D820 Dual Core Overclocking

[Leonardo]

System Specifications:

Intel Pentium D 820 (Dual Core, 2.8GHz/core, 800MHz FSB, 2MB L2 Cache)
MSI 945P Neo-F motherboard
1 GB (2X512MB) Gigaram DDR2 667 (value RAM) (4-4-4-11 SPD)
ATI Rage 8MB PCI video card (it does 1280X1024, 32bit color!)
Robanton 600W PSU, modified
Chieftec (Antec 1030) case, modified
Zalman CNPS 7000-AlCu HSF
WD800JB HDD

Preliminary Results for Overclocking, each core:

CPU Frequency - (MBM5 & CPU Z) 3023MHz; 14 X 216

I've hit a brick wall at BIOS FSB 215 (CPU Z 216). So far, I have not tweaked the DDR2 except for switching between 533 and 667. I've enabled "CPU Ratio Unlock", which allows the CPU:FSB ratio to switch between 3:4 and 3:5 automatically. I don't know whether the FSB barrier is DRAM limited or CPU limitations. Interestingly, maybe the problem is the motherboard. After increasing the VCore from default 1.37v to 1.5v, the BIOS hardware monitor and CPUz still indicate the voltage as 1.37. Bad motherboard?

There may be other BIOS settings I've overlocked. I'm new to MSI overclocking and also new to DDR2. Ah, who knows, maybe 3GHz is the limit for this early release processor.

[muddocktor]

I went to msi's site and downloaded what I believe is the manual to your board, Leo. I notice there is a field to adjust the cpu ratio. With your ES proc, you should be able to do some adjusting of the multiplier I'm pretty sure. Check that out and see if you can adjust down on the multiplier. If you can clock down the processor with the multi, then you can see if you are being limited on your fsb speed by either the mobo or the ram. Also, they have that auto overclocking stuff in bios and you might try that out and see what you can get out of your new proc.

[Leonardo]

I've got the downloaded manual as well. I found nowhere in the BIOS where I can change the multipliers. I'm pretty sure they are locked. I'll look again - maybe something i missed.

[Leonardo]

Nope, I'm pretty sure this CPU is multiplier locked. There is nowhere in the BIOS to change the multiplier.

3024 (216FSB X 14multi) still seems to be the limit. I tried relaxing the RAM timings way down to 5-5-5-15, raised the vCore and memory voltages, shut off all unused IO devices. No dice. If anyone has suggestions, I'd be glad to try it. Heat does not seem to be a factor. Core temperature, reported by both MBM5 and the BIOS, did not exceed 44*C. (I thought these Smithfields were supposed to be hot?)

[muddocktor]

Leo, is there a setting in bios to run the ram asynch with the fsb, just to make sure it's not a ram limitation? On the manual I downloaded, it shows a setting in the core cell section of the bios that will let you select the memory speed setting. Try setting it to 400 and see if you can get a higher fsb speed. Also, they should have a tattletale on top in the same section saying if the multi is unlocked and also a line there to set a different multi if the core has some unlocked multipliers, according to the manual I d/l'ed.

[Leonardo]

The BIOS section in "Cell" showing multipliers shows one thing only: "200X14", and it does not allow highlighting like when you select a changeable item. This CPU is mulitplier locked. I've tried both 533 and 667 settings. Brick wall is 215 or 216FSB either in 533 or 667, even with timings relaxed to 5/5/5/14. Right, the manual does show an option for DDR400, but it is not available in my BIOS. BTW, I'm running the latest (11/25/05) BIOS. Apart from that, the system is rock solid. The dual core (yes, I know, not a true dual core) REALLY makes a difference in multitasking. After running this machine, I doubt I'll ever buy another single core chip.

[TheLostSwede]

http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/msi-945p-neo/index05.htm

Have a look at that page.
Can you run CPU-Z and see if the screen looks like from that review? The review shows that he is using an unlocked cpu.

[Leonardo]

Hi, Mack, thanks for dropping in. On the "Cell" page of the BIOS, mine is different from the one in the article you linked. Mine does NOT have:

High Performance Mode
CPU FSB & PCI-E Clock
Dynamic Overclocking
Adjust CPU Ratio

Also, on the CPUZ screen, mine shows "x 14.0" only, instead of a range. That tells me there is only the factory default multiplier available. I've attached the two images: 1) BIOS Cell Menu screen from linked article, and 2) screenshot of CPUZ from my computer.

[ryko]

i know it shouldn't matter, but i have heard of people hitting a wall b/c of msi's corecell application suite. maybe try uninstalling it and then go back to overclocking to see if it matters.

if not, then i think you just have a very poor overclocking motherboard. you did buy it from newegg's refurbished section, right? maybe the 215fsb limit is why it was returned?

[Leonardo]

Ryko, you may very well be correct in both your points. I don't see how the Core Cell software would interfere with the BIOS options and preliminary overclocking, as the BIOS is embedded, and the Core Cell software is in Windows. By "preliminary", I mean the 215FSB brick wall is met at the beginning of POST. At 215, when I hit F10 to save BIOS changes the screen is black - nothing happens except spinning fans. Concerning the refurb motherboard. Yes, it is. It was a money saving measure, which I do not regret. What overclock I can get out of this system is fine, be it modest or impressive. The goal here was to have a Folding beast at a modest price, and to have fun learning a new CPU-DRAM-Chipset protocol. But I'll try your suggestion about uninstalling the Core Cell software.

[ryko]

yeah, i know it a windows thing vs. a BIOS thing, but this is just what i have read in the past...not even sure it was your exact board...worth a try at least! :)

i also remeber something about artificial ocing limits being placed on 915/925/945/955 chipsets to like a 10% max oc unless extreme measures were taken by the mobo maker. i think asus and abit got around the 10% thing, but i don't remember if msi did....or if they did which of their motherboards circumvented it.

[Leonardo]

FSB BARRIER IS SMASHED!

I'm working my way up incrementally, 1 or 2MHz at a time. Here's where it stands now:

3220MHz - 14/230
FSB: 230/920
vCore: 1.55v
vMem: 2.05v
Memory Freq: 383.7 (CPU Z)
DRAM Timings: 4/4/4/11
CPU-FSB Ration -- 3:5

I am overclocking in Windows using the MSI CoreCenter software. I'll report back on progress. Time to observe for stability. Two instances of folding are running, one each per core.

[csimon]

holy cow you need to start posting some bandwidth benches!
what multi are you using now?

[Leonardo]

The only multiplier that is available - 14. Core temperature stands at 47*C (MBM5), 48*C (SpeedFan), 65*C (MSI CoreCenter). 65 can't be right. I don't think I'd have an 400MHz + overclock if the core were that high. Gotta few more things to do before bumping up the FSB again. I'm presently typing on the the 820! Had a browser crash a couple minutes ago. I've bumped up the voltage a little bit.

