P55A-UD3: Overclocking Failure on Restart

[Aelred]

Hi, I was hoping somebody here could help me.

PC Spec:

GA-P55A-UD3
Core i5 750
2 x 2GB OCZ PC3-12800C9 1.35v
2 x 80GB HDD Software RAID 0
Be Quiet! 530W Pure Power
HIS 5770 1GB

Problem:

Whenever I overclock my system the bios reports a failure on restart. For example, I set the overclock to 3.6GHz and it is 12 hours prime95 stable, I restart the PC and it's back to stock. I check the bios and it reports failed overclock but the PC shut down and restarted normally. I was wondering if it has something to do with RAID?

Hoping for a simple solution 

- Aelred

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

It is far more likely something to do with the BIOS. I would suggest downloading and installing the latest BIOS update for your motherboard and see if that helps.

[Aelred]

BIOS update didn't work unfortunately  I was already on F11 - is it worth trying F10 or an earlier bios?

[Dark Mantis]

Yes. Sometimes it can help where the newest BIOS is clashing with something.

[Aelred]

Tried F8 - F11 and no luck

Could it be possible that the initial CPU voltage is too low at system startup? I have it manually set to the CPU VID @ 1.2685

[Dark Mantis]

Yes that is quite possible. Try increasing it and see if that helps.

[Aelred]

Bah - Upped the CPU, RAM and QPI voltage to no avail  This is really starting to annoy me now    Any other thoughts? (Other than entering bios on every restart  )

[Dark Mantis]

What settings are you using ?

[Aelred]

Well... after an hour of going in and out of the bios I've finally found what might be causing it!

Whenever I set a manual SPD I get this recurring error message "The system has experienced boot failures because of overclocking or changes of voltages". It's currently working fine when set to Auto but if I change it to any manual value 6, 8 or 10 it reports these boot failures

My 3.2GHz settings:

Frequency Settings:

CPU Clock Ratio: 20x
QPI Clock Ratio: Auto
BLCK Freq: 160
SPD: Auto => Mem 1600MHz

Mem Settings:

9-9-9-24

Voltage Settings:

Load Line Calibration: Enabled
CPU Voltage: 1.26875
QPI/Vtt: Auto
DRAM Voltage: 1.4v

[Dark Mantis]

Apart from your DRAM voltage everything looks fine. 1.4v though is very low.

[Aelred]

I think it may well be a RAM compatibility issue, this is the RAM

http://www.ocztechnology.com/ocz-ddr3-pc3-12800-platinum-extreme-low-voltage-cl-9-dual-channel.html

which is rated at 1.35v

[Dark Mantis]

I am not a great fan of OCZ memory at the moment anyway as I feel that their quality control has slipped but these low voltage modules from any manufacturer are problem prone. If you can I would change them for soem god memory like Corsair Vengeance or Dominators or Crucial and Mushkin also make some nice RAM.

[Aelred]

Yeah - I should probably invest in something more suitable

Would this be compatible or would it be better to stick with 4GB

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/8gb-(2x4gb)-corsair-vengeance-ddr3-pc3-1280-(1600)-non-ecc-unbuffered-cas-9-9-9-24-xmp-150v

[Dark Mantis]

I think that should be perfectly suitable. I have the same modules that I have installed on a new P67 board and have been very impressed by them so far.