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#1 2011-02-10 17:15:06

getagrip
Member
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 45

Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

I am trying to overclock my new Sandy Bridge System.

uname  : 2.6.37-ARCH #1 SMP x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2600K CPU @ 3.40GHz
mboard : ASUS P8 P67 EVO

In the uefi-bios if one chooses the performance-profile the system should automatically run with appr. 4.5 GHz in turbo-mode after save/reboot.

Stress-testing my system (kernel-compilation, multiple WinXP-vms) all cores show the regular frequency of 3.4 GHz:

cat /proc/cpuinfo =>
cpu MHz : 3435.835 (for all 8 threads)

Are there any tools that correctly monitor cpu-frequency?
What's weird is that my VirtualBox WinXP-images running cpu-z also show the base frequency even under 100% cpu-load, so no turbo-boost here.

Manually overclocking in the bios yields the same lame results.
Any hints are welcome.

Last edited by getagrip (2011-02-10 17:16:58)

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#2 2011-02-10 17:33:13

AndyRTR
Developer
From: Magdeburg/Germany
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 1,641

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

You can check with cpufreq-info or conky if it runs turbo mode. when it's showing 3401Mhz state it's running the core in turbo mode. mine is set to ~4,3GHz. but so far it's afaik not possible to read the true TC speed with any tool.

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#3 2011-02-10 17:57:59

getagrip
Member
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 45

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

"when it's showing 3401Mhz state it's running the core in turbo mode"

You mean it's running in turbo mode? But 3401Mhz is the base frequency, ain't it?

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#4 2011-02-11 05:59:46

AndyRTR
Developer
From: Magdeburg/Germany
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 1,641

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

cpufreq-info gives here:

  available frequency steps: 3.40 GHz, 3.40 GHz, 3.30 GHz, 3.20 GHz, 3.10 GHz, 3.00 GHz, 2.90 GHz, 2.80 GHz, 2.70 GHz, 2.60 GHz, 2.50 GHz, 2.40 GHz, 2.30 GHz, 2.20 GHz, 2.10 GHz, 1.60 GHz

Note the two 3,40 GHz values. The first one is turbo mode (3401MHz) and the second one is the base freq. 3400MHz.

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=86343 - cat /proc/cpuinfo | grep -i MHz will show you the full MHz values. Whenever you see 3401MHz the core runs in TruboMode, the kernel cannot detect the real frequency. Non-OC it should be max 3800MHz. I've setup conky to show all cores+frequencies. In the BIOS I've chosen the 2nd option for turbo mode "per core" (cannot be controlled by OS).

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#5 2011-02-11 06:12:16

anonymous_user
Member
Registered: 2009-08-28
Posts: 3,059

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

@AndyRTR - the OP said he/she got the same results with manual overclocking. So the kernel cannot detect that either?

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#6 2011-02-18 17:04:37

getagrip
Member
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 45

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

The multiplier never exceeds 34x while monitoring with i7z-svn.

Compiling thunderbird-branded from aur I get the following output:

TURBO ENABLED on 4 Cores, Hyper Threading ON                                                                   
True Frequency 3605.00 MHz (103.00 x [35])                                                                     
Max TURBO Multiplier (if Enabled) with 1/2/3/4 Cores is  45x/45x/45x/45x         

Current Frequency 3500.02 MHz (Max of below)                                                                   
        Core [core-id]  :Actual Freq (Mult.)      C0%   Halt(C1)%  C3 %   C6 %  Temp                             
        Core 1 [0]:       3498.86 (33.97x)      11.8    34.2    7.05      47    29                               
        Core 2 [1]:       3500.02 (33.98x)      7.04    35.7    14.4    42.9    35                               
        Core 3 [2]:       3498.00 (33.96x)      2.48    32.3     2.5    62.7    27                               
        Core 4 [3]:       3496.64 (33.95x)         2    36.7     1.5    59.8    32 

That's it, it never goes over 34.00x. What could be the reason for this?

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#7 2011-02-18 20:23:56

AndyRTR
Developer
From: Magdeburg/Germany
Registered: 2005-10-07
Posts: 1,641

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

Ive updated to the latest official bios and use the AUTO OC. Works well here. Conky shows 3401MHz under load and compile time is a lot faster than before oc'ing it.

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#8 2011-02-23 13:18:10

getagrip
Member
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 45

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

OK, I have just updated to the latest bios.

Manually overclocking still does not work:

True Frequency 3498.97 MHz (99.97 x [35])

How does AUTO OC work?

I tried loading optimal-default-settings with F5 and then clicked the right-most image (the orange/red color clock) to load the performance-profile.

Would that be enough to get AUTO OC working?

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#9 2011-03-04 15:19:51

getagrip
Member
Registered: 2007-12-26
Posts: 45

Re: Overclock P67 Asus - Sandy Bridge

Maybe i7z is just not capable of showing multipliers above the standard base-multiplier?

Does "Actual Freq (Mult.)" output ever exceed 34x while you are running i7z?

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