Please help w/new graphics card & system build

(426) Re: Please help with new graphics card

innerpeace,
Its running well so far,tempting to try another few ghz to around 3.8 -4 ghz ,-the core voltage would need further increasing and maybe the memory settings would need more adjusting.
Possibly better cooling for the NB and SB and mosfets would be needed or maybe not.

The way the cooling is set up blows air from the external and internal middle fan across the SB and graphics card and out the back exhaust, while the NB and mosfets should be cooled by the airflow from the Ultra fan blowing out through the top exhaust-seems to be working.
Core Temp is measuring the temps and seems reliable here.

You only need one Page File for your computer!
My Page File has its own small partition-dont know if this helps,but you may find a small left over partition which cant be used for anything and also wont integrate with the main partitions
I NTFS formatted such a 20gb spare on my Data drive-seems to be working OK.

 

(427) Re: Please help with new graphics card

The very tops of the pins were all mangled and by laying them all flat again with force it worked. The metal bracket that holds the CPU in place i had crazily pulled off to see if the surface of the cooler could mate better with the cpu surface. Turning the case rightways without the bracket the CPU freely fell out to the bottom of the case lol but with a 3lb cooler on it kept securly in place but this gave the CPU more movement result in mangled pins mostly from loss of patience. The bracket off didnt do much for temps so i put it back on. The little things you do for a higher overclock. Before i considered lapping i was about to find some way to remove the soldered CPU cover either by putting in the oven or 4 stanley blades either corner and heating up the CPU with a blow torch. On your end It must because of force and sideway movement it happens that why i suggested.

Those temps now look real to what you should be expecting on the Ultra.

I can also take comfort that my cpu at 3.8 beats the newest $1600(that's over 5x the price) QX9775 Extreme Edition CPU with 12MB cache by quite a margin. I think you find yours will too at about 3.6 . It there to see in Sisoft Sandra. Of course if you had a QX9775 you could overclock it good with the multiplier being unlocked but still you got to pay for that privilege.

just WOW, must of shifted some air lol

sorry can't keep up with your posts lately but am taking note.

 

(42 Re: Please help with new graphics card

Hairy Coo,
3.8 or 4GHz sounds exciting. I hope your able to get there. I also wouldn't worry about the voltage too much, they make new chips everyday .

Is the only way to tell if the NB, SB or mosfets are too hot is to touch them? I think our NB should stay pretty cool considering our cooling is set up the same except I don't have the graphics cooling fan in place. I just saw that our HSF's are doing pretty good as they are both in the top 10 at Frostytech. My temps are also trying to come down just a little.

So, I only need one page file if I have 3 snapshots in which 2 of them I regularly use. 1 is for normal daily use and the 3rd is an offline game snapshot.

I still haven't partitioned my whole internal drive yet. I have 1 60GB OS partition and 1 100GBdata drive with plenty of extra space and 73GB unallocated. Would it be worth re-doing my data drive with a page file partition in between the OS and data partition/s?

 

(429) Re: Please help with new graphics card

No problem, I see you've been very busy lately. Congrats on your new program .

I have been playing a tiny bit because Hairy Coo has me inspired. I'm going to try 2.7GHz for a week and see how it does. I knocked the mem. ratio back down to 1:1 and bumped the FSB to 300. My idle temps are the same and I ran Prime95 Short FFT's for about 33mins. The vcore dips briefly to 1.264v during Prime95 but mostly stays at 1.272v. At idle/surfing it's 1.304v according to CPU-Z. Is the vcore ok? It ran 2 cycles of Prime95 with 0 errors. Temps stayed like in the pic because I set the Smart Fan target to 50. While running prime, the cpu fan did occasional have to hit 2662 rpms and then slowed to a bearable speed around 2200 rpms. 1800 is what I set as the normal speed for the time being until the AS5 cures.

http://img99.imageshack.us/img99/5537/27ghzprime95cq5.jpg

 

(430) Re: Please help with new graphics card

thanks for that. if it stays well under 60C on full load i am fine. I guess you have to worry about temps more on air. It worth setting up as it meant to be accurate. In all the time i used temp software including the motherboard ones they only show 5C difference between all of them. I take them all as a guide. As i never go to extreme temps or near to 65C. My rule is keep it under 60C and your CPU won't burn out as fast. I think you get less performance running it so hot anyways. All you do is have take the ambient temp. Your fans will probably run at 1024RPM but not sure.

