o/c CPU on XFX 780i

Syncroneyes · June 26th, 2008, 06:11 PM

Hi, I need some advice on overclocking my Q6600 GO on XFX 780i

I did some research and found that this is one of the better 780i mobo for o/c CPU
and that some people have found it possible to get a stable 3.5/3.6 Ghz

My previous Athlon X2 didnt o/c very well so I didnt have much luck with it and so I am pretty much still a noob when it comes to o/c a CPU...

I have two main questions to start with:

#1. Is it better to overclock straight from the BIOS or from inside windows using the ESA software that has dynamic bios access with 780i?

#2. Is it better to use a higher FSB speed and a lower multiplier or is better to have a higher multiplier together with a lower FSB?

Has anyone o/c using this board? What settings would you recommend?

Any advice you have is much appreciated!

Syncroneyes · June 28th, 2008, 07:50 PM

Well, seeing as I had like a million responses to my thread (that was a joke by the way) I thought I might as well answer my own question - that serves me right for asking a question that a million other people have asked before I guess.

But still, by giving this account of what i did I might still help someone (possibly a person more confused than me - if there is indeed such an under-priviledged entity out there)

I did some research and found that for some reason many people say never, EVER overclock CPU from inside windows. Someone obviously had a really bad experience once so I thought I had better just listen and take their advice and just keep my overclocking settings directly from the bios.

secondly I checked Guru's review of the XFX 780i and followed his instructions of:

1. make sure the memory is "un-linked" to fsb speed, and then all other CPU-limiting settings are dis-engaged (e.g speed-step/thermal management etc.)

2. keep the multiplier high (x8/9) in this case of a Q6600 GO stepping its better to keep the multiplier at 9 with the 780i XFX mobo.

3. raise the front side bus speed from (Q6600 = 1066mhz) increase to between 1500-1600. Guru recommends fsb @ 1600 (divide by 4 = 400) with multiplier @ 9 for an 3.6Ghz effective overclock.

Personally i found this 1600 fsb to be a little bit unstable but hey, you might have more luck than me. I have my fsb set right now to 1560 with a multiplier of 9 which gives me a Q6600 with a clock speed of 3.51Ghz which is rock-solid.

I hope this has helped you - your friend - anyone. Good luck and happy overclocking.

mohammed2006 · June 29th, 2008, 04:43 PM

XFX 780i

Q1=from the BIOS

Q2= higher FSB means higher ram score even if you are runing 1:1 1600fsb:800ram
you will get more score with 1800fsb and 800 ram so try to find the higher multiplier you can run while you computer running at the highest fsb.

if you have ddr2 ram @ 1066 than all you have to do
1- change fsb to 1805 and ram to 1066 in bios
2- change multiplier to 7 or 8 as you see fit with you temp

Syncroneyes · June 29th, 2008, 05:24 PM

My memory is only 800mhz not 1066 so i think that is limiting clocking any higher than 3.5ghz (1560 fsb = 390) any higher than 390 fsb with x9 multiplier and my system crashes - but its ok as 390 gives me a very stable system.

mohammed2006 · June 29th, 2008, 05:54 PM

1800 fsb with 800mhz ok in striker i can run it like multiplier *7 and vcore in bios 1.6125 or 1.625
try it

if you can change memory timing change tWtR 2 lower than what it is in defoolt in Everest it will increase your memory copy and latency

Unixlord · June 29th, 2008, 07:22 PM

Just change the ram divider then?

Syncroneyes · June 30th, 2008, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unixlord

Just change the ram divider then?

I'm not familiar with this, what settings would you recommend?

when I last tried anything higher than 1600fsb my PC wouldnt even boot - though that was with both x8 + x9 multipliers (i havent even touched any of memory settings btw, just set to unlinked + left it on 800mhz)

Any more info you can give me would be appreciated as I was hoping to get up to a higher stable o/c of at least 3.6Ghz

Unixlord · June 30th, 2008, 08:16 PM

Well you could start by updating your profile details to reflect your current setup.

Syncroneyes · June 30th, 2008, 09:45 PM

alrightee then..

Edit: "That's it!"

Syncroneyes · July 3rd, 2008, 10:23 PM

I have finally managed to get a stable 3.6 Ghz now, i took the multiplier down from 9 to 8 and increased the fsb to 1800/4 = 450 (450 x 8) but in order to get it stable i had to raise the vcore up to 1.5 in the bios (this was the last setting marked in green, everything higher was in red = warning!

I also made sure the memory was unlinked and running at 800

so far have tested half an hour on Orthos and everything looks just perfect, i need to do some more testing to be totally sure but so far all the signs are looking rock solid and i'm starting to feel extremely pleased with myself...

I've got a sneaking feeling that this is going to be the barrier though and I dont think im going to be able to take the cpu speed any higher than 3.6 Ghz, mainly because i can't get the system to boot with a fsb higher than 1800 and also because the temps are starting to get high. Right now they are just about ok but any higher and i'll start to worry.