Q9400 Overclock EP45T DS3R Help

[hanleyc]

[profJim]

Make the following changes to your bios:

System Memory Multiplier -------- : [2.40B]
Static tRead Value -------------- : [8] <== for memory channels A and B
Standard Timing Control
CAS Latency Time ------ 9 ------- : [9]
tRCD ------------------ 9 ------- : [9]
tRP ------------------- 9 ------- : [9]
tRAS ----------------- 24  ----- : [24]
CPU Vcore ------------- 1.225 <-- Is this set to AUTO? 1.225? Something else?

Many EP45 DDR3 systems have trouble with rated memory speeds when overclocking. The 2.40B memory multiplier will temporarily lower your memory speeds to 912MHz and this should help eliminate memory as the problem.

Posting that you got a BSOD at a specific setting is next to useless; we need details!!!
What programs were you running?
How long did the program run before failing?
What was the BSOD error code? 0x124? some other code?
You need to prevent windows from automatically booting after a BSOD.
Running the windows Event Viewer will let you find the most recent BSOD general information.

MCH Core that is too high or too low can cause boot loops or system crashes.
Have you raised CPU Vcore above the original value that AUTO set?

IBT or LinX are next to useless when doing stress tests.
I run these programs as a preliminary stress test for 5 loops using all available memory.
I cringe when I see others who swear that 20 - 50 loops (or more) is a thorough stability test.
Do you have your boot drive imaged in case a BSOD or freeze corrupts your boot partition?

Many times IBT or LinX will run successfully for XX loops, only to have Prime95 or similar programs fail, sometimes within several minutes and sometimes after several hours. I suggest running separate Prime95 tests for at least 4 - 6 hours every time you make overclocking changes. A system that is minimally stable will often fail within one hour, and sometimes within minutes. It's not really practical to run two 8 - 12 hour tests to ensure that your system is reasonably stable every time you make bios changes..

Details are important!!!
What would your doctor do if you called the office and said "Hey doc, I've got a headache, what's wrong?"

[hanleyc]

Details are important!!!
What would your doctor do if you called the office and said "Hey doc, I've got a headache, what's wrong?"

I hear what your sayin, but in all fairness,I am new to this, and I posted everything you asked me to with my BIOS settings, the ram link, and the CPU Z screens as well.

I dont have a image of my drive at this point, but have taken your advice, and should do that first, before I go too much further

I only got the BSOD after going to 3.2 ghz. At the moment, its running stable at 3.04ghz.

What programs were you running? Just booted into windows
How long did the program run before failing? about 5-8 seconds i guess
What was the BSOD error code? 0x124? some other code? I'd have to replicate another bsod to check what the error was, or it may still be in the event viewer.

Have you raised CPU Vcore above the original value that AUTO set? The original was 1.2 from memory (auto)

I'll make the changes, and see how i go.

[profJim]

You've done well with providing the information I requested.
It's all too common for o/c noobs to assume that we are mind readers or that there a simple answers to overclocking or troubleshooting issues. I got out of overclocking about two years ago and concentrated on troubleshooting problems. The world has moved on to several newer generations of motherboards and processors and I've remained with my LGA775 systems. Even if I "know" some answers to newer systems, I don't like to comment on specifics if I don't have first hand experience with the hardware.

In the past two weeks, I've seen a few new threads where the OP wanted overclocking help with their LGA775 systems. Unfortunately no forum members assisted them, as most of them have moved on to newer, more modern systems. It's very time consuming helping inexperienced overclocking noobs. Chike was the primary LGA775 contributor for several years, but he seems to have moved on or is taking a well deserved vacation from the forum.

Spend some time with Lsdme's excellent Gigabyte X38/P35/P965 (DS* DQ* S3) Overclocking and General BIOS tweaking Guide where you concentrate on the higher level concepts and don't spend time trying to master the details.
Another excellent information source are the following, excruciatingly long o/c threads that have a wealth of information:

• GA-EP45-UD3P - Won't boot with 450FSB
• Another Q9950 & UD3P Overclock
• Q9550 & UD3P Part Deux: The Quest For 500 FSB

Again, concentrate on the high level information, not the details.
If you post detailed information, you'll make it much easier for the LGA775 old timers to stop and add some suggestions when they occasionally take a look at what's happening in their former hardware family. If they have to search through the thread trying to find needed information, they'll probably take a pass and check out other threads instead.

I'm here to help you, but I hear nature calling and I need to spend some time preparing for my winter hibernation.
The weather is nice right now in the Pacific Northwest, but soon enough our liquid sunshine will return and it's no fun when there's constant drizzle and the sun becomes a stranger for about 8 months. Our relatively mild winters on the west side of the mountains are not a good time to go camping, do outdoor photography and ride my motorcycle.

[hanleyc]

Tried your modifications above, and it wouldn't even boot, so I am leaving them as I had them for now anyway. the normal voltage on the Vcore was 1.2125V, so I havn't gone up much.

[profJim]

Which MCH Core manual settings have you tried and failed to boot and/or BSOD?
A Memset screen-shot using the ">>" and SPD tabs will be helpful.

Now would be a good time to run Prime95 Blend test for at least 3 - 4 hours to see if your system is moderately stable with cpu = 8 x 380MHz. and memory = 3.2 x 380MHz. If one of the Prime95 worker threads has an error, save a screen-shot of the Prime95 window and note the elapsed time and FFT size that failed.

There is a Prime95 tutorial link in my signature.

[hanleyc]

The MCH core setting was set at 1.220v when I went to 3.2ghz. It is working at 3.04ghz at that setting.

Running prime 95 now...been 2hours and no errors so far. Thanks for the tutorial...followed it no problems.

Will get back to you with memset.

[hanleyc]

Ok I have tested for almost 4 hours with prime95, with no errors. I know I probably need to go longer, but its a starting point.

[profJim]

A single 4 hour Prime95 Blend test is a good start.
Some have had stability problems when CPU Host Frequency is set to 400MHz.
I suggest using 402 - 405 MHz with the 8x cpu multiplier.
405 x 3.20 = 1296MHz might need higher MCH Core settings.
405 x 2.40 = 972MHz and might be stable.
Above 400MHz you can also use the following memory straps: 2.00D, 2.66D, or 3.33D.
405 x 2.66 = 1077MHz memory speed.
Your best overall performance will be with higher cpu speeds even if the memory speed needs to be somewhat lower.
Don't be afraid to increase CPU Vcore one or more steps each time you increase cpu speeds.
When you reach your final overclock, you can then test with lowering some voltages where your system still passes all stress tests.

Another excellent stress test is to use 7zip or Winzip to compress 6 - 10GB of files into an archive, followed by testing the zip file integrity and then unzipping the large archive to a temporary folder. Any errors during these tests indicates that there are stability problems. Some have reported that their overclocked systems passed all extended stress tests, but failed this zip stress test.

The Memset screen-shot will be useful to ensure that no memory settings are out of the normal range.

[hanleyc]

Thanks Jim. I will try some more settings as you mentioned.

Just finished memset...here you go. This is after the first pass...... no errors...



Oh...btw I placed the extra 2 sticks of ram back in as the pc seemed stable for quite a number of hours late yesterday. Its been stable ever since, so I left them.