Quick and dirty A64 clocking guide **UPDATE** X2 OC information!

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firewolfsm

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2005
1,848
29
91
i just OCed my opteron 144 to 2.25GHz (250*9) with my G.Skill ddr500 at 1:1, it's at 36C load with stock cooling, at 1.4V. i have my CPU at 1.4 because the old bios on my epox 9npa ultra put it at 1.5 and i chose the -.1V (the lowest) option to set it at 1.4V. my question is, is it worth it to flash the new bios and reoverclock everything? Will i see better performance?
i don't see a real need to OC more since my CPU bottleneck is mostly gone, i have a 470/1100 eVGA 7800GT CO

currently at 7624 3DMarks 05!
 

firewolfsm

Golden Member
Oct 16, 2005
1,848
29
91
you know i can't resist, i overclocked to 2.4GHz and the awsome G.Skill ddr500 went up to 267MHz (ddr534) stable, 7697 (much higher cpu score vs. 2.25). still at 36C load, i gave the case more clearence from the wall and the exaust fan is working better
 

Ridesy

Member
Feb 4, 2006
70
0
0
Hi,

This article was recommended by a regular on Asus MOB forum as a good start for me as a noob to overclocking.

Have read this post many times now and think I get the gist of the need to test limits of each part: Chipset, CPU & Memory, even if I then don't ultimately push them too hard (am a bit concerned at thought of frying my nice new toy).

However, having downloaded memtest and created boot disc from this, I can't find any useful instruction on how I should run the test and what I am looking for.
I did boot from this disc and just had a series of numbers running in an endless loop with no result or anything else for that matter, in fact I had to eject disc and reboot to get out of the loop, so I assume the test didn't run properly anyway.

So any replies on how I run Memtest properly and what results should I get from it?

Thanks

Ridesy

 

mondobyte

Senior member
Jun 28, 2004
918
0
71
Of course, memory timings have some limitations:

I have two identical motherboards, one with an Opteron 165 and another with an Opteron 175. I noticed on boot that the 175 always runs 333 2T and the 165 runs 400 1T with identical memory (the 175 has 4 512M sticks, the 165 has 2 512M sticks).

I wondered why this was happening. (It turns out that for this situation, the difference in the processors can be ignored since they are both Socket 939) Here is some very interesting information about memory configurations that I discovered!
Please examine Page 178 Tables 45 and 46 in this document. It was most enlightening! (Page 175 has information relative for Socket 754 processors)

It turns out that AMD has set some maximum upper limits on memory performance depending on your memory configuration! These constraints are embedded within processor and are probably not subject to modification.

[*]Assuming 4 total memory slots, what, if any, is the advantage of populating 2 slots with, say, 1GB memory modules @ 400-1T compared to populating 4 slots with 512MB memory modules @ 333-2T?

[*]Are all socket 939 motherboards capable of 128 bit memory access or are some limited to 64 bits ?

mondo
 

BlacKJesuS

Banned
Jul 19, 2005
1,063
0
0
hey i read the guide and numerous sites...jes cant by the fact that im stuck

Athlon 3000+ winny 939
4x512 pc3200 (Geil x2 Patriot x2)
AV8 3rd-Eye
Stock heatsink


No matter wut i do i cant get over 255mhz.....HTT x 3 .....400mhz @ 133mhz...still nothin
ive turned up vcore how can i get it higher? please help thanks
 

robertk2012

Platinum Member
Dec 14, 2004
2,134
0
0
Do not run at 2T. There is a large performance loss. Anytime you use 4 stickes you will be running at 2T.

Originally posted by: mondobyte
Of course, memory timings have some limitations:

I have two identical motherboards, one with an Opteron 165 and another with an Opteron 175. I noticed on boot that the 175 always runs 333 2T and the 165 runs 400 1T with identical memory (the 175 has 4 512M sticks, the 165 has 2 512M sticks).

I wondered why this was happening. (It turns out that for this situation, the difference in the processors can be ignored since they are both Socket 939) Here is some very interesting information about memory configurations that I discovered!
Please examine Page 178 Tables 45 and 46 in this document. It was most enlightening! (Page 175 has information relative for Socket 754 processors)

It turns out that AMD has set some maximum upper limits on memory performance depending on your memory configuration! These constraints are embedded within processor and are probably not subject to modification.

[*]Assuming 4 total memory slots, what, if any, is the advantage of populating 2 slots with, say, 1GB memory modules @ 400-1T compared to populating 4 slots with 512MB memory modules @ 333-2T?

