Nvidia NForce 590 SLI User manual

User Guide

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI

Technology Chipset Overclocking

May 2005

DU-02451-001_v01

DU-02451-001_v01 ii

05/17/06

Document Change History

Version Date Responsible Reason for Change

01 05/17/06 WZ, TS, NSmith Initial release.

DU-02451-001_v01 iii

05/17/06

Table of Contents

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Technology Chipset Overclocking ...........................................1

Key Concepts.........................................................................................................2

Cooling...............................................................................................................2

Power Supply Units .............................................................................................2

Glossary of Terms ..................................................................................................3

Overclocking the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Technology Chipset......................................5

Disable AMD Cool’n’Quiet Technology......................................................................7

A Systematic Approach...........................................................................................8

CPU Reference Clock...........................................................................................9

CPU HyperTransport Overclocking......................................................................15

CPU Core Clock.................................................................................................17

DDR2 Memory Interface Overclocking ................................................................19

Balance CPU Frequency, HyperTransport, and Memory Overclocking Results ........24

PCI Express Overclocking ..................................................................................25

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP HyperTransport Interface........................................27

GPU Overclocking..............................................................................................29

Overclocking the System.......................................................................................30

Final Thoughts.........................................................................................................33

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List of Figures

Figure 1. High-level System Diagram.....................................................................6

Figure 2. Power Management Setup SBIOS Menu ..................................................7

Figure 3. System Clock Setup for CPU Reference Clock Overclocking.....................10

Figure 4. Memory Settings for CPU Reference Clock Overclocking.........................11

Figure 5. System Voltages for Reference Clock Overclocking.................................12

Figure 6. Adjusting CPU Reference Clock using NVIDIA nTune 5.0........................13

Figure 7. NVIDIA nTune 5.0 Stability Test ...........................................................14

Figure 8. System Clocks BIOS Configuration for CPU HTT Overclocking.................15

Figure 9. Adjusting HT Bus Frequency Using NVIDIA nTune 5.0 ...........................16

Figure 10. BIOS System Clocks Configuration for CPU Overclocking........................18

Figure 11. Disabling SLI-Ready Memory in BIOS....................................................20

Figure 12. BIOS System Voltages Configuration for Memory Overclocking...............20

Figure 13. BIOS Memory Timings Settings for Memory Overclocking.......................21

Figure 14. BIOS Drive Strength Setting for Memory Overclocking ...........................22

Figure 15. Memory Overclocking using NVIDIA nTune 5.0......................................23

Figure 16. Overclocking PCI Express using NVIDIA nTune 5.0 ................................26

Figure 17. BIOS System Voltages Configuration for MCP HTT Overclocking .............27

Figure 18. Adjusting MCP HTT Frequency in BIOS..................................................28

Figure 19. Overclocking GPU using NVIDIA nTune 5.0 ...........................................29

Figure 20. NVIDIA nTune 5.0 Dynamic BIOS Access ..............................................31

Figure 21. Storing Profiles in NVIDIA nTune 5.0 ....................................................32

Figure 22. Loading Automated Settings Using NVIDIA nTune 5.0 Custom Rules.......32

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NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Technology

Chipset Overclocking

The purpose of this document is to guide users through overclocking NVIDIA

nForce 590 SLI technology chipset and use of the numerous tools and features that

will boost system performance, enhancing end-user gaming experience.

Overclocking PCs was once quite difficult and required people to physically change

hardware. In the past, companies that designed motherboards, CPUs, memory, and

graphics processor units were not supportive of overclocking nor were they

supportive of allowing users to tamper with qualified and tested settings.

Things have changed recently, however. Companies are more accommodating of

the urgent requests PC enthusiasts make. In fact, ASIC designers now incorporate a

lot of performance and overclocking headroom in the chips they produce.

Nowadays, with the availability of highly overclockable PC components and the

utilities that allow users to easily attain higher performance, overclocking has moved

into the mainstream.

NVIDIA®GPUs have enjoyed good reputations as products that are highly

overclockable. These products have provided higher performance for PC gaming

enthusiasts searching for the ultimate gaming experience.

NVIDIA specifically designed the NVIDIA nForce®590 SLI™technology chipset,

based on the new AMD AM2 Athlon processor, with overclocking enthusiasts in

mind. Even though the chipset itself is highly overclockable, NVIDIA built an

entire support platform around the NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI core logic. This

platform includes:

Software utilities such as the newly redesigned NVIDIA nTune 5.0 and its

highly sophisticated SBIOS

Special high-performance memory with Enhanced Performance Profiles

Technology

Recommended CPU coolers

NVIDIA SLI™technology.

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Key Concepts

Overclocking refers to operating PC components beyond what the manufacturer

guarantees. When overclocking is not carried on with care, it may lead to system

instability, crashes and loss of data, and may even destroy components. However,

when overclocking is performed attentively, it increases overall system performance

quite dramatically.

Cooling

Cooling PC components sufficiently is critical to overclocking. Keeping the CPU,

GPU, or overall system cool all contribute to overall system overclockability.

Otherwise, higher component temperatures lead to operation instability and

increased power consumption.

