Mobile 2500/NF7 O/C venture

[JSniper33]

Is the NF7-S a better choice for overclocking?

I recently purchased a 2500 mobile with the NF7 because I really didnt need the sata features.
I paired this with 2 256 sticks of the Mushkin pc3200 222 special ram. I bought the Thermalright SP97 and coupled it with a 30 cfm generic fan.

This post may be a bit premature...but in the few hours I played last night I havent gotten very far with o/cing this chip. I started out with stock voltages (or whatever the bios loaded, 1.575 for cpu) and it wouldnt boot 200 x 10. I then tried a few times to knock the fsb down, and after a few unsuccessful tries I just placed it at 150 x 11. It booted this up, and upon a succesful boot I was ready to get some sleep; however, when I went to shut it down I got a BSOD. My temps were a little high throughout all this, 31 ambient, 37 full load, but I still thought this thing would do better on the initial attempts. Am I missing something here? Do I need to let it burn in before I will see a nice overclock or what? Temps too high?

 

[shabazkilla]

Those temps are NOT high at all. The chip is rated for a max temp of either 85c or 90c, although I wouldn't want anything above 55c at full load. You are well below that. I would up the vcore to atleast 1.65 (default for a Barton non-mobile), then try 10x200. Go from there.

 

[JSniper33]

Ok...thanks, I will try that in just a sec. Im starting to think this memory is trash. It wont even boot at SPD settings, but as soon as I turn it way down it boots just fine...

 

[myocardia]

37C full load is about what you should be getting with an SP97. It almost sounds to me that you didn't do anything of the things required for overclocking, like locking pci bus at 33mhz, locking agp bus at 66mhz, raising ram voltage, and raising cpu voltage. BTW, you've got a hell of a chip there, if it's doing even 150mhz fsb on 1.45v.

 

[JSniper33]

AGP is locked...I didnt check pci but i assume it is too...Im new to this mobo. And Im at 1.575, not 1.45.

 

[shabazkilla]

All NForce 2 boards are PCI locked at 33mhz. There isn't an option in the bios because it is not configurable. It is always locked.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: shabazkilla
All NForce 2 boards are PCI locked at 33mhz. There isn't an option in the bios because it is not configurable. It is always locked.

I'd heard that as well. The AGP is locked by default IIRC correctly, though it can be changed...

 

[JSniper33]

a few updates....i bumped the vcore to 1.65, memory up to 2.7, pulled timing down to 2-3-3-7 and Im stable right now at 14 x 166 = 2324 mhz. Seems to me that the memory didnt want to run its spd timings....but only time will tell the whole story.

 

[shabazkilla]

Relax those memory timings, lower the multiplier and raise the fsb to 400. Try 11 x 200 at first, then work your way up. Once you have it maxed out, then try tightening upi the timings.

 

[gplracer]

I have a NF7-S and it is a great board. Although it may no longer be the best choice for overclocking. There are issues with the 10.5 multiplier with some bios versions. Also many of the new boards seem to top out fsb wise around 210mhz-215mhz. I have a DFI Ultra Infniity II on order now. It will be interesting to see how it compares. Many users report reaching a real high fsb with that board.

 

[shabazkilla]

I almost bought the Infinity, but I've heard too many people are corrupting their BIOS. Also, my RAM wont go much above 400fsb anyway.

 

[JSniper33]

Cool...Ill check that out gpl. Right now Im at 200 x 11. Voltages same as last time, timings the same. Looks like my problem was the voltages and possibly the memory timings.

 

[shabazkilla]

Good to hear your running at 200fsb. Now start upping that multiplier. Damn, talking to you guys with mobile xps is really tempting me to get one... just wondering how much real world difference the extra 300-500mhz will make.

 

[JSniper33]

hehe, i know how ya feel....I was sitting with an Intel 2.4b northwood that would did 3.15 on air with a bit of voltage...2.88 stable on stock vcore, but I figured what the heck, I may as well join in the mobile 2500 fun

 

[Elcs]

Remember the nforce2 fetish with the 4th timing figure. 2-2-2-11 is faster than 2-2-2-6

 

[JSniper33]

Thats quite odd...well to sum things up last night:

cpu: 12 x 200 = 2400 mhz @ 1.65 v
mem: 400 mhz 2-3-3-7 @ 2.7 v

Going to mess around a bit more tonight and see if this is stable. If so I'll try to tigten up the memory timings a bit.

 

[StageLeft]

Jsniper You said you "pulled timing down to 2-3-3-7", since the SPD settings were too hard on your memory. Aren't the SPD settings 2-3-3-8 or something like that? I thought that lower numbers are faster/ask more of one's memory than higher?

Anyway, I'm going to be probably having to order a M2500+ this week, since last night I burned out my desktop 2500+. I'll see how my NF7 handles it all!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: shabazkilla
All NForce 2 boards are PCI locked at 33mhz. There isn't an option in the bios because it is not configurable. It is always locked.

Wrong, newbie. My bios will let me set my pci bus as high as 100mhz or so. Some mobos with the nForce2 chipset, obviously the NF7 is one of them, don't have a setting for it, but many do.

 

[JSniper33]

I did pull timing, I guess down was a poor word choice. I changed the timings from 2-2-2-5 to 2-3-3-7...this memory is the Mushkin 222 special...SPD settings for it are 2-2-2-5. As for the pci lock...Im sure its all relative to the bios your motherboard uses.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Skoorb
Jsniper You said you "pulled timing down to 2-3-3-7", since the SPD settings were too hard on your memory. Aren't the SPD settings 2-3-3-8 or something like that? I thought that lower numbers are faster/ask more of one's memory than higher?

Anyway, I'm going to be probably having to order a M2500+ this week, since last night I burned out my desktop 2500+. I'll see how my NF7 handles it all!

That's right, lower timings ask more of the memory, because the memory is running "faster" at any frequency. But his Mushkin is rated at 2-2-2-x at up to 200mhz. He just didn't know how much Mushkin likes voltage. 3+ volts isn't rare at all for overclockers and Mushkin.

 

[JSniper33]

So you feel like the mushkin will easily run its timings (2-2-2) given the voltage I have it at now?

 

[Mustanggt]

I have been playing with my Mobile 2500 for a week now, right now its running at 2200 Mhz@1.45 Vcore, 32c idle 36c load that is amazing I think, I will slowly work in in at low Vcore to see how high MHz will go at lowest possible Vcore I have been running P95 and playing COD on top of it all day without a hiccup at those specs.

 

[Jayavarman]

Muskins and Athlon Bartons love high voltages. Since you have an awesome heatsink already, the only thing you need to make sure now is that you have good airflow within your case. Once you got that nailed. Give the mobile Barton 1.9 - 2.0 volts and the ram 2.9 volts. You should do 215x12 at 2-2-2-11 easily. Unless of course you happen to have a dud chip, which is rare on the mobile. Good luck.

 

[Jayavarman]

 

[jkj]

do you like that ram and how much did you pay for it?