Stabilizing i7 uncore - help appreciated

[Fireball]

Been trying to mess around with this for 40+ hours...hoping that someone with more experience and a bigger brain than me will be able to figure this out.

I haven't been able to run my memory at spec speed (1600 MHz; 8-8-8-24 @ 1.65V) at all. At first, I thought it was due to bad memory, but running Memtest86 and RMAing the memory has proved that the problem is not with the memory.

I believed have narrowed down the problem to the uncore itself. The QPI speed itself is not the problem (or I am relatively certain it isn't), but raising the uncore clock to anything above 2300 MHz will yield instability in LinX (positive residuals w/o BSOD). Frustrating thing, is that I don't even BSOD anymore - I only get the positive residual errors, sometimes in the first run, sometimes in later runs.

I have tried adjusting VTT (up to 1.375) / QPI PLL (up to 1.4) / IOH VCore (up to 1.4) all to no avail. Would appreciate any help offered!

Current voltages + specs (i7 920; Gigabyte EX-58 Extreme (Bios F9h)) - stable

Stepping: C0/C1
MB Intelligent Tweaker (M.I.T):
CPU Clock Ratio [21x]
CPU Frequency [3.78GHz] [180x21]
QPI Link Speed [x36] [6.48GHz]
Base Clock Control [Enabled]
BCLK Frequency (Mhz) [180]
Performance Enhance [Standard]
System Memory Multiplier (SPD) [6.0]

Uncore & QPI Features:
QPI Link Speed [x36]
QPI Link Speed [6.48GHz]
Uncore Frequency [x13] (2340 MHz)

Advanced CPU Features:
Intel Turbo Boost Tech. [Enabled]
CPU Cores Enabled [All]
CPU Multi Threading [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) [Enabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support [Enabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor [Enabled]
CPU Eist Function [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology [Enabled]
Bi-directional PROCHOT [Enabled]

CPU Vcore 1.28125V
QPI/Vtt 1.175V
IOH Core 1.10000V
DRAM Voltage 1.600V

Advanced Voltage Control:
Load-Line Calibration [Enabled]
CPU Vcore 1.28125V
QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.340V
CPU PLL 1.800V [Manual]
>>>MCH/ICH
PCIE 1.500V [Manual]
QPI PLL 1.100V [Manual]
IOH Core 1.100V [Manual]
ICH I/O 1.500V [Manual]
ICH Core 1.100V [Manual]
>>>DRAM
DRAM Voltage 1.600V

[gingerbee]

well to run my memory at that speed my uncore has to be at least 3200 mhz and I have to bring up my qpi voltage to 1.35.

[Arinoth]

Why are you running the CPU Clock Speed at x21? You know it takes a lot more voltage for that then it does for say x19 or x20 and increasing your bclk. Also typically you need to bump up the voltage of your RAM to that of the specs which typically are 1.65V but without knowing your exact RAM make and model its hard to say

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Fireball

Been trying to mess around with this for 40+ hours...hoping that someone with more experience and a bigger brain than me will be able to figure this out.


Advanced CPU Features:
Intel Turbo Boost Tech. [Enabled]
CPU Cores Enabled [All]
CPU Multi Threading [Enabled]
CPU Enhanced Halt (C1E) [Enabled]
C3/C6/C7 State Support [Enabled]
CPU Thermal Monitor [Enabled]
CPU Eist Function [Enabled]
Virtualization Technology [Enabled]
Bi-directional PROCHOT [Enabled]

On top of making Dram voltage to 1.65 v (but not any higher) and changing cpu clock ratio to 20 or under,
Disable Intel Turbo Boost and make it standard. Also, disable C1E, C3/C6/C7.
Uncore freq should be 2xmemory multi +1

[somecanadianguy]

Try 200bclk x 19 (Turbo off) with Ram multi x8, uncore x17, and QPI Link x36.

For voltages try...

Advanced Voltage Control:
Load-Line Calibration [Disabled]
CPU Vcore 1.36875V
QPI/Vtt Voltage 1.350V
CPU PLL 1.800V [Manual]
>>>MCH/ICH
PCIE 1.500V [Manual]
QPI PLL 1.100V [Manual]
IOH Core 1.120V [Manual]
ICH I/O 1.500V [Manual]
ICH Core 1.100V [Manual]
>>>DRAM
DRAM Voltage 1.650V

Also, did you 'Load Optimized Defaults' in BIOS before you started tweaking?

[Fireball]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies!

@arinoth and @chris - I was under the impression that Vcore was more dependent on BCLK than the CPU multiplier? Regardless, I will try the suggested multipliers and report back.

@somecanadianguy Re: loading optimized defaults - I usually only restore, reboot after a POST error / failure. Should I always be restoring between adjusting voltage settings? Also, is there a reason you prefer to run the VDroop @ Intel spec (I realize the effect of LLC on voltage max / min)? Just curious - I've actually read through quite a few of your classes and was wondering why you have a preference for this.

I have tried running QPI VTT @ 1.355V w/ DRAM @ 1.66V and it still gives me integer errors.

Also, any reason for disabling C1E & C3/C6/C7? I was under the impression that these features only kick in at idle to reduce wattage / power consumption?

Again, thanks kindly for all the replies. I'll give this a run tonight and report back.

[somecanadianguy]

I don't think it's necessary to load optimized defaults every time you change things.
However, I've had stable overclock settings saved in BIOS and have had them go unstable after trying other settings (especially RAM tweaking).
Couldn't hurt to do it now even though you've done it previosly.
At this point you may even want to reset CMOS just to be sure all is good in there.

As for LLC...
It never seemed to cause any issues, but since I can run 3.8GHz with it disabled and still have Vcore within Intel's spec I just leave it disabled.
If I push my OC further it helps to have it on, but there could be potential risks (though that's debatable, and besides, OCing is kinda risky anyway).
To be "safe", I leave it off if I can get the OC I want with it off.
Voltage ripple for my setup was a bit lower with LLC on though.

Ripple (according to OCCT):
0.05 (3.57%) LLC off
0.02 (1.22%) LLC on

Really though... it didn't make any difference in stability.
Idle voltage is a bit lower with LLC on, but load voltage is the same.

[Eldonko]

Re LLC - For my UD4P, LLC on or off the board overvolted under load, but I found it to be more stable turned on.

[somecanadianguy]

Originally Posted by Eldonko

Re LLC - For my UD4P, LLC on or off the board overvolted under load, but I found it to be more stable turned on.

Hmm... do I have the only motherboard that isn't like that?
My Vcore always drops under load whether LLC is on or off.

@ Fireball: I guess you may want to do your own testing with LLC to see what your board does.

[Fireball]

I appreciate the replies (and thanks for all of the help SCG!). I'm out of town until Sunday but I'll give these settings a run and let you guys know.

Thanks again!