Theoretically, frequency is directly proportional to power and temperature. The

higher the frequency, the more the power consumed and the hotter the device

becomes. In order to achieve higher frequencies, component temperatures should

be kept as low as possible. With proper cooling, overclocking is highly attainable.

The most commonly cooling techniques are air cooling with fan-mounted heat sinks

and water cooling blocks. Even though water cooling is harder to install, it achieves

higher overclockability in comparison to air cooling because it keeps temperatures

lower. With technological advancements, air cooling has improved in performance

providing the means for overclocking. Even so, water cooling CPUs and GPUs is

becoming more widely accepted.

For NVIDIA recommended CPU coolers, visit www.SLIZone.com/nForce for a list of

components.

Power Supply Units

Power supply units are also important when it comes to overclocking. Increasing

system performance leads to increased power consumption by the overclocked

components. Having a power supply that generates enough power with headroom

is essential in guaranteeing system stability. Check the following site for a list of

power supplies suitable for SLI systems:

www.slizone.com/object/slizone2_build.html#certified_powersupplies.

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Glossary of Terms

3DMark Synthetic 3D benchmark that provides a measure of graphics

performance. It is also often used to test a system for stability.

AMD

Cool’n’Quiet™

Technology

Technology that changes CPU frequency dynamically depending

on power and thermal requirements of a CPU. Because it limits

the overclockability of an AMD CPU, it needs to be turned off

for best results.

For more information, visit this link http://www.amd.com/us-

en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118_9485_9487%5E10272,00.html.

BIOS Basic Input Output System.

CPU HTT HyperTransport interface connecting the AMD CPU to NVIDIA

nForce 590 SLI SPP. Nominally, it runs at 1 GHz clock or 4

GBps in downstream and upstream directions.

CPU HTT

Reference

Clock

Clock signal of the CPU HyperTransport link. It has impact on

HyperTransport bus speed, CPU frequency, as well as memory

frequency. It is 200 MHz nominally.

Multiplier Multiplier for your front-side bus (FSB). Multiply this value by the

speed of your FSB to get the end CPU clock speed:

CPU Clock Speed = Multiplier x FSB

Prime95 Program that searches for very large prime number. It contains

stability tests and is an indication of how robust a system is.

Serious Sam Video game which is used by overclockers to test system

robustness.

tRAS Row Address Strobe time is the amount of time between a row

being activated by precharge and deactivated. A row cannot be

deactivated until tRAS has completed. The lower tRAS is, the faster

the performance. If it is set too low, it can cause data corruption

by deactivating the row too soon.

tWR Write Recovery time is the memory timing that determines the

delay between a write command and when a precharge command

is set to the same bank of memory.

tWRRD W to R Termination Turnaround time is the number of clock

cycles between the last write data pair and the subsequent READ

command to the same physical bank.

tRCD RAS to CAS Access time is the amount of time in cycles for

issuing an active command and the read/write commands.

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tRRD RAS to RAS Delay is the amount of cycles that it takes to activate

the next bank of memory. The lower the timing, the better the

performance but it can cause instability.

tREF Refresh Rate is the amount of time it takes before a change is

refreshed. If the charge is not refreshed enough, the signal loses

its charge and corrupts data. It is measured in microseconds.

tRP Row Precharge time is the minimum time between active

commands and the read/writes of the next bank of the memory

module.

tRWT Read to Write Delay is when a write command is received, this is

the amount of cycles for the command to be executed.

tRDRD Read to Read Timing is the number of clock cycles between the

last read and the subsequent READ command to the same

physical bank.

tRC Row Cycle time is the minimum time in cycles it takes a row to

complete a full cycle. This can be determined by tRC = tRAS + tRP.

If tRC is set too short, it can cause data corruption. If tRC is set too

long, stability increases at the expense of performance.

tWTR Write to Read Delay is the amount of cycles required between a

valid write command and the next read command. Lower is

better performance but can cause instability.

tWRWR Write to Write time is the number of clock cycles between the last

write and the subsequent WRITE command to the same physical

bank.

tCL CAS latency is the number of clock cycles between the memory

receiving a READ command and actually starting to read

tCPC Command per Clock has only two values: 1 and 2. When set to 1,

it provides the best performance but limits memory frequency. In

order to overclock memory frequency, a value of 2 is more

reasonable.

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Overclocking the NVIDIA

nForce 590 SLI Technology Chipset

This section describes how to maximize the performance of an NVIDIA nForce

590 SLI PC system. It provides a systematic approach to unleashing its immense

performance potential. Bus speeds, bandwidth and processor core speeds — both

CPU and GPU core speeds — are the main contributing factors to boosting overall

system performance.

This section describes how to adjust settings for the major chip interconnects and

components that affect performance. Figure 1 shows a high-level diagram of

components in a PC system:

AMD Athlon CPU core frequency

DDR2 memory interface bandwidth and latency

CPU-NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI SPP HyperTransport bus

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI SPP-NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI MCP

HyperTransport bus

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI SPP/MCP PCI Express bus

GPU core and memory frequency

NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI Technology Chipset Overclocking

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Figure 1. High-level System Diagram

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Nvidia nForce 590 SLI User manual

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