[apopilot]

Well, honestly its been about 3 weeks now and I am still tinkering and Overclocking this board. I am sure there are so many of you out there with this combination that it would be exciting to post your successful overclocks on this thread. I have inserted two pics depicting stable configurations below. I have been told my VID of 1.225 is great.

1.) 3.33 Ghz Stable 7+ hours ORTHOS and MEMTEST. Memory is at a 1:1 Ratio. FSB was set at 1480 in Sync with the memory 740Mhz. 4-4-4-12. vCORE was set at 1.2875 in the BIOS. CPU-Z read 1.25 with vDroop. System voltage at 1.22 upon load.



2.) 3.40 ghz Stable 4+ hours ORTHOS and MEMTEST. Memory is at a 1:1 Ratio FSB was set at 1512 in Sync with memory 756Mhz. 4-4-4-12. vCORE was set at 1.2875 in the BIOS. CPU-Z read 1.25 with vDroop. System voltage at 1.22 upon load.



3.) 3.44 ghz Stable 4+ hours ORTHOS and MEMTEST. Memory is at a 1:1 Ratio FSB was set at 1512 in Sync with memory 766Mhz. 4-4-4-12. vCORE was set at 1.3075 in the BIOS. CPU-Z read 1.26with vDroop. System voltage at 1.24 upon load.

 

[apopilot]

Updated with 3rd stable over clock. Working my way up to 3.6. Its been difficult but I have been taking it at slower increments. Hopefully this can help new beginners like myself to start somewhere. I really like contributing to this community.

Thank you,

Abe

 

[k_kranthi]

I have my 680i/E6600 overclocked to 3.66ghz at Vcore 1.35v. I started running Orthos last night at 1.00am EST it is still running and stable with Max Temp. I noticed was 53c. I will post some pics when I get back home and will run some benchmarks too.

I will try lowering my Vcore (if i could) to take any heat of the CPU and see if it is going to run stable or not.

 

[apopilot]

What are you using for cooling?

 

[k_kranthi]

Zalman CNPS 9700

 

[Thumper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apopilot 2.) 3.40 ghz Stable 4+ hours ORTHOS and MEMTEST. Memory is at a 1:1 Ratio FSB was set at 1512 in Sync with memory 756Mhz. 4-4-4-12. vCORE was set at 1.2875 in the BIOS. CPU-Z read 1.25 with vDroop. System voltage at 1.22 upon load.

That is amazing. I am testing my 6700 at 3.1 (310FSB x10) right now at 1.2v (it errored after 10 hours with Stress Prime at 1.18v).....either that board is really good, or you got a nice CPU.....or both

I've never used Orthos, nice that it can load both cores with one program.......

 

[BeanymanJC]

At the moment, my machine is running stable at 3.6Ghz (400 x9) with 1.45 vCore... My temps are around 41-42c idle and up to 49-51c at load.

3.4Ghz with 1.285v seems awesome, and 3.66Ghz with 1.35v is something I've not been able to do

I've tried to lower my voltage, but anything lower than 1.4 vCore results in a crash at Windows login. (I didn't have time this evening to test between 1.4v - 1.45v).

Could this be something to do with my other settings? I've tried tinkering with my BIOS settings countless times. I've followed various eVGA 680 OC'ing guides, including the official nVidia PDF guide. My RAM is Unlinked and running 1:1 with 5-5-5-18 timings (4-4-4-12 stock) and I am using the recommended voltages: CPU Core: 1.45V, CPU FSB: 1.5V nForce, SPP: 1.50V.

I know my temps are not too bad, but I think I'll be bringing my CPU down to around 3.5Ghz or maybe 3.4Ghz to be safe, plus I should be able to tighten my RAM timings and lower my vCore.

 

[apopilot]

Any suggestions if I should try tweaking my three stable overclocks in my first post at tighter timings like 4-4-4-10?

1.) Will MEMTEST with one pass prove memory stability?
2.) Or do I have to do a 8 HOUR ORTHOS stress test?

 

[DuckieHo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apopilot 1.) Will MEMTEST with one pass prove memory stability?

I would say at LEAST three pass to check stability. 5-6 is better though. I have seen MemTest not catch errors on the first run.

 

[Ropey]

There are two reasons to run memtest. The first is to test the bandwidth for errata that is hardware based. It has been my personal opinion that one pass is enough. The second is to test the thermal output of the dram and the ability of the dram/system to radiate the thermal output. I would perform 10 or more passes to test for the systems ability to deal with the thermal radiation. It has been my personal knowlege that errata produced after one pass is due to the DIMM's and system's inability to radiate and remove the heat thus producing errata due to thermal issues.

Thus I run one pass and continue bandwith tightening until errata are produced on the first pass. Then I back off the tightening. I do this for bandwidth speed as well. Once I have found the sweet spot then I run 10+ runs of Memtest to see how well my system removes the heat that the DRAM produces.

I run Orthos in the long term (12+ hours) to test the final stablity of my machine and an hour is (for me) enough to continue the upclock procedure.

 

[apopilot]

Are there any programs out there that measure the temperature of the RAM?

 

[k_kranthi]

Alright I could push my E6600 all the way to 3.66Ghz at 1.4v and stable. But i did not want to keep at the extreme with air cooling. So i reduced it back to 3.41Ghz at 1.36 vcore and stable.(air cooling). Iam attaching pics of all the tests that I ran both Idle and Load. Let me know of your opinions on this setup. I also overclocked my 7950GT from 600/1450 to 650/1600.

 

[Ropey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apopilot Are there any programs out there that measure the temperature of the RAM?

A good question. I wish there was but there are no sensors (on the dram) for the ram temperature to be read and no sensors on the motherboard that would allow for the motherboard maker to create an algorithm to read and adjust for the analogue reading.

What do I do? I run a 10 pass test of Memtest. I open the case quickly and lightly touch my finger to the metal ram jackets. If they are very hot to the touch, then additional cooling is needed.

 

[Thumper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ropey A good question. I wish there was but there are no sensors (on the dram) for the ram temperature to be read and no sensors on the motherboard that would allow for the motherboard maker to create an algorithm to read and adjust for the analogue reading.

Of course, some RAM has built in sensors.....like mine

Visual display scrolls the frequency and temp (mine are running at 29c right now)

That is simply an awesome overclock on that board......

 

[Ropey]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thumper Of course, some RAM has built in sensors.....like mine Visual display scrolls the frequency and temp (mine are running at 29c right now)

Right, there are a few companies that have such LED's giving you information. These are not sensored on the dram, but on the inside covers. They are built on, rather than built in. One also has to be careful that there is enough room for the Heatsink/Fan Assembly and those RAM modules to play nice together.

 

[Thumper]

True, the Corsair Pro modules I have offer 2 options for the mounting of the panel, offset to either side so they are pretty easy to work with.

Also, I guess one could simply buy a thermal probe and attach it to the DIMM and lace a readout display where they could see it......

 

[apopilot]

I can not get anything above my 3.44ghz to be below 60.1C on load with ORTHOS. Have any of you ever incorrectly applied Arctic Silver and then clean and fix the application to see improvements?

 

[Thumper]

Quote:

Originally Posted by apopilot Have any of you ever incorrectly applied Arctic Silver and then clean and fix the application to see improvements?

Yes

 

[phildog549]

Very nice thread. I will be posting my results soon. Hit 4 ghz last night but was stable for long. I am testing 3.6 for stability and will let you guys know. Good OCing!

 

[phildog549]

Here it is. 1.41 vcore. Water cooling.