Double check my settings please

[sean126]

Hey Guys....just need some brainiacs to take a second and double check my settings in my Bios on my p5wdh Deluxe board before I do anything. I'm trying to overclock just shy of having to mess with my voltage. I don't really need to got that far....only doing Video editing and dvd copying.

I seen on another website where they talked about disabling things you don't need to take the strain off the MB when overclocking. Made sense I guess. Here it is:


AI tuning--manual --------------Manual
cpu Freq--266 ---------------333 for 3.0
Dram--DDR2-800 ---------------need to change to DDR2--667
performance mode--auto --------Disable
PCI Express Freq--auto ----------------100
PCI Clock syn. mode--auto --------------- 33.3
memory volts--2.00 ---------------- should be OK here, yes?
cpu vcore volt---auto ------------(1.325) On the volts....I'd like to stay with in the suggested range on these
FSB Term. volts--auto ----------------1.40
MCH Chipset volt.--auto --------------1.55
ICH chipset volt.--auto ---------------0.1V from lowest default value
Digital home mode--disabled
______________________________________________
CPU config.
Modify ratio support--Disabled---Not sure what to do with any of these here.
Microcode updation--Enable
Max cpuid value limit--Disabled
Execute disable function--disabled
enhanced ci control--disabled
cpu internal thermal control--auto
virtualization tech.--enabled ----------------Disable
intel speed step tech.--enabled ---------------Disable
________________________________________________
Chipset
Configure Dram timing by SPD--disabled
(timing numbers are the correct ones....4-4-4-15 and the rest are at default)
write recovery time--4
Dram ECC mode--disabled
Hyperpath 3--auto --------------------Disable
Dram-throttling threshold--auto ---------Not sure what to set it to
Memory remap feature---disabled

Peg buffer length--auto ---------------Have no idea about any of these
link latency--auto here.
peg root control--auto
peg link mode--atuo
slot power--auto
______________________________________________

I don't have a raid set up, was wondering if I should/could go ahead and disable the JMicron sata-pata controller and JMicron sata/pata boot rom?
__________________________________________________ _____
Power
Had some questions about what to disable here....
Qfan control--enabled -------------------Disable?
Qfan mode--pwm -------------mode correct?

Chassis Qfan control--enabled ------------------Disable?
pwr Qfan control---enabled -------------------?????

Vcore---1.328
3.3 volt--3.36
5volt--5.094
12V--12.144
-------------------------------------------------------------------
As far as the FBS....I guess I should start out with something smaller than 333. I realize I may not be able to get 3.0 without any voltage regulation, which is what I don't want to do.

To the right of the settings (after the "----") is what I'm going to set it to. I see where people always say to set the ratio to 1:1....I don't know how to do this..(unless it will show me when I start changing the settings.)
Tell me if I'm missing anything here.

[gvblake22]

Wow, you've got a lot going on here. Let's see if I have correctly deciphered what you are trying to do...
Are you looking to have these settings as a first step of overclocking, or basic stock settings in preparation for possible overclocking later? That looks like a somewhat confusing BIOS with some odd functions, but the ones you will use most will be from that first AI Tuning section you posted. You should be ok at 2.0V on the RAM for now, but you may need to bump it up to 2.1V if you try and go much higher. You should also be fine leaving your CPU VCore at default for now. Disabling the PATA controller and such will not likely affect the stability or overclockability of the machine, especially if there are no devices connected to it. So you can probably just leave those.

The QFan controls correspond with any fans you have connected directly to the 3-pin fan headers on the motherboard (not connected directly to the PSU). Do you have any fans connected directly to the motherboard? If so, do you want the motherboard to control the speed of the fans based on it's own temperature readings? Personally, I like to connect the fans directly to the PSU so I know they are getting full voltage and not dropping to a low RPM based on some bogus temperature reading from some random sensor on the motherboard. If the fans are too loud and you want to slow them down and you know your temps will still be ok, then I suggest getting a separate fan speed controller like the Sunbeam Rheobus. That way you know what the fans are running and can adjust them manually. Setting the fan controls to disabled should completely disable their functionality so I don't think it matters what the other settings are because it won't use them. PWM stands for Pulse Width Modulation, which is a form of controlling how much voltage is sent to the fan (thus making it spin faster or slower).

[sean126]

Fans....I don't really care about the noice. I have two fans connected to the motherboard. The Zalman hs/fan and the side panel fan...which I keep on a certain speed all the time. The others are plugged into the power supply.

Yeah...these settings are "preparations" I guess. Intended to lighten the load on the MB by disabling things I don't need.
I intended on oc'ing the cpu and memory as much as I could without messing with the voltage (unless I can lower it after the OC).

