I am sad...only 200 MHz overclock on my Opteron

[Fike]

Well, I got my opteron 175 last night and got it running. It only overclocked to 2.4 GHz.

--woe is me---

My old chip was a San Diego 3700 running at 2.7 GHz.

I know that my new chip will be better at photoshop and multitasking, but I am sad.

Tell me that I am better off with the 2.4 GHz Opteron than the 2.7 GHz San Diego.

DETAILS
Old chip: HTT 245, multiplier 11, memory divider 166--result 2.7 GHz CPU and 192MHz RAM. 44/45 degrees C under full load for hours on stock cooling with no extra voltage.

New chip: HTT 240, multiplier 10, memory divider 166--result 2.4 GHz CPU and 200 MHz RAM 50/51 degrees C under full load for hours on stock coolingwith no extra voltage.

I guess I will keep fiddling with it to try to get another 100 MHz out of it, but I am not optimistic. I don't like to do extreme cooling. Water cooling is out of the question for me. Seems excessive. I used the stock cooler with the parafin pad. I will probably take it off and replace with Arctic silver. That may get me another 2 degrees.

 

[A554SS1N]

An opty is virtually the same core as the sandy - they are both 1mb cache and both the same architecture, they will perform exactly the same clock for clock - go back to the 3700+.

 

[Lord Banshee]

Don't listen to A554SS1N, Dual Core is much better than the single Core San Diego.
i need extra voltage to get my opteron at 2.6 you too. (my opteron gets 2.4 no extra volts also)

I too went from a 2.7Ghz Single Core down to my current Dual Core and with only 100Mhz difference single core task seem just as fast. Just add some Vcore and see if you can get to 2.6 i am sure you can.

 

[n7]

Dual core is always nice.

I highly doubt you'll feel any difference between the two, except for when heavily mutitasking, where the Opty will be much faster.

 

[Fike]

Originally posted by: Lord Banshee
Don't listen to A554SS1N, Dual Core is much better than the single Core San Diego.
i need extra voltage to get my opteron at 2.6 you too. (my opteron gets 2.4 no extra volts also)

I too went from a 2.7Ghz Single Core down to my current Dual Core and with only 100Mhz difference single core task seem just as fast. Just add some Vcore and see if you can get to 2.6 i am sure you can.

My temps are already a bit high. I like to keep my high temps around 50 degrees C. Will overvolting help me to keep temps down? That seems counterintuitive.

 

[Lord Banshee]

damn sorry did not see you have high temps... you should buy a better cooler.. I think the opteron cooler is good but the fan isn't and it is loud. My setup is pretty silent at idle and i get around 30*C from my dual Core and around 45*C during load if i remember right.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Your problem is obviously your 3gbs of ram won't overclock past 200mhz. The reason you got higher with the 3700+ is it has the 11x multi. You need a higher FSB with the opty, so you need to drop the ram divider to 133. That should let you get higher

 

[Fike]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Your problem is obviously your 3gbs of ram won't overclock past 200mhz. The reason you got higher with the 3700+ is it has the 11x multi. You need a higher FSB with the opty, so you need to drop the ram divider to 133. That should let you get higher

Actually I tried it at 11x and HTT 220 with the same temp results. I think my problem here is temps more than anything. The 10x was just an easier multiplier to use to get a full 200 MHz out of my RAM.

Maybe I will get a better fan, but my understanding is that the opteron heatsink and fan are very good.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

50-51c under load is not a problem, and won't cause instability. Most X2's don't start becoming unstable due to heat until you start approching 60c.

Not saying better cooling won't help, I just don't think it's stopping your O/C.
What vcore have you tried?

Temps will always increase as you overclock regardless of wether you increase volts or not. And bumping vcore to achieve stability doesn't always increase temps.

I use up to 1.55v on my X2's as long as temps stay in the 55-56c range or less under full load for a few hours

 

[Lord Banshee]

i agree <60*C full load (prime or S&M or many others) is perfectly fine.

 

[Noubourne]

You went from one core at 45C to TWO cores at 50C. That's not bad!

Under 60 should be fine.

FWIW, I saw a 10C difference between stock Opty heatpiped cooler and my Infinity.

