First OC-Could use suggestions/comments

[Drunkentig3r]

Alright, by using Zebo's Overclocking Guide found here at Anandtech, I was finally able to dive in and do my first real overclock. I consider it real because I was tweaking with the settings and so on, not just relying on the "optimization program" that came with my motherboard. Anywho, here is my computer's specs, and what I was able to do with it:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Venice Core (939) @ 2.6 Ghz CPU (248 HTT, 10.5x CPU multiplier)
HT: 248x4X=992 (Tried to keep under 1000)
MSI K8N Neo4/SLI Motherboard
OCZ PC 3200 (DDR 400) Dual Channel Value Kit (2.5-4-3-7-1T) @ 166Mhz
Geforce 7800GT w/Arctic Cooling NV Silencer Ver. 5 Rev. 3
Generic DVD-ROM Drive/Lite-On Dual Format 8X DVD Burner
ViewSonic PF790 Professional CRT monitor
CPU Vcore: 1.54 V
Memory Vcore: 2.70 V

Tonight I'm going to let Prime95 run the whole night just to check stability. So...how did I do? Some abnormalities I encountered were for some reason, although the max CPU Multiplier listed by my BIOS is 11x, For some reason, I crash right around POST. Also, my BIOS has a setting titled "Nforce 4 Voltage", and apparently I can mess around with voltage for my chipset as well. Is it worth looking into? I'm already very happy with my OC thus far, and wouldn't want to do anything that nobody really knows about or that could jeopardize my pc. Thanks for all your help, any input would be much appreciated.

 

[Shimmishim]

hi.

the first thing i noticed off the bat was your cpu mult. the half mults are kinda funky in that they make your ram run slower than what you think just due to the way mobo's handle 1/2 mults.

try 10x260 with the 166 divider. it should work fine. if it doesn't try increasing your vmem to 2.8.

as for chipset voltage, just leave it at default for now. it's not worth messing with.

good job on your first o/c. 2.6 is pretty good.

 

[Drunkentig3r]

Good idea! I hadn't thought of that. Whenever I pushed the CPU Multiplier up to 11x, I compeletely forgot to change the memory divider so it isn't at a 1:1 ratio. Although I use value ram, the max memory speed I got was 232, which is pretty good for the cheap stuff. I'll try it once I get home.

On the other hand, I'm a bit hesitant about pushing my HTT up to 260, since according the tests I've done through Zebo's guide, 247-248 is my max safe speed. What do you guys think I should do?

 

[m1ldslide1]

Yeah, not too bad at all. Good job grasping the 1000mhz HTT limit and the mem divider - that takes most people a while.

First off, ditch the .5 CPU multiplier and stick with the 'whole' numbers.

Secondly, don't mess with the chipset voltage (nf4 voltage)unless you read a whole lot on the subject and know what you're doing. It won't give you any advantage in your CPU overclock.

Lastly, your memory timings are pretty tight at 2.5-4-3-7. Were you trying to isolate your HTT upper limit at those timings? If that's the case, then I'd suggest starting over with 3-4-4-8 1T and see how high you can get. You might be able to get higher than the 248HTT at 2.7vdimm.

Just like in zebo's guide, I'd suggest using a lower CPU multiplier (like x9) while you're finding your HTT upper limit. If your max speed is 250HTT at x9 and it's stable, try upping your CPU multi to x10. If that's stable, then you can try x11. If that doesn't boot, then try dropping to 240HTT x11 and try that, and so on. Once you can boot and pass the 3-5 min prime95 test, then try stepping up your HTT maybe 2MHz at a time until you find your max stable combination.

Personally I get a significantly faster OC at x10 than x11. I can get HTT up around 290 with x9 multi, but that = 2.6ghz while I can get 273 x10 = 2.7ghz. I used the same method I described above to find this max.

Once you have your CPU/HTT max then you can start trying to tighten up your memory timings. There are a ton of variables on overclocking and it takes a while to find the right combinations. Re-read zebo every once in a while too - more and more of it makes sense as you get more practice.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Drunkentig3r
Good idea! I hadn't thought of that. Whenever I pushed the CPU Multiplier up to 11x, I compeletely forgot to change the memory divider so it isn't at a 1:1 ratio. Although I use value ram, the max memory speed I got was 232, which is pretty good for the cheap stuff. I'll try it once I get home.

On the other hand, I'm a bit hesitant about pushing my HTT up to 260, since according the tests I've done through Zebo's guide, 247-248 is my max safe speed. What do you guys think I should do?

If you can get 232 at 1:1 then you're looking at up to 278 at 5:4 (or close). Don't worry about a 'max safe speed' - there isn't such a thing, and I think if you mighta misinterpreted zebo. BUT there is such a thing as max safe voltage.

 

[Drunkentig3r]

Ok I was able to get 2.6 Ghz with 260 HTT X 10 CPU Multiplier. My games seem to be running more stable, and I dont appear to have any problems with Prime95. Only thing is, I'm still crashing at like the 4th test in 3DMark05. What could be the problem?

 

[Drunkentig3r]

Crash as in not just like my computer restarts or anything-I can still hear my PC running, but my monitor goes blank and I can't fix it just by turning it off then turning it back on again.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Originally posted by: Drunkentig3r
Crash as in not just like my computer restarts or anything-I can still hear my PC running, but my monitor goes blank and I can't fix it just by turning it off then turning it back on again.

Yeah, that's a crash alright. Any idea what your temps are? What kind of power supply are you using?

I'd recommend running prime95 for 8+ hours or until it fails, which will probably happen first. You could start backing down your HTT a couple of Mhz at a time until you can pass prime95 and 3dmark05.

I can boot into windows at over 3ghz, but there's no point since if I play a game for more than 10 minutes my system crashes.

 

[Drunkentig3r]

According to this temperature gauge program that came with my motherboard, I'm at about 35C when idling, and around 41C when playing a game. I'm using an Antec Smartpower 2.0 500W Power Supply-pretty good quality in my opinion. Well see, heres the thing-I went from a 248HTT X 10.5 Multiplier to a 260 HTT X 10 Multiplier setup, like you guys recommended. In both cases, 3DMark05 crashed around the 4th test or so. Now, the first setup I left Prime95 running way past 8 hours, and it had no problems passing the tests. While I hadn't left the second setup run Prime95 for as long, it ran 4-6 hours with no problems passing.

Whats even more confusing is that although 3DMark05 crashes, I have no problems running any games. So...what should I do?

 

[m1ldslide1]

That is confusing. I guess I have two things to input, one of which is that 3dmark05 is drawing a ton of power for the video card, which is different than what prime95 is doing. Make sure your 7800GT is powered correctly, and is using the rails that are rated at 18amps or whatever the highest available on that PSU. Also, on the PCIE boards I've worked with they've always required another 4-pin molex connection to the motherboard for extra PCI-E juice. You've undoubtedly already done this, but it seems worth mentioning.

Secondly, if your games work just fine and you have no system instability besides 3dmark05 crashing, then you could just go with the flow and not worry about it too much. But not knowing what games you're playing, I'm guessing that you'll have problems with games that suck as many resources as 3dmark05 does (FEAR, Oblivion, future titles).

All that aside, what happens when you go 250 x 10 @166mhz?

 

[Drunkentig3r]

I tried at 250X10 @ 166 Mhz like you said-same problem arises-I crash right around the 4th test. And yeah, my power supply came with a specially designated molex conection for PCI-E, so I have it firmly connected.

Well, I'm going to be getting Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion soon, and if I can run that game fine, I should be ok. So far I tried Call of Duty 2 with no problems.