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Help with overclocking


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I have moved up from the "what should I buy" to the "how can I make it run better" section of the forums.

 

I have set up the system on XMP settings and it's running fine with 12GBs running at 1600 on the latest Bios. I have run memtest as per DerekT's instructions and all checks out good.

 

My goal is to try and reach around 3.4 and stable. This is a video workstation so I am going for stability. Any help I could receive in accomplishing this would greatly be appreciated.

 

Dave

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Are you using the stock CPU cooler? If so, I would advise you to make the move to a good aftermarket cooler such as the thermalright ultra xtreme 120 (TRUE).

 

I have moved up from the "what should I buy" to the "how can I make it run better" section of the forums.

 

I have set up the system on XMP settings and it's running fine with 12GBs running at 1600 on the latest Bios. I have run memtest as per DerekT's instructions and all checks out good.

 

My goal is to try and reach around 3.4 and stable. This is a video workstation so I am going for stability. Any help I could receive in accomplishing this would greatly be appreciated.

 

Dave

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Maybe it would be helpful if I let you know what I DO know. I have read and watched every article/video I could get my hands on. I have CPUZ, memtest, Prime, SiSandra, RealTemp and the Nehalam Calculator.

 

Right now the Ai overclock tumer is set to XMP. I understand about the B Clock, it's 133 now and if I wanted 3.0 I would need to change it to 150. I understand about the CPU multiplier. Where it starts to get a little fuzzy is at the QPI multiplier. On the calculator it lists settings of 18,20 and 24. The closest I have in my bios is QPI Link Data Rate and the options are Auto, 4800MT/s, 5866MT/s and 6400MT/s.

 

ON the Calculator Uncore choices are 12-30 and in my Bios, the closest I have is UCLK Frequency and the options are Auto and 15 other choices from 3200 MHz to 5066MHz.

 

On the Calulator Mem Multiplier is 6-15 and in my Bios the closest thing I have is Dram Frequency and the options run from Auto, DDR3-800MHz to DDR3-2133MHz.

 

I understand that Uncore needs to be greater than twice the mem multiplier and I can see how I could do that but where to start and how it influences the installed memory I'm not sure. And I also notice if I switch it to manual from XMP I get different options.

 

Is there a formula that correlates these numbers to the numbers I need to plug into the Calculator? I watched a video on overclocking with an Intel motherboard where the multipliers matched in the Bios to what was on the calculator, just having a little difficulting wrapping my head around this.

 

So going down my Bios.

 

Should I use Manual or XMP for overclocking?

CPU ratio setting: 20?

SpeedStep Enabled/Disabled

Turbo Enabled/Disabled

BCLK Frequency 133 and increase in what increments and run memtest

PCIE Frequency (Haven't really seen anything on this)

Dram Frequency

UCLK Frequency

QPI Link Data Rate

 

Dram Timing Control- Should I manually enter numbers or leave in Auto?

 

In XMP QPI/Dram voltage is set to 1.35000 and the Dram Bus Voltage is set to 1.60. When I change to Manual these all go to auto. I am a little nervous about leaving them in auto, not sure how high they would go.

 

I ran prime last night for about 8 hours and the maximum temperature on any core was 59C so I believe I am OK with the cooling.

 

Thanks again and any help would greatly be appreciated.

 

Dave

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I knew if I kept at it long enough, I could grasp this. It appears I have reached a point better than I hoped. Now I'm sure 3.4 and 1700 on 12gb of ram wouldn't excite many but for me it's great.

 

But before I get too excited or burn something up I wanted to post my results. I didn't change any voltage settings manually, I adjusted Bclk in 5 point increments, memtested and prime95 tested each time. It failed to post at 180. I backed it off to 170 and adjusted the memory up and the memory posted at 9-9-9-24 and is running at 1700.

 

I ran prime for about 30 minutes, rebooted and ran it for 15 minutes to make sure and to capture the screen shots.

 

I just want to make sure that leaving the voltages in "auto" won't somehow make the voltages go too high. If someone could confirm this it would be greatly appreciated. As you can see by the screen shots, it didn't go much over 70C.

 

Thanks

 

Dave

3.4_1700_screenshot.thumb.png.64956479d5c8148b359cfcc21ba77e83.png

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Right now the Ai overclock tumer is set to XMP. I understand about the B Clock, it's 133 now and if I wanted 3.0 I would need to change it to 150. I understand about the CPU multiplier. Where it starts to get a little fuzzy is at the QPI multiplier. On the calculator it lists settings of 18,20 and 24. The closest I have in my bios is QPI Link Data Rate and the options are Auto, 4800MT/s, 5866MT/s and 6400MT/s.