That could buy you some headroom for voltage.

 

[Fike]

Originally posted by: Noubourne
You went from one core at 45C to TWO cores at 50C. That's not bad!

Under 60 should be fine.

FWIW, I saw a 10C difference between stock Opty heatpiped cooler and my Infinity.

That could buy you some headroom for voltage.

What is the model of the Infinity heatsink and fan. I am a bit overwhelmed by all the heatsink/fan combos. It seems that by the time that a good review comes out, the manufacturers discontinue all the models and come out with new model #s.

Based upon this review, I didn't t think I would do much better than the stock Opteron heatsink and fan combo.
Opteron Heatsink Review

I haven't seen any buzz about this heatsink anywhere but this website. Is this bogus info or does it just annoy people who spent mucho $$$ on their cool looking heatsink and fan with LEDs all over it?

 

[Zap]

If that's the heatsink you have, just keep it.

As already mentioned, add more voltage - in moderation of course. Beyond that, maybe this is just a not so good clocker. I had three Opteron 144 chips. Two were good 2.7GHz with minimal vcore. The third was barely 2.3GHz, if that. All tested using same hardware. Today I just got in my second A64 4000+ from Newegg. First one is really happy at 3.12GHz. Second one is barely happy at around 2.78GHz (different hardware though).

Overclocking is like lap dances, YMMV.

 

[m1ldslide1]

I did the same upgrade, from a 3700 (at 2.7) to my 175. I had to raise the vcore to 1.45 to get it to OC past 2400, and I'm at a wall again at 260x10. I haven't tried any higher than 1.45.

I'd personally point the finger at your memory, but then again you got a great OC on the last CPU. What's the memory max? Like with a 7x multiplier at 1:1 how high can you crank it up? I top out at 245 or so with my setup, but I can't hold it at 1:1 once I start upping the multiplier.

 

[SparkyJJO]

What is the stepping of the chip? My opteron 165 CCBBE 0617FPMW is at 2.81GHz with stock volts, and I hit 3GHz with 1.4V (need a little more to make fully stable and I can't keep it there due to temperature problems). I did have to pop the IHS off to do so though, I had a bad IHS mount and my load temps were aweful, mid-50's at stock speed with a zalman CNPS9500 :Q Popped the lid, now I'm clocked up and still running cooler than I was before popping the IHS

 

[Fike]

My stepping is the 0551CCBWE one that sucks. Still, I want to get all I can out of it.

Today, I got it running at 2508 MHz with HTT=228, x11, and 5/6(166) memory divider, 1.4V Vcore. It ran stable with blended test for 5 minutes and with CPU torture test for 5 minutes. Top temp was 52 degrees C. Later it ran blended for 15 minutes. I am currently running the test while at work. If I get 8 or 10 hours, I will call it stable.

Using the same config and HTT 230 won't boot. I think my limitation is a combination of cheap RAM and poor FSB performance. On the last processor (3700), I couldn't get the FSB much past 245, which was where I had it. On the Opteron, I tried HTT 240 at 11x and 2/3(133) RAM divider. It posted, but wouldn't boot to windows. I don't know why, but that sounds like a RAM problem to me. It would seem that if the FSB were the issue, it wouldn't even post.

My board doesn't support higher Vcore, but I am wondering if monkeying with my memory timings would be a good place to start. I think I have the temperature headroom to go to 2.6 GHz. I just need to get the RAM to like it. I think I should be able to get HTT 240 at 11X with 5/6 memory.

Investing in better DDR RAM seems like a poor choice today, considering that my next upgrade will require DDR2.

 

[m1ldslide1]

Have you tried lowering your multiplier to 10x to see if you can crank up your HTT any higher? I've always had better luck at 10x with 4:5 than I've had at 11x with any divider. For some reason my two CPU's just get cranky at 11x.

 

[Fike]

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
Have you tried lowering your multiplier to 10x to see if you can crank up your HTT any higher? I've always had better luck at 10x with 4:5 than I've had at 11x with any divider. For some reason my two CPU's just get cranky at 11x.

