Problems with overclocking a MSI K8N Neo3 H V2.0

[deadken]

I bought a Sempron 3100+ and ECS Nforce3A combo from Outpost.com about a year ago. Like many others with this combo, mine ran stable @ 9x250 (2250) with a %3.4 boost in Vcore. I bought 2 of them, they folded 24/7 for about a year error free.

I decided to change one of the CPU's out for a A64 3200+ (which is running @ 2.6Ghz). Those ECS boards are great, cheap, and stable, but I was worried about how long they would last.

I decided to swap out the motherboard from the other combo with a MSI NF4 Neo 3 that has a AGR (like an AGP) slot as well as a PCI-e slot. The PC that I put it in doesn't do much graphic work at the moment, but I like the idea of having a PCI-e slot since my son is 11 years old and getting interested into Gaming. I had hoped that the NF4 chipset would give me the same stability as the NF3 but have a higher O/C potential. Unfortunately it doesn't like to Overclock at all. I can get up to 211 FSB by using the MSI overclocking software (Core Center) but not up to 222. Since nothing else in this machine has changed, I am at a loss as to why I can even get close to the 250FSB that I know it is capable of. I have updated the BIOS to version 1.7 from the MSI website. I can't even get up to 211FSB when I overclock in BIOS.

I have to admit that I did not re-install the Windows XP Pro O/S. I did remove most of the hardware from within Device Manager before I swapped out the motherboard. I can't imagine that being the problem given the circumstances, but I figured that I should mention it.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Try dropping down the HT multiplier further than you normally would. For example, try 3x for your 250FSB setting. Don't forget to drop your RAM multiplier too, to DDR333 or DDR266, and set dram timings (CAS, etc.) manually, to their slowest settings.
After that is stable, tweak settings upward from there.

 

[deadken]

Those are the first things that I did (sorry that I didn't mention it in my first post). I have dropped the memory to 5:6 (running at 172mhz IIRC) and lowered the HTT multiplier to 3X (running at 750 IIRC). I have also raised the Vcore well above what I was running this CPU at in the last Motherboard. I am pretty positive that I bumped up the Chipset Voltage by .1V also.

I have tweaked around in BIOS and I just can't see what is holding this combo back. I could alway swap back in the ECS NF3 motherboard to get my clockspeed back up, but that will have me locked into AGP Video cards rather then the PCI-e.

I am thinking about taking the A64 3200+ out of the other ECS motherboard and putting it in this MSI board. I know that it is stable at 2.6Ghz in the ECS board and I am curious to see how high I can go with this MSI board and that CPU.

I will also post a similiar question in the Hot Deals thread that originally led me to this board. Perhaps more owners of this motherboard will see the question there and can offer tips about what worked (if anything) for them.


EDIT: Ok, I used ClockGen and got back up to 2240Mhz, that is close enough to the original 2250Mhz to make me happy. For some reason I couldn't get Prime95 Stable for 24hours at 2250 with clockgen, but 2240 did ok. No big deal.