Help with my x2 3800

[The Blue Factor]

Hello new here to the forum but have been reading through others for the past few months. learning some great new things.

anyways i have a x2 3800 and i am having stability problems with the ram. wondering if some pro overclockers could give me some advice.

i have my cpu running at 2.6 right now with the htt set to 250 multi 10x and ldt set to 4x ram at 200. run 2 prime 95 18hours stable. no errors. but as soon as i bring my ram up to 333. computer wont even boot. put it in 400 computer boots but can prime for more then 1 min.

set the timing to 3-4-4-9 on my ram still fails. why? i have corsair xms 3200 c2pro 4 sticks of 512 on a asus a8n sli premium. been trying to figure out why? testing and testing and getting no where. reading and reading. ha ha ha.

also another question off the main subject but my (trc) keeps changing even though when im in bios, but as soon and i pull up cpuz it say 22 clocks. also on ram timing what would you say is "too loose"

 

[imported_grinch]

sounds like the problem I was having....end result........RMA'd ram for 2 x 1 gig stciks of pc4000


http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=194302

 

[Dadofamunky]

The RAM is not the problem. Also, it's king of hard to parse the dividers you're using. Are you saying that it runs fine ocing the memory to 250 MHz when the mobo is running the DDR400 default? Then when you're running the RAM at DDR333 it crashes? That doesn't make any sense. It should be more stable at DDR 333 as that will bring the FSB back down to the default rating of the RAM while still allowing OCing of the CPU, which is what really counts.

Start by scoping out Zebo's stickied thread on OCing, I learned a lot there....

Your multiplier is good. You also have a nice rig, be patient, you'll get there....

By the way, the OC is at 2.5 GHz.... still not bad at all.... I have a 4200+ and can't get it to OC at all, which I can still live with....

 

[The Blue Factor]

dadofamunky: i know it sounds crazy but it is totally true. check this out i did some test today so i could post it up tonight.

1. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr266 2-3-3-7 2t prime stable 4 hours on small and large ftt. (only 4 hours each cause i wanted to post tonight)

2. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr 333 3-4-4-9 2t. does not boot to windows just freezes at asus logo.

3. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr400 3-4-4-9 2t. try to run the large ftt not even 1 min one core fails.

right now i have it on 266 and the cpuz got it running at 173.9 freq. i think that is pretty weak, dont you think.

about zebo's overclocking guide... GOT IT... he he he lol. read through that think about 500 times already. lol. i dont know him but i have read a lot of things he has posted. one of the reasons i joined this forum. lots of people here seem to know what they are talking about.

help from anyone if they can. even if its just 2 cents.

grinch: read a lot about what you were saying. that might be it but i hopping not cause right now im deployed in Iraq and it would take me over a month and a half just to RMA something. lol

 

[stevty2889]

setting it to DDR400 runs it at 1:1, so you would be trying to run the ram at DDR500 with that setting. With the FSB to 250, and the 266mhz setting, it's running it at 173mhz, or DDR346, which is a little lower than what it's speced at, but you are running with 4 sticks, so any more is probably too much of a strain on the mem controller of the CPU..so the DDR333 setting is probably a bit too much for it to handle with 4 sticks. Remember those settings aren't what speed the ram is actualy running it, it's using a divider, so when you overclock the CPU, the ram is running at higher than what that setting is set to..

 

[The Blue Factor]

stevty 2889: so are you saying that maybe i have reached my peak at 173. would it be better to leave it at 2.6 cpu and 173 ram. or go with somehting like 2.2 cpu and 220 ram. i dont know which is better but most of the stuff that i ready say that cpu speed always wins.

 

[Zebo]

So you read the guide what was your max memory when you isolated it?

Are you giving 2.8 volts to memory?

 

[The Blue Factor]

the memory was stable at 240 when i did the test in your guide. dimm v is 2.9 right now. i was only going to over clock to 2.4 before but then when i got stuck on the ram i just started testing the cpu more and more and more and then i found myself at 2.6. now since i can hit 2.6 on the cpu i want to make that stable.

i read around and people say that my ram sucks and i should trade it in for 2 sticks of something else.

