Need help with OC'in

[SteelGuy]

Hey all,

First off heres my setup:
3200+ AMD Venice
Asus A8N-E
OCZ PC-3200 (200MHz) Ram.


I was taking a look at Zebo's guide to Quick and Dirty A64 Clocking...and tried following some of the directions..

Unfortunatley it seems that my CPU (first step) won't even get to 2000mhz

I set the multiplier to 7...then up the Frequency to about 250 (below my normal cpu) and its fine....I go to 265 and it crashes..
It doesn't seem to make much sense.

I'm very new to overclocking, and while I did build this PC with the intention of doing it...it's not coming as easily as I thought it would.

It seems ASUS has a built in overclocker, but that only goes 10% + max...

Also I'm not sure if my SPD and memory are set to 100 when I'm doing this (which may be where im going wrong)

Help would be appreciated..

Also - would using Ntune help? does that configure things for you?
Thanks a lot
Sorry for the n00bness.

 

[SrGuapo]

That sounds like a board limitation. Your board may not be able to handle more than 265 HTT. That seems a bit low, but still. Try upping the multi to 10x and find the chip max. Zebos guide clearly states that the first step is to find your max HTT or youre motherboards max. The second step is the chip max. With your chip, if you mobo won't go past 265, you cannot hope to OC past 2650 MHz (with a 10x multi)...

 

[Xcobra]

agree, 2.65 will be your chips max speed due to the mobo's HTT, but if you want to see the max of that chip, i suggest getting another mobo such as DFI...also make sure you set the memory devider to like 133 or 100 so that it is not holding you back on your OC and set the timings to SPD...other than that, if your chip can do 2.65GHz, just download and run Prime95 (a tool to check for system stability) for at least 12 Hrs id say and if it fails, its not stable...thats all i gotta say for now...good luck

 

[SteelGuy]

Okay - I'm going to need some more help and need to take some steps back..


Seems like 265 was too high...

I got it to 250 to where it wasn't crashing....
Put in X10 multiplier....(left all the other settings normal)
and it started up aok- 1020 FSB it seems.
2500Mhz max.

Is this pretty much it? Do I just run the test program to see where it goes?

What do I do about the memory timings - I have no idea where to begin with that and what exactly to change.

Also shoudl I be messing with the hypertransport??

 

[stevty2889]

Did you try setting the HTT to a 3x mulitplier past 250mhz, or did you try and leave it at 4x?

 

[SteelGuy]

I'll try and lower the multplier to a lower number and increase the frequency.....

But - wouldn't that not help much? In the sense that it still wouldn't even be as fast as my original processor speed?

4X times even 300...is 1200...

4x times 500 2000....
thats my normal cpu

So am I just confused or something?

 

[SteelGuy]

Okay here's an update....

I think im making more sense of things...

I made the hyper multiplier to X4
Made the CPU frequency to 260 - crashes...so 247 seems to be my max CPU frequency For FSB..

I'm working on the actual CPU now..

I'm guessing about 247 frequency with X10 CPU Frequency and X4 Hyper multiplier

I am supposed to change the hyper multplier right??

How's this look - I don't want to mess up horribly but It seems okay so far

 

[theMan]

no, change your hyper multi to 3x. not 4x. then, make sure your memory is on the slowest divider. this isnt the multi for the cpu speed. this is hyper transport speed, make sure its below 1000. the CPU MULTI is what effects the cpu speed.

 

[SteelGuy]

3x?
crap..

at 4x 245 - 980 (right under)


Right now -im running prime...First time i did it i left voltage on auto (Whooops>.....)

But i set voltage to 1.5V for CPU....
X10 multiplier on CPU- X245 Frequency.......HTT is still at 4.

I'm guessing your suggesting to change the HTT to 3 so That I can crank the CPU frequency higher and therefore get a hgiher CPU speed without losing FSB?

I'll try that out - if it crashed with 3x at 260 - ill just stick with 4x then?

 

[richardrds]

Yes, change to HTT multi to 3x.

4 x 250 HTT = 1000, and anything above 1000 could be why you are failing.

While you test to find your max set HTT multi to 3X.

Then set your ram divider to 200 (if your options are 400/333/266/200) and your normal bios setting is 400, or set your RAM divider to 200 ( if your options are 200/166/133/100) and your normal bios setting is 200.

The reason for the two differant possible settings are because your ram normally runs at 200Mhz, but some mobo manufacturers quote the DDR (Dual Data Rate) which would be (200 x 2 = 400Mhz) in the bios.