The general rule was set the Page File to 1.5 times your RAM. If you have alot memory like 4Gb or more you can set it to a fixed page file. Try 4Gb minimum & maximum fixed size but your Windows doesn't see the full 4Gb yet so i would leave it as is. It is system specific. If you have 32Gb of memory you still need a PAGE file. Bump it up so the minimum is the RAM you got. It should never go lower than your RAM.

 

(431) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Rocking Results. Yes adding more vcore wins in the end, even if you don't understand all the other options whacking vcore up gets a result. Its the P35 chipset. Seems all boards are good for doing it. What speed is your RAM?

lol sounds like you started. press on indeed. you sound like me first day with the board and i had it 50% overclocked.

 

(432) Re: Please help with new graphics card

steady on he's only learning about BIOS and things. You had a good result with lapping but it can be dangerous to undertake if you not familar with your hardware. He had the system barely a few week and you telling him to lap the CPU. LOL first it started out problem with graphics card and now he's lapping. LOL I think innerpeace should put his machine all back with the lid on and enjoy it. It's everything he wants . the hardware is sound. He can learn the software side now. When he gets more acquainted with everything then he can dabble. We already got him overclocking LOL. I think that's enough. It's working nicely if anything should go wrong...

I just sharing my experience but Intel have sold lots without any problesm. Its just a poor design and more to go wrong but if it works. If you swapping CPU coolers a few times it doesn't do it good. If you pop it on and leave it alone it fine. I guess i am exaggerating the problem from my bad experience.

Yes thats good advice. You can then defragemnt that partition.

 

(433) Re: Please help with new graphics card

steady on he's only learning about BIOS and things. You had a good result with lapping but it can be dangerous to undertake if you not familar with your hardware. He had the system barely a few week and you telling him to lap the CPU. LOL first it started out problem with graphics card and now he's lapping. LOL I think innerpeace should put his machine all back with the lid on and enjoy it. It's everything he wants . the hardware is sound. He can learn the software side now. When he gets more acquainted with everything then he can dabble. We already got him overclocking LOL. I think that's enough. It's working nicely if anything should go wrong...

I just sharing my experience but Intel have sold lots without any problesm. Its just a poor design and more to go wrong but if it works. If you swapping CPU coolers a few times it doesn't do it good. If you pop it on and leave it alone it fine. I guess i am exaggerating the problem from my bad experience.

Yes thats good advice. You can then defragment it really good.

A right result. You got to 3.6. You in the club now. Anything over is respect. I see you finding it alot easier to overclock that board and that TR Ultra is showing what a great cooler it is. Let's see if you can do stable. It's crunch tiime. Alot can't go past 3.6 for whatever reason, everything is very hot at this stage. Check your memory is being cooled enough. I suggest some active 120mm fans pointed at the motherboard. I think that temp is average for that speed. Are you using the original BIOS? If you running around 400FSB then you memory must be at 800Mhz. If you want to go higher you have to overclock the memory. 3.8ghz is 422FSB which is 844Mhz on the memory. The memory will probably do it without more voltage. Getting it stable another thing.

 

(434) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Thanks markymoo. I was also hoping for temps under 60 so I'm happy with the Xiga keeping it at 54 or below when stressed and with my current fan settings. I've reached a good balance between temps and noise. Just to be sure, when it comes to computer temps, ambient is my room temp correct? If so, my ambient temp is always around 22C.

I'll also take into consideration what you and Hairy Coo has suggested for the page file. I was curious at what you all did as I had a wise hardware fellow at another forum suggest that I set and try a 1GB fixed page file when I upgraded my old computer to 1GB RAM.

I think Hairy Coo was kinda joking about me lapping the CPU and cooler LOL. It does seem like it has very positive results but I'm fully aware that it is overkill in my current situation. I also think Intel may frown if I would have to return the CPU and it was all shiny and smooth . It is also cool that I overclocked a little bit and I don't want to raise the CPU voltage. I really couldn't justify the extra electrical expense of a voltage increase. Deep down I'm a really practical person. It would be a blast though and I definitely see how much fun it is and how addictive it can be.

I'm glad you shared your experience about the push-pins. I would rather learn from someone else's experience than learn the hard way. Your pain is my gain . Seriously, it did drive home the point that I should be keeping an eye on my temps.

What is VTT FSB Voltage (FSB Termination Voltage). Mine is set to Auto in the BIOS. In an overclocking thread I printed it said "It's used to terminate data lines between the MCH and CPU. Also, what is the MCH? My MB manual doesn't mention anything specific other than it has the feature.

Hairy Coo,
How is the overclocking going? Have you learned anything interesting about the P35 MB?

