Big problems overclocking with my Asus A7V333 :(

[CableDude]

I just installed this mobo a few days ago, and started trying to o/c it today. Before this board, I had a ECS K7S5A with my XP 1800+, cheap Coolermaster HSF with the crappy pink "paste" on the bottem, a cheap 300w PSU and PC2100 DDR RAM. Using a hacked BIOS I was able to push my FSB to 143, which gave me 1643Mhz. Now with this Asus, a new Antec PSU, 256MB PC2700 Samsung DDR, Volcano7+ and ASII I can't even get it to load Windows at 141 FSB. I've update my BIOS to the latest version (1008), I've tried setting my DDR at the lowest timings, I've boosted the vcore to 1.850, removed all PCI cards, but I'm still SOL. :frown:

I should mention that with my DDR running at 333 and FSB at 133 with all the timing at the highest, with the exception of the precharge delay, I can run memtest86 without problems.

I'll worship whoever can help me out.

 

[Duvie]

List all devices you have currently installed??? Should only have 1 stick of ram and vid card..along with 1 hdd and cd-rom hooked up...

List all voltages...List temps....

Go ahead and set all memory timing to normal or safe levels...I know memtest, but I have seen it not detect certain timing issues with mobo in windows environment...


Lets try to rule out other pci cards..ie NIC or sound cards...some don't like even the slightest pci bus out of spec...

With the voltage we can try to eliminate PS

With temps eliminate heat

The vcore boost unsuccessfully make me think it is not the cpu as you wouldn't have hit such a wall...

memory issues can always cause issues...

 

[mechBgon]

Do you have other RAM you can try in the board? I tried to help SpiffyGuy with memory-related problems on his A7V333 recently, and he happened to have Samsung PC2700 as well. I just finally remembered AnandTech's KT333 roundup revealing that the board would not run with Kingston RAM, which inclines me to think maybe it's picky about RAM. Kingston might use Samsung chips, for instance. Blurb from the roundup:

Unfortunately here is also where we ran into the first problem with the A7V333; the board will not work with Kingston's DDR333 ValueRam at DDR333 speeds, though the same memory worked fine in all other motherboards. We've brought up the issue with ASUS but have not received an answer yet. We're not sure whether the problem is related to Kingston or ASUS at this point; seeing as how the memory worked fine in every other motherboard we're betting the blame is with ASUS for this one. The board worked just fine with all of the other DDR333 memory we tested.

Another point to keep in the back of your mind: the A7V333 has a pair of jumpers by the rear end of the AGP slot. They govern the DDR voltage. By default, the voltage is set a bit higher than the 2.5V spec. More info here.

 

[CableDude]

There are no PCI card. I'm using the onboard audio and a USB ethernet adapter. Not sure if USB devices matter, but I'll name them anyway. USB Labtec headset, USB Logitech Quickcam Express, USB Microsoft Wheelmouse optical.

1 stick of PC2700 Samsung DDR
1 HDD, 1 CD-RW

My Volcano 7+ is set to medium right now, and I just applied the ASII 2 days ago so it hasn't been "broken in" yet. I'm not sure that I applied it right though, in fact I know I didn't do it right. I just put a blob in the center of the core. I think I'm going to redo it by putting some on the HS to fill the microscopic gaps, then put a really thin lair on the core.

Here's a screen of MBM5, with all temps and volatges. Keep in mind that this mobo uses the thermal diode built into the XP chip so the temps are higher, but more realistic. Also, I have my BIOS set to "Turbo" which seems to set the FBS to 135, explaining the 1553 Mhz...

Temps and Voltage

 

[CableDude]

No, I don't have any other DDR that I could use. I just got rid of my 266. *slaps forhead*

I'll try taking the jumpers off to bring the voltage down to spec. I wonder why Ass has it set higher by default?

What did Spiffyguy end up doing? I hope I'm not stuck in the same boat as he is.

