# Unstable... raise FSB voltage or chipset voltage?



## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

I've got an unstable system (E2140 in specs). I did the 1333 BSEL to it seeing as how my new motherboard supports 1333 processors, but it was unstable. I didn't want to mess with it right now so I dropped the multi to 6x in the bios, giving me 2000MHz (well blow the 2130MHz I achieved with the 266 BSEL in a far crappier board), however, it is still unstable. I'm thinking it can't handle the FSB increase, even though the boards supports 1333 CPUs, since the CPU is only stock 800...

So, should I move to increase my chipset voltage or the FSB voltage to solve this issue? They're both stock 1.20v, about how high should I go?


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## GSG-9 (Dec 7, 2010)

I say raise fsb, but honestly you probably oc more than me and are more knowledgeable. Let us know how it goes!


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## erocker (Dec 7, 2010)

FSB or "north bridge" voltage needs increasing.


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## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

erocker said:


> FSB or "north bridge" voltage needs increasing.



I know... but I'm not sure which. That was my whole reason for making the thread.


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## GSG-9 (Dec 7, 2010)

I think start with the FSB, I would say only raise it by .8v or so  (and not all at once). If the problem is not elevated set it back to .8 and try raising the chipset.


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## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

On second thought, I'm considering upgrading the psu in my main rig to a nice Silverstone Decathlon. This may help me avoid some problems I've been having in that machine, as well as make a nice hand-me-down for my server. I noticed the board had an 8-pin cpu power connector, but I only have the 4-pin... and there's no provisioning for it to snap in either, it just sits in there. This may be a hint that the board really prefers having the 8 pin connector...

That said, it appears the Silverstone DA750 (the model I was going to buy) suffers from a buzzing noise. There's a thread about it at jonnyguru here:

http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2289

The Silverstone rep posted about revisions that fix the noise back in 2007, so if I buy one from Newegg now, I should be getting the v2.5 model with the issue fixed then? One thing I simply can't stand is having high pitched noises coming from my rig... I definitely want to get a damn good model if I'm going to spring for a power supply.


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## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

I raised the FSB up to 1.35v and the NB up to 1.40v, the last values before they were shown in red. It still failed the test after 17 minutes. I don't know what to do anymore... the core itself should be stable, it's at 2000MHz now and passes 6 hours at 2130MHz when I had the 1066 BSEL mod.


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## Bjorn_Of_Iceland (Dec 7, 2010)

Try it with your Antec 550w from the other rig? Watch how much wattage you put on the +12v rails as well..


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## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

I set the FSB and NB voltages back to their default values (1.20v for the both of them) and raised the cpu core voltage to 1.375v (stock 1.325v). So far it appears to be stable... I have no idea how it would be unstable at 2000MHz when it was stable at 2130MHz in a crappier board. At 2000MHz it's running 1333FSB; it ran 1066FSB at 2130MHz. Could running at a higher FSB make the processor unstable at the same, or even a lesser core speed?


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## micropage7 (Dec 7, 2010)

GSG-9 said:


> I think start with the FSB, I would say only raise it by .8v or so  (and not all at once). If the problem is not elevated set it back to .8 and try raising the chipset.



i agree try from fsb first leave the north bridge, if it become unstable try the north bridge then

or re run it again, raise the processor clock then the voltage next the fsb and the voltage

:shadedshu its kinda hard


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## Tatty_One (Dec 7, 2010)

I used to have a 750i and they can be quite choosy with voltage settings.  if I remember rightly, to run a 1333mhz FSB I needed an FSB voltage of 1.325V, if it isnt already, make sure CPU spread spectrum is disabled as I found having it enabled caused me instability in any and all overclocking.

Next set your SPP voltages to 1.3.  Lastly you may have to play around with GTLvRef volts as I found that to get any decent overclocks on the board I need to raise all refs by one or 2 increments.


