QX6850 Extreme Restoration Blog

[storm-chaser]

lol... it doesn't have it : LINK.
My bad...
Also :
DRAM Static Read Control = Enabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control = Disabled
DRAM Read Training = Disabled
DRAM Write Training = Disabled
MEM. OC Charger = ENABLED
Ai Clock Twister= Moderate
Ai Transaction Booster= Auto
NB Voltage : 1,35-1,45V

Yeah would you just look at that! Doesn't have CR but apparently all the other mem clock settings I'd care to mention and then some. OC Charger? AI transaction booster? AI Twister? Why not offer a setting for pull n' peal twizzler or egg sizzler? Geezeus! At the very least Asus should have included one for fizzle memzizzle!

Yo. I have a gigabyte 7800GT which will probably suit the theme of the build a bit more if you want it

Definitely interested... How much did you want for the card? And is it PCI-E?

 

[AlwaysHope]

Yeah would you just look at that! Doesn't have CR but apparently all the other mem clock settings I'd care to mention and then some. OC Charger? AI transaction booster? AI Twister? Why not offer a setting for pull n' peal twizzler or egg sizzler? Geezeus! At the very least Asus should have included one for fizzle memzizzle!

That point is what I was trying to make in my other thread > https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/lga775-retro-oc-project.245627/#post-3867667

Some of those bios options in Asus P45 boards are just BS marketing. They do nothing, there to impress the user. I did find "Ai clock twister" helping with 4x2GB sticks because of different version sticks when OC for stability runs.

I can sympathize with your attitude this board.

 

[agent_x007]

Simply put : Those settings are responsible for tRD or Strap settings.
Here's a good starting point : LINK.

DRAM Static Read Control = Enabled
DRAM Dynamic Write Control = Disabled
^Those decrease default Performance Level by one if Enabled (if Transaction Booster is set to "Auto"). Lower PL = better performance.

DRAM Read Training = Disabled
DRAM Write Training = Disabled
^Those are "tweaking" timings on "auto" setting with each failed startup, untill you have a successfull boot.
I think DDR4 boards do this automaticly ? (with retry button on Skylake/Coffee Lake).

MEM. OC Charger = ENABLED
Lowers 2-nd/3-rd rate auto timings on supported memory DIMMs.

Ai Clock Twister= Moderate
^Same as Mem OC Charger, but works on everything.

Ai Transaction Booster= Auto
^Direct control over Performance Level (it should bypass "Dynamic" options from before).
It must be used with FSB/DRAM Strap in mind (because too low, or too high set value = no boot). Again, less = better performance, Higher = better stability.

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Yeah would you just look at that! Doesn't have CR but apparently all the other mem clock settings I'd care to mention and then some. OC Charger? AI transaction booster? AI Twister? Why not offer a setting for pull n' peal twizzler or egg sizzler? Geezeus! At the very least Asus should have included one for fizzle memzizzle!


Definitely interested... How much did you want for the card? And is it PCI-E?

Yep. definitely PCI-E. Its this one but the stock cooler has been replaced with this Zalman cooler

The card originally belonged to a friend a good good few years ago but the stock cooler was too loud for him and the fan died so i replaced it with the Zalman, then his PC died not long after that so he decided to just buy an entirely new PC instead.

 

[zenlaserman]

Just logged in to say, man, this thread brings back a lot of memories.
Back in 2007, I went from an OC'd 2.6GHz s754 A64 to a 3GHz Q6600, ye olde B3 stepping.
The Q6600 had just priced dropped from ~$850 to $530 and I got mine for $350 at Fry's.
I built it on an Intel D975XBX2, aka the "Bad Axe 2", Intel's second "overclocking board".
(OC my ass it had a ~430 base clock limit on duals, ~340 on quads. Fracking 975X chipset!)
When G0 stepping came out I sold the Q6600 and bought a Q6700 for that 10x multi.
Ran it at 340x10 1.4v 24/7 for 10 years, then UC+UV'd to 266x6 1.0v for server use.
Over the years it's been through GeForces MX440, 8500GT, 8600GTS, 9800GT at various times,
Radeons 2900XT (built with), 3850, 4850x2, 6870, and now UC+UV'd RX460. Still runs 24/7.

