[Dhsianfh89446]

Hey guys... after reading the guides and testing out/messing around the settings in my BIOS, I am having an extremely difficult time to make my i7 930 OC to 3.8. I know it's achievable, but I am just not finding the right settings!

Can anyone pinpoint me in the right direction for what to try? I think it may have to do with my RAM (G.SKILL PI F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI) or what not since they're rated at 1.5V even at DDR3-1600.

Thanks.

 

[refeek]

What voltage are you at?

 

[AMDrocks]

Yeah what is your voltage set to?

 

[Robitussin]

When I first got my 930 I used Chadamir's Guide on here and hit 4.0 on this first try. After that its just took some time tweaking and such to find the most efficient settings. What cooler are you using? What settings are you running right now?

EDIT* OT lol AMDrocks that avatar is funny, they first time I saw that screen I was ROFL

 

[Dhsianfh89446]

AI Tweaker section of the BIOS:
Ai Overclock Tuner [Manual]
CPU Ratio Setting [21.0]
Intel(R) SpeedStep(TM) Tech [Disabled]
BCLK Frequency [181]
PCIE Frequency [100]
DRAM Frequency [DDR3-1451MHz]
UCLK Frequency [Auto]
QPI Link Data Rate [Auto]

DRAM Timing Control (haven't messed with this since they're on auto)

CPU Voltage [1.20000]
CPU PLL Voltage [1.86]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage [1.21250]
IOH Voltage [Auto]
IOH PCIE Voltage [Auto]
ICH Voltage [Auto]
ICH PCIE Voltage [Auto]
DRAM DATA REF/CTRL Voltage on CHA/CHB/CHC [All are on Auto]

Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Differential Amplitude [800mV]
CPU Clock Skew [Auto]
CPU Spread Spectrum [Disabled]
IOH Clock Skew [Auto]
PCIE Spread Spectrum [Disabled]

Advanced section of the BIOS:
C1E Support [Disabled]
C-State Tech [Disabled]
Everything Else is Default/Enabled (HT is on!)

The problem is that after reading the guides, I can't find a setting where it will GUARANTEE to work 100%. After that, I would just like to try reducing/optimizing some of the settings. Can anyone just give me a general setting that should be guaranteed to work (even if it means overvolting--since I will tweak it after that)? I am just lost on how to make it work with my system.

 

[Robitussin]

Quote:

Method #2: Quick and dirty method for 4ghz aka screw efficiency

Set your ioh and ich to 1.2, your vdimm to 1.65, your cpu pll to 1.88, and your qpi/uncore to 1.35.
For D0 users set your vcore to 1.275 and for c0/c1 users set your vcore to 1.4 Bclk to 190/191 or 210/211 and multiplier to 21 and 19 respectively. Check for prime stability. D0s should be fine, but c0/c1 still may not make it, at this point your temps may be too high if you're not on water so I suggest you start working backward in order to hit a much lower vcore or use method 3.

I put those in and hit 4.0 no problems backed off on vcore and stuff till it was both stable and a bit more optimized. Then saved the profile and started going the otherway until I started putting move volts then I wanted to on my new stuff which ended up here. Now that everything is a bit older I'm going to go for another push soonish to see what my literal OC wall is.
Quote:

How to use prime95 to test stability:

Open up prime95 and realtemp to check that your idles and loads. Set prime95 to whatever priority you'd like. I prefer 7 so that realtemp still updates but some people prefer 10 and will run without a temperature monitor. Either is fine, but I'm always paranoid that my cooler will somehow become unlatched spontaneously. Set windows not to restart on bluescreen by setting[insert settinsg here] so that you can catch the error (although windows will record it somewhere). Start a mixed torture test and let it run for however long, depending on if you're only doing a temporary stability test in order to raise (about 1 hour) or a true stability test (16-24 hours). Once you've passed prime95 you can run any other stability test that you want.

Just do short runs between tests and then a long one when you feel stable. This is great to really make sure your stable

What error codes are you getting with your current settings? Also temps atm?

 

[AMDrocks]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robitussin;14176082
EDIT* OT lol AMDrocks that avatar is funny, they first time I saw that screen I was ROFL

I wonder if it has actually happened before?
Ok now i am just going off-topic.

 

[homer98]

Might need to increase your vcore to get stable.

What heatsink are you using? that would help us determine some appropriate settings that should work.

 

[Robitussin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AMDrocks;14176195

I wonder if it has actually happened before?
Ok now i am just going off-topic.

It definitely happened to me when I was using a USB keyboard and it didn't recognize it

homer98- I'm going on the assumption that the OP is using the H50 in his sig rig.

 

[Dhsianfh89446]

Quote:

Originally Posted by homer98;14176214
Might need to increase your vcore to get stable.

What heatsink are you using? that would help us determine some appropriate settings that should work.

Corsair H50 with 2 Gentle Typhoon AP-15's as push-pull (intake).

 

[Dhsianfh89446]

Alright, taking Rob's advice, I decided to try 3.8 GHz instead of 4.0 GHz (not yet, anyhow). I just went for the "dirty method #2", but this time scaled down the settings in the same ratio of what was recommended for 4 GHz.

