memory and cpu question

[Paintballfreak66]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
Bummer, sorry to hear of all your troubles. It could well be your PS, have you checked the voltages on the three rails 12v 5v and 3.3v using Asus probe under load? Generic PS's are generally bad news for O/C even if they have a high wattage ratting.

I would also try Priming with 250mhz HTT, a low multi like 8, and DDR200 mem setting. If you still get errors in prime, this could be an indication that the board isn't getting enough stable voltage to sustain a high HTT. Where you able to run high HTT with your previous CPU?

If you think memory timings could be the problem, loosen them up to like 3-4-4-10.

Keep your chin up and keep pluggin you will eventually find the problem

my timings were already @ 3-4-410 lol. I used this psu on a p4 cpu and only had my fsb @ like 150. I'm getting a new psu and a pair of ddr500 512 mb because one of my comp buddies said that sometimes with new mobos your memory need a partner to rebound off of in case something fails on one module, or something to that extent. I already tried lowering the memory setting and I still got the errors so maybe it is the psu. anyways thanks for the help, I'll be sure to update when I get my new stuff. thanks

EDIT: and omfg I almost broke my mobo in half trying to install that godforsaken stock heatsink from amd. geeez my finger is going to hurt for weeks

 

[Paintballfreak66]

bump

 

[Paintballfreak66]

bump

 

[Paintballfreak66]

Ok I lowered my htt to 200 and multi is a t 11 and I'm passing memory tests. I'm thinking the errors were caused by my p.o.s psu because it couldn't maintain a higher steady voltage. I'm getting a new psu as I said and hopefully that will fix it.

 

[Furen]

it seems like your system is having problems with the HTT at 250, more than anything else. Have you tried raising the htt slowly (like 10MHz at a time) to check when, exactly, it starts giving errors.

Another thing: You did lower your hypertransport multiplier, right? I've never had my systems give me HTT frequency related instability (they work or they dont) but I've never used a via k8 chipset.

 

[Paintballfreak66]

I don't know if my mobo has that option I know its at 1000

 

[Paintballfreak66]

bump

 

[Furen]

ok, your bios being at 1000 hypertransport means that you are using the 5x multiplier, so I'd guess that's what's wrong. Lower the hypertransport frequency to 800 between 210-250 HTT and to 600 from 251-333 or so, that will keep it within spec and hopefully you wont have problems.

 

[theMan]

the problem is that asus hasnt come out with a E4 stepping supporting bios that has working memory dividers. you should be using 1013. it still sucks but thats the best you can do. 2:1 ddr400 means should mean that the ram runs with the htt. have you been running memtest?

 

[Paintballfreak66]

I have 1013 already. flashed it yesterday morning. Furen are you sure that is the problem?

yeah I've been running prime 95 and at 200x11 I get no memory errors

 

[Furen]

IF you have hypertransport set to 1000 and you raise your htt to 250 then your hypertransport would be 1250. Some motherboards can overclock the hypertransport half-decently but most require it to be at 1000MHz actual speed or less (the 1000 setting basically means it will multiply the htt by 5, so 200x5 = 1000). It MIGHT be the problem, just dropping the hypertransport frequency wont really hurt performance since the bandwidth is way way too much in a single socket system and there is no traffic to ram over it.

Just try it, it might end up fixing your problems and if it doesnt then there's one less possible source of problems.

EDIT: By the way, it may be called LDT multiplier or something of the sort... I think...

 

[Paintballfreak66]

well for now I have ddr333 in my system until I get my replacement ddr500 so I'll wait until I get that to jack it back to 250x11 and I'll try that if I get errors again. like I said, at 200x11 I get no memory errors.

when you say drop the hyper transport frequency you mean the number that says 1000 next to hypertransport and change that to like 800? because I can't adjust a "hyper transport multiplier" or not that I can tell

 

[Furen]

yes, set it down to 800 or even 600 if you go higher on your overclock

 

[Furen]

bah, never mind... I'm just impatient

 

[Paintballfreak66]

Alright, I just got my new psu and 2 sticks of 512 ddr500 in and my settings are as follows:
cpu @ 250 x 10 and 1.55 vcore
memory at 2:1 (dd4 400) and voltage set on auto
hypertransport works on either 800 or 1000
so it boots up now on 2:1 but I'm getting the same errors. I set htt from 1000 to 800 and still got the errors. My mobo doesn't like me to mess with the ddr voltage settings. It seems to nowt want to boot when I adjust it. Have yet to run prime95 just because I know what will happen. I will fail miserably as before. So what do I try next?

ahh yes and in cpu-z it shows my memory running at 250Mhz

 

[Paintballfreak66]

ok I am now at 250x 10 n 1.625V
memory is still at 2:1 and now 2.7 volts
htt is still at 800
this seems to be the most stable I can get it and I play cs for 10 minutes before it crashes. I ran prime95 and failed the first test. I guess I'd like to adjust my timings but I have no idea what to try.

also, under memory settings in bios I have these two options that appeared after I flashed last week.

PwrDwnCtl {Auto
Disabled
Alternating
Same
Independent
}

PwrDwnTriEn { Auto
Disabled
Enabled
}

anyone know what those are for?

 

[Paintballfreak66]

Ok now its 250x11 at 1.575 vcore
and memory set on auto and 2.7 volts and cpu-z says its at 196.4 Mhz so its running at slower than ddr400... what the hell could be the problem. Its obviously not the memory since this is the second pair I've bought

 

[monster64]

Ok look, you arent getting some things. I got a 3500+ venice also, so divider (and everything but cache) is absolutely the same. I also have an asus 939 board, and I got drr500 ram too. What you have to do is leave the timings for the ram on manual, and leave it at 400mhz because 400 isnt the speed but the divider. When you raise the memory to so called 500 mhz it drops back to 196, (mine went to 133). All asus boards are like this. Your problem isnt any hardware, its the bios. I had the exact same problem with my computer.

