Any body overclocking an Opteron 185?

[keldog7]

Picked up an Opteron 185 a week or so ago... Installed nicely, replacing Opteron 170. It running now at 2.6 GHz (stock speed), with 1.35 volts. Curiously, it was unstable at 1.30 volts, usually within 2 minutes. The stepping is supposedly pretty good,
being a CCB1E 0606VPMW - many of which can hit 3 GHz on decent air cooling.

In my case, the chip was mounted carefully under a Scythe Ninja with Nexus 120 fan (12V) attached to it. The thermal interface used was a small amount of AS Ceramique, applied carefully as per the Artic Silver website instructions. All this in an Antec P180. The chip is idling cooler than my 170 ever did by a few degrees... Specifically, I'm getting idle temps on the Opteron 185 of 37-38 degrees C. If I run dual prime the thing, it reaches 57 degrees C!! My Opteron 170 (running at 2.5 GHz with 1.425 Vcore) would never go over 51 deg C under identical circumstances.

I'd appreciate comments about what experience others have with this chip / stepping, or if anytone thinks I've failed to optimize some aspect of the setup. I've read some posts about taking the AMD heatspreader off, and using the core naked...and I'm not keen to do it - both out of risk to the chip, and because I've also read that the Ninja might not sit tight enough on a naked Opteron to be effective.

Thanks for the love...
A

 

[myocardia]

Nearly all X2's and dual-core Opterons are unstable at 1.30v. 1.35v is their stock voltage. It just sounds to me as if you need to reapply your Arctic Silver.

 

[zephyrprime]

Forget the ceramique stuff. Get the regular as5. Also, forget the "small amount" and "careful application". Put a big bead in the middle and clamp on the heatsink. It's as easy as that.

 

[myocardia]

I actually get the best temps with one small bead over each core, but then again, I am somewhat anal about temps.:laugh:

 

[keldog7]

I suppose it could be a bad application...though I'm not exactly new to the whole process. A test application was done with the 185, and examination of the "blot" of interface material leads me to think my method is sound. *sigh* I'm getting so sick of taking my rigs apart.
I tried a brief overclock tonight...with 1.35V it will POST and boot at 2.88 GHz, but froze quickly after login. At 2.76 GHz it isfunctional, but prime unstable, Once I get the cooling issue resolved, I should be able to up the volts a bit, and not have to worry as much about higher temps

 

[tallman45]

1st do you still have the stock AMD heatpike heatsink that came with the 185 ? It should be the one with a Delta 80mm fan with regular phillips screws holding the fan on, if it is you are in luck.

Pick up an 80 to 120mm plastic adapter, SVC sells them. Then take off the 80mm Delta fan, out on the 80mm to 120mm adapter, then attach your 120mm Nexxus fan. I never had any luck with heatsinks like the Ninja or the Arctic Cooling Pro 64 where the CPU is cooled only by way of the heatpipes and the area aroung the CPU received nothing

This way the fan is blowing down right onto the area surrounding the MB and the CPU itself and does a better job cooling. This same concept is how the XP-90, XP-120, XP-128, etc work and I find much better when Overclocking.

Mine runs 2.8 no problem, never tried to up in further though so that may be the limit

 

[LittleNemoNES]

IMO anything higher than an Opteron 170 is a waste cos the heat will limit your OC very soon. So best to save some cash on a 165 or 170

 

[tallman45]

Originally posted by: gersson
IMO anything higher than an Opteron 170 is a waste cos the heat will limit your OC very soon. So best to save some cash on a 165 or 170

Depends on many factors,

1) What kind of memory do you have, cheaper memory means less OC
2) Will your MB OC well
3) Will you get a good OC'ing CPU
4) Do you have to support the system, a lesser OC will be more stable

I went with a 185 because I had cheap value ram and did not want to spring for DDR at this stage of the game

I would think a 165 or 170 that needs more volts pumpled into it would run warmer than a 185 which requires less voltage to achieve the same frequency

 

[keldog7]

Yeah, I had the same concerns with the Ninja (and briefly a Zalman 9500), in that no airflow is directed down onto the chipset. It really leaves the northbridge and surroundings running too hot... Of course, noone would dispute the efficiency of a properly-mounted Ninja either...at roughly 0.19 deg C/Watt, The numbers on my chip just don't make sense! Basically, the TDW of an Opteron 185 is 110W (as I recall). The chip idles at 38 deg C. Lets be VERY unrealistic, and assume that at IDLE, the chip draws 0 (zero) watts...(yes, yes, I know, bear with me...). Now, lets run dual prime95 to max the chip out to its theoretical max of 110W. Well, 110 x 0.19 = 20.9 degrees of temp rise could be expected. So the chip would then be at 38 + 20.9 deg C (or 58.9C).

Now CLEARLY, my "0 watts at idle" assumption is wrong, meaning the estimated temp rise should be (much) less that 20.9C. I'd bet a 10 deg C would be more likely...

Either way, from idle to load, I've got 20 extra degrees at STOCK speeds on the 185...
Lets say I take the heatspreader off the chip... Can you put the heatspreader BACK ON, after applying a bit of Ceramique under there....of course, even Ceramique might have too much conductance to be applied in this fashion. Thoughts?

-A

 

[tallman45]

According to AMD's website, All the Opteron Dual core 939's are rated at 110W

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: keldog7
Either way, from idle to load, I've got 20 extra degrees at STOCK speeds on the 185...
Lets say I take the heatspreader off the chip... Can you put the heatspreader BACK ON, after applying a bit of Ceramique under there....of course, even Ceramique might have too much conductance to be applied in this fashion. Thoughts?

Don't take your IHS off, it doesn't need to be done. And if you do, you'll no longer be able to use your Ninja. Buy yourself some case fans, and a faster fan for your Ninja, and your processor will be cool well above where you are now.

 

[keldog7]

More case fans won't help much - except to make things noisy. Ambient temp IN the case is 25-28C under load. As for a faster fan for the ninja...it already moves 36.9 CFM... which is no slouch.

...looks like im on my own with this 20 degree increase...