Help me with my little problem stuck at 235fsb

[Circaflex]

Ok well heres my setup:
2.8C M0 with the sl6z5
P4C800 Deluxe
1gb matched pair kingston hyperx pc3200
Zalman cnps7000alcu

Now i have done the following:
fsb 235 (giving me 3.3ghz)
5:4 Ratio with ram running around 188
Timings are at 2-2-3-6
Vcore at 1.65
Vdimm at 2.85
agp voltage at 1.6
disabled spread spectrum
disabled ich delay transaction
performance is on standard
and my temps are really good idle 23 load nothing above 35
Northbridge cooler is passive (some say this makes a big difference not too sure though)

Now i cant seem to get past 235 stable, im stable right now im able to benchmark and play games fine but after 235 its a no go, i did memtest on stock speeds and this and they passed i also have done the sandra burnin wizard and it was fine, my question is what can be holding me back? Should i maybe let spd determine the timings?

 

[Duvie]

I see the Asus cpu temps are as laughable as ever....Dream on if anyone thinks those are realistic....


Here is the problem I am seeing with many of you ocers around here...You don't follow the right order and if you did the answer to your questions would be far more easy to diagnos....

When you ocing you should always try to keep the ram very conservative UNTIL you find the limit of the cpu.....Cpu speed is the most important thing whenit comes to performance hands down...The ram speed no where near as important....timings and speeds at a given clocks are just tweaks and should be done last after you have found the cpus limit....BY failing to use conservative or ridiculously low ratios and speeds you cannot rule out ram and thus it as a variable can hamper you clock speed....


I say turn the ratio to 3:2 and keep timings at spd and find out when that cpu needs anymore then default vcore....If that happen at 3.2ghz then it is likely your cpu and its ability that is hampering you.....

That 1.65v...is it the bios setting?? If so then you are likely giving it more like 1.7v actual and beware....

I know you are going to say I memested it...Big deal....You still did things out of a logical order and is why now you are asking questions....

I wouldn't want to venture a guess cause I don't know the right marks I need to know...

1) where was the last speed the cpu ran at default vcore or 1.53v actual vcore....Now I know the asus mobo overvolts (I hope you do as well) so 1.525v in the bios is likely 1.57-158v...tell me when that limit was hit and I can tell you, you probably can't do more then 3-5 fsb before 1.65v actual doesn't cut it anymore....


The passive cooling can make a difference but you are relatively low at 235fsb and I don't think it really starts coming an issue until post 250's....

 

[Circaflex]

so should i just put vcore on auto timings on spd and bump my fsb up to anything unstable then give it some more juice then max out around 1.625 and mess with timings later, and switch to the 3:4 ratio, but i heard on a higher fsb that ratio gives the ram a really low performance

 

[Duvie]

Here is a pretty good method.....

Start with default setting at vcore but do take a look at the hardware monitor, asus probe, and/or any monitoring software and see what the actual vcore is....Like I said Asus mobos overvolt from what is set in the bios...just a fact of life...

PLace the vagp at 1.6v...place the vdimm at 2.8v...set the ram ratio to 5:4 but cas settings to spd....until you get to 250fsb those should be safe conservative timings...


now start at 210fsb...boot and run prime95 (2 instances) or superpi/ prime95(1 instance) with another asay tmpgenc (mpeg2 encoding/ or divx encoding) with 1 instance of prime95....The key here is to load it at max to check power stress and heat....Try to run something that will last 1 hour at least for now....

After successful 1 hour then stop and boot to 215 and do all over....then 220...then 225...then 230

Once you hit speed that is unstable or fails...then back up say 2-3 fsb and try again but this time let it run for 4-6 hours at least....If it passes we will say this is the line (give or take 1-2 fsb but that should be sufficient)....

Then from my experience with these p4c's that you can get 4-5 fsb from default 1.525v actual to 1.58v actual...then about 3 more fsb until you hit 1.65v...It tails off fast nd after 1.65v you may only get 1fsb to get 1.7v stable.....

Once you get to the limit you like which I think 1.65 or less actual should be the max then start bringin the timings down and run memtest for 10 passes and if it passes then go back into windows and run pime again for 4-6 hours at least....


I say 4-6 hours at least cause for most that may be fine...I usually set it up before I go to bed or got to work and let it run until I come back...Sometimes that gives me 8-14 hours and that is sufficient to me....

I also say after prime make sure the apps you run are running fine...I have seen false prime95 passes only to have it fail in other test...That was mainly with my old p4b chip but p4cs have ben pretty solid for me if they pass prime95 8-14, memtest overnight, and 6 hour tmpgenc test....

 

[Circaflex]

should i have performance mode on standard, turbo, or off?

 

[Duvie]

Right now I would run off....

 

[Circaflex]

took your advice and well got somewhere. ive gained a little, i set my vcore to default and timings to spd, and i was able to hit 228 at default vcore upped it to 1.6 and made it pass an 10 hour prime test over night, i went up to 235 and the test crashed after 2 hours so i upped the vcore to 1.625 and it passed i went up a few fsb and gonna see how it does, i might need to up it to 1.65 to hit 240 i think if i keep stressing it and burning it in i might get some more. after i find out my max fsb ill mess with timings untill then cheers off to stress this one now

 

[Duvie]

If you need 1.625v to pass at 235fsb I imagine you may not even get 237 to run at 1.65v....Remember you are running an asus mobo and it overvolts....1.625v set in bios may be 1.68v and I DO NOT RECOMMEND going any higher...A) not worth the heat of the added vcore...b) Not worth the measly mhz you pick up of neglible perfomance increase for the added vcore and heat....


Also I need to take note to mention that "BURN IN" is a term that means to stress or test for stability....BUrn in however is a myth when employed to the theory that running a certain vcore for a period makes it easily to achieve higher overclocks or achieve fsb you previosly could not obtain at a given vcore....It is a total farce and has been covered multiple times and explained by able body intel engineers with degrees in this field...In actuality the moment you send voltage through the chips you theoretically are already starting to break down the gates and degrad the performance...the diference is with default vcore Intel had tested for you to last a given amount of hours that is likely to last you 10 years plus....The more you boost vcore above that point you are taking life off of that chip by accelerating the breakdown....