Nvidia nForce 590 SLI User manual

User Guide
NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI
Technology Chipset Overclocking
May 2005
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Document Change History
Version Date Responsible Reason for Change
01 05/17/06 WZ, TS, NSmith Initial release.

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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

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Figure 1. High-level System Diagram