to keep mine below 70 for normal usage.
After its stable go into the bios and increase the BCLK by 10 and repeat the process. Find the max BCLK for your stock vid (or any voltage, if you'd like by lowering by smaller amounts when you find an unstable clock. This will help you know what you can run at any given voltage.
See below for known Prime 95 errors and how they relate to your settings (also some settings to try for stability). Once you get to the clocks you want, I recommend running Prime for at least 16-24 hours. I have in fact had errors in the 14th hour so it's good to know that you're truly stable.
See also below for optimizing your ram settings.
Method #2: Quick and dirty method for 4ghz aka screw efficiency
Set your ioh and ich to 1.2, your vdimm to 1.65, your cpu pll to 1.88, and your QPI/uncore to 1.35.
For D0 users set your vcore to 1.275 and for C0/C1 users set your vcore to 1.4 and BCLK to 190/191 or 210/211 and multiplier to 21 and 19 respectively. Check for Prime stability. D0's should be fine, but C0/C1 still may not make it, at this point your temps may be too high if you're not on water, so I suggest you start working backward in order to hit a much lower vcore or use method 3.
Method #3: Quick and dirty vcore boosting.
Set your ioh and ich to 1.2, your vdimm to 1.65, your cpu pll to 1.88, and your QPI/uncore to 1.35. Set BCLK to 190/191 or 210/211 and multiplier to 21 and 19 respectively.
The D0 chip usually hits 4.0 in the vcore range of 1.175 and 1.25. Try those voltages until you find whats right for your chip.
The C0/C1 is a much more difficult beast with a much larger range of 1.27 to around 1.4 and up to 1.5 (Do not attempt on air unless you live somewhere really, really cold). Some may not hit 4ghz at all.
This method is more difficult as some chips may not boot until you give them the proper vcore
How to use Prime95 to test stability:
Open up Prime95 and Realtemp to check your idles and loads. Set Prime95 to whatever priority you'd like. I prefer 4 or 7 so that realtemp still updates but some people prefer 10 and will run without a temperature monitor. Either is fine, but I'm always paranoid that my cooler will somehow become unlatched spontaneously. Set windows not to restart on bluescreen by setting [insert settings here] so that you can catch the error (although windows will record it somewhere). Start a mixed torture test and let it run for however long, depending on if you're only doing a temporary stability test in order to raise (about 1 hour) or a true stability test (16-24 hours). Once you've passed Prime95 you can run any other stability test that you want.
Prime 95 Errors:
Freeze: Increase the vcore
Other errors can indicate instability with the chip if they are during small fft (increase vcore by .125) or instability with ram large ftt (Try raising the ioh and/or running memtest).
BSOD code 101: Increase the vcore. I recommend increasing by +.025 if you get a bsod
BSOD code 124: Increasese or decrease the QPI/uncore by .25. Depending on where you are in your stability tests you'll probably need to increase it. 1.375 is the max I'm comfortable with although people say 1.4+ is safe. This is for you to determine and research. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Intel says do not go above 1.35 so 1.375 with droop and loss is safe and not too far outside specification.
It is important to note that sometimes QPI can be too high and that might cause this code. That's why it's not a good idea to just set things to 1.35 and hope for the best. If you find that increasing QPI/uncore voltage is not increasing stability, try decreasing it. Just remember of course, to keep track of your settings. I recommend not increasing, unless you have to (Don't be arbitrary about it).
D0 exclusive BSOD weird 2 letter/number codes: Treat this as a 101 and increase vcore by +.025. Update: It seems that these error codes can crop up for other reasons. Depending on where you are in the process you should take a look at your other voltages. I realize this is vague, but you may need to experiment.
If any worker fails, especially during small fft then it's cpu voltage. Bump it once or twice. If it fails during large fft then its probably memory error you can try running memtest/upping ioh. I would try running small fft at that point for a good amount of time and make sure its not the cpu voltage. If it passes 8-12 hours of small fft then work on making it pass large fft. Just remember to keep track of your settings. That's not to say that a large fft error won't be the result of cpu voltage, it's just not what I would try. Be methodical. If something allows Prime to run significantly longer then keep it. Significant depends where you are in the process. If your workers fail as soon as you start and a setting change gets you through a test then I'd say its good. If you get crashes during the 8th hour, and the setting change only gets you another 5 minutes in the 8th hour, it's probably just random and not the setting.
