Are there disadvantages of running fsb out of Intel spec?

[cje]

Hey guys, just a quick OC'ing question here.

As it stands, I achieved a decent clock of 400 x 8 with my Striker Ii Extreme and a Q6600. I also clocked my RAM yp to 1600 mhz (800 DDR) to meet the fsb all linked and synced.

I got my other 2 sticks back from RMA and they aren't playing very nicely. I need approximately 0.5v more on the NB for stability, than I did with the pre-RMA'd ones.

Before RMA I could run 4 sticks with 1.3v @ 1333 fsb and RAM.

Now, with a new kit back from RMA, I need 1.36v on NB for same fsb and RAM speeds.


So, to reach my clock of 1600 fsb and RAM, I need around 1.49/1.50 NBv. (Temps are hitting 58 on the NB and therefore I get hard locks and freezes).

If I were to lower fsb to around 1400-1450 ish, is there any disadvantage in this at all? It would be running out of intel spec, but allows me to pump less voltage into the Northbridge, and also use 9x multi which also stresses the motherboard less.

What do you guys think?

[Jonny2Bad]

Just get the best you can with the less volts i run mine on the x9 multi and a 1600 fsb. But i think you've got what u can out of this board buddy, its gonna pop if you run it at this temps for long. Really asking too much from it imo.

[TankJon]

Surely your gonna need watercooling at those clocks and voltages? Otherwise, as J2B said ...it gonna go bang!

[cje]

I'm not running it like that 24/7 just periods of testing, and then back to stock.

On stock the NB is 50 degrees.

I emailed ASUS regarding NB and temps. I lied and told them my temps were hitting 62 under load (which they're not, but just to be safe).

All they replied was: "If the pc should work well, then you should not worry. These temperatures are well within specification".

Why do you say it will go bang, when NB and SB overheat in BIOS is at lowest setting at 90?


At the moment I've got a very nice and cool clock at 1333 fsb, 1066 ram needing only 1.3v on the NB. Temps might hit 51 during very heavy gaming on the Nb and up to 58 on the SB.

[Jonny2Bad]

Your pushing it too hard for little gain imo, yeah the nb temps are ok but there is no need for them to be that high for such a clock, I know you want to get the most from it but at some point you got to see that the board is holding you back some, be happy with getting 3.2-3.4 its a good clock for that board. Nothing is going to use much more than that on a quad anyway. ;)

[cje]

You've got me wrong mate, I definately won't push it ANY further.

At stock settings NB idles at 51 degrees anyway. I've bought an Antec Spotcool fan that should arrive tomorrow that should cool it down a lot more.

51 degrees with only 1.3v on the NB is bad, I know. But I hope with a significantly greater airflow things will imrpove.

I bought a Scythe Mini Kaze 40mm fan last week, but it doesn't have nearly ANY airflow at all. (It is good at pulling air through the mofsets at the top of the board though.

If the spotcool fails to keep my load temps under the 51 degrees mark when OC'd I'm not going to bother. Dial back down to 1333 fsb (which requires 1.34v NB, so still 51/52 load NB) and be happy.

1600 fsb might be pushing it too far. I was thinking RAM and fsb at 1450 mhz would be a better option.

Is there any disadvantage (except speed) if I run everything at 1450 as opposed to 1333 or 1600? (i.e. out of intel spec).

[Jonny2Bad]

No none at all, and you really wont lose that much speed by that clock at all, it will be fine a fast enough for anything you want to chuck at it.

[cje]

Yeah, I'll be able to run the processor at 3.2/3.3 then (which it is capable of, but 3.6 was out of it's reach due to temps reaching 75 during prime. 3.3ghz maxes out at 60 so a lot better.)

My theory is, that with the spotcool installed, if I keep my load temps around 50-52 I'll be fine. (As the mobo has run with 51 load since September last year no problems. And ASUS have guaranteed me in 3 seperate emails that this is fine. So if my mobo blows, they're liable.) I've kept a copy of the emails on another pc to be sure lol.

I'll post back here when I've finally reached the land of the stable people. If not, I'll have stayed at 1333 fsb and 1066 RAM. 3ghz is plenty fast for me to be honest.

[Jonny2Bad]

Very wise buddy ;)

[Asce]

Hears a tip for you, Asus put really rubbish TIM on there heatsinks on the motherboards. Best thing to try to lower the temps is to reseat with either AS5 or MX-2. And you only need a small amount. Worked wonders on the P5N-E Sli i used to run, temps dropped by up to 10°c at most. You also need to remember that the Nvidia chipsets run hot

[Jonny2Bad]

Yeah the same with the rampage but mine is ok so havent bothered, good shout asce forgot about that one.

[cje]

Yeah, been told that by someone else on another forum. Their runnign 1800 fsb with 1.6v on the Nb with 2x 40mm fans on the NB and temps dont break 50.

If the spotcool sorts it out, I won't bother. But if it's still hot, I might take it to a local shop to get it done. I'm not comfortable in doing it myself.

You think a local computer shop would do it for me?

[Jonny2Bad]

Wouldn't trust a local shop tbh, its not a hard job if you can put together a cpu and heat sink then you can do the nb.

[cje]

I've searched quite a bit on google now, seems that the "fusion block" is quite hard to get off, with some people having to use a hair dryer and heat it p in order to get it off.

(http://www.pvxbuilds.com/water.jpg)

[cje]

It seems my RMA'd RAM doesn't like the old kit at all. I didn't have any issues before with the old kit. It's this new kit. When I tried to put it to sleep earlier, the displays just went black and the pc restarted. Temps were fine. 52 NB and SB. (stock 1.3v on Nb and stock 1.49 on SB).

Think I'll just buy 2x 2gb kit of 1600 RAM, and a 60mm to blow on the NB.

My theory is, if I keep temps in the 50s I'll be fine right? ASUS have told me that 60s is fine and that it can take a lot more, but if I'll keep temps around the low 50s it won't go bang, will it?

I mean, with setup defaults and everything running @ stock they idle around 52 Nb and SB.

[cje]

This is really annoying me now. I was running RAM at 1066, as suggested by Corsair, as I'm running 4 modules.

I already told you how it froze on entering sleep. So I took one kit of RAM out, and re-tried, same issue. Put everything to stock, it worked. So, I thought something is not happy. After testing a while with only 2 sticks in, I put the other 2 in. I was playing around with settings, and now I can boot into windows with only 1.3v on the NB, wheras before it needed 1.4v!!!

I just don't get this at all.

And now, IntelBurnTest takes ages to complete. Also LinX testing seems to take LONGER than usual. I don't know what's going on. Maybe a corrupt OS?

EDIT - Intel Burn test doesn't want to finish, and Super PI crashes.