Do you think 2.1v is too much for this RAM? Default voltage is 1.8.

[csimon]

gee that's a good question! Mfg's site only says 1.8v ...I guess everything above that is chancing it but I dunno if I would go past 2.1v be honest. That's a .3v increase ...my redline is rated from 2.6-2.9 ...a .3v increase from default stock.

Maybe Mack can shed some light on that.

[Leonardo]

I put my fingers on the RAM chips a while ago while I had a slideshow running. They were very warm, but certainly not hot. The heatsink is throwing off heated air very fast. Love those Zalmans. :D

OK, time to run up the FSB some more. :D

[Leonardo]

3304MHz - 14x236
FSB: 236/44
vCore Set/vCore Indicated: 1.56/1.47 (default 1.37)
vMem: 2.00v
Memory Freq: 393.3 (CPU Z)
DRAM Timings: 4/4/4/11
CPU-FSB Ratio -- 3:5

Don't know how much more the PSU will support. I had reported earlier that the 12v rail was very health. Hmm, well it's only good according to MBM, which shows it to be 12.22. Core center and BIOS both show it at about 11.75-80.

(Stability testing is nothing sophisticated. I'm running two instances of Folding, browsing the internet, and turning on a slideshow of 1 to 3MB digital photos.)

[csimon]

(Stability testing is nothing sophisticated. I'm running two instances of Folding, browsing the internet, and turning on a slideshow of 1 to 3MB digital photos.)
Yeah but will it do pron?

[Leonardo]

Observations on overclockings through software:

It's really nice not having to enter the BIOS, save settings and reboot after every tweak. I was really against using the overclocking utilility. As my only experience previous was the good old fashioned line-by-line changes in the BIOS, software overclocking just seemed wimpy. A while ago I tested to see what a shutdown would do. Upon rebooting the system defaults to the settings that were last saved manually in the BIOS. CoreCenter only holds settings when Windows is running.

I suppose tomorrow I'll remove all the MSI software and return to in-BIOS, manual overclocking. Ryko suggested I try uninstalling the OC software to see if somehow it was the cause of the previous 215 FSB "brick wall".

[ryko]

so what did you do to get past 215? just more voltage?

[Leonardo]

I had read in a motherboard review, here (http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/msi-945p-neo/index05.htm), that the MSI 945P Neo might have problems with cold boots after resetting the BIOS. It just seemed to me there had to be some FSB headroom left. So I just tried the MSI software overclocking, "CoreCenter".

Still working my way up on the FSB ladder. Currently stable (I think?) at 2332MHz, 14X238/952, memory 396.7MHz. The only instability I've encountered so far in this overclocking foray has been the keyboard occasionally not working. That may just be the keyboard though. It's ten years old.

I'm watching the vCore readings closely through SpeedFan and CoreCenter. Not good. The setting I input was 1.55v; readings are fluctuating between 1.45 and 1.49. CPU core temperature is good - only 47*C at full load on both cores.

[Leonardo]

Running up the FSB, I started hitting Windows shell loading problems at 14X240. I shutdown, re-entered the BIOS and backed off the RAM timings from the SPD of 4/4/4/11 to 5/5/5/13. Fixed the problem. Above 245 FSB, CoreCenter became unstable and refused to take my inputs. The system though, did not crash or freeze. I've backed it off now to:

CPU Freq: 3360MHz - 14x240
FSB: 240/960
vCore Set/vCore Indicated: 1.53/1.45
vMem: 2.00v
vPCI/PCIe/AGP: 1.7
Memory Freq: 400 (CPU Z)
DRAM Timings: 5/5/5/13
CPU-FSB Ratio: 3:5

I guess 2 X 2.8GHz @ 3.36Ghz isn't so bad. Seems stable. We'll see. :D

[muddocktor]

Leo, that's great news on how your overclocking that 820 is going.:thumbsup:

About your temps; I wouldn't dismiss the core cell readings without verifying by using throttlewatch, which checks to see if the processor is throttling (due to temps). Just google throttlewatch and it should get you a link to d/l it. If it shows the proc is throttling, then your temps are probably running in the 60+ C range. And it wouldn't surprise me if they are running that high, just cooling it with the Zalman. If it's throttling it won't hurt the proc, just reduce it's folding efficiency. Since you value a quiet machine, you might consider watercooling that machine too, if it's throttling. You might check out Dangerden for a waterblock and radiator, since they are located in Washington or Oregon to save a little on shipping. :)

[Leonardo]

Both CPUZ and SpeedFan show the processor running at 3360. Wouldn't throttling reduce the frequency? Also, CoreCenter shows the CPU running at 65*C regardless of the CPU clock or load. It even indicates 65*C at idle at default clock of 14X200. BIOS core temp readings are within *1C of MBM5's and SpeedFan's. I've been attentively monitoring Electron Microscope, and it shows no slowdown of time/frame. Nevertheless, I'll download and run the software you recommend. I'm always eager to try new monitoring utilities. :D

[ryko]

...Above 245 FSB, CoreCenter became unstable and refused to take my inputs. The system though, did not crash or freeze....

that's what i was talking about earlier...if you want to get around 250+fsb, you have to ditch the corecenter stuff. for minor overclocking it doesn't seem to interfer.

good job on the oc! :)

[Leonardo]

Mudd, Ryko, thank you both for working with me here. I consider this endeavor YOUR overclock as well as mine. Let's deal with clock throttling first, then with overclocking sans MSI software. Mudd, I've attached a screenshot of three monitors. Throttlewatch does indeed show what looks like significant throttling. But, the CPU Frequency History graph shows the frequency to continually maintain at 3360 except for minor blips. What does this mean - throttling appearing to significant, but CPU clock holding steady? Seems like a contradiction?

Also, which temperature monitors should I trust? CoreCenter's monitor is 17*C higher than MBM5's, SpeedFan's, and the motherboard's BIOS.

[Leonardo]

After some more testing and monitoring, I am inclined to think that maybe MSI's temperature monitoring may be more accurate than I had thought. Twice now I have quickly shut down the system and entered the BIOS' hardware monitor. Each time it showed the CPU core in the high 50's *C. Ouch. I think I will swap the Zalman 7700 in System No. 1 for the 7000 in the D820 system. Aaargh, looks like I've nearly run out of cooling tolerance for this beast. I'm glad I had not disabled thermal throttling in the BIOS when I set up this machine! I find it remarkable though, that I could get a 560MHz overclock at core temperatures approaching the CPU design limit of 70*C! :eek:

[ryko]

yeah these little intel heaters really require water cooling if you want to get a high oc. i would be happy with anything around/over 230fsb on air.

the single core 3.0e in my g/f's pc can easily get to 3.6ghz (240fsb), but even with an xp-90/sf-2 it was climbing to 70+* C under full load---totally stable mind you, but my uguru monitoring software would go nuts and flash red and beep an alarm. plus the pwm's were climbing to 75+* C which can't be healthy.

it now sits comfortably and more importantly quietly at 3.2ghz (215fsb) and never goes above 60* C under full load.

