Intel Motherboards: Can a Diamond beat a Royal Flush?
by Gary Key on September 23, 2005 12:05 AM EST- Posted in
- Motherboards
Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal: Overclocking
FSB Overclocking Results:
With a stock multiplier, the GA-8I955X Royal reached an overclock of 241x16 or 3856MHz. With a lowered multiplier, the GA-8I955X Royal reached an overclock of 272x14 or 3808MHz. Unlike the MSI P4N, the Gigabyte board did not disable the second core. It should also be noted that in both tests, the memory settings were set to auto with the Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal running more conservative timings than the MSI P4N Diamond, which assisted in the higher CPU overclock.
While we were able to reach these OC levels with the Intel HSF, the long-term stability of the system at these speeds is very suspect. After running several tests, the system began throttling - alternating between stock speed and reduced speed due to overheating. There is no doubt the CPU can do these speeds or better but it will require an alternative cooling system. Unfortunately, due to the design and placement of the U-Plus DPS module, the cooling solutions available are limited.
Memory Stress Testing
Memory stress tests look at the ability of the GA-8I955X Royal to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of 533MHz and 667MHz DDR2, at the best performing memory timings that the Patriot Extreme Performance PEP21G5600+XBL will support.
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-2-2-4 at 1.8V.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 4 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-2-2-4, but the voltage had to be increased to 1.9V.
We will now increase the memory frequencies to 667MHZ to see what effect this change has on the memory timings and stability of the board.
The Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 4-3-3-8 at 1.9V. The performance benchmarks were actually equal to or better than the 533MHZ setting on this board. However, this did not translate into better application performance compared to the MSI board.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 4 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 4-3-3-12 at 1.9V, but the RAS Cycle Time had to be switched to 12.
FSB Overclocking Results:
| Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed | |
| Processor: | Pentium 4 Prescott LGA 775 840EE Dual Core 3.2GHz |
| CPU Voltage: | 1.425V (1.350V default) |
| Cooling: | Intel Stock Cooler |
| Power Supply: | OCZ Power Stream 520 |
| Maximum CPU OverClock | 241FSB x 16 (3856MHz) +20% |
| Maximum FSB OC: | 272FSB x 14 (3808MHz) +19% |
With a stock multiplier, the GA-8I955X Royal reached an overclock of 241x16 or 3856MHz. With a lowered multiplier, the GA-8I955X Royal reached an overclock of 272x14 or 3808MHz. Unlike the MSI P4N, the Gigabyte board did not disable the second core. It should also be noted that in both tests, the memory settings were set to auto with the Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal running more conservative timings than the MSI P4N Diamond, which assisted in the higher CPU overclock.
While we were able to reach these OC levels with the Intel HSF, the long-term stability of the system at these speeds is very suspect. After running several tests, the system began throttling - alternating between stock speed and reduced speed due to overheating. There is no doubt the CPU can do these speeds or better but it will require an alternative cooling system.
Memory Stress Testing
Memory stress tests look at the ability of the GA-8I955X Royal to operate at the officially supported memory frequencies of 533MHz and 667MHz DDR2, at the best performing memory timings that the Patriot Extreme Performance PEP21G5600+XBL will support.
| Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal Stable DDR533 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz (800FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 533MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 3 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2 |
| RAS Precharge: | 2 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 4 |
| Voltage: | 1.8V |
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-2-2-4 at 1.8V.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
| Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal Stable DDR533 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz (800FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 533MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 3 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 2 |
| RAS Precharge: | 2 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 4 |
| Voltage: | 1.9V |
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 4 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 3-2-2-4, but the voltage had to be increased to 1.9V.
We will now increase the memory frequencies to 667MHZ to see what effect this change has on the memory timings and stability of the board.
| Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal Stable DDR667 Timings - 2 DIMMs (2/4 slots populated - 1 Dual-Channel Bank) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz (800FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 667MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 4 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3 |
| RAS Precharge: | 3 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 8 |
| Voltage: | 1.9V |
The Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 2 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 4-3-3-8 at 1.9V. The performance benchmarks were actually equal to or better than the 533MHZ setting on this board. However, this did not translate into better application performance compared to the MSI board.
Filling all four available memory slots is more strenuous on the memory subsystem than testing 2 DDR2 modules on a motherboard.
| Gigabyte GA-8I955X Royal Stable DDR667 Timings - 4 DIMMs (4/4 slots populated - 2 Dual-Channel Banks) |
|
| Clock Speed: | 200MHz (800FSB) |
| Timing Mode: | 667MHz - Default |
| CAS Latency: | 4 |
| RAS to CAS Delay: | 3 |
| RAS Precharge: | 3 |
| RAS Cycle Time: | 12 |
| Voltage: | 1.9V |
The GA-8I955X Royal was completely stable with 4 DDR2 modules in Dual-Channel at the settings of 4-3-3-12 at 1.9V, but the RAS Cycle Time had to be switched to 12.
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19 Comments
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smn198 - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
Welcome Gary. Look forward to seeing more from you.Gary Key - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
smn198,Thank you. I really enjoyed doing this article, working with Wes, and having the opportunity to share my experiences with the great members and visitors here at AnandTech. I certainly hope you will be seeing more from me. ;-)
Sincerely,
Gary Key
Evan Lieb - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
Welcome Gary, and have fun!Ecmaster76 - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
Looks like it went up early.Good read though. At first I was like "Holy $#!+" when I saw the gaming benchmarks, but then they mentioned about the Gigabyte BIOS being effed up.
cryptonomicon - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
DRAM Voltage Auto, 1.80V to 2.3V in 0.1V incrementsuh.. but isnt ram like 2.5-2.8v?
Pete84 - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
DDR2 runs at much lower vdimm than DDR.cryptonomicon - Friday, September 23, 2005 - link
ah yes of course..so much for active cooling then
BlvdKing - Thursday, September 22, 2005 - link
I can't believe the Nforce 4 for AMD supports dual core but the Intel edition only has limited support and no support for the 820.coomar - Wednesday, September 21, 2005 - link
no a diamond can't beat a royal flush