 

(435) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Innerpeace

Good advice,I will shunt the voltage up to 1.8 on that basis

Well I suppose when everything else is sorted out, which does take time and you are good and ready-then do it-it definitely helps .
Its not a top priority job with a good cooler like yours.

As regards the overclocking-unfortunately I am back to square 0 as a result of a software issue-the dreaded explorer bug hit ,which meant every time I left or right clicked-explorer closed down.
Was forced to reinstall a good SP image,which once again needed Hardware Independent Restore-which in turn needs reinstallation of drivers.

At the moment I am having problems with an INF driver from Gigabyte,which is immobilizing my mouse.

As soon as the driver issues are sorted out,will restart overclocking,but will be away for a few days,so dont expect any magic until next week!

Anyway-are you happy with your new computer generally?

It is a time consuming hobby,isnt it?

 

(436) Re: Please help with new graphics card

markymoo

Still amazed how you managed this-are you saying that by flattening the pins-it worked? You would think the pins would make contact with the wrong pin square on the CPU.
Might try it on the old p965-nothing to lose.

Thanks-actually I think most of the setting are quite efficient by overclocking standards-no original settings hardly at all.

I took the O/C slowly and so could tell easily when the vcore needed increasing-if it wouldnt boot,raised it a fraction and so on-you know the drill.
The Giga BIOS is very user friendly and if its taken slowly will usually just reboot when the O/C cant be handled,rather than reverting to default.

At the moment have a software problem as I mentioned in the previous post to innerpeace, ,but would like to post the BIOS settings for your critical advice next week when I'm back on my feet.

Thanks

You mentioned that there was a problem spot at 3.6ghz,so I set the Memory Multiplier to 2.5 and achieved 3.618ghz-felt it had plenty left,too,but am not sure about the mem settings,especially the ACT-ACT Delay,Rank Write,Write to Precharge,Refresh to ACT,Read to Precharge -all of which I leave at Auto
Is it worthwhile fiddling around with these settings?

The memory is Corsair CMX2x1024-6400c,which runs at 4-4-4-12.,at a voltage of 0.30v.
Actually Ive always used this voltage for O/C,do you think I should use less?
Also can I use a multiplier of 4 to achieve 1066 strapping?

Good advice about another fan internally pointing at the mobo

 

(437) Re: Please help with new graphics card

LOL, I thought you did that today. The electricity shut off here for a second and in the distance I heard a transformer blow. I thought to myself, that must be Hairy Coo hitting 4GHz LOL.

Believe me, I want to lap and I live about a 5 min. walk from an automotive store that sells wet/dry sandpaper. As far as my cooler goes, it's an ok cooler and is within intel specs for weight. I have a feeling that the second half of this year will bring a lot of new and better coolers to the market.

That's a bummer . Sorry to hear that things aren't going well. My biggest fear is having to troubleshoot a problem. This is where experience is a necessity. Is the Gigabyte mouse problem a known issue? Regardless, I can't wait to hear your results when you get it sorted out and get the time to try again.

Yes, it's more computer than I need and can use (for now). I'm going to have a fun time figuring out what to do with all the cores and power. I already enjoy doing a 10-12 min. scan without ill effects. I'm not even sure why I'm scanning as I don't need to LOL. This is my third PC. The first was and AMD Athlon 650, the second was my old computer which was an AMD Athlon 3200+ (2.2gz). Both were single cores so I'll be enjoying myself for a while . And also, I still can't believe I'm using a computer that I put together. I really couldn't have done it without all the great advice in this thread.

Yes it is, but it's a lot of fun.

 

(43 Re: Please help with new graphics card

innerpeace,
great that you are pleased with your new toy.
I think its quite satisfying to have built your own!
I also previously used an Athlon,they were top chips a short time ago!

You were right,that supersonic crack was me adding more vcore,good one

Its an Intel INF driver issue,I would say to do with the USB devices.

No point starting overclocking once again until all up to date drivers are installed.

Of course,they were all installed and everything was going well until the explorer bug hit-quite a common one apparently and I couldnt see any way to solve it except to start from scratch again.
This week has been a perfect example of Murphys Law
The mouse is a Logitech MX 1000 revolution-great but unbelievably troublesome software for it!

 

(439) Re: Please help with new graphics card

I'm really glad you brought this up. That is something that I didn't do is install the Intel INF update thing from the MSI MB cd. I wasn't sure what it was or what it did. I still have no idea other than it updates Intel chipsets. Which chipsets, I don't know. I guess this is something that I need to do...