[Leonardo]

So then, you are implying that the MSI software temp monitor is probably more accurate than MBM and SpeedFan? If so, I am now inclined to agree with you.

[ryko]

i gotta tell you that i would have thought the exact opposite b/c most of what i have read says that the corecenter in inaccurate.

but since the 820 is essentially 2 prescotts taped together, i would think it has very similar characteristics to a single core prescott (if not worse). since my prescott behaves pretty much like yours at the 600mhz overclock level.....

it would seem that corecenter is right on. msi must have got their stuff together on the most recent corecenter update. :)

[Leonardo]

Two Prescotts! Run for the hills! ;D To play it safe, I will now start relying on the MSI CoreCenter reading. And yes, it is pretty close to what the BIOS reports. The BIOS reports a few degrees cooler, but that could be explained by the cooling the CPU experiences from the time it takes to close all the programs and reboot into the BIOS. Oh well, I'm going to swap heatsinks and see if I get any more thermal headroom. The Zalman 7700 is not top of the line, but it should cool about 3*C better than the 7000 that is on the CPU now. I'll post results later today.

[Leonardo]

Alright, I'm back again.

LOL, I performed the heatsink/fan swap and then promptly put the 7700 and 7000 back in the computers where they originated. After swapping, System No. 1's CPU just became to hot. When I reinstalled the heatsinks back on the original computer, I bent the tension springs for better heatsink pressure against the CPUs. It gave me another 2*C cooling on the overclocked D820. It's running at:

CPU Freq: 3304MHz - 14x236
FSB: 236/944
vCore Set/vCore Indicated: 1.43/1.34
vMem: 1.85v
vPCI/PCIe/AGP: 1.55
Memory Freq: 393 (CPU Z)
DRAM Timings: 4/4/4/11
CPU-FSB Ratio: 3:5

So far - no throttling and all's stable.

[csimon]

Alright, I'm back again.

LOL, I performed the heatsink/fan swap and then promptly put the 7700 and 7000 back in the computers where they originated. After swapping, System No. 1's CPU just became to hot. When I reinstalled the heatsinks back on the original computer, I bent the tension springs for better heatsink pressure against the CPUs. It gave me another 2*C cooling on the overclocked D820. It's running at:

CPU Freq: 3304MHz - 14x236
FSB: 236/944
vCore Set/vCore Indicated: 1.43/1.34
vMem: 1.85v
vPCI/PCIe/AGP: 1.55
Memory Freq: 393 (CPU Z)
DRAM Timings: 4/4/4/11
CPU-FSB Ratio: 3:5

So far - no throttling and all's stable.
I imagine you'll gain some more cooling when the thermal paste sets in. I'd leave it there til after christmas folding 24/7 ...gromacs and/or dbl gromacs if you can help it.
You're temps aren't that bad really. Considering you're on air and all. If you've never watercooled I'd say you're not missing much at all. As long as you can keep your case temps decent you'll be doing well. I've always found the arctic cooling gpu cooler to help tremendously with removing quite a bit of heat from the case.
Looks like you have a little more headroom on the fsb though once you get burned in! :thumbsup:

[muddocktor]

Leo, the way I understand the throttling action of the processor, it doesn't actually slow down the speed of it at first, just makes it wait a certain amount of cycles in a stop state. I think the actual frequency reduction happens when it hits the TM2 state which is a higher temp threshold than the TM1 state. Now I could be wrong about this, but that's what I understand about the P4 throttling. Also, I wouldn't worry too much if you get some minor throttling as it won't hurt the processor; it's doing it's designed job in protection of overheating that dual core pressie beast. ;D ;D

And since you do live up in Alaska, I would consider watercooling that beast at some point in the future too. If you buy a good pump with decent head pressure like an Eheim 1250 or higher, you should be able to remote mount the radiator outside and have some really cool temps. :D

If you do want to stay with air cooling, I would suggest nothing less than a very high end solution like an XP90C or XP120 (if it fits your mobo) or some other high end heatsink. For your purpose of keeping it quiet and cool, the XP120 would probably be the best way to go if it fits your mobo as you can put a fairly high cfm fan on it and still keep it relatively quiet. Panaflo makes a 120X38 mm M1a fan that puts out 86-88 cfm with around 35 dB; I have a few and they are pretty quiet, with no annoying whine to them, just a low pitched wooshing noise of airflow. Sanyo Denki also makes some 120 mm fans in the same cfm range that are quiet, from what I've heard too.

[Leonardo]

CSimon, Mudd, thanks for hangin' with me here. Currently running stable at CPU 3360, FSB 240-960, memory 400. Water cooling? Oh no, no thank you. This hobby already consumes enough time. I don't want to make it even more complex. High end air cooling. Now we're talking. This Zalman 7000 ain't gonna cut it for overclocking. But I knew that before building this system. The first goal was to have a monstor folder on the cheap. That goal was met. :D Secondary goal was to learn a new chipset, dual core, and just have fun building a new system. That goal met as well. Sure, overclocking was a goal too, but not as important as the first two. Concerning a better air cooler - I'll see what's blowing in the wind over at Ebay.

[csimon]

Of course ...there's something to be said for watercooling. ;D

[Mt_Goat]

Of course ...there's something to be said for watercooling. ;D
No fair comparing apples to grapefruit. ;)

Nice job leo!
Looks like you got a decent chip. Which was your main concern with this one. :thumbsup:

[csimon]

Is it just me or do the pics in this thread look all screwy?

[Leonardo]

Is it just me or do the pics in this thread look all screwy? Just lay off the spicy Cajun food and the Christmas wine and it should look OK.


Merry Christmas, Chris! :D

[Leonardo]

Made some progress. When I was mucking around inside the case today, I noticed that the video card was very warm, which surprised me as I don't push it. I moved my hand around in the case for a while trying to sense airflow patterns. The heat from the video card was wafting straight up into the heatsink fan. Remembering a part I hadn't used in over five years, I went down to the garage and rummaged through the parts pin. Sure enough, there was my expansion slot cooler, the flat blower type. It lowered case temperature by 1*C and CPU temperature by 3*C. It bought me a slightly higher overclock of 3360MHz without adding much noise. It's stable with no clock throttling. I also tested the system by adding another exhaust fan in the expansion slot area. That did not work very well. It did cool the video card, but pulled too much cool air away from the heatsink fan. I think the CPU is good for 3500+ per core. It's time to start looking for better CPU cooling.