Testing Memory Stability with memtest 86+:
Personally, I do not run memtest until I actually encounter what could be memory errors( I assume things work until proven otherwise). Begin by setting your ram timings in the bios and setting your QPI/uncore to 1.35 and your vdimm to 1.64-1.66. Do not oc your cpu. Just run your ram at its rated spec to make sure that the ram is stable and not defective. You can also check it again with an oc'ed cpu as well. If it's unstable try raising the ioh to 1.20 or higher. If you are still getting errors try each dimm one at a time and see if you need to RMA (A pain in the *** but necessary).
Optimizing ram with memtest86+:
Assuming your ram is stable you can either overclock, lower voltage, tighten timings, or all of the above.
1. Lowering voltage. Run memtest86 for 20 minutes, if you get errors, stay where you are. Otherwise lower the vdimm by .02 and repeat until you get an error within 20 minutes. Then run it overnight.
2. Overclocking. You may be able to run your ram faster than you thought. Loosen the timings(make them higher) and then increase BCLK. You can optimize your voltage with the above number one. Depending on the ram, you may be able to overclock quite a bit or not at all. Running your ram at anything above 1066 is in fact overclocking the IMC.
3. Tightening timings. Timings should be decreased as such. Assuming you begin with 9-9-9 your next step should be 9-9-8 then 9-8-8 then 8-8-8. You can also try 8-9-8 but this is going to depend on your memory. You may need to raise voltages to tighten the timings.
The usefulness of overclocking your ram is limited. See the useful links sections below to see how certain ram settings will impact your real life performance.
Frequently asked questions:
Q: I can't raise my BCLK over some number. How do I fix it? What's the deal?
A: Not all chips and motherboards are made the same. You can try playing around with voltage amplitude, pll, skew or pcie (pcie is probably best not raised as it can cause damage). This is a question that is better asked on a thread dedicated to a specific board. You may end up being out of luck.
Q: What are safe voltages?
A: According to Intel or common knowledge the following are the safe air temperatures:
Vcore: ~1.4
QPI/uncore (VTT): 1.35
PLL: 1.88
Vdimm:~1.65 (Some will say that you are safe within .5 of your QPI/uncore allowing for a max of 1.85 on vdimm. See the link to the xtreme systems forum below on this subject for a long thread).
IOH: Less than 1.3
ICH: Less than 1.3
Q: My chip is too hot before I can reach 4 ghz. What can I do?
A: Disable hyperthreading or buy a better cooler (Noctua, TRUE or Megahalems recommended).
Q: But don't I want hyperthreading?
A: It's certainly nice to have a feature you paid for, but it sometimes decreases performance and it definitely causes a lot of heat. It's up to you.
Q: How do I go past 4ghz?
A: Same way as you got there in the first place. Just keep increasing BCLK. Past this point though it's up to you to do some research on your own.
Q: What is this multiplier throttling I've heard about?
A: Some boards will throttle down the 21x multiplier if the wattage becomes too high. The culprits without public fixes are the Asus P6T Deluxe and vanilla (The Deluxe v1 has a bios available on the xtremesystems forum which can be crossflashed onto the v2 which will fix this problem) It really only becomes a problem at high voltages with high frequencies. Other boards have ways of disabling it.
Q: Why would I want to optimize my voltages?
A: Save money on power bills and leave more wattage for other devices.
Q: My chip was stable for X amount of time and now it's not?
A: Have you added any hardware? How are your temperatures? High voltages and high temps can cause decay and make the chip require more voltage for an overclock. It may also be that your PSU is starting to go or maybe your motherboard is. Do your best to troubleshoot this.
Q: My temperatures seem really high? Is X degrees ok?
A: A better question is whether or not you are ok with X degrees. How long do you plan to won this chip? What are your ambients? If your house is 40 degrees centigrade, don't expect your chip to drop below that unless you are using extreme cooling (also try to move somewhere cooler cause that's really hot or get some AC, are you trying to cook yourself?). A cpu well taken care of can last over a decade when run within spec. How long do you really think you're going to keep this chip? A rule of thumb I go by is never push a part that I can't afford to replace if I break it (I do this anyway, but its a good rule nonetheless). Your temps will always get higher than normal when stress testing so do some normal stuff to see if your temperatures are acceptable. Try backing down a bit if you are unhappy.
Q: I heard this will work or this needs to be this way?
A: Try it. This is a general guide, not a set of hard and fast rules.
Q: My computer restarted while priming; how do I find out the error?
A: If you haven't already, disable bsod restarts in windows. Sometimes, though, it decides to restart anyway.
