Heat, BIOS settings and overclocking.

[uberowo]

I wasnt actually planning on overclocking.. that is, untill I stumbled across this board. You guys kinda got me interested in it again.. I haven't overclocked anything since I ran my P2 266 @ 337..

That said I find it kinda confusing now, lots have changed. Think you guys could give me some pointers? I did read the stickies, but they didnt really make everything clear to me..

First of all I'm running a 4800+ with a Zalman 7000 thingy (the copper one, no Alu). I might have to clean this off and reattach again, as I allready did this twice because of changing motherboards and stuff, long story. Point is I didnt really have anything proper to clean off the cpu and heatsink with, so I just used paper towels. Could this be the reason its running so hot? (47ish at idle.. admittedly its very hot these days so when summer passes I think the roomtemp would drop 5-7 degrees or so..)

The RAM is this one .. Seemed good to me but I havent really been paying attention since 1998. I just saw CL2 and figured that would do. I know nada about timings, HTT and stuff like that. The site says the RAM is CL2 but this is what CPU-Z says when I'm running everything at default .. Isnt that awfully crappy?

I have 4 HDs in the midi tower which is . this Lian Li .. Now the website shows a pic of how the airflow is supposed to work, but when installed the air "duct" thingy that is supposed putt air from the outside and on to the cpu, the cpu temp actually seemed to increase. Leaving me to think that the added air from the outside of the fan, might not weigh up for the size of that thing hindering the general airflow inside the cabinet.. Verdict is still out on that one I guess.. Thoughts? This is the
inside of my cabinet atm.

And finally, if someone has the patience to still be reading this, you might also have the patience to tell me what exactly I am supposed to change in the BIOS..
part 1
part 2

 

[jpeyton]

What kind of thermal paste are you using? You should clean the surface of the CPU and heatsink with some isopropyl alcohol (91% purity) and a cotton swab or ball.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

1. List your system specs, I see your CPU and ram but list your motherboard, PS, harddrives, GPU, ect...

2. Your links aren't working

3. 1024mb ram sticks won't overclock well if at all, so you will need to find the divider settings on you board and run your ram at a slower speed than the HTT

4. Very, very few 1024mb sticks will actually run CAS2, but you should be able to at least run CAS2.5

5. Always lower your HTT multi to 4x when overclocking, and 3x if HTT goes over 250mhz

 

[uberowo]

Ok sorry. Specs coming up and I think I fixed the picture links too.

Specs:
Epox 9NPA Ultra+
PSU is called MIST 500w. http://www.microplex.no/rubweb/php/rd.php?rd=MIST500BHE12&toc=5037
Harddrives: 2x WD Raptor 10k rpm disks in RAID 0. In addition one Maxtor 250gb 7200rpm and one WD 250gb 7200rpm.. All SATA.
GPU: Gainward 7800GTX Ultra/3500PCX Golden Sample.
RAM: Link to the shop above or pdf from Corsair here: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx2048-3200c2.pdf

What exactly is HTT? I didnt find that specific abbreviation in the BIOS. FSB is the same as "CPU Frequenzy" right?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Nice setup that should overclock well

HTT and FSB are usually used interchangeably. CPU mhz is calculated as follows.

HTT(FSB) x CPU multi = CPU mhz, in your case stock settings are

200 x 12 = 2400mhz or 2.4ghz


Overclocking is done by raising the HTT(FSB) above 200mhz, for example if you raise HTT(FSB) to 220mhz it gives you 220x12=2640mhz.

Your memory dividers should be labeled something like "memory freq" or "memory clock" or something like that. And should be values like 200,166,133,100, ect...

200 is usually the default and runs you memory at the same speed as HTT(FSB), and as you increase HTT the memory speed also increases

166 runs your memory at HTT*166/200, so if your HTT is set at 220 it would give you roughly a memory speed of 182mhz or DDR364. The rated DDR speed is 2x the memory bus speed.

As you increase HTT at some point you will have to increase the CPU volts or vcore to make it stable. So you will want to find the vcore setting in bios.

The Hypertransport speed on A64's is calculated as HTT x HTT multi = HT, stock settings are 200 x 5 = 1000. You want to keep this at 1000 or less, thats why you always want to lower your HT multi to 4x when you begin overclocking. Following the above example 220 x 4 = 880 (less than 1000=good)

I would recommend starting with

HTT multi 4x
HTT 220 mhz
CPU multi 12x (default)
Mem divider 166

It will probably boot with these settings without increasing vcore, if it doesn't bump vcore to 1.45-1.50 and try again.

