[SOLVED] Overclocking an Intel Xeon X5470 on a GA-EP45T-Extreme

[ishen90]

Hi All,


My first post here on the forums, been a forum lurker for a while however I haven't had the need to post until now. Since it is my first post I will briefly introduce myself. I am from Sydney Australia and am currently studying a business/finance degree full time (2nd year). I've recently starting building PC's from scratch and so far I have put together 3 or 4 in total (mainly for family), I've always had an interest in computers and it is always satisfying having your project boot up the first time . Well we know that doesn't always happen the first boot!


So recently I decided to set myself a challenge of building a budget computer recycling some old parts that were donated. I will include the specifications below, I am using the 771 to 775 conversion mod as it seems to be the most cost effective solution.


Mobo: GA-EP45T-Extreme
CPU: Intel Xeon X5470 (3.33ghz - 333Mhz x 10 Multiplier)
RAM: DDR3 4GB G.Skill PC3-12800 - Part Number F3-17000CL11-4GBXL
PSU: 650W
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper212 EVO
GPU: NVIDIA Geforce 8600GT (This is a temporary GPU as I am considering the possibility of a GTX 970)
HDD: Toshiba 500GB (SATA 6.0gb/s) 2.5"
Optical Drive: LG 24x DVD-RW


I choose the X5470 CPU as it had good reviews with regards to its overclocking capabilities however I've hit a bit of a road block during the overclocking process. The MIT program within the BIOS gives you quite a lot of room to adjust settings however I am a little confused as to which settings are the appropriate ones to change. So far I have been able to adjust the CPU host frequency in order to achieve a Core speed of 3.99 GHz [3.99 x (6-10)] while still maintaining a default CPU VCore of 1.25V. I have stress tested this configuration with IntelBurnTest @ Maximum RAM for 10 rounds with no stability issues.


I have tried the following CPU VCore figures with no success of breaking the 4GHz mark, the PC will simply not boot when there is a CPU Host Frequency > 399.


CPU Host Frequency CPU VCore
403 MHz 1.25V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.25625V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.26250V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.26875V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.27500V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.28125V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.28750V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.29375V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.30000V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.30625V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.31250V (Failed Boot)
403 MHz 1.31875V (Failed Boot)
400 MHz 1.31250V (Failed Boot)
400 MHz 1.32500V (Failed Boot)


I even set the CPU VCore to 1.4V and the PC still failed to boot. For further reference I have attached some pics of how my current MIT is set up. Any help or direction would be greatly appreciated.

 

[ihog]

I'm not well versed in Xeons, but maybe try raising the reference voltage to the value of the vcore. Then try raising the PLL voltage some.

 

[Shadowman357]

I've had some success with an x5470 on a similar ep45-ud3p gigabyte board with MIT. Chips always vary but I've been able to hit 4.5ghz with plenty of heat, I had to get a big Phanteks dual fan cooler. Here's my voltage settings to compare and maybe give these a shot:

Pll - 1.57
Term - 1.34
Vcore - 1.4
Mch - 1.42

It's pretty aggressive and one core fails prime95 small fft but hours of gaming at 90+% cpu has been just fine. Good luck

 

[qzma82]

Hi there, maybe late but u may still have same problem so...
I have the same x5470 on striker 2 extreme (790i nforce) and i had same cpu on dfi dk p45-t2rs and msi p7n2... + 4x2gb xpower ddr3 2000Mhz (on dfi 4x2gb mushkin black ddr2 1066)
From my experience you dont need vcore more than 1.28 for ~4Ghz and fsb over 400 is dependable on mobo (only on s2e i could get 450, previous two not an 1 over 400, strange)!
But to get it stable on 4Ghz, and on some boards even stock i had to play with gtlref!!!
All voltages was never off the chart for any of mb, maybe vtt on p7n2 was yellow ~1.36v
on s2e "approximately" thees are best (and of course this is for my chip only, you must find yours
gtlref0 -30
gtlref1 +15
gtlref2 -30
gtlref3 +15
and on previous boards i think all that mattered was about gtlref0 -20
so i think you have to play with gtl and maybe with mem because i had lot of problems there...
example 1800 (450*9) was hard on mb and i had cold boot problems but stable, 1776 (444*9) not stable from cpu, 1750 -sweet spot

 

[prince_xaine]

I've had some success with an x5470 on a similar ep45-ud3p gigabyte board with MIT. Chips always vary but I've been able to hit 4.5ghz with plenty of heat, I had to get a big Phanteks dual fan cooler. Here's my voltage settings to compare and maybe give these a shot:

Pll - 1.57
Term - 1.34
Vcore - 1.4
Mch - 1.42

It's pretty aggressive and one core fails prime95 small fft but hours of gaming at 90+% cpu has been just fine. Good luck

I know this is quite an old thread, but how long did your computer last at those settings? Is it still going strong?