Open Computer Management by right-clicking the Computer icon on the start menu (or on the Desktop if you have it enabled) and select Manage. Navigate to the Event Viewer. Note: If you did not disable UAC then you will be prompted to consent to the action you're about to perform. Click Continue. Note: You can also open the Event Viewer by typing Event Viewer in the Search box and pressing Enter, or typing eventvwr.msc in the Run command.
Also check the results.txt in your Prime95 folder for a log of when it ultimately crashed and what it was doing at the time.
Q: Whats the deal with PCIE frequency? Can it help break my BCLK wall?
A: Yes, but I advise caution. Raising this too much can damage things running on the pcie bus or cause them to not work. I would not raise it personally more than a few mhz. You are probably safe at 103, but I take no responsibility of course.
Voltages/settings you can try to use to increase stability:
PLL: 1.88
IOH: 1.2+
ICH: 1.2
CPU voltage amplitude: +800mv
CPU Skew: +300ps
Command rate: change from 1n to 2n
You should really check in on your specific board as not all boards have the same settings. Be methodical in testing settings since you want to know whether something helped or hurt by itself before you combine.
Useful Links:
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-4-a.html
Intel Info on the i7
QPI/Uncore voltage (XS) (Do not take this as gospel try to stay in spec unless you feel like really pushing things)
Info on multiplier throttling (XS)
Memory Scaling on the Core I7My i7 rig is with a socket 1156 board, an Asus P7P55D mobo, and an 860 CPU. I know the Corsair DDR3 memory @ its stock 1.65v simply doesn't run at 1600mhz like it says on its box - 1333mhz seems to be its stability wall.
I upgraded my Q6600 and Asus P5B deluxe rig because so many people said to never consider overclocking on an editing rig. Was that over-cautious advice? -
Recent Conversation with MSI and Neo4 overclocking "thing"
I had a recent email transaction with MSI if anyone is interested. I tried my best to represent the group, and I know we all experience the problem a little bit different which is why it has been hard to explain and fix. I tried to give them the best info to duplicate the issue in the lab. It seems clear at this point that MSI still isn't duplicating the issue. They are using 166 Mem Clock Index, and the HT freq of 3x and still not understanding the issue, hopefully I have gave them a guide to duplicate what we have been trying to say. Yes I have explained this to MSI before but I really feel I am getting somewhere with my last 2 emails. Once we get them to duplicate the results then I think we will all have our solution shortly. Before anyone says anything negative, at least they aren't saying, oh that's an overclocking problem we don't deal with that. Also remember how long it has taken to get many people to see the issue, this isn't easy to understand so just stay cool, don't say negative sh-t if you reply and we'll see how this pans out. It was actully kind of hard since I am sitting in a hotel room 500 miles away from the motherboard but I was able to use modbin6 to view the BIOS and since I have done this about 7 zillion times I remember the settings LMAO. They have their Venice to 2750, not bad...
Hello MSI Engineer,
The information you requested. The data you sent shows a Venice running at 166 Memclock index value at HT at 3x, the goal is to run at 200 Memclock Index and HT at 4x. In order to duplicate this issue in the lab here is my recommendation. It MUST be tried with a CBBID Winchester RevD CPU and a Venice Rev E CPU and the Gskill memory you have in dual channel. The issue happens everytime with a CBBID Winchester and less often with Venice.
