Help O'clocking GA-P41T-D3P (rev. 1.3) ?

[SoxmisUK]

I have installed this motherboard into my computer and in the BIOS am totally unable to raise the clock speed by any more than 10 mhz. The system will shut down wait a few seconds start to reboot, fail, reset and boot at the stock speed.

Enabling the multiplier and adjusting the clock speed in MIT any more than 10 mhz always causes this behaviour. I have tried dropping the multiplier, and various other speeds that this chip can easily achieve but have no success at all. I have tried setting manual spd Jedec #1  to the memory (Crucial BL12864BE2009.8SFB ) - to the guideline 6.0-6-6-16-22 @ 444 MHz and the memory speed drops to 1066 as rec'd. but no success, wont boot. I have tried ramping the ram and CPU voltages a touch but no success. I have tried just putting it all to AUTO, Nothing.

The CPU is a proven CPU having OC it to 3.8Ghz in a XFX nForce 790I Ultra SLI INTEL SOCKET 775 DDR3 with little or no tweaking, yet I cannot get the CPU to OC in this motherboard.. That mobo developed a fault so I cannot continue to use it, and I thought a cheap and yet reliable alternative may be this Gigabyte mainly as it supports DDR3 RAM, and mine in particular. On paper it looked like it could OC my chip..

Also, in the O.S. (W7 64..) the installed Easytune utility (V.6) always hangs the PC directly on clicking the "Set.." button, everything hangs and only a hard reset/reboot will allow progress, the CPU is watercooled and has no heat issues and idles at 45C all cores.. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the utility until I am blue in the face. - It simply does not work.

I was thinking of purchasing some 1066Mhz rated DDR3 but am hesitant to throw good money after bad.. Smiley suggestions?

Seperate problem but, maybe related..

Additionaly, in the BIOS the Q-Flash utility (V2.23) does not work properly, upon executing the utility, and choosing the backup option, I am presented with a blank box (Filename box..) that does not show any drives listed at all, despite me having 1 SSD, and 2 SATA storage drives installed in other motherboard plugs there is no drive detection to speak of. Ignoring this, proceeding with a backup and attempting to backup causes the utility to hang with NO error message or progress bar and locks up the PC. This can only be recovered by a hard reset again.

In all other respects the board behaves normally so far, but I have OC experience and am disapointed with that aspect of it so far. Perhaps I am missing something obvious, or maybe the SSD is not being detected by the Q-Flash utility.. Can you help hear or recommend some action or should I RMA the board to the supplier?

Hoping someone can help...

Model Name : GA-P41T-D3P(rev. 1.3)
--------------------------
M/B Rev : 1.3
BIOS Ver : F2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VGA Brand : Asus      Model : ENGTX406 TOP
CPU Brand : Intel      Model : Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450      Speed : 2.66GHz
Operating System : Win 7 64-bit      SP : SP1
Memory Brand :  Crucial Tech.     Type : DDR3 BL12864BE2009.8SFB
Memory Size : 2gb      Speed : 20000
Power Supply : 550 W

[Aussie Allan]

 If I'm reading this correctly.....if you have just 2GB of memory installed with W7-64.............I'm amazed it even boots to windows

  Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

 If I'm reading this correctly.....if you have just 2GB of memory installed with W7-64.............I'm amazed it even boots to windows

  Aussie Allan

Cheers Alan, it obviously does, and easily.. In fact I've seen w7-64 run on 512MB - So there's a little nugget for you. But... I came here for answers to my post!

John - UK.

[Aussie Allan]

  Well to make a start somewhere.......Official specifications
2GiB pack comprising of a matched pair
2,000MHz operating speed with 9-9-9-28 latencies at 1.9V
EPP 2.0 compatible

  To establish the system will run with these dimms stable with a moderate clock..... loosen the timing and raise the voltage.....you have plenty to play with by the image below.....

