Opteron 165 / A8N-SLI Deluxe / Mushkin 2GB DDR 500

[DelD]

I would like to OC this combination to about 2.6Ghz. This will be my first time to OC an AMD processor and I am looking for advice on settings and such. If any of you have OC the same or similar config please post your settings.

I will actually be OC two systems, both identical except that the other system is using an A8N-E motherboard. The system above will be used for gaming and the second system mainly for business with a little gaming. I need the second system to be reliable, so will not be OC as much, 2.4Ghz would be good for me.


Thank you very much for your time.

 

[DelD]

Small update, just making sure I don?t let the smoke out.....

These setting are for the A8N-E board; I have not gotten the SLI board completed atm.

One of the first things I noticed is that the mother board does not recognize the CPU, says ? AMD Processor Model Unknown ? is this normal?

I am increasing the HTT by 3 and rebooting, so far I am at 206Mhz. These are the settings.

Hyper Trnasport Freq - (Auto)

CPU Freq - 233Mhz (Would not boot at 246, so moving this back to 233 (less 5%)
PCI Express - 100Mhz
DDR Voltage - 2.8
CPU Multiplier - X9 (thats maxed)
CPU Voltage - 1.45
PCI Clock Syn - 33.33Mhz

So, I am guessing that 233Mhz is my max chip setting?

The Timing mode is set to Auto (the following setting are displayed)

Mem clock Index value - 400Mhz
Cas Lat - 3
Min Ras Active time (Tras) - 8T
Ras - Cas delay (Tred) - 4T
Row precharge time (Trp) - 3T
Row cycle time (Trc) - 12T
Row refresh cycle time (Trfc) - 19T
Read - to - write time (Trwt) - 5T
Write Recovery time (Twr) - 3T
1T / 2T Mem Timing - 2T
S/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping (Enabled)
H/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping (Enabled)

Anything wrong with these settings?

Thanks

 

[TecHNooB]

Drop the divider to 333. Bring volts back to stock plz. 233mhz is no max for an Opteron. My Opty 170 could hit 2.6 with just 1.375v. My mobo has the same problem recognizing the cpu. All I can say is the processor works fine and windows knows what it is. It works fine nevertheless. So drop the divider and go hit 2.4 on stock =) You just saved $500 on an X2 4800+

 

[DelD]

The divider = Mem clock index value? If I drop this down to 333 can I change the 1T / 2T Mem timing to 1T?

 

[TecHNooB]

Originally posted by: DelD
The divider = Mem clock index value? If I drop this down to 333 can I change the 1T / 2T Mem timing to 1T?

Yes, and maybe =)

 

[DelD]

Ok, changed divider to 333 and volts to stock. System boots to windows at 245Mhz with no problems (running memtest now).

Change to 246, will not boot to windows. Any ideas?

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

The A8N-SLI Deluxe had a limitation with the HTT. It started to act quirky at anything above 240-245 or so and had to revert to 2T memory timings. This issue was resolved with the Premium.

Drop your memory timing to 2T and it should boot back up again. Depending on how far you can take your overclock, it may be faster to use a lower clock speed and a 1T command rate.

These screenshots are from the premium board, but I'd imagine that the deluxe BIOS looks fairly similar.

Pic1
Pic2
Pic3

 

[DelD]

The mem timing is at 2T, I have not tried 1T yet.

I am going to try your suggestion about trying to get the 1T command rate. Since I have never done this before it is like flying blind.

Also, my Hyper Transport Frequency is set to (Auto), should I change it to 3x?

Thank you very much for the screen shots, they look very familar to the A8N-E bios.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: DelD
The mem timing is at 2T, I have not tried 1T yet.

I am going to try your suggestion about trying to get the 1T command rate. Since I have never done this before it is like flying blind.

Also, my Hyper Transport Frequency is set to (Auto), should I change it to 3x?

Thank you very much for the screen shots, they look very familar to the A8N-E bios.

Your hypertransport speed (Hyper Transport Frequency * CPU Frequency) should NOT go over 1000. If it's under, that's fine, but it can't go OVER.

so

HTT

0 - 200 = 5x
200 - 250 = 4x
250+ = 3x

While overclocking though, just set it to 3x and forget about it. You can worry about it later.

Auto is the same as 5x, so yes change it.

 

[DelD]

kk, changed to 3x for the moment. Since I think I am capped at 245Mhz I will change it to 4x later.

