D975XBX2 Overclocking Help Needed

[Pez D Spencer]

I just got a Bad Axe 2 and I'm having ZERO success overclocking with it. Hopefully someone can tell me what I'm doing wrong...

Although I'm no guru when it comes to OC'ing, I've owned two other overclocking boards in the past and had success overclocking with both of them. The first was an Asus A8N32-SLI with an Opteron 170, and the second was an EVGA NF68-A1 680i and a Q6600. I still have the Q6600 but I got rid of the 680i board and went with this Bad 975XBX2. I got rid of the 680i because the PCI-e slots took a dump on it and due to the massive problems others have had I decided to just go with a totally different board.

My current setup is a 975XBX2 mobo, Q6600 G0 stepping CPU, and 3GB of Wintec AMP-X DDR2 800 (2 x 1024 and 2 x 512). SPD timings for the RAM are 5-5-5-15. When I had the 680i board and I tried to run this 3GB RAM setup, the board wouldn't detect or run it above 667MHz @ 5-5-5-15 for some reason. Adding voltage and/or setting the speed and timing manually didn't help either and I'd get a POST error forcing me to revert to 667MHz. Finally I took the two 512MB sticks out and just ran 2GB. When I did that, the RAM would run at 800MHz and I could tighten the timings down to 4-4-4-12.

In this Bad Axe board, I can install all 3GB and it runs at 800MHz like it should, but the board sets the timings at 5-6-6-18 for some reason. I've set the timings manually to 5-5-5-15 but the board just puts them back to 5-6-6-18 after rebooting. Adding up to 1v to the memory doesent help either. Another strange thing I've noticed is that the BIOS reports an SPD of 6-6-6-18 on the 1024MB sticks when it should be 5-5-5-15. However, the BIOS shows correct SPD timings for the 512MB sticks (5-5-5-15).

As far as overclocking goes, I'm shooting for 3.0GHz. I was able to achieve this easily with the 680i but nothing I've tried with this 975x board will work. Here are what I've done so far to try and get 3.0GHz on the Bad Axe:

-Disabled Watchdog, C1E, and EIST.
-Changed the FSB from the default 266 to 333.
-Tried Reference Frequency on both Automatic and 333 (neither worked).
-Tried setting the RAM to 667 and 800 (neither worked).
-Tried upping the Vcore from the default 1.325 to 1.4. On the 680i default Vcore for this Q6600 was 1.25 and could get a stable 3.0GHz OC with only 1.3v.
-Tried upping FSB voltage from the default 1.25 to 1.4.
-I haven't upped the chipset voltage because it's already at 1.525 by default. I know that the 680i and 975x are two totally different chipsets, but the max chipset voltage on the 680i was 1.5 and I'm afraid to add any more to it. Maybe this is my problem?

If I try to OC with watchdog enabled I get the "press Y to change BIOS settings or N to continue" POST error message. Pressing N to continue just causes the PC to reboot and takes me back to the same error message. With Watchdog disabled, the PC starts, fans spin, lights illuminate, etc. but nothing happens. No hard drive activity and no video whatsoever on the monitor.

Anyone have any idea what I'm doing wrong? I'm also confused about why my RAM timings are acting strange. Any tips, ideas, or advice is appreciated.

Thanks.

[Sparky]

http://forums.legitreviews.com/post78140.html#p78140

[Pez D Spencer]

I already read that thread before I posted but thanks anyway. I went back and upped the chipset voltage to 1.575 but again it was a no go. I also pulled out the two sticks of 512MB RAM but that didn't help either. I still cant adjust the timings without the BIOS automatically setting them to 5-4-4-18 (CPU-Z reports the timings as 5-6-6-18 so I don't know which is right).

A little bitty 3.0GHz OC shouldn't be this hard to get. I just don't understand it.

[Pez D Spencer]

I forgot to add that I also tried the settings the 975XBX2 calculator gave me but once again it didn't work. I'm about to give up entirely and just run the damn thing stock.

Initally I thought this is the way it would work... I'm shooting for a 3.0GHz overclock so that means I have to use a 1333MHz FSB because 1333 / 4 (quad-pumped FSB) = 333. Take 333 with a 9x muliplier and you have 2997MHz. With the 680i the FSB and memory speed could be unlinked so overclocking the memory wasn't an issue. But with the 975X it is. So to get around that I figured that I should set the Reference Frequency to 333 and the memory speed to 667. I say this because after some calcuating I figured that the OC'd FSB of 333 minus the original FSB of 266 equals a difference of 67MHz which will be added onto the reference ("base") frequency of the memory. Adding 67 to 333 brings you back up to 400 and double that for DDR2 and voila, you're back at 800MHz on the RAM with a 3.0GHz OC on the CPU. OC'd CPU without OC'ing the RAM.

Of course it doesn't/didn't work like that and I still don't have any idea of how this "Reference Frenquency" plays into all this. Some people have talked about a "Northbridge Strap" but I don't get that either. Of course I know what the Northbridge is, but I don't know what they mean by Northbridge Strap.....

Please help me before I take a hammer to this PC.

