Problem with A64 3000 o/c & Msi neo2 plat.

[sodcha0s]

Just got this chip and board a few weeks back and am now experimenting with o/c'ing it. I have o/c'ed my athlon xp's before very successfully, but this thing is a different animal and I'm having some issues.

OK, first the setup:

A64 3000
MSI K8N NEO2 Platinum BIOS 1.3 (I think anyway...)
512x2 Corsair XMS 3200 C2 (slots 1&2)
420w Antec True Power
Thermalright XP-90 HS mated with 80mm YS-Tech adjustable fan
Seagate 160G SATA Drive on port 3
Maxtor Diamond Max 200G PATA
Maxtor 80G PATA
Acer CD-ROM 52x
TDK CDRW
ATI 9800 PRO w/arctic cooling HSF (AGP frequ. set to 67, aperture 128)
6 low RPM 80mm case fans

I can only get to about 215 HTT @4x HT with this setup. I have tried various settings and CPU and DIMM voltages, making sure to keep my mem clock at 200 or lower without any luck. The things I am thinking that are keeping me back are either my memory or my PSU. I know the memory won't go much past 200mhz from previous experience, but I have been careful to not let it go beyond that. I have tried really loosening the timings on it too, but still no go.

I have also heard there is a problem with the Antec True Power and this config not being compatible. Sounds strange, especially since I bought this PSU because it was supposed to be high quality. Another thing pointing me in this direction is the 12v and 5v rails are low as reported by BIOS. It's saying they are @ 11.73 and 4.75 and seem to be jumping up and down a bit. (not stable) Maybe a BIOS flash would help things, I really don't know. So I'm asking anyone out there with more knowledge to offer any suggestions or opinions.

 

[Duvie]

I had initial issues ocing anything above 215 range before I flashed to the 1.37mod bios I am running now, also no matter the cas setting, vcore, or memory divider...

I would look at flashing it...

When ocing I think you should assume with the 9x multiplier you will be going for higher then 250 so set the HTT to 3x right now. Then set the memory divider to 133, cas 2.5, 2t,6,10,4...Also go ahead and just use single stick at the moment. I think this is some of the best ways to isolate the cpu. Also hook up minimum drives and unneeded pci devices.

 

[sodcha0s]

Thx for the quick reply Duvie. I think flashing first may be the best route since it's free...LOL Anyways, is that 1.37mod BIOS you have supposed to be the best one? Where did you get it? I noticed in one of your previous posts that you stated you were going the live update route on your next flash.... have you tried it yet? I had a bad experience flashing a BIOS years ago, but that was my own fault.... forgot to reset my o/c before I did it on a cyrix p-150 (yeah, THAT long ago). I've been a little gunshy since then...LOL

 

[Duvie]

I bios flashed with the floppy the other day cause I din't have the HDD running it just was posting in bios...That was the first time I did that since 2001...Since then I have used MSI's, Asus's, and Abits live updates and never had an issue...Quite easy in fact....

Try this!!!

I would try 1.36 to 1.41 and it should be good in there...There is a 1.51beta out but I haven't been able to find a readme file telling me what they fixed or enhanced....

 

[mendicant]

great link duvie!

bin having the same probs getting over 215fsb too, or any combination trying to get over 2,360ghz(roughly) and having seen a few posts i'd begin to suspect the bios

would like to get the newer bios but it sounds quite tricky and "lotto" installing them so i woz wondering if they'd be avaliable through msi's live update anytime soon?

 

[Duvie]

download the file to your harddrive first from one of the sites....Then when you use liveupdate it doesn't necessarily mean through the interent...It shoudl give you update from file option. Just pick the directory...I mean flashing in windows is reisky enough with microsuck, but ppl with dialup connection and possibly having a call come in or ISP drop them during a flash would be catastrophic...

 

[Cosmo3]

It may be the motherboard. I see lots of trouble with that motherboard. The reason I have not went to the 939s yet is not many choices on motherboards. DFI hurry and get your 939 board out. I have not seen many positive reports on 939 boards yet, just check out the forums on about any sight out their. It seems they have lots of bugs maybe new bios updates will help them out.

 

[Duvie]

Honeslty it looks like if you didn't oc the Bios version 1.3 by MSI would have fixed evrything...ONly for ocers who are pushing the envelope do we need this added ones...I think most of all my issues may be solved and I am running 1.37mod and there is a 1.51beta out...

 

[StriderGT]

You don't have to set the AGP to 67, 66 lock works just fine.

