2500 mobile in NF7-S - issues already please help

[guttapercha]

Howdy,

Here's the story:

2500M
NF7S
Kingston 512mb ddr3200
antec 350W PS
Zalman cnps3100plus

I set the fsb/multi to 200*11. 1.75 V core

Prime 95 craps out at 3 min

I then lowered the multi to 8

Prime craps out at 17 minutes

The cpu temp gets up to 50 C.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[SickBeast]

sounds like an improperly installed heatsink.

did you apply thermal paste?

your temps are waaay too high. mine never hits 50C, and when it gets close it crashes prime95.

make sure your heatsink is seated properly and that you applied thermal paste. shut that thing down now or you're risking some serious damage.

 

[Soulkeeper]

that heatsink don't look good for 2.2ghz operation with that much voltage
try lowering your voltage or getting better cooling
50c isn't too bad tho i guess

your psu could be another sticking point if yur pulling a lot of juice from the rest of the system too

also what latencies are you using with your memory ?

 

[drewdogg808]

may be memory timings like soulkeeper suggested or memory voltage.

also, 50c on the nf7 isn't terrible since temps with abit read "higher" than other boards (but is closer to actual).

 

[ColossusX]

is the NF7-S a version 2? Since the earlier versions dont really support a 200mhz FSB.

 

[guttapercha]

I did some more testing - tried lowering the FSB to 166 * 14 for 2000 mHz and let it go overnight.
It crapped out again at 6 hours. The heat thing is suspicious to me - perhaps this CNPS3100 Zalman is not the best for this mobo/case combo. I'm going to set it to dead stock 133X14 and run prime again to see if it craps at stock.

For clarification - it is indeed a v2.0 mobo

Is there any chance that it's the memory? A weird experiment that I did was run the cpu at stock but run the memory at 400Mhz. Prime crapped out on me there (the memory is spec'd for 400 too)

Maybe this helps too...at idle, cpu temp ranges from 31-34C

Thanks for all the help - any other ideas would be greatly appreciated. I hope I can figure this out without swapping out parts.

 

[guttapercha]

Running torture test at stock settings - temp is climbing - at 49.5 now only 5 minutes out
It doesn't seem like the processor should be getting so hot at the lousy stock settings. Does this smack of a heat problem now?

Anything else I should do? Should I keep running prime despite the heat at low cpu cycles?

Thanks

 

[SickBeast]

I already told you that this sounded like a heat issue. You never answered my questions:

Did you apply thermal paste? Is the HSF properly seated?

You might want to invest in something made by thermalright, all other heatsinks are inferior IMO. The SLK-800A would be my reccomendation.

I don't know anything about that Zalman tho, it might actually be fine for what you want to do. Something isn't right tho; you're hitting 50C on stock. I don't even hit 50C at 2500mhz @ 1.825v while running Prime95 on my chip! And I have the same motherboard as you, so our temps should read the same.

 

[SickBeast]

hey wait a second: does that heatsink even have a FAN??? or is it one of those passive coolers? if so, then that explains everything. you can't overclock with a passive cooler.

 

[guttapercha]

Hi again - I indeed reseated the heatsink per your suggestion with fresh heatsink grease. It is actually not passive - it's a huge piece of fanned-out copper (thing weighs like a pound) with a fan that sits on top. I ran Prime95 overnight at dead stock settings and it was stable for 12 hours. Odd that it was happy with being at 50 degrees the whole time though. This now makes me think that temp is not the problem. (afterall, it went up to the same temperture when it was at 2200)

Please, more help would be appreciated.

My memory timings are:

6-2-2-2.0

I just set it at "optimal" and that's what it gave me for stock.

When I overclock to 200 *11 (1.75 VCORE) the mem timings change to

8-3-3-3.0

by themselves when set at optimal.

 

[SammieC]

Your sure its not trying to run 2-3-3-5 at 200, Mine set it at 2-3-3-5 when I jumped the fsb up, and it did so automatically. It ran for a while and then crash at 230 fsb, then 225, then 220, it seems happy at 218 fsb, no matter what the memory timings are.

I am experimenting with almost the same setup 2600 mobile, nf7s v2, but I have some pc3500 plat. bh5 chips.

Right now, I am at 1.74 on the core at 2496mhz , 41c with a sp97 cooler and 92 mm Fan, so I think 50c isn't too bad. also 218 mhz fsb, 11.5 multi.

I am also running optimal on the cpu setting, the overclock setting, seems to crash constantly...

 

[SickBeast]

You should run CAS3 memory timings to isolate your processor as the problem. From what I've read, the heatsink you have is terrible for overclocking, so you should invest in something more serious if you really must overclock.

 

[ColossusX]

I have the Thermalright SLK-900U. As you can see from my sig, im running at 11.5*200 with a slow Vantec 92mm fan. CPU temps between 40-45C under full load (24/7). ITs not cheap but works very well for OCing ( I can go about 13*200, but my temps rise over 50C, but I dont want a louder fan)

 

[Jester666]

I think it's your memory, try upping the vdimm a little and see it that helps. Keep your multi low while testing this to rule out CPU. Couldn't hurt to bump up the chipset voltage as well.

 

[kingmike]

I would drop your cpu voltage to 1.55 and try to run it at 11x200 and see how stable and cool it runs.
Then try 11.5 multiplyer. another words try lower volts first, then add higher multiplyers before upping the voltage. I have a 2500+ mobile and it does not like high volts. I'm running it at 200x12.5 at 1.65 volts at 42c idle. Also just reapplying your heatsink with new paste can make major differences in heat.

 

[asm0deus]

Bah! its not heat, 50c is nothing! mobiles are for laptops and are made to excel in crowded environments (up to 100c compared to the 85c max on the non-mobile bartons). My guess would be that it's a driver or something weird like that specifically because of his multiple attempts at running at lower settings. If you are under windows perhaps check your event log as to why prime95 crashes. In the event that prime95 isnt a windows app then I don't know what i'm talking about and a hardware solution awaits you.

 

[guttapercha]

Wow - these are fantastic responses - keep 'em comin'.

Here's more to report testing wise:

Another reseating of the heatsink with yet thinner and more evenly applied grease has done nothing for cooling.

Prime 95 crapped out at 200*10 in just 1 min at 1.65 Vcore at 46 degrees. However another attempt at 1.75 Vcore got me 7 minutes - but I stopped it when temp reached 56.

When I set memory timings to turbo with 200*10, machine won't even post.

I ran memtest86 with stock settings and it passed.

Eagerly waiting to hear what you bonafide OC'ers think.



JD

 

[asm0deus]

what does the event log say about prime95 crashing? It's obviously not a heat or memory issue.

 

[SickBeast]

Dude, you're overclocking backwards. First, find relatively slow stable settings, then slowly work your way up from there. Don't enable turbo memory. Don't run at tight memory timings. Do one thing at a time!! If you want to overclock your memory, then make sure your CPU is 100% stable first. Vice versa for CPU overclocking.

As I said earlier, your HSF is not designed for overclocking; it's meant to be quiet. Your efforts will most likely be in vain at this point unless you invest in an SLK-800A or something.

Leave your voltage at or around 1.70v then slowly see how high you can push your CPU from STOCK SETTINGS. From the sounds of it your cooling can't keep up with higher voltage settings.

 

[guttapercha]

I am still dubious about this being a heat issue - prime crapped out at one point at 46 degrees and with a different attempt I stopped it at 56 degrees - it wanted to keep going. I will address the heat issue for sure for longevity's sake, but this doesn't seem heat related given these results.

I checked the windows event log and there was nothing in reference to prime95 at the time the program terminated under either "system" or "applications".

I'm going to try and borrow a stick of ram from someone to see if it makes any difference with this thing for now. If nay, then maybe it's the processor itself.

Thanks again,

JD

 

[guttapercha]

Ok this is my last day to return the processor to I have to figure this out!
I ran memtest86 from its own boot CD and it past with flying colors OC'd at 200*11. Doesn't this almost prove that the memory behaves OC'd?

Meanwhile Prime halts in 3 minutes or less at 200*11 at 1.7 V
I did a more conservative OC overnight at 166*12 (2000MhZ) and prime crapped at 4h45m.

Given my lame progress (and newegg's 7 day policy on processors) I'm gonna return the processor today.

I can't respond to posts during the day b/c my university's IP is banned for some reason from anandtech.

Please help me with last ditch efforts to not RMA this processor.

Thanks,

JD

 

[guttapercha]

Well it seems that the ram theory is supported. Listen to this: A friend lent me a stick of Kingston DDR266 (256M) to experiment with. Well, this stick overclocks to 333 Bus and was stable running at 13X multi for 12 hours doing Prime. So, the new Kingston DDR400 chip that I was using wouldn't even behave at spec, but the old kingston DDR266 chip exceeded its spec. Crap! Recall that I couldn't even underclock the DDR400 chip at any FSB over 133.

So....who's memory should I buy?

I'm kind of peeved that I'm going to have to pay restocking on this crappy RAM.

JD

 

[dennisjai215]

hey dude.. i have a amd2400 + abit nf-7.. im running it at 166x13.5@1.75 vcore for about 2250mhz.. so how did u only get 2000 out of 166x14? i have a corsair 512 pc2700 ram and running on a antec 350psu.. maybe u should increase ur voltage some..

when i ran prime my temp is 56C ...
also my prime is still going after 36 hours of running..
i hope showing you my specs help.. and kingston ram sucks get a mushkin or a corsair..

maybe you should sell ur 2500 and buy a 2400 i think people have mroe success with a 2400 =P i dunno =)

 

[guttapercha]

My math was off. Now I have it running at 1.7V with 14X 166 on my friend's older kingston chip. I'm thinking Mushkin - this product specifically:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-219&depa=0

Does this seem okay? It's Mushkin's least expensive line - comparable to Corsair's value series.

Thanks!

JD