1st OC Ever..

[Garyclaus16]

Specs: NEO 2 Plat.
Winchester 3200+
2x512 PQI Turbo rated(2-2-2-5 @ 1.6) in slots 1 and 3
2xSeagate SATA Raid 0 on ports 3 and 4
1xliteon cdrw
radeon9000 pro 128mb
Antec NEO Power 480 W

Alright. My first problem is that I can't get a 1T setting above the 100Mhz setting. I left the other DRAM settings in auto. Second, it is not registering as dual channel. Is there a setting in the Award BIOS that I need to be aware of? Everything else is fine. Any help is appreciated.
-Gary

 

[eyeballkid]

Put the memory in slots 1 and 2 to get them running in Dual Channel. Try upping the voltage on the memory to 1.7/1.8 to get your wanted command rate, and use 200 MHz/Auto on memory speed.

Make sure you have at least the 1.3 bios, 1.36 or 1.37 is preferable.


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Newcastle 3500+ @ 2.4 GHz, MSI K8N Neo2 (bios 1.37), OCZ EL Platinum Rev.2 @ 2.5-3-3-10 480MHz

 

[Garyclaus16]

Ok..I think I was confused because of some schematics on the Board with the purple/green/channel0/channel1 stuff. I will try that when I get home. Only 2 more hours left at work. :/
I have had one problem. With all setting on auto, win xp setup hung 2x and then it went through. On the final setup restart, CMOS reset..yeah..have no idea there. Since then, OCed to 2.3 with no prob at default voltage. Prime95ing right at home. So it seems as though everything is fine. I'll report back when I get home.. Thank you.

edit: one quick question. about the 2-2-2-5...are those settings listed in order in the DRAM settings from top to bottom?

 

[eyeballkid]

Use 1.37 Bios (7025v137.zip) or later from http://www.lejabeach.com/MSIK8N/k8nneo2.html

DRAM settings in BIOS on MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum:

Max Memclock (Mhz) - [Auto] or [200]
1T/2T Memory Timing - [1T]
CAS# latency (Tcl) - [2]
RAS# to CAS# delay (Trcd) - [2]
Min RAS# active time (Tras) - [10] or [5] (10 for best performance)
Row precharge Time (Trp) - [2]

 

[cyberfuzz]

ight well i just oc'ed my system for the first time and got to 240 fsb, 1.3 bios=
High performance:manual
Aggressive Timing:Manual
Dynamic OCisable
HT Freq:4x
Coolnquiet-disabled
adjust cpu ratio:9x
adjust CPU FSB:240
Adjust APG Freq:67
Adjust CPU Vid:1.55
CPU Vold-by cpu vid 5%
mem volt:2.8
APG Volt:1.55


Dram Config
Max mem (Mhz)-100
1T
2
2
10
2

OR

Max mem (Mhz)-200
1t
2.5
3
10
3

not sure which one is faster as far as ram settings go.

 

[Garyclaus16]

Ahhh. Ok. I still cannot get a 1T timing at 200mhz in the DRAM Settings. I am on beta 1.41 BIOS. I have the Memory in dual channel mode. Is there any other problem that could be preventing me from achieving the 1T timing at 200 mhz? I tried it with 1.8 v--reboot...and no bootup screen. :/ Please help! One more thing...what is the performance difference between 1t and 2t?

 

[Garyclaus16]

I fixed... problem..set the speed to AUTO and it selected 200. It posted. Awesome. Now to OC...

 

[eyeballkid]

Originally posted by: Garyclaus16
I fixed... problem..set the speed to AUTO and it selected 200. It posted. Awesome. Now to OC...

Great to hear! Good luck with the OC!

 

[eyeballkid]

Originally posted by: cyberfuzz
Dram Config
Max mem (Mhz)-100
1T
2
2
10
2

OR

Max mem (Mhz)-200
1t
2.5
3
10
3

not sure which one is faster as far as ram settings go.

I would definitely go with the second one. Memory running 1:1 with 2.5-3-3-10 would give you more bandwidth than the former.

 

[Tiamat]

Originally posted by: eyeballkid

Originally posted by: cyberfuzz
Dram Config
Max mem (Mhz)-100
1T
2
2
10
2

OR

Max mem (Mhz)-200
1t
2.5
3
10
3

not sure which one is faster as far as ram settings go.