Starting with the Venice 3500+, Set the following in BIOS
[Memclock Index] 200
[CAS# latency (Tcl)] 3
[Min RAS active] 11
[RAS to CAS delay] 6
[Row Precharge] 6
[User config mode] manual
[bottom of 32 bit] (default)
[1T/2T] 1T
[Read Preamble] 6ns (default)
[Async Latency] 6ns (default)
[S/W mem hole] Disable (default)
[H/W mem hole] Disable (default)
[MTRR mapping] Continuous (default)
[High Performance] manual
[Agreessive timing] Disable
[Dynamic Overclocking] Disable
[Adjust CPU FSB Frequency] 200
[HT Frequncy] 4
[HT Width] 16 up 16 down
[CPU Spread] Disable
[SATA Spread] Disable
[PCI Spread] Disable
[PCIe Clock] 101
[SSE/SSE2] Enable
[CnQ] Disable
[CPU Ratio] 11x
[Adjust CPU VID] 1.45
[Extra CPU Voltage] your choice for stability
[Mem Volt] your choice for stability
[NF4 Volt] your choice for stability
Now boot into Windows. Using Clockgen, increase HTT to 250. This should be stable based on your screen shot and your RAM modules. Now having a CPU 2750Mhz, RAM at 250Mhz, and a HT of 4x250(1000). Test for stablity with Prime95 or other Stress Testing tool. Now we can say motherboard is stable at 2750Mhz CPU, 250Mhz RAM, and HT 4x250(1000). Now return to the BIOS at set the following
[Adjust CPU FSB Frequency] 250
This reults in a no POST condition for me and others. Now install the CBBID, except you will have to set a lower CPU max speed based on CBBID overclocking potential. In the BIOS, Return [Adjust CPU FSB frequency] to 200, Perhaps [CPU ratio] of 10x or 9x but a [Memory Clock Index] 200Mhz. Boot to Windows and use Clockgen to raise HTT to 250 again. Once you find a [CPU Ratio] that will have a STABLE overclock with a 250HTT. Return to the BIOS and set [Adjust CPU FSB Frequency] to 250. Try and POST. Try this experiment with the 3.1, 3.3, and 3.4 BIOS's. For the CBBID and the 3.1 BIOS you should be able to change the [HT Freq] to 3x, 2x or 1x and get a POST with [FSB Freq] 250, [Memclock Index] 200, and a known stable [CPU Ratio] you found in Windows. The 3.3, and 3.4 BIOS have made this work around not possible. Why does [HT Freq] 4x work in windows but not at POST time?
As a side note. The 1.3 BIOS for the 7125 works with the Venice, and the 1.4 and 1.5 do NOT. So somewhere between the 1.3 and 1.4 MSI created the issue on the Venice. Perhaps that is where you can find the answer and solution to the problem.
Here are some articles that describe the issue on a ECS and Chaintech board that were remidied by a BIOS update. So the problem is not uncommon and should be able to be fixed.
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/chaintech-nforce4_6.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/mainboards/display/ecs-kn1-extreme_9.html
Here is some other users data of NF4 SLI and Ultra MSI Neo4's if you want to see some other BIOS settings.
https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=81364.0
Here is a screen shot of my Neo4 Plat SLI (MS-7100) 3.1 BIOS and CBBID Winchester(The Venice will NOT POST at all above [Adj CPU Freq] ~219-229 under any situation but is stable in Windows at HTT 250 with Clockgen). The system is stable and POST's when [HT Freq] is 3x, it will NOT at [HT freq] 4x which is stable in windows but won't POST.
http://home.comcast.net/~aicjofs/cbbidMSI2501.jpg
Here is another screenshot of the Asus A8N Plat SLI with all peripherals the same. Only changed the motherboard. This is POSTing at [HT Freq] 4x. This is just as a reference that the components do indeed POST with [Adjust FSB freq] 250, [Memclock Index] 200, and [HT Freq] 4x. This board will POST both my 3200+ Venice and Winchester CBBID at the settings described above.
http://home.comcast.net/~aicjofs/cbbid250asus1.jpg
The following are my BIOS settings that will create a non-POST condition, but the board is stable at these settings when ADJUSTED FROM WINDOWS.
[ADVANCED BIOS]
[Gate A20] Enable
[APIC] Enable
[MPS Table] 1.4
[Boot OS2] No
[ADVANCED CHIPSET]
[System BIOS Cacheable] Disabled
for newer BIOS
[SLI Brodcast apeture] Whatever default is.
[INTEGRATE PERIPHERALS]
[Onboard IDE 0 and 1] Enabled all channels in Auto
[IDE DMA] Enabled
[SATA 1,2,3,4] Enabled
[IDE PREFETCH] Enabled
[NVDA RAID] Enabled
[all IDE raid channels] Disabled
[all SATA raid channels] Enabled
[On Chip USB] 1.1-2.0
[USB KB/Storage] Disabled
[NVDA LAN] Enabled
[NVDA ROM] Disabled
[Onboard VIA 1394] Enabled
[Marvell Gigabit] Disabled
[Onboard Creative] Enabled
[SiI3132] Disabled
[FDC] Enable
[Serial Ports] Disabled
[Parallel Port] Disabled
[POWER MANAGMENT] all defaults
[PNP/PCI]
[Init display] PCIe
[Resources] Auto
[PCI Express Max Payload] 4096
[CELL MENU]
[Timing mode] manual
[Memclock index value(MHz)] 200
[CAS# latency (Tcl)] 3
[Min RAS active] 8
[RAS to CAS delay] 4
[Row Precharge] 4
[Row cycle time] Auto
[Row refresh] Auto
[Row to Row delay] Auto
[Write Recovery] Auto
[Write to Read] Auto changing this to known working value will lock system sometimes
[Read to Write] Auto changing this to known working value will lock system sometimes
[Refresh] Auto
[User config mode] manual
[bottom of 32 bit] whatever it defaults to
[1T/2T] 1T
[Read Preamble] 6ns
[Async Latency] 6ns Attempts to change this to 8ns will lock system
[S/W mem hole] Disable
[H/W mem hole] Disable
[MTRR mapping] Continuous
[High Performance] manual
[Agreessive timing] Disable
[Dynamic Overclocking] Disable
[Adjust CPU FSB Frequency] 250
[HT Frequncy] 4 (For 1000Mhz)
[HT Width] 16 up 16 down
[CPU Spread] Disable
[SATA Spread] Disable
[PCI Spread] Disable
[PCIe Clock] 101
[SSE/SSE2] Enable
[CnQ] Disable
[CPU Ratio] 10x
[Adjust CPU VID] 1.45
[Extra CPU Voltage] +9.9%
[Mem Volt] 2.7v
[NF4 Volt] 1.65v
BIOS Tested 3.0, 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4. I have not tested 3.51 but forum users are still not getting positive results
-------------- Original message --------------
Dear Aicjofs
This is MSI technical support engineer from Taiwan.