DO NOT TRUST the Current DDR Clock in BIOS it misreports your memory frequency.

You can use the calculator I have developed to be sure that you use valid settings all the time.
OC Athlon 64 Calculator page

Hope this helps

 

[sodcha0s]

Yes, thanks StriderGT. I had already DL'd your calculator and was using it to map my o/c options...

 

[sodcha0s]

Originally posted by: Duvie
Honeslty it looks like if you didn't oc the Bios version 1.3 by MSI would have fixed evrything...ONly for ocers who are pushing the envelope do we need this added ones...I think most of all my issues may be solved and I am running 1.37mod and there is a 1.51beta out...

Yeah, everything works flawless when not overclocking. The only thing I don't like about the board so far is the onboard audio, it sounds pretty crappy compared to my ASUS A7N8X Deluxe. And well I guess the socket placement could have been a little better....

BTW Duvie, thanks for all the info and links. No time to work with it tonight, but I'll do some research and try some things tomorrow and report back on my progress.

 

[sodcha0s]

Flashed to BIOS ver 1.3b7 (?, that's what it says) and still not having much luck. My temps still seem a little high though, I'm running stock speeds and voltages and cpu temp is 43c in windows. I don't know how accurate this temp reading is, later today I'm going to re-apply thermal paste to the cpu and re-check. Hopefully I just don't have a weak cpu.... :/

 

[sodcha0s]

OK, the problem seems to be running my memory in dual mode. I removed one of my 512M sticks and was able to acheive 245 HTT, 4 HT and 166 mem without any problems. I didn't push it yet, just trying some things. I suppose I could just config the memory for single mode, but isn't that gonna be a significant performance hit?

 

[StriderGT]

Your case is a real mystery. Try losing the SATA drive and see waht happens.

 

[sodcha0s]

Funny you should say that, my OS is installed on the SATA drive and somewhere along the line it became corrupted. Got it going again via recovery console, but now when I try to run Quake3 it just hangs. I'm going to do an install on one of my IDE drives to see what happens. One other thing, I've seen a tip for enabling hidden BIOS features by holding down shift+f2, then alt+f3 while in BIOS, but I don't see anything new. Any suggestions?

 

[jbh129]

Dropn your HTT to 3x when searching for your FSB limit.

 

[sodcha0s]

Update: figured out that one of my mem modules isn't happy in this rig when it's o/c'd. Now I need to figure out how far I can go with the one that's left...

 

[StriderGT]

Still a mystery (I hope you use different colour slots when you install your two mem modules - but I don't think from your posts that you ' ve done such an elementary mistake...)
Try overvolting the two memory modules and see if you gain any stability. You can also try disconnecting some unnecessary devices, fans, etc to see whether your PSU can't cope, but its a good one damn it...

 

[implicit1]

I had problems with the same thing as well. I realized that using mem dividers also changes memory timings that are not accessible in the bios (set the mem freq to 100mhz, and then to 200mhz and use A64 tweaker to verify this.) I fixed this by setting it to boot at 100mhz mem freq and then having a64 tweaker set the timings and speed on boot (which it can do automatically when windows starts).

It seems to be a problem especially with CH-5 on that board. (which I think is what your mem uses).

This may or may not be the problem you are having, but it is worthwhile info either way.

 

[sodcha0s]

StriderGT: It's definitely one of the memory modules, the older one. I didn't buy them as a set and the one that works is a newer version. I have tried every combination of slots, frequency, volts, timings and have the same result.
implicit: The only thing I didn't try was the 100mhz setting. Good info, I may try doing that if I don't buy some new ram.
The fastest I got it windows stable was 2475@1.47v (9x, 3HT, 275HTT, 133mem) but it wasn't prime stable. Maybe a little more juice would have done it, but my PSU isn't putting out enough as it is and I didn't want to push it. Anyway it runs plenty fast enough for me at this time, but I would like to be running 1G ram in dual channel. I know the best ram for this is the OCZ plat rev2., but unfortunately I don't have the cash for it at the moment. Any recommendations on some less expensive ram I could get that would run at T1?

 

[nitenichiryu1]

i remember reading an article somewhere that said the antec true series hasnt been too compatible with the msi board. i didnt look too much into this, but you might want to check your rails for stability since there were some issues with it sepcifically with the true series and msi mobo.

 

[imported_samk]

Could you help me with this link, I can't seem to be able to download this program.
Im also new to overclocking and this program I think will help me.

Thanks so much.........

Sam