Opteron 148 at 1.5 Volts -- any danger?

[WhipperSnapper]

I have an Opteron 148 running at 1.5 Volts on an Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra motherboard. I haven't been able to flash the BIOS yet due to a lack of know how, lack of a flopp drive, and a failure to get the Magic Flash program to be able to find an updated BIOS (says it can't connect for some reason). (The 1.5 Volts is the lowest voltage available in the BIOS and also the default.)

If I leave it running at 1.5 Volts, would I have any problems? So far it seems to idle at around 35 degrees C and I've only seen it go as high as 43C, but I can't say it's been really stressed (just some gaming) nor have I tried to overclock it. Should I move as quickly as possible to get the BIOS flashed (to a more recent BIOS that would allow me to lower the voltage further) or am I OK as long as the temps don't get too high?

The stock voltage is 1.35 right?

 

[Cruise51]

1.5v isn't close to high enough to damage anything. It will run slightly hotter but that's all.
Try to get it lower if you plan to run at stock speed, if you OC, the extra voltage will be usefull.

 

[A5]

Try to download the BIOS yourself from their website - the program should give some option to flash the BIOS from a file on your disk...

 

[Makaveli]

Run Prime 95 to check to stability.

 

[lopri]

1.5V should be fine even with stock cooler unless you happen to live in Arizona AND have no air-conditioning in your room

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I was able to successfully flash the BIOS. Now what should I lower it to? Stock is 1.35V ?

 

[themusgrat]

I would, since there is no reason to leave it there, but if you do, no worries. BTW, that chip is dying to OC. You should.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally posted by: themusgrat
I would, since there is no reason to leave it there, but if you do, no worries. BTW, that chip is dying to OC. You should.

Heh. That's why I purchased it, but now I'm wondering if I really have a need to do it and I'm a complete noobie when it comes to overclocking. Of course, eventually I'll do it when I need more performance, but man, having gone from a P3 533 to an Opteron 148, I can't say I feel a pressing need to overclock right now. Maybe next week <g>.

Next project: Figure out how to unlock the extra 4 pipes on that Connect3d x800 GTO.

 

[Ronnie]

Two words- Overclock it

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Now at FSB 210 for a speed of 2.310 Ghz. However, the mobo's auto-adjust dropped my memory CAS Latency down to 3.0 (from 2.5) on Corsair Value RAM. CPU temps don't seem to be breaking a sweat but I haven't stressed it. (Then again, it shouldn't break a sweat until about 2.6 Ghz anyway.)

It was so easy! I guess this officially makes me an overclocker!

 

[mordantmonkey]

follow the quick and dirty guide to AMD overclocking. it's great. got my 146 to 2.7 on an ASROCK board no less. And it's my first AMD overclock!
First you need to drop the HTT to 4x or 3x depending on your OC. you want to keep it below or close to 1000. (4x for up to 250 or 3x for up to 333)
also put in a mem divider since you are running value ram. I have the same ram and it will NOT post over 210. so if you put the divider at 5:6 (166MHz) and run you cpu clock at 250 then your memory will run at 208. (you should be able to raise vdimm voltage and put it at 2.5CAS)

wait, are you using stock cooling?

 

[WhipperSnapper]

HSF is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. Mobo is Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra. (I planned it all so that I'd be able to overclock, minus the RAM purchase.) Case is a Chieftec Matrix with five 80mm fans. According to the numbers I'm seeing on "Ghost Monitor", the processor has been nice and cool, even as I'm running Prime 95. I think taking the voltage down from 1.5 to 1.4 helped.

Currently at:

FSB = 220, CPU = 2.440 Ghz.
Memory set to 166 Mhz with the divider.
HTT divider set to 4x.

At those settings I could easily raise the FSB to 230 and take it up to 2.560 Ghz.

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: WhipperSnapper

HSF is an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. Mobo is Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra. (I planned it all so that I'd be able to overclock, minus the RAM purchase.) Case is a Chieftec Matrix with five 80mm fans. According to the numbers I'm seeing on "Ghost Monitor", the processor has been nice and cool, even as I'm running Prime 95. I think taking the voltage down from 1.5 to 1.4 helped.

yeah higher voltage means higher heat. but if your staying under 45C i wouldn't worry too much. it seems most opteron overclocks have their sweetspot at 1.5v, but i wouldn't raise voltage unless you need it for a stable overclock.
mine fails prime at 2.7 after 6 hours at 1.4. so i'm sure 1.5v would keep it stable. time for a volt mod on my asrock... j/k, don't think i have the balls/desire to do that yet. 2.5 is just fine for everyday.

 

[firewolfsm]

i have the exact same problem, but i can't find my spare pci network card so i can't even use the magic bios. i heard that the early december bios on the site has OC problems unlike the late december one on the magic bios program.

 

[WhipperSnapper]

I flashed with the one that was released in January, just last month. No problems so far (but it's only been running for a few hours). Now at FSB 230 and 2.53 Ghz with memory set to 166 Mhz and the HTT multiplier set to 4x. Processor is still nice and cool at 1.4V and 33 degs C. I'm tempted to bring it up to 240.

 

[Duvie]

Take the time to run some simple test now...Run superp 32mb (2instances if you know how)...

Run a quick 3dmark...It will be sensitive to ram and memory controller like superpi...The memory controller is the weak point IMO when it comes to ocing AMD64's....

You could run prime95 for 30min to 1hr and then bump it up 5-10 more fsb...at 1.4v you are lucky you still have some room to play...