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 7, 2010)

Tatty_One said:


> I used to have a 750i and they can be quite choosy with voltage settings.  if I remember rightly, to run a 1333mhz FSB I needed an FSB voltage of 1.325V, if it isnt already, make sure CPU spread spectrum is disabled as I found having it enabled caused me instability in any and all overclocking.
> 
> Next set your SPP voltages to 1.3.  Lastly you may have to play around with GTLvRef volts as I found that to get any decent overclocks on the board I need to raise all refs by one or 2 increments.



Yea like tatty says, the 680I, 750I wassnt the greatest of OCers. if you can come across a nice P45 board then you might get some serious clocks out of it


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## hat (Dec 7, 2010)

Heh, no way am I going to buy another board for this... I recall hearing that the 680i was bad for quads, but just fine for duals (which is what I have).

I did a test overnight with 1.3375v on my cpu, which should be enough considering some people were hitting 3GHz on stock voltage... and 1.375 on the FSB. It locked up. I'm now trying 1.5v FSB, as the board set that value when I left everything on auto. What exactly does FSB voltage do? How high is a safe value?


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## sapetto (Dec 7, 2010)

My old e2180 did 3.6@air and i only upped the fsb voltage, so i think you are getting unstable OC because of the motherboard

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=728225


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

sapetto said:


> My old e2180 did 3.6@air and i only upped the fsb voltage, so i think you are getting unstable OC because of the motherboard
> 
> http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=728225



I've played with it both ways... high vFSB or high vcore alone won't work. There's some sort of balance between the two, and I haven't found it, and I don't think I have the paitence anymore... I'm about to run a test at 1066FSB (2130MHz) and leave it at that if it comes back clean.

Another thing worth noting, in that screenshot your vcore is showing 1.56v... my stock voltage is 1.325v. I bet my cpu would be stable at a voltage that high as well... but I don't want those temps or my system handling that kind of power, espically with the shoddy PSU in this thing.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

brandonwh64 said:


> Yea like tatty says, the 680I, 750I wassnt the greatest of OCers. if you can come across a nice P45 board then you might get some serious clocks out of it



No offense brandon but you're full a bull.... 
In my own personal experience, 750i>680i, night and day difference. 

Hat,

I'm wondering why you need the 1333 BSEL mod at all...


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> No offense brandon but you're full a bull....
> In my own personal experience, 750i>680i, night and day difference.
> 
> Hat,
> ...



I don't. I've since removed the mod and have been clocking through the BIOS.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

hat said:


> I don't. I've since removed the mod and have been clocking through the BIOS.



Just curious,are you overclocking your ram at all?


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

Nope. I had it set to 667MHz throughout the whole ordeal. I even did a memtest on it to make sure the stick didn't go bad on me. The current test in progress is to validate stability for 1066FSB (2130MHz) and 800MHz on the RAM (first time I've tried clocking it). Stock voltage on everything. So far it's looking good about an hour in. I would like to reach stability with 1333FSB, though. If this test passes maybe I will work with 1333FSB more later on, knowing I at least have this stable configuration to fall back on if I get tired of playing with it.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

That's very odd. Maybe fsb hole? Tried 400fsb? If you got 800ram working 1:1 with 400fsb should be ok if you drop cpu multi.


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> That's very odd. Maybe fsb hole? Tried 400fsb? If you got 800ram working 1:1 with 400fsb should be ok if you drop cpu multi.



FSB hole? Not at 333... unless there's a difference between overclocking a lesser cpu to 333 and running a stock 333 cpu. That's something I've been wondering... could a 333 cpu impose a higher default FSB voltage than a lesser cpu?


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## Radi_SVK (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> No offense brandon but you're full a bull....



No,he is certainly not,given me a lot of useful advice..by the way,you dont need to be rude just because you dont share same opinion with him..and by the way,he wasnt questioning which of two is better,he was simply underlining that none of them were good OCs.thats all.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

Rado D said:


> No,he is certainly not,given me a lot of useful advice..by the way,you dont need to be rude just because you dont share same opinion with him..and by the way,he wasnt questioning which of two is better,he was simply underlining that none of them were good OCs.thats all.