[TheLostSwede]

Leo,

If you are buying a new heatsink, look for the Thermaltake Big Typhoon. It's huge in size, but it's the best there is.

[muddocktor]

Mack, I have no actual hands on experience with the Big Typhoon, but I've also heard the same thing too. How is the base finish on it? I hope it's better than the other Thermaltake bases I've seen, but I haven't messed with any of their heatsinks since the Volcano 7 series. There is a guy over at the overclockers forum that was able to adapt a Big Typhoon on his Dothan rig (CT-479 adapter tends to get in the way) and he reports excellent cooling even with it overclocked to over 2800 MHz with temps under 40 C folding.

[TheLostSwede]

It looks pretty good new, but i have used it on a number of cpu's already so mine doesn't look that good.

[Leonardo]

During lunch break I went out and purchased a Big Typhoon. (I know, I know...so much for the "budget" box.)

"How is the base finish on it?" Probably the worst I've seen on a heatsink in the high end category. A little buffing with metal polish should take care of it. I should be having some fun tonight. Fun, that is, after I pull the motherboard, install the back plate, and reassemble the computer. Arrgggh. Guess there's no getting around it these days. With the leverage the hanging weight of large heatsinks makes, motherboard bracing is necessary. Slightly off topic - I think the best heatsink retention design we've seen in the last few years has been Socket 478.

[TheLostSwede]

Leo,

A heatsink finish doesn't have to be mirror-like polished to be good. For example: How do you polish aluminium so that it looks like a mirror?

If you can feel a lot of chops with your fingernail when you move it across the base, then i would agree it have a bad finish.

[csimon]

I think flatness is most important ...I think this is what you guys are saying.
Next time I take my pc apart I'll post a pic of my apogee wb and my ihs. The apogee is mirror polished and very flat from swiftech. The ihs on the other hand had lips on the edges and was very convexed. I lapped the ihs and made a much better contact as an end result.
I remember Larry demonstrating flatness of surface with a credit card. Set the edge on the surface in both directions and diagonally and if at any point it doesn't make total contact then you may consider lapping. Good ole mtgoat! :thumbsup:

[Leonardo]

Leo,

A heatsink finish doesn't have to be mirror-like polished to be good. For example: How do you polish aluminium so that it looks like a mirror?

If you can feel a lot of chops with your fingernail when you move it across the base, then i would agree it have a bad finish.

You are right, after all. There does not seem to be definitive research pointing to either "mirror" finish or slightly brushed being superior to each other. There is some speculation that states a slightly rough finish provides more surface area for heat dissipation. I haven't had a chance to test the heatsink's base for flatness. I'll report back after installation and testing. (I can't believe I actually purchased a Thermaltake product. It was only just a couple years ago that Thermaltake was just a joke. Things change, don't they.)

[csimon]

big typhoon is teh sex ...or so I've read!

Heck if you take things apart may as well inspect the flatness of the ihs.
I also lapped my nb, sb and mofset sinks but the gain was not noticable. I think the as5 application did more good.

[Leonardo]

Unbelievable! You could not have told me the results and gotten me to respond with a straight face had I not seen them with my own eyes. Simply amazing.

The Arctic Silver hasn't even cured yet and this dual core Presshot, each core overclocked from the default 2800MHz to 3332MHz is running at 44*C! That is a load delta of 12*C under the Zalman 7000 I was using. (The Zalman 7000 is not a cheap OEM jobber, but a decent sink in its own right.) Another benefit of this heatsink is that it is just as quiet as Thermaltake and the reviews claim. It cannot be heard over the other computers' fans in the office; and you know me, my computers are all very low noise.

When I first started prepping the motherboard for Typhoon installation, I was saying to myself, "There is no way this big honking sink will fit my case - it's just too tall." Well, it fits just fine with room to spare. Although the mounting hardware was a little difficult to manipulate, especially the tiny stainless steel nuts that secure the heatsink to the mounting studs, the stability of the assembled, mounted unit is superb. I was able to lift the motherboard by the heatsink and move it around without any shift of the sink's base on the CPU.

It's a bit late, so I doubt I'll get to stepping up the overclocking tonight. I'll let you guys know how it goes when I have the chance to play. That'll probably be Friday night.

I did the credit card trick to check the base for flatness. It was excellent - near perfect.

[Leonardo]

Tweaked for about 20 minutes last night before I went to bed. Even with the drastically reduced CPU core temperature, I could not get a stable clock above 3332 (14X238). I'm thinking this is a power delivery problem. The PSU is putting out 11.72v on the 12 rail, and it's not stable, fluctuating when I open programs. Check me if I'm wrong, but I don't think this is a RAM clock or timing problem. Instability above 14X238 is quite in-your-face, being an abrupt crash out of Windows and an automatic reboot. Voltage starvation? There are no blue screens, and no problems re-POSTing. The power settings preceding the crash were (setting/indicated) vCore 1.5/1.38, vMem 1.9/1.9, and vPCIe-AGP 1.55.

Yesterday I purchased on Ebay an Akasa 460W v2.0 EPS12v PSU. I'm thinking that will deliver more reliable, robust power. 460W should be plenty enough, as I have only one hard drive, two fans, and a low power video card running.

Could the problem also be caused, or contributed to by an overheating northbridge? The NB is getting very hot. I'll be swapping out the NB cooler too. I will probably be installing an early series PIII/Athlon CPU heatsink as a passive cooler.

[csimon]

Maybe that's my problem too ...I only get 11.48v-11.54v on my +12 depending on the OC.

[TheLostSwede]

Guys, measure the 12V with a multimeter. DO NOT rely on the software readings. They haven't been accurate since the fall of '47.

Simon, did you read your PM? I have a bios for you my friend.

[csimon]

Guys, measure the 12V with a multimeter. DO NOT rely on the software readings. They haven't been accurate since the fall of '47.

Simon, did you read your PM? I have a bios for you my friend.
Yeah I replied but apparantly you never received my email so I'll send you another via a better addy.

Again thanks!
csimon

[TheLostSwede]

No email yet my friend. PM me your email addy so i can send it.

