Intel 2180 - what should I expect?

Stonedofmoo

Stonedofmoo

Stonedofmoo

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Joined
24 Oct 2002
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Portsmouth
Hi all

I've just built my first PC in years. It's a cheapo rig for now until the new quad cores come into circulation.

Basic spec is:-
Intel 2180 2gig
4gig Geil PC6400 (4x1gig)
MSI Neo2-FR P35 Motherboard
Asus GF8800GT
Tagen 480w PSU

Right now I've already discovered just how excellent the Geil memory is, I can get that to DDR920 12-4-4-4 @ 2.1v and it runs that happily in Memtest. I will probably run it at 910DDR though to be on the safe side.

The CPU on the other hand is a disappointment. It will run at 2.8gig (10x280fsb) at stock voltage and be quite happy, but if I set it to 3gig like most people seem too, if requires lots more than stock voltage. In fact it's ticking over in Prime95 at the moment using 1.35v, the stock is 1.3 or something like that.

How far should I push the voltage? I'm guessing it's not got much left in it if it's already requiring 3 notches more voltage in the BIOS to reach 3gig. I'm just disappointed as on Tomshardware they got a cheaper 2140cpu to 3.5gig with barely any extra voltage :(

Any idea's people? :)
 
Oh and something else a bit strange, the Prime95 test keeps failing on one core only? It can be one core or the other but it always fails on one while the other keeps going. Is that normal?
 
Anyone? What is the max voltage I should consider for one of these chips. Stock voltage appears to be about 1.3v on my chip. I've gone up to 1.36 in search of stability but not found it yet.

Cheers
 
Really?

I have one of those Artic cooling Freezer 7 Pro heatsink and fans and so far I've not seen more than 50c. I'll try boosting the voltage then, I suppose if it dies another won't cost much :)
 
Mine runs at voltage as in sig (bios setting). With vdroop it varies from 1.36 to 1.37 (cpuz).
 
you can give it more volts until the temps are getting north of 68 degrees or so.

if you're only seeing 50 degrees don't worry about kicking the volts up
 
Mine happily does 3Ghz on stock which is 1.275v and is currently running at 3.2Ghz on 1.328v.
Cant seem to get it stable past that currently but I think thats due to the crappy cooling on my Northbridge as the CPU temp is only topping out at 51c with a Tuniq on min fan speed.
 
How much does the power supply matter?

I have a Tagen 480w, but it's a couple of years old now and may not have the right amounts of power on the right rails.

I've tried up to 3.2gig but even with 1.45v it just won't run stable, I think my chip is a bit rubbish!
 
Its possible you may just have a bad chip, although as you said that Tagen is a few years old now (I still have one, great PSU) and may be holding you back.
Have a look at your voltage droop on you CPU and 12v in Everest and CPUID, should give you an indication as to is the PSU is man enuf for the job.
If that's the case then a Corsair HX 520 will handle everything you can throw at it no problem.
Also, how are you testing. Orthos ??
If so, try running a small FFT test and see if its stable, it may be that you need a few more volts on your nothbridge.
 
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Mine needed 1.5V to get over 3.6GHz, but it's totally stable there now. You will need good cooling for those sorts of voltages.
 
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