Nightmare: GA-P35C-DS3R

Hey everyone,
Here are my specs to begin with:

• Gigabyte GA-P35C-DS3R (F10, Rev 2.1)
• Corsair 620W PSU
• Q6600 G0 stepping (with Noctua U12-F, via Artic Silver)
• 8800GTX
• GeIL (4x1GB) PC2-6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2

Ok so the first time I got the mobo (almost 2 months ago) it didn't POST, yet didn't beep either. I then got a replacement which did the same initially - however after leaving it on for a while I was finally able to get the system up and running - relief. But then the whole thing died when I tried to overclock my CPU - Basically after I saved the bios with the overclocked settings, the system shut down and restarted 3 times just after post. After the third time, it died. Those two boards were Rev 2.0 by the way.

Alright so I then got another replacement, now Rev 2.1. This time everything went completely smoothly. So just now I have tried to overclock again; but like last time it shut down just after POST, so I immediately turned off the power (before frothing at the mouth from anxiety). I cleared the CMOS and everything is ok now.

So basically I am here for overclocking instructions. I overclocked my last system (AMDX2) just fine, but I must be doing something wrong here.
Here are pictures of my BIOS screen (Non-OCed settings); I would appreciate it very much if someone could tell me which settings to change so I get a decent OC (3Ghz?).

Advanced Bios Features | Power Management Setup | PC Health Status



MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIB) page 1 | MB Intelligent Tweaker (MIB) page 2

I know this is an odd thing to ask, but I did buy this system with an intention to overclock it. I have done quite a bit of reading but can't figure out what's wrong.

 

Wait... you overclocked your same board before this, but now you're asking us how to overclock?... shouldn't you have asked first?... just messing.

I'll tell you what to change, but you have to do your own stability tests, benches, etc.

First, you should run 1M and 2M super Pi with the system now (at stock) to set the baseline. Run 8 hour Orthos if you have the extra time to make sure your components are good to go...

1st screenshot:

1. Disable C1E for now
2. Disable EIST for now

(you can re-enable these when your system is stable.)

3rd screenshot:

1. CPU warning temp: change this to 70C
2. CPU fan fail warning: enable
3. Change any of these to enable for the fans you have.

4th screen:

1. CPU host clock control... set this to enable
2. PCIE freq... set this to 100
3. C.I.A.2... what is this?
4. System memory multiplier... set this to 2.0
5. DRAM timing... set this to manual.... and set the ram timing to what your ram is rated to run at.
6. CPU host freq... this is what you use to overclock your system... go little by little and run stability and benchmarks

5th screen:

CPU voltage control: manually set this to 1.35 (or whatever the stock voltage the cpu is supposed to be at)

 

This is most likely your problem right here. To get to 3ghz you probably wont need any extra voltage, but if you experience a hardboot when loading or when in windows, then you need to up the Core voltage (cpu). Also for good measure, give the MCH (northbridge) a little extra juice as it's helped me out in the past.

 

Sounds like a RAM or PSU problem if you got it with 3 different mobos.

 

Update your BIOS lol.

 

Thanks a lot for all the tips everyone.
I've just been trying it out, but the computer still resets just after post and somehow reverts the changes I make in the MIB, except for overvoltage controls.
I'll probably try putting in some new RAM and upping the MCH a little more next.
It does seem more and more likely that there's a PSU problem, although it's difficult to confirm especially since I don't have any problems even on full load.

@TroM: I already have the latest

 

I have the same motherboard as you and I don't manually set the processor voltage as it automatically does it for you if you raise the FSB. Also I turn off the CIA and graphics booster options cos I found them to cause instablilty if you manually overclock. I put the memory multiplier down to 2x as well and I get my 6750 running at 3.5Ghz with the cpu at 47 degrees at full load with a cheapish Akasa cooler.

Having said that, there is a good chance the power supply be at fault, I had a similar problem when I had a generic brand PSU (comp would keep trying to reboot and then when it did the cpu was back at stock speed - the bios does do this on purpose on a boot failure).

 

In some cases the auto-voltage option can slightly overvolt the CPU giving some pretty high tempuratures, as such I recommend fiddling with it manually. It does sound like a ram problem though as everytime I go past me rams limits it does exactly as you describe, restarts and resets all my overclock settings except voltages.

 

I have a strange problem. I've managed to overclock the CPU finally, but for some reason the Vcore goes from 1.39 at idle to 1.33 when running Prime. Yet in the BIOS I have set it to 1.45.

 

That's a rather large vdroop. I blame your PSU .

 

Vdroop? Care to explain?
Are there any other ways to test if my PSU is faulty?

 

v-droop

I had very bad v-droop, done the pencil mod and worked a treat. it doesnt work 100%, but enough to reduce the voltage and also reduce temps. my p5k mobo is renound for v-droop. all i did was google p5k v mod.

 

Not really, but google or wikipedia will.

 

Alright I've brung the system up to 3Ghz stable on 1.4v. Temps start reaching 70C if I turn the volts up much more.
I have a problem though - Since the board only has a memory divider of 2.5 (rather than 2.0), if I turn the clock up to 3.2 (355x9) then the RAM goes to 890Mhz, which causes me to be unable to boot into Windows. Any solutions?

 

I'm sorry to bust in like this on your thread, SebJC, but I have some problems with this motherboard too.
My sytem: GA-P35C-DS3R Rev 2.0
Core2Duo E6550
Geil Ultra 2x1GB @800MHz - 4-4-4-12
Gigabyte 8800GT
The thing is: I set everything manually (voltage, memory timings, etc.) but the motherboards says that the "System voltages are not optimized". Anything I do (increase the MCH voltage, increase the memory voltage, increase CPU voltage up to 1.4 step by step) it doesn't get optimized. Although the motherboard states that the voltages aren't optimized, I can POST and use my computer as usual(after I ran Prime over the night).
Can you tell me how to get the voltages optimized? Or how should I approach this 'problem'? Thanks in advance for any help and sorry again for intruding in your thread, SebJC.

 

I think that's normal. The sign only goes away if you change the voltage controls to Auto.


Btw I'm now at 3.2Ghz on 1.425 vcore Temps reach 70C on full load though so I'm stopping there.

 

Ram voltage 2.1v

 

For one, the Vdroop is perfectly fine, All the DS3 and DS4 boards do the same thing.

 

Thanks for the reply. Now I can keep my overclock in peace.