 

[Zebo]

What timings? It should work at 240 whatever timings you had.. whats your PSU? Oh and nothing wrong with 133 memsetting.. I'll take CPU Mhz over ram Mhz any day of the week.

 

[The Blue Factor]

i had the timing at 3-4-4-9 2t. it does the memtest fine but when i try to boot its all gay. it doesnt even want to boot at 333 divider. im guess but if it was at 333 divider then i would be somewhere in the low 200 range and that would be nice. but if you say that running it at 266 divder is fine too then i guess ill just have to live with it.

any thoughts on why its not booting at 333 divider?

 

[Dadofamunky]

Originally posted by: The Blue Factor
dadofamunky: i know it sounds crazy but it is totally true. check this out i did some test today so i could post it up tonight.

1. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr266 2-3-3-7 2t prime stable 4 hours on small and large ftt. (only 4 hours each cause i wanted to post tonight)

2. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr 333 3-4-4-9 2t. does not boot to windows just freezes at asus logo.

3. cpu 2.6 htt 260 multi 10x, ram set to ddr400 3-4-4-9 2t. try to run the large ftt not even 1 min one core fails.

right now i have it on 266 and the cpuz got it running at 173.9 freq. i think that is pretty weak, dont you think.

about zebo's overclocking guide... GOT IT... he he he lol. read through that think about 500 times already. lol. i dont know him but i have read a lot of things he has posted. one of the reasons i joined this forum. lots of people here seem to know what they are talking about.

help from anyone if they can. even if its just 2 cents.

grinch: read a lot about what you were saying. that might be it but i hopping not cause right now im deployed in Iraq and it would take me over a month and a half just to RMA something. lol

Holy crap. Care to describe for us how you purchased or ordered your iron? Did you buy it all in Baghdad? Don't tell me they have PC parts emporiums over there now. Good luck and come home safe.

I think the big thing holding you back is having four sticks of RAM. I did the same thing and gave up on it. Are you running Battlefield 2 on it? Not like you'd need to, given where you are, I think that's probably more sensory input than any man could stand

 

[The Blue Factor]

dadofamunky: well there is no computer stores here in iraq sorry to say. ha ha ha. but what i can say is that "once you know you newegg" lucky thing newegg ships to APO's if not i would be in a world of hurt. lol. thanks for the the luck on coming home safe.

you might be right about the 4 sticks, i have read a lot about people having a hard time with 4 and give up and go with the 2 but i dont have a choice really. so im just going to stick with the 4.

tweeked out again all day on the computer trying to find the best. so now i have given up and left it with what i got since i still cant get it to run on the 333 divider.

so i bumped up the cpu speed to 2.66 multi at 10 used a 266 divider with the 4 sticks of corsair @ 2-3-3-6. cpuz says 2600 cpu speed, 178 ram. ran 2 primes for 6 hours and it was good no errors. then i played FEAR for about a hour and a half and it ran good. no BSOD. tomorrow im going to try and run prime longer. also i will try and run BF2 for about 2 hours too if i have enough time.

last thing i want to say thanks to you guys for all your help.

SUPPORT THE TROOPS

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: The Blue Factor
stevty 2889: so are you saying that maybe i have reached my peak at 173. would it be better to leave it at 2.6 cpu and 173 ram. or go with somehting like 2.2 cpu and 220 ram. i dont know which is better but most of the stuff that i ready say that cpu speed always wins.

Definatly go with the higher CPU speed, running the ram with a divider has very little performance impact, while dropping the CPU speed by 400mhz, would have a rather large impact. My ram runs fine at DDR400 at stock speeds, but overclocked I use a divider, running it at around DDR375. I can use another divider to run it at DDR402, but it isn't stable, so I think overclocking puts too much strain on the mem controller, but it doesn't really effect performance enough for me to worry about.

 

[The Blue Factor]

well i dont mind running the ram on a divider but i just wish i could get it back up to 200(ddr400) my board only gives me 400 which is 1:1 333, 266, 200. right now its on 266 but i would have been much more happy with the 333 divder.