DFI MOBO Overclocking Settings

[curtisbouvier]

OK I've never overclocked this before but let me clarify a few things and please correct me if i am wrong.

1. DFI Lanparty Nforce3 w/ A64 3400 CPU.
2. Crucial Ballistix PC4000 Memory (DDR500).
3. Koolance Exos External Watercooling Setup w/ 300W Block.

Now. After this is all setup, All i do really is take the FSB in crank that from 200 to 250 correct?

- 12x200=2.4ghz straight up...

- 12x250=3.0ghz o/ced.

And thats pretty much as simple as it gets correct?

i dont have a clue about PCI/AGP lock (i'm assuming it works and takes place on the DFI board)
or do i need to change it from 66 to 67 for it to take effect?

AMD cool n' quiet technology i have an idea. does that need to be left on or turned off......

HTT i have NO clue what this is and hopefully i dont need to use this to overclock.

The memory devider i have no idea how this works either. IT changes the ram speed from 400 to 333 or 266 which kinda defeats the purpose of overclocking doesnt it since your ram is actually running slower with this?

Lets hear the info guys ...

=)

 

[hg321]

""i dont have a clue about PCI/AGP lock (i'm assuming it works and takes place on the DFI board)
or do i need to change it from 66 to 67 for it to take effect? ""



It's supposed to work without setting it at 67 but I was stuck at 250fsb until I set it at 67 now I can hit 300.

Also check out here
DFI Fourms for alot of good info on that board.

 

[Concillian]

You will need to lower the HT multiplier to keep the HT near 1000 MHz. So for not far above 200 MHz you may need to change 5x to 4x.

You will need to increase the voltage, potentially significantly.

For the most part, CPU MHz > RAM MHz, so you can use a divider if it means you'll get more CPU MHz out of your setup. Obviously 1:1 is best, but at the same CPU MHz the difference between RAM at like 250 MHz and 200 MHz is only like 2-3% overall system performance according to the Anandtech reviews. The DFI has more dividers than most boards so you can keep your RAM speed as close to it's maximum as possible.

 

[curtisbouvier]

So as far as overclocking goes what settings do you reccomend (what needs to be changed to what)

Shouldnt be alot. if you got a moment let me know.

I'l have a look at that DFI forum! Cool stuff

thx

 

[Concillian]

Each processor is different, and you'll need to investigate as to what works best.

Generally you want to INDEPENDENTLY find the limits of your RAM and CPU.

Start by setting multiplier LOW like 7x, and start increasing "FSB" so that you increase your RAM speed, but your CPU speed is well below stock speed.
Increase a little at a time until the RAM is unstable. I test stability with SuperPi, then where SuperPi won't complete 2M digits, I drop a bit and start checking stability with Prime95 on Blend for 12 - 24 hours and/or memtest for 10+ passes. Keep in mind that HT speed doesn't like to go too much over 1000 MHz, so you need to keep that at 3x or 4x multpilier.

You can choose to relax your latencies to see if your RAM can go higher speed. For instance you can test what it can do at 2-2-2 and at 2.5-3-2 and 2.5-3-3 and at 3-4-4. They will all be at different speeds. Knowing them all will let you choose what gives best performance, though it can be very time consuming to find the limits of each of these.

Once you know your max RAM speeds, then you can work on CPU. Increase the voltage a bit. With water cooling you can probably start in the 1.65-1.7v range (about the top for air cooling). Now start increasing CPU frequency by increasing the multiplier and/or "FSB", making sure your memory speed is low enough that your RAM is known to be VERY stable (via previous step of examining max RAM speed. Take small steps of about 50 MHz at a time. Use Prime torture tests or k7burn to give the processor a workout, and do other stuff in windows for a bit to ensure stability and move up another ~50 MHz. When you start having problems with Windows booting or general instability, you have two choices:

1) Try again with more voltage
2) Drop down to where you were before and run Prime95 for 12-24 hours to ensure that speed is stable

In all cases, keep an eye on your temperatures with a monitoring program while using Prime95 or k7burn. If you start getting 60C or so, you know you can't really afford to increase voltage.

Then you know what your RAM is capable of and you know what your CPU is capable of, then it's just a matter of finding the best divider for your RAM.

 

[curtisbouvier]

I wont be needing a memory devider. I will be using Crucial Ballistix PC4000

which gives me 50 mhz front side bus extra.

So i was thinking.....

just take the FSB from 200, and jack it up to 250......
increase the cpu voltage to 1.7v

12x250 = 3.0 ghz

were laughin!!!

right?