Opteron 170 + Asus A8N-E + VS512MB400

[Cr0nJ0b]

sorry for the N00b questions, but everyone has to start somewhere right?

So I just bought an Opeteron 170, CCBBE to put in my old system. I have an A8N-E motherboard with the latest BIOS, an eVGA7800GTX, 4 x VS512MB400 PC3200 DDR2 ram. latest BIOS.

I'm hoping someone might give me some pointers on overclocking. I've printed out and read several guides, but I'm confused by the fact that the options I'm given in the Bios don't match across the board. My stock multiplier is 10 x 200MHz, but I can't take that any higher. I can boost the core voltage and the bus speed (I think it's buss speed).

Basically, the on the first pass I took the frequency up to around 220MHz, and the RAM up to 220MHz, so I'm at like 2.2GHz core and the memory looks to be running fast and fine. I'd like to take this up around 2.9GHz on air if that is possible.

My question is how high should I adjust the Bus Speed before looking to other items? I've seen that it's possible to push the bus way up and drop the multiplier to get to a target speed, but do I have to do this?

Also on the RAM side, same question...I'm running at 220MHz with 2.5-3-3-7-10 2T. How high should I push this?

Any help would be appreciated, especially from those with the same CPU and Mobo, so you can explain what you did.

thanks

 

[Cerpin Taxt]

I'm in a similar situation as you. I have the A8N-SLI Deluxe, and I just ordered an Opteron 165. I'll tell you how I'm planning on OC'ing mine, and hopefully you can glean some info.

To begin with, we both have "value" RAM, as opposed to premium RAM that can actually be overclocked significantly. Frankly, I don't think OC'ing your RAM up to 220MHz is such a good idea. I'm planning on running a memory divider so that I can run my RAM at stock speeds while I OC my CPU. Ideally, I'm hoping to hit 2.7Ghz on my Opty, which will be 300MHz with a 9x multi. In order to do that, I'll need to lower my HT multi down to 3x, and run my memory divider at 133Mhz.

My rationale is like this:

1.) 2.7GHz is a pretty reachable goal from what I've read about the Opty 165.
2.) The A8N's HyperTransport is max 1000MHz, so 300Mhz x 3 HT multi = 900Mhz = ok
3.) Since I'm OC'ing my FSB 50%, a 50% increase on 133MHz = 199.5Mhz = ok

If I were you, I'd lower your multi to 9x and do precisely the same as I am. Keep in mind that the ASUS BIOS reflects the memory clock at a stock 400MHz (i.e. DDR400), so to lower it to 133MHz in reality, you need to lower it to 266MHz in the BIOS.

I would recommend reading these threads:
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1497607&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1441072&enterthread=y
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1964433&enterthread=y