F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD GA-X58A-UD3R Best Settings

[glpdx]

First time self-building over-clocking system. Having good success with some premium settings. Nevertheless, I would like to run them by you. Timings seem to be optimal (based off forum), so I'd like to start lowering voltages. (Or open to other ideas) Please let me know what you'd start tweaking. Also, what stress test do you think is best to confirm these settings. Thank you for your feedback.

F3-16000CL9T-6GBTD
GA-X58A-UD3R
i7-920 D0
Velociraptor 160gb 10K x2 RAID 0 (soon to be SSD)
Antec 1200
Antec CP-850

BIOS....

[G.SKILL]

QPI voltage could be added to 1.6v if you wanna do more tweaking
and memory voltage could be set to 1.64v or even lower
CPU voltage is too high, below 1.4v would be enough


G.S

[glpdx]

Done! QPI @1.60v, Mem @ 1.62v, CPU @ 1.40v. All is running fine. (tried Mem 1.60v, but had issues) For me and others that are having good results, where would you go next? Would you try lowering some timings, one at a time? Which would you try first? (I realize I may be at the limit or close)

Thanks again for the good feedback. Looking forward to adding another 6GB to this gaming system and the same to a dedicated media server.

[GSKILL TECH]

With another 6GB, you will need to downclock the frequency since QPI/VTT 1.60V is already quite high and another 6GB would place essentially twice the amount of stress thus making it unstable since you can't increase the QPI/VTT Voltage much more.

If you really need the 12GB, you can simply downclock to ~1600 and lower the timings to CL7 or so.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[glpdx]

Good to know about the 12GB. Since that will be primarily for virtual server testing, I can put it in the media server machine where the hottest settings aren't as important.

As you surely knew already, once I started some long-term stress tests, the temps were too hot. After extensive testing, I found a a good compromise that runs for hours under acceptable temps. I plan on adding a few more fans to my Antec 1200. Until then, the only way I could get stable voltages, without raising timings was to move DRAM voltage back to 1.66. Is that going to be okay, or should I tame it down a tad?


New BIOS Settings...

[GSKILL TECH]

ICH Core Voltage should not need a boost. Other than that, everything else looks pretty good. QPI/VTT Voltage should not need 1.60V for DDR3-1600, so you can lower that until unstable.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[glpdx]

Thank you for your help. ICH Core Voltage back to Auto, which seemed to help temps slightly. Any drop in QPI/VTT voltage resulted in stress test failure. There doesn't seem to be much more I can change. System to be in good shape.

Now, to totally change directions. I moved from DDR3-2000 to DDR3-1600 because I read the lower timings were more helpful in gaming than the DDR3-2000. However, these seemed to just be opinions and didn't have any testing to back it up. I've recently seen some straight foward tests of similar RAM (different brand) which clearly showed improved performance at DDR3-2000 8,9,8,24 compared to DDR3-1600 6,7,6,18. So, I'm thinking of changing my mind and going back to the DDR3-2000.

The best I can boot to with current voltages is DDR3-2000 8,9,8,22,1 - however, I don't know which parts of that are beneficial and just a waste (compared to 9,9,9,24,2). Further, my stress test now are way too hot. I've started lowering my VCore voltages a notch or two but still too hot. I'm not done dropping the Vcore volts, but do you think I'll have to go back to DDR3-1600 to keep my 4.0 Mhz Overclock, or are there some settings you can start pointing me to? I'd like to at least try to make 8,9,8,24,2 timings to work, if possible.

Thanks again for all your help.

[GSKILL TECH]

Yes, to do DDR3-2000+ and 4.0GHz, you surely need a good aftermarket CPU cooler. The heat is because of the high QPI/VTT, not CPU VCore. DDR3-2000 will be faster than DDR3-1600 especially if you overclock the CPU frequency. You can simply download a memory benchmark program such as Everest Ultimate to test for yourself and your specific system.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[glpdx]

I have a Zalman CNPS9900ALED . While not the #1 cooler, it's in the top 15, I think.

I've made good progress on finding some usable settings. I used LinX stress test to quickly identify the best balance between heat and stability. The following settings are Prime95 stable (for at least 5 hours). Same settings with timings of 8,9,8,24,2 is about 3 hours stable, then 8,9,8,24,1 is about 2 hours stable. As you can see by the attached memory benchmarks, there is little difference between them, and are both great performers. Although, this machine is primarily a gaming machine. 2 hours Prime95 stable is probably good enough, so may just keep the 8,9,8,1 timings. I've decided on a max temp of 85 degrees instead of the standard 80 degrees. If the CPU only last 3 or so years, so be it. I'm sure I'll be upgrading before then anyway.

I've included a few more settings on this posting. Can you see anything that may help make 8,9,8,24,1 more stable? I've chosen not to disable C1E because I leave my system on 24/7, so I'd prefer the CPU step down to save on my power bill. I also haven't disabled the Thermal Monitor because I do run the system fairly hot sometimes, so wan't some sort of protection. Or, can you tell me what risks there are of disabling the Thermal Monitor?

Are there any advanced timings I could further enhance or something else? Thanks again for your help. Your directions have been very helpful

[glpdx]

[GSKILL TECH]

"I've decided on a max temp of 85 degrees instead of the standard 80 degrees. If the CPU only last 3 or so years, so be it. I'm sure I'll be upgrading before then anyway."

That's a real overclocker right there! =)

Everything looks good, the only options I see to help stability are those you enabled C1E, TM, but Performance Enhance to Standard may help as well.

Thank you
GSKILL SUPPORT

[glpdx]

Oh, Almost Forgot...

[GSKILL TECH]

... flying. That 8-9-8-24-CR1 is really doing it for you. 2.2ns shaved off, great job.

Enjoy!

Thank you
GSKILL TECH