We receive some message from MSI LA office & Anandtech.com.
We are sorry for inconvinence experience when you try to Overclock MS-7100.
We hope to contact with you directly and help you to solve it.
Depends on related message from others, we know that you have several problem for MS-7100 overclocking.
According to your info at MSI Forum, Here is your system configuration:
Neo4 Plat SLI(MS-7100) 3.1 BIOS
3200+ Venice (8x313) @ 2500Mhz
Patriot PC4000 (200:133) 2.5-3-3-7
HT x3
Aopen 6800GT @ Ultra speed
AthenaPower 500W 3.3v - 26a 5v - 47a 12v - 28a
Could you give us more info about what changed item inside your BIOS?
[Memclock index value(MHz)]
[CAS# latency (Tcl)]
[Adjust CPU FSB Frequency]
[HT Frequncy]
[Adjust CPU VID]
[Extra CPU Voltage]¡Kor others
We try to Overclock MS-7100 with BIOS v3.2 and 3500+ (Venice core).
CPU ADA3500DAA4BW ABBWE made in Malaysia
Memory G-skill PC4400 512MB*2 (Dual Channel)
We only change some item inside BIOS as: (Based on Optimized defaults)
[Memclock index value (MHz)] à166
[CAS# latency (Tcl)] à 3
[Adjust CPU FSB Frequency] à250
[HT Frequncy] à3x
[Adjust CPU VID] à 1.450V
[Extra CPU Voltage] àOver VID 6.6%
We will try to find similar CPU as yours to test it.
If possible, please tell us the CPU OPN number like we listed. (ADA3500DAA4BW)
We also help to know any other info that you can provide.
If possible, please help to tell us more setting and system info.
Thanks!
Waiting for your responding.
Best Regards!
Technical Support Engineer
Technical Support Department
E-mail: msi.com.tw
[Post edited by Glenn]Quote from: Indigian on 15-June-05, 19:41:43
Good news and good work guy's
On a side note to chakkasol....
are you using coolbits 1 or 2?
I heard that coolbits2 is the one for our later cards
Good question - coolbits 2. I happened to take a chance from this website and downloaded this file...ran it up against my antivirus and antispyware software and it looked clean. I simply ran the program and viola, coolbits functionality automatically added to the winxp registry. I cleaned out the msi DOT drivers first before I loaded this program. Even though I have tweaked on occasion the winxp registry to speed things up and make winxp shut down quicker, this was too complicated for me to do on my own.
The highest overclock with the MSIs DOT is 11% at 555/1100. My MSI card is actually very stable at 580/1160 for a 16% overclock. I have gotten it to 600/1200 but I usually run the coolbits stability program a few times and it has never failed at 580/1160. I am sure if I had a better cooling system than the stock fan it would probably go to 600/1200 or higher. At a 3DMark05 of 4133 (and much higher if I could get it stable at 600/1200, I would be bumping up against the stock speeds of the 6800s vid cards.
EDIT: Of course, if you download this coolbits 2 program you do so at your own risk...I take no responsibility for the download.
The coolbits download:
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=815
The MSI 6600gt card that I purchased:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=321916
btw, I have ordered more stuff from ZZF than newegg...they seem cheaper (but dont always have the stock of newegg) and the stuff gets here 1 day sooner usually (west coast to east coast USA).
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