Pentium D 805 OC Results

[Arthalen]

**EDIT** Updated Temperatures after a raft of changes to my system
My original thread got buried, so I thought I'd just post my results here.

System Specs:

Hardware
PentiumD 805
Thermaltake Big Typhoon with SilverStone FM 121 Fan, AS5
Asus P5WD2 Motherboard
HiperPower 580Watt Original
2x 1GB Corsair VS DD2-533
Asus Geforce 6600
Maxtor SATA 160GB HD
Thermaltake Soprano Case, Dual 120mm Fan Intake/Exhaust

Overclocking Results: STABLE
CPU: 2.66Ghz to 3.6Ghz (180FSBx20)
FSB: 180Mhzx 4 = 720Mhz
Memory: (4x180) DDR2-720 Cas 4-4-4-12 (1:2 Divider) (!)

Voltages:
Vcore: 1.35
VDimm: 2.1
MCH: 1.4
ICH: 1.05

Temperatures:
Idle: CPU - 41C MB/Case - 28C
Load: CPU - 65C MB/Case - 36C
Benchmarks:

Non Overclocked - 2.6Ghz/ DDR2-400
SuperPi: 49 Seconds
Aquamark CPU: 7,720

Overclocked - 3.6Ghz / DDR2-720
SuperPi: 35 Seconds
Aquamark CPU: 11,200

Thoughts
I'm really happy with this now. Its run rock solid stable, temperatures are stable at full dual core load with throttling, and I've managed to increase DDR Memory speed significantly. I was very surprised with how far I was able to push it! So far I managed to sync the speed with the FSB!

Issues
I believe the temperature readouts from PC Probe are incorrect by an order of 10 degress. Part of the problem is to do with the Stack Cool techhnology on these boards - I may be getting some 'bounce back' heat from the bracket that is holding the BigT to the underside of the board and causing a bit of a hotspot nightmare.

I believe there is some kind of Heat issue with the board though - it is a fanless design and the Stack Cool technology doesn't work IMHO.

Annoyances
Forgetting to set the jumper on an IDE WD HD. Set it to Master with Slave, but no additional drive on the cable caused the ITE Controller to scan the IDE bus for around 45 seconds on boot up before finding the drive. Not only that, Windows paused for 30 seconds before resuming its boot up.

I found the problem after a few days, but decided to junk the old ATA100 drive in favour of a SATA drive anyway

Future Overclocking / Upgrades
I'd firstly like to get a full set of SilverStone fans - the 111CFM really is fantastic, and the noise isn't too bad. I'd like to get one especially for the exhaust, as I'm hoping this will help temper off the CPU temps by getting rid of the hot air faster. That being said, the air coming out of the back of the case isn't that Hot anyway!

I know the chip can be pushed Higher, a lot higher - I can post at 4.0 Ghz and I had a tremendous fight with getting it stable at 3.8 while maintaining control of the temperatures. I was beaten in the end as the temperatures were high enough to start causing throttling while I was upping the Vcore to get it stable. The one thing I did not want was a CPU throttling on me, I'd rather have a slightly lower clock and better temps/ no throttling.

Unless I pull off the 'Weird Mod thought' below and its has a positive impact on my temperatures, I won't be going any further without Watercooling - and a decent budget to do it at that.

System Performance & Price
Awesome. Pure Awesome. The Dual core really is a great help to me maintaining work load while using Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Lightwave and a variety of smaller apps while having no slowdown, no annoying pauses - nothing! Its really fast too in CPU intensive, Photoshop filters take a few seconds now.

Truly is a great 'Bang for the Buck' system

Latest Update
At the weekend, I made several changes to the system to try and improve the heat dissapation on the CPU, as 70C was just too much.

Changes I've made to the system.
Rebuilt the motherbaord:
- removed the NB & SB heatsinks, cleaned up the paste and applied AS5.
- removed the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, reseated the CPU, reapplied AS5 and made sure every nut was evenly screwed down, and that it was tight against the CPU. Found a holding nut that was 1mm away from the board.

Modded the Case:
- Removed the grill in front of the intake fan, removed the plastic guard infront of the intake fan dust guard.
- Removed the dust guard from the Exhaust Fan.
- Strapped a 120mm fan to the inside of the case - pushing air across the motherboard from the intake fan across the NB, the BigT HS and the VR heatsink.

Cabling:
- Performed a major tidy up of the Cabling, NOTHING is in the way of my air flow.

This has all resulted in some temperature come down - a good 5C off both CPU & Mobo LOAD temps, which is great!

Sorry for the long post, hope it was insightful though

Arthalen

 

[Arthalen]

...Thanks for posting that ! your information will come in very useful for people asking questions about this chip !