 

Set the QPI Link the first value under Auto. For this above setting, 48000MT/s is correct.

 

ON the Calculator Uncore choices are 12-30 and in my Bios, the closest I have is UCLK Frequency and the options are Auto and 15 other choices from 3200 MHz to 5066MHz.

 

Set to 2 X memory. ie 1600Mhz memory = 2 X 1600Mhz = 3200Mhz.

 

On the Calulator Mem Multiplier is 6-15 and in my Bios the closest thing I have is Dram Frequency and the options run from Auto, DDR3-800MHz to DDR3-2133MHz.

 

I understand that Uncore needs to be greater than twice the mem multiplier and I can see how I could do that but where to start and how it influences the installed memory I'm not sure. And I also notice if I switch it to manual from XMP I get different options.

 

Is there a formula that correlates these numbers to the numbers I need to plug into the Calculator? I watched a video on overclocking with an Intel motherboard where the multipliers matched in the Bios to what was on the calculator, just having a little difficulting wrapping my head around this.

 

So going down my Bios.

 

Should I use Manual or XMP for overclocking?

CPU ratio setting: 20?

SpeedStep Enabled/Disabled

Turbo Enabled/Disabled

BCLK Frequency 133 and increase in what increments and run memtest

PCIE Frequency (Haven't really seen anything on this)

Dram Frequency

UCLK Frequency

QPI Link Data Rate

 

Dram Timing Control- Should I manually enter numbers or leave in Auto?

 

In XMP QPI/Dram voltage is set to 1.35000 and the Dram Bus Voltage is set to 1.60. When I change to Manual these all go to auto. I am a little nervous about leaving them in auto, not sure how high they would go.

 

I ran prime last night for about 8 hours and the maximum temperature on any core was 59C so I believe I am OK with the cooling.

 

Enter your BIOS and set to these values:

 

AI Overclock Tweaker

Ai Overclock Tuner = X.M.P.
CPU Ratio Setting = 20
BCLK Frequency = 160
PCI-e Frequency = 100
DRAM Frequency = DDR2-1600

Voltages

CPU Voltage = Auto
CPU Pll Voltage = Set to one below Auto
QPI/DRAM Voltage = Leave this at the XMP set value
IOH Voltage = Set to one below Auto
IOH PCIe Voltage = Set to one below Auto
ICH Voltage = Set to one below Auto
ICH PCIe Voltage = Set to one below Auto
DRAM Bus Voltage = 1.65v

Advanced -> CPU Configuration

CPU Ratio Setting: 20
C1E Support: Enable
Hardware Prefetch: Enable
Adjacent Cache Line Prefetch: Enable
Intel Virtualization Tech: Enable
CPU TM Function: Enable
Execute Disable Bit: Enable
Intel HT Technology: Enable
Active Processors: All
A20M: Disable
Intel C-State Technology: Enabled
   C-State = C7

Shut your system down, boot to the Memtest CD and allow for two full passes. Then, if stable, enter Windows and post screenshots of the CPU-z CPU, Memory and SPD tabs.

 

What BIOS version are you using? Can you set the multiplier from 20 to 21?

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DerekT,

 

Seems like we may be one email in lag...

 

After the email you are answering I dove in. I figured the best way to learn was to do it. As not to repeat the post I made some changes and posted a screen shot of CPUZ, Prime95, and realtemp. That was my last post.

 

My goal was to reach 3.2 with the ram running at 1600, which I think I exceeded.

 

Everything seems great but my only concern was that since I left most things in auto, I wasn't sure if the bios would overvolt anything. Now , if what I have done is unsafe, please advise and I will start with your last post and reenter the values.

 

Thanks a lot for your help!

 

I took another screen shot of all three windows and attached it.

 

Dave

Three_images_CPU.thumb.png.362789b5b1351a35d0f051ec65ff7b4b.png

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Good stuff. That ability to run with the Turbo Multiplier all the time, even when the Turbo is disabled, is quite useful and was only released last BIOS. ASUS engineered :D:

 

 

 

DerekT,

 

Yes I can raise the multiplier from 20 to 21.

 

Thanks a LOT!

 

Dave

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