Need help ocing Opty 165

[ixelion]

Right now it's at 2.4Ghz, loosened the timings to 3-3-3-7. FSB 266, ram is at 180Mhz stock voltage stock cooler.

Any higher than that and the system is unstable, or wont get past the windows startup screen.

I am aiming for 2.6Ghz I believe the limitation may be one of two things:

I am using 4 DIMMS, however since the ram is running below 200Mhz I don't think this is the problem.

My room gets fairly warm I suspect the stock cooler may be insufficient for 2.6ghz-2.7ghz.

Suggestions?

 

[PurdueRy]

What about CPU voltage?

 

[ixelion]

I tried increasing that as well no help.

 

[PurdueRy]

Originally posted by: ixelion
I tried increasing that as well no help.

I assume you have tried lowering the hypertransport multiplier?

 

[stogez]

What voltage on the vcore? Make sure HT doesn't go over 1000. List your CPU stepping if you have it handy.
What are your temps under full stress when you're running at 2.4GHz?

 

[ixelion]

I have already lowered the multiplier to x3. HT speed is well below 1000.

According to Everest temperatures under load CPU 0: mid 70s CPU 1: mid 60s

Stock CPU V.core is 1.33 I have already tried 1.475 no help there either.

Here is all the info on my cpu including stepping.

CPU SETTINGS

 

[alevasseur14]

That's too hot. I'd never want my CPU to load in the 70s. I'd look at doing a couple things.

1.) This one is the cheapest. Get a good air cooler. I have the Tuniq Tower 120 and I love it. I haven't put in my AC yet and even on an 80 F day, I still only load in the mid 40s C. With AC I can idle at 20 C and load in the mid 30s.

2.) Get a window AC unit for your computer room. You'll be amazed at how much all of your temps drop.

If you're getting 2.4 now, I would imagine 2.6 is within reach if you get some better cooling in there.

 

[ixelion]

Ok I will try a new cooler I have room for a couple case fans as well might as well put those in.

 

[Bill Kunert]

Seems afully warm. Is the stock cooler the 4 pipe cooler? If so it's not a bad cooler and should give better temps at 2.4GHz. My X2-3800+ had a concave heat spreader. I lapped it and appled AS5 as instructed on their web site(a BB sized dot in the middle of the heat spreader) and my temps dropped a good 5 C. I understand most good 165's will hit 2.7 at stock voltage. I think heat is holding you back.

 

[ixelion]

Yea it is the 4 pipe cooler, and under normal conditions it could very well be sufficient for 2.6ghz. However my room is unusually warm (air temperature is about 29C) and I have a serious dust problem (collects overnight!).

I am also using AS5 But I think this is offset by the fact that my 8800gts is VERY hot and probably raises the ambient temperature of the whole case. I plan to remedy this with by adding a rear exhaust and a front intake fan.

Hopefully that will cool everything down in addition to a new cpu cooler.

 

[gus6464]

What mobo do you have? That might be the problem as well, I have been running an opty 165 @ 2.9GHz for a year and half on water with no problems. I have a DFI SLI-DR Expert. Only reason I have it on water is because it was my first try at extreme overclocking so I decided to go with water, but you use good quality air and get the same results.

 

[ixelion]

I have DFI LANPARTY RDX200. The thing is I had another board (ASrock Dual Sata) and my over clock was unstable in the same was as my current DFI.

 

[WraithETC]

Holy cow the max temp for optys is at like 70c... that's probably why its unstable...

My opty 165 goes to 2.8 at 1.5 v-core default multipliers. When running something like dual prime it goes to about 60-62 max. On regular load it only reaches about 50-54. It idles at around 38c but my room is pretty warm anyways.

 

[gus6464]

Originally posted by: ixelion
I have DFI LANPARTY RDX200. The thing is I had another board (ASrock Dual Sata) and my over clock was unstable in the same was as my current DFI.

It could also be that you have reached the max oc of your specific chip. Not every single opty 165 will get crazy oc's. You might have gotten a handicapped one.

 

[Bill Kunert]

Try taking the side off your case and have a fan blow into the open case. See if getting some of the heat from your video card out of the case helps. I can lower my temps by several degrees that way.

 

[stogez]

Not sure how high that board can OC. Try lowering the multi on the chip and see how high you can push the FSB. Maybe thats what is keeping your OC unstable.
Definitely fix that heat issue as well. Dual core chips might need more than just a bb size amount of AS5. Apply a thin layer over the whole thing and see if that helps. You have to let AS5 burn in for a couple of heating/cooling cycles for full efficiency.

 

[gus6464]

Also you might want to try to remove the IHS off your opty. It might shave a couple of degrees off your temps. But be careful if you try that.

 

[kalrith]

Try different memory ratios on your mobo. My system didn't like some of the ratios. In other words, I couldn't overclock past 2.3GHz with certain mem ratios, but I could overclock to 2.7GHz with others. I backed it down to 2.5GHz to keep the heat down. Even at 2.7GHz, the CPU never hit 70 degrees though (I don't think it even hit 60).

FYI, if you don't want to spend much on a heatsink, you might be able to find a good used one on the FS/FT forums. I found a Scythe Ninja like mine for $25 shipped for a coworker about a year ago.

 

[DasFox]

You need to know the stepping off the CHIP.

Look here towards the bottom on this URL:

Dual Core Socket 939 Opterons

http://wiki.extremeoverclocking.com/wiki/Opteron

CCBBE and CCB1E are the faster chips.

ALOHA