OC issues with OCZ 2-2-2-5 plat rev 2's -- neo plat -- 3500+ winnie

[RichUK]

Ok here i go... as you can see by my sig i have a

3500+ winnie
OCZ 3200 plat rev 2 2-2-5
MSI K8N neo 2 plat
Modstream 520w
and BFG 6800 ultra OC


Ok, so "CPU speed is king", i do agree but am dissapointed in my RAM timings, and would like to know why i can not get them down to 2.5-3-3-10 which they should be able to do without sweat.

i am currently at 2.53Ghz "253Mhz x 10" ... now through plenty of testing i found that was the absolute max, which i am impressed with since it is a week 51 (and they are supposed bad OCers as the tail goes)...

now the dilemma that i have is that i have run mem test for 2 passes at 253Mhz 1:1 2.5-3-3-10 and it was fine (admittedly only two passes is not enough)... but the problem is that if i run 2.53Ghz 10x253 1:1 2.5-3-3-10 i get strees prime getting errors at 1min 14 secs (i use strees prime as apposed to prime 95, its the same thing with better GUI)... now if i keep relaxing the timings it gets more stable untill it reaches 3-4-3-10 (which is awfull timings for this expensisve RAM that i have paid for)...

Now the story does not end i had lowered the multi to 9x with the same mem setup.. so that the cpu was running 2.277Ghz .. which is 77Mhz over stock, i then upped the mem voltage to 2.85 and the CPU volts to 1.6 ... and still it would produce errors at 1min 14/19secs ... so what could be causing this?

I seem to think that it could be the mem contollers on the chip, because the CPU is able to run at 2.53Ghz and it likes the RAM at 253Mhz when running 1:1, but the mem timings have to be 3-4-3-10.. when they should be able to run at 2.5-3-3-10 ...


Is there any suggestions as to what i could do, or what the cause is...

(i am using BIOS 1.41mod)

Many thanks

Rich

 

[Doctorweir]

What is your memory rated and what are the timings guaranteed?
Coz that's what you paid for and that's guaranteed...everything else is luck of the draw... 😉
If you bought DDR500 with 2.5-3-3-10 timings (see SPD)...hand them back 😀

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: Doctorweir
What is your memory rated and what are the timings guaranteed?
Coz that's what you paid for and that's guaranteed...everything else is luck of the draw... 😉
If you bought DDR500 with 2.5-3-3-10 timings (see SPD)...hand them back 😀

My mem is rated for 2-2-2-5, and i am well aware that it is luck of the draw.. the point is that this mem is proven to be able to run at these speeds no sweat..

now as i do not know a geat deal about testing with memtest i would just like some info on how to test for totall stability...

if i leave it running at default testing which it does when it starts up and leave it over night will this be sufficient ...

any help much appreciated 🙂

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I have the same memory. Your not giving it enough volts for decent timings at that speed.
It will do 2.5-3-3-7 @ 250 but it needs 2.9-3.0v depending on the particular chips. If 2.85 is the max on your board you will have to get the OCZ DDR booster to get better timings. This ram is warrantied to 3.0 by OCZ

I have found my best overclock is with a higher FSB/HTT and a memory divider running ram at 236mhz 2-3-2-7 2.85v

My current settings

289 x 9 = 2601mhz 1.55v
166 divider

I get a better scores across the board with this setting, than 1:1 @ 250. I was obsessed with running high ramspeeds when I first built my rig because I had bought this expensive OC ram. But I've come to realize that higher ram speeds on A64's provide very little performance, timings seem to be more important than speed on A64's. The real beauty of this ram is its ability to run very tight timings.

