[Official] The Sandy Stable Club **Guides, Voltages, Temps & BIOS Templates** Inc SPREADSHEET - Page 1034

topet2k, set your pll to 1.71v and your vccio to 1.1v if youre running 4 sticks or 16gb of ram. it WILL help.
if you havent read this yet, http://www.overclock.net/t/910467/the-ultimate-sandy-bridge-oc-guide-p67a-ud7-performance-review read it. it is an excellent guide for all gigabyte boards. sin is a god when it comes to gigabyte. he knows his poo.

 

Thanks, my friend!

 

As a matter of fact, that thread was the very first thing that I have read when I started my overclocking adventure. Indeed, Mr. sin0822 seems to be an expert in this field. I would love to PM him to ask for guidance, but I hesitated because it looks like he is already a high-profile forum member so he must be busy. But definitely I will try to send him a message.

 

I have actually achieved some success with overclocking and already submitted my official entries to this thread. I have tried the following:

 

4.0GHz, Manual Overclock Method, with LLC on Level 4<--this was my very first overclock, following sin0822's guide.

4.0GHz, Offset Overclock Method (not submitted)

4.3GHz, Offset Overclock Method (not submitted)

4.4GHz, Offset Overclock Method, +0.010 Offset VCore (1.308 VCore in BIOS...within OS it was 1.296->1.284->1.272->1.260)

4.5GHz, Offset Overclock Method, +0.035 Offset VCore (gave me 1.344 VCore in BIOS, and then within OS it was 1.320->1.308->1.296->1.284)

 

It's summer months so I will have to wait until the rainy season for the weather temperatures to go down a bit. :)

 

Maybe you can pitch in or give insights to some of my previous questions? But definitely I will also forward them to Mr. sin0822. Anyway, here are my previous posts (and only if you have time, please):

 

1. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10230#post_19902970
2. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10230#post_19903159
3. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10240#post_19937857
4. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10220#post_19902765
5. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10240#post_19937857
6. http://www.overclock.net/t/968053/official-the-sandy-stable-club-guides-voltages-temps-bios-templates-inc-spreadsheet/10300#post_19997893

 

EDIT: is this VCore considered "within range" or good enough, i.e. not too high for a 4.5GHz Overclock?

 

Today I am running another round of 12-hour Prime95 stress-test. It's the same 4.5GHz overclock, but I am now trying +0.025 Offset. In BIOS, that would be a VCore of 1.332 and then within the OS (during stress-testing) the VCore was 1.308<-1.296<-1.284<-1.272.

 

For RAM, here is my query: I only have two sticks, 4GB which is 2x2GB...Corsair Dominator  CMP4GX3M2A 1600C9. On the sticker, box, and the product's website it says 1600MHz at 1.65V. In the BIOS, it shows at 1333MHz at 1.5V though. Do I have to change BIOS for it to run at 1600MHz at 1.65V? Are those the "stated/rated timings"? Or do I just keep it at 1333MHz at 1.5V?

 

By the way I have tried out enabling "XMP Profile" for the RAM. I noticed that the RAM settings would be 1.65V and then Vtt Voltage (I'm guessing this is VCCIO) of 1.15. If I wanted to set my ram to 1600MHz manually instead of using XMP Profile...do I simply set VDIMM to 1.64 (that's the closest to 1.65V in my BIOS) and then I will set my QPT/Vtt to 1.08V (from the default of 1.05V)?

 

For my motherboard: to set PLL to a lower value as suggested (i.e. 1.71V), do I have to enabled "CPU PLL Overvoltage"? Or will 1.71V still kick in even if I don't enable it?

 

Or do I just forget about configuring the RAM altogether (apologies...I am simply bewildered because the sticker/box says 1600MHz but BIOS says 1333MHz so I don't know what the "rated/stated timings or settings" are).

 

Thanks in advance. :)

Edited by topet2k12001 - Yesterday at 11:07 pm

sandy b supports 1333 ram and anything higher is overclocked as far as intel cares(yes that means even 1600). set what the sticker says. the xmp profile is there to set the timings and voltages at what corsair 'knows' they operate at that speed.
its been stated almost everywhere, especially in this thread, that pll overvoltage is only needed when you cant boot into windows without it at higher multipliers, usually x48 and up.
some suggest setting vcore and llc so you only get a variance of .008v during load. i didnt have to worry about that because i wasnt stable until i just happened to hit that variance. for reference, i need 1.336v while idle(cpu-z) and drop to 1.320-1.328v while running prime. its kinda funny that i also only drop .008v from idle to highest load vcore which is just coincidence. thats high llc (50% on asus) which munaim1 recommends for asus boards.
good luck topet2k!

@topet2k12001:

The PLL voltage and PLL overvoltage thing shouldn't be confused with each other, I am pretty sure one is external and one is internal. the former can reduce temps a little and sometimes allow you to lower your vcore a little bit, but most CPU's have a sweet spot for this value. The PLL overvoltage setting is the internal PLL voltage i believe, and can help stabilize high overclocks (usually 4.7 and above).

As for RAM, (almost) all motherboards initially boot up with standard JEDEC certified speed (1333MHz being the max official spec) so you must manually change it yourself if you want to get the most out of your RAM. The XMP profiles are there for ease of use so you don't have to manually set the speed, timings, and voltage yourself. You can, of course, still apply those settings manually though.

From skimming your other posts, I see you're trying to stabilize an offset overclock without LLC. Generally this is more difficult because there's more factors to consider. I don't really think there's a connection between increased temperatures and increased vdroop. As prime95 runs it cycles through different FFT's. Each one can stress the CPU differently, so I think the increased temperatures are just because of more load. If you really want to get prime stable, I would suggest finding the FFT's that put the highest load (highest current draw and highest vdroop) and find a high enough voltage that works on those without dipping too low. Generally FFT's 1344, 1792, and 2688 are the toughest ones for sandy/ivy to pass but that is with LLC so they may not be the highest power consuming ones. In my experience you always need more voltage to stabilize an offset voltage than a manual voltage, especially when non-LLC is involved because you need to find the highest vdroop point and make sure your CPU is getting the amount of load bearing voltage it requires during those worst-case scenarios. Also there is another factor to consider whereby the lower clock/voltage steps may not be receiving enough voltage with offset, but with non-LLC this shouldn't be a problem since it will generally be getting more non-load voltage. With LLC I was having this problem.

Everyone has different opinions on LLC voltage spikes, but I believe the better your board's PWM's are the less likely your CPU will experience dangerous overvoltage spikes. Most high end boards nowadays have good quality PWM's as long as you set the board to use all of them. I'm not sure about gigabyte but I know on Asus boards you can even adjust the frequency they run at (thereby presumably further decreasing any voltage dips or spikes, but I just leave mine on "Extreme" and "Ultra High" settings.).
Edited by s74r1 - Today at 4:07 am

PLL overvoltage should also be enabled when overclocking RAM.