Dual Opteron Choice

[RoosterKooster]

I am retiring my tyan s2460 tiger. I am looking at a Dual Opteron 246 system.
This is primarily a development/test system which will occasionally run sql server 2000.
The OS will be W2K server.

Is there a dual opteron overclocking solution? I have seen mention of the 246 AU's being overclocked easily and significantly but I think that was a non-SMP board.

thanks and have a good one,
Rooster

 

[jose]

http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=44816

Good info.

Regards,
Jose

 

[Mloot]

I was able to overclock my 246's on a MSI K8T Master2-FAR to 2.2ghz.

 

[RoosterKooster]

Thanks, Jose. I have followed that link recently. Looks like the DK8N is a dissappointment for the OC hopefuls.

Rooster

 

[RoosterKooster]

Mloot, thanks for the K8T 2-FAR information. I just did some quick scouring for info and reviews. the only negative point I have found about it is that the heatsink connectors are non-standard. Has there been an engineering change to address this rather strange situation?

How did you squeeze 2.2 Ghz out of it?

Thanks and have a good one,

Rooster

 

[Mloot]

Nope, they are still using the same proprietary HSF's that come with the motherboard. On a positive note, it means you can save a little by buying OEM Opterons instead of retail.

As far as overclocking went, I just used Clockgen to increase the memory transport speed to 220mhz (after testing at lower intervals, of course), tested w/Prime 95 overnight, and it worked just fine. I didn't take it any farther, though, because the motherboard doesn't have an AGP/PCI lock.

 

[RoosterKooster]

Thank you, again, Mloot! I will probably go with the K8T 2-FAR since it appears to be the only Opteron dualie with OC capability. I am unfamiliar with Clockgen but will try and get up to speed with it. I just wish the prices would drop a little more.

On a side note, the OEM 246's seem to be hard to come by right now. Is your stepping AU?

Have a good one,

 

[Mloot]

Well, my 246's were C0 stepping (had to sell the dually last week).

ClockGen is a utility that allows you to overclock from within Windows. The thing I like about it is that if you take your overclock too far, you can reboot and you will automatically go back to default settings, since you didn't make any overclock adjustments in your BIOS. This makes it so that you don't have to go thru the hassle of clearing your CMOS jumper.