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Helping a friend OC, cant get past 190 fsb on barton.

M

mrgoblin

Golden Member
Im helping a friend oc a 2500+ barton. Basically its running 190 fsb with an 11 multiplier. I tried going for max fsb but the thing will just not go past 190. Im using 512 mb stick of corsair xms 3200. The memory I thought was defective but extensive testing showed it to be fine. THe processor is 39C under load and 31 idle so its not that. I think it might be the stock northbridge cooler on the nf7-s. Currently its at 1.75 volts with 1.6 volts on the setup and agp is default. I tried putting down the mult to push the memory but max was 195. I think its the nbridge but id like you opinion. THanks!
 
I'll admit I am no overclocker, but first, how do you define the "max" FSB? it seems to me the max assured FSB for a Barton is 333MHz or 400MHz (and I don't recall if the 2500+ comes in a 400MHz FSB model). Even though I am not an OC'er I do know that nothing is assured, and maybe the CPU and/or RAM simply can not do anymore than 190. I don't see how that is bad, considering it should be at 166. Just my .02.

\Dan
 
hmmm dont think its the NB... my bro has a passive NB on his nforce2 board and it has his 2500+ at 200 @ 1.7v... have you tried setting the ram at 'optimal' or 'by speed'? try setting it at 3-3-3-8 first...
 
AFAIK the Abit NF7-S undervolts, so you might need to up your vcore even more. 1.75V sounds safe enough, and if your temps aren't that high I would give it more juice. What HSF are you using btw? My dad's 2500+ on a GC68 won't even go past 180MHz, and my load temps are like almost 60C. I'm able to boot up and reach windows even at 200MHz, but Prime95 would fail very soon 🙂
 
I am well aware of what the Barton CPU is and have seen what it can do. I have a 2800+ Barton myself. "Enthusiast" or not, there are no gaurantees when you overclock. One Barton 2500+ may reach over 200MHz while another one may not be stable at any but the slightest overclock. The bottom line is still that his particular 2500+ may not get to 200MHz. In any event, good luck.

\Dan
 
For Goi, im using a vantec 110+ cfm fan with a thermalright slk 900a. Im getting 39 under load( well cooled room/case) For Pliotronx, when I crank it past 190, it errors in prime 95 on test 1. At 193 it would pass test one but not 2. Same for 192 and I didint have time to try 191 as he had to go to work. Ill get another shot at it this week.
 
Very interesting. Usually when P95 errs that quickly it means not enough VCore and/or too much heat in the CPU. Have you tried Memtest86? Memtest's tests #4 and #5 are particularly stressful due to the caching by the CPU. My NF7-S has problems above 192MHz in test #5 at about 95% through the test each time. Even with 1.95v (VDD mod) and a Zalman w/40mm fan on the NB.

I don't think it's the CPU either as it doesn't have anything to do with the FSB as far as stability. Although there was a bug in earlier revisions of NF7 boards that caused instability above a certain point with a default 166MHz FSB chip (like the Barton 2500+). I'm not sure if Abit addressed the issue in later BIOS versions but the way to fix it was to kill an L5 bridge I think (don't quote me on that, try searching around Abit's forums or Xtreme Systems).

Some things to try but I don't know if they'll do it:
  • Chipset voltage to 1.7v
  • AGP to your cards max transfer rate or just 4X
  • CPU Interface disabled (although if it doesn't help stability, always keep this on for best performance)
  • Make sure AGP frequency is set to 66MHz
  • Spread spectrum for FSB and AGP disabled
  • Enhanced PCI performance disabled (but same deal as CPU interface)
  • Set memory divider to 5:4 just for poops and giggles (same as CPU interface though)
  • Memory divider to 3:3, 5:5, or 6:6
  • Replacing the grease on the NB with Arctic Silver/Ceramique and/or a new cooler altogether
  • Set kernel in Windows (in device manager under Computer/top branch, set its driver from "ACPI uniprocessor" to ACPI compliant computer or what the other is called") then reboot and go to advanced settings in the BIOS and disable APIC but again if it doesn't help with stability, leave it enabled but you'll have to change the kernel back to uniprocessor 🙂
Good luck, I know how frustrating it is to be just shy of the 200MHz mark 😱
 
My NF7-S Rev 2.0 is set at 1.8Vcore in the BIOS but AIDA32 reads 1.74V-1.76V.

If the barton isnt locked, reduce the multiplier. It may be a case that the chip cant do 200x11 at that voltage....
 
I doubt it is the NB cooler, even the stock cooler is enough to cool that chip. The board is rated for 200MHz FSB so you are not overclocking the NB chip.

Try raising the CAS to 2.5 at least and the T(RAS) to 11. And PliotronX's suggestions are all good, too. 🙂
 
Well I tried doing what you guys said and I couldnt get it past 194 stable. Basically 195 was p95 stable for an hour and then it failed so we backed off and 95 was fine at 12 hours. I tried swapping the memory for mine and it didint change anything. Im thinking its either the NB or the chip. Tried the settings you guys mentioned but it didint improve to 200. Anything else?
 
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