Overclock an Asus A8n-SLi Premium?

[Kalessian]

I'm very sorry if this is a repost, but I started to get a headache from reading so much in that other huge thread.

I know next to nothing about overclocking a K8. I've done it a ton on the P4 or K7, so I'm not a newb either.

Here's my problem. I want to buy a venice 3000+ and just overclock it to 2.2 ghz or higher. At a 9x multiplier, that would require about a 250 FSB, right? With the a8n-sli P, could I reach this overclock? And, what about my ram, which I want to keep in the 190-220 range. Is there a divider I can use so I can hit 250x9 but keep the ram at 200 mhz?

I don't know about HyperTransport speed, either, so what would I have to do to that?

One last question, I think the zalman 7000 HSF will fit on it, because the 7700 will. Right?

Thanks in advance.

-Kale

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
I'm very sorry if this is a repost, but I started to get a headache from reading so much in that other huge thread.

I know next to nothing about overclocking a K8. I've done it a ton on the P4 or K7, so I'm not a newb either.

Here's my problem. I want to buy a venice 3000+ and just overclock it to 2.2 ghz or higher. At a 9x multiplier, that would require about a 250 FSB, right? With the a8n-sli P, could I reach this overclock? And, what about my ram, which I want to keep in the 190-220 range. Is there a divider I can use so I can hit 250x9 but keep the ram at 200 mhz?

I don't know about HyperTransport speed, either, so what would I have to do to that?

One last question, I think the zalman 7000 HSF will fit on it, because the 7700 will. Right?

Thanks in advance.

-Kale

The Zalman 7000 will fit fine, that's what I use. The SLI Premium will reach the OC you want easily. The earlier SLI Deluxe has some issues hitting higher than 240x?? multiplier, but the Premium is fine. The BIOS allows you to setup seperate clocks for the Memory and HTT (HTT is basically the FSB of the A64), so no worry there - as long as you set them and not leave them on Auto. Just set the Memory frequency to DDR400 and increase the Hyper TansporT speed to 240/250 or so and leave the multiplier alone.
To get really great understanding of what's going on, there's a great A64 OC thread here.

 

[Kalessian]

Thanks, <3

That's a great guide, too, for K8 newbs like me. <3 Zebo

Are you running a Premium? Because you've listed a Deluxe, which doesn't have the Heatsink at the MOSFETs.

If so, have you tested your max HTT?

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Thanks, <3

That's a great guide, too, for K8 newbs like me. <3 Zebo

Are you running a Premium? Because you've listed a Deluxe, which doesn't have the Heatsink at the MOSFETs.

If so, have you tested your max HTT?

I'm upgrading to the Premium shortly because I can't get my Deluxe past 240 and work. The MOSFETs on the Deluxe still have a rather large heatsink on them and there's ample space between it and the Zalman 7000-Cu, so it should fit fine on the Premium.

EDIT: This review used a 7700-Cu, which fit fine. The smaller 7000-Cu should fit no problem.

 

[Kalessian]

Oh, good.

Some reviews show that the HTT speed can even hit 300mhz.

Actually, should I get this board or the DFI SLI-DR? The top one that sells for over $200. Which is better?

 

[Kalessian]

And will my geil value ram be ok for it?

 

[furballi]

I'd go with Corsair Value Select or Kingston RAM. Both will hit 275MHz FSB with 5:6 memory divider (229MHz RAM speed).

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Oh, good.

Some reviews show that the HTT speed can even hit 300mhz.

Actually, should I get this board or the DFI SLI-DR? The top one that sells for over $200. Which is better?
=====
And will my geil value ram be ok for it?

I think the two boards are about equal with each other. The DFI gives you a better 'insane level of overclock' possibility (although the ASUS is no slouch either), but it sounds like you are aiming for a more conservative OC.

=====

Geil can get some good OC levels. Using the OC link from the earlier post, see what it can do and if it's good enough for you keep it. Like furballi said, if you want to upgrade the RAM the Corsair Value Select is pretty sweet. I would prefer the Corsair over the Kingston, personally. I got the OCZ for my rig because I had the money at the time. If you can 'splurge' on it, do it; the OCZ Platinum EL Rev2 is still some of the best performing stable RAM available.

