Opteron 2.75ghz Prime Stable

TheRyuu

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2005
5,479
14
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Well, finially did it. Got an Opty a little while back and had an OK overclock (2.5ghz) but I wanted more :p

So went to 250x11 and got 2.75ghz which is 1:1 with the RAM. :D

2.75ghz Prime Stable :)
Only let this one go 12 hours. I'll do another at 24 hours when I have the time too.

Specs are in sig. Took 1.5v to do it since it's not the greatest stepping in the world.
Stepping: CCBWE 0543TPMW

Got it a little while back. I'm thinking about getting a newer Opty 170 and (hopefully) get the newer 06 steppings since they seem to have good overclocks. But I'm happy with it now.

Strange thing is, my memory bandwith is hitting the bandwith of the new AM2 stuff on the anandtech page, and I only have DDR. Guess I won't be upgrading for a while.

Next thing I guess I'll try for is 2.8ghz. The RAM doesn't want to go above 250mhz :( (DDR500) for some reason even though a lot of them (OCZ DDR500 PC4000EB, the Infineon ones) seem to go to 275mhz at the same timings as DDR500 (3-3-2-7 and even faster).

And BTW, use the Quick and Dirty Overclocking Guide. That thing really is great :)

Thanks for all the help.

For anyone too lazy to click a link,
Specs:
Asus A8N32-SLI Deluxe
Opty 175@ 2.75ghz ~1.5v (even with 8 phase power, asus still can't get the voltage right)
OCZ DDR500 PC4000 EB (Infineon IC's)
2x7900GT's soon to be vmoded
X-fi Plat.
Seasonic S-12 600W PSU
Custom Water Cooling Setup
and other non-important stuff.

Custom Watercooling setup:
-Swiftech Storm
-2xCyclone Fusion HL (bitch to install)
-BIP3 Rad
-MCP655 (D5) Pump
-Bay Res.
-10ft. Tygon Tubing.

And :cookie: for me ;)
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
81
:cookie:

My Opty hits a pretty big wall @ 2.7, though it could partially be the motherboard to blame.

Very nice anyway.

Hmm, just realized you have the same mobo as i.

Does it have the issue of not being able to restart, only turn off + turn on?

Which bios are you using also?
 

TheRyuu

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2005
5,479
14
81
Originally posted by: n7
:cookie:

My Opty hits a pretty big wall @ 2.7, though it could partially be the motherboard to blame.

Very nice anyway.

Hmm, just realized you have the same mobo as i.

Does it have the issue of not being able to restart, only turn off + turn on?

Which bios are you using also?

I'm using the latest bios (i think) and it seems with the CPU Vcore Overvolt enabled (since no matter how high I set the voltage, it seems to top out at 1.45 on the vcore if I don't use overvolt) that I can't restart. It just won't post. But I can turn on and turn off.

Apparently even with 8 phase power, Asus still can't get the voltage right. So I set the vcore to 1.3 and turn on Vcore overvolt which gives me 1.5v. And I try not to restart. I think I bios fix will probably fix this problem.
 

bunnyfubbles

Lifer
Sep 3, 2001
12,248
3
0
Originally posted by: n7
:cookie:

My Opty hits a pretty big wall @ 2.7, though it could partially be the motherboard to blame.

My wall was @ 2.7 for my 165 with my Ultra-D, 2.7 seems to be a fairly common wall at that, we probably just didn't get as lucky as some others :p Not that I'm going to complain about the performance I'm getting...
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,314
690
126
Originally posted by: n7
Does it have the issue of not being able to restart, only turn off + turn on?

Which bios are you using also?

It's a very well-known issue with the board. BIOS hasn't been able to fix this. The most logical explanation I've encountered on the web is:

Originally posted by: HotHardware
Unfortunately, getting the system booted was not always that easy. In many cases, booting up the P5N32-SLI resulted in a blank monitor screen and we had to manually shut down the board using the kill-switch on the power supply. Originally, we thought this might have been a heat-related issue, as the system typically would not reboot after running benchmarks and the like. After checking fans and airflow, we were convinced that the setup, at least, was not at fault. We also noticed that the next boot after using the PSU kill-switch, would invariably halt during POST with the message that "overclocking failed or overvoltage failed". The problem with this is that in just about every case, we were neither overclocking nor overvolting any of the components. Investigating the issue, we found that in the Hardware Monitoring section of the BIOS, that the CPU was consistently undervolted, usually by a solid volt off of the expected value. That is, even if we raised the voltage elsewhere, the VCORE Voltage would be one volt lower. We managed to gain a bit of stability by manually raising the CPU voltage, but still found that the system became unresponsive from time to time.

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle.aspx?page=3&articleid=729

It's a P5N32-SLI review, but the issue at hand is the same. It tends to happen when your CPU is highly overclocked and/or when the HTT is high (300+). Only cure has been raising VCore or lowering HTT, which sucks for a low-multi CPUs.

I still kept this board as my main instead of DFI due to lower CPU temperatures. But don't get mistaken this with the board's power consumption. It has both north/south bridges and the board itself eats up more power than traditional NF4-SLI boards.
 

CP5670

Diamond Member
Jun 24, 2004
5,665
765
126
I used to get that warm boot crash even at stock speeds on both of the Asus boards I previously had (A8V and A7N8X). I don't know why Asus still hasn't managed to fix this problem, as it's been around for almost three years now.

Anyway, that's a pretty nice overclock. I ordered a 165 myself from Monarch yesterday; hopefully I will get a decent stepping.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
4
81
Originally posted by: wizboy11
Apparently even with 8 phase power, Asus still can't get the voltage right. So I set the vcore to 1.3 and turn on Vcore overvolt which gives me 1.5v. And I try not to restart. I think I bios fix will probably fix this problem.

Using lower vcore + the 200mV over voltage is the better way to go anyway, since the mobo actually only feeds 4-phase power until you enable over voltage.
Then the 8-phase kicks in.

I'm using 1.285 + the 200mV over voltage IIRC, & that results in very accurate total vcore it seems.

The silly reboot issue is disappointing, but i can live with it.
 

starwars7

Senior member
Dec 30, 2005
663
0
0
Congrats!! That is a pretty sweet OC!

I've still got to try OCing mine. To be honest, I think I'm just nervous since this was my first build and will be my first OC.
 

thxdd

Member
Sep 24, 2005
91
29
91
Very impressive overclock, may I ask the details on your "custom" watercooling setup?
 

Amaroque

Platinum Member
Jan 2, 2005
2,178
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0
I had two K8N Neo2 Platinum's, and one A8N-E that did that... So it's not just Asus. Also, no BIOS update helped with any of these boards.

I just built another A8N-E, and it doesn't have that problem. I also just rebuilt my main rig with an A8N32 SLI Deluxe, and it doesn't have the boot problem either.

The only remedy is to swap out the motherboard with a newer one.
 

TheRyuu

Diamond Member
Dec 3, 2005
5,479
14
81
Originally posted by: thxdd
Very impressive overclock, may I ask the details on your "custom" watercooling setup?

Custom Watercooling setup:
-Swiftech Storm
-2xCyclone Fusion HL (bitch to install)
-BIP3 Rad
-MCP655 (D5) Pump
-Bay Res.
-10ft. Tygon Tubing.

The temps I get can sometimes vary (a lot) based on what temp the room is. Sometimes when it's warm out the CPU will actually hit 36C under load.