Your goals should be

1. Get the best CPU overclock possible
2. Run ram between 200-240 with 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 timings or even 170-200 with 1.5-2-2 (you can set CAS to 1.5 with A64 tweaker)

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I have the same memory. Your not giving it enough volts for decent timings at that speed.
It will do 2.5-3-3-7 @ 250 but it needs 2.9-3.0v depending on the particular chips. If 2.85 is the max on your board you will have to get the OCZ DDR booster to get better timings. This ram is warrantied to 3.0 by OCZ

I have found my best overclock is with a higher FSB/HTT and a memory divider running ram at 236mhz 2-3-2-7 2.85v

My current settings

289 x 9 = 2601mhz 1.55v
166 divider

I get a better scores across the board with this setting, than 1:1 @ 250. I was obsessed with running high ramspeeds when I first built my rig because I had bought this expensive OC ram. But I've come to realize that higher ram speeds on A64's provide very little performance, timings seem to be more important than speed on A64's. The real beauty of this ram is its ability to run very tight timings.

Your goals should be

1. Get the best CPU overclock possible
2. Run ram between 200-240 with 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 timings or even 170-200 with 1.5-2-2 (you can set CAS to 1.5 with A64 tweaker)

I take it you have the same ram as me (TCCD).. if so would you recommend in purchasing the DDR booster ... if this will allow me to acheive better timings then i will buy... did you require a DDR Booster to aquire these timings??

Also you mention that you acheive better results with running tighter timings as apposed to higher bandwidth... i have been wanting to test this myself .. what program do you use to test for this, i presume pc mark2004 .. but you have to buy that to get the results ...

thanks

Rich

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I don't have the booster as my board gives up to 3.0v


And I used several benchmark progams to compare

Sandra memory bandwidth
Various game benchmarks, HL2, Doom3, etc..
3dmark 03, 05
PCmark04
SuperPI
Aquamark
and others

 

[RichUK]

can i just ask with the DDR booster, if i put on either channel will it supply the volts to both of the channels i.e. all four channels (2x2 channels) ??

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Good question? don't know the answer! There is a thread hear monitored by OCZ reps, search for "OCZ customers" they should be able to answer your question

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: RichUK
can i just ask with the DDR booster, if i put on either channel will it supply the volts to both of the channels i.e. all four channels (2x2 channels) ??

The DDR Booster will work with your board. It will supply voltage to all the dimm slots. It will work fine for up to 3.4v on the MSI K8N Neo 2.

 

[xylem]

I was under the impression that higher voltage is not necessarily beneficial in overclocking TCCD-chipped memory. It is helpful for the newer Winbond UTT type. You may want to research a bit more before purchasing that DDR voltage booster.

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
I have the same memory. Your not giving it enough volts for decent timings at that speed.
It will do 2.5-3-3-7 @ 250 but it needs 2.9-3.0v depending on the particular chips. If 2.85 is the max on your board you will have to get the OCZ DDR booster to get better timings. This ram is warrantied to 3.0 by OCZ

I have found my best overclock is with a higher FSB/HTT and a memory divider running ram at 236mhz 2-3-2-7 2.85v

My current settings

289 x 9 = 2601mhz 1.55v
166 divider

I get a better scores across the board with this setting, than 1:1 @ 250. I was obsessed with running high ramspeeds when I first built my rig because I had bought this expensive OC ram. But I've come to realize that higher ram speeds on A64's provide very little performance, timings seem to be more important than speed on A64's. The real beauty of this ram is its ability to run very tight timings.

Your goals should be

1. Get the best CPU overclock possible
2. Run ram between 200-240 with 2-2-2 or 2-3-2 timings or even 170-200 with 1.5-2-2 (you can set CAS to 1.5 with A64 tweaker)

What did you use to verify this? When I ran memtest and Everest using a divider, regardless of how high I went I couldn't keep up with my current timings of 2.5-3-8-3 1:1 @ 242 2.85v. I'm curious as I believe in the bus...it's all about the bus.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Originally posted by: xylem
I was under the impression that higher voltage is not necessarily beneficial in overclocking TCCD-chipped memory. It is helpful for the newer Winbond UTT type. You may want to research a bit more before purchasing that DDR voltage booster.

Some people have a bit of luck pushing TCCD with a bit more voltage....say 2.9 or 3.0. Anything higher than that is not necessary.