 

[Kalessian]

Thanks for all the help.

Another question:

Does the Premium support NCQ for SATA? Because I have an NCQ drive...

 

[Aquila76]

Originally posted by: Kalessian
Thanks for all the help.

Another question:

Does the Premium support NCQ for SATA? Because I have an NCQ drive...

All nForce4 chipsets support SATA/SATAII and NCQ, so you're good to go.

A bit of advice for the XP install, make the SATA Controller disk off the CD BEFORE you kick off the install and have to run to a friend's PC to make the disk. It will prompt during the first seconds of the XP setup to 'hit F6 if you have a RAID/Other storage controller' and you'll need to supply the disk then, otherwise XP setup won't see any attached SATA storage.

 

[Kalessian]

Ahah, I've run into that problem before. Luckily I have about 4 computers lying around here with burners in them.

I was actually hoping to salvage this install here... I think drivercleaner pro can do it...

I hope that NCQ is as good as the benchies say :/

 

[revlimit]

For people that has the premium board, what is the max voltage it can go up to for the memory. I want to get the OCZ OCZ5001024ELDCGEVX-K but want to know if it will support it or not.

 

[Capt Caveman]

Max voltage is 3.0v

 

[Lawboy1976]

Hey,
I'd be grateful if you guys could help me out: I've got the Zalman 7000B-Cu led cooler and an A8n SLI Deluxe with AMD 64 4000+

That's the full copper HSF. It weighs a ton! I keep my rig vertical, which as you can imagine will put more pressure on the board that keeping it horizontal. Is it safe? I'm seriously considering going for the AL-CU version which is a lot lighter, but would be grateful to hear about your experiences with the copper version.

Secondly, I've gone for a gig of this stuff (2 sticks).

http://www.dabs.com/uk/channels/compone...ssories/productView.htm?quicklinx=397N

Any good?

(The components are still rolling in: this is my first self build)

 

[WobbleWobble]

Originally posted by: Lawboy1976
Hey,
I'd be grateful if you guys could help me out: I've got the Zalman 7000B-Cu led cooler and an A8n SLI Deluxe with AMD 64 4000+

That's the full copper HSF. It weighs a ton! I keep my rig vertical, which as you can imagine will put more pressure on the board that keeping it horizontal. Is it safe? I'm seriously considering going for the AL-CU version which is a lot lighter, but would be grateful to hear about your experiences with the copper version.

It's safe. I haven't heard of any horror stories with the heavy Zalman 7x00 coolers ripping out the mobo it was sitting on. It's just advised not to ship a system with that cooler installed. Since you already have the Cu, I wouldn't bother getting the AlCu.

 

[manno]

Originally posted by: Aquila76

Originally posted by: Kalessian
I'm very sorry if this is a repost, but I started to get a headache from reading so much in that other huge thread.

I know next to nothing about overclocking a K8. I've done it a ton on the P4 or K7, so I'm not a newb either.

Here's my problem. I want to buy a venice 3000+ and just overclock it to 2.2 ghz or higher. At a 9x multiplier, that would require about a 250 FSB, right? With the a8n-sli P, could I reach this overclock? And, what about my ram, which I want to keep in the 190-220 range. Is there a divider I can use so I can hit 250x9 but keep the ram at 200 mhz?

I don't know about HyperTransport speed, either, so what would I have to do to that?

One last question, I think the zalman 7000 HSF will fit on it, because the 7700 will. Right?

Thanks in advance.

-Kale

The Zalman 7000 will fit fine, that's what I use. The SLI Premium will reach the OC you want easily. The earlier SLI Deluxe has some issues hitting higher than 240x?? multiplier, but the Premium is fine. The BIOS allows you to setup seperate clocks for the Memory and HTT (HTT is basically the FSB of the A64), so no worry there - as long as you set them and not leave them on Auto. Just set the Memory frequency to DDR400 and increase the Hyper TansporT speed to 240/250 or so and leave the multiplier alone.
To get really great understanding of what's going on, there's a great A64 OC thread here.

Aquila - Thanks for the link that helped me out a lot.
OP - great post, thanks!