Me n him are good friends, I give him shit all the time even when I know I am wrong  it was literally a joke

@hat

Yup fsb hole..

Had one on my own 750i with the e5200 if you remember. If i had the 5:6 divider set it wouldnt post past 339fsb. I had to run a 4:5 boot strapped to 266 or 1:1.


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

Rado D said:


> No,he is certainly not,given me a lot of useful advice..by the way,you dont need to be rude just because you dont share same opinion with him..and by the way,he wasnt questioning which of two is better,he was simply underlining that none of them were good OCs.thats all.



Let's just say there are some conflicting opinions here and leave it at that. I really hate to see people getting fired up over trivial things... epically here. Looking back on it I see how JR could have worded his response better, but given that, I would hate to see this escalate any further.



JrRacinFan said:


> Me n him are good friends, I give him shit all the time even when I know I am wrong  it was literally a joke



Beat me to it... guess that works too. 



JrRacinFan said:


> @hat
> 
> Yup fsb hole..
> 
> Had one on my own 750i with the e5200 if you remember. If i had the 5:6 divider set it wouldnt post past 339fsb. I had to run a 4:5 boot strapped to 266 or 1:1.



FSB hole at 1333? Not sure how memory ratios affect it, but I was running 1:1 at that time. I'll try 400 later, after this test clears. Lord knows I wouldn't mind running 3.2, 2.8 or even 2.4GHz instead of 2130MHz...


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## Radi_SVK (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> Me n him are good friends, I give him shit all the time even when I know I am wrong it was literally a joke



in that case 

EDIT: Whats the average age of people living in your town?   LOL


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

I tried 400FSB and it didn't boot, not even with 1.55 vcore (cpu was at 2400MHz), 1.5v FSB and 1.4v NB.

This is really making me feel like a noob, with everyone toting 3GHz+ overclocks on these CPUs and me failing to even manage 2.66GHz...

This guy is hitting 3GHz on stock voltage: 1.325v
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=513496

I know it's not my memory... and it doesn't work even at 1.5v FSB. These guys are doing it without touching any voltages at all. I can't get mine to be stable at 333FSB... the board's supposed to support that stock, and the cpu is supposed to be able to go up even to 3GHz on stock voltage... but it doesn't.


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

hat said:


> I tried 400FSB and it didn't boot, not even with 1.55 vcore (cpu was at 2400MHz), 1.5v FSB and 1.4v NB.
> 
> This is really making me feel like a noob, with everyone toting 3GHz+ overclocks on these CPUs and me failing to even manage 2.66GHz...
> 
> ...



Give it a CMOS clear and try again... overclocking is never guaranteed and I do know every board+chip combination is different.


@Rado

I wouldnt know the answer to that. Do you know, hat?
Why do you ask?


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

Currently testing 300x8: 1200FSB, 2400MHz. 800MHz RAM thrown in too. About 40 minutes in and looking good.

It occurs to me that those guys were running older tests like Orthos and Prime95. I'm using OCCT Linpack, so I wonder if their settings would be stable under the test I'm running. It also occurs to me that a lot of them were running P35 boards, which would probably be better for overclocking than my current 750i. Throw in my sub-par PSU and it makes for a pretty bleak outlook... but still, coming from 1.6GHz to 2.4GHz on stock voltage is good news in my book, even if I can't have the additional 600MHz.


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## Radi_SVK (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> @Rado
> 
> I wouldnt know the answer to that. Do you know, hat?
> Why do you ask?


 
LOOOOL  youngs+town=Youngstown HAHAHAHAAA


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## JrRacinFan (Dec 8, 2010)

Rado D said:


> LOOOOL  youngs+town=Youngstown HAHAHAHAAA



Oh thanks! hat doesn't live too far from me& I am far from "young"-stown


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

One hour in and running strong on the 2400MHz. I suppose if it passes the full 6:30 I'll call it a day.


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

Hat, is there any way you can take a screenie of all your Bios settings for me to have a look, maybe with a camera or something, something don't smell right here and I am betting there is actually a simple explanation.


