3400+ Venice

[littletemple]

Since this cpu is rated at 800mhz HTT (1600mhz effective), what HTT do I set to run it in an ECS KN1 Lite? Do I set the HTT to be at 800mhz or 1000mhz? In other words, can I set the motherboard BIOS setting to be 1000 HTT (200mhz x 5 HTT multiplier) and have it be stable?

 

[lyssword]

Just go with 800htt to be safe. From what I have read, htt frequency makes almost no difference in performance, as long as its somewhere in ballpark. But since its a venice 3400+ it should be 1000htt, 800 is only for semprons

 

[littletemple]

Originally posted by: lyssword
Just go with 800htt to be safe. From what I have read, htt frequency makes almost no difference in performance, as long as its somewhere in ballpark. But since its a venice 3400+ it should be 1000htt, 800 is only for semprons

Actually, it is 800htt...look at specifications under the link. So I assume the motherboard would recognize the CPU and adjust the HTT multiplier to 4 so it would be 200 x 4 = 800 and not 200 x 5 when I install and boot it up for the first time?

 

[Zap]

I don't know if it'll recognize the multiplier, but if it doesn't you can always manually select it. You may actually be able to run it at "full" speed (and thus be effectively a 3500+), just do some stability tests like Prime to make sure all is kosher.

 

[aelfwyne]

Actually the socket 939 3400+ cpus are virtually identical to the 3500+ except for the 800/1600 rather than 1000/2000 htt. That said, AMD has locked the HyperTransport multiplier on these chips (at on some steppings, such as the one I have) to 4x rather than 5x. You can manually select 5x (1000) in BIOS, but on most motherboards, it will not actually run at anything higher than 4x multiplier.

 

[Zap]

I've had a chance to play around with a few 3400+ CPUs now. On an MSI board the BIOS does not have an AUTO setting and defaults to 5x, but it boots and runs just fine. On an ECS board AUTO and 4x works fine, manually setting to 5x causes no POST.

So far I've tested three out of the four 3400+ CPUs currently in my possession and the best overclocker does around 2.6GHz somewhat stable. By "somewhat" I mean that it seems to run okay, but will eventually (but not immediately) fail stability tests like Prime. That is actually at full default vCore, so likely it will be stable with a slight boost of vCore, or a slight drop in HTT.

 

[aelfwyne]

My experience is with the Newcastle version of the 939 3400+ on an ASUS A8V, so maybe not all lock the HTT max multiplier to 4.... overclocking the Newcastle version of this chip - at least my sample - is nigh on impossible. I've gotten up to 2400 a few times.... but it has never been stable at ANYTHING over stock. I set my memory latency and speed down, and tried going to just 225mhz from 200mhz fsb earlier, and I got INSTANT bluescreen (trialing from within windows)... that is what happens when I OC this chip at all. Eagerly awaiting my opteron 170 so I can toss this chip.