1. Set memory timings to Manual
2. Set speed to 400 mhz, dont worry, this isnt the actual memory speed.
3. Set memory timings to 3-8-4-4 (for now)
4. Set jumperfree config on manual. When you raise the cpu frequency, the ram automatically oc's too. (aslong as you have your mem divider set to 400 mhz) If you set it on 250, your ram will also run at 250, however the bios wont show it. CPUz will however. Also on a 90nm Athlon 64 never set vcore above 1.55.
5. After you set the cpu external frequency, set the mutliplier to x11, and pci bus to 33.33 mhz (when you oc a cpu, it ocs too, and it should never go over 33.33 mhz)
6. I would set the memory voltage to 2.75, anything more is overkill. Set the vcore 1.55, anything higher would also be overkill as it wont do anything.
7. Save settings and your done.

To answer your memory question about 500=250 etc, ddr means double data rate, which means data can be read and written at the same time, giving it the name double data rate, so the actual speed of the ddr and ddr2 is 1/2 of its ddr rating. Ei, ddr600= 300mhz, ddr 466=233mhz. That is normal.

Oh yeah in Cpu config set your HTT multiplier to x4 from x5 (or auto), as your HTT bus is now running at 250, and 4X250=1000 (If its over 1000mhz, it will be unstable, and anything over 800mhz is overkill anyways.)

I also ran at 50C when I ran prime 95. If you want to run cooler, set the target cpu temperature lower. After I did mine ran at about 46C.

The last thing to remember is the cpu might not be the reason you cant go higher. It can be the memory, or the motherboard itself too. However I can't reach a 250 fsb to run at 2.75 ghz, I can run at 245x11 which is just under 2.7 ghz.

Hope this solves your problems.

 

[monster64]

Just adding on to what I said before, the default external frequency is 200 mhz (ddr 400). When you set the memory index ratio on drr500 (250 mhz) lets say, it makes at divider of 200/250, which is 4/5. This means the cpu external frequency will run at 5x, and the memory internal frequency will run at 4/5 of the cpu's. So basically if your cpu is at 250 mhz etx, 4/5 is 200 and your mem will run at the 200 mhz. However, by leaving the memory index ratio at ddr 400, you are setting a 1/1 ratio because itll be (the divider)----> 200/200<---(defualt cpu ext frequency) which is 1, letting your memory run at whatever your cpu etx is. So basically if you want to have your memory run faster than your cpu, set the mem ratio at drr 333 or anything lower than 400 to get a a higher divider on the memory. Basically 400 is nuetral meaning your cpu and mem are one, anything lower than 400 will make mem>cpu, anything higher than 400 will make cpu>mem. Again, those arent memory speeds, but dividers. Hope this clarifies some things.

 

[Paintballfreak66]

ok I'm at 250x11 1.55vcore
I don't have the option to adjust my htt mulitplier but I could set ht to 800 and I alread had it.
my ram is at the 2:1 setting and running at 250mhz according to cpu-z but the comp would NOT boot unless the ddr voltage was set at auto

don't have any "jumper free" options in bios

I set pci frequency option to 66.66/33.33

my timings are 3-10-4-4

I'm still failing prime95 so that solved nothing.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

It is quite possible your CPU won't run 2750mhz, drop the CPU multi to 10x and see if it will run 250 x 10 and pass prime. If it does then you know ram isn't the problem. If this is the case then you can always run your ram at lower than the rated DDR500 speed, at something like 240-245 x 11. Or you can try 300 x 9 = 2700mhz with the DDR333 setting, this would give you around DDR500 memory speed


I would recommend that you follow Zebos overclocking guide stickied at the top of the forum to isolate the maximum HTT, CPU speed, and ram speed seperately. Then you will know what your dealing with

 

[Furen]

EDIT: Blah

Forgot that your ram was ddr500. Are you supplying enough voltage to your ram? It might work well at a higher voltage.

 

[Paintballfreak66]

Originally posted by: Furen
I'd stay with the auto setting. 196.4 is, basically, DD392.8, which is close enough to ddr400 to not make a difference. Doing 2:1 is overclocking your memory to ddr500 which is quite a bit.

I have ddr500...
EDIT: it usually doesn't boot at a ddrvoltage of anything besides auto and even when it did boot at 2.7 and 2.8volts(highest I can go is 2.8), I still got errors.

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
It is quite possible your CPU won't run 2750mhz, drop the CPU multi to 10x and see if it will run 250 x 10 and pass prime. If it does then you know ram isn't the problem. If this is the case then you can always run your ram at lower than the rated DDR500 speed, at something like 240-245 x 11. Or you can try 300 x 9 = 2700mhz with the DDR333 setting, this would give you around DDR500 memory speed

I've tried that too. It seems that the motherboard doesn't like the 2:1 setting.


mmk it crashed right after that post. just to check something, I cleared cmos and have everything set on default. so its 200x11 and auto memory setting.

I passed the first test of prime95, which was NOT happening at 2:1 or any memory setting for that matter when I had my cpu fsb turned up. I just don't know what to try that I haven't already tried. I've probably manually rebooted my computer 50 times today.

ugh

 

[Furen]

Try auto-memclock and 2:2:2:10. That should give you better performance than ddr500 at looser timings, anyway.

 

[Paintballfreak66]

I guess I'll do zebo's way tomorrow. even though I don't understand it 100%. you do make a good point that at least that way I'll know what everything's max is.