Need advice on bios settings to overclock Asrock 939 dual SATA board

[Sandan]

I have the x2 3800+ processor (Manchester core), Artic freezer pro 64 cooler, with 4 sticks of G.SKill PC3200 (512 each) memory. System is running cool (35c) at 2.4 Ghz. I can't get the system to post with any processor setting over 2.4 ghz. I would like to get it at 2.5 or maybe 2.6. Any advice on the settings listed below? My bios revision is 1.5. Thanks..

Overclock mode CPU, PCIE Async
PCIE Frequency 100
Boot Failure Guard Enabled
Spread Spectrum Disabled
Cool n Quiet Disabled
Dual Core Support Enabled

Processor 2400 x 10
Processor Voltage 1.400v

CPU-NB Link Speed 600 (ie, 3x)
CPU-NB Link width 16
NB-SB Link Speed 600 (ie, 3x)
NB-SB Link Width 16
HTTtoPCIBridgeDecodeScheme Subtractive
DRAM Voltage Auto

memory divider 166

 

[Sandan]

Blueweasel....Do you have suggestions. You helped me reach 2.4 with the above settings. Do any of them need changed. Or do you think this has something to do with memory settings....Not sure of any settings other than divider at 166.

 

[SynthDude2001]

1.5 is a pretty old BIOS version, you may want to consider upgrading to a newer one (1.80 and onward are generally thought to be better for overclocking, especially in removing the "274MHz HTT lock").

With that said, I don't see anything that immediately jumps out at me about your settings - you might try dropping the mem divider to 133 and/or increasing DRAM Voltage to High to try to eliminate any possibility of RAM/memory controller issues, but that's kind of a long shot as I'd be extremely surprised if any decent PC3200 couldn't handle a mild overclock.

The only other thing I can think of is that your chip just might not do more than 2.4GHz on 1.4V. If I remember correctly, when I had an Opteron 170 (also 10x200 stock) I could do 2.4GHz easily at stock voltage, but more than that required the voltmod.

 

[MarcVenice]

ram timings ?

1.45 is max for 939 x2's no ? Could try that ... and yes trying the divider at 133/266 might be worth it too ...

 

[Sandan]

Thanks for the suggestions guys...Will try them. If I drop the memory divider to 133 will that make the memory slower? Excuse my ignorance on the memory but I just keep thinking PC133 which is probably not comparable to 133 divider. It gets confusing. I have been toying with flashing the bios. Haven't flashed one for about 4 years...A little nervous. In 1997 I destroyed a motherboard by flashing. Anyway I gotta get back in the saddle.

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Sandan
Thanks for the suggestions guys...Will try them. If I drop the memory divider to 133 will that make the memory slower? Excuse my ignorance on the memory but I just keep thinking PC133 which is probably not comparable to 133 divider. It gets confusing. I have been toying with flashing the bios. Haven't flashed one for about 4 years...A little nervous. In 1997 I destroyed a motherboard by flashing. Anyway I gotta get back in the saddle.

Using the 133MHz memory divider will most certainly make your memory slower (2/3 of the HTT speed in the case of a 10x multiplier), I mainly mentioned it as a troubleshooting step to try to isolate the cause of the overclocking wall - not a setting you'd want to run long-term if you could at all avoid it. Changing the DRAM Voltage to High though is probably something you'll want to keep doing though especially if you're (eventually) going to be overclocking your RAM - it's only 2.7-2.8V, but it may help.

Like I said earlier, you may just be running into a wall your CPU can't overcome without a bit more voltage. Unfortunately, the only real downside to this motherboard in my opinion is the extremely limited CPU voltage options by default - 1.45V max for single cores, 1.40V for dual cores. This is easily overcome with a voltmod (I did it with no previous modding experience), but if you're uneasy about flashing the BIOS I wouldn't really start there.

Edit: Also, as the other poster mentioned, what RAM timings do you have set? Overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM can sometimes be tricky (though I've done it on this board). The only critically important thing is setting Command Rate ("MA Timing", I believe this board's BIOS calls it) to 2T instead of 1T. I hesitated to even mention this setting though, because I was 99% sure that an A64 system with 4 sticks of RAM set at 1T wouldn't boot at all, even without an overclock.

 

[Sandan]

I found a link showing how to vcore mod. It shows that a conductive pen could be used to bump up the vcore to 1.55v Is that the mod I should make? That doesn't seem hard. Anyone know about the pen vrs solder?

 

[SynthDude2001]

Originally posted by: Sandan
I found a link showing how to vcore mod. It shows that a conductive pen could be used to bump up the vcore to 1.55v Is that the mod I should make? That doesn't seem hard. Anyone know about the pen vrs solder?

Yes, the pen is the one I did. It's very easy and takes next to no time at all. One tip I would give though, is that it's a good idea to mask off the surrounding areas of the board with some kind of tape, so even if your hand isn't 100% steady you won't get any of the conductive material on other contacts.

If you do the same variation on the voltmod that I did (VID4-GND I believe - whichever is closer to the edge of the board anyway), then the near-stock voltage ranges in the BIOS are unmodified; that is, you can set 1.4V and still get 1.4V. The nice thing is that this variation only modifies low ranges that you'd probably never use anyway, those at or below 1.15V (by adding 0.4V to them). So you can select 1.15V for 1.55V actual, 1.10V for 1.50V actual, etc.

Let me know if you have any more questions about the mod before you do it; I've done it on two 939Dual boards now so I'd like to think I know what I'm doing.

 

[Sandan]

Thanks SynthDude....I will try the vmod and also use scotch tape to mask off. I will also flash the bios to 2.30 by doing it through windows

 

[BlueWeasel]

Glad I could help out previously, and I was surprised to see my name when I entered this thread.

Just FYI, but SynthDude2001 is the resident 939Dual-SATA expert. He's the guy that helped answer my questions when I first got mine.

I second the recommendation to upgrade to the latest BIOS (2.30). I pretty much tried all the different BIOS versions, but didn't really find one particular one that was best for overclocking. In the end, I stuck with 2.30, as it resolved some issues for me.