 

[sparkey]

give the quick and dirty guide on this forum a try thats what i used took me all of about an hour and a half to attain this , and i'm no genius but learning please look at my sig one of the best guides on the net
hope this helps
tom

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Oh yeah, I've read a couple of guides. Here's where I'm at right now:

Opteron 148 CABYE 0540 FPBW at 240 x 11 (2.64 Ghz) @ 1.40v.

I just ran 3dMark05 (Connect3d x800 GTO at 12 pipes at stock speeds) and scored 4701. Not sure if that's good or bad.

So far the processor seems to be just fine. I ran Stress Prime95 2004 for about 12 minutes when I was at 230 x 11 and had no problems. I bet I could take this up to 250 x 11, which is where I'll probably stop (no need to push it and the current dividers will have been maxxed out--memory to 208 Mhz, HTT to 1000).

 

[WhipperSnapper]

Here's what I posted in the Opteron Overclocking Results thread:

CPU: Opteron 148
Stepping: CABYE 0540 FPBW
Overclocked speed: 2860
CPU voltage: 1.5v
Idle temp: 36c
Load temp: 42c
Cooling: Arctic Freezer 64 Pro
Motherboard: Epox EP-9NPA+Ultra
Ram: Corsair Value RAM
Ram size: 2 x 512
Ram timings: 2.5-3-3-8
Ram divider: 4:6
Ram voltage: dunno--mobo stock or auto.

It was stable with Stress Prime95 2004 for about 20 minutes before I halted and tried to go further.

I'm going to run it at 11 x 250 = 2750 with a HTT multiplier of 4x, CPU voltage of 1.425, and 1:1 for the RAM. Seems to be much happier and I'd prefer lower voltage.

It does 11 x 240 = 2640 just fine at 1.40 Volts but needs 1.425 for 11 x 250. At 11 x 255 it wants 1.475 V.

At 11 x 265 it produced immediate errors in Prime95 with the voltage at 1.5. I don't want to push it any further. Note that the CPU temps were just fine. For both 11 x 260 x 1.5v and 11 x 265 x 1.5v the load temps were 42C, so that doesn't seem to be the problem. If I wanted to go higher, should I consider increasing the chipset voltage in case the mobo itself just doesn't like FSB's above 260, or would I just need more and more CPU voltage?

Does it look like I have a bad CPU? This is the CABYE 0540 FPBW, which is supposed to be one of the better steppings, but these results seem kind of disappointing considering that the CPU temperatures have yet to get above 42 degrees C. I had hoped to be able to get to 3.0 Ghz at 1.5 V and it couldn't even do 2.9.

The big jump seems to be going from 11 x 250 to 11 x 255. The marginal returns in terms of Mhz per voltage increment decrease after 250. I can't say I'm real disappointed since I'm under the impression that 25% is a great overclock, especially when the voltage is only .5-.75 higher than stock and when the CPU keeps under 42 C at load with the fan being below its full speed. It'll be easier to ramp up the voltage a couple years from now when this processor has less value and when it's relatively slower.

 

[Ronnie]

Your stepping is excellent, it could be a number of things from memeory timings, to picky memory divider or more voltage may be needed.

If you feel comfortable changing voltages again I would start with the chipset, then memory and lastly try 1.55V for cpu.

 

[Goldenstyx]

its not your CPU's fault, problem is..your RAM truely...sucks

sorry didnt mean to be rude but thats the fact. you have 1 of the best stepping for opteron 146 and plan to overclock to an ambitious 2.8~3G + range, and you are using VALUE RAM!

my suggestion, get youself a pair of decent ram like OCZ PC3200 Plat Rev2, timing 2-2-2-5 and overclock to 250Hmz then run a divider, drop your opty's muti to 10X and push the HTT to 300hmz (hope your mobo can push high enough). make sure get a decent CPU fan like SI/XP 120 or something. that should makes your 148 @3g+ prime stable

 

[CP5670]

Try using a lower multiplier. I ran into a similar wall on mine (a CABYE 0540FPAW) around 10x285, which isn't completely stable even at 1.55V, but it does 9x333 and 8x375 without any problems at 1.52V. It seems some CPUs can go further on a lower multiplier than with their highest one for some reason.

The memory will make no difference in the maximum CPU speed as long as it's running on a divider.

 

[mordantmonkey]

Originally posted by: Goldenstyx

its not your CPU's fault, problem is..your RAM truely...sucks

sorry didnt mean to be rude but thats the fact. you have 1 of the best stepping for opteron 146 and plan to overclock to an ambitious 2.8~3G + range, and you are using VALUE RAM!

my suggestion, get youself a pair of decent ram like OCZ PC3200 Plat Rev2, timing 2-2-2-5 and overclock to 250Hmz then run a divider, drop your opty's muti to 10X and push the HTT to 300hmz (hope your mobo can push high enough). make sure get a decent CPU fan like SI/XP 120 or something. that should makes your 148 @3g+ prime stable

forget this. Value ram doesn't matter. just run a divider. with a 2:3 divider you'll be able to run a 300MHz clock and not even stress your "value" ram. BTW 50MHz difference in memory clock on an AMD amounts to about 7% increase in fps in games. 107fps as opposed to 100fps. however a higher CPU clock will net much better gains.

but yeah i wouldn't push past 2.5 without a non-stock cooler.

 

[Goldenstyx]

for those of yall believes it is ok to get a cheap value ram pair with opty and do a 50%+ oc and still prime stable... well its your choice

while it's true that with A64's memory controller system it doesnt really matter how you get there (your 3G+ oc), as long as you get to there, but i will never even consider for doing massive oc with value ram... it just like running a FX60, 2 7800GTX 300G RAID $300case 4G ram system with nonname 10 bucks power supply.

 

[Rustler]

My CABYE 0540 does 2914Mhz on 1.39 volts in my ASUS rig!