 I'd have a crack at setting Manually at 9-9-9-22-30 at 1.6/1.65v....and then try raising the FSB

  Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

 I'd have a crack at setting Manually at 9-9-9-22-30 at 1.6/1.65v....and then try raising the FSB

  Aussie Allan

Hi Allan, and thanks for some dialogue with this, really grateful for the help.

I tried the settings you suggested and was able to do what I have done so far which is raise the clock by 10Mhz. Subsequent voltage bumps did not help the situation either and I was still unable to boot beyond a ceiling of a measly 343.

As per my initial post, this is has been this board's ceiling so far with Ram timings set to auto, or manually adjusted..

Also, once the Ram speed goes beyond 1066Mhz it will not boot, dropping the ram speed to say 800 and raising the clock to anything above Bus 343 = Boot failure.

I would have thought this Ram would easily handle slower speeds, but it's early days yet!



See screenies.

[Aussie Allan]

 Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!  I think you need to look at the V core voltage!.....1.152v seems very low!...... Due to speed step technology there can be variations, ... intel give a range of 0.85 to 1.3625......Big help!........A lot of people out there consider 1.3625 the MAX 24/7 setting

  Can I suggest bumping it up to 1.2000 as a starting point and see if some stability comes your way

 Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

 Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer!  I think you need to look at the V core voltage!.....1.152v seems very low!...... Due to speed step technology there can be variations, ... intel give a range of 0.85 to 1.3625......Big help!........A lot of people out there consider 1.3625 the MAX 24/7 setting

  Can I suggest bumping it up to 1.2000 as a starting point and see if some stability comes your way

 Aussie Allan

Hi Allan,

Looks like you may have put your finger right on it, dont know how I missed that low figure either.  BIOS shows setting at 1.2 but CPU-Z shows a much lower figure as you pointed out.

I attempted to raise the voltage up to 1.3 but the voltage shown in CPU-Z on rebooting was exactly the same each time at or below 1.16v so I think I may have a bust PSU rail.  (Arrgh.) So, I'm going over to a friends to borrow his 850w PSU (Mines an older 550w..) i'll drop it in and retry some OC values.

If it works it looks like im going to be chucking more money into the black hole we call computing.

Let you know the results later.

B'rgds..

John.

[Aussie Allan]

 No probs!

 550 is pretty lean now a days..... lot of folk out there consider 650W the bare minimum now......for an extra tenner you can raise the wattage ceiling 200/250watts.......makes good future proofing sense anyway.........think of a figure and double it comes to mind when ever I look at my computer

 Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

Hi Allan,

Good news and bad news:

I discovered that my Easy Tune V6 was adjusting the voltage incorrectly to less than stock on the boot uninstalled it, and the voltage bumped up nicely.

Bad News: Well the voltage does bump up but to less than is asked for in the BIOS IE: I put in my Vcore @ 1.36875v but in the health status it reads 1.348v Which is a few points less than asked for.

The system will not boot over 343 Mhz, same as before the PSU change.

I wondered if adjusting the CPU termination may make a difference? I figured it set a max value for the CPU voltage as a kind of safety measure>? so I adjusted that to 1.4V to allow a ceiling of that figure.

There is another setting called CPU Reference, but the manual does not help here only stating the values and not what it does, it's current setting is the default 0.805v I havent changed it.

Memory behaves perfectly at its adjusted rate of 1.6v. (but I still cant get past 343 Mhz on the bus..)

All other voltages look good in health status with 12v @ 12.175 and 3v @ 3.376v

Core temp in BIOS rests @ 27c.

B'rgds..

John.

[Aussie Allan]

  John

  Well this is getting interesting!..... just to be on the safe side I'll throw this in just in case ...

  "Increasing the BLCK frequency automatically increases the RAM speed. It does this on all motherboards, there is no way around it. so you need to drop the speed of your RAM to a lower setting as you raise the FSB effecting your over-clock while still maintaining your memory frequency below it's working ceiling"...... Right, ...got that off my chest just in case you don't fully understand this point ,..... lot's don't unfortunately.