I changed the Mem timings to 1T and the Mem clock to 266, ran memtest for 5min with no errors, so I am going to increase it to 333 and see what it does. I guess that if I get the ram back up to 400Mhz at 1T and get no errors then thats about as good as it is going to get with this motherboard. That sound correct?

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: DelD
kk, changed to 3x for the moment. Since I think I am capped at 245Mhz I will change it to 4x later.

I changed the Mem timings to 1T and the Mem clock to 266, ran memtest for 5min with no errors, so I am going to increase it to 333 and see what it does. I guess that if I get the ram back up to 400Mhz at 1T and get no errors then thats about as good as it is going to get with this motherboard. That sound correct?

The memclock is deceptive in the way it works.

266MHz isn't 266MHz in the way you think it would be.

On my system, for example, I have the memclock set to 266, but the memory is running at 400MHz.

This is simply due to the ass backwards way Asus did the memory dividers in the A8N series.

Memory MHz = [(Memclock / 400) * CPU Frequency] * 2

---------------------------
So for me this would be
Memory MHz = ((266 / 400) * 300)*2
Memory MHz = (~2/3) * 300)*2
Memory MHz = 200 *2
Memory MHz = 400
---------------------------
200 = 1/2
266 = 2/3
333 = 5/6
400 = 1/1

=====================

If 245 is indeed the highest you can go:

266/400 * 245 *2 = 325MHz
333/400 * 245 *2 = 408MHz

=====================

I remember my Premium board hit a little bit of a dead space right after 245 where it wasn't entirely stable. While this is a known issue with the Deluxe, it may be possible to get a bit higher.

I've read a few reports of people getting 2.6 (300HT) and above on the deluxe, but they're all with 2T command rates.

 

[DelD]

Well to be honest I had to read that twice, but it does make sense.

Since I beleive I am capped at a 245Mhz CPU Freq, then the best I can hope for is to be able to run the Ram at 400 Mhz at 1T timings. I am running memtest now at those settings, so far no errors. If it continues with no errors I will let it run all night and see how it does.

I left the rest of the memory setting alone, so they are set like you see them in the above posts. It is the settings that cpu-z has at 200Mhz.

Thank you for all your help!!!

I am seriously considering returning this motherboard and getting the premium version, but returning items to Amazon can be a pain.....

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Amuse me.

See if these settings will POST.

If you can't read any of these, let me know

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

Checkmark = change it to equal that
Dash mask = leave it like it is.

 

[DelD]

You are the MAN!!!

Booted up with no problem. I have no settings for Chipset Voltage or HT Voltage, at least I cant find them any were in the BIOS. But doesnt seem to have effected it any tho.

I am running memtest now and will probably let it run all night.

Thanks again for all your help, hopefully I can return the favor some day.

Del D

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Just here to help.

Chipset and HT Voltage are probably premium only features. I don't actually have a deluxe or an E board here to look at, so I'm just going based on what I can see.

You can probably push the HTT up quite a bit more. I only chose 267 because most Opterons can easily hit 2.4GHz and its outside that small dead space I experienced.

Your memory is only running at 350MHZ or so though

You can mess around with the dividers on your own to get your memory closer to its rated speed.

-------------

I just now noticed it's DDR 500. Makes me wonder why we were even messing with the dividers in the first place That probably messes with my formula as well. Oh well. CPU-Z will tell you what you need to know.

My fault

-------------

Also, I seriously doubt memtest is going to find anything as the memory is running WAY below spec. You'd be better off running Prime95 or something similar.

-------------

If you're happy with 2.4GHz, you could probably drop the Memory voltage down to 2.7V and the VCore back to 1.35. That'll help with the heat and shouldn't affect your stability.

rereading your second post...

One of the first things I noticed is that the mother board does not recognize the CPU, says ? AMD Processor Model Unknown ? is this normal?

Asus should have a BIOS update that addresses this. Based on the descriptions, I think you'll need 1008 or later. Downloadable here (Required chipset drivers HERE)

Feel free to come back and ask if you need more help when you wake up in the morning.

 

[pabs]

I also have the same memory (the redline sticks were too expensive) and I can't seem to run it at DDR500. I have the A8N-SLI Premium w/Opteron 170 @ 240x10 and I have to run it with a divider (333) to get it down to 200mhz in order to pass sp2004 (large fft/blend). If I set it to 400mhz in the bios I get an round off error after about 10 seconds into the test, I'm also running the same timings as you but at 1T since I had thought asus had fixed the 2T errors in the Premium.