With the HTT multi at 3x, and the ram divisder set to half (1/2, 2:1, 200, 400, depending on mobo bios) you can now push your CPU and HTT to find their max stable values.

Keep following Zebo's quide and ask more questions if you get confused. With that CPU and mobo i would think you should be able to reach a OC between 2.5 and 2.7 GHz (250 to 270 HTT x 10 CPU Multi).

Also make sure your AGP/PCI lock is on, not sure how to do it with that mobo, but this setting should hold your AGP bus at 66Mhz and your PCI bus at 33Mhz. If you don't have the lock turned on as you increase the HTT, the AGP and PCI bus will go up also, and casue instability/crashes.

 

[SteelGuy]

Thanks guys

i feel like this is helping - and i think I am getting a handle on things a little more.


So far - I just tried the HTT to 3 with CPu x at 7 and then the frequency at 260...It didn't work..

260 seems to be the max on all accounts - reguardless of the HTT...

So I switched HTT back to 4x

So I multiplied 260 X .95 - and used that number...247....
to make things even im using 245 (don't know if I need to do this or not).

So 245 seems to be the safe point.

This number gives a FSB of...980 - so seems to be safe in terms of below 1000

I then cranked the CPU multlplier to 10...put the Voltage at 1.55 max.
gets me to 2450Mhz cpu..

Seems like this is a stable point....I prob could go to 247...or even 250 (was working earlier with these) but using that equation this is what I got..

What do you think?
The ram has been set (or divided) at a max of 200mhz while doing these tests.

I guess the next test is the memory - which i'm not sure how to modify the timings..

But does my CPU and FSB look probable?
thanks

 

[richardrds]

That seems low to me, make sure your AGP/PCI lock is on.

Also make sure your AGP/PCI lock is on, not sure how to do it with that mobo, but this setting should hold your AGP bus at 66Mhz and your PCI bus at 33Mhz. If you don't have the lock turned on as you increase the HTT, the AGP and PCI bus will go up also, and casue instability/crashes.

 

[SteelGuy]

Yeah - the PCI Express wasn't locked to 33...I did that...put it up to 260 Frequency, CPU 7 multplier and HTT at 3X -
didn't work....

Put frequency back at 245 worked...FSB is at 735 with 3x - so Gotta go with 4x...


Seem's like my original route was the best bet? I still don't feel like accepting 245 is the max either...
Anything else that I can do? I thought the lock thing was a surefire thing

 

[Shimmishim]

argh... reading your posts are interesting...

you're using the wrong terminology for the stuff you are talking about but luckily people know wha tyou're talking about..

the pci-e cannot be locked at 33... the pci-e low frequency is actually 100...

the pci frequency runs at 33 mhz...

A64 chips do not have a FSB because the mem controller is built on the chip so it is actually referred to as HTT.

just trying to get things cleared up for ya....

also... you NEED to make sure you set your mem with a divider... 9/10, 3/4, 1/2... something...

if not then you are not being limited by your board but rather by your ram.... but i have a feeling that you are running on a divider at least from what i could gather from your first post...

or else your board is limiting your overclock

don't give up yet! each post looks more promising that you post.

 

[SteelGuy]

Hehe - yeah i knew my terminology wasn't exactly on par...Was trying to remember the names as best I could..

I guess I'm now confused on memory dividing - leaving DDR 200mhz (For max speed) is a divider right.
THis is a 1.1 divider pretty much?


As for everything else..

I'm just going to put my CPU Frequency at 250 (seems to be working typing on it now) with a CPu muptlier of X10. (CPU Voltage is at 1.53- should I go lower)?

This gives me an HTT of 1000 - with a HT Multplier of X4

(1000 is good right ? Or should I go back to 245?)

Then The ram I have set at 1T with a voltage of 2.8 (What voltage on this is good)

PCI Frequency locked to 33mhz..

I think I got it all - to wrap up I'm just trying to figure out the right voltages and the RAM stuff - It doesn't seem like theres much to do with the ram except modify voltage (since my Mboard caps at 260 CPU frequency)

Also is that 250 CPU frequency safe or should I fall back to 245 (.95 X 260 is 247 ..so round up or down?)

Thanks a lot

 

[Xcobra]

run prime95 to see if its stable and make sure you have a devider for the Ram otherwise it will fail you in Prime95...remember all you are doing is trying to find the cpu's max stable OC...just do 250x10 and a voltage of about 1.45~1.5 and set Ram on a devider and HTT multiplier to x3 and see if it boots and if so, run prime95 for stability and just wait if its stable..