 

(440) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Its the first time this has happened to me-I installed the complete Intel Chipset Utility,so all appropriate drivers for our ICH9-P35 setup would be installed.
However,each time,the USB Mouse wouldnt function,so I had to reinstall a ShadowProtect image(and drivers on a couple of times) also each time-rather time consuming exercise!
No other way,with the mouse dead!

I would think the chances of this happening to you are remote,so either install from your CD-AFTER BACKING UP-or to make certain the drivers are up to date-go here and d/l the chipset utility which contains the INF files etc.

Possibly you could get away without doing this,as obviously Microsoft have designed appropriate drivers as an alternative-but I'm a lot more comfortable in using the specialists up to date drivers,rather than something dated 2001 or so.
There is a small risk,but think I'm just unlucky.
I had to manually update EACH driver from either the CD or the Intel INF package which I had downloaded-still not 100%, but everything seems to be working in any case.

Now thats almost under control-I went into BIOS to restart overclocking-only to find the BIOS just didnt feel like it-wouldnt proceed to the boot screen even with default CPU settings.
Tomorrow probably will reset the CMOS and hope that will cure it.
Its been a never ending constant set of problems ,hardware and software during the past week,but all Ive learnt is that you have to keep plugging away at every possibility.
Of course had I not had backups,(SP and KR)I would have lost the lot by now!

 

(441) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Have you played the games and turned everything on full on GFX? The speed should handle it good.

You would think setting a HUGE Page File would give a better result but it doesn't as it spends longer looking through the PAGE File than the RAM. I wouldn't worry about the PageFile so much i would run all the good XP tweaks out there that will do more.

no he wasn't he had a good result lapping and spreading the word .

It important you don't raise VTT. It recently found out it can kill chips raising too high.. Read here. http://www.anandtech.com/weblog/showpost.aspx?i=428

I had no improvement on raising the VTT, keeping it at default is just as good.

lol

Installing the INF the mouse can lock up but on reboot it corrects. Have you tried plugging in the mouse into another port if it USB? I would try to free up resources. It could you using up all IRQ's. Disable 1394, Comm Ports, spare LAN and anything else you not using in the BIOS.

 

(442) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Would using one of those USB to PS/2 adapters work at least temporarily. That's what I have been using since my old computer just decided one day that it didn't like the USB mouse. Even after reinstalling Windows it still wouldn't work. My mouse instructions made it seems like I had to use USB but that wasn't the true in my case. I haven't even installed the software yet as I really don't need it because my backwards and forwards thumb buttons are working which I can't do without.

I really need to do this. The intel site has two identical versions, but the file size is different. The MSI site has a different version.

I think I see those "alternative" drivers in the Device Manager - System Devices. There are 2 labeled Intel (82801 and 82802) and both of their drivers are from 2001. Also, my dvd burner has a problem on my primary snapshot (something to do with the registry). It works fine in my game snapshot. Do you have any good cd/dvd burner troubleshooting links handy? If not, don't worry about it. I'm also seeing a yellow caution symbol in Other Devices - SM Bus Controller. It says the drivers for this device are not installed.

At least you had some good with the bad . I think you will have it figured out before too long. Then you will be buzzing along at 3.6+ speeds with the elite .

 

(443) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Battlefront works fine and I just tried Need For Speed Most Wanted (2 quick races) and it works also on high settings. My CPU temps barely moved. I guess it's a GPU intensive game. I'm having a problem with the Realtech HD Sound Effect Manager freezing my game and randomly detecting my speaker and headphone as being plugged in during the game. I tried briefly with just one being plugged in and starting the game and it seems to work. Can I block the Realtech manager from starting if I don't need it. Will it hurt my sound quality or is it just more useless software?

Also, my Antec P182 case has the connection wires for the front audio connection. It's one wire with two connectors. One is AC' 97 and the other HDA. Which should I be connecting to the MB's Front Panel Audio Connetor (JAUD1)? In all honesty, I have tried both and am currently using the HDA connector.

Thanks. I'll leave the page file alone for now and see how it does. I do tweak a lot of services and I will stop some autoruns once I get more familiar with what's running on this machine. I have some other minor tweaks, but I'm not sure I need them unless I use them on my gaming snapshot.

A very good result! Nothing wrong with spreading the word. I'm sure everyone here knows the warranty is important to me and that this machine has to last me a few years. I'm sure I'll give it a go sometime in the future when the 775 socket and my chip will be obsolete.

Thanks for the link. Does that mean leaving it on auto is ok or should I investigate a proper setting?