[muddocktor]

Glad to hear the Big Typhoon is working out well for you, Leo. Sorry I haven't been around much but the internet connection on the rig has been really crappy the last several days, but hopefully that's over with. They are supposed to be changing out the carrier we are using here to someone that might be a little better. :D

[Leonardo]

Sorry I haven't been around much but... What, you think I can't work through technical challenges without you? :grumble:




Just kidding. It's always more fun when the big guns are providing support. ;)

[Leonardo]

i know it shouldn't matter, but i have heard of people hitting a wall b/c of msi's corecell application suite. maybe try uninstalling it and then go back to overclocking to see if it matters. Today I removed all MSI software, double checking for stray registry entries with RegCleaner. Nope. No difference. BIOS-only overclcocking settings allow a boot into the operating system only up to 214MHz FSB. I think this limitation has something to do with the CoreCell unit mounted on the motherboard. OK, nothing new to try until the northbridge has better cooling and until there is a more stable PSU installed. ProfDLP is sending me an old Athlon CPU and a new (slightly used) PSU is on it's way from an Ebay seller.

[Leonardo]

Guys, measure the 12V with a multimeter. DO NOT rely on the software readings. They haven't been accurate since the fall of '47.
Mack, I must again concede to your expertise. I invited a friend over today and he brought his multimeter. The multimeter was a high quality unit that measured to 1/1000th of a volt. The Robanton PSU in System No. 4 (D820 system) rated 11.89 - to 11.91 steady under full load at CPU overclock of 3360. Software monitoring showed the load at 11.78 volts. The Antec in System 3 showed a rock steady voltage 12.04, software monitored at 11.84.

[TheLostSwede]

What other memory dividers can you choose?

[Leonardo]

DDR2 533 or DDR 667

SPD for both 533 and 667 at 200FSB is 4-4-4-11. I can set this to about whatever I want. Is that what you meant?

Hmm, you just made me think of something. If the DRAM is set to 667, the CPU FSB to DRAM frequency ratio is 3:5. If the DRAM is set to 533, the FSB-DRAM ratio is 3:4. Let's see what can happen.

[Leonardo]

PROGRESS - 3.5Ghz, 14 X 250FSB/1000, DDR2 333MHz/channel

Settings:
DDR2: 533MHz mode, timings 5-5-5-13 (SPD 4-4-4-11).
vCore: 1.5 set/1.38 indicated (default 1.3)
vMem: 1.95 (default 1.8)
vPCI/e: 1.55
CPU Core Temp: 49-51*C
System Temp: 28-30*C

I had it running seemingly stable under load (2 X Folding@Home clients) at 260FSB. I raised the FSB to 265, but then the screen froze. I rebooted, bumped the vCore to 1.55 and it still froze at 265. Rebooted, relaxed the RAM timings to 5-5-5-13 and raised the vMem to 2.0 - still froze. With all other settings the same, I backed down again to the previously stable setting of 260FSB - it froze again. Too much vMem? I backed vMem down to 1.95 and it was stable with two F@H instances and Firefox browsing in four tabs. Good, I thought. Well, I added a slideshow of digital photos and the system again crashed.

System running stable now at 3.5GHz (14X250) two instances of Folding, monitoring software, four tabs of Firefox, and digital photos slideshow. CPU temp is 48*C.

Don't really know what settings to tweak at this point:

vPCI/e? (it's still at default)
vMem? (above 1.95 seems to cause instability)
vCore? (board has settings up to 1.65 or more)
DDR2 timings? (settings available for as low as 6-6-6-16)

[TheLostSwede]

If the DRAM is set to 667, the CPU FSB to DRAM frequency ratio is 3:5. If the DRAM is set to 533, the FSB-DRAM ratio is 3:4.

Do you also have a 1:2 divider? Put the ram at as low speed as possible with a divider and i would think that the 1:2 divider would be the lowest setting. Or can't you just change the divider without setting the Dram frequency?

[Leonardo]

There are only two CPU/DRAM ratios available - 3:4 and 3:5. Both ratios are automatic when the RAM is set to 533 and 667 MHz respectively. This board is definitely not an Asus or Abit.

[TheLostSwede]

http://www.cpuid.com/download/ClockGen.zip

Download that and see if it works on your board. You might be lucky and get some more ratios there.

[Leonardo]

Mack, I could not find the ICH controller number in my MSI motherboard specs that matches the ICH numbers in the Clock Generator. Maybe I don't know how to use this thing. I'll pop over to CPUID and read.

I checked the CPUID site, ClockGen page. the I945P/G chipset is not supported yet under the MSI category or the chipsets category. Thanks anyway. I'll watch and see if it is supported later.

[Leonardo]

Running stable at:

3640MHz, 14X260FSB/1040, DDR2 346.6MHz/channel

Settings:
DDR2: 533MHz mode, timings 5-5-5-13 (SPD 4-4-4-11).
vCore: 1.52 set/1.40 indicated (default 1.3)
vMem: 1.95 (default 1.8)
vPCI/e: 1.65
CPU Core Temp: 52*C
System Temp: 30*C

Couldn't get 260FSB stable last night. Looks like the PCI/e boost to 1.65 (over 1.55 default) may have done the trick. Still locking up above FSB 260.

[lemonlime]

Looking good Leo! Now that is a nice boost.

I know you mentioned using FAH and general PC use for stability testing.. any reason you have not used Prime95 or OCCT for stability testing runs? I only mention it because my systems can run FAH for a long time (sometimes weeks) without issue, when they fail prime95 in 10-15 minutes. You may start to mysteriously loose some WUs in the long-run.. Just a thought..

[Leonardo]

You make a very good point. Actually, in 2004 I "mysteriously" lost a lot of production on my System No. 1, which previously contained the P4C 2.8 Northwood that is now in System No. 3. I learned my lesson with that ongoing episode and now monitor all my systems very, very closely. And yes, you are correct - Prime95 will stress the system in ways that Folding@Home does not.

[csimon]

if all you'll be doing is stress testing I would recommend sp2004 instead of prime ...it has a gui and it basically runs the prime code. The best part is that if you want to run 2 instances you just click the icon again to open another instance and set the cpu to 0 and in the other set it to 1. I ran mine last night for 6+ hours both cores @ 2600 and everything was fine ...prior to that I had run it for 5 mins both cores @ 2610 and cpu1 failed. I'll probably give 2610 another shot this weekend.
Btw ...you can test the cpu or the ram or blend both in a test.

[Leonardo]

All a moot point at this juncture. Overclocking the D820 has come to an abrupt halt. Operation of the whole computer has come to a complete stop. My wife pulled out my M1911 and put a .45 fat lead one right through the power supply.


Well, no, she didn't. I killed the motherboard. :rant: I was installing a large passive heatsink on the northbridge to replace the stock one. I was over confident, having done that procedure too many times, and cracked the NB's core. CMOS resets, CMOS battery removal...nothing will bring back video. Tested with a spare, good video card too. Uh, yeah, also smelled that sickeningly pungent smell of burning electronics when the computer would not boot. I did confirm the core chip when I disassembled the computer in detail. Looks like I'm shopping for a new motherboard. Probably have to order one. CompUSA, the only affordable local shop, doesn't have squat. They've got the Asus P5ND2, but it's not compatible with D820s, only 830 and up. CompUSA's site doesn't reveal that, but web research points out that most NF4 Intel SLI boards weren't engineered/aren't compatible for the D820.