[kenc51]

The reference Freq is the "north bridge strap"
The north bridge is not only like another (mini) cpu on your board, but it's also a memory controller with it's own internal timings, just like your RAM.
Intel (and others) pre-programed these chips to have set internal timings for a given FSB speed. When the FSB is set to 533Mhz the north bridge, by default will use the 133MHz "strap"
Since a 533MHz FSB is now considered slow and the chip set can easily reach these speeds, Intel set the chip set to have very tight internal timings to reduce the latencies and increase performance even more when you have a slower CPU and or RAM combo.
The lower the reference frequency is, the better performance you can potentially get due to lower latencies (in the chip set, not the ram). The problem here is that lower latencies and high MHz is too stressful for the chip set, so Intel added more "straps". When you select the higher "strap" or use a CPU with a higher default FSB, the chip set then increases these internal timings to allow it to reach the higher FSB.
Intel was the first to release this bios tweak to allow you to manually change this.

To get a high FSb, you must use the 333MHz strap, as the 975X chip set is old and can't clock that high.

When you're overclocking, did you increase the memory voltage?
Also, don't compare the 680i & 975X voltages, the 975X is a lot older and the 680i is made using a smaller process allowing it to run with lower voltage by default. Make sure you don't use the 512mb sticks either when OC'in, as different memory sizes will also cause a lot of stress on the chip set.
I can't see why you can't boot with a 333MHz FSB as this should be very easy to do. Most 975X boards can do 350MHz on stock voltages, it's only when you get to about 370MHz FSB when things get a little tricky.

[Pez D Spencer]

Hypothecitally speaking, since I'm going for a 3.0GHz OC and I have my FSB set to 333, what should I have my Reference Frequency and Memory Frequency set at if I'm using DDR2 800?

FWIW, I was finally able to get the computer to boot at 3.0GHz using a RF of 266 and a MF of 533. The strange thing is that after booting and opening CPU-Z, it showed only a 6x multiplier and a 2000MHz CPU speed. However, the Windows system information screen and the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool (TAT) both showed 3000MHz as it should. I don't know which is right. Also, when using these settings CPU-Z reported the memory running at 667MHz (333MHz actual). It also booted with a RF of 266 and a MF of 400 but once again CPU-Z also reported only a 2000MHz CPU speed and a 6x multi but Windows and TAT report 3000MHz. When using 266 RF and 400 MF CPU-Z shows the RAM running at 500MHz (250MHz actual).

[kenc51]

Hypothecitally speaking, since I'm going for a 3.0GHz OC and I have my FSB set to 333, what should I have my Reference Frequency and Memory Frequency set at if I'm using DDR2 800?

Ref Freq = 333
Memory = 533MHz, just to be sure the memory is not the cause of the problem. You can always try for 667MHz afterwards.
Also set the RAM to 2.0v and CPU to 1.425v, again to eliminate these as possible causes, you can change them once it's up and running.

[Pez D Spencer]

Ok Ill try that. I edited my previous post BTW.

[kenc51]

Ok Ill try that. I edited my previous post BTW.

Disable speedstep (lowers voltage) and also Enhanced C1E (lowers the multi to 6x) in the BIOS before you try to OC as these cause instability.
TAT doesn't read the cpu multi, it always reports back the default multi. CPUZ reads the cpu multi in real time!

[Pez D Spencer]

I tried what you suggested and it didn't work. Also, Watchdog, C1E, and EIST have been disabled all along. The fact that C1E is disabled and CPU-Z still reports a 6x multi is strange. In my past expereince though, when C1E is enabled, CPU-Z will show the multi flip-flopping back and forth between a 9x and 6x multi and not stay constantly at a lower multi like it's doing for me. Another thing is that even though CPU-Z reports the 6x multi, after I rebooted and went back into the BIOS, the main BIOS screen showed 2.99GHz as the "Overridden CPU Speed".

My only guess at this point is that the problem is with the memory. But even though Wintec isn't all that great of a brand, it got good reviews both on Newegg and various reviews around the Internet. People on Newegg said they had success overclocking it.

I was able to get 3.0GHz easily with the 680i board I used to have so I know that the CPU can do it.

Who knows. I'm still open to suggestions.

EDIT - I'm gonna try going back a BIOS release or two and see if that helps.

[Pez D Spencer]

Well boys, I got it worked out. I guess when I flashed the BIOS right after I installed the board something went wonky because I updated to the newest one and finally got an overclock. I'm running 3.0GHz and 266/667 @ 5-4-4-12 on the RAM which comes out to DDR2 833 when it's all said and done. I benched all the other configs that I could get to work and that gave me the best speeds. I might be able to get this RAM up to 1000MHz but I don't wanna cook it so I'll leave well enough alone.

[Sparky]

Glad you to hear you got it resolved. Good luck with your OC.

[kenc51]

Well boys, I got it worked out. I guess when I flashed the BIOS right after I installed the board something went wonky because I updated to the newest one and finally got an overclock. I'm running 3.0GHz and 266/667 @ 5-4-4-12 on the RAM which comes out to DDR2 833 when it's all said and done. I benched all the other configs that I could get to work and that gave me the best speeds. I might be able to get this RAM up to 1000MHz but I don't wanna cook it so I'll leave well enough alone.

Glad to hear you got it sorted!

I still think you can go (a lot) further though!