E4300 And P5n-E What is going on here?

[duzytata]

Hi all.

Here's my setup:

E4300
P5N-E
ST DDR667 Memory 2x 1GB
7900GT
Thermaltake 470W
2X Optical Drives
1 Sata Western Digital HD
1 ATA Western Digital HD

Here?s the deal. I go to overclock this thing. Just for kicks, I did the AI overclocking at 20% and all worked out just fine. I decided to go for the gold and set the overclocking to manual. I set the FSB to 333MHz and at first had the memory unlinked and set to 667Mhz. I set my V core to 1.43. All other settings were set to auto. I ran Orthos for 10 minutes and Asus Probe showed a temperate of 51C. I then got a BSOD.

I tried to bump the FSB down to 311, giving me a clock of 2.8Ghz. I figured it should run stable here without having to up the voltage any further (Something I don?t want to do). For some reason, the computer will not post. It doesn?t matter what I set the FSB to, it just won?t post. All the AI overclocking settings work just fine and post, and 333Mhz FSB works fine and posts but isn?t stable for longer than ten minutes. Anything in between won?t go.

I went back and looked at my settings and tried to run my memory linked in since mode. Still no go. I left all the settings at auto and I really don?t know what I would have to change as far as voltages to get a stable 2.8Ghz.

I have no idea why the computer will boot just fine at 333 and run for ten minutes, but will not boot at a lower FSB with all the same settings as before. Is there something in the BIOS I?m missing, or that is causing a problem for me? I am using the newest version, 401 of the bios and everything else is running at stock speeds. I?m also on stock cooling but I didn?t see my temps go above 51C with a load from Orthos when I had it set at 333Mhz.

Any guidance you can offer me would be greatly helpful and appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[duzytata]

Can anyone help?

 

[Avalon]

Is that the 570 chipset or the new 650i chipset?
The older Nvidia chipset couldn't overclock for crap. 300FSB would likely be a gamble on it. Try 299FSB and see if it works?

You can also verify whether it's your board or your chip limiting you at 333FSB. Set it back to that FSB and lower your CPU multiplier by 1 or 2, and see if you become stable then.

I'd also try to verify that setting the memory to unlinked 667Mhz actually results in a memory speed of 667Mhz no matter your FSB. Try to run at stock speeds with that mem setting and see if it reports that mem speed correctly.

 

[duzytata]

Hi, and thanks for your reply. It's the new 650i chipset. I've read that that people have achieved 3.0Ghz stable at stock voltage and stock cooling with it so I picked it up because of that and the 650i features.

Ok, here is what I did. FSB and Memory were linked in sync mode. The FSB was at 333MHz and the memory was at 333MHz. I dropped the multiplier from 9 to 8.

The computer posted just fine. CPUZ Showed a clock speed of 2666.7 Mhz, a 8X multiplier, 333.3MHZ Buss, and 1333MHz FSB. Under the memory tab, the Frequency was 333.3MHz, Ratio at 1:1, Timings (which are set to auto) are at 5-5-5-2

I did a second run just like the first but with a multiplier of 7, down from 9. CPUZ showed a clock speed of 2333.3MHz, 7X multiplier, 333MHz Bus, and a 1333MHz FSB. Memory tab showed a 333Mhz frequency, 1:1, and 5-5-5-2 timings.

So does this tell me that the board is what's messing me up, or the CPU? I have no intention of going past a 333MHz FSB. 3.0Ghz was my goal and I'd love to keep it stable at that, or I'd settle for 2.8Ghz stable. My main problem is that when I lower the FSB at all, like from 1333 to 1300 without changing anything else, the computer won't post.

Here's what I did to test the memory settings.

Everything is at default. I'm running the FSB and memory unlinked, Ratio set to auto. The FSB is at 200MHz, my memory is at 333MHz. The computer would not post! :-(

Everything is at default. FSB and Memory Linked, Ratio set to auto, FSB at 200MHz, the Actual memory shows up in gray (where I can not edit it) as 333MHz. The computer posts.
---------- CPUZ Shows clock of 1.8Ghz with 9X 200Mhz, and my rated FSB is at 800MHz. Memory shows up at 333Mhz, 6:10 ratio, 5-5-5-2 timings

So i guess it's actually reporting the memory speeds correctly, but it only worked when I linked the memory and set the speed automatically. When I did it unlinked and set the memory manually at stock FSB, the computer would not post. What do you make of this because I'm confused as hell. Thanks for your help.