[csimon]

ebay

what are the qualifying motherboards? I mean I know nothing about this chip so how can I help search? What am I looking for????

[muddocktor]

Shipping still might be an issue for Leo, since he lives in the Great White North, but eBay is definitely an alternative. It will most probably have to be an Intel chipset to work with his 820.

EDIT: The Egg has another refurb MSI 945P Neo-F right here, Leo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130516R

[Leonardo]

Mudd is right. There are compatibility problems with many of the Intel-Nforce 4 boards with early series D820 CPUs. Mine is definitely 'early', being an engineering sample. Can't get earlier than that. The Intel 945P/G/~ and 955 chipsets work with all Pentium Ds. I'll probably end up ordering, as CompUSA's offerings are pretty slim.

[csimon]

EDIT: The Egg has another refurb MSI 945P Neo-F right here, Leo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813130516R

Yeah newegg refurb sounds like a great idea!

What about this board ...I don't know much about Intel chipsets but this board looks good to me ...probably out of the price range ballpark but what's your opinion on this board compat and performance wise?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813131547R

[muddocktor]

Those are supposed to be some damn fine boards, from what I've read. Supposed to very good overclockers too.

[Leonardo]

Well, gentleman, the dual Presshot is back in business warming my home office! Cheery, isn't it!

CompUSA had a board that was not listed on the web site and that the useless information telephone information center did not list. I purchased an Asus P5PL2: DDR2, PCIe, PCI, SATA II, overclocking BIOS, Windows overclocking software.

It's running stable now with all updates. It took me a couple hours to get the settings right in the BIOS. It's an American Megatrends BIOS, of which I was not familiar previous to this. Overclocking will commence later this evening.

[Leonardo]

After many fits, starts, stops, and mild frustration, I finally figured out the BIOS. It really is much differnt than the Award BIOS setups that I was accustomed to. Actually, this board has a load of overclocking settings available, to include FSB voltage, south bridge voltage, and lots of DRAM frequency and timings options. I uninstalled the Windows-based overclocking utility and am now focusing on the BIOS. 846MHz overclock per core. I think there's more FSB headroom yet!

[madmat]

Very nice!! Now just to keep the wifey away from the pistol...

[Leonardo]

Still stable. I just bumped the vCore setting down to 1.45v from where I had it at 1.5. Default is 1.34. Tomorrow I'll see what headroom there and experiment with lower voltages on memory and CPU. Memory voltage is bumped from the default of 1.8 to 1.9. Overclock on the memory is is 14MHz only. It's 667 DDR2 (333MHz X 2) running now at 347. I can set it in the BIOS as 533, which will allow max FSB overclocking while keeping the RAM closer to spec. Good ram though, considering it's a value brand, Gigaram.

[lemonlime]

Glad to hear you are back in business Leo!

Very nice overclock, that is one serious folding monster. That ES chip really turned out to be a real bargain :thumbup

[csimon]

Cool ...it's like this thread has gained it's second wind!

[TheLostSwede]

Good work Leo!

53c load isn't bad at all on quiet air with those clocks. Not far from a Amd X2 at 2750. I get around 52c load after 24 hours of dual Prime with that heatsink. I removed the heatspreader on the cpu and gained 8c but no overclocking.

[Leonardo]

Thanks for coming along for the ride, guys. That's what makes the forums fun. Some more experimenting: upped voltages, reduced voltages, changed FSB/DRAM dividers..... Booting into windows at idle is a piece of cake at 3800MHz, but it's not stable when I start piling on the load. The system freezes, but does not shut down. This requires a reboot. The Asus motherboard has a feature that under excess overclocking the BIOS will reset itself to default settings. I haven't had that happen, but am pleased to report that it is indeed a tough, robust BIOS. I have not once had to reset the BIOS with the CMOS jumper. Having backed the memory down to default settings, SPD 333MHz at 4-4-4-11, and being able to lock the PCI/e bus at 33MHz, I think I've explored the FSB limits quite well. It's stable now with about whatever I can throw at it:

CPU: 3646MHz (FSB 260X14)
FSB 1040: (quad 260)
DRAM: (DDR2) 347MHz, 5-4-4-15
vCore set/indicated: 1.475/1.36
vMem: 1.9

I had to break one of my own rules and install a fan on the Asus' passive northbridge heatsink. Both the MSI's and the Asus NB cooler were simply inadequate for more than moderate overclocking. They were both hot to the touch, not warm. My parts bin yielded a little 40mm fan that I cannot hear. (Amazing how many worthless Abit NB fans I found in the parts bin! LOL)

This is a fairly simple motherboard - no RAID, no AGP, only one IDE, passive cooling. It would appear though that the quality is good. Not too shabby on the OC - over 1690MHz (2 cores) for free. I'm pleased.

[muddocktor]

Looks like you are really having some fun with that 820, Leo. And it's turned out to be a good overclocking chip after all, too. One thing I was reading about over at the Intel cpu forum at overclockers.com is that you are probably better off with that old single 12v rail Robanton psu, amp-wise, than many of the newer split 12v rail high dollar psu's are with overclocking a DC Intel beast. Many people are finding that these Smithfield (and it's also looking like the early Pressler results too) draw so much current on the 12v rail that it's maxing out 1 of the 12v rails on these newer psu's (such as the AntecTP2 series among others) and causing instability when really pushing that DC Intel. With your single 12v rail, you have a higher max allowable 12v draw on it, so the proc isn't starving for power. And since this is a basic folding box, you aren't pulling a lot of other 12v load too, so you are staying within the psu's operating parameters.

[Leonardo]

Thanks for the advice, Mudd. I've heard a little about that before, but you've given the first details I've seen. I just purchased a Tp II EPS12v Antec from Ebay, but the auction winning price was so low I don't mind just putting the PSU in my emergency parts queue in the parts bin. As I mentioned in a previous post, mulitmeter readings showed this Robanton to be pretty healthy. I have not checked the 12v line with a multimeter since the motherboard change, but Asus Probe is showing 11.88 - 11.93 and SpeedFan is showing approximately the same. (I can't get Motherboard Monitor to work correctly with this board.)

[Leonardo]

Cool ...it's like this thread has gained it's second wind! Third wind has commenced. 3739MHz, steady under load.

