OC Report: MSI P55 GD65 & Gskill F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS

Lately got myself a few new hardware. Here's a quick OverClocking Overview. Cut the crap, let the pictures do the talking.

Hardware Information

MSI P55-GD65 Product Info: Click here!

• Intel® Core™i7/i5/i3 Processor Ready
• Intel® P55
• Dual-channel, DDR3 1066/1333/1600*/2000*/2133* (OC) Support
• OC Genie
• SuperPipe
• DrMOS
• APS (Acive Phase Switching)
• SLI™ / CrossFireX™ Support

Gskill F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS: Click here!

• DDR3-2200 (PC3 17600) at 7-10-10-28-2N with 1.65 volts
• 4GB (2GB x2)
• Engineered Specifically For Intel Core i7 860/870 CPUs
• Turbulence Fan
• Life Time Warranty

Unboxing Gskill F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS


The RAM is packed in a small box with simple & environmental friendly design .


Engineered Specifically For Intel Core i7 860/870 CPUs.


Spotted the turbulence fan at first sight. RAM modules are wrapped & sitted nicely at the side.


Turbulence fan & the RAM modules.


Details/ Specification of the RAM modules.


Closer look. Ouch, the heatsink is sooo sexy!



Unboxing MSI P55-GD65


The GD65 is packed in a rather colourful box. From the box, it's clearly shown that the board comes with 3 years warranty.


MSI P55-GD65 is designed with black & blue themes. =)


Rear Panel view


6 Phase PWM design for CPU. The heatpipe looks huge. o.O

This post has been edited by dblooi: Jan 24 2010, 01:10 AM

Voltage check point, now it's much easier to read the voltages with multimeter.


OC Genie button, Power button, and BCLK buttons. Good bye SETfsb =)



Testbed

• CPU: Intel® Core™ i5 750@2.56GHz, cooled by Prolimatech Megashadow deluxe edition.
• Motherboard: MSI P55-GD65 (Bios v1.2)
• RAM: Gskill F3-17600CL7D-4GBPIS 4GB kit
• VGA: Galaxy Geforce 7300GT
• HDD: Patriot Warp V2.0 30GB SSD X 2 (RAID 0 mode)
• PSU: Antec CP850 Watt Modular PSU
• OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit

A little note before we start:
It's clearly stated by Gskill that the ram modules are designed specifically for Intel® Core™ i7 860/870 CPUs.
The reason behind this is because only Intel® Core™ i7 860/870 CPUs offering the 2:12 memory ratio.
If you're using an i5/i3 which lacks of 2:12 memory ratio, you'll need to OverClock your CPU to 220MHz blck for better utilisation of this ram, and it ain't easy to do so. Later part i'll carry out more details on the memory ratios together with relevant screenshots.


Oh ya, this is an additional picture for hardware introductory part.
There's a row of blue LED indicators beside the CPU, showing that the Active Phase Switching is doing the job.
They looked cool when they're moving rhythmically. =)


BIOS Settings

Dedicated to those who intend to peep on the settings. =)
Do take note that voltages settings might vary for different systems.






Memory ratio setting. The system has an Intel® Core™ i5 750 installed hence the maximum figure can be choosed is 5 (2:10 ratio)





This post has been edited by dblooi: Jan 24 2010, 12:56 AM

Overclocking Test


2000MHz CL7 @ 1.53v


Let's start with Hyper Pi 32M 4 threads mode. Screenshot captured during CPU full load.


Hyper Pi 32M 4 threads mode completed successfully. =)


Hyper Pi is not stressful enough? Let's try 8 threads of Memtest to further confirm the stability of the OverClocked memory speed. Screenshot captured after running 8 threads of memtest for 10 mins.


Memory performance check with Everest Cache & Memory Benchmark.

2000MHz CL6 @ 1.65v


Same thing again. 2000MHz with memory timings 6-9-6-24-1T @ 1.65v.


Completed!


Slightly loosen the memory timings to 6-9-8-24-1T. tRFC changed to 88 instead of 74.
Passed 8 threads of memtest for 20 mins.


Memory performance check.


2200MHz CL7 @ 1.65v


Now come to the main course, 2200MHz 7-10-10-28-1T with 1.65v
Under no choice, I have to stick to 2:10 memory ratio (BLCK OverClocked to 220MHz).
Memory timings is set according to manufacturer's recommendation.
Running HyperPi 32M


Completed!
However, I'd failed to run 8 threads of Memtest for at least 10 mins :'(
The system blackout after running 8 threads of Memtest for few mins.
After think twice, I have decided to abort this suicide mission before any part of my hardware get ruined. >.<
However, it doesn't mean that the ram module is overrated by Gskill or whatsoever.
You can use it comfortably at 2200MHz cl7, if pair it with an Intel® Core™i7 860/870 & select the 2:12 memory ratio.
Of course, you'll need to raise the BCLK to 200MHz.

This post has been edited by dblooi: Jan 24 2010, 12:57 AM

Last but not least, memory performance benchmark. Obtained a leap over the scores of 2000MHz CL7/ CL6.

Thoughts

For the Mainboard

• Very good OverClocking capability.
• User friendly & stable BIOS.
• Onboard BCLK on-the-fly button make life easier.
• Control Center doesn't work under Win XP environment.
• Voltages displayed in Control Center not as accurate as multimeter.

For the RAM modules

• Good OverClocking capability as well. The actual limit is yet to find out throughout the testing.
• Eye candy heatsink.
• The turbulence cooler provides adequate air flow at rather low noise.
• The material/build quality of the turbulence cooler doesn't match with the RAM modules

This post has been edited by dblooi: Jan 24 2010, 12:58 AM

reserved

How much for the board? MSI boards are looking better and better these days.

Anyway, great RAMs. 2.2ghz C7 =.=

The board costs less than RM600. Actual price you can check from the online pricelist of those lyp shops.
Yeah, I'm pretty impressed when I managed to complete major benchmarks at 220MHz bclk under air cooling.
Of course, one of the reasons is due to the i5 750 that I'm using is a good chip.

This post has been edited by dblooi: Jan 24 2010, 10:53 AM

Thumb up for the proof of stabilty
Damn I hate suicidal run

damn...full load under 70c @4Ghz...
mine exactly 70c full load using the same cooler....
btw nice RAM u have there...

Temps depend on ur vcore bro.

deleted...

This post has been edited by tech_frix: Jan 24 2010, 10:25 PM