RICHUK come in please!

[JazzMaster]

SYSTEM SPECS:

- Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
-AMD 64 4000+ & CoolMaster HP 48 Cooling System
-2.0 GHz (512*2) Ballistic Crucial PC4000 500 MHz & (512*2) Corsair PC4400 550Mhz -> (2.5, 3, 3, 5)
-74GB Western Digital 10K RPM SATA HD
-ATI Radeon Xtasy X850XT
-Sound Blaster Audigy 2Z
-Samsung 930B LCD (1280x1024 @ 70 MHz) - DVI

Windows XP SP2 services optimized and all unecessary processes running in the background minimized.

Above is the system I have - I have read your post regarding overclocking and by looking at your system which about the same as mine - how can I get the most out of this system - including overclocking potential. Any advice/suggestions are welcome.

 

[rise]

welcome to AT!

if you find one of his posts you'll see those little icons at the top right of the reply box. the little one that looks like a lock will allow you to send him a private message if you want.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Very nice rig! I have the same mobo and a SD 3700+, here are my pointers on overclocking with the A8N-SLI deluxe.

1. Set HTT to 201 in bios to lock the PCI and PCI-e buses, the 33.33 PCI clockspeed setting in bios doesn't work. If you boot to windows at HTT 200 and overclock in window your buses are unlocked.

2. The Max memory clock settings over DDR400 are worthless, don't use them. If you want max ram overclock use the DDR400 setting wich is 1:1, ramspeed will increase as you increase the HTT. This applies to all ram regardless of speed rating.

3. The new memory controllers on the SD's are more picky when overclocking ram. Start your testing by using a ram divider DDR333 or DDR266 and setting HTT multi to 3x. Only once you've found you max CPU overclock should you start trying to maximize your ram. And never sacrifice CPU speed for ramspeed on A64's. Once you know your max CPU overclock, play around with different CPU multis and memory dividers to find your best ram overclock without reducing your CPU overclock.


Welcome to the forums and Good Luck

I'm sure RichUk will be along shortly to throw in his $.02

*edit*
I just noticed you have 4 sticks of ram. With 4 sticks you will have to use the 2T command rate. But you should still use a divider to find your best CPU speed, then maximize ram but never at the expense of lowering CPU speed

 

[JazzMaster]

Thanks guys for the warm welcome and tips!

I guess I kinda wasted loot on RAM when I shouldn't have at all.

GuitarDaddy:

...setting HT to 201 and not 200 - what is the logic behind that? I know there is - just not obvious to me

So I should set my RAM settings in the BIOS to DDR400?

2T - what does that do?

Thanks again for your time

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Setting the HTT to 201 in bios activates the PCI and PCI-e "locks". The PCI bus should stay locked at 33.33mhz and the PCI-e should stay locked at 100mhz. These buses are what controls your VGA card, hard drives and any PCI cards that you have installed. If the locks aren't activated when you overclock by raising the HTT, these bus speeds will increase causing your VGA or hard drive(s) to be unstable and crash your system.

You can probably use the DDR400 setting to max your ram once you've identified your max overclock. But I would use the DDR333 setting at first until you find your max CPU speed

The 2T command rate reduces memory bandwidth by about 1000 points versus 1T, which gives slightly lower performance in some applications, and has no affect in others. With 4 sticks of ram the board will always default to 2T, and if you try and change it manually your system won't boot. So just leave it a 2T, its not a big deal and in my opinion the benifiets of having 2gb of ram will outweigh any performance loss caused by the 2T command rate

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Originally posted by: JazzMaster

I guess I kinda wasted loot on RAM when I shouldn't have at all.

I think everybody does the same thing I bought the OCZ platinum rev2 at $280 and its total overkill for A64's, and to add to my insult the price has now dropped to $186 at newegg:|

 

[JazzMaster]

GuitarDaddy - thank you for you for your help!

Ok after following your advice - here are my settings:

SYSTEM MAX:

MAX FSB = 340MHz
MAX CPU = 225MHz
MAX RAM = 300MHz


SYSTEM OVERCLOCK:


CPU

HTT = 240MHz
Clock Multipler = x11.5
CPU Voltage = 1.575v
HYPERTRANSPORT = x4

RAM

DDR-SDRAM = 