First overclock, question about voltages

[navek19]

Hello all,

This is my first overclock and so far it is going well. My system specs are:

PD 805
Gigabyte ga-p965-dq6
2gb OCZ gold 800mhz
X1600 XT
Zalman 9500
2 Thermaltake 120mm fans

I have ran Prime 95 successfully for 3 hours at 3.7GHz. When I went up to 3.8GHz and ran two instances of Prime 95, the "blend test" drops out after about a minute but the "small FFT" keeps running fine. It doesn't appear voltages are dropping. My memory is set to 5-5-5-12 at 2.1v which is the factory rating for the memory. I have bumped up the core voltage to 1.375v. The temps were at 56C at full utilization before it stops so I doubt temp is the issue. Should I continue to push the vCore or should I maybe bump up the FSB or MCH voltage? If either FSB or MCH, how much should I bump it up? Or is it something else entirely?

I am running memtest86 to make sure that is not the issue.

Any help is appreciated,
Kevan

 

[NaDa]

small FFT is for checking the proc cos it fits inside the cache whie the larger FFTs (bigger than your L2 cache) are used to test the memory. If large FFT fail and the small ones are running then its probably your memory. Try to use dividers to make your memory slower than find the max you can push your CPU. Also find the max for your memory.
And, yes, check the temperatures the Smithfiled 805D is nick named The Flamethrower.

Another thing to check is the temperature of your voltage regulators on the mobo cos these can burn if you push them too far. If they are really hot then buy some heatsinks (like the ones for the video card memory) and glue them, this should help a lot.
When you are ocing your PC is using more electrical power then at stock. These numbers climb linearily as you increase the frequency but when you increase the voltage you increas the power exponentialy.
Dont push the CPU too far with voltage you could kill it I think around 1.5v is safe. Look on the web for 24/7 voltage for that chip I am not sure.

*edit*

Didnt see you have the DQ6 mobo, it has some excelent power regulation just make sure you have some air running over its heatsinks. Those solid capacitors are really a must have for any overclocker. Nice mobo man
What HSF are you using for your CPU?
As for the voltages you need to experiment yourself. You have hit a wall you just have to find which one. I think its your memory. So try and use a smaller divider and push more.

 

[navek19]

You are absolutely correct mpilchfamily, 3.7 is good OC and I appreciate the objective viewpoint. If I find that 3.7 is the best I can get then so be it but this is a pet project of mine to expand my knowledge on something I know very little about so I am going to push it a little.

Nada,
My memory divider currently has it running at 760Mhz, since it is under the 800mhz that the memory is supposed to run at do you still believe it is the memory? If I change the dividers, what impact does that have on the overall system? I am running memtest86 now and it did show one error so far (I received none when I orginally ran it at stock) but only on one pass.

I currently don't have fans on top of the heatsink but they are getting a pretty good flow from my case fans. Do you think that is enough if I stop at 3.8?

Also, according to Intel, 1.4v for the core is max.

Edit: I have a Zalman 9500 as my HSF and used Arctic Silver 5.

Thanks again,
Kevan

 

[NaDa]

To tell you the truth I dont have a pentium 4 and have never oced one. I have two AMD Athlons64 and have oced them both
But it's all the same.
You have the FSB wall from your northbridge (965 chip), memory wall and the CPU wall.
You just need to find which one you have hit.
To test the FSB you need to use the lowest possible cpu multyplier so you dont oc you cpu and the lowest mem divider to keep the memory within spec.
After that see how far your memory can go and finaly how far your cpu can go. Then balance.
Try and experiment and see if a little voltage push helps on your memory, NB or the cpu.
You probably need more cpu voltage.
But then comes the time when you have to push too much voltage to gain a small difference, stop there and be satisfied.

I can oc my x2 3800 to 2.48 with 1.4v (stock 1.35) but when I push it to 2.55 I need (1.5v) and at 2.6 I couldnt get it stable it probably would need around 1.6v but I tought it wasnt worth it.

From other reviews I have read about your mobo the FSB wall isnt probable cos your cpu is using the 20x multiplier and you are below 200 and the mobo goes to 350 at least.
If you are keeping your memory within spec then its your CPU, push it more voltage and lets see if it can get stable. You really need to experiment every PC is different. Maybe try to get the latest mobo bios. Can you maybe take pictures of your BIOS settings and post them maybe we could tell you something better than. We are actually shooting blind.

 

[necron]

Hi, I have a D805 in a Intel Edition nforce4 board with a Zalman 9500 also. I found running the Vcore up to 1.65v i could get it to boot and run some benchmarking app's. Preformance wasnt that appealing, and it was far from stable. I was running it in Fourm Wars 06 for these screenies. But for every day use I have it clocked @ 3.5 with 1.35v. It hovers around the 60C mark under 100% load most of the time round this time of year (summer).

http://img266.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crystal10bd.jpg
http://img193.imageshack.us/my.php?image=crystal29le.jpg

My x2 3800 would post higher ALU and FPU with it clocked to 2.85.

I also have a GA-P965-DQ6, but with a E6600 in it, and I am curious as to how you mounted the Zalman? Did you remove the Crazy Cool? I want to add a Zalman 9500 or 9700 to it, but without removing the Crazy Cool.

 

[navek19]

1.65v? You are much braver than I. In the end it wasn't worth trying to squeeze another 100Mhz or so out.

I removed the Crazy Cool to mount my 9500. My temps have been great at 3.7GHz, 31C idle 55C load. So I am not sure the Crazy Cool does much. I would have liked to leave it on though. A lot of copper just sitting in a box 🙁

I saw a thread where the guy cut off the bracket corners and just used those instead of the whole bracket and he said it is working fine.
Check out this:Link

Navek