stupid question?

Ok no problems, wondered how the board knew the PSU temps! :p

Reboot into BIOS and go to the uGuru Temperature Monitoring page and set the CPU warning to 80°C and CPU shutdown to 85°C, the same for PWM's but 95°C and 100°C is thats possible.

The PWM's are very resistant to running at high temps but they don't work as well as they could so that's something we will probably have to sort. They are responsible for delivering the voltage to the CPU (PSU >> Mobo >>> CPU) and do get rather toasty once you start pumping vCore and running an overclocked processor (especially a quad!).

The Tower heatsink you are using does a fantastic job at keeping the CPU cool but most of these upright heatsinks tend to neglect the circuitary surrounding the CPU socket which needs a bit of airflow too. The standard retail INTEL heatsink design does blow a fair bit of air all around the CPU socket at the expense of keeping the CPU super cool, you can't win heh! :D

I made a picture of the areas of your board that may need some additional cooling, I'm sure you knew about the Northbridge but maybe this is your first time seeing the PWM area, it's the other bit of the board thats been given its own heatsink! :)

abitip35propwmnorthbrid.jpg
 
Ok so a quick recap, this is where we are now:

3200MHz CPU (8x400) DDR2-1000

The board in it's default state has let off a warning beep that the PWM's have exceed the normal safe level. This is based on a stock system and under normal clocks there is no way the PWMs should get that hot however these are not normal conditions as we are overclockers so its safe to raise the warning thresholds as until we adjust the cooling there gonna keep going off! :p

You would be suprised how little airflow is needed to prevent the PWM and Northbridge getting hot, in the absence of much airflow you encounter a condition known as Thermal-Runaway where the temps will keep building and building until you dealing with some crazy temps.

For the moment unless you can whip together some additional cooling we will back down the vCore and concentrate on testing the 400MHz-FSB (1600MHz System Bus) as with the processor running 3.2GHz (8x400) it doesn't need that much, probably will run with vCore on [Auto].

3.2GHz (8x400) - 500MHz Memory (DDR2-1000) but Reduce vCore
 
setter said:
Ive seen people adding additional cooling to the pwm using fans or antec spot coolers, also the bolt mod for the ip 35 pro is supposed to help a great deal
Click to expand...
Thanks for that setter! :)

Out of interest do you have any notes from your Q6600 Clocking days? I am interested to know what vCore you needed for 3.0GHz/3.4GHz/3.6GHz etc :cool:

[edit] actual vCore under load to be precise!
 
I certainly do mate, vcore as following.

3.0ghz, stock volts of 1.2750

3.4ghz, 1.3750 in bios, 1.376 @load

3.6ghz, 1,400 in bios, 1.416 @load

3.8ghz, 1.50625 in bios, 1.512 @load

All clocks were ran with LLC enabled

Hope this helps.:)
 
for the time being i can open up the side of the case and get a desk fan on there while we're testing lol! thanks for the pic info above, by the looks of things a new case is top priority. are we now looking for the lowest voltage we can get 400x8 running at?

thanks for the info setter :) i've had the vcore at 1.51 at idle but under load it drops to about 1.47.
 
setter said:
  • 3.0GHz = 1.2750v
  • 3.4GHz = 1.376v
  • 3.6GHz = 1.416v
  • 3.8Ghz = 1.512v
Actual vCore under load read by CPU-z
Click to expand...
Thanks that very useful! :)

nicnac1 said:
are we now looking for the lowest voltage we can get 400x8 running at?
Click to expand...

That's certainly a good option! :)

I also wouldn't mind you trying these things while at 400MHz-FSB

  • 2.4GHz (6x400) 400MHz-FSB (1600MHz System Bus) 600MHz NBCC (may not boot or be stable)
  • Test any other Memory Ratio while at 400MHz FSB that keeps the sticks running below DDR2-1066, I'm curious to know if sync [1:1] now works (DDR2-800)
 
pctestcard.com said:
Memory frequency can be set from the BIOS and also depends on the mainboard max RAM frequency design, some board allows overclocking.
Click to expand...

I can’t work out if you have an incredibly dry sense of humour or that you have genuinely posted the above advice, near the end of one the most comprehensive clocking/BIOS guides/threads on this forum.

Either way, it made me smile. ;)
-------------------------------------------

How’s it going nicnac/Big.Wayne it looks like you’re on the final push?

It’s great that 'setter' had known working ‘settings and fluctuations’ for you to look over – hopefully it will give Big.Wayne a bit more 'experimental leeway'.

I hope you pull it off - it would be a worthy ending to what's becoming an epic thread/effort (and appears to be floating under the forum radar.)

Good luck guys.
 
Last edited:
Hi Plec,

It's going well :) I'm really happy with that we're achieving and it's certainly all down to Big.Wayne! I hope after this he changes his name to Overclocking Oracle!! :) We'll have to look into ways we can make this accessable to all new overclockers... with Big.Wayne's agreement of course :)

Currently battling 2 issues
- final push to get 400MHz x9 stable
- (surprise surprise) cooling

Although for the second point i shall be investing a new case soon to really boost the airflow (any suggestions welcome) :)

Will get back on it tonight!
 
Nicnac1, with my q6600 cooling was also the big problem, my chip had a vid of 1.2750 which is prety much middle of the road in terms of the q6600, lower vid cpus need less volts for a given clockspeed, but tend to run a lot hotter, high vid cpu's ive noticed tend to run a bit cooler but need more volts, when i ran mine at 3.6ghz on 1.4v, temps were at 68-68-62-62, when i first tried 3.8ghz i was hiting 81-81-72-72 (not good) i ended up lapping the cpu and my TRUE cooler and puting 2 x 2000 rpm fans on the cooler, temps dropped to 68-68-62-62 (same as my 3.6ghz settings)
 
setter said:
i ended up lapping the cpu and my TRUE cooler
Click to expand...

Hehe, i bet that's made nicnac sit up straight. ;)

It's not as scarey as it sounds nicnac and there are lot of youtube tutorials if you do want to consider this - hopefully Big.Wayne will find a middle ground if you can't get 9x400 stable.

If you do end up lapping and getting the above clock you'll have come a long way since your original post.
 
I gotta admit Plec, i was a bit wary of lapping, but it done wonders for me, it does void your warranty though, as i mentioned above, good fans also really help, the sharkoon silent eagles i used are probably the best standard 25mm thick fans you can get, otherwise your into 38mm delta territory, the sharks are a bit loud but they are bareable.
 
setter said:
I gotta admit Plec, i was a bit wary of lapping,
Click to expand...

Understandable – i find it one of those mods (if it can be called that) that is both exciting and terrifying at the same time, doubly so when dealing with an expensive CPU.

I don’t know about your experiences but i've found that mine like to try and freak me out, once lapped, by feigning death the first time I try to fire them up. Every time, so far – i’ve only lapped 3 – every time they've failed to boot first time (b*stards!).

Unless you’re lapping an older or cheap CPU it’s always one of those tasks that makes you wonder if it’s a risk too far while you’re doing it. I think it’s because you have so much time to think about it as you’re working your way through the different grades of wet and dry. :/

If you’ve just spent in excess of £150, it’s always going to be disconcerting voiding your warranty in an act that could potentially kill your CPU with no recourse. I only lap if: i feel it really needs it, it's proved itself stable and when the CPU doesn't feel new anymore (if you know what i mean) – otherwise i leave it to cook.

The above has probably put nicnac off the whole idea even before he’s considered it as a possibility... :)
 
I think the trick to lapping is to practice on a few old heatsinks to build up your skills and confidence, I must have lapped half a dozen heatsinks before I had the courage to attack a cpu! :D

I did start off doing mirror finishes like what I saw everyone else doing but eventually settled for a quicker approach that just concentrated on making sure the IHS was flat, paper ranges from 240grit to 400grit, sometimes I may reach for the 600grit but I stop myself because otherwise I will be sitting there for hours obsessing over the finish heh! :p

I think around 400/600grit works for me and is pretty much the same grainy finish as the original IHS! :cool:

lga775lapped.jpg

Lapped Intel® Core™2 Processor fitted in an ASUS P5Q-E featuring Stack Cool 2 Northbridge and VRM heatsinks!
 
In my experience mate, i was scared ******** about lapping, i know how to sand things smooth from my job, im a painter and decorator, but the idea of sanding a rather expensive cpu was very daunting, once i started i soon got into the way of going, i used 400, 600, 800, 1200, 1500 and finally 2000 grit on both the cpu and my TRUE black, the cpu took no time but the cooler took ages trying to cut through the nickel plating, when both were done they were so shiny it seemed a shame that they were gonna be covered up.
 
Editing done:o, im a little drunk lol, though when it comes to lapping i tend to be very fussy (its the painter and decorator in me) i work with wet and dry every day and i find it a great way of sanding, less dust, smoother finish, the same principles apply wether your working with painted wood or metal or an expensive cpu.:)
 
um...i've never heard of lapping but i'm guessing from the above that it's sandpapering the CPU and heatsink?? I'm an ex-soldier and still not that brave lol!

back to the OCing...

Got 400MHz x8 running at 1.420V idle and 1.390 under load. it seems to be fine (load temps around 63C

currently running the memory at 4:5 so will try some other ratios and report back
 
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