Cant get FSB higher than 224?

[skillyho]

Hi guys, I'm new to the forums so be easy on me.

I just put together my first machine about a week ago, with some decent value parts to have a low-end gaming rig. I'm currently running a Palmero Core Sempron 2800+, with an ECS nFORCE4-A754 mobo, Sapphire X550 w/256MB mem, 1GB of Geil Value ram.

My first concern is that my idle and load temps are too high at stock clock frequencies, being 38 and 50 degrees respectively. I'm starting to beleive I didnt properly seat the HSF on the CPU and maybe it isn't getting the best contact as a result of me moving it after I initally applied the thermal grease. I may just take it out and use some AS5 sometime down the road if I can get this one problem fixed first.

I am currently running at 1.78GHz with a FSB of 224MHz. I dont have a divider here so the RAM is also running at 224Mhz. I cannot get my computer to boot when I raise the FSB to anything over 224 (my mobo goes up to 250). The HTT is at 4x, and I am unsure about it's purpose so I haven't messed with it. I've read countless posts on getting to 2.4GHz and above on the stock voltage, but I dont know If my RAM is holding me back, or my motherboard itself. I've tried lowering the RAM to 166Mhz but it still doesn't boot on anything higher. (My RAM timings are 2.5-4-4-8 at 200MHz)

Anyone have any words of wisdom for me? I'm a newbie but I can follow instructions well.

Thanks in advance for all the help.

 

[Furen]

Well, in order to get to 2.4GHz using an 8x multiplier you'd need to hit 300HTT, which, obviously, your motherboard cant do. If you are running value ram at 224 without loosening the memory timings then I'd say that you're pretty lucky. I, personally, think that you've hit your motherboard's limits, but you could try switching SATA port if you are using that. I was under the impression that all SATA ports on NF4s are locked but I'm not absolutely certain.

Your HTT multiplier is one of the two factors that controls your hypertransport link speed (it should always be at or below 1000MHz, which you calculate by multiplying your HTT--224--by your multiplier--4x). Now that I think about it,I believe that the initial NF4 spins were unable to hit 1000MHz Hypertransport (or unable to use the 5x multiplier, one of the two), so these were branded Nforce4 4x (or something of the sort) and sold to be used in socket 754 motherboard. Try lowering your HT multiplier, this may actually help.

One last thing: Lowering your ram to 166MHz basically increases the memory divider, so when people tell you to run a memory divider they just mean that you should lower the DRAM's frequency setting (which ONLY affects the divider, which in turn affects the RAM's speed).

 

[TimeKeeper]

Non-ultra board support up to 800mhz HT
If you are running 4X, that mean you are really exceeding its load.
4*224=896 (you might want to try 3X and see if it works)

Also, you sure you don't have divider in your mobo? (I don't have ECS)
It should be under RAM setting that you suppose to choose your initial RAM setting at 166mhz or 133mhz, which equal to 6:5 and 3:2 respectively.

For example, if you are running CPU at 224Mhz FSB, set your RAM to 166mhz.
That way, your actual RAM will be running at 224*5 / 6 = 187mhz.

 

[1Dark1Sharigan1]

Yeah ECS boards are generally pretty bad overclockers . . .

 

[obeseotron]

It's almost certainly that you have your SATA hard drive plugged into the unlocked set of ports. Plug it in to SATA3/4, SATA1/2 aren't locked and will corrupt data at around the speeds you're talking about.

 

[skillyho]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'll run through them all tonight when I get in. I'm not running and SATA drives, just IDE. I tried lowering the DRAM speed to 166Mhz, but then it wouldn't boot at all. Maybe I need to adjust the timings for those frequencies? I'll also change from 4x to 3x tonight, and see if that helps. Is there potential for lower performance from lowering that?

I'll post again when I try those changes.

Here's a link to my mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16813135190

Here's a link to my RAM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820144310

Thanks again fellas...

 

[obeseotron]

Surprised it wasn't the HD, a lot of people don't know about the issue. I didn't read your first post closely enough the first time, Value RAM will very rarely work much above DDR450, especially at CAS2.5. First you have to try and drop that RAM to 3-4-4-8 and see how high you can go. This isn't a big deal if it allows you to get a clock speed increase, which will just about always trump RAM timings. I'm very surprised you can't lower the RAM divider, that functionality is on the cpu itself, so the motherboard would have to really suck to screw it up.

 

[skillyho]

Alright guys...

I tried 4x and 3x and it didn't make a difference. I put my RAM at 166MHz and it still didn't make a difference. I'm running 2-3-3-7 as listed by GEIL for DDR333 speeds. Anywho, I still cannot bump it up any further past 224HTT or it will not post (and that's with the ram at 180Mhz...I've had this RAM at DDR400 speeds on tighter timings in my overclocked Cereron machine, so I'm not sure what's the problem here.

I guess it may just be the motherboard...!?!? Oh well, it was my first build and it's good enough for now. I'd like to get a DFI LanParty mobo that everybody keeps going on about, and see how much this 2800+ could do. I need an overclocker friendly mobo with PCI-Express support. Anyone want to trade?

I really would like to get to the 2.0GHz allowed by this 250HTT in my BIOS if at all possible. By the way, my mobo documentation says it goes up to 1600HT.

Any other suggestions? I'm open to all ideas...

 

[Furen]

1600HT is actually 800MHz. Basically 200MHz x 4 at double-data rate.

 

[MustangSVT]

perhaps thats the limit of the ecs mobo .