ASUS A7n8x Deluxe. It doesn't allow the CPU to overclock. Why?

[eno]

Hello. Thanks for helping. Ok I just purchased a ASUS A7n8x deluxe board(rev 2.0). I have a 2600+ (333mhz) chip for it and right now for overclocking purposes I am running a single 512mb of HyperX PC4000. I am not new to overclocking, I have overclocked plenty on the Nforce2 chipset and Intel boards. For whatever reason the CPU will stay set at 2.09ghz and the bus will raise but not the CPU bus or clock speed. I know about the multiplier being locked but I am not worried about that, I just want to raise it up some at LEAST. The system will not do much at all even with my Volts being upped in memory and Cpu. Doesn't make since my old Epox on the Nforce2 would clock to 188fsb while still being locked. So its a setting issue I believe.

I am running 330watt True Power PS,and Thermalright SLK900/SmartFanII with even a Copper ICeberg chipset cooler with the latest ArticSilver. 5x 80mm case fans, temps are CPU 30c idle and 24c Case.

I updated to the latest BIOS and installed all fresh current drivers. Can these boards not overclock the CPU? I have all this great cooling and headroom for overclocking but it will not perform for S***.

Any ideas would be great. Thanks.

 

[BlueWeasel]

I assume that's a 2600+ Barton?

Around the end of last end, AMD started factory locking the multiplier on the Barton cores. If your chip was made after Production Week 39, it's likely factory locked. You can't change the multiplier from within the BIOS, regardless of which NF2 board you are using. The only way to O/C these chips would be to raise the FSB and hope for the best.

The way around this is with the mobile chips. The multipliers are unlocked, and can be adjusted on NF2 boards. The O/C results of the mobile chips are usually much higher than their desktop versions.

 

[eno]

Ok yes 333mhz is the barton. And yes I know about overclocking, I wasn't talking about the multiplier at all. I am running 500mhz memory so I don't need to up the multiplyer, if anything I will loose some overclock potential since my CPU will be the limiting factor. I am not even able to get a overclock out of it while leaving the multiplier alone. I knew that and wasn't even going to mess with it. Thanks though. ANyone else got any ideas?

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

make sure the agp/pci lock is working, maybe a bios setting is defaulting to disabled? Make sure the cpu heatsink is mounted properly? I know you are a veteran but sometimes little things can trick us. LOL I have had my share.

 

[eno]

heatsink is solid. Positive. AGP is set to 66mhz. I didnt see a AGP/PCI setting only a AGP lock. My temps are low 30c always. I have great cooling on it. I agree , we do sometimes overlook the small stuff.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

check around for the PCI lock. It can be verrrrrry sensitive to the fsb setting. Take out your pci cards if any and try and overclock and see what happens. Maybe a periphereal problem?

 

[eno]

Yeah there isn't anything in the PCI slots. Only AGP card.

 

[imported_michaelpatrick33]

hmmm? try manually underclocking the ram and/or check the ram timings and see if the bios is doing something screwy with it? Check your voltages and make sure they are at stock or higher (in case the bios is doing something weird with the voltages)

 

[eno]

Well I got it to overclock. I had to try random areas turning on some areas leaving some areas optimal. I am at 2325mhz now over 2075mhz stock. That is locked multiplier 12.5 x 187 at 83% memory which is 155mhz for the 1gb of PC2100 that I am now running. (the pc4000 was just for testing purposes)

Works... but didn't seem to help my AquaMark score hardly. O well , at least this is my 2nd system for the lady and friends.

HAA! As I am typing this I was burning some DVD's off the hard drive and bam system reboot on me, another coster, thats 2 now in this last week.

 

[Evdawg]

it doesnt like you!

 

[eno]

Originally posted by: michaelpatrick33
I know you are a veteran but sometimes little things can trick us. LOL I have had my share.

HAHAHA wow I figured it out. FIrst I will say I was able to overclock it a good bit at least. I am stable at 2300mhz. But I could not figure out why my speed was showing as 2090mhz at 333mhz. Because that isn't the same as both the 266/333mhz 2600+ processors. I ran SiSoftSandra to look at the chip specs and low and behold its a Thoroughbred 2000+. When I was setting it to 333 it was overclocking it to a 2600+. For a couple of reasons I was thinking it was a 2600+. I bought in a cheap little system from a friend.

Well the good knews is I have it at 2300mhz stable, thats 630mhz overclocked, not bad, now all that good cooling is really making a difference. Sweet. Thanks for the help there MichealPatrick33.

 

[Budman]

looks like the problem was between the keyboard & the chair after all.





:beer: