DFI CFX3200 + Opteron 185... need help

[Tboy012]

hello everyone, i been coming to this site b4 to get some tips on overclocking with the
x2 4400+ and it was very helpful so i decided to sign up. I recently purchased the Opteron 185 but so far have no luck with overclocking this proc, and would like to know what im doing wrong,

my current specs are on my sig

i havent even been able to get it pass 2.7 (270 * 10)
i leave my voltage in auto, am i suppose to change that?
how bout my ram?

thank you in advance everyone

 

[Shimmishim]

you should not use auto for your vcore.

try something like 1.4 or 1.45

also read the sticky at the top. it should help you.

 

[Matt2]

Welcome to the forums!

I have this exact motherboard with an Opty 170 @ 2.8GHZ. This is an awesome overclocking motherboard, but is EXTREMELY picky about the settings you use. I'm not over exaggerating this either. Basically if you leave something on auto that shouldnt be, or get one setting wrong, the system becomes unstable.

I'm not a huge fan of Patriot memory and found it to be completely worthless in my old DFI NF4 Ultra board. What are the stock settings on that RAM? Is it PC3200? What are the timings?

 

[Tboy012]

my ram is a pc3200 and the timing for the ram is 2-3-2-5

yea this motherboard is very hard to work with.... and its hard to
find help for it since the majority of the people ive seen or read about
usually use an Asus

the vcore voltage is the "vid control"?

 

[bryanW1995]

I would be very careful overclocking that processor. I just fried my mobo trying to oc an opteron 180, and I had similar problems getting even a 100 mhz oc stable.

 

[Tboy012]

ok now your scaring me.... like i said, even @ 100mhz, my computer would not post...

if my ram is not good.... what rams are recommended?

 

[NesuD]

Matt is right. The board is a killer overclocker but as he said very picky about settings. in addition it has a problem with SATA drives on the ULI controller. DFI apparently has no intention of fixing the drive problem. That forced me to ditch the board and go to a ASUS board instead. For some help with the board try diy-street.com forums and DFI also has a new forum up with lots of user experiences with that board. Good luck! I hope you don't have the headaches with it that i did.

 

[Matt2]

First thing's first.

What temps are you running at stock under dual prime?

I'm going to try and help you, but it could get messy, especially since we have different RAM and from my experience it's the RAM settings that cause the most instability.

 

[Cybercraig]

I have my 170 running at 2.5 @ 1.38v. 10 x 250mhz with PC4000. You picked a chip that will run 2.6 out of the box and you want to overclock it to what? I think ya got the wrong chip and the wrong ram for that. Whatever you do do not bump voltage over 1.45v. You won't notice the difference between 2.6ghz and 2.7ghz anyway.

 

[Tboy012]

i havent ran dual prime yet, but the temp idles around 37 degrees
so what kind of ram is suggested for overclocking?

ive read reviews that this proc can easily go 3ghz on air and ive yet to see much of a
performance increase from my x2 4400 which i had overclocked to bout 2.68ghz...

i know i have a tough mb to play with... i actually got it on black friday so the price was just
so unbeatable.... i just didnt know what i was going up against until after i got it =/

Ty Matt2 for trying to help =)

 

[Tboy012]

btw, if i was to change to an asus board, would it be easier to work with? if so, whats a good mb for the 939 socket, its now its discontinued

 

[Matt2]

double post

 

[Matt2]

Don't give up yet!!!

First of all, if you're not doing so already, make sure you put the RAM in the orange slots.

Now, reset the CMOS to optimized defaults, save and exit. Reenter the BIOS and go to "Genie BIOS Settings" and enter the following:

FSB Bus Frequency: 280mhz
LDT/FSb Frequency Ratio: x 3.0
CPU/FSB Frequency Ratio: x 10.0
RD580 HT PLL Speed: High Speed
HT Bus NMOS Drive Strength: 5
HT PMOS Drive Strength: 5
HT Bus Receiver Impedence: 10
CPU HT Drive Strength: Normal
K8 Cool'N'Quiet: Disable

CPU VID Control: 1.4v
CPU VID Special Control: Auto
DRAM Voltage Control: 2.58v
SB PCI-E Voltage: 1.8v
NB Analog Voltage: 1.34v
LDT Bus Voltage: 1.34v
NB Core Voltage: 1.34v

Now go to the DRAM Configuration option at the top and enter the following:

DRAM Frequency Set: 140=RAM/FSB:07/10
Command Per Clock: Enable
CAS Latency Control: 2.0

Leave the rest on "auto" until you get to "Refresh Period", then enter:

Refresh Period: 1560 Cycles
DRAM Bank Interleaving: Enabled
Errata 94 Enhancement: Disable
Errata 123 Enahncement Auto
Odd Divisor Correct: Disable
DQS Skew Control: Auto
DRAM Drive Strength: Level 6
DRAM Data Drive Strength: Level 1 (reduce 50%)
DIMM 1/3 Clock Timing Skew: Auto
DIMM 2/4 Clock Timing Skew: Delay 450ps
Max Async Latency: 8.0ns
Read preamble time: 5.5ns
IdleCycle Limit: 64 Cycles
Dynamic Counter: Disable
R/W Queue Bypass: 16x
Bypass max: 4x
Burst Length: 4 Bursts

That should get you going.

 

[Tboy012]

wow... THANK YOU MATT2 !!!

ill get started on that as soon as i get home in bout... 30 mins =) and ill let you
know how it goes TY!!

 

[Tboy012]

ok... status update Matt2

I did everything you told me to boot, and now my computer would not even post.
Makes a looonng beep and shows an error code of "7F"

I tried to reset the jumper but it still wont boot.
Ive tried changing the cpu out, and still nothing..
Changed out the ram and still nothing....
Even tried to boot from another PSU and still nothing..

What went wrong?!?!
I dont understand what the problem is

 

[Tboy012]

can anyone else please tell me why my computer wont even post?!?! why the jumper reset
isnt working?

 

[MarcVenice]

try resetting the jumper for a longer time, like 15 minutes or even an hour ... keep the battery removed too ...

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: Tboy012
ok... status update Matt2

I did everything you told me to boot, and now my computer would not even post.
Makes a looonng beep and shows an error code of "7F"

I tried to reset the jumper but it still wont boot.
Ive tried changing the cpu out, and still nothing..
Changed out the ram and still nothing....
Even tried to boot from another PSU and still nothing..

What went wrong?!?!
I dont understand what the problem is

Hmm... Everything that came up when I googled "7F" says something about a problem with VGA.

try removing one of your cards and trying it again.

I've had this happen to me plenty of times. Something gets fuxed up in the BIOS and my computer wont post even after resetting the CMOS. I've thought I've fried somerthing many times before, but it turned out ok, so dont worry too much at this point.

As MarkVenice said, leave the CMOS jumper in the reset position for at least 20 minutes and also take out the battery.

those settings I gave you are the only ones that I have been able to get my system stable with while overclocking, so I'm not sure what went wrong. The only things I can think of are:

1. 1.4v was not enough voltage for your CPU trying to run 2.8GHZ. Next time try giving it 1.45v.

2. The part I told you to skip in the DRAM configuration is the specific timings for your RAM. I told you to leave those on auto because I dont have your RAM. Try to find the exact timings of your RAM. Otherwise, I can give you my timings which are looser than yours so we can try that and go from there.

 

[Tboy012]

i never knew my ram was that bad... i will try what you have told me tonight, and this time im gonna take my labtop with me so i can research what the error message means

ty

 

[myocardia]

Yo, Matt, why would you be telling Tboy the settings to use for your RAM? He doesn't have your RAM. His RAM requires 2.7-2.8v of vdimm, to run @ 200 Mhz, with it's SPD timings, assuming two sticks in dual channel.

Tboy, put your cpu multiplier back to 13x, put your RAM divider back to 200 (1:1), raise your vdimm to 2.8v, raise your RAM timings to Tcl=2.5, Trcd=3, Trp=3, Tras=7, Trc=15, Trfc=18, Tref=0780, DRAM Drive Strength= Level 6, DRAM Data Drive Strength= Level 4, DRAM Response Time= Normal, Idle Cycle Limit= 128 cycles. Those RAM timings will let you run your RAM 1:1, with your cpu well above 3 Ghz; it's good RAM for people with high cpu multipliers, because it overclocks pretty well, and will do it at nice timings. It has Infineon IC's, and will always do at least 235 Mhz, with fairly tight timings.

BTW, after you get your cpu overclock where you want it, you can try going back and tightening up a couple of those RAM timings, like Trc, Trfc, and Idle Cycle limit, if you want. Oops, almost forgot by far the most important part of overclocking your chip: set your LDT multiplier to 4x. If you don't do that, you won't go very far at all.

edit: Okay, I was going by memory, when I "rattled" off those numbers. I've found the piece of paper that I had them written down on, and surprisingly, they were all correct, except the Tref should have been 1560.

 

[Tboy012]

with the cpu multiplier back to 13x, what should i put my fsb too?
i still have to get my computer to boot, so i will try that after i get it to boot
thnx everyone

 

[Tboy012]

hm... guys... i just left the cmos battery out for 2hrs with the jumper on reset
then put it back but it still isnt booting, and comes up with the 7f error code for the motherboard? what is wrng with my board??

 

[Matt2]

Originally posted by: myocardia
Yo, Matt, why would you be telling Tboy the settings to use for your RAM? He doesn't have your RAM. His RAM requires 2.7-2.8v of vdimm, to run @ 200 Mhz, with it's SPD timings, assuming two sticks in dual channel.

Tboy, put your cpu multiplier back to 13x, put your RAM divider back to 200 (1:1), raise your vdimm to 2.8v, raise your RAM timings to Tcl=2.5, Trcd=3, Trp=3, Tras=7, Trc=15, Trfc=18, Tref=0780, DRAM Drive Strength= Level 6, DRAM Data Drive Strength= Level 4, DRAM Response Time= Normal, Idle Cycle Limit= 128 cycles. Those RAM timings will let you run your RAM 1:1, with your cpu well above 3 Ghz; it's good RAM for people with high cpu multipliers, because it overclocks pretty well, and will do it at nice timings. It has Infineon IC's, and will always do at least 235 Mhz, with fairly tight timings.

BTW, after you get your cpu overclock where you want it, you can try going back and tightening up a couple of those RAM timings, like Trc, Trfc, and Idle Cycle limit, if you want. Oops, almost forgot by far the most important part of overclocking your chip: set your LDT multiplier to 4x. If you don't do that, you won't go very far at all.

Huh?

I didnt give him the timings for my RAM. The timings is what I told him to leave on "auto" because I dont have his RAM.

If you're referring to everything below the timings, those are the settings I used with my OCZ Platinum kit which have the exact same timings and rated speed.

Also, the CFX3200 overvolts the RAM compared to whatever you set in the BIOS. I have the DRAM voltage set to 2.62 in the BIOS and I'm actually getting close to 2.75v. I told him to set the voltage to 2.58v so he'd be right around 2.7v.

Tboy-

Try upping the voltage on the ram to 2.65v.

As for it still not booting... I dont know man. This has happened to me before and I just kept resetting the CMOS. Try with one stick in there at a time. Did you try with only one video card in there?

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Matt2
Huh?

I didnt give him the timings for my RAM. The timings is what I told him to leave on "auto" because I dont have his RAM.

If you're referring to everything below the timings, those are the settings I used with my OCZ Platinum kit which have the exact same timings and rated speed.

Well, guess what? The timings that I gave him are from my Infineon IC'd RAM, that will run @ the same timings and speeds as his and yours will, although in this screenshot, I was only giving it 2.7v of vdimm, so it was running @ 3-3-3-7 timings. That was with an Opteron 170, BTW.

Also, the CFX3200 overvolts the RAM compared to whatever you set in the BIOS. I have the DRAM voltage set to 2.62 in the BIOS and I'm actually getting close to 2.75v. I told him to set the voltage to 2.58v so he'd be right around 2.7v.

How exactly do you know that his motherboard overvolts the RAM? I happen to have two identical DFI motherboards here right beside me, and guess what? One of them overvolts both the RAM and the chipset, the other doesn't overvolt either.

Originally posted by: Tboy012
hm... guys... i just left the cmos battery out for 2hrs with the jumper on reset then put it back but it still isnt booting, and comes up with the 7f error code for the motherboard? what is wrng with my board??

Nothing, most likely. To reset a BIOS, you have to: a) unplug the power supply b) hold power button in (the one on the front of the case) for 30-45 seconds 3) remove the battery for 15-20 minutes, or move the CMOS clear jumper over/up, then remember to move it back, after 15 or 20 minutes. Are you sure you've got the jumper in the right position? Running it with the jumper in the clear CMOS position can and will damage the motherboard.

with the cpu multiplier back to 13x, what should i put my fsb too?

You should start out at 210 Mhz HTT, then move up at about 5 Mhz (of HTT, not cpu speed ) at a time, then boot into Windows and do what's in this guide.

 

[Tboy012]

is there anyway that the graphic card be causing this trouble? ive tried to put my cpu and gpu on an asus board and it wouldnt boot either