Like to Overclock my QX9650

[Guest ziporama]

Here are my stable 9650 settings on a Gigabyte X38DQ6 board:Normal setup (4GHz)1.5V BIOS setting (in practice, 1.45 to 1.48V)401MHZ FSB102 MHz PCIEx 2.5x multiplier on memory (~1GHz memory) - a weird number, I know10x multiplier5 5 5 15 timing (OCZ memory 2x2Gb)+0.1V on MCH~62 to 65C temperature reportedBenchmark setup (5.1GHz)1.65V BIOS setting510MHz FSB (note, deadzone between 430 and 490MHz)8 8 8 18 timing (Corsair Dominator 2x1Gb) - can't run 4Gbs2.2V memory10x multiplier102 MHz PCIEx +0.2V on MCH (added 80mm air cooling)4x 120mm fans on the caseBoth setups on a Swiftech water MCR220 radiator (2x 120mm fans), Swiftech Apogee GTX CPU cooler, Swiftech MC655 magnetic impeller pump.Max temperature reported CoreTemp or BIOS 67C under Prim95 multithreaded.Cheers,Etienne

[Guest D17S]

Will it still run at 4 at lower Vcore? The 2.5x memory multiplier is running the memory at 400 x 2.5 = 1G. That's fine . . . but only for guys with DDR2-1066 (1.066G rated) memory or greater. With DDR2-800, the memory multi needs to be 2X (400 x 2 = 800). The Asus boards do this math for you and just give the actual ram speed to select. I see the GB boards make you get out your calculator. No biggie either way. "(note, deadzone between 430 and 490MHz)" Play with the tRD setting. The board is getting too aggressive with tRD too quickly. Force it to slow down a bit and you'll get this area back. I don't know what it would be called on that board, but I'll bet it's there somewhere. OP: disregard all this tRD techno chatter. This'll come come later. I'm just a bit concerned about that 1.5 Vcore.

[Guest ziporama]

I'm not able to run stable (read, pass Prime or Ortho) with 4Gb of memory at anything less than 1.5 VCore in the F8 BIOS, which in practice is actually quite a bit less (0.45 to 0.49) - the Gigabyte BIOS seems to be very generous. Voltage is is all over the place in fact, usually lower than higher. More accurately, the more load, the more towards 0.49 it gets - as it should.On the memory, yes, both my Corsair and OCZ are rated at 2.1V 1066 DDR2 - the Gb board defaults DDR to 1.8V, so a bump of 0.3 to 0.4 is needed to run "at spec".The memory timing, 2.5 uses what Gigabyte calls "A" latch - still not clear on what that means exactly as I was unable to find much on the subject. There are A/B/C/D latching provided - the net info on this seems to point to tighter latching with "A" than "D". Another item of interest is that the latching doesn't allow all memory multipliers, and a 2.x is actualy 1.x in most BIOS. Cheers,Etienne

[Guest D17S]

The Vcore should decrease under load, Not increase. This is called VDroop and Vdroop is good. As the load is removed, voltage will spike up before the regulator can react. This spike needs to remain below Vmax. If Vcore is running at 1.49 under load, the unload spike will go beyond a Vmax of 1.5. Intel builds this Vdroop feature into its chip sets for just this purpose. Some mobos makers put a bios setting in to defeat this function for users that think they know better. They don't. Vcore should Droop under load. It if doesn't, this chip set function is not working . . . for some reason. As you have observed, don't trust the bios Vcore setting. Use CPUZ or Everest to monitor Vcore. That latch thing sounds like something memory related, and not related to tRD.

[Guest jonny-jo]

Hi sam, thanks for your input, I just wanted to ask you about temps, I sorted out everest but the temps seem very high so read a thread here on avsim, so I installed Real Temps 2.60 and am running prime95(64 bit) on test maximum temps are:Real Temps version 2.60: 61c 65c 67c 63c Everest Ultimate: 73C 77c 77c 73CHow do these seem to you?Thanks

[Guest D17S]

The Everest numbers sound correct. That's right where they should be. Don't know what's going on with realtemp. That realtemp guy's article was all over the place. Don't trust it.

[Guest jonny-jo]

Thank you Sam,That makes me feel confident,( I just wasn't sure about where the temps should be!) I'll apply the FSX settings you recommended, although I haven't reached 4.00ghz the differences in performance is very noticeable in FSX so as they say" I'm a very happy bunny" Thanks for your expertise and advice.btw the gpu is running @ 81c diode- 72c memory - 65c ambient (being an Ge 8800 Ultra) Harry.

[Noel 4,501]

>Agree with above, 4GHz 400x10 sounds nice but to hit it>you'll need to max the CPU voltage and generate a lot of heat>under load. >>I dropped back to 3.85 350x11, and was able to drop the>voltage and heat, significantly.>>Makes visible no difference in FSX , enjoy your setup.I run my QX at 4.2Ghz for FSX. It's just that many more frames is all. And thanks to the APC UPS I just installed, I can see there is neither an issue with temp or CPU voltage, or total power to run the beast. At 4.2Ghz, 4GB mem upped to 1600, and an overclocked GPU, and my LCD display, she uses about 285W peak. 190W idle, and that's nuttin. Core temp stays between 50 and 62C at peak load, and down to under 22C at idle. I have effective cooling, and now a better power source, I hope. I was silly and bought the 1500W ACP which was obviously crazy overkill as it turns out, and even the 1300W was too. It was only $30 more than the 1300W, but I see now, as some tried to inform me, I really didn't need this much overhead. If I could plug a power bar (surge protector) into one of these sockets perhaps I could put everying on this APC UPS, but they tell me it voids the 3y warranty.I am running my FSB at 400, CPU divider at 11.5, vCore at 1.4125, and have memory dialed in pretty good at stock VDIMM. Can't believe how little wattage this whole package uses. I have a couple of midi keyboards and modules, an amp, and an 8channel mixer, and it all stays under 300W at peak. I guess 4870x2 certainly will be no trouble, and perhaps even in crossfire. My PC's powersupply may not handle that though. There's some GPU potential eh?QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi|4GB Muskin Ascent 7-6-6-18 1T DDR3-1600|EVGA 8800GT|Seagate SATA 2 x 2|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro SP2|Vista 64--maybe never to be installed

[mhlarsen 2]

This is really interesting as I also have a QX9650 (not yet overclocked).I read some benchmark tests and the fps gain did not seem worth to overclock, sometimes only +1 fps.What fps gains have you seen in FSX after overclocking the QX9650?And have you experienced any kind of instability?

[Noel 4,501]

I have the expected % increase. It's true with the QX, and with my old P4. For ease of translation, if I have a frame rate of 30 at default clockspeed of 3.0Ghz, and I increase to 4.0Ghz, at 33% increase in clockspeed, I see frame rate around 40, perhaps slightly less. Mind you, this is somewhat anecdotal, so if I was to truly test this I'd need to set up the requisite controlled conditions. Casually observed, it seems to scale up on a percentage basis, which is why, if you start with a frame rate of 10, and increase by 30% overclock, you get 13 :((. I think it's pretty linear . . .Stability is fine n dandy. I have read some articles on the Mushkin and I think Corsair forums from their support folks who say what can kill QX's Penryns is too much FSB. It's nice to keep my FSB around 400, and deal with CPU speed with the multiplier. My machine runs cool.QX9650 w/ Retail HSF|ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi|4GB Muskin Ascent 7-6-6-18 1T DDR3-1600|EVGA 8800GT|Seagate SATA 2 x 2|Seagate Cheetah 15K.x|XP Pro SP2|Vista 64--maybe never to be installed