Overclocking A7V333

[johnjk]

I'm new to overclocking, although I've got a PIII 550@733 that's been running that way for a long time now. What I've got here is an A7V333, AMD XP 1600+, and a 256 mb stick of Kingston PC2100 CL2.5. I tried just upping the FSB to 166 and it booted up fine. Sandra showed the cpu as 1.75 ghz. I then located prime95 and tried to run it, but it immediately locked up the computer (running winme). Do I need to make some more changes in the bios. I left the ram to spd and such. I haven't played around with stuff in awhile, and I'm not sure what I need to change. I'm running an Antec Solution Series cpu fan. I know it's probably not the greatest, but I needed one asap and was able to pick it up at the local Staples. My cpu temp (not overclocked) has been showing about 40-44c using asus probe. Any suggestions will be deeply appreciated.

On a side note, I bought this mb refurbished from newegg. I need an I/O shield and an attachment (not sure what to call it) so I can use the onboard firewire. Does anyone know where I might come up with these?

Thanks

 

[hominid skull]

Increase the core voltage to 1.80V or so, that should help. I wouldn't personally go above 1.85V if you want the processor to last for a while.

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

also the ram might need more voltage
it is undocumented in the manual (go figure... :confused so look for it on the board itself near the ram slots i think

if it is not there, just look around for a few jumpers and a silkscreen on the motherboard to tell you what jumpers= what voltage

 

[johnjk]

I tried moving the voltage to 1.8. Prime95 made it a couple of minutes, but that's all. The cpu does not seem to be heating up, so I'm guessing it's my ram holding me back. When I up the fsb to 166 I assume I'm overclocking the ram also. Are there any adjustments in the bios I can try before moving the voltage up on the board? Thanks.

 

[randomboy]

Yeah, you're trying to run that PC2100 @ PC2700 and maybe it just doesnt like it

The boards plenty easy to OC though, I'm on my XP1500+ agoia @ 1.71 ghz as we speak, a nice toasty 37C idle too

Try some faster RAM??

Jeff

 

[Ketchup]

If you increased the CPU voltage, and the system gets more stable, then it is probably the CPU that is your bottleneck right now. Go ahead and bump your CPU voltage to 1.85. If it still crashes Prime in a couple minutes, then it is probably something else, such as your memory, that is holding you back. AMD CPU's are very sensitive to temperature when it comes to overclocking, so you may want to invest in a better HSF unit, like the Thermalright AX-7 or SLK-800. When I had an 1800+, it took a Swiftech MC462 and an 80 CFM Delta to get it to 1.8 GHz. 1.75 GHz is a good overclock for a 1600+, as long as you can get it stable.

 

[pcmax]

I would say your ram having tried Infineon(PNY), Nanya, Samsung, and Crucial chips on my A7V333 at 166 and the Crucials were the only ones that would run stable. I thought the KT333 boards were capable of downclocking the ram but there is no adjustment at least on this board and it's not automatic cause Sandra and every other sys info program I run says the ram is running same as FSB, get outstanding mem benchies though. Also, I found that if your using 2 sticks of ram that the 1 and 3 slots were more stable than the 1 and 2 slots. There is also voltage jumpers for the ram, it never seemed to make a difference what they were at for me but you could try it. I think they are undocumented but you can find thread/s on it here.

P.S. I also have a bare refurb A7V333 from Newegg (not the same as above, it's a full retail) and if you find the extra stuff anywhere please PM me, thanks.

 

[johnjk]

Thanks for the replies. I'm pretty certain it's my ram. Guess I'll have to save up for some more. I haven't had any luck on the accesories, but if I find them I'll let you know. What are you looking for specifically?

 

[Assimilator1]

Why not just try a FSB below 166?

Inccidently I have the predeccsor to that mbrd ,the A7V266-e ,Ive got my PC2100 Crucial RAM running at 152MHz CAS2.
Odd that the A7V333 manual doesn't document the RAM voltage jumper ,my manual does

 

[Ketchup]

I agree with Assimilator. Most of us "seasoned overclockers" go up in small incrememts, not huge gallops. It makes it easier to find out what the bottlekneck is sometimes, and it is less likely the system won't POST.

If you still think it's your memory, go into the "Advanced Chipset Features" in the bios and make sure your memory timings are as relaxed as possible (put all the settings as high as they will go and turn "Bank Interleave" off.

 

[Assimilator1]

And then my memory throughput will be faster

Seriously though ,as said ,you should just go up in small steps to find where the limit is ,rather than shooting right past it

 

[johnjk]

I like to start at the top and work my way down. Actually, I was trying to keep the pci speed at 33. I thought I had tried 160 with no luck, but I ran Prime95 last night with 160fsb and it ran 12 hours with no errors. Looks like I may have found a sweet spot. Temp. was running at 49 according to asus probe. Are there any more tests I should try, or anything I should look out for?

Thanks

 

[Assimilator1]

Play some heavy 3D game too ,the extra heat output from the vid card can tip a borderline overclock ,also the AGP bus will be tested.

 

[RootX]

One complaint though.... after running a month my Á7V333 with 192 fsb, the ide controller died... for a week kept on reporting my ata disks as pio moded, then competely died....
The disks run perfectly with my current conf....

 

[pcmax]

Wow, d@mn son what were you runnin' at 192fsb?

 

[Assimilator1]

RootX
Maybe just a bad mbrd? just coincedence perhaps? ,192FSB with a 1/5 divider is about 38MHz for the PCI ,not too bad.
I once had a K6-2 on a TX mbrd running at 83MHz ,that's a PCI bus of 41.5MHz!:Q ,mbrd is still ok now AFAIK ,the HDD died just inside of 3yrs (lucky me,got it RMAed)

 

[RootX]

Maybe this particular mobo, was a bad piece, not saying that it isn´t a good overclocker.
Kept me happy, when everyone was saying that asus mobos 4 amd platforms, aren´t good overclockers.
Too bad it died though....
My asus

 

[Assimilator1]

Mine overclocks fine