I've been O/C'ing my new rig for 2 weeks and this is what I think I have learned, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Prime95 errors come mainly from underclocked Vcore's and crashes and BSOD are from RAM settings. I believe that is what I read and I can overclock my CPU to over 4Mhz and underclock my RAM and be stable for 24 hours running Prime but start messing with my RAM and I see BSOD and crashes.
Raise my BLCK over 174 with an SPD of 8 (or higher) and my rig won't boot. I've tried everything I can think of or been suggested and I just think my RAM won't do it, or my MB won't let it try.
So I dropped my CPU multi down to 19 ( no luck with anything lower) to go with my 6 SPD to get the most memory freq for the buck and set BLCK at 191. QPI is at 36, do you ever use anything else? Uncore is at 17, I read your suppose to double SPD or double plus one 1 but I can get it stable at 17, anything lower would just lower performance. Haven't tried anything because I doubt I could and even if I could I doubt the performance increase would be worth the effort.
Best timing I think will prove to be stable are 9-8-8-19. Thought I had 8-8-8-18 but crashed. I read i7 930 Bloomfield doesn't recognize 1333 RAM, sees it as 1066. Is it true?
So I think my O/C is done once I am sure my timings are stable. Pretty satisfied with my result if a little disappointed I didn't buy better RAM. I stress with Prime 95 and MemTest86 at the same time and bench my RAM with MaxxMEM to see what timings are better.
I can get a stable O/C of my CPU with a 1.26250 Vcore but will run it at 1.275 just because. My high temp with Prime running is around 80c, wouldn't feel comfortable with anything higher. So I guess I'm done if somebody could just confirm my conclusions. One last question, does Vcore affect RAM. Becuase if it does I guess I have to get better thermal paste than the stuff that came with my Zalman cooler and get another fan and try for 4.2.
i7 930
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R
Radeon HD 5970
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache
Windows 7 64 Bit
Crucial 6GB (2x3) DDR3 PC3-10600 CT3KIT25664BA1339
ZALMAN CNPS10X Performa 120mm Long life CPU Cooler
Thermaltake Toughpower XT TPX-775M 775W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.9
Advanced CPU Features:
CPU Clock Ratio ................................ [19x]
Intel® Turbo Boost Tech .................. [Disabled]
CPU Cores Enabled ............................ [All]
CPU Multi Threading .......................... [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) ................... [Disabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support .................... [Disabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor ......................... [Enabled]
CPU EIST Function ............................ [Disabled]
Virtualization Technology ................... [Disabled]
Bi-Directional PROCHOT ..................... [Enabled]
Uncore & QPI Features:
QPI Link Speed .............................. [Auto=36]
Uncore Frequency .......................... [17x]
Isonchronous Frequency ..................[Enabled]
Standard Clock Control:
Base Clock (BCLK) Control ................ [Enabled]
BCLK Frequency (MHz) .....................[191]
PCI Express Frequency (MHz) ........... [103]
C.I.A.2 [Disabled] Not sure what this is
Advanced Clock Control:
CPU Clock Drive ..............................[700mV]
PCI Express Clock Drive ................... [700mV]
CPU Clock Skew ............................. [0ps]
IOH Clock Skew ............................. [0ps]
Advanced DRAM Features:
Performance Enhance ...................... [Standard]
Extreme Memory Profile (X.M.P) ......... [Disabled]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) ........ [6x]
DRAM Timing Selectable (SPD) .......... [Quick]
Channel A + B + C
Channel A Timing Settings:
##Channel A Standard Timing Control##
CAS Latency Time ......................[9]
tRCD .......................................[8]
tRP .........................................[8]
tRAS .......................................[19]
##Channel A Advanced Timing Control##
tRC ........................................ [Auto]
tRRD .......................................[Auto]
tWTR ...................................... [Auto]
tWR ........................................[Auto]
tWTP .......................................[Auto]
tWL ........................................[Auto]
tRFC .......................................[Auto]
tRTP .......................................[Auto]
tFAW .....................................[Auto]
Command Rate (CMD) ................[1]
##Channel A Misc Timing Control##
Round Trip Latency ...................[Auto]
B2B CAS Delay ..........................[Auto]
Advanced Voltage Control:
CPU
Load Line Calibration ................. [Level 1]
CPU Vcore ...............................[1.275]
QPI/VTT Voltage 1.150v ............[1.34]
CPU PLL 1.800v .......................[1.88]
MCH/ICH
PCIE 1.500v ...........................[1.5]
QPI PLL 1.100v .......................[1.2]
IOH Core 1.100v .....................[1.2]
ICH I/O 1.500v .......................[1.5]
ICH Core 1.1v ........................[1.2]
DRAM
DRAM Voltage ..............[1.66]
DRAM Termination 0.750v [.82]
Ch-A Data VRef. 0.750v [.82]
Ch-B Data VRef. 0.750v [.82]
Ch-C Data VRef. 0.750v [.82]
Ch-A Address VRef. 0.750v [.82]
Ch-B Address VRef. 0.750v [.82]
Ch-C Address VRef. 0.750v [.82]