Today I replaced the two low speed Antec 120mm fans (not three-speed TriCool) with Panaflo L1As I had in the parts bin. The Big Typhoon heatsink so big that I couldn't fit the Panaflo in the back interior of the case, which is a Chieftec (Antec 1030B). I had to modify the back of the case, cutting the exhaust fan hole wider with a jigsaw. It works quite well. Load CPU temperature is now reduced 4*C, which has bought me a little more front side bus. Here's where we are now:

CPU: 3739MHz (FSB 267X14)
FSB 1068: (quad 267)
DRAM: (DDR2) 334MHz, 5-4-4-15
vCore set/indicated: 1.512/1.38-1.40
vMem: 1.9
vFSB (external): default
vNorthbridge: default
vSouthbridge: default

I've again booted into Windows at higher freq's. Temperatures seemed OK, but after a while the screen would freeze. Who knows. I'll boost voltages and try again tomorrow.


Tomorrow I'll boost the vCore a little more and also pump up the vFSB and northbridge voltage. We'll see.

Right now I've got the FSB/DRAM ratio at 5:4 - just playing it safe for now. I think the DRAM will handle 1:1. I may try that tomorrow as well.

[Jimborae]

Great work Leo, kinda makes me wish I'd kept my 820 cpu & board.

Hmm wonder what they fold like at that speed. ;)

[Leonardo]

Hmm wonder what they fold like at that speed. ;) Pretty good. Core 1 is showing a bit slow production as I was running a couple things.

[Leonardo]

Looks like I'm going to have to stay at 3646MHz. Even after lowering case and CPU core temperatures, and regardless of memory timings and frequency, and boosts to vMem, vNorthbridge, and vCore, after a few hours of running the system will freeze. As has been advised me here and at another forum, the freeze is probably the limit of the CPU itself (FSB wall) or due to vdroop with the motherboard or PSU. I'm happy - it's still an 846MHz overclock and the box is a tremendous Folding machine. :smiles: Mission accomplished.

[csimon]

Congrats on all that folding power Leonardo!!!

[Leonardo]

Gentlemen, be prepared for:


D820 OVERCLOCKING, PART III

Within a week, I will be overclocking my 820 system with an Asus P5WD2, supposedly the big daddy of Socket 775 overclockers. I hadn't intended on this, but my P5PL2 killed itself a couple nights ago. Seems the board's components were not meant for the overachieving BIOS. As far as I can tell, the mosfets way overheated and either damaged traces in the PCB or the mosfets themselves were rendered non-functional. Presently, I'm attempting to contact Asus online customer service for RMA.

Here's a thread (http://www.short-media.com/forum/showthread.php?p=356142#post356142) on the demise of the P5PL2.

The P5WD2 is a refurbished unit purchased for steep discount from Newegg. I'm crossing my fingers that what caused it to be returned in the first place was user error by the original owner, and not a problem with the board. We'll see, I should have the board next week Monday or Tuesday.

Stay posted to this thread. I'm hoping for a 1000MHz overclock per core.

[Donut]

Staying tuned!:bigggrin:

[csimon]

Good luck Leo ...hehe the never ending saga!

[Leonardo]

PART III, Opening Act

Last night I assembled the computer with a new (refurbished) P5DW2. Overall, it's a nice board layout. It was satisfying to see how thick the PCB was - definitely an enthusiast's board. First step was to pull the north and south bridges off and apply Arctic Silver to the chips. I also added a fan to north bridge. (775 boards' north bridges get very, very hot under overclocking.) The south bridge sink was not completely flat and would not leave an imprint on the sink's bottom of the Arctic Silver. The south bridge doesn't get all that hot anyway, so I just re-applied some thick viscosity silicone paste. Ought to work well enough. The board has EPS12v capability, so I had already prepared for this by modifying my PSU with an additional 4-pin plug in tandem with PSU's existing plug. No problem. The P5WD2 is stock with a decent mosfet heatsink. I removed that too in order to apply Arctic Silver. I changed my mind after seeing the horseshow array of tiny mosfets. It would have been very difficult to apply AS to all the mosfets without stray paste ending up on the exposed electircal solder-traces. Maybe I'll get to that some other time. I had to make two modifications to get the Big Tyhpoon to mount on the board. First I had to file down a protrusion on the end of the top-side heatsink retension plate, as it was abutting against the mosfet heatsink. No problem - only about ten minutes of work with a file, the plate firmly held in a bench vise. Second, there were through-the-board-solder terminals on the bottom side of the board. Some of these were about four or five millimeters in length. Simple - just snipped them off with wire cutters. OK, everything was mounted. Popped the motherboard in the case, connected the cables, and voila - nothing. Hmm. Never did quite figure out what was wrong. Perhaps I had mispositioned the front panel's power switch lead or reset lead. But, after removing all the cables and reattaching, the computer fired right up.

I only spent about 45 minutes tweaking last night, so results so far are just preliminary. I figured this board was at a minimum just as capable as my previous P5PL2 was maxed out. I was right. After testing at BIOS stock settings for voltages, FSB, and CPU, I cut to the chase. The first OC I tried was a 700MHz FSB boost. 3.5GHz was instant and flawless. Just two more bumps before I went to bed, the last being at:

3700MHz
mulitplier 14
FSB 1056 (264 quad)
memory divider 3:4 yielding 353MHz (706MHz DDR2).
It ran all night at these settings running two instances of Folding.

Early motherboard observations:

- very resilient
- very smooth
- extensive tweak settings
- very stable voltages, little fluctuation under OC + full load
- I'm getting the same OC or better than before with less vCore, or at least less indicated vCore

My goal was a stable 1000MHz overclock. It's only 100MHz away. I should have time for more tweaking and testing this evening.

Leo

[primesuspect]

Leo, I want to prep my Asus A8R-MVP before setting it up. Do you think I should apply Arctic Silver 5 to the north/southbridge sinks as well?

I can never figure out how to get those little white plastic spring clips off without destroying them (or scratching the hell out of the motherboard, which scares me terribly :p )

[Leonardo]

Yes and no. Northbridge - yes, do apply premium thermal paste. I doubt the ATI northbridge will heat up as much as the Intel 945P or 955X, but it probably will still get quite hot, especially if you overclock. Speaking of which, should you choose to overclock, a fan on top of the northbridge sink would be advisable. I've long been an advocate of passive cooling, but I can't do that on these Socket 775 northbridges without a massive, passive sink. The soutbridge will probably do just fine without premium paste. The current draw through the southbridge under CPU FSB overclocking is not nearly that of the northbridge. Best advice is to leave the case side cover off when the machine is under full load or overclocked, to reach and feel the north and southbridges. If they feel hot, there may not be much thermal headroom left, leaving the computer liable to instability. My (now RMA'd) Asus P5PL2's north AND southbridge's got quite hot. I had AS on both of them, as well as a fan on both of them. But then, that's the only mobo of any brand I've used where the southbridge got hot like that.

