Team Group’s SG online Super Pi 32m Challenge!*** ……by clon22 :D

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 12:25 AM

Hi guys!

This is the very first time I’m given a chance to hold my own competition. Yay!.
Some of you who know me personally may already know that
I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time.

Firstly, I would like to thank the guys from TeamGroup Inc. Taiwan and
Johnson from Corbell Technologies, Singapore.
This wouldn’t have been possible without them.

I’ve thought through for a long time on how I should hold it in such a way that all
if not the majority of local Team memory users are able to participate.
So, its gonna be a super pi 32m clock challenge!

Why?

Some benchmarks are solely reliant on memory speeds/performance,
like bandwidth/latency test softwares. If you have a premium kit, very unlikely that
a value kit has any chance of winning even after overclocking.
For 3D benchmarks, memory performance hardly has any impact on the result
but only on the CPU performance result.

Whereas for super pi, many factors play a part.
Eg, OS stuff like registries, programs, a cluttered HDD, memory speeds & latencies etc.
A premium setup might not win with a junked OS & HDD while a budget setup stands a good
chance with a good OS, HDD and well tweaked rams.
Ultimately, a good frequency overclock and well tweaked rams will have the biggest impact.

Anyway...

I hope this won’t be just a competition but will also be a learning session
on how to fully bring out your memory’s potential performance.
You may think that your rams can’t do much but for the overclocker,
he’ll try to find the best overclockable memory speed/latency at a safe voltage for 24/7
usage and use that to compliment his budget setup to premium speeds.
Of coz’, premium stuff will scale to even better performance.

Example of budget rams tweaked to high performance :
http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/sh....php?t=2341303

Back to the competition..

I know everyone has different specs but looking at the feedback which I did 2-3 days ago,
many of you are able to hit a 4ghz overclock for benchmarkng.
So, its gonna be a 4ghz 32m challenge!
Why not 4m/8m?
Coz’, the difference is too small to measure.

**PS : I've change Cat. 2 to a 3.6ghz challenge.
So those who really want to take part can join.

More on the rules and regulations will be stated below.

I know the available platforms have very different performance.
Eg, X58, P55, X48/38, P45/P35 and even 965P.
I’ll try to make it as fair and balanced as I can by following international standards..hehehe…
but I’ll add some changes to even out the playing field.

I have prizes for 2 categories.
So I’m gonna have :

1)X58/P55 4ghz 32m challenge.
2)3.6ghz 32m Open challenge.
(All other platforms apart from X58/P55 will take part in no.2. No X58/P55 allowed here.
Btw, I'm so sorry to amd users..)

Mini FAQ :

Why not just DDR2 and DDR3 categories to compete?
Some specs on X48/X38/P45 use DDR3 but their performance is only similar to their DDR2 counterparts.
If its solely ddr2 and ddr3, all other platforms apart from X58 do not need to take part
and the P55s can pack up as well cause they can’t take part in the ddr2 category either.

X58 is faster than P55. Fair?
A Twist here. All X58 can only run in dual channel mode to take part.
P55s’ generally have a higher bclk scalability so that should make up for the lower uncore.
Unless anyone here belongs to the extreme community of 32m addicts,
I don’t see a problem putting these 2 together…here.
Of coz’ if there is, hmm… we’ll think about that later. Hehe…

Detailed rules and regulations :

-Only open to all TeamGroup DDR2/3 users.

-You can take part in ONLY one category.

-CPU speed cannot exceed more than 9mhz above 4ghz.
ie.4009mhz/3609mhz maximum and not a single decimal digit more..
(Some boards are not able to boot at exact speeds, the 9mhz leeway is for that.
*U can use setFSB to adjust to around 4ghz/3.6ghz*
**Don't bother using setFSB to cheat. lol.**)

-Benchmark used must only be Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS 32m run.

-X58 platform submissions can ONLY be in dual channel mode.

-CPUZ must be at least version 1.52.(eleet version not allowed.)

-All submissions must contain @ least the follow in their screenshot. See example further below.
Fully completed Super Pi 32m Mod 1.5 XS clearly shown.
4 CPUZ screenshots. (Mainboard, SPD, Memory and CPU tab.)
Optional memset/CPU Tweaker, if you want to share your settings which is highly recommended.