Here's what I changed:
CPU Voltage [1.21875]
CPU PLL Voltage [1.80]
QPI/DRAM Core Voltage [1.28125]
IOH Voltage [1.16]
ICH Voltage [1.20]

Will test this now. If this proves to be OK or somewhat stable after first few runs in Prime95 and IBT, what settings should I scale back in attempt to test for "efficiency"? All of them one by one or all of them in same fashion (i.e., if I lower vcore, I should also lower the other settings in synchronously? I figure these are the most important settings.

 

[Robitussin]

Definitely not all at the same time. If you get a somewhat stable clock then write the settings down then try changing one thing at a time. Think of it like a science experiment, if you change too many variables at the same time you wont know which one is affecting your results. So change things based on error codes but when you find something didn't fix the problem go back to what you had before and change something else/ rerun the test to see if there is a different outcome/error code. Whenever I go to OC my CPU I used grab a big yellow legal pad and make a chart with all the settings and then marked where I made changes and how they effected the OC. Now I use an iPad with excel but same difference. If you keep a spreadsheet or good notes on your OCing it helps to give you a better idea of how your chip reacts to different scenarios.

As always vcore is the first thing to back off on to be more efficent, so once you find a lower stable vcore then see if you can drop other settings individually.

Couple things to note:
Make sure you get as many settings as you can off of [AUTO], sometimes if your only change a few things the auto settings will get all nutty and make the system unstable. Don't worry about RAM timings since you can mess with those after you be come stable, but everything else is best to get off auto.

You may want to look for a group for your motherboard and see if there are any bios guru's hanging around the forums that can help you fine tune specifics on your mobo. I find the best overclockers have very specific settings for everything.

I'll keep refreshing this page throughout the day, I'm at work so I have nothing better to do

Keep us up to date on your progress pictures make for a pretty thread

Quote:

A: Thanks to Hammer=GOM= there is. He also provided a helpful link to software which will help you see what error code was displayed:
BSOD viewer:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html
BSOD codes:
BSOD codes for overclocking
0x101 = increase vcore
0x124 = increase/decrease vcore or QPI/VTT...have to test to see which one it is
0x0A = unstable RAM/IMC, increase QPI first, if that doesn't work increase vcore
0x1E = increase vcore
0x3B = increase vcore
0x3D = increase vcore
0xD1 = QPI/VTT, increase/decrease as necessary
0x9C = QPI/VTT most likely, but increasing vcore has helped in some instances
0x50 = RAM timings/Frequency or uncore multi unstable, increase RAM voltage or adjust QPI/VTT, or lower uncore if you're higher than 2x
0x109 = Not enough or too Much memory voltage
0x116 = Low IOH (NB) voltage, GPU issue (most common when running multi-GPU/overclocking GPU)

Quote:

Prime 95 Errors:

Freeze: Increase the vcore

Other errors can indicate instability with the chip if they are during small fft (increase vcore by .125) or instability with ram large ftt (Try raising the ioh and/or running memtest).

BSOD code 101: Increase the vcore. I recommend increasing by +.025 if you get a bsod

BSOD code 124: Increasese or decrease the qpi/uncore by .25. Depending on where you are in your stability tests you'll probably need to increase it. 1.375 is the max I'm comfortable with although people say 1.4+ is safe. This is for you to determine and research. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Intel says do not go above 1.35 so 1.375 with droop and loss is safe and not too outside specification.

It is important to note that sometimes qpi can be too high and that might cause this code. That's why it's not a good idea to just set things to 1.35 and hope for the best. If you find that increasing qpi/uncore voltage is not increasing stability, try decreasing it. Just remember of course, to keep track of your settings. I recommend not increasing, unless you have to (Don't be arbitrary about it).

D0 exclusive BSOD weird 2 letter/number codes: Treat this as a 101 and increase vcore by +.025. Update: It seems that these error codes can crop up for other reasons. Depending on where you are in the process you should take a look at your other voltages. I realize this is vague, but you may need to experiment.

If any worker fails, especially during small fft then it's cpu voltage. Bump it once or twice. If it fails during large fft then its probably memory error you can try running memtest/upping ioh. I would try running small fft at that point for a good amount of time and make sure its not the cpu voltage. If it passes 8-12 hours of small fft then work on making it pass large fft. Just remember to keep track of your settings. That's not to say that a large fft error won't be the result of cpu voltage, it's just not what I would try. Be methodical. If something allows prime to run significantly longer then keep it. Significant depends where you are in the process. If your workers fail as soon as you start and a setting change gets you through a test then I'd say its good. If you get crashes during the 8th hour, and the setting change only gets you another 5 minutes in the 8th hour, it's probably just random and not the setting.

Quote:

Voltages/settings you can try to use to increase stability:

PLL: 1.88
IOH: 1.2+
ICH: 1.2
CPU voltage amplitude: +800mv
CPU Skew: +300ps
Command rate: change from 1n to 2n

You should really check in on your specific board as not all boards have the same settings. Be methodical in testing settings since you want to know whether something helped or hurt by itself before you combine.

 

[Dhsianfh89446]

So, Robitussin, which do you recommend to change first for stability, then further tweaking? Did you say vCore? I am currently attempting to push my i7 930 to 4 GHz with the "quick and dirty" settings as a baseline. Then I will tweak my settings for efficiency.

Which one to tweak first? Should I always increase/decrease vCore until I find my computer somewhat stable, then lower all the other settings?