Damn.. I need help OCing this Opteron..

[lektrix]

Ive been running my new 146 CABGE 0536VPAW opteron on default past few days and now ive finally had some time to play around with it, but things aren't looking great.. anyways, my goal right now is to hit 2.7ghz stable..

and i thought i achieved that, but the minute i opened up IE/IM programs, my computer restarted.. and this was AFTER I did a full 32m super pi test with prime95 small ftt running in the background WITHOUT any problems..take a look at this ss: http://img479.imageshack.us/my.php?image=opteron2700mhz3ow.jpg
why didnt it go unstable during the strenuous testing? thats my question.. right now whenever i try to do 2.7ghz again, it either resets on desktop, resets on startup of applications, resets in games or benches, bsods, or simply doesnt post.. ive run out of ideas to try :|.. and i based all my settings on OldGuy's post (he has same mobo/ram as me).. this is what i used:


Genie BIOS Settings:

CPU Overclock in MHz = 270
Hammer Fid Control = X10
AGP Overclock in MHz = 68
LDT/FSB Frequency Ratio = 3X
AMD K8 Cool and Quiet = Disable

CPU VID Control = 1.525v
CPU Voltage Adjusting = +0.2v (undervolts so bios shows ~1.6v)
Chipset Voltage Control = 1.85v
Memory Voltage Control = 2.8v (overvolts and shows ~2.88V)
AGP Voltage Control = 1.6v


DRAM Configuration:

Memory Hole for PCI MMIO = Disable
Max Memory Overclock (MHz) = Auto (200)
1T/2T Memory Timing = 2T
Cas# Latency (Tcl) = 2.5
Ras# to Cas# Delay (Trcd) = 4
Min Ras# Active Time (Tras) = 7
Row Precharge time (Trp) = 3
Write Recovery Time (Twr) = 2
Ras#-to-Ras# Delay (trrd) = 4
Row Refresh Time (Trfc) = 13
Row Cycle Time (Trc) = 11
Write-to-Read Delay Twtr) = 2
Read-to-Write Delay (Trwt) = 2
Refresh Rate (Tref) = Auto
Write Cas Latency (Twcl) = 1
Max Asynchronous Latency = 8ns
Read Preamble = 6.0ns
Dynamic Idle Cycle Limit = 256
DDR Output Driving = Weak Drive
DDR DQ Drive Strength = 50% Reduction
ECC Function = Disable

Here's some information about my RAM... it's supposedly brainpower (has the silver pins in the back), it's TCCD and it is currently being run on the orange slots.. i also did 10 loops of test #5 from MEMTEST and no errors have been reported for up to 280Mhz 2.5-4-3-7 @ 2.7V (actual is 2.79V since it overvolts).. so the above settings SHOULD work.. the SS i showed earlier of super pi being successful is with the ram run on a divider, 5:6 i believe...ALSO, 1T does not work with my board, so i can do 2T only, its just too buggy with 1T.. anyways, ive tried uppin voltages for vcore, i went up as much as 1.525v + 0.3v = 1.825v which is suppose to be ~1.7v but even that didnt work..

So the question is, why cant I get 2.7Ghz!?

 

[Furen]

Could you try dropping your multiplier to 9x just to check if it's the CPU that's limiting you or something else? It might just be that your CPU cant get to 2.7 (remember that not all CPUs overclock the same). If you still experience problems then you could try lowering your HTT to 260, you wont get to 2.7GHz that way but you have to zero-in on the problem. Just copying someone else's setting is not the best way to overclock unless you are going for a conservative overclock. Another thing: have you tried 1T at stock settings? The fact that your ram doesnt work with 1T might indicate that you're pushing the limits on your hardware.

 

[Thor86]

Small FFT testing does NOTHING for cpu stability testing.

 

[Markfw]

start at stock. The go up 5 mhz at a time using your "opening IE programs causes restarts" as your indicator of problems. Then reply back at what speed it does this. Remember, starting at 1.8, you would be lucky to get to 2300 or 2400 by the same amout that applies to X2 3800's. 2700 seems VERY lucky, not average.