-Winners will have to submit an additional photo of your benchmark/rig setup showing your
Teamgroup rams clearly after the competition.

-Lastly, you must reside in Singapore.

-Closing date : Extended to 9th Nov'09 2359hrs!

Submission screenshot example :

Mini FAQ con’t :

OS limitation of usage?
I’m not limiting any operating system usage here. I want every Team user to take part
and have fun. Of course, any effort put in will give you better results. That is for sure.

What if someone cheats?
I should be able to tell if someone cheats real badly. 32m individual loop runs at particular speeds
are very easy to duplicate. If anything looks out of the ordinary, I should be able to tell.
Don’t worry, even if I can’t, I have good friends who can advise with their expert eye and knowledge.

Anything else?
PM me.

I forgot to mention the prizes.
Winner of each category gets to walk away with a wonderful :

TEAM XTREEM 2000mhz C9 2x2GB DDR3 kit
*These are LV-Low Voltage edition kits.
See my above example screenshot and you will know what I mean.

Start benching!!

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 12:25 AM

***End Of Competition***

Thanks to everyone who participated.
The final results were very good!

And...

We have our winners!

Cat.1 goes to NightRaven!
Cat.2 goes to coloumbiaGames!

Congratulations to them!

NightRaven took his Team Xtreem DDR3 1600mhz LV kit to an impressive 2108mhz @ CL7-9-7-19 1T.

Quote:

Originally Posted by NightRaven

coloumbiaGames took his Team Dark DDR2 800mhz kit to a massive 1152mhz @ 5-5-5-14.

Quote:

Originally Posted by coloumbiaGames

You guys deserve it.
Over the course of the 1 mth challenge, all the Team Xtreem DDR 3 users also
brought their rams to impressive ranging from 1900mhz - 2100mhz @ CL7/8/9.
Sanko even took the Team Elite 1333mhz kit as a new high of 1866mhz 9-9-9-24 1T!
And not to mention terence52 who kept pushing with his AMD. Great spirit!

I'll like to say a big thanks to TeamGroup Inc., Taiwan,
Johnson from Corbell Technology, Singapore,
all the participants and everyone else who made this possible for me!
Thank you!

It has been great!
I hope to do this again and maybe even live next time!
Until next time!...

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 12:26 AM

How to go about running the benchmark and tweaking my rams?

Here’s a mini guide from me.
Please add on if you have any info to share with the others here.

Firstly, these are a few links to download if you need, of coz’ Super Pi too.

-Super Pi Mod 1.5 XS

-CPUZ

-CPU Tweaker v1.3 V3

-Memset 4.1 b4

-SetFSB

-OCX Spi Tweaker

When you've downloaded Super Pi, unzip into your hdd or desktop.
Bascially, just double click on the application, adjust the dropdown bar to 32m
click ok to select and ok to run. Let it run until it completes and you’ll see your score.

Some basic timings you always see on your ram packaging and label.

Eg. DDR2 1066mhz 5-5-5-15 2.1v / DDR3 1600 8-8-8-24 1.65v
5-5-5-15/8-8-8-24 refers to CAS latency-tRC-tRCD-tRAS respectively.

The most common timings that you can adjust without affecting much stability are tRCD and tRAS.
Eg. 5-5-4-12 / 8-8-7-20

Depending on the chipset used, some rams can take much tighter timings.
Some need the help of additional vdimm. It always good to check the performance of your particular
kit online to see what others are getting so as to give yourself an idea of what to expect/test.

For X58/P55 platform users :

-Firstly, you can safely adjust to 1T command rate.

-Check tRFC too. By default its usually 88 or even 100+ if its on a P55, depending on the bios.
You can adjust lower for better performance. 60+/70+ depending on the frequency of ur rams set.