 

[mechBgon]

What did Spiffyguy end up doing? I hope I'm not stuck in the same boat as he is.

You don't want to hear this... he ended up putting his new XP2200+ onto his ECS K7S5A, the supposed "junker" of the AMD motherboard world, and it works fine (although it doesn't have any means of pushing the RAM to PC2700 speeds). The thread is here. It seemed to be pretty much a question of finding settings that the RAM liked, or that the motherboard liked maybe...

 

[CableDude]

You're right, I didn't want to read that. :Q I'm not giving up though, I bought this board so I could O/C more. :| Also, I'm 500 KM away from the store where I boought this board and memory at, so I'm stuck with it.

 

[mechBgon]

If it proves to be of any use, there is a high concentration of A7V333 information here: thread I hope something works out.

 

[CableDude]

Thanks, I'll read through it. Do you think that removing the 2 jumpers to bring my DDR voltage back to spec might help?

 

[mechBgon]

I don't know. Lost Circuits reported better benchmark results at stock voltage than at the voltage Asus uses. Could you try this test: without changing any other factors, try running the 141MHz setting at the lower voltage? Since you've identified that as the max that your board will do, it would be revealing to find out whether it will do it at the lower voltage. If it will, then you could see if the lower DDR voltage allows you to go higher. I'd be really interested in hearing the results, if you do try this.

 

[CableDude]

140 was the highest that i could set and still get into Windows, but it was not stable. Running MBM's dashboard would lock it up. It's 4:30am here and I'm not sure if I feel like removing the jumpers right now.. Ah what the hell.. I'm gonna get somethign to drink and I'll try it out. I should be back in about 15 mins with the results.

 

[CableDude]

While I'm at it, could you take a look at my voltages and tell me if it looks alright? Thanks.

 

[Duvie]

Well the inportant ones with this athlon setup and the ddr is the +5v and +3.3v rail...both look excellent...

However is that at idle state??? Try loading it a bit and see if it spikes or jumps a lot....

I don't really think voltage is your issue....

 

[mechBgon]

By the way, your CPU temperature looks fine considering it's an A7V333, that shouldn't be an obstacle. Asus' Q-Fan feature, if enabled, would run your CPU fan at the slowest speed possible if it saw 57C, and it only begins to step the fan speed up when it's exceeded 60C. Mine is around 55C in a ~70F room.

 

[CableDude]

Well I was able to boot into Windows at 141, but it still locked up when I opened MBM's dashboard. I put all the memory speeds back, increased voltage, put cpu/mem to 1:1 but still nothing. *sigh*

4:5 makes it run DDR 333 right?

:frown:

 

[Duvie]

Yes...4:5 ratio with 133fsb will be 333mhz...At 141 it would be 353mhz though....

 

[CableDude]

Cool. I tried it with 1:1, but still no luck. :|

I guess I'm stuck at 133 FSB.

 

[mechBgon]

 

[CableDude]

is right. I can't believe that my K7S5A could overclock, and this Asus can't. Grrr!

 

[mechBgon]

Yep. If it won't run DDR333, you might as well have saved money and gotten a KT266A board and PC2100 RAM. I still wonder if different RAM would help, since onelin0 got his Corsair going pretty well in the end. Costly experiment, though!

 

[CableDude]

Oh, I can run 333DDR just fine. With this board and the new memory my 3dmark score has jumped from 8600ish to 9600ish. I'll just have to rely on ATI's drivers to get me to 10,000 I guess. Thanks for the help man, it's really appreciated. Same to Duvie.

Something good did come out of this though, my DDR should last longer.

 

[CableDude]

How hard would it be to unlock my CPU? What kindof stuff will I need? I really can't kill this CPU. Any links would be cool.

 

[mechBgon]

Here's a thread with a rundown on it, haven't tried it myself... thread

 

[CableDude]

Thanks. I'm missing some stuff right now.. Guess I'll just have to wait.