I used to lust after the QX6850, just like I did the QX6800 and QX6700 before it.
My board can support up to a QX6800, but nothing after. I see em for $50 or so.
I think it's awesome that people still run Conroe-era stuff. They are still decently capable!

 

[storm-chaser]

Just logged in to say, man, this thread brings back a lot of memories.
Back in 2007, I went from an OC'd 2.6GHz s754 A64 to a 3GHz Q6600, ye olde B3 stepping.
The Q6600 had just priced dropped from ~$850 to $530 and I got mine for $350 at Fry's.
I built it on an Intel D975XBX2, aka the "Bad Axe 2", Intel's second "overclocking board".
(OC my ass it had a ~430 base clock limit on duals, ~340 on quads. Fracking 975X chipset!)
When G0 stepping came out I sold the Q6600 and bought a Q6700 for that 10x multi.
Ran it at 340x10 1.4v 24/7 for 10 years, then UC+UV'd to 266x6 1.0v for server use.
Over the years it's been through GeForces MX440, 8500GT, 8600GTS, 9800GT at various times,
Radeons 2900XT (built with), 3850, 4850x2, 6870, and now UC+UV'd RX460. Still runs 24/7.

I used to lust after the QX6850, just like I did the QX6800 and QX6700 before it.
My board can support up to a QX6800, but nothing after. I see em for $50 or so.
I think it's awesome that people still run Conroe-era stuff. They are still decently capable!

Thanks for stopping in! You do make a good point, in fact I notice almost a zero difference in Windows 10 boot time comparing the QX6850 and the Core I7 2600K (and this was overclocked to 4.5Ghz). Also measured boot time against a Thuban X6 running at 3.7Ghz and again, it was negligible. Intel really had their act together with the Core 2 quad chips. Even the 65NM with 8MB of L2 cache is a force to be reckoned with. I love the old school overclocks and this is just one of many I have planned for the next year or so. And these systems will be used as my daily driver for some time as well. I have no less than three bare-bones systems ready for a new motherboard and a new heart. Next system on the docket is going to be an Athlon XP 3000+ (I already have the CPU and I hope to run SSD) and perhaps another LGA 771 to 775 conversion using an MSI-P43 C51 mainboard. I might go for the Harpertown x5470 or something similar. I still regret selling my Q9550, but oh well there are many fish in the sea. lol

 

[FreedomEclipse]

Where would i be shipping the 7800GT to?

 

[storm-chaser]

Where would i be shipping the 7800GT to?

12307
Schenectady, NY

 

[FreedomEclipse]

basically, youre looking at around $40 shipped give or take. Thats the downside of you being half way across the world from me.

 

[storm-chaser]

basically, youre looking at around $40 shipped give or take. Thats the downside of you being half way across the world from me.

Damn. Well I guess we will have to hold off on that for now. I have a Radeon HD5670 that will foot the bill just fine. Although that would have been a nice piece for this build since I have a CPU cooler coming in from another member here it would have been a true "community" build.

 

[AlwaysHope]

Just logged in to say, man, this thread brings back a lot of memories.
Back in 2007, I went from an OC'd 2.6GHz s754 A64 to a 3GHz Q6600, ye olde B3 stepping.
The Q6600 had just priced dropped from ~$850 to $530 and I got mine for $350 at Fry's.
I built it on an Intel D975XBX2, aka the "Bad Axe 2", Intel's second "overclocking board".
(OC my ass it had a ~430 base clock limit on duals, ~340 on quads. Fracking 975X chipset!)
When G0 stepping came out I sold the Q6600 and bought a Q6700 for that 10x multi.
Ran it at 340x10 1.4v 24/7 for 10 years, then UC+UV'd to 266x6 1.0v for server use.
Over the years it's been through GeForces MX440, 8500GT, 8600GTS, 9800GT at various times,
Radeons 2900XT (built with), 3850, 4850x2, 6870, and now UC+UV'd RX460. Still runs 24/7.

