getting artifacts after overclocking the processor? (p4/ic7) Solutions?

[jhbball]

Well, I'm overclocking a 3.0c system i built, and I'm having some trouble overclocking.

The system is..
3.0c
IC7
Zalman 7000a cooler -- temps 40 load, 25sys/28psu (C)
HyperX 3500
330 antec df psu
9800 Pro

Anyway, I when I set the fsb 1:1 anything greater than 233 in the bios, I get visual artifacts when playing warcraft III (only game on my computer atm). The artifacts aren't white dots, or the usual "artifact" one may see while overclocking a videocard, they're like a quick "flash" of a line or segment which souldn't be there. The game runs perfectly stable, minus the artifacts. My question, what causes this?
Are their any solutions? If i'm getting artifacts, but the game is stable, it leads me to believe that it's a cooling problem of some sort? Maybe the northbridge?

 

[high]

your pci/agp is locked right? NB cooling always helps too, but you have active now so it really shouldn't be a problem.

 

[jhbball]

yup, i have it set to fixed 33/66. Any other ideas? Does this sound like a board or a proc issue?

 

[jhbball]

up?

 

[Duvie]

Actually since the agp is locked it shouldn't be the motherboard....I would however makes sure the bios is version 17 or greater and raise the vagp voltage to 1.6v...don't worry that will be totally safe. the board does undervolt on all rails and so maybe the vid card needs a bit more of juice.

It definitely is not the cpu trust me.

It could be the ram you have is not 100% stable or overheating...try dropping the timings or the ratio to 5:4 and see if problem persist.

 

[Duvie]

Also in my experience that antec 330 watt power supply is a little weak on the 12v rail for ocing a 3.0c ghz cpu....List me all the voltage rails at idle and load as seen by the hardware monitor.

 

[jhbball]

well, i tested upped the agp voltage, and fooled around with the other voltages, but I still get the same problem of visual corruption.



so this pretty much leaves me with the board as the problem?

 

[jhbball]

another question... how easy is it to remove the nb heatsink from the board? would i have to take it out of my case?

 

[Duvie]

Did you lower the ram speed and timings???


To be safe at least lay the case on its side...Unplug ofcourse and ground yourself....Make sure as you unhook the two hooks you try to hold the heatsink from moving or rocking. It should have a pad underneath (felt like) that rotect the core somewhat...Clean up the goop with rubbing alcohol...apply some AS and then rehook it back on with the same carefulness....

I don't think it is heat with the northbridge, but I could be wrong....I have never had mine act like that when I knew heat was a factor...

Again what are the voltages being reported???

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Did you lower the ram speed and timings???


To be safe at least lay the case on its side...Unplug ofcourse and ground yourself....Make sure as you unhook the two hooks you try to hold the heatsink from moving or rocking. It should have a pad underneath (felt like) that rotect the core somewhat...Clean up the goop with rubbing alcohol...apply some AS and then rehook it back on with the same carefulness....

I don't think it is heat with the northbridge, but I could be wrong....I have never had mine act like that when I knew heat was a factor...

Again what are the voltages being reported???

k, a few things.


first, to actually remove the heatsink though, do i need to remove the actual motherboard from the case? When I had my nforce2 system, I had to remove the NB sink by pushing pins from the back of the motherboard. Are you saying I don't need to do that with the p4 nb sink? I'll try to apply some AS, just to make sure.


second, here is my voltage reading:

Vcore 1.50
DDR 2.59
+3.3v 3.28
+5v 4.95
+12v 11.86
VDDQ 1.54
VTT 1.28
Vbat 3.26
5vsb 4.99

Also, the timings on my ram are @ 3448, the default settings.



Thanks

 

[Duvie]

Wow that VTT voltage is quite low and that would be related to the mobo likely...do you have your ram set to vdimm of 2.8v??? If not do it...that VTT is very low but all the other rails look OK....


The NB on the mobo has to hook that attach to eye hook bolted to board....You do not need to do anything like the Nforce mobo you had....The only reason you may take it out if you have big hands and can't work within the video card and the heatsinkon the cpu, or you have a zalman heatsink and can't get to the NB very easily...

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Wow that VTT voltage is quite low and that would be related to the mobo likely...do you have your ram set to vdimm of 2.8v??? If not do it...that VTT is very low but all the other rails look OK....


The NB on the mobo has to hook that attach to eye hook bolted to board....You do not need to do anything like the Nforce mobo you had....The only reason you may take it out if you have big hands and can't work within the video card and the heatsinkon the cpu, or you have a zalman heatsink and can't get to the NB very easily...

alright, well, i'm gonna reseat the memory (maybe try slots 2&4), and apply some artic silver to the board. I really hope the problem isn't with the ram...


Anyway, i'll keep you posted. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

 

[jhbball]

well, looks like i solved the problem! i reseated the ram in slots 2&4, and applied some as to the nb.


thanks for the help!

 

[Duvie]

One thing I was concerned about is the VTT on the abit mobo is directly related to the vagp which should be at default near 1.5v....1.28v is extremely low....MIne runs at 1.48v when set to 1.5v and under load fluctuates to like 1.47v at the lowest....

I think you may have got the numbers VDDQ and VTT backwards...Please check it!!

 

[jhbball]

nope, the way i had was correct. though, for some reason, it's much higher now.


my vtt now reads as 1.39. I also reseated the videocard now that i think about it, maybe that helped?



is 1.39 acceptable?