 

[lektrix]

Originally posted by: Furen
Could you try dropping your multiplier to 9x just to check if it's the CPU that's limiting you or something else? It might just be that your CPU cant get to 2.7 (remember that not all CPUs overclock the same). If you still experience problems then you could try lowering your HTT to 260, you wont get to 2.7GHz that way but you have to zero-in on the problem. Just copying someone else's setting is not the best way to overclock unless you are going for a conservative overclock. Another thing: have you tried 1T at stock settings? The fact that your ram doesnt work with 1T might indicate that you're pushing the limits on your hardware.

that SS was with 300*9 I believe, ram was running 250mhz on 5:6 divider and it ran super pi 32 fine (with p95 in the background).. then i open up IE and it restarts my copm for no reason.. like wtf..

 

[Furen]

SuperPI and prime95 are just two different programs, neither of them will guarantee you stability (in fact, no single program will, nor will many combinations of programs... sometimes your system is feels rock-stable for months at a time and then you run a program that crashes every time). Try scaling back on the clock speed a bit to see if that's your problem. Try working with a lower HTT as well. If you dont plan on testing things out then I'll just stop wasting my time here, though I'm sure someone with more patience than myself will help you.

 

[Piuc2020]

Prime 95, Super PI and Memtest are the 3 most reliable tools to check for OC stability.

And weren't CABGE Opterons the worse overclockers out of the pack?

 

[Pabster]

Don't forget S&M

A bad overclock will rear its head real quick with that.

 

[lektrix]

Another interesting thing I found..

I used the above settings, 300*9, something around 1.6v real voltage, 2.9v vdimm.. put it on 2.5-4-7-3 on a 2:1 divider so ram runs at 150mhz.... i run 3dm01 and it passes.. I do the same but put my ram on 2-2-5-2 on 3:2 divider at 200mhz (these are stock settings) and 3dm01 doesnt pass, it stops at a black screen and i reboot... I do the same again and put my ram as 2.5-4-7-3 on a 6:5 divider at 250mhz and of course 3dm01 produces same black screen.....

Maybe my RAM is bad now.......

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Thor86
Small FFT testing does NOTHING for cpu stability testing.

Why do you say that?

 

[lektrix]

Weird, just ran two Prime instances at once (~4 hours), Small and Large, and SuperPi 16mb in the background and its still going strong...now hopefully it can run 3DM01SE without problems...

http://img25.imageshack.us/my.php?image=opteron2700mhz25dc.jpg]

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Maybe it IS stable?

 

[Diogenes2]

If it's rebooting, you might be losing 12v rail..
I had that problem with my True Blue 480 when I tried to bump voltage to 1.55 and higher with X2..
Never had a provlem at 1.7 with newcastle and venice...

 

[lektrix]

Could be, I think my PSU might be dying anyways, the blue LEDs are gone and sometimes I hear weird noises.....

Anyways, I just played 5 minutes of FEAR after taking that SS and I got a BSOD... wow.. so it goes thru 4+ hrs of double prime, super pi, 3DMark all successful.. and screws up in FEAR..played 25 mins of NHL2006 but that went fine... so frustrating :\

 

[lektrix]

WOW.

I cant even OC right now. I just cleared the CMOS, went into Windows, restart my computer, and tried diong the settings before that gave me 2.7ghz, but it wont even post on that.. the EXACT same settings that worked few hours ago no longer work now.. WTF IS GOING ON!

 

[mrkun]

To be honest, I haven't found Prime95 and Memtest to be all that reliable at short time periods. For instance, my RAM will pass memtest for eight hours at DDR600 and then fail Prime after five minutes. Also, I've had Prime fail over a large range of times using the same settings. For example, I'll keep all my bios settings the same, and then run Prime five or six different times, and it will go for anywhere between one minute and four hours. I've also had the experience of my system passing Prime for ten hours and then crashing in fifteen minutes with any game.

 

[lektrix]

Originally posted by: mrkun
To be honest, I haven't found Prime95 and Memtest to be all that reliable at short time periods. For instance, my RAM will pass memtest for eight hours at DDR600 and then fail Prime after five minutes. Also, I've had Prime fail over a large range of times using the same settings. For example, I'll keep all my bios settings the same, and then run Prime five or six different times, and it will go for anywhere between one minute and four hours. I've also had the experience of my system passing Prime for ten hours and then crashing in fifteen minutes with any game.

Sigh.

Right now, I can't even OC this **@)#(* at all. All the settings I used to produce the screenshots in my previous posts - I can't even use them anymore. I try to set them in bios and nothing POSTs. Is something dead?