TwoCables

Especially for the Q6600. So, that also shows how close the temperatures were to the Tj. Max!

__________________

seward

I've started using IBT...in my experience, just running 10 passes gives me a pretty good idea if I've got a clock speed that can be stabilized with minimal tweaks. And yes, it usually requires an extra bump or two of vcore, above settings that pass other stress tests, including small fft (although I was surprised to find, recently, that bumping MCP a bit got me through 20 passes the other day). I also still use Prime95 small fft/Blend, 10+ hours for each. And throw in at least 4 hours of OCCT, which is similar to Blend, but seems to give errors faster (which helps). Like many folks have said, different tests stress different parts. I haven't gone past 20 IBT passes yet, because of temps.

__________________

Q9650 Club

ACHILEE5

I was 20 pass IBT stable, but when I ran Prime95 blend it failed!

So I bumped up the CPU Term and that sorted it.
So then I ran blend again stopping it at 16 hours to play games

All proof in sig

__________________
*OFFICIAL* Videos of your Games thread!

Q9650@4GHz 16hours Blend Stable 20 pass IBT Stable

TwoCables

Nice!

Now make it stable enough to pass 12 hours of the Blend test too! Oh, and why not also make it stable enough to pass 50 linpack runs? I think that would be awesome!

Edit: I meant 12 hours of the Small FFTs test, not the Blend test. I can't believe I made that mistake. lol But I'm leaving it the way it is due to the timing of it all.

__________________

ACHILEE5

Look again lol
But 50 pass IBT
When it gets colder

__________________
*OFFICIAL* Videos of your Games thread!

Q9650@4GHz 16hours Blend Stable 20 pass IBT Stable

MagicBox

My sig-rig OC is stable enough to leave on LinPack for days without erroring, same with P95. What people usually don't do if they upped their voltages to stay stable for 24 hours of prime or 20 linx testsis to add the 2 final notches to create stability headroom.

Too often people leave their OC balancing on the edge of stability. When your OC passes 12 hours of Prime95 blend (overnight) or 50 runs of LinX overnight simply add 2 final notches of Vcore and you're pretty much guaranteed to be rock stable.

Since I finalized my OC I've never had any crashes and I leave on the computer 24/7 to fold on 4 cores while playing games in my spare time on the other 4 cores. Heavy games like Crysis and only now got into Risen. Crysis doesn't crash, F@H doesn't crash, WoW, L4D and all don't crash.

I'm loving my system as it is now

__________________

We Are The Red Tide

TwoCables

Crap. I meant to type the Small FFTs test. My brain said "Small FFTs test", but my fingers were like "lol that's what you think".
I absolutely endorse this and I absolutely agree 100%.

__________________

ACHILEE5

I feel that IBTest and Small FFT test, tests the same. If ya get what i mean. Pass IBT, and Small FFTs should be in the bag!

But hey. I'm a PC Gamer, not a Guru

__________________
*OFFICIAL* Videos of your Games thread!

Q9650@4GHz 16hours Blend Stable 20 pass IBT Stable

TwoCables

Unfortunately, that's not true. I've seen overclocks that can pass dozens of IBT runs with the maximum stress level and not pass the Small FFTs test. And conversely, I've seen the opposite. So that's why I will always say that the more the overclock can do, the more stable it is.

__________________

ChickenInferno

The OCN Login fairy ate my long post

Attempt #2:
The key to Linpack testing is ram usage. With LinX, it's a convenient All Memory button and with other programs, it's not hard to increase the Memory Used. A key point would be that Linpack is only effective on large problem sets with more than 3gb of ram used. I can pass 100 runs at 4.6ghz with only 2gb of ram used, but I can't last 10 seconds at 4.6ghz with 3gb of ram used. Testing below 3gb of ram used is completely useless to find instability unless you are barely posting into Windows.

A handy trick for Linpack is to let it finish 1 run on All Memory, and then stop the test. Click on All Memory again and ussually it will have 400mb more Ram available for testing as Windows freed up space in the ram. This was especially handy for Vista.

For my overclocking, I use 10 runs of LinX for quick testing so that I can keep increasing the speed. 10 runs using 5gb of ram can take about 40 minutes, but it's much better than 12hrs of Prime95. Once I have my tenative maximum overclock, I then do 20 runs of LinX on All Memory (Always All Memory). Ussually, I have to adjust 1 or 2 voltages in order to pass the last 10 runs, but it's ussually very minor fixes. Then I move onto prime95 Small FTTs for 12hrs. This ussually passes, but I have seen it fail even with 20 runs of LinX with 5gb of ram used due to insufficent QPI/DRAM voltage (VTT). I make the minor adjustments and then move back to LinX. I run between 50 and 100 runs (again All Memory) just to really prove to myself it can run indefinitly.

As for the question on Linpack testing for NB stability, I would say inherently no as Linpack tests can sometimes be hard to find the root cause of the crash, whereas Prime95 Large FTTs ussually will BSOD me on a NB instability. I still like Large FTTs for Ram and NB testing, but LinX ussually shows most of that instability as well as it just stresses everything very hard.

Linpack testing does not equate whatsoever to Prime95 testing, and is the common misconception. Sometimes LinX is good at finding all of the instabilities, but sometimes it will miss something Prime95 Small FTTs finds in minutes. Running both to me is still necessary, but LinX is great for a rough estimate.

Long story short: 10 runs for quick testing, then 20 runs on my tenative max overclock, 12 hrs of Small FTTs, then 50-100 runs just to prove stability definitively.

I then ussually run 12hrs Large FTTs and HCI Memtest, but I'm a little nutty with my stability in the first place.


Oh as an aside, my Q6600 that I was trying to tweak the GTLv with you could pass 50 runs of LinX on 2gb of ram, couldn't pass Prime95 after 2hrs 19mins. It could also pass 50 runs of LinX on 3gb of ram, but still could not pass Prime95 after 2hrs 19mins.

__________________
I edit my posts alot. So please reread my posts if I've edited them; It's for your benefit not mine.

The Truth about Temperatures and Voltages
Flash your Nvidia card with a USB Flash Drive
Start Folding Now