Your welcome. I enjoyed the project over all

...im not sure where your going with the weird mod thingie, but if u didnt have a good contact now... im pretty sure you would know about it !

I agree totally

...maybe just a re-seating of the cooler / AS5 would sufice? a lot of time and expense can be ruined due to bad AS5.

Which begs the question, If I reseat it now, do I destroy any good work I've done in getting it to run how I have it ?

The old adage 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it' comes to mind

 

[Arthalen]

Well, I have some modding to do to the case this afternoon to improve air flow through, so while thats going on I'm going to have a go at re-doing the BT with AS5 again.

Hopefully, I'll see some Improvement and post back results.

AT LEAST I know I have a stable system to go back to

 

[Arthalen]

Can't comment on the Opteron for speed, but you'd be able to hit 4GHz+ on water with a decent setup. If you get the memory running fast enough as well, you can look at SuperPi in sub 30 range easy.

 

[Arthalen]

Enable ya trust account, and we'll go from there.

 

[Arthalen]

I've just fully rebuilt the system over the weekend, including stripping off every heatsink on the board and applying AS5. I've relaid the BigT with AS5 again, tested on the bench, I was right in thinking that the bracket underneath the board get hots :/

I've modded the case as well to improve the air flow from intake to exhaust. I'm even tempted to get a duct for the BigT from the side window - it does have an 80mm fan in it already ... hrmm.

Anyways, after extensive cable tidying I've also managed to squeeze another 120mm fan into the case to help direct air flow over the CPU/Northbridge and VR Heatsink as well.

I've not had chance to test this yet, probably another 2 days or so, but I'll keep the thread updated.

I did manage to switch it on this morning to check some BIOS settings, and the CPU Idle temp in BIOS was hovering around the 45C mark. I'm hoping after the AS5 settles down across the board I'll see a marked improvement in temperatures.

 

[Arthalen]

Hrmm, I'm tempted to see a pattern here - Asus Motherboards and Low Voltage PenD 805's....

My stock voltage is reported as being 1.275 in Rightmark.... and my chip hits high temps at just 1.425 volts.....

I've scaled off for the time being, as noted above. I've got some load testing to do once I have everything back up and running now that my rig is rebuilt.

 

[Arthalen]

For the record, I managed to POST my machine at 4Ghz, but couldn't boot into Windows. At the time, I had my voltage set to low really - 1.35 I think it was. I know the chip can do 4Ghz, just about getting the temperature under control.

I definitly think (as with all overclocks) the quality of the chip is affecting the temperatures on these things, the lower the starting the Vcore, the quicker the temperatures are ramping up for people clocking these.

 

[Arthalen]

Does any one really think it's worth getting new RAM / Mobo and buying one of these chips for £80 and getting rid of my current rig (see below)?

Will games run any better? or processing power be greater? (Significantly)

Cheers guys

Not for games - You'll be able to OC the chip to reach a similar performance level that you already have, but the only gain you'll see is with the Dualcore. So unless you use a lot of apps in Windows not at the moment tbh.

 

[Arthalen]

Updated the top post after making some changes to my system. I've seen a 5C drop in LOAD temp after the changes !!

 

[Arthalen]

I have the same stepping on my Core too, SL8ZH.

To find out the base voltage of your CPU, use Rightmark CPU utility.

Also, that SuperPi is very slow - mine is down to 34 seconds at present!
I would suggest you concentrate on raising the FSB and run the memory on a divider for now, before trying to raise the memory speed and tightening the timings.

1 step at a time, lol

 

[Arthalen]

Hmmmmm, 4Ghz seems like the elusive barrier to break without temperature/throttling issues for most people.

It would be really cool if everyone could post the reported Voltage required for the chip as shown in Rightmark CPU Clock utility, and also their max stable overclock with voltage required and idle/load temperatures.

Mine: Required Voltage: 1.275v

Stable: 3.6Ghz OC at 1.35V
Idle - 42C Load - 65C no throttling

 

[Arthalen]

got one on order now to go in my shuttle sd31p,

currently have a 920 3.2 in there at 3.8 ghz fsb at 240mhz, but this chip should be better.

I'd be very careful here. The 920 range is based on the 65nm Presler range, which runs a lot cooler than the 8xx Smithfield range. Remember, the Smithfield chip is basically two Prescotts bolted together, and runs very hot.

In your Shuttle case it might just be too much to see much benefit over your 920 :/

 

[Arthalen]

there all the same code, SL8ZH at the end, so should have no problem clocking upto 3.6 and past it.

The main issue with these chips going higher is the heat output - good luck to ya!