 

[Markfw]

The best I can get is 2.9 ghz on my 4300. And I know how to OC, as all my othr C2D's are at 3.4 or better.

 

[duzytata]

Well 3.0Ghz is stable for about ten minutes, then goes BSOD. My problem is that I can't get the computer to post at a lower FSB than 333Mhz. For example, if i make the FSB 322 for 2.9Mhz, the computer will not boot at all. But it boots fine at 333 FSB. It doesn't make sense to me because if I can boot the computer at a high 333 FSB and run stable for ten minutes, why can't I run it at a lower FSB with the computer being just as stable as it was at 333Mhz.

I"m using the yellow slots. I'll try the black ones now.

 

[Markfw]

Originally posted by: duzytata
Well 3.0Ghz is stable for about ten minutes, then goes BSOD. My problem is that I can't get the computer to post at a lower FSB than 333Mhz. For example, if i make the FSB 322 for 2.9Mhz, the computer will not boot at all. But it boots fine at 333 FSB. It doesn't make sense to me because if I can boot the computer at a high 333 FSB and run stable for ten minutes, why can't I run it at a lower FSB with the computer being just as stable as it was at 333Mhz.

It could be related to bootstrap. Your memory is only PC 5400. I don't have that motherboard, so I can;t say how to fix that.

 

[Yellowbeard]

I don't have a 4300 to test with but, you may possibly be experiencing a FSB hole like some of the 680i boards do. Clarify again please, is it stable at or above 333 x 8?

 

[duzytata]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
I don't have a 4300 to test with but, you may possibly be experiencing a FSB hole like some of the 680i boards do. Clarify again please, is it stable at or above 333 x 8?

I think you may be right. I can increase the FSB in any increment I want after 333 without changing anything else, and the computer will post fine. 334, 340, 344, 349, all post. But even if I go down to 332 from 333, the computer won't post. It restarts after I set up the bios, but the splash screen for the motherboard never shows up.

No matter what I do, I can't get it to run orthos for more than an hour at a 333FSB. I get a BSOD and that's that. I'd be happy running it at 2.8 or 2.9, because I think that would be stable, but my bios will not let me post with a FSB lower than 333?

 

[duzytata]

Well, I dropped the multiplier from 9 to 8, and upped the FSB from 333 to 350 giving me 2.8GHz. The computer booted fine, and Orthos is running fine right now. Only thing is my memory is being underclcoked at 328.1MHz at a 16:15 ratio. 5-6-6-15 2T and Trc = 22. Maybe I can play with the timings or maybe force my actual memory speed to be higher. *crosses fingers*

Thanks for your help so far, and if you have any suggestions, especially regarding that FSB hole, please let me know.

Thanks again!

 

[Yellowbeard]

You did exactly the right thing to work around the FSB hole. Now, you should be able to change the memory ratio and get the memory to run faster. Have you tried unlinked?

 

[duzytata]

Originally posted by: Yellowbeard
You did exactly the right thing to work around the FSB hole. Now, you should be able to change the memory ratio and get the memory to run faster. Have you tried unlinked?

Yup, unlinked is the only way anything will work.

Orthos ran fine for 30mins with the previous settings.

I treid to up the memory to 350Mhz for a 1:1 ratio, but it won't boot.

So I linked them again in sync mode, with the FSB the same, memory at 350Mhz, and it just booted. I'm going to run Orthos for a bit and see what happens. I'll report back in about a half an hour. Sooner if something goes wrong. Thanks for the help.

 

[duzytata]

I'm happy to report that my computer is stable at 2.8Ghz.

350Mhz FSB 1:1 Ratio to Memory at 350Mhz

Memory timings are at 5-6-6-15 2T Trc at 22

Do you think I should tighten the timings a little bit? Orthos ran stable for 2 1/2 hours with zero problems, but I don't want to mess anything up since this is the first overclock that has been good to me.

Thanks again for you help.