OC newb here.....I'm using the "AT forum OC guide", but a few things confuse me

[ChiBOY83]

FINAL RESULTS NOW ADDED AT BOTTOM POST


EDIT-> SCROLL down to post 12 for update



OK, so i wanan step inot the world of OC on my AMD 3000, but i cant figure out how to do severla things in the AT Quizk and DIrty A64 Oc guide. (I am using an Abit AN8 SLI, 2x 512 OCZ value).....

...the following are expceprts from the OC guide..the BOLD stuff i don't get....

ISOLATE
Don't forget to take notes.

1. Max HTT/FSB should be first ..*only works if motherboard has locks. Most A64 boards do today. Sata 1 and 2 are not locked on some nforce mobos use 3 and 4.
-set CPU multi to 6 or 7, this will take CPU out of equation
-set memory to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation
-Increase HTT/FSB up until you fail to boot or there abouts, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), this is your max safe HTT.


i don't know how to do that memory part....please, pardon my newbness here

 

[wanderer27]

Memory SPD should equate to just allowing your MB to "Auto" set the timings based on what the Memory Chip tells the BIOS.

HTT/FSB is basically your CPU Bus speed, it should be 200 MHz at default. This will be where you are changing your speeds.

 

[sodcha0s]

-set memory to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation

This is telling you to set your memory divider to 100, or a 1:2 ratio. This will cause the ram to run half as fast as the HTT (bus) therefore eliminating it as a problem for testing purposes.

-Increase HTT/FSB up until you fail to boot or there abouts, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), this is your max safe HTT.

This means exactly what it says.... increase the HTT (or bus speed) and boot to windows. If it makes it to windows, restart and increase HTT again, etc. making a note of the setting each time. Once it fails to boot, take the last setting that worked and reduce it by 5% (multiply by .95) Example: say 300 HTT was the last setting that made it to windows safely. Reduce that by 5% (300 x .95=285). 285 would be your max safe HTT.

 

[Furen]

Ok, setting memory to SPD means that you should set your Latency settings to the SPECed settings. The "100" thing means that you need to set your DRAM clock to 100MHz/DDR200 from the original 200MHz/DDR400.

 

[Mogadon]

yeh, you got it.

 

[ChiBOY83]

ok....here is what i ahve so far...

1. Max HTT/FSB should be first ..*only works if motherboard has locks. Most A64 boards do today. Sata 1 and 2 are not locked on some nforce mobos use 3 and 4.
-set CPU multi to 6 or 7, this will take CPU out of equation
-set memory to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation
-Increase HTT/FSB up until you fail to boot or there abouts, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), this is your max safe HTT.

...After doing this, i got a max HTT of 222...so after backin it down 5% i end up with 211 ... (does this sound right for a 3000 Venice???)


2. Max Chip capable
- Set multiplier to it's maxium
-Set vcore to 1.6 -1.65 for 130nm chips, 1.50-1.55 for 90nm chips
-Set mem to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation
-starting with HTT 200 raise in about 5Mhz increments up to boards max found earlier or until you start failing PRIME95 which will probably happen first..only give it 5 minutes max, that's good enough for now.
-At the point it starts failing within that 5 min time period, back down 5%, (CPU MHZ * 0.95), thats your max CPU speed, now test prime again at 95% for 12 hour for stable.


...I got it up to 210 running stable, and stopped there because i got to 211 above ..(this seem right??)...THIS CAN NOT seem RIGHT becase bumpiun it down 95% brings it to 200 111

 

[Furen]

wait wait, Go back to the HTT test. Did you lower your Hypertransport Multiplier (sometimes called LDT, the old name)? To lower this you have to lower your Hypertransport speed from the original 1000 to 800 (between 201-250 HTT) or 600 (between 251 and 333).

 

[ChiBOY83]

Originally posted by: Furen
wait wait, Go back to the HTT test. Did you lower your Hypertransport Multiplier (sometimes called LDT, the old name)? To lower this you have to lower your Hypertransport speed from the original 1000 to 800 (between 201-250 HTT) or 600 (between 251 and 333).

err...crap, well i don't have a number like 1000 to 800, i just have a HT FREQUENCY of 4x and HT WIDTH of 16

 

[Avalon]

Originally posted by: ChiBOY83

Originally posted by: Furen
wait wait, Go back to the HTT test. Did you lower your Hypertransport Multiplier (sometimes called LDT, the old name)? To lower this you have to lower your Hypertransport speed from the original 1000 to 800 (between 201-250 HTT) or 600 (between 251 and 333).

err...crap, well i don't have a number like 1000 to 800, i just have a HT FREQUENCY of 4x and HT WIDTH of 16

Alright, yeah. Change your HT frequency to 3x. That is the same thing as HT speed/LDT multiplier mentioned above.