 If the above is not applicable.....It's starting to look like a hardware problem, .... I know it's a pain but the next thing you need to check is CPU nest for bent pins on the motherboard......Macro photo's are good..... So is a Gran-dad Magnifying glass and a good light...... if you find some damage ..... Smile!..... because 1, .. it's the gremlin and 2, .... with a steady hand and a sewing needle can be fixed .... Just gently stroke them back in line.

  I put in my Vcore @ 1.36875v but in the health status it reads 1.348v Which is a few points less than asked for.

  0.03395v differential is actually a lot for V-core set and display..... which makes me think if the above is negative ... is now down to M/B or CPU

  post back your findings John and we'll go from there.

 Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

Hi Allan and thanks for the help once again with this..

I have been watching the actual ram speed and using the (G) MCH frequency latch and System memory Multiplier I always aim to keep the frequency at or below 1066 which is the Motherboard's ceiling using this ram according to the manual and the compatible memory list issued by Gigabyte.

I took the plunge and invested in a brand new 700w OCZ Mod Stream-Pro PSU and it's humming away as I write this.. (£70.00!!)  I pushed the voltage to the Vcore up to 1.36875v yet CPU-z (And health status in the BIOS..) still tells me it's at 1.3280v making for a difference of 0.04075v if thats as serious as you say then it looks like I'm going to be pulling the water cooling die off, and having a look at those pins.. I may have tightened it down too far or something, but I will take a look and let you know A.S.A.P.  I have a huge magnifying glass that comes in handy for these situations and a map reading brass so I'm well equipped.

I may be some time !

B'rgds..

John.

[Aussie Allan]

 John
 Sounds like you have the same beer bottle bottom as me!..... although painful, ruling out the CPU nest is important......After you do this and what ever the result.....Don't tighten down the CPU cooler/block too much for the first reboot after refitting..... you can alway torque it up later, just want to make sure it's not an over tightening problem causing this glitch.........Good luck Jim on your mission!....

 Aussie Allan

[SoxmisUK]

Hi Allan..

Well I took the watercooler off and inspected the pins thoroughly, there is no flattening or twisting of any of the pins, theyre all standing up in neat little rows.  Tightened to finger tight as per the manufacturer's instructions..

All A.O.K.

On reboot CPU-z (Installed the ROG version just in case..) shows @ 1.36875 in the BIOS no change :

[Aussie Allan]

Hi Allan..

Well I took the watercooler off and inspected the pins thoroughly, there is no flattening or twisting of any of the pins, theyre all standing up in neat little rows.  Tightened to finger tight as per the manufacturer's instructions..

All A.O.K.

On reboot CPU-z (Installed the ROG version just in case..) shows @ 1.36875 in the BIOS no change :

......Mmmmmmm.....Stay tuned, I get the Guru to have a look to see If Ive missed something.....Mmmmm Vdroop!

  Aussie Allan

[Dark Mantis]

Hi

Well you seem to have been having fun here. Although the voltage doesn't seem to be responding quite as expected I think that maybe you are getting bogged down in this area. Let's just forget that for a while and have a look at something else.

Make sure that you have got rid of ET6 and any other bundled software packages that were supplied. Most are more trouble than they are worth.

Strip out any hardware that is superfluous to requirements.

What sockets have you got the memory modules in ?

OK this is going to take some time but we need to make 100% sure that your memory and controller is working correctly.

Please follow these instructions exactly.

I would suggest that you download and run the latest version of  Memtest86+ to check your RAM first.

Memtest86+        http://www.memtest.org/

Insert one stick of memory in slot 1 and run Memtest on it for at least 10 complete loops/cycles and if there are no errors then swap it over with the next one and continue untill you have checked all  modules.
 
If you have any errors the module is faulty.

If you have any faulty modules you will have to return the whole kit as they are matched.

Post back when you have done that with the results.