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

I've got a related thread going on here, but I'll take pictures of the settings I had and post them in a few minutes anyway.
http://techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2114731#post2114731


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

Here's the settings:


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

damn cant read them at work, it blocks on screen graphics, attach them to your post as thumbnails please and i will be able to, just go to advanced edit > manage attachments and upload them..... thanks!


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## sapetto (Dec 8, 2010)

Here you go


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## brandonwh64 (Dec 8, 2010)

JrRacinFan said:


> No offense brandon but you're full a bull....
> In my own personal experience, 750i>680i, night and day difference.
> 
> Hat,
> ...



That really wasn't called for man... Ive owned a 780I and 680I and had Terrible OCing experience with them. The 680I would take my E5200 to only 3.5ghz the 780I would only go 3.3Ghz and when i changed to a MSI P45 Neo, it would do 3.9ghz? This is my opinion only and you should know that :shadedshu


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

1st thing..... can you link the memory?


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

I had it set to linked for the majority of this struggle. I don't think it really means anything, it just gives it different FSB-DRAM ratios to get it closest to the frequency I specify. If I link it, I get a lackluster selection of FSB-DRAM ratios to pick from, but it calculates the memory frequency from FSB _after_ QDR, so it's very difficult to use. For instance, if I have the memory linked and I set a 1:1 ratio while trying to run 1333FSB, it will make my memory run at DDR1333. I'm running DDR2 in this machine so that's not likely to happen


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

hat said:


> I had it set to linked for the majority of this struggle. I don't think it really means anything, it just gives it different FSB-DRAM ratios to get it closest to the frequency I specify. If I link it, I get a lackluster selection of FSB-DRAM ratios to pick from, but it calculates the memory frequency from FSB _after_ QDR, so it's very difficult to use. For instance, if I have the memory linked and I set a 1:1 ratio while trying to run 1333FSB, it will make my memory run at DDR1333. I'm running DDR2 in this machine so that's not likely to happen



I could not get any decent stable overclocks with my old 750 unless memory was linked.


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

That's really odd... you don't see anything else off in those pictures?


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

hat said:


> That's really odd... you don't see anything else off in those pictures?



Nope, apart from the fact that your FSB and NF200 voltages are too high which means that is NOT your issue here


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

OK, might I suggest this just as a trial, humour me.......

1.  Link memory - select realistic divider based on 1333mhz FSB
2.  Loosten your secondary ram timings a little
3.  1.3v FSB
4.  1.4V SPP
5.  1.3V NF200
6.  CPU at aguess to be safe just go with 1.35V
7.  just for now, set memory voltage to maximum rated for your sticks.
8.  Keep GTLRef volts at auto.

give that a try


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## hat (Dec 8, 2010)

I don't have an SPP voltage? It will boot at 1333, it just fails the test. There's a balance between FSB and vcore that might work, I just didn't have the paitence for it. Newtekie seems to think there's huge FSB holes in the CPU:

 FSB voltage... what does it do?


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## Tatty_One (Dec 8, 2010)

hat said:


> I don't have an SPP voltage? It will boot at 1333, it just fails the test. There's a balance between FSB and vcore that might work, I just didn't have the paitence for it. Newtekie seems to think there's huge FSB holes in the CPU:
> 
> FSB voltage... what does it do?



He may be right, if thats the case, select a much higher FSB, bang on the juice and see if it works.


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## hat (Jan 16, 2011)

Bringing the thread back...

I thought that my power supply was holding me back, so I bought a new one. It sat for a while (changed out power supplies, just not clocking) without me doing anything, but I decided to give it a go today. Testing 3000MHz (375FSB) on stock voltage. Test is a few minutes in, so it's quite possible for it to fail on me yet, but at least I gained a bit of ground.

//400FSB didn't boot, even at insane voltages. WTF?

3GHz (375FSB) turned out to be stable enough to survive 6.5 hours of OCCT Linpack, at default voltages for everything (1.325v cpu, 1.2v fsb, 1.2v NB, no changes to GTL shit).


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