Jon's OC

[emissary42]

Command Rate = 1T and tWCL = 7 both are no possible? Also tRAS can probably be around 27 or 28.

Did tFAW = 16 really improve performance for you? Sometimes it actually does hurt performance to lower it that much...

Real world performance is probably not affected by this kind of tweaking that much or at all, because its usually not the memory that is the bottleneck in a system.

[jon666]

Was dropping everything as far as they would go (BSOD, etc.) Setting to 16 did in fact kill some performance. tWCL was at 6 for a while, command rate has to be at 2 to run at 2000mhz. Can boot up no problem, but intel burn test will shut my pc down. I run all my settings through stress tests before anything, just so I know for sure they work.
If I really want faster speeds, I have to increase BCLK. That is a pain in the *** to find a stable setting at, especially when ambient temps are above 70F.

Been considering picking up a new set to play with, but prices jumped up again. Plus I want to figure out what I am doing first. Trial and error has worked so far, but BSODs get annoying when they happen too many times in one day lol.

[jon666]

Dropped it to 1866. Now I am getting excited. Will post more after next BSOD xD
Subtimings are making a big difference.

[jon666]

DRAM Reference clock just another way for an fsb oc? I'm assuming this only effects RAM, but haven't noticed any changes when I went from auto to 266.

[emissary42]

For ivy bridge there is no FSB, only the base clock (BCLK, 100.0 MHz). That does have very limited overclocking capabilities, because basically all system clocks are tied to it. But yes, increasing BCLK will also increase the memory clock. However there is no way you could boot a BCLK of 266.0 MHz. You are lucky if you get 110.0 MHz out of it without losing USB or SATA functionality. So i am not sure, what you are talking about.

[jon666]

It was DRAM clock setting in bios, tried it out, saw no benefit and from what I read it really only helps with older systems.
Changed my OC settings again, messing with the BCLK. At 105, RAM settings were dropped dramatically in order to maintain stability. Starting to wonder if a higher quality set of RAM would help with BCLK oc. For some reason I can't seem to raise voltage on cpu, only option I have to go with is +offset. Sits at ~1.48 under load, and goes up or down slightly. Idles at 1.296 according to cpu-z. PLL voltage control is on auto.
Maybe I am just playing with too many different components at the same time, but everything else seems to function fine. Might look into a 2x8GB set rated for a high speed, but haven't found anything suggesting that would help with a BCLK oc that is recent.

[emissary42]

There is no working around the BCLK limitations of this platform. The memory has next to nothing to do with it. When booting a "higher" BCLK the reason your system fails to POST is not the memory, but the onboard devices (USB, SATA, ...) that just stop functioning at some point. That is why intel sells unlocked processors for a price premium

[jon666]

There is no working around the BCLK limitations of this platform. The memory has next to nothing to do with it. When booting a "higher" BCLK the reason your system fails to POST is not the memory, but the onboard devices (USB, SATA, ...) that just stop functioning at some point. That is why intel sells unlocked processors for a price premium

lol damnit. Maybe next time I will pay the premium if I don't grab an amd rig instead. 105 BCLK is stable, ran it through everything I can think of, and bf4 beta for good measure. Anything beyond might be out of reach for me, even with good thermals. Memory timings still low, from what I have played with so far, I don't have much room to drop them. Maybe I will try again at ~1800mhz, hopefully cpu temps don't jump up too much.
I'm still holding hope for a BCLK oc, guess we will find out what my limitations are.

[jon666]

It's the weekend, here is what I have so far, that I know to be stable.
http://valid.canardpc.com/lp37x0
Creeping back up for RAM speeds too, but not as high as before. Priorities have changed, and for some reason I felt the need to overclock everything. Will post RAM benchmarks when I get them to a satisfactory level of performance.

[jon666]

Learned the hard way. Stable for a week, maybe I should have shut it down every night. HDD was throwing errors after a week. Tempted to see if an ssd would solve that problem, but I doubt it. Have a feeling it is the controller. Tempted to pick up a new motherboard, but I better wait till I need a new PC.

Only interesting thing I found out was non-k chips seem to be limited on how much power they can draw. I think this is how they are locked. Never researched that much into it, but will have to add it to my notes and see what I can find out this weekend.

[supahos]

An SSD wouldn't help the issue raising the bclk usually goofs the sata controller, usb controller, or in some cases can mess up the PCI lines.

[emissary42]

Tempted to see if an ssd would solve that problem...

It would not. The solution would be to get an unlocked cpu and say good bye to BCLK overclocking or change the platform altogether.

Only interesting thing I found out was non-k chips seem to be limited on how much power they can draw. I think this is how they are locked.

Close but not accurate. There are predefined power limits, even for unlocked processors. However, most mainboards with a decent vrm, should provide the user with a way to manually override those (i know all my P67/Z68/Z77 mainboards did). On lower end mainboards that option is probably not available, to prevent the user from accidentally frying the mosfets feeding the cpu.

[jon666]

It would not. The solution would be to get an unlocked cpu and say good bye to BCLK overclocking or change the platform altogether.


Close but not accurate. There are predefined power limits, even for unlocked processors. However, most mainboards with a decent vrm, should provide the user with a way to manually override those (i know all my P67/Z68/Z77 mainboards did). On lower end mainboards that option is probably not available, to prevent the user from accidentally frying the mosfets feeding the cpu.

Damn, looks like going cheap is biting me in the ***. Next time I will have to do my homework on motherboards. The only problem is they all jump up in price with features I do not want/need.

[emissary42]

It happens even to the best once or twice =))

[jon666]

Just bought this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231623
Picked it up used, will update when the set arrives. Hopefully my CPU doesn't hold me back.

I will be staring at BSODs once again...xD