D975XBX BIOS weirdness

I just built a system with the D975XBX, an E6600, and Patriot RAM. I'd like to do some overclocking (as much as the stock cooler will let me), but I've found some strange things:

1: Speedstep doesn't drop the clock speed, but it appears to drop the Vcore when idle. (This isn't really a problem because I'll have BOINC running full-time, but I wondered if it was a symptom of something being broken.)

2: My RAM is supposed to be 4-4-4, but the board sets itself up as 5-5-5 at first boot. (It runs OK if I drop it to 4-4-4.)

3 - the big one: other than the RAM timings, I can't access any of the overclocking options. If I hit "Default Configuration Override" on the chipset menu, I get a screen with two warnings on it but nothing to hit to pass through it. I tried setting the BIOS jumper to the supervisor position and I found a new option to "Enable Advanced Debugging Options" or something to that effect, so I selected it, but I still get no options on the "Default Configuration Override" screen. I've read that there's a jumper point that has to be shorted to get some overclocking options, but I'm under the impression that it's just for certain voltage settings, not speeds. The manual provides no documentation for BIOS settings and refers me to Intel's website, but I can't find anything further on the recommended page.

Originally Posted by Jim S.

I just built a system with the D975XBX, an E6600, and Patriot RAM. I'd like to do some overclocking (as much as the stock cooler will let me), but I've found some strange things:

1: Speedstep doesn't drop the clock speed, but it appears to drop the Vcore when idle. (This isn't really a problem because I'll have BOINC running full-time, but I wondered if it was a symptom of something being broken.)

2: My RAM is supposed to be 4-4-4, but the board sets itself up as 5-5-5 at first boot. (It runs OK if I drop it to 4-4-4.)

3 - the big one: other than the RAM timings, I can't access any of the overclocking options. If I hit "Default Configuration Override" on the chipset menu, I get a screen with two warnings on it but nothing to hit to pass through it. I tried setting the BIOS jumper to the supervisor position and I found a new option to "Enable Advanced Debugging Options" or something to that effect, so I selected it, but I still get no options on the "Default Configuration Override" screen. I've read that there's a jumper point that has to be shorted to get some overclocking options, but I'm under the impression that it's just for certain voltage settings, not speeds. The manual provides no documentation for BIOS settings and refers me to Intel's website, but I can't find anything further on the recommended page.

The first option in the section with the warnings should ask "Do you wish to continue". This needs to be toggled to yes.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2681&p=2

That's all the information I found on it. I have never used the board myself, but hopefully that link will help you.

Originally Posted by Dan_D

The first option in the section with the warnings should ask "Do you wish to continue". This needs to be toggled to yes.

http://www.anandtech.com/mb/showdoc.aspx?i=2681&p=2

My problem is that I only get the two warning paragraphs -- there are no options whatsoever; they're not disabled, they're just not there.

I"m not sure if this is what you are talking about, but you do need to short the jumpers to get to the "advanced" settings. My D975XBX did the same thing, till I bought a conductive ink pen and shorted it. Now I can get to the "advanced" goodness. In that menu is the ability to "Burn-In" the FSB (overclock).

I just got my xbx rig up yesterday, I had to flash to the latest bios to get that Option, otherwise it was just 2 paragraphs too
u needrev 304 + i believe

Yep, that was the problem, I needed to update the BIOS. I had assumed that since my board was revision 305 it was fully Conroe-ready, but it came with BIOS version 1304, and if you look at the release notes on Intel's website, Conroe is only mentioned one or two versions after that!

BlackSunshine: I now get the FSB setting (by percentage) without having to short anything. I also get a bunch of voltage options I don't understand. I think I need to short the jumper to get the Vcore adjustment, but I'm not sure.

I got up to 2713 MHz (+13%) stable with the stock cooler by loosening my memory timings, no voltage changes necessary. Trying to go further locks up the system even in a non-stressing benchmark.

I'm still a little bothered by something. My memory sticks say they're 4-4-4, but even with the newest BIOS the board defaults to 5-4-4, and I can only go to 4-4-4 at stock speed, not a single percent more. Maybe my RAM is mislabeled, but I'm not going to return it because I have to go to 5-5-5 to overclock anyway.

I got a 305 rev too had to update bios before ocing

also got my 6300 @ 2600mhz stable ram @ 750 4-5-4-10

Originally Posted by Jim S.

Yep, that was the problem, I needed to update the BIOS. I had assumed that since my board was revision 305 it was fully Conroe-ready, but it came with BIOS version 1304, and if you look at the release notes on Intel's website, Conroe is only mentioned one or two versions after that!

BlackSunshine: I now get the FSB setting (by percentage) without having to short anything. I also get a bunch of voltage options I don't understand. I think I need to short the jumper to get the Vcore adjustment, but I'm not sure.

I got up to 2713 MHz (+13%) stable with the stock cooler by loosening my memory timings, no voltage changes necessary. Trying to go further locks up the system even in a non-stressing benchmark.

I'm still a little bothered by something. My memory sticks say they're 4-4-4, but even with the newest BIOS the board defaults to 5-4-4, and I can only go to 4-4-4 at stock speed, not a single percent more. Maybe my RAM is mislabeled, but I'm not going to return it because I have to go to 5-5-5 to overclock anyway.