I did try that. HTT 250, 10X, 2/3 memory seemed to be okay, but at 166, the RAM speed was lower than what I currently have. I got through a preliminary 5 minute blend and 5 minute torture test. If I used the higher 5/6 memory divider that would take the RAM to 208.33. I haven't yet been able to get the RAM stable past 200.

I also don't think my BIOS supports 4/5. I only have 1:1, 5:6, 2:3 and 1:2.

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: Fike

Originally posted by: m1ldslide1
Have you tried lowering your multiplier to 10x to see if you can crank up your HTT any higher? I've always had better luck at 10x with 4:5 than I've had at 11x with any divider. For some reason my two CPU's just get cranky at 11x.

I did try that. HTT 250, 10X, 2/3 memory seemed to be okay, but at 166, the RAM speed was lower than what I currently have. I got through a preliminary 5 minute blend and 5 minute torture test. If I used the higher 5/6 memory divider that would take the RAM to 208.33. I haven't yet been able to get the RAM stable past 200.

I also don't think my BIOS supports 4/5. I only have 1:1, 5:6, 2:3 and 1:2.

So what's wrong with running the RAM under 200Mhz? Bandwidth isn't going to be a performance factor, unless you start getting down to 166Mhz.

 

[Antikristuseke]

well, i have the same board and the actual dividers available to you are cpu speed divided by 11, 14 and something iv never used, it doesnt actualy use ratios like that. Sounds that you just got a bad steping since my 165 has no problem with doing 2.8 with the stock hs and fand while the temps dont go past 52c under load at 1.4v. From what i have seen on the internet it seems to me that most 165's overclock better than 175's but then again, this is just from browsing forums and such, no real research.
As for geting mem stable past 200, if your chips are bad you are out of luck since this board is only capable of providing either 2.6 or 2.7v

 

[Fike]

I think I have gotten to 2.55 GHz. Better than before, but still not great. I was hoping to make at least 2.6 GHz. The current setup is 11X HTT 232, 1.4V CPU, RAM divider of 166 CAS Latency of 3 and a .1 overvolt of RAM. High temp is 54 and idle is 38. I tried the same setup at an HTT of 237 and it failed tests within 5 minutes.

I may stick with this for a few days. I have to decide wheter or not to put the OCW BIOS on the system to see if it will go farther.

 

[Fike]

Originally posted by: Antikristuseke
well, i have the same board and the actual dividers available to you are cpu speed divided by 11, 14 and something iv never used, it doesnt actualy use ratios like that. Sounds that you just got a bad steping since my 165 has no problem with doing 2.8 with the stock hs and fand while the temps dont go past 52c under load at 1.4v. From what i have seen on the internet it seems to me that most 165's overclock better than 175's but then again, this is just from browsing forums and such, no real research.
As for geting mem stable past 200, if your chips are bad you are out of luck since this board is only capable of providing either 2.6 or 2.7v

Yes. I definitely got a bad stepping. I went for the 175 over the 165 to get the higher multiplier. If I got the same stepping in a 165, I would be worse off than I am now.

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: Fike

Originally posted by: Noubourne
You went from one core at 45C to TWO cores at 50C. That's not bad!

Under 60 should be fine.

FWIW, I saw a 10C difference between stock Opty heatpiped cooler and my Infinity.

That could buy you some headroom for voltage.

What is the model of the Infinity heatsink and fan. I am a bit overwhelmed by all the heatsink/fan combos. It seems that by the time that a good review comes out, the manufacturers discontinue all the models and come out with new model #s.

Based upon this review, I didn't t think I would do much better than the stock Opteron heatsink and fan combo.
Opteron Heatsink Review

I haven't seen any buzz about this heatsink anywhere but this website. Is this bogus info or does it just annoy people who spent mucho $$$ on their cool looking heatsink and fan with LEDs all over it?

XP 90 was great in its day. An Infinity, Tuniq Tower, or Ninja would destroy it though. Just like your stock Opty cooler.

I agree the Opty heatpiped cooler is equal to an XP-90, I've seen that in other reviews too. It's no match for a Ninja, Inifnity, or Tuniq Tower though.

 

[Fike]

I might consider an upgraded heatsink and fan, but I really don't want it to be any louder. The last time I got an overclocking heatsink fan combo, the thing whined like a 400 pound bumble bee sitting on my head.