 

[SteelGuy]

Ran it for five minutes - it was stable...so it seems to be good in that dept...

Ill put voltage for CPU to 1.50 - when on auto the thing is doing 1.65 ( don't get that).

Also - how do i adjust the memory timings? Which options should I be changing in bios.

I set it to 1T and to a 200mhz max divider...
beyond that. - unsure what to do with memory

 

[Xcobra]

well...to find the cpu max OC i suggest leaving them on SPD timings....just let prime run for a few hours to make sure its stable...

 

[SteelGuy]

So basically don't mess with any settings ram wise?

Here's what I've changed Auto to 1T - 200mhz Divider (max speed) for ram.

10X Cpu Multiplier, with a 247 CPu Frequency, X 4 HT
Gives me 2475mhz....

Voltages - 2.8 for Ram, 1.525 for CPU

I try running Prime95 - temperature shoots up like 15 degrees Celcius - is this normal? processor is working hard but 15 deg? It's hovering at around 46 degrees right now - I have a zalman on My CPU....
One 120 mm fan though. antec p160 case.

is this a cause for concern?

 

[theMan]

those are good temps. however, it is not good at all that you cant get your htt up above 250. what bios are you using? look around on google and see if the bios you have is known to have bad overclocks. you are not getting the full potential out of your chip, which sucks.

 

[Shimmishim]

question... what ram are you using? i know it's pc3200 but what exactly is the model i guess of that ram from ocz...

the reason why i ask is because if you are running 200 mhz 1:1 meaning no divider at all... then your ram is running at 245 mhz which would explain some of your problems...

i mean if you're running something like ocz el plat rev2 pc3200 then that's fine.. but most of the other value stuff ocz makes won't be able to hit 245 mhz 1:1 (unless it's the UTT value ram but that's gonna require 3.2+ vdimm volts)...

use a different divider...

i believe ddr400 = 1:1 or 200
ddr333 = 5:6 or 166
ddr300 = 3:4 or 150
ddr266 = 2:3 or 133
ddr200 = 1:2 or 100

make sure you set it to at least ddr266, 2:3 or 133 to eliminate the possibility that it's your ram...

and also be sure to leave all your ram timings at auto for the time being.

 

[richardrds]

Yes shim is giving you good advice, sounds like you don't have the ram divider set up correctly and your ram overclocking is caiusing the failure.

I tried to explain this in my earlier post, but depending on the mobo bios, to run a 1/2 ram divider (to eliminate ram out of your HTT and CPU overclock max) you may have to chnage your bios from the default. Depending on the mobo bios a 1/2 (50%) ram divider setting could be any of the following:

200 (based on a 400 normal)
100 (based on a 200 normal)
1/2
.50
2:1
50%

If the normal value in your bios is 400, then set it to (200, 1/2, .50, 50%, 2:1)

If the normal value in your bios is 200, then set it to (100, 1/2, .50, 50%, 2:1)

All bios seem to do it differantly which causes the confusion when beginners try to properly set their ram divider. You need to research your bios to see what values it offers and wheather it's normal running value is 400Mhz or 200mhz (both are actually the same, but some bios quote the DDR rate which is 200Mhz x 2 = 400Mhz).

 

[SteelGuy]

I think that my bios needs an update - just looked at the version after theman mentioned it - its 1001 - oldest one I think - I downloaded 1005 - but I need to find the ASUS installer - site seems down right now.

I tried the ram thing as well - I put it to 266 and didnt work, and increased it a little more - still didn't work.

Probably the bios.

I have OCZ ram - PC 3200 - the exact number is OCZ4001024WV3DC-K -
http://www.bytewizecomputers.com/products/7/10/363/9142
This would be it

Any suggestions on what to do with things ram wise?

I'll update the bios as soon as I can find a downloader and keep ya'll updated - THanks

 

[theMan]

yeah, i hate asus, their site is down 75% of the time. make sure you get the newest version of asus update and use that to flash. im suprised your bios even worked with your cpu. weird. well, thats definately something you need to do. however, you should search the internet for info on the bios's. asus has made some really bad bios's recently for my board, and no one uses them. the last stable bios they made was from december 2004! you can probably find a site that has all the bios's on it that you can download.

 

[SteelGuy]

Just updated the bios..

And running at Cpu Frequency 295!

Wow - all this time was the damned bios

Okay - ill keep cranking and figure out where my max is at....
Hopefully its 10-15 mhz higher.