 

[RichUK]

this is weird perhaps it might not be my RAM, i ran memtest for 5 passes on the full test and found not one error..

i was running 253Mhz 1:1 2.5-3-3-10 ...

so whats the score? is mem test correct in saying that my mem is fine or is prime (stress prime 2004) correct when crashing after 1min 10 secs .. what could it be ??

any suggestions, it could be the mem controller on the chip itself... i have read that the mem controllers on the winchesters are not brillient ...

im thinking maybe perhaps the venice may have better results ???

 

[Xed]

my plat r2 can do 270 fsb 1:1 @ 2.75v with 2.5-3-3-10 timings on my neo2.

Try memtest on one stick at a time and see what the results are. One stick might not be up to par.

Loop test 5 for awhile and go from there, 2-5 passes aren't really enough.

 

[RichUK]

ok what ill do is test each stick seperately, how long would you say i should run test 5 for ??

ill post back my results when i they have been tested

thanks for the help guys 🙂

 

[Pr0d1gy]

Are you trying to get the 2-2-2-5 timings at anything other than DDR400? If so, that's your problem right there. 2-2-2-5 timings are the rating for the RAM at DDR400 (pc3200). It should do that no problem. Anything higher than DDR400 you will most likely have to loosen up the timings.

 

[RichUK]

no i have stated before that i am trying to run 2.5-3-3-10 at 253Mhz 1:1, the problem is that when it primes it is not stable even tho it should be ... another thing is that mem test is running 5 passes without error ... what i am going to do is run for longer on each stick to fully test ... and then post back my results...

fingers crossed

 

[WA261]

Why run 1:1? There is no benefit.

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: WA261
Why run 1:1? There is no benefit.

I know what you are going to say "AMD's dont require high band width", but shorley there will be performance increase, maybe my eyes diseve me but im shore i saw a bit of difference on boot time ...

anyways saying that what would you suggest "dividers right"

THe apps i have are

Everest
Sandra

If not in these apps what can i test with to check for difference ???

 

[Tweakin]

Originally posted by: RichUK

Originally posted by: WA261
Why run 1:1? There is no benefit.

I know what you are going to say "AMD's dont require high band width", but shorley there will be performance increase, maybe my eyes diseve me but im shore i saw a bit of difference on boot time ...

anyways saying that what would you suggest "dividers right"

THe apps i have are

Everest
Sandra

If not in these apps what can i test with to check for difference ???

I also run memtest off of a boot cd. That way just the program is loaded into memotry. I did two tests last night on my system:

242 2.5-3-10-3 1T @ 2.75v with the following:
Memtest = 2627
Everest =
read 6889
write 2379
lat 42.1

242 2-2-10-2 1T @ 2.75 using a 166 divider (200 bus)
Memtest = 2489
Everest =
read 5934
write 2498
lat 43.2

That's my two cents....I went back to my original bus.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The point is Sandra and Everest are synthetic benchmarks and don't reflect actual performance in applications. Yes the higher speed produces higher bandwidth as is evidenced by the scores you showed. The problem is A64's aren't starved for bandwith like Intels. So increases in bandwidth doesn't equate to any realworld increase in performance in apps. And with the ondie mem controller of the A64, overclocking the ram to high speeds puts additional stress on the CPU and limits your OC

Try running some gaming benchmarks, business winstone, PCmark, 3dmark, etc... with different ram and CPU speeds and you will understand why CPU speed is king. Never sacrifice CPU speed for RAM speed on A64's

 

[MDE]

Try 5-2-3-2. My RAM wouldn't work at all at 5-2-2-2 but is perfect at 5-2-3-2 on my Winchester 3000+.

 

[exar333]

you should be able to get better timings than 3-4-3-10 on a 3400 @ 2.53! these winnies sometimes like the voltages a little lower as well to run better...iv run into that...otherwise, feeda little more voltage to your OCZ....dont forget that according to what u posted, its only pc3200. so it might not take those same timings higher...depends on the chip...if possible, try that ram in a friends cpu, see if u can get higher...that might point to some BIOS changes u can make, or possibly just a poor mem controller on your winnie 🙁