EP35C-DS3R wont overclock :(

[jonathanc]

Hi all,

Im wondering if anyone here could help me out as I am totally lost

I just bought a GIGABYTE EP35C-DS3R mobo with the intention of overclocking

My system specs are as follows :
CPU : E6600 @2.4Ghz
MOBO: GIGABYTE EP35C-DS3R
RAM: OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) PC2-6400C4 Dual Channel Platinum Revision 2 XTC Series DDR2 (OCZ2P800R22GK)
GFX: Nvidia 8800GTS
PSU : Antec 600w

Bios rev F3b

I tried oc-ing by first disabling the C1e , VT etc. And then I go to M.I.T and raise FSB to 333Mhz and leave everything at auto. It just reboots a few times and then goes back to the default clock settings of 266x9.

I have tried different settings by googling around and none seems to work. Anyone know why?

 

[jonathanc]

and yes I also have read and tried the guide above but no luck.

edit: read somewhere that it could be my ram? As far as I know everything on my system *should* be overclockable... any ideas?

timing on my ram is 4-4-4-15 at 800mhz

 

[Drsignguy]

Just an FYI, I dont have that board yet, getting it Thursday. But from what your saying, sounds to me like you just jumped it up to 3.0ghz! So, the cpu voltage is needed to be raised a bit. If you have CPUZ, it will tell you what your core VID is on that chip. From there is where you start adding. Short intervals is good advise. I think with that board, you can unlink the memory also. Just dont quote me on that part.

 

[hnzw rui]

Setting voltages on auto actually over-compensates so no worries on not enough voltage (there's the problem of heat, though). RAM multiplier is set to 4.00 when using Auto which is much too high, really. You're basically trying to run your DDR2 800MHz at 1333MHz. Set the memory multiplier to 2.00 just to eliminate RAM as the problem. Some settings you might have overlooked that may have been causing you problems:

PCI Express Frequency: 100
C.I.A. 2: Disabled
Performance Enhance: Standard
System Memory Multiplier: 2.00

Personally, I wouldn't set voltages to Auto, either. The board increases the voltage too darned much. With the above settings, try if you can now hit 3.0GHz (9x333) at stock voltages. Should be doable as I think it was probably RAM causing the reboots.

If you still want higher, then start doing Drsignguy's suggestion of short intervals.

 

[Drsignguy]

Originally posted by: hnzw rui
Setting voltages on auto actually over-compensates so no worries on not enough voltage (there's the problem of heat, though). RAM multiplier is set to 4.00 when using Auto which is much too high, really. You're basically trying to run your DDR2 800MHz at 1333MHz. Set the memory multiplier to 2.00 just to eliminate RAM as the problem. Some settings you might have overlooked that may have been causing you problems:

PCI Express Frequency: 100
C.I.A. 2: Disabled
Performance Enhance: Standard
System Memory Multiplier: 2.00

Personally, I wouldn't set voltages to Auto, either. The board increases the voltage too darned much. With the above settings, try if you can now hit 3.0GHz (9x333) at stock voltages. Should be doable as I think it was probably RAM causing the reboots.

If you still want higher, then start doing Drsignguy's suggestion of short intervals.

Thats Very good advice I shall use when I get this board later in the week. Thanks!

 

[jonathanc]

Originally posted by: Drsignguy
Just an FYI, I dont have that board yet, getting it Thursday. But from what your saying, sounds to me like you just jumped it up to 3.0ghz! So, the cpu voltage is needed to be raised a bit. If you have CPUZ, it will tell you what your core VID is on that chip. From there is where you start adding. Short intervals is good advise. I think with that board, you can unlink the memory also. Just dont quote me on that part.

hmmm not sure I understand what you meant there
CPU -Z still shows my CPU speed as 2.4Ghz. Tried the CIA method and Windows won't load at settings over Sport. Not sure if this helps as the CPU speed still shows 2.4 at that setting

Well I am a noob at Overclocking so every advice helps

 

[jonathanc]

Originally posted by: hnzw rui
Setting voltages on auto actually over-compensates so no worries on not enough voltage (there's the problem of heat, though). RAM multiplier is set to 4.00 when using Auto which is much too high, really. You're basically trying to run your DDR2 800MHz at 1333MHz. Set the memory multiplier to 2.00 just to eliminate RAM as the problem. Some settings you might have overlooked that may have been causing you problems:

PCI Express Frequency: 100
C.I.A. 2: Disabled
Performance Enhance: Standard
System Memory Multiplier: 2.00

Personally, I wouldn't set voltages to Auto, either. The board increases the voltage too darned much. With the above settings, try if you can now hit 3.0GHz (9x333) at stock voltages. Should be doable as I think it was probably RAM causing the reboots.

If you still want higher, then start doing Drsignguy's suggestion of short intervals.

Hmm, I have tried the four settings you point out but left my System Voltage to AUTO. Sorry but I don't quite understand what you mean by "stock voltage" ? Isn't that AUTO?

It still won't post Rebooted 3 times without posting and then self reset the clock back to 2.4...

Gah, wish I can hit 3.0 like so many people did

p;s : ofc I have disabled things like Virtualization, C1ET , CPU TM etc under Advanced Bios. Should I do that? I also left the DRAM timing to AUTO...should I set that to 2.00 as well?

Very sorry for the noobish questions, just hoping that I can get it to overclock somehow :<

 

[jonathanc]

These are my current settings for BIOS

Disabled
_______

Limit CPUID
No-Execute Mem Protect
C1E
CPU TM2
EIST
Virtualization

M.IT
_____
PCI-E freq = 100
CIA2 Disabled
Performance Enchance = Standard
System Mem Mult : 2.00
Clock freq = 333
Multiplier = 9

Everything else AUTO.

Won't POST Reboots 2 times and reset back to default value of 266x9

I also noticed something strange in CPU-Z, it shows the Core Speed as 1600.2 and jumps now and then. It also show a Multiplier of x6, bus speed 266.7, Rated FSB 1066.7. This seems to mismatch what is shown in BIOS. My RAM is also only rated at 400Mhz when it shows 800 under bios. And the FSBRAM ratio is 2:3 o.0

Something very very fishy here...

 

[jonathanc]

Some CPU-Z readouts:

Processor(s)
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 per processor
Name Intel Core 2 Duo E6600
Code Name Conroe
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 CPU 6600 @ 2.40GHz
Package Socket 775 LGA
Family/Model/Stepping 6.F.6
Extended Family/Model 6.F
Core Stepping B2
Technology 65 nm
Core Speed 1600.0 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 6.0 x 266.7 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1066.7 MHz
Stock frequency 2400 MHz
Instruction sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, EM64T
L1 Data cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache (per processor) 4096 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size

Chipset & Memory
Northbridge Intel P35/G33/G31 rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801IR (ICH9R) rev. 02
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR2
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 400.0 MHz (2:3)
CAS# Latency (tCL) 5.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 5 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 5 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 15 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T

Notice that my RAM is actually THIS

but CPU-Z doesn't agree...

 

[hnzw rui]

I found graysky's guide http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2057083&enterthread=y to be very useful when starting out at overclocking. Read it if you haven't already. Speed for RAM is normal. graysky's guide has the explanation. Can't remember what.

Enable CPU TM2. From what I can remember it's what prevents you from frying your chip if temps get too high. Are you sure C1E and EIST are disabled? Because that's what's throttling your PC to 1.6GHz (6x266) during idle. If you run Orthos or Prime95, it should go back to 2.4GHz (9x266) at stock settings.

Try to look for any other power saving options that the board might have. As I recall, your mobo is the energy saving model. Hmm, is that also the one with DDR3 support? Another thing to look at, how did you install your RAM? Iirc, it should be in channels 1&3 or 2&4 for dual channel mode. Basically, the slots with the same color. If you don't, some mobos may get screwy.

I suggest you check if you installed the hardware correctly first. Then, run Memtest86 on the RAM. I usually test overnight. You have temperature monitoring software installed, right? If not, install one. I use both CoreTemp and Speedfan. Check what your temperature at load and idle are like with stock settings. It might already be running too hot.

OC'ing again... Setting voltage control to auto adjusts voltages to your RAM, mobo, CPU, etc as you increase speed. Imho, this just generates useless heat. My suggestion would be to set voltage control to Manual and make sure voltage settings are set to Normal. Just noticed that you had an older CPU. Hmm, might be better to oc just a little at a time.

One technique you might try:
1. increase the FSB a small amount (5 or 10)
2. boot into Windows
3. if Windows loads, go back to step 1
4. if Windows doesn't load, increase vcore by tiny bit, go back top step 2

Might be a good idea to have a pen and paper handy so you can write down working voltages and FSB values.

 

[PinkPanther1970]

Do you have an external USB HDD attached?

 

[DSF]

Since you're using OCZ RAM (your link didn't work for me by the way) you're almost certainly going to have to manually set your RAM voltage. On a Gigabyte board, you probably want to set your DDR2 voltage at +.2V to get smooth operation with the RAM at DDR2-800.