I memtested the sticks at ddr500 with zero errors so I don't think thats the problem. Aside from going to 2T (which I really didn't want to do since there is supposed to be a preformance hit) I am out of ideas as far as trying to OC this memory.

 

[nealh]

when ocing ..you need to establish cpu max first..set ram to 133 divider...htt 3x and slowly increase the fsb..set ram to 3-3-3-10 -1t

I will bet the 165 will do 2.4ghz easily....9x 265...around 2400...do dual prime 95 and see if it is ok

max cpu then can go back and tinker with the ram


2.6ghz on a 165 is great oc and not all chips will get there...looking around the net 2.5 is good bet ..2.6+ is not so easy....even with 170 many top out at 2.6

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: pabs
I also have the same memory (the redline sticks were too expensive) and I can't seem to run it at DDR500. I have the A8N-SLI Premium w/Opteron 170 @ 240x10 and I have to run it with a divider (333) to get it down to 200mhz in order to pass sp2004 (large fft/blend). If I set it to 400mhz in the bios I get an round off error after about 10 seconds into the test, I'm also running the same timings as you but at 1T since I had thought asus had fixed the 2T errors in the Premium.

I memtested the sticks at ddr500 with zero errors so I don't think thats the problem. Aside from going to 2T (which I really didn't want to do since there is supposed to be a preformance hit) I am out of ideas as far as trying to OC this memory.

Set your memclock index to DDR500 They'll run on a 5:4 divider, but it should be stable.

nealh is correct though. My Opteron 165 starts to run out of steam at around 2.6GHz. 2550 is rock solid though.

 

[DelD]

Is there a big enough performance hit at 2T to warrent returning an A8N SLI Deluxe and getting the Premium version? Only reason I got the Deluxe is beacuse Amazon did not have the Pemium when I ordered, but it is a pain to return items to Amazon....

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: DelD
Is there a big enough performance hit at 2T to warrent returning an A8N SLI Deluxe and getting the Premium version? Only reason I got the Deluxe is beacuse Amazon did not have the Pemium when I ordered, but it is a pain to return items to Amazon....

it depends on your definition of "big enough".

Is it benchmark big enough? Probably

Is it real world big enough? Probably not.

 

[imported_dhluke]

I have an Opteron 165 and A8N-SLI Premium. I have been trying to reach 2.8GHz, but so far I have failed. The max stable I have been able to reach is 2.6GHz. Temps are 48C full load, and 28C idle. It doesn't get that hot. I have been able to boot at 2.7GHz, but it fails prime95 within 10 seconds.

I need some help with the settings, as I know I can reach 2.8GHz. Oh yeah, My ram is G.SKILL Extreme Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Samsung TCCD System Memory Here

Anyways, here are some pictures of my BIOS settings:

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

CPU-Z

Any help would be appreciated it!

dhluke

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: dhluke
I have an Opteron 165 and A8N-SLI Premium. I have been trying to reach 2.8GHz, but so far I have failed. The max stable I have been able to reach is 2.6GHz. Temps are 48C full load, and 28C idle. It doesn't get that hot. I have been able to boot at 2.7GHz, but it fails prime95 within 10 seconds.

I need some help with the settings, as I know I can reach 2.8GHz. Oh yeah, My ram is G.SKILL Extreme Series 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 400 (PC 3200) Samsung TCCD System Memory Here

Anyways, here are some pictures of my BIOS settings:

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

CPU-Z

Any help would be appreciated it!

dhluke

Dude use the DDR333 ram divider, you are monster overclocking the ram. Your settings are running the ram at 290mhz/DDR580 which is amazing, anything higher than that is virtually impossible.

Overclocked ram on an A64 provides almost no real world performance. Getting you max CPU overclock will have much more effect on performance. Drop to DDR333 and you should have no problem going over 300mhz

 

[imported_dhluke]

I tried to go lower on memory and up the FSB to 300, but system wouldn't boot. Right now the system is running Prime95 -- So far it's been 5 hours and still going... I guess until I find better numbers to put in... 2.6GHz is the best I'm going to get out of this configuration... On the other hand... gotta love the RAM!!!!

dhluke