I would definitely go with the second one. Memory running 1:1 with 2.5-3-3-10 would give you more bandwidth than the former.

agreed.

I have found the only time its not worth it is this instance or similar:

200mhz
2-2-2-10


220mhz
2.5-3-3-10

In this case, the 220mhz resulted in worse superPI scores.

 

[eyeballkid]

Originally posted by: Garyclaus16
One more thing...what is the performance difference between 1t and 2t?

It is noticeable. You should aim for 1T.

 

[Garyclaus16]

OK. I have a problem. I am not able to get the FSB setting past 258-9ish. I have the Mem down to 100mhz. The HTT is at 3x. The CPU is at 9x. I've been able to achieve 2.55 with the CPU, so that's not this issue, I don't think... I have Bios ver. 1.3. Would that have anything to do with it?

EDIT: My goal is 280ish. I can't get anywhere close.

 

[Garyclaus16]

*bump*

 

[eyeballkid]

I'm not sure, but I reckon you're aiming for a memory speed of around 570. That is what Wesley Fink nailed down as giving the best performance. I am also not sure which Bios version you are using. Earlier you stated using 1.41 and in the latest post you say 1.3. I'd recommend the 1.37mod (previous link). Then I'd try the following settings and tweak them down the road.

Max Memclock @ 200 MHz, 1T, DRAM Settings (Tcl: 3, Trcd: 4, Tras: 10, Trp: 4), Memory Voltage @ 2.80V, HTT Freq. @ 280, HTT Multi x3, CPU Multiplier @ x9, CPU Voltage @ enough*

*When I overclocked my own rig I noticed that by giving more voltage to the CPU my memory could easily reach speeds it was "supposed" to do.
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AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 130nm Newcastle @ 2.50 GHz (250x10) with 1.55v, stock HSF | MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum 54G with Bios 1.37mod
OCZ EL Plat. Rev.2 @ 500 MHz with 2.5-3-3-10 1T, 2.85V...

 

[Garyclaus16]

Thank you for that advice, but my problem is that I am not able to get the actual "CPU FSB" over 260 when I have the CPU at say 8, the Memory at 100, and the HTT at 3. Still will not go over 260.

 

[eyeballkid]

Could be bad luck, not every board reaches the same HTT frequencies. But it could also be your power supply. I had trouble reaching any kind of satisfying overclock with my "Enermax 460W Active", even though it had 33A on the 12v rail. After switching to an OCZ Powerstream 520W all my troubles went away, almost.

If I were you I'd use a higher multiplier to reach my wanted CPU frequency and then enjoy the lower timings a lower memory speed would give me. To push memory much further than necessary doesn't really give you any significant performance gains in todays games. Try with a multiplier of 10 or 11 and then tweak your memory timings, try to keep your "RAS# to CAS# delay (Trcd)" at 3. It is, at least from my experience, the memory timing that most affects performance.
I don't really see the point in overclocking memory for it's own sake. DDR460 and even DDR510 would probably give you nice timings and at the same time allowing your CPU to work at about 2.5 GHz

 

[Garyclaus16]

I have everything working now with the 1.37Mod BIOS. I am very happy. I also disabled sata 1/2. I don't know if that had anything to do with it since I did not have any drives hooked up to them. It's now up in the 70s. I just have to get everything stable. RAM is at 460 at 2-3-3-6. If I changed it from 6, to 10 would that yield performance increase? Right now it's at 2550 and stable in XP, but not for long on Prime. I will up the voltage and see what happens.

 

[eyeballkid]

That is great, and yes, a "Min RAS# active time (Tras)" value of 10 has been proven to give the best performance on nForce chipsets. Run Memtest86 so that you know your memory is stable, then raise the Vcore until Prime runs successfully.

 

[cheesehead]

WOOT!
Great OC, man!

 

[oobe]

sorry but what are the 1T 2T seetings about anyway

 

[eyeballkid]

Originally posted by: oobe
sorry but what are the 1T 2T seetings about anyway

Command rate - is the delay (in clock cycles) between when chip select is asserted (i.e. the RAM is selected) and commands (i.e. Activate Row) can be issued to the RAM. Typical values are 1T (one clock cycle) and 2T (two clock cycles). from The Memory FAQ by Drisler, PC Perspective