Advise o/c using XFX750i

Soldato
Joined
4 Mar 2008
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Having some problems o/c using the spec in the signature below. I cant get a stable o'c at say 3.333GHz which is would have thought been quite achievable. My CPU voltage is 1.375, NB is 1.45 and FSB is 1.5. RAM is 2.0 with the timings set to auto. Speedfan says my temps are 35,29,31,30 across the cores at idle. The system will apear stable but after a short bout of gaming, the system resets. This also happened when I had a GTX275 so I dont think its the 5870 below doing it.

Can anyone help with getting a stable o/c
Cheers :D
 
650/750i boards tend to have a lot of FSB holes :( even changing the FSB 1MHz can be the difference between complete stability and instability.

Typically the best settings are 266, 320, 333, 400 and then above 460MHz, with either 8 or 9 multi.

Not sure if your overclocking the memory - but nForce chipsets don't typically like speeds above 667 - 800 is usually stable, but it can quickly drop off above that - while trouble shooting drop it down to 667 if possible until you've eliminated that possibility.

Have you memtested the memory? DDR2 Ballistix have a pretty high failure rate.
 
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First thing i would say is your voltages look too high - in perticular your FSB voltage.

More FSB volts often causes more instability due to it being more suseptable to noise. Even running a q9550 @4Ghz i woudln't think you'd need any more than 1.3V fsb.

I would suggest putting everything back to stock to begin with (voltages+clocks to auto etc) and start again.

Next set the memory voltages and timings correctly if this hasn't occured on auto. 2.0V if that is the spec, unlink and set the fsb such that it runs at 667 or 800MHz for the memory.

Boot to windows and find out your chip's VID. "Coretemp" will show you this.

Next return to the bios and set the core voltage to this (leaving everything else as-is). then increase the fsb speed still with the unsynced memory fsb) in smallish steps, stressing with intel burn test or prime95 tests at each step.

Your stock VID will often take you higher than you'd expect. My q9450 does 3.2GHz on stock volts.

After this just repeat the increase in FSB until it becomes unstable under load, then up the voltage by a small amount. Basic skt775 overclocking. Continue untill you reach your target, run out of volts (most would say keep core under 1.4V for everyday use), or hit the thermal limit (again most would say below 70*C)

EDIT: as mentioned above you may encounter some 'FSB holes' which in most cases will result in no boot, and you'll have to reset the CMOS and try a different FSB.
 
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Good news, its passed memtest so ram is ok and I'm not running it overclocked.
I've reset to defaults and downloaded coretemp. That gave me a VID of 1.1V. I went into the BIOS and the closest I could set was 1.125V so I've set it that. When booted backup tho, coretemp now shows a VID of 1.3! I'm not sure how to read that or its just some weirdry of this mobo (the o/c settings arent really extensive).
I jumped straight in with a FSB of 400 and no boot. I'm now going to try 8.5 x 352 which is a miniscule o/c to start. Should I drop the multiplier downt to 8? Would that be more likely to avoid the holes.

Cheers
 
8 Gives you a better chance to avoid them and better bandwidth on the buses - but does mean your pushing the bus speeds up a lot more to get to the same CPU clock rates - which can require more voltage.
 
I think my board may be dodgy. At stock clocks, it locks up within a few moments of running prime 95. I think I might look at getting another board.
 
Just as a follow up to this. Replaced the board with a Asus P5Q Deluxe and hit 3.66 on first go at stock voltages and ran Prime95 fine overnight. Highest temp was 78 but normally was hovering in the 60's during stress test.
 
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