The biggest confusion I have is with the memory settings. From what I understand...I lower it to 667 to overclock my cpu without damaging my memory because as I raise the fsb...it also overclocks the memory at the same time...correct?

I just wanted to be sure I'm not disabling anything I needed or the voltages I will change them too aren't considered high enough to damage or severely shorten the life of anything.

[gvblake22]

You won't damage the memory by overclocking the speed a little with the FSB. As for overclocking, people have different strategies, but I like to overclock one at a time to find what each is capable of, then combine the two at the end for a total system overclock. To do this, you can either start with the processor or RAM, whichever you like.

I usually start with finding the headroom on the processor. To begin such an endeavor on your particular system, I would lower the CPU:RAM ratio to 1:1 so it runs with the FSB and you give yourself a lot of room in the RAM for overclocking the FSB and find the limit of your processor (and possibly motherboard). So set the RAM to 1:1, you can leave the RAM timings and voltages the way they are, and start increasing the FSB 5-10 MHz at a time and test for stability at each change. When you get hit instability, you now know where the highest stable speed is of your processor at stock voltages.

From here you can put your FSB back to stock (266MHz) and put your RAM speed back to DDR2-800, and lower your CPU multiplier to something like 6x so you give yourself some room to increase the FSB without overclocking the processor. Now you are ready to overclock the memory, which is done the same way you overclocked the processor, 5 - 10 MHz at a time (with testing at each interval). Report back with your findings and we'll go from there

[sean126]

I think I understand....Cpu first then the Ram and then a happy medium for both.

1. So I DO lower the memory from 800 to 667? (to find the cpu wall), then change it back to 800 to find the Ram wall.

2. I haven't done anything yet...but which setting will let me change the ratio to 1:1.

on the cpu stability (for each increase)...Program and for how long?

[gvblake22]

The way your motherboard lists the CPU:RAM ratio is by the resulting DDR2 speed. So in your case, the DDR2-533 setting would be the 1:1 setting (which runs your RAM at the same speed of the FSB). The DDR2-667 setting will run your RAM 1.25 times as fast as the FSB (also known as 4:5) and the DDR2-800 setting will run your RAM 1.5 times faster than the FSB (also known as 2:3).

I like to use StressPrime, 3DMark05, and SuperPI to test for stability. I'll run 3DMark all the way through, then run a 1M, 16M, or 32M test of SuperPI (depending on how impatient you are because a 32M run will take almost 30 minutes). Then if all of those pass, I will let StressPrime run the small FFT test for 1 - 6 hours or so. It seems a little crazy to spend that much time testing a 10MHz increase from stock, but this extensive testing also helps to "break-in" the processor as the speed is increased slowly as opposed to just ramming 400MHz up the processors @$$ right from the beginning and hoping it plays nice.
If there is instability, you are likely to find it pretty quickly with either 3DMark or SuperPI before you can even get to StressPrime

Also, you probably don't have to run StressPrime for 6 hours everytime you make a change. A run of 3DMark05 and a 32M SuperPI test should usually do it for most of the FSB increments. Maybe just toss in the StressPrime test every 50 MHz or something...

[sean126]

Got it....will try it and report back. Thanks a million.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by sean126

Got it....will try it and report back. Thanks a million.

Good luck. Just remember to take it slow, better to be safe than sorry

[sean126]

Update: Before I started I set all the volts in the bios to the lowest, except for the cpu. Mine was rated up to 1.325V and I set it on that.

I stopped at 356 fsb for a 3.207 Overclock on the cpu because I didn't want the hassle of resetting my cmos thing-a-ma-gig on the motherboard. On all the increases I ran 3dMark05, super pi (32m) on both cores and used pcmark05 a few times...just to see. At 316fsb I ran cpu burn in over night for about 8 hours and today at 333 I ran that orthos/stressprime2004 beta for about 2 1/2 hours with no errors. I'm going to run it over night tonight with that to see how it does and then when i get done with the memory and memory tests...I'll do some more tests on everything.

Before@ 2.44-------------------------------after @ 3.207
3dmark 05....10720/9368(cpu)---------------11183/11813(cpu)
Pc mark 05...6908---------------------------8216
super pi ...20m 5s (only one instance)...........18m30s (2 instances)

I don't know if these are good or bad. On super PI the temps stayed between 39-42 on load (both cores) Like I said...I'll run stressprime2004 over night and use coretemps. Then it's on to the memory tomorrow and then I'll find a happy medium.

[gvblake22]

Great results, those temperatures are very good. I'd say it was a successful overclocking endeavor!