Please help an OCing newbie

[rocky123]

I've read numerous threads/guides on various forums and am still confused on some aspects of overclocking. I'm really green when it comes to overclocking but after hearing all the wonderful stories about Venice 3000+ OCs I had to give it a shot. Here is my PC info and I attached some cpu-z screens and a clockgen screen:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ Venice
EPoX EP-9NDA3J Mobo
XCLIO 450W PSU
Corsair 1GB PC3200 400MHz (2x512MB):Model #VS1GBKIT400

Now even though a 600mhz OC is nothing to sneeze at, I've seen OC on the 3000+ much higher than that. When I try to increase the HTT on clockgen my PC freezes. I think it may be because the memory is OCing too high but even when I changed the divider from 166 to 133 making the memory clock much lower than 200MHZ after the overclock the PC still freezes. The only things I can think of with my very limited OCing knowledge is I need to change the memory timings, change vcore or dimm voltages or am stuck at 2.4Ghz. Thanks for the help guys.

CPUZ 1
CPUZ 2
Clockgen

 

[imported_Deez]

First off have you locked the agp/pci. If not set it to subtle tuning and change it to 67mhz. An easy way to tell if it is locked is to change the fsb in clockgen and if it changes it is not locked. Also you may want to change the settings in bios, it is pretty easy and you may get better results. Also you can try running memtest86 and that will tell you if it is a ram problem. If you want to venture into voltages just do one at a time. and don't go too far. Also what is you HTT if it is above 1000 make sure to change your multiplier.

 

[Ike0069]

You need to isolate each of the three main items:
RAM speed
CPU speed
HTT

Set you RAM to 100, CPU multiplier to 6, and retry. If it doesn't boot or is unstable, then the HTT is what is holding you back. Only way to fix that really is get another MB.

Once you know how high the MB HTT goes, then you start increasing the multiplier until it doesn't boot to determine the ~max CPU speed.
Than you go to the RAM.

You really can't just start raising the HTT (FSB) looking for a max OC and know what is going to be your limiting factor. This is all explained very well in the sticky at the top of this forum.

Also, realize that every chip OC's differently. While someone can reach 2.6GHz on their 3000+, the next guy might only reach 2.3 GHz using the exact same hardware. It really YMMV when OC'ing.

 

[n7]

Don't OC in Windows.
Do it thru the bios.

Make sure your LDT is set to 3x or 600 (also called HT frequency multiplier).

Unless you have fantastic RAM, you'll need to lower the RAM divider to 133.

If you are using a SATA HDD, you may want to check the situation for SATA locks on your mobo.
Most nForce 3 mobos have ports 3 & 4 locked, but not 1 & 2.

You can also safely bump vcore up to 1.55V if needed.

Oh, & if you'd have read the OCing guide at the top of this forum, you wouldn't have to ask these questions...

 

[rocky123]

Thanks for helping out guys:
Deez - My AGP is set to 66.67
Ike0069 & n7 - I will try using the isolation method. I did read the sticky at the top but I still get a little confused with all the variables.
Ike0069(or anyone who knows) - You say I should set my ram to 100, my multiplier to 6 and start raising my HTT to find it's limit and then start raising my multiplier. Once I find the limit for the HTT wouldn't raising the multiplier cause the PC to crash immediately? Example: I set my multiplier to 6 and set my HTT to 350 for 2.1Ghz anything higher on the HTT and the PC craps out letting me know that my max HTT is 350. So I leave my HTT at 325 to be conservative and then set my multiplier to 7 for 2.275Ghz, since this is higher that the 2.1Ghz that was my limit before wouldn't that crap out the PC also or am I totally wrong there?
n7 - Not running SATA HDD just plain old ATA. Also is it OK to OC using clockgen and then when I find stable numbers change to them in the bios or should I always OC via the bios and why is that better than clockgen?
Thanks again guys.

 

[rocky123]

Well I tried isolating everything starting with the ram at 133mhz, the divider at 6 and the HTT at 240. Very weird though sometimes I could boot with the HTT over 250 and sometimes couldn't even boot with it set to 240. I finally decided to set my specs at 245*9 for 2.23Ghz because it was so random what the PC would allow me to boot at. That being said when I adjusted my clocks with clockgen it allowed me to set the HTT to 267 even though I couldn't get anywhere near that setting it through the bios. So when I check with clockgen and cpu-z I'm running 2405.5mhz but when I right click on my computer and do properties it shows 2.23Ghz. Which is accurate and why can I set my clocks higher with clockgen than through the bios? I'm really confused