Run Prime95 (free download) to test for stability, if its stable (no errors) then increase the HTT 3-5mhz at a time, testing stability as you go. Once you start getting errors bump the vcore again until you no longer get errors. You are safe with vcore up to 1.55 as long as you temps don't get much over 60c under load (after Prime95 has been running awhile)

 

[uberowo]

Aha, that actually helps a bit.

I can see the HTT/FSB thingy, and the clock multiplier for the CPU. I also see the Mem divider thing I think, atleast it allows me to choose from 133, 166 and 200 under Memory Frequenzy..

Still not entirely clear on where I can adjust that HTT multi thingy you refer to. Can you see it on one of my pics? Those two screens seem to be the ones relevant to overclocking. The screen with the RAM timings etc I should just ignore tho? Atleast for now?

jpeyton: I am using artic silver 5.. Gonna look into finding that stuff your talking about to clean the cpu.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Yes ignore the ram timings for now and leave them on Auto.

I don't see the HTT multi in the two screenies. It should either have options like

1x,2x,3x,4x,5x,Auto or 200mhz, 400mhz, 600mhz, 800mhz, 1000mhz, Auto


I will do a little research on your board and see if I can help you find it, because its really important for overclocking

 

[GuitarDaddy]

It is on the "Advanced chipset features" page, as shown in the top left screenshot

Here

 

[uberowo]

Aha, I found it then. It was on the menu 'above' the the one with all the RAM timings. Says 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, 5x or auto. So I tried all that stuff, and id killed itself trying to boot into windows every time, untill I upped the CPU voltage to 1.55. At that point it booted into windows on 12x220 with divider at 166 like you said, but it bluescreened when I ran the sisoft sandra cpu test. I think its to hot in here.. Gonna try again once I get the cpu+heatsink properly cleaned with something other then paper towels..

What to you think about the inside of my cabinet btw? Do you think it'll be cool enough? I think it seems a little to full.. The 4 hds and the 7800 probably make some heat too..

 

[uberowo]

On a side note; would I have been better off with 4x 512mb RAM? I noticed on the pics you linked, that guys RAM seems alot better then mine.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Wow, looks pretty crowded in there. How many case fans do you have just the one on the rear that shows in the picture?

Also I'm not familiar with the MIST power supply, but with all the stuff you have you may be overloading the PS?

Try dropping the HTT to 215 and keeping the CPU volts at 1.55, and the memory frequency at 166.

No, 2 x 1024 is better than 4 x 512, because with 4 x 512 you have to use 2T command rate, 1T is much better. It looks like the guy in the picture is using 2 x 512 which is always better for overclocking.

 

[uberowo]

Looks like I am using 2T anyway tho, atleast by default. But I allready bought 2x1gb anyway so I guess I'll stick with what I have and try to make the best of it.

About the PSU you can see its specs if you check out the link above. Apparently its a norwegian enthusiast-PSU with a design based om some sorta psu standard.. /shrug. I just bought it because it came highly recommended on a couple of norwegian sites. That and its supposed to be pretty quiet.. And it is.. But its probably not pushing alot of air because of the slowpaced single fan.

I just took a good hard look inside the cabinet, and I dont think its looking to good. Theres another two fans in the bottom front, but they are partially blocked by the two 250gb harddrives. Not only that, but theres a ton of cables in that area, and the PCIE display card is kinda long, so whatever air they might be getting passed the hds and cables seem to be blocked by that. Theres a rather large air pump turbine type thingy above the PCI slots that sucks air out of the cabinet, seems to be working pretty well, but the pump itself does get kinda hot. Not sure if thats just because of its close proximity to the GPU tho. The cabinet is sound isolated, which probably helps making it slightly warmer inside as well.

Think I'm gonna order a couple of those harddrive silencers so I can put them up front below the dvdr instead of blocking my airflow in the bottom. I'm considering water cooling to, but that seems like a lot of hassle.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I wouldn't worry to much, at stock settings your rig is an absolute monster. If you can get it up to 2.5, maybe 2.6 then all the better, but if not don't worry.