PSU holding back OC?

[NatePo717]

I have one of these PSU's I can get 2.3 to boot but it's not stable at all. I can only get to 2.25 to be somewhat prime stable (about 6 hours). I have to run a divider on my ram to keep it around 200 FSB or I get BSOD whenever doing anything intense (like games).

 

[JEDIYoda]

My opinion-- NO!! Its not holding back your O?C attempts!

We need more information if we are to help you!!

thx

Such as mobo make....memory type and munufacturer...etc

 

[NatePo717]

Hardware is in the sig.....

Running at 280 * 8 right now.
I'll have to check the rest of my bios settings when I get home.

 

[imported_Vanden]

Are you running 3 sticks of ram? That might be the problem. Try 2T, see if that helps.

 

[NatePo717]

Trying 2T now. Running DDR386 at 3-4-4-10. Dropped my divider to 133(2/3) Running Prime95 at 2.3 (287 * 8)

 

[Bona Fide]

Just an overall observation

17A on the 12V+ rail is NOT good for OC'ing.

 

[NatePo717]

Any suggestions as to what I should get. I've heard Seasonic, Enermax, and Antec are good but which would be the best for $100 +/- $10

 

[o1die]

Seasonic and Fortron were both recommended by Thg after an extensive power supply test. Fortron is the lower priced. Their blue storm series in 400w should work fine for you. They run about $80 in pricewatch. But it's also possible you've got a bad overclocking cpu, so it's your decision about the new ps. Personally I wouldn't gamble on it. My p4 will overclock by 25% using a fortron 300w with 18 amps on the 12v rail, which is similar to your current ps. So maybe it's just your cpu.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

I overclocked a Sempron 2800+ to 2.24 GHz on a 200W PSU with a 10A +12v rail. Personally, I think PSUs are very much overrated. I highly doubt it is influencing his overclock threshold.

 

[EightySix Four]

It's a sempron bro... PSU's are very much UNDERATED. Switching from a cheapo 400w to an antec trupower 420 solved a lot of problems for me. ALOT

 

[NatePo717]

only prime stable at 2.3 for an hour... but everything seems to be running nicely and haven't had a single BSOD. Going to try some more benchmarks to see how bench stable it is.

I also don't want to go below a 450W PSU. I plan on getting a DFI nF4 Ultra, 3000+, and a 7800GT in the future so 450 would be my min for the system...

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Bona Fide
Just an overall observation

17A on the 12V+ rail is NOT good for OC'ing.

Actually before I bought the PSU I have now I was over clocking my p4 3.0 all the way up to 3.8 on a generic OKIA PSU with 18a on the 12v rail.....

So in effect what you are saying could be true; but alot of times is not true as in my case!!

But with that said his PSU is NOT the problem!

YES!! I would tend to agree PSU`s are way overrated in relation to over clcoking your CPU!!

 

[Cruise51]

Seasonic and Forton are the best power supplies in my opinion.

 

[Cruise51]

You might find the following usefull. It is quoted from... http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/sempron-2600.html

"So, the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb looks a most appropriate platform for overclocking Socket 754 processors. We met some practical problems, though, which you should be aware of.

First, DFI quite insensibly saved on the chipset cooling. The low-profile aluminum heatsink installed on the nForce3 250Gb chip is working close to its limit, so you may want to replace it with something more serious before overclocking the CPU.

The second problem is that the Serial ATA ports numbered 1 and 2 are implemented through an additional PHY controller from Marvell. This controller is very capricious about high clock-gen frequencies, and Serial ATA drives attached to this controller?s ports stop to work even at a slightest overclocking. So, you should disable the first two Serial ATA ports when overclocking the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb and use only ports 3 and 4 which are attached directly to the chipset.

The third drawback of the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb is the strange sensitivity of the memory controller to which exactly DIMM slots the DDR SDRAM modules are plugged in. It?s better to load a pair of modules into the first and third DIMM slots at overclocking, but the use of a single memory module is the best choice. Our experiments suggest that it?s only in the latter case that you can overcome 300MHz clock-gen frequency."

Guess their nF3 board is a little more picky than the nF4s when it comes to overclocking.

 

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: NatePo717
I also don't want to go below a 450W PSU. I plan on getting a DFI nF4 Ultra, 3000+, and a 7800GT in the future so 450 would be my min for the system...

DFI requires at least a 480 watt, native 24-pin PSU. Everyone on DFI-Street raves about the OCZ Powerstream 520W. I'm pretty sure both of the DFI support people that patrol the forum use it in their own rigs. It can be had for $112 shipped AR at Monarch until 8/31.

Also, you should carefully read the stickies on the forum and get as much info as possible before buying your stuff.

 

[NatePo717]

Originally posted by: Cruise51
You might find the following usefull. It is quoted from... http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/print/sempron-2600.html

"So, the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb looks a most appropriate platform for overclocking Socket 754 processors. We met some practical problems, though, which you should be aware of.

First, DFI quite insensibly saved on the chipset cooling. The low-profile aluminum heatsink installed on the nForce3 250Gb chip is working close to its limit, so you may want to replace it with something more serious before overclocking the CPU.

The second problem is that the Serial ATA ports numbered 1 and 2 are implemented through an additional PHY controller from Marvell. This controller is very capricious about high clock-gen frequencies, and Serial ATA drives attached to this controller?s ports stop to work even at a slightest overclocking. So, you should disable the first two Serial ATA ports when overclocking the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb and use only ports 3 and 4 which are attached directly to the chipset.

The third drawback of the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb is the strange sensitivity of the memory controller to which exactly DIMM slots the DDR SDRAM modules are plugged in. It?s better to load a pair of modules into the first and third DIMM slots at overclocking, but the use of a single memory module is the best choice. Our experiments suggest that it?s only in the latter case that you can overcome 300MHz clock-gen frequency."

Guess their nF3 board is a little more picky than the nF4s when it comes to overclocking.

I knew all of this. I put on an active chipset cooler and have never seen it go above 31C so chipset temp isn't an issue. I also have no drives on SATA ports 1 and 2. I use 3 and 4. I'm going to try changing my clock multiplier tonight to 9 and lower my FSB to see if this will improve my OC.

Originally posted by: mrkun

Originally posted by: NatePo717
I also don't want to go below a 450W PSU. I plan on getting a DFI nF4 Ultra, 3000+, and a 7800GT in the future so 450 would be my min for the system...

DFI requires at least a 480 watt, native 24-pin PSU. Everyone on DFI-Street raves about the OCZ Powerstream 520W. I'm pretty sure both of the DFI support people that patrol the forum use it in their own rigs. It can be had for $112 shipped AR at Monarch until 8/31.

Also, you should carefully read the stickies on the forum and get as much info as possible before buying your stuff.

I will look into the OCZ Powerstream. I'm an OCZ fan so it should fit right in with all my other stuff.