 

(444) Re: Please help with new graphics card

markymoo and innerpeace,

re the driver issue-its more basic than all of that-restarts etc ,different ports dont make any difference.
I think the problem is that there is a conflict between the Intel p965-ICH8 drivers ,which are still in Windows- and the P35 -ICH9
drivers.
There is no easy way to remove the old drivers except manually,but some are universal,so care has to be taken before removal.

To prove it is a driver conflict,I just used FDISR to create a new empty snapshot and downloaded an nLite slipstreamed XP sp3 which contained all the new Intel drivers,those that wouldnt work previously.
They work perfectly on the new "C" and have fully installed, as presumably because the old drivers arent present.

As the newly created FDISR C drive doesnt live happily with the old C drive-there is wrong interaction between both-think the next step will be to do a repair install of the slipstream on the old,hopefully only the new drivers will then be installed.

As I'm away for a few days,this will have to wait !

 

(445) Re: Please help with new graphics card

innerpeace

The Intel site would have the up to date install.
You should download the Chipset Software Installation Utility -you have the link

Suggest you backup with that True Image copy -then try to do a full install of the Installation Utility, it should do ALL the work for you.

If it works,will solve your problems including the SM Bus Controller, but not the burner,which you should check under DVD Drives( under Devices Manager)and see if the driver is working OK-maybe its a manufacturers driver which needs reinstalling.

I had the same issue with the SM Bus Controller and had to manually update it from an opened up Installation Utility.
You will find a file marked "All"(contains all the drivers) keep this handy.
Then go to devices manager=SM Bus Controller -update Driver-
Window 1-No Not This Time-
Window 2-Install from a Specific Location
Window 3-Dont search-I will choose
Window 4-ignore-next
Window 5-Have disk-but choose "browse"
When you have got to browse locate the "All" folder and let file 915 be choosen.

Thats it.

However much better if you can do the lot in one go,as mentioned earlier.

Ps- MCH refers to the Northbridge

 

(446) Re: Please help with new graphics card

@Hairy Coo - I forgot you using an existing Windows and not a new installation. This would explain the chipset lockup problem, plus other devices are different, the LAN and Sound for example. Installing fresh with a new motherboard ensures you have a stable faster PC, probably been faster than trying to solve this lock up. You can uninstall drivers and they sometimes don't uninstall right being in use. Anyway glad you got it sorted.

 

(447) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Thanks Hairy Coo . I will run the utility tomorrow and see how it does. I want to get the dvd burner working first just in case. I think I just need to delete the upper and lower filters in the registry and restart. This site and forum looks to have a ton of cd/dvd info.

Thanks very much for this! I will copy/paste the info and give it a go tomorrow. I'll get the burner working, then install the intel utility and see how it goes. If it doesn't cure the SM Bus Controller problem I will follow your great advice.

Isn't troubleshooting fun . Thanks also for the MCH = Northbridge hint.

Take care and be well,
innerpeace

 

(44 Re: Please help with new graphics card

You are quite correct and I have come to the same conclusion,markymoo-I am still having driver problems-just now needed to reinstall some,plus other general issues.

You did mention this previously,but my problem is that I have some software which wouldnt transfer to a fresh install-others which need a lot of work to get going right-would be a major effort.

What I will do is try a slipstream SP3 repair install complete with the new drivers ,but if this doesnt work-there will be no alternative!

PS Fitted ANOTHER fan inside the case pointing at the mem.and mobo,as you mentioned-should help overclocking.

 

(449) Re: Please help with new graphics card

innerpeace,

One correction re the SM Bus Controller

I think you may be having similar problems to mine to some extent in any case,because you also have installed a new mobo.

As markymoo said there may be no alternative to doing a complete fresh install,which in fact I did prove to be a remedy with the small FDISR new install, where everything is OK.

Thanks for that interesting link!

 

(450) Re: Please help with new graphics card

Thanks Hairy Coo for the correction and advice.

Similar problems because I didn't install the Intel Chipset Software Installation Utility immediately after installing Windows?

I did do a fresh install of Windows on my new machine from my newly purchased XP OEM cd.
Ok, I now understand that the Intel chipset drivers needs to be installed right before or right after the OS installation. I ran the utility from my MB cd and it seemed to work. I don't see the SM Bus yellow triangle and there are a lot more entries in Device Manager - System Devices, USB controllers and IDE ATA/ATAPI controllers.

I also was able to get Windows to see my cd/dvd burner by using the advice in the link I posted and all I had to do was delete the lower filters and reboot. I didn't have an upper filters registry entry.

Anyways, thanks and if your away, don't worry about replying. I'd also like to here how you mounted the internal fan in the P180 sometime. It sounds like your really getting serious about the overclock .