You are right. Those springloaded plastic retention thingies are never as taught as original when you reinstall them. Often I just put them in the parts bin after removal. Plastic cable ties, one head on top of the sink's hole, with another tie cinching from the backside of the motherboard works very well. The black ones are hardly noticeable. You can also use small nuts and bolts with nylon washers. That's the best method for through-the-board cooler mounting.

Caveat emptor - I've no experience with ATI northbridges. It's my guess it won't get as hot as Socket 775 board's northbridge under the voracious electrical apetite of a D series dual Prescott.

[primesuspect]

Well I'm gonna do both with AS5. I guess I may as well do the mosfets too. The sink on the mosfets seems pretty impressive :D

Thanks!

[muddocktor]

I would think it would be a good idea Brian, if you plan to do some overclocking with it. The way I usually remove those plastic spring clips is to gently squeeze the end together on the back side of the mobo with a pair of needlenose pliers while also trying to gently push it back through the hole in the mobo.

[ryko]

fyi, the ati radeon xpress 200 chipset does not get hot even while overclocking. can never hurt to put the AS5 or a small fan on it though.

[Leonardo]

1GHz Overclock :D :D

Currently:

3800MHz
vCore - 1.4375 set/1.37 measured (Asus Probe)
vMem - 1.9 set
FSB - 271/1085 (quad)
DRAM - 362 (724 DDR2)

Two instances of Folding running. Graphics screen saver running. With previous motherboard, Asus P5PL2, the max stable OC was 3646MHz, and that was with a higher vCore. This was a very easy jump to 3.8GHz. I'll probably let this set until tomorrow evening before I push more.

[csimon]

Well I'm gonna do both with AS5. I guess I may as well do the mosfets too. The sink on the mosfets seems pretty impressive :D

Thanks!
Not only did I apply AS5 to all of those ...I also lapped the hell out of them too. But this board runs cool AFAIC so in hindsight it wasn't really necessary.

Great job Leo!
For anyone interested there are cpu's being given away at anandtech thru the newegg article. Check it out here ...http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.aspx?i=2694&p=6 scroll all the way to the last paragraph or so and find the link.

[lemonlime]

1GHz Overclock :D :D

Currently:

3800MHz
vCore - 1.4375 set/1.37 measured (Asus Probe)
vMem - 1.9 set
FSB - 271/1085 (quad)
DRAM - 362 (724 DDR2)

Two instances of Folding running. Graphics screen saver running. With previous motherboard, Asus P5PL2, the max stable OC was 3646MHz, and that was with a higher vCore. This was a very easy jump to 3.8GHz. I'll probably let this set until tomorrow evening before I push more.


Fantastic OC Leo! That is a fine piece of silicon you have there :D Looks like the ES turned out to be a great deal after all. Love to see what it would do under the vapo ;)

[muddocktor]

That's a really nice overclock out of your furnace, Leo. :thumbsup:

Also I'm taking some of your advice and I ordered a Big Typhoon the other day for my Opti system. The SLK948-U I've been using on it is a good heatsink, but I want something quieter and cools even better. :D

[Leonardo]

You'll love it! It's also a great looker if you've got a windowed case. How deep is your case. It's a tall heatsink. If the case is narrow, there will only be limited room for intake on the sink's fan.

[Leonardo]

nice overclock out of your furnace, Leo I'm not done yet. I'm still exploring vCore. It was stable yesterday at 3.8GHz. Before I went to bed, I inadvertantly bumped the vCore down a couple notches in the BIOS (don't overclock when sleepy!). The system froze during the night. I bumped it back up this morning and lowered the FSB - didn't want to take chances while at work away from the puter. When time permits and I find the vCore sweetspot, minimal to do the job, I'll start ratcheting up the FSB again. This BIOS has so many FSB/DRAM dividers that I can keep the memory as close to default (or OC) as I wish. Cooling is still a challenge though. Either the P5WD2 runs the CPU a couple degrees hotter than my previous motherboard, or the AS5 isn't settled in yet, or the thermistor registers hotter than the other board....or something.

I just find it hard to believe the OC claims on a couple other forums of users with D820 stating they are using the stock CPU heatsink. Do the production D8XX series run cooler than the engineering samples? :scratch: I'm keeping the CPU within tolerances, but still, it would be nice to have more thermal headroom.

[muddocktor]

You'll love it! It's also a great looker if you've got a windowed case. How deep is your case. It's a tall heatsink. If the case is narrow, there will only be limited room for intake on the sink's fan.

I'm running a Coolermaster Praetorian case (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811119084) , which has plenty of depth to it. I might have to remove the ducting plastic off the side duct, but otherwise I shouldn't have any clearance problems. The case doesn't have a side window, but that isn't a big deal to me anyways and if I would want a window in it later I could just cut the side panel and install a plexi window in it. It's a great case BTW, but it's also the most expensive case I've ever bought too.

[Leonardo]

3800 MHz is stable:

CPU frequency - 3.8GHz
multiplier/FSB - 14X271 (FSB quad 1084)
DDR2 - 362MHz (DDR2 724); FSB/DRAM ratio 3:4
vCore - set 1.4375, indicated 1.38 (Asus Probe), only 0.01v fluctuation
vMem - default 1.9
CPU core temperature - 55*C at full load (indicated case temp 29*C)

At these settings, the computer functions perfectly and is free of crashes or errors. There is not much thermal headroom left for the CPU. The northbridge at this OC is not hot, just warm. (I mounted a small fan the NB heatsink)

I believe there is still about 200MHz headroom left with the CPU FSB. I ran the computer for about half an hours under full load at 3912MHz. It froze. I'm pretty sure this was due CPU core heat - 58*C. The Big Typhoon is a hero, but a couple things conspire against it:

third floor room; heat from downstairs flows into my office
internal case configuration is not optimal for directing cool air to the heatsink

This weekend I will experiment with an exhaust fan for the office to pump out heated air. (It doesn't help that systems 1, 3, and 4, all overclocked are chugging away in the small office, for a total space heater effect of 14.7GHz plus two monitors! :eek3: ) I will also experiment with constructing a cool air duct from the case front panel to the Typhoon's fan. Leaving the computer side cover off is not an option. It is good for a 2*C CPU temp reduction, but I don't want the sound level increased and also don't want the introduction into the case of dust and lint.

The P5WD2 motherboard BIOS has higher vMem and vCore settings that are seemingly unlimited. There are no voltage limitations for overclocking. I've just got to crack this heat nut. I am so pleased with this motherboard. I'm yet another user that will confirm it is the big daddy of Socket 775 motherboards. (but then, the 975X chipset boards are out...P5WD2-E Premium)

Keep monitoring, all you jaded overclockers. I'll update the thread as developments ensue. :)