-The next value set is tRRD, 1-7. You can adjust this too.
Usually from 1600-200mhz, its about 4-6.
For better chipsets, 1600-2200+mhz can range from 1-5

-Experiment around with the basic timings. Eg.1333mhz 9-9-9-24 1.5v to 1600 9-9-9-24 2T 1.65v
Those are just manufacturers’ entry lvl ratings or JEDEC standards.
In most cases, they don’t know how well the rams can perform either. Hey, its mass production.

For more expensive models, usually they test from up down.
If the rams don’t pass a particular standard like 1866mhzC8-8-8-24@1.65v
it goes down to another model. Eg.1866mhz then 1600mhzC8 and so on.
That doesn’t mean the rams are lousy.
Maybe they just couldn’t run 1866mhz @ 8-8-8-24 @ 1.65v
but maybe they can handle 1866mhz 8-9-7-21 @ alittle more voltage?

For some chipsets, give them a little higher voltage and watch them fly.
It all boils down to a lot of trial and error as not all kits are similar though same ratings.

-U can also adjust B2B-CAS delay in the bios.
Most testers report 0/4/Auto gives the best performance.
again, u’ll know what’s best after some trial and error testing.

For the others, namely X48/P45/P35/965P, mostly DDR2 :

-Most take only @ 2T cmd except for maybe for X48 too.
They can handle 1T depending how good the chipset is.
Take note, this can only be adjusted in bios.

-You can make use of Memset to adjust your rams sub timings real time in windows.

-Check tRFC. By default its usually 38 or even looser on 2GB sticks depending on the bios.
You can adjust lower/tighter for better performance/faster.
For some 2GB sticks, increasing to 50+ ~ 60+ yields better scalability

-Next tRRD & tRTP can be adjusted lower too.
I don't have an exact no. U've gotta try.

-Experiment around with the basic timings.
Eg.1066mhz 5-5(5)-5-18 to 1100+ 5-5(4)-3-13 2T 2.2v
Similarly, some chipsets when given higher voltages, they scale very high.
It all boils down to a lot of trial and error as well.
Hell, almost everything is adjustable on DDR2!!

-One important thing.
Adjusting performance level helps alot.
If you have a good NB, u can go as low as PL5 @ 1100++ mhz.

Generally, if you get :

"Super PI has encountered an error... etc etc"
Sometimes it can be due to not enough vdimm, or u need higher vMCH.
For X58/P55, u might need higher VTT.

"Not convergent in Sq"
Your memory timings are too tight.
Try loosening maybe Cas / tRCD / tRRD.
These r d most common likely culprits usually.

Lastly, for everything else.
Google is your best friend.

or whatever search engine that u use... lol...

Actually there's still quite abit of stuff i left out... but my brain too hot already..
need to power off as it keeps going into hybernate mode

Have fun and feel free to share what u know.

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 12:26 AM

Reserved again...

yukita · 10-10-2009, 12:42 AM

nice. but must i use team ram only?

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 12:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yukita

nice. but must i use team ram only?

Yes.
i just re-highlighted that part.
Thanks.

cty85 · 10-10-2009, 12:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yukita

nice. but must i use team ram only?

ah bo

yukita · 10-10-2009, 01:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cty85

ah bo

dont be like that, just now i read, never stated need to use team ram

cty85 · 10-10-2009, 01:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yukita

dont be like that, just now i read, never stated need to use team ram

huai chiu say

then can hab unfair advantage

xBlackHawkx · 10-10-2009, 01:35 AM

Very interesting competition...

evolutioner · 10-10-2009, 01:48 AM

x58 must use dual channel only?
means i must remove 1 bar of rams ah?

lazy leh

clon22 · 10-10-2009, 01:56 AM

Yes.
Only DC mode for X58.

NightRaven · 10-10-2009, 02:14 AM

very nice bro! good job! although i already expected this. hahahaha!

the clon22 low clock challenge cup sounds nicer

I'll support! will go find a set of team x

mugee_ · 10-10-2009, 04:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by clon22

Yes.
Only DC mode for X58.

troublesome to take out..

jtchoy · 10-10-2009, 12:35 PM

Nice compy!

I support but can't join... Can't go anywhere close to 4Ghz with my CPU and no time leh, only weekends book out...

Good luck to everyone joining and have fun competing for the team rams!

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