[*]Are all socket 939 motherboards capable of 128 bit memory access or are some limited to 64 bits ?

mondo

 

NaiMan

Member
Feb 2, 2005
151
0
0
Originally posted by: robertk2012
Do not run at 2T. There is a large performance loss. Anytime you use 4 stickes you will be running at 2T.

so running 2x512 @ 1T is better than running 4x512 @ 2T?

 

cretinbob

Member
Feb 10, 2006
73
0
0
I'm good up to RAM testing, then I get lost.
Do I leave RAM speed at 100mhz and just bump up HTT til fails or what?
All is going well, I'll get 2.5 out of a 3200+.


err I'm going to bed now, it's late. the cobwebs will clear in the AM.
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: WelshBloke
Thanks Zebo.
Great thread :thumbsup:

managed to get my get my cpu up to 2627 from 2200.

I've got one question.
Is it better for me to run my ram at ddr400 speed with tight timings 2-3-2-5 1T (htt is at 250 and I'm running the ram at ddr333 so thats ddr416 effective yes?) Or to loosen the timings and up the htt and lower the multiplier.

Oh and does running the ram in dual channel mode affect its potential overclock at all.

Sorry if this has been all covered but it's a long thread:)


Now if I could only get this x1800xl to clock like it should I'd be happy

Again thanks Zebo :beer:


Thx:)
Tight timings is better- I've found you need about 50Mhz xtra bandwitdh to make up for running cas 3 over 2.

Dual channel is faster since theorectically two data streams at the same time can move back and forth to and from memory increasing bandwidth, not double but about 60% more. This puts additional strain on mem and mem bus giving lower Overclcoks than single channel would/does but it's generally worth it.


 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: cretinbob
I'm good up to RAM testing, then I get lost.
Do I leave RAM speed at 100mhz and just bump up HTT til fails or what?
All is going well, I'll get 2.5 out of a 3200+.


err I'm going to bed now, it's late. the cobwebs will clear in the AM.

Hi

I will be rewriting this guide this week for clarity and to reflect new parts.. sorry I've been away for awile..
 

robertk2012

Platinum Member
Dec 14, 2004
2,134
0
0
Originally posted by: NaiMan
Originally posted by: robertk2012
Do not run at 2T. There is a large performance loss. Anytime you use 4 stickes you will be running at 2T.

so running 2x512 @ 1T is better than running 4x512 @ 2T?

Depends on the situation. Most of the time yes unless you are running a program that requires a lot of ram.
 

RichUK

Lifer
Feb 14, 2005
10,341
678
126
Originally posted by: themusgrat
Good job, Zebo. Why did the sticky go away?

Its stickiness is timed. Meaning that it stays up for a limited amount of time as its not permanent. You'll see the clock icon next to the thread folder icon which indicates this. The mods just need a PM to re-sticky this thread that?s all.
 

BlacKJesuS

Banned
Jul 19, 2005
1,063
0
0
Athlon 64 3000+ @ 2344
4x512 pc3200 (geil and patriot) @ ddr200
X850XT @ over xt pe
Abit AV8 3rd eye w/ latest bios


I was wondering wut i could do to raise the FSB past the 260 im stuck at.....in bios and starting up the pc i can get to 295 but it will not boot into windows just sit there with a black screen after the bios loads past

HELP ME PLEASE...ive seen 2.5....i wanna see it in game though :D
 

BlueWeasel

Lifer
Jun 2, 2000
15,944
475
126
As someone who is finally selling his XP-M 2600+ and picking up a Sempron 3100+, I'll find this information VERY useful. :)
 

disprosium

Junior Member
Aug 23, 2000
3
0
0
Thanks for this guide and all the posts. It really came in handy since I had been out of the OC'ing game for some time.

X2 3800+ Manchester @ 2.6GHz : 260x10, 4x HTT, 1.45 Vcore
2GB OCZ 2.5-3-3 1T @ 217Mhz DDR (333 timing in BIOS)
ASUS A8N-SLI-Deluxe

With stock cooling, 36C/59C idle/load. I got it up to 2.7GHz, but it becomes unstable after a few minutes under full load. I use BOINC (Seti@Home) to max out both cores. Maybe with a higher Vcore voltage, but I don't want to push it. Still pretty happy to get 2.6 out of a 3800+
 

PSUPef2k

Senior member
Mar 1, 2006
335
0
71
this thread rules. I'm an uber n00b to OCing...basically just researching it lately. I think I am going to go with a 4400+ X2 chip...but many are trying to sway me to the opteron instead. Should I go with an opty instead?

I haven't even built this machine yet, but I was planning on Asus A8N-SLI or A8N32-SLI, Antec 550W TP2.0, 7800GT, 2GB OCZ Platinum (2x1GB), and 4400+ X2, with an Antec P180 case. Good build to try some MINIMAL OCing on? I definitely won't be going bonkers trying to max out my chip.