I used to lust after the QX6850, just like I did the QX6800 and QX6700 before it.
My board can support up to a QX6800, but nothing after. I see em for $50 or so.
I think it's awesome that people still run Conroe-era stuff. They are still decently capable!

LGA775 & especially Conroe where the best days of OC in my opinion. Extra free performance rewarded with effort.
When 1156 came in, that was pretty good too until Sandy bridge came out with that annoying iGPU & approx 1 yr for another socket change... .

Nice to know 65nm quads can last for a heck of a long time 24/7. Be interesting to see if current gen cpus or in fact anything built this decade can run the long race like they did.

Great post, thanks man!

 

[zenlaserman]

@ storm-chaser: yeah, when ya get down to it, Windows is only gonna run so fast.
I have a P3 1GHz with 512MB PC133 with a Radeon AIW X800XT that runs Windows XP,
and it's darn near as quick firing up San Andreas as my Q6700 rig was when it was 32bit.
My Q6700 rig @ 3.4 (DDR2-840 4-5-4-13) is every bit as snappy surfing as my 4.8 6700K rig is.
Ofc SSD and clever browser settings are the great equalizer there, but we are in times of plenty.

10 years ago a 10 y/o PC would have been about 4 potatoes. Well, maybe a P2 400 with 64MB RAM,
(I had one then) but once we hit that 3GHz mark, it was all pretty much overkill after that IMHO.
That's awesome you're gonna play with some AXP, I had a couple Shuttles with OC'd XP-M back when!

@ AlwaysHope: yeah dude, huge, huge gains. When Conroe hit the scene, things just got real.
3GHz A64X2 were _fast_ at the time, but a 2.4GHz E6600 matched it. Bus jump to 3GHz? DOOOM!
Yeah, bus jumps are awesome, doesn't matter who lets you do it, as long as they let ya!

As far as CPU longevity, man, as long as you know exactly what the max voltage a chip can take,
there's no worries, from my experience. I been playing with this shit since the 1980s.
CPU deaths are very rare unless they are over-volted to the moon or a nasty surge in the mobo.
If the PSU don't die hard or the mobo's caps don't blow up like Kirstie Alley, the rig will live long!

 

[zenlaserman]

I actually still have my TRUE, I might even have two...

The 212+ performs pretty darn close to the old TRUE. Both are 120mm tower coolers, the TRUE had 2 more heatpipes, but the 212+ was a DHT which helps it out a lot.

Hmmm...I have a Hyper 212 Evo too... This really makes me want to test both against each other...

I forgot to add my exp to this venerable forum member's. I 100% agree that a 212+ is just bout identical to a TRUE. I've run both on several OC'd 775 roomheaters at various times and find the 212+ to be a much better value and has a slight space advantage. The TRUE is a figgin beast as we all know, but the 212+ does a _great_ job on these old CPUs up to near 1.6v if ambient is under ~25C. My 11y/o Q6700 rig has been running a 212+ with Shin-Etsu TIM since 2015, core temps usually stayed less than 30C over ambient under heavy load OC'd @ 1.4v.

As always - if surfaces are flat with a slight grain, a minimal amount of decent TIM is used across the core(s), and you have the air pressure, your HSF is gonna do the best it can. I still have a vintage nickel-plated Zalman 9700NT that can _not_ do the job on a quad over 1.3v LMAO..it's about the size of a 50-stack of CDs and about as useless these days.

 

[storm-chaser]

Big thanks to newtekie1 for sending me one of his spare Thermalright TRUE coolers. I have more data coming in but from what I have gathered already, it looks like both coolers read about the same at idle, but under load I'm seeing 10-15*F drops in peak temps from the TRUE 120MM in place of my Hyper 212. I used the same fan on both coolers (hyper 212 evo) and same CPU voltage and clock, so the torture test makes for a pretty accurate comparison. Enjoy some pictures for now....

Hyper 212 results under load (TRUE data will be coming soon)

 

[agent_x007]

FYI : TRUE needs a high pressure fan to run at it's best.
Also, do you have standard bolt-kit ?

 

[storm-chaser]

FYI : TRUE needs a high pressure fan to run at it's best.
Also, do you have standard bolt-kit ?

The TRUE is a really nice piece. I can see someone put some serious engineering into the design and build quality. Definitely about twice the weight of a Hyper 212. As for the high pressure fan, perhaps I will do that down the road at some point but the EVO seems to get us in the ballpark so I'm gonna stick with it for now. Its also quieter running than my 212. What do you mean by the standard bolt kit? I just used the standard mounting hardware and included bolts.

 

[AlwaysHope]

A bit unrelated but whilst we are on the topic of air coolers, got me a Cooler Master MA620P multi platform cooler with visions of future AM4 builds ,
Its one of the tightest air cooler fits I've ever done with this kind of gear especially on a board with lots of heat pipes around CPU area such as this..

.
& with big fingers, its even more challenging.... Man, those fancy heat pipes come awfully close to trying to bolt down that baby... annoying! only just cleared my ram too!

This will eventually be another "retro" build.. Intel of course!

 

[agent_x007]

Standard :

"Advanced" version :

The latter one makes this cooling WAY easier to reinstall.
It was usually in pack with Venomous X, but you could buy it seperatly (for older coolers).

@AlwaysHope I like how they put 24 phases for CPUs that genuinely CANNOT pull that many Amps from the PSU (I like overkill). However there is no point since cables on that single 8-pin EPS would melt WAY before amps on phases could pose a threat
LGA 1366 version has dual 8-pin :

 

[hat]

Dual EPS12v: for when 300w just isn't enough.

 

[Mr.Scott]

View attachment 103698

Here it is with XMP timings (manual mode, input timings by hand):
View attachment 103700

AIDA64 Cache & Memory Benchmark:
View attachment 103703

The 3:5 divider is bugged. Always has been. Get off that and you'll start making good changes.

 

[newtekie1]

Standard :

"Advanced" version :

The latter one makes this cooling WAY easier to reinstall.
It was usually in pack with Venomous X, but you could buy it seperatly (for older coolers).

I sent the standard bolt-thru kits for 775, 115X, and AM2/3. Not the pressure vault kit, I bought the cooler before those game out.

 

[storm-chaser]

Dual EPS12v: for when 300w just isn't enough.

Speaking of EPS I know my P5Q3 has an 8pin connection but my power supply only has a single 4 pin EPS connector. Is this going to limit my overclockability with the QX6850? I imagine I could just purchase an 8 pin pigtail if needed....

 

[agent_x007]

It may... depending on how high you want to push it.
I'm not sure how VRM is connected on P5Q3 board, however using 4-pin might be a little much for 4,0GHz+ on that 65nm Quad core (it depends on PSU's wires and cooling around connector's area, "pig tail" won't help with that).

 

[newtekie1]

Speaking of EPS I know my P5Q3 has an 8pin connection but my power supply only has a single 4 pin EPS connector. Is this going to limit my overclockability with the QX6850? I imagine I could just purchase an 8 pin pigtail if needed....

There isn't a mechanism that detects what kind of connector you have connected, it just pulls the amount of power it needs. If it pulls too much power, the pins will get too hot and the connector will melt. The 4 extra pins just make sure that the connector won't melt under heavy power draw. A pig tail won't really help, it will still melt at the 4 pin connector.

 

[hat]

I would either get a better power supply, or ghetto rig one out of two separate molex connectors or something.