Z77A-GD65 + i5 2500K Overclocking - How to start?

[Chike]

Oh OK how does it go?
Remember if you have FFT size that consistantly fail run that FFT size alone first.

[Zach_]

I haven't tried it yet, will get home and try with I/O at 1.09 and I'll leave all the other voltages the same as before, maybe I'll raise PLL a bit to 1.85 if I fail again.

I will take Jim's advice and just run a large FFT test for 8 hours tonight, hopefully without any issues, if that's ok then I'll move on to small FFT tomorrow and hopefully I'll be able to declare 4.6 stable.

Also I've disabled automatic restarts after a BSOD so next time I'll be able to provide the exact BSOD code for you guys.

Will update soon.

[Chike]

No point leaving it to run all night if it will fail after 2 hours at the same FFT size it did before.
Make sure the last one pass for about an hour then run the default torture.

[profJim]

I checked the Prime95 Results.txt file and found the following sequence at the end of one Blend test loop:

[Sat Feb 05 15:09:50 2011]
Self-test 2048K passed!
Self-test 2048K passed!
[Sat Feb 05 15:26:18 2011]
Self-test 2560K passed!
Self-test 2560K passed!
[Sat Feb 05 15:42:20 2011]
Self-test 3072K passed!
Self-test 3072K passed!
[Sat Feb 05 15:57:45 2011]
Self-test 3584K passed!
Self-test 3584K passed!
[Sat Feb 05 16:13:14 2011]
Self-test 4096K passed!
Self-test 4096K passed!

The test then continued with 1024K and repeated the FFT sequence.
You can run a single FFT size test sequence or you can select a limited range of FFT sizes to test.

When I build a new system, I always do extended stress testing at stock cpu, memory, and graphics speed settings.
I also perform benchmarks at stock settings to determine the baseline performance level.

Did you check with Event Viewer for logged messages at the time of the earlier BSOD?

Once your system is stable at 4.6GHz you should run some gaming benchmarks to determine the performance level in the games that you play. You might find that game performance is virtually the same compared with performance at 4.8GHz or higher.

[Zach_]

Well, more problems!

My Voltages are currently:

Vcore - 1.37
I/O - 1.09 (Increased from 1.07)
S/A - 0.965
DRAM - 1.514 (Increased from 1.507)
PLL - 1.84

I started Prime Large FFT test and it failed on the first 400K FFT, got a BSOD after 5-7 minutes, this is the error code:
0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0xFFFFFA8007707028, 0x00000000BE200000, 0x000000000005110A)

What does it mean?

I'm testing again now with DRAM at 1.507, I suspect that I got the BSOD due to the DRAM voltage, happened to me before when I used 1.514 as well.

EDIT

Just got another BSOD, after 1 minute with DRAM at 1.507, I suspect that maybe its Prime95 that is unstable? I'm using 27.7

It's unreasonable that I pass IBT without an issue and P95 BSODs on me after 5 minutes.

[profJim]

BSOD master list with links to specific error codes: Bug Check Code Reference (Windows Debuggers)
TweakTown BSOD error code list: BSOD Error codes....
A web search using: BSOD 0x124 should help.

I think that cpu vcore needs to be increased.

**edit**
Try using 4 instances of HCI Memtest for a brief test.

[Zach_]

Ok, tried 1.39 Vcore (1.376 in CPUZ) and again a BSOD after 3 minutes...

*sigh*

Trying 1.4 (1.384 CPU-Z) now, hopefully that should work, sadly I don't think I'll manage to get to 4.8 :S

So far it looks ok, running for 4 minutes, no BSOD yet lol, could be a Vcore issue... but it's strange, wouldn't it be reasonable that IBT would need at least the same amount of Vcore as Prime in order to pass? It amazes me that IBT runs fine for 10 passes on Max with 1.37 Vcore in the BIOS and Prime needs 1.4? It's always been the other way around for me, I had to increase Vcore to pass IBT, guess the new AVX version changes a few ground rules.

One more question, I'm seeing Vcore as 1.384 in CPU-Z and Realtemp shows me 1.41, I think RealTemp is faking a bit, which is more accurate?

[profJim]

See what the MSI gurus at the MSI forum say about using load line calibration (LLC) settings and/or DVID settings.
You might need to test for stability with somewhat lower cpu speeds, find stability, and then try for higher speeds.

[Zach_]

I asked about that, one of them told me to not even bother with LLC on this MSI board and that every setting makes the Droop worse, it's best to leave it on auto, when I tried the highest level, I'd get a BSOD instantly on the non-ANX version of Prime 95... So it's on Auto and so far it's not drooping too much...

I edited my previous post, can you please read and reply? :) Thanks

[profJim]

The best way to verify voltage is to carefully use a digital multi-meter (DMM) and measure the cpu voltage using the voltage checkpoints on your motherboard.
An inexpensive DMM costs $5 - $15 on my side of the pond ;)