Q6600 overclock with SLI and an X-fi. Help!

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cje

cje

cje

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Hi all, I am having some problems with my overclock, first of all my specifications.
CPU : Intel Q6600 G0
MB : Asus Striker II Extreme 790i Ultra
RAM : Corsair XMS3 1333 DHX / PC3-10666 (4 x 1Gb)
PSU : Zalman ZM-1000HP (1000 watt)
GPU : 2x 9800 GTX+ 512Mb
Audio : Creative X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Pci-express
BIOS : Latest Asus 1104
Drivers : Graphics : 180.48 Creative : 2.17.004

First of all, thanks for reading this, any help would be greatly and immensely appreciated.

When I first built my system, it had only 1 9800 GTX+, then trawling through the overclockers UK online shop, I noticed that they had another batch of them in, so I decided I'd get another one.

I had my Q6600 overclocked to 3 ghz, with the FSB running at 1333 mhz, with the ram linked and synced. All was running fine, until SLI.

With SLI enabled I get hideous crackling from my x-fi. It only happens when I overclock my CPU.

It is fine up until about 1200 ish FSB and then the crackling starts.
I've set the Spp > MCp frequency to 200, and PCIE frequencies to 100.

To get the overclock I adjusted the CPU Vcore to 1.35 volts.

I've tried upping the NB and SB voltages a little, but not a lot. The system is otherwise stable, except for this horrid crackling.

Regarding ram, I've run the RAM at a slower speed, higher speed, nothing. If it's unlinked or linked, the crackling comes whenever I tinker with the FSB.

I had no problems before adding the second graphics card and enabling SLI. I still don't have any problems if I disable SLI in the nvidia control panel. I've tried removing the 2nd card, rebooting and then putting it back in.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, since I'm really annoyed and saddened with it all by now.
 
Thanks for your reply, yes I've tried that. Didn't have any effect unfortunately.

EDIT- I've returned all settings to stock, and got a freeze with little multicoloured blocks all across the screen. It must be a nvidia driver issue. I downloaded DPC Latency Checker, and whenever I open up a movie in itunes or youtube videos, I get massive latency spikes. Where the absoloute maximum before opening video is around 1000, I get spikes of up to 2800 and more. Does anyone know what cold be causing it? I have SLI disabled at the moment, so I'm confused.
 
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Might help, might not. When I built my new rig last week, I had issues with crackling audio and very slow gfx. Event log was full of Event 14 nvlddmkm errors (60/second) I was using Nvidia drivers 180.48 In desperation I dowlnloaded the beta 180.84 drivers which cured the problem. :D
 
I've tried every driver except for the new betas. Ill try those later tonight. Also, I get some crashes whilst everything was at stock settings. I was looking latency timings with DCP latency checker, and noticed horrible "spikes" of up to 16,000. When I overclocked the FSB back to 1333 mhz, no more spikes. I'm starting to think it may be a RAM problem. I don't know though. Totally confused.

EDIT = Forgot to say, I was playing around with SiSoftware Sandra Lite, and noticed that my latency spikes occured whith the memory benchmarks. (when FSB set to stock 1066). When I upped the FSB to 1333 and linked and synced RAM, I get almost no latency spikes. Does this make any sense?
 
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Could be the ram, i know for a fact not all memory modules are suported by the striker, well the 790 chipset to be more precise check out asus's qvl list though iirc then i do believe those modules are supported
 
Uninstall all your creative drivers.

Reinstall the older drivers from the CD.

Update with Creative Software Auto Update.

I'm running exactly same kit as you virtually but single card ;)

Q6600 @ 4GHz
4Gb XMS3 1333
Striker II Extreme
Gainward GTX 280
X-Fi Fatal1ty
Antec Quattro 850W
2 X WD Raptor RAID 0
 
Thanks, ill try that tonight

EDIT - as for RAM, I've been assured by Asus tech support that my ram should be fine with the latest BIOS 1104.
 
@Andy
Are you using 32 bit or 64 bit OS?

Because I thought that might be my problem. I'm using Vista 32 bit.

EDIT- Tried using creative software auto update, no matter what I do with the creative drivers, still the same, however, the further back I go with the nvidia drivers, the crackling becomes less and less....

Could setting NB and SB voltages have an effect you guys think?
 
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Running Vista Home Premium 64 Bit mate.

Had this problem with my old Striker Extreme (680i) but my Striker II seems fine. :confused:

Have you tried the NV 179.XX beta? Widely regarded at one of the most stable releases recently.

Also try just 2 sticks of RAM. Filling all 4 slots does put more of a strain on the memory controller.

Try NB Vcore of 1.45V
SB 1.5V
Set you PCI speed at 101MHz.

Also, try your GFX card in a different slot - could be a similar problem akin to the old IRQ sharing.
 
Thanks for your reply, I've tried swapping the cards around, but to no avail.

Will try 179 beta this afternoon, if that doesn't do it, I'll try taking 2 sticks of ram out.

I tried those voltages just now, didn't have any effect unfortunately.

Also, I noticed, no matter if I have SLI disabled or enabled, if I set the SPP <> MCP frequency to 200, I will always get a crash eventually. Doesn't matter which drivers I use, if I manually set the spp mcp frequency to 200 this happens:

my.php


I'll try those 179.xx betas now.
 
http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img15842yv3.jpg

EDIT- sorry didn't mean to double post, I tried to edit it.

EDIT 2 - Just tried it with only 2 Gb installed, still same problem.

EDIT 3 - Even tried putting the x-fi in the middle PCIE3 slot, still the same problem.

EDIT 4 - Tried 174.74 drivers, and the problem is gone!!! woo hoo. But why though? These are the only ones that work, if I go older, crackle, if I go newer, crackle.
 
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Update: If I set the SPP <> MCP frequency to 200 (what it's supposed to be by default) it crashes when overclocking, however, if I leave it on auto, it's fine, but the crackling is still there.

Does anyone know how I can measure the current SPP <> MCP frequency when booted up?
 
cje said:
Update: If I set the SPP <> MCP frequency to 200 (what it's supposed to be by default) it crashes when overclocking, however, if I leave it on auto, it's fine, but the crackling is still there.

Does anyone know how I can measure the current SPP <> MCP frequency when booted up?
Click to expand...

Stock speed is usually 200. I set mine to 201 when ocing ;)
 
Yeah, I've tried that, no success. However, I have found that the problem is down to the nvlddlmkm.sys Nvidia driver. With the 174.74 drivers, the crackling is gone, but with anything else, the crackling returns. Am I right therefore to conclude that it is a nvidia related driver problem, and that my hardware is fine?

Because no matter what I do in BIOS, how crazy the voltages are, or how conservative they are, nothing changes. It is extremely frustrating.
 
I bet if you check the event log when you get the crackle, you'll have multiple nvlddmkm errors. When I had the problem, the number of errors/second was directly linked to the refresh rate of the display. i.e. 60Hz refresh = 60 errors/second | 70Hz refresh = 70errors/second. I haven't tried the 174.74 drivers, only the 184.84 betas which did it for me. Been fine since.
 
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