Opteron 165 overclocking help

[Job]

Have managed to get my opteron from stock 1.8ghz up to 2.85 ghz, but seem to have hit a brick wall - the voltage is the highest the board will let me go (1.55 V) and the temps I'm getting are comfortably under 30 degrees C. My RAM is also running under stock speed and the LDT is at a x3 mutli with the FSB at 317.

I'm assuming that its only the CPU causing problems? Windows wont boot with the FSB any higher, although the CPU is fully stable at 316-317FSB

I'm not sure of the stepping, forgot to check when I installed my water cooling -

Any ideas as to how I might be able to push the CPU up a bit more? I'm aiming for 3.0Ghz if possible

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[RadiclDreamer]

My advice would be dont press your luck, you got a huge OC there.

 

[Job]

Yeah, I know - but the fun is knowing you can do better

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: Job
Yeah, I know - but the fun is knowing you can do better

Your motherboard will let you do more than 1.55v

 

[Kaido]

Dang man :Q That's an awesome OC. I'd be careful about going over 1.5v tho...I've heard 1.5/1.55v should be the max for safe operation. But I'm an OC noob so don't trust my comments too much

 

[arcenite]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Dang man :Q That's an awesome OC. I'd be careful about going over 1.5v tho...I've heard 1.5/1.55v should be the max for safe operation.

I agree. I am currently running my Opteron 165 @ 2.6ghz with no voltage increase.

 

[Job]

My system gets the BSOD when running under 1.5V on the CPU - this is beginning to annoy me tho - I managed to boot in to windows at 2.9, only to have to creep the settings down bit by bit when it kept crashing. Now at 2.81.

I know this is still pretty good, this annoyance for me is mostly because I had it running at 2.61 with value ram, and was expecting a bit more of an improvement now I've found myself some PC4000 and a water-cooler.....grrrr

Is there anything I can do to take some of the stress away from the CPU and creep it back up again (something obscure in the BIOS)? There is an option which lets you multiply the Vcore by a certain percentage (eg, 1.5V * 110%) but I have no idea what this does!

 

[Koharski]

do you have the metal heat spreader off? You may be able to squeeze a bit more out of your processor.

 

[Job]

Originally posted by: Koharski
do you have the metal heat spreader off? You may be able to squeeze a bit more out of your processor.

How does that help?

 

[thecidsound]

It helps make better contact with the heatsink, thus lower temps.

 

[Job]

hmm - begs the question why AMD would bother putting one on in the first place! No, temps are fine - 22 idle, 35 load - somethin else is flaking out on me here

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Job
hmm - begs the question why AMD would bother putting one on in the first place! No, temps are fine - 22 idle, 35 load - somethin else is flaking out on me here

For one, to prevent the core from breaking. I clearly remember chipping the core on my first Duron It was only a $50 chip but I was in high school at the time and I was only making like $50 a week lol.