Set it to DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 @ 2.1V and make sure the RAM multiplier is set to 2.0. The fact that the board probably isn't supplying your RAM the voltage it wants may be part of your problem.

As others have said, read graysky's guide thoroughly if you haven't already.

 

[jonathanc]

Originally posted by: PinkPanther1970
Do you have an external USB HDD attached?

Hmmm, yes I have, a Maxtor one attached to my USB hub. Does that affect anything? It's not set in the boot drive priority though.

 

[jonathanc]

Originally posted by: DSF
Since you're using OCZ RAM (your link didn't work for me by the way) you're almost certainly going to have to manually set your RAM voltage. On a Gigabyte board, you probably want to set your DDR2 voltage at +.2V to get smooth operation with the RAM at DDR2-800.

Set it to DDR2-800 5-5-5-15 @ 2.1V and make sure the RAM multiplier is set to 2.0. The fact that the board probably isn't supplying your RAM the voltage it wants may be part of your problem.

As others have said, read graysky's guide thoroughly if you haven't already.

sorry here is the direct link :

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/...t.php?prodid=MY-072-OC (should work)

I have read a guide similiar to graysky's but I guess I will give graysky's guide a go.
These are my RAM's specs and the timing is 4-4-4-15... should I still set it to 5-5-5-15?

- 800MHz DDR2
- CL 4-4-4-15 (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS)
- Platinum Mirrored XTC* Heatspreader
- OCZ Lifetime Warranty
- 1.9-2.0 Volts
- 240 Pin DIMM
- OCZ Enhanced Latency Technology
- 2.2V EVP**

 

[jonathanc]

[Sorry double posted]

 

[jonathanc]

@ hnzw rui


Thanks for the tips. I will try them out after thoroughly reading graysky's guide. The thing is that there are a few settings specific to my mobo and I am wondering what their settings could be.

I have tried increasing the FSB by 33 rest at auto/stock and even that won't post at all. It just self reboots 2 times and then resets the overclocking values back to default.

And yes my board is the energy saving one with the DDR3 support and 45nm support as well.

The board is listed here:

http://tw.giga-byte.com/Produc...ew.aspx?ProductID=2535

I am pretty sure I installed the RAM correctly using channels 1 and 3. Having tested the RAM for stability yet but hopefully they are ok :< Temps are 32 max CPU at idle and around 56 using PRIME95 stress test. (Celcius)

System/board temps never exceed 60oC.

 

[jonathanc]

Also I noticed that most people still use the F2 bios instead of the F3b one that I am using. Will that affect anything? I tried OCing on F2 before and still the same results...

 

[jonathanc]

Ok guys i noticed something weird.

With the settings I learned from graysky's guide + Auto on everything except x2 on RAM Multiplier and PCI-E to 100, the system will POST.

BUT....

When I enabled CPU Clock Freq on top of that and set it to 266x9 (which is the default) it won't POST... Just reboots 2 times and then resets all the M.I.T settings ... any clue?

 

[jonathanc]

http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?p=1032221874
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=547533
found someone with the same problem :0

well I really don't want to RMA the board

Was thinking of upgrading my CPU but...do I have to reinstall Windows et all if I do that? o.0

Q6600 is the option I am going for ...

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: jonathanc

Originally posted by: PinkPanther1970
Do you have an external USB HDD attached?

Hmmm, yes I have, a Maxtor one attached to my USB hub. Does that affect anything? It's not set in the boot drive priority though.

Amazingly, yes it does matter. If you disconnect that, things suddenly start to work oftentimes. You would just need to reconnect it after you have booted into windows, and leave it out when you boot up.

 

[Martimus]

double post

 

[jonathanc]

[Sorry double post]

 

[jonathanc]

And another

 

[jonathanc]

Latest update!

I finally managed to get it to boot into Windows @ 2.77GHz clocked
What I did was bumped VCore to 1.4V and +0.2 to the DDR/DDR2 volt the rest are on AUTO.

I am wondering if it's the external HDD thing or my previous ram was faulty... kind of hoping to use the 800Mhz instead of this 667...

Well going to do more tests.

Next I am going to try to bump FSB to 3.00GHz with this ram and see if Windows will boot.

Fingers crossed!

edit1: 3.00 GHz! Weee... idle temp of both core around 41oC though... Thinking of dumping my current Coolermaster Aquamini water cool for fan options.

Now I am going to try to reach 3.2GHz which is my ultimate goal, boot up with external HDD attached, change back to my OCZ rams and if things work out after all those steps I am going to run Prime95 overnight to see if it's stable.

Whats the maximum recommended idle temp for OCing? Is 45-50oC acceptable?

 

[watek]

You should stick to 3.0-3.2.