 

[Furen]

HT frequency at 4x? That's the equivalent of 800 (4x is the proper way to write it, but most manufactures write it in multiples of 200...). Are you sure you lowered your DRAM speed? Unless your motherboard is a horrible overclocker you should be hitting much higher HTT frequencies, so I suspect that either your DRAM is holding you back or your PCI-e lock is disabled. If you did lower your DRAM speed you can try setting your PCI-e frequency 101 (sometimes Auto works, sometimes it doesnt). Also, Zebo's guide is a bit on the conservative side. I normally roll back 5MHz from my highest bootable HTT.

 

[ChiBOY83]

UGH>.....i have to start this all over.......


And no, i never did lower my Dram speed...i thoiught i was sposed to keep that at the normal settings until step 3........ and so far i ahve only gotten thru the first 2 steps...ALTHOUGHT botched and im guna re-do them now.......

 

[Furen]

No, the "set memory to SPD and 100" means that you set your DRAM latency to default but lower the DRAM speed to the minimum possible, to keep it from holding you back as you raise the HTT.

 

[ChiBOY83]

Ok...got it... i am on step one and have the ram set to DDR200 and have the multiplier to 6 and the HT Frequency at 3x and Pci-e set to 100

1. Max HTT/FSB should be first ..*only works if motherboard has locks. Most A64 boards do today. Sata 1 and 2 are not locked on some nforce mobos use 3 and 4.
-set CPU multi to 6 or 7, this will take CPU out of equation
-set memory to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation
-Increase HTT/FSB up until you fail to boot or there abouts, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), this is your max safe HTT.



I ENDED up getting a a safe HTT of 335.... so safely bump it down by 10 and it is 325 then....

..i guess on to step 2 then..

 

[ChiBOY83]

Do i keep the HT frequency at 3x when i am testing the max CPU speed ???????

 

[Screech]

Whenever your HTT is above 330 actually, your HT frequency/multi or LDT, whatever its called, should be at 2x.

in other words, you might be able to get an even higher HTT.

 

[Furen]

As screech said, your may get slightly higher if you lower your HTT multiplier (but I doubt it, plus I'm sure your CPU will hold you back way before you hit 300 HTT anyway). Yes, you keep the same memory setting to test for max CPU clock.

 

[ChiBOY83]

OK.....so i got past stage two, and i have a HTT that runs stable after 9 hours of prime....thats with the the HT at 3x.. time to test memory now i guess



AND.....how do i find out my MAX HT, to put into gogars A64 optimizer???

 

[Furen]

You already found your max HTT (Your max was 325 if I remember correctly), and you just found your CPU max (HTT at a 9x Multiplier), correct? After finding your memory max you can just throw everything into googer's optimizer (dont forget to set CPU clock as your main priority).

 

[ChiBOY83]

OK..final results


HTT 315, Freq 3x, multp 8x, DDR 266 2-3-2-6 (OCZ performance 2x512)


and i have a final clock of 2.5 ghz on my AMD 3000 on abit AN8 SLI

.....however, i did a 3dmark05 and only saw an increase of 84 points (orig. 3470)..i know it primarily tests the graphics card, but is this indicative of a 700 mhz increase..

 

[sodcha0s]

2.5 is nice, however I'd try HTT ~280 with 9 multi to get there. Performance will be the same, you'll be able to run tighter timings on your memory, or run it faster, or both, possibly a lower vcore which means lower temps, and lastly it will generally be less stressful on the chip itself.

 

[Furen]

Yes, a higher HTT will just stress your motheboard more than needed for no good reason (having a higher HTT gives you no performance benefit to speak of). Which DRAM dividers do you have? If you have DDR300 then you could just set your HTT to 280 @ 9x multiplier and achieve the same CPU and memory clock.

3Dmark 2005 is very graphics reliant. If you want something that is a bit less graphics card limited you could try 3dmark 2001 or PCmark. Another way to test your performance benefit is to trascode a short video clip at both stock and your overclocked speed.

 

[ChiBOY83]

Furen... I DON"T HAVE DDR300 as a divider, the next one above 266 is DDR333.... how does that change setting the HTT to 280 and 9x ????

 

[Furen]

It doesn't. I said that if you had the DDR300 setting you could use an HTT of 280 and a CPU multiplier of 9. This is a moot point if you dont have the DDR300 setting, though, so don't worry about that. I dont see any easy way to lower your HTT, so you could just stick to that.

The last thing you can do to improve your performance (aside from overclocking more) is to tighten the memory latency settings (if possible). Lastly, I would try to lower the vcore so your CPU temperatures drop a bit.

 

[ChiBOY83]

Allright..sounds fair enuf... Time to set up the system for a overnight prime rally and then i will play around w/ the ram timings and see what i can pull off........

thanks for holding my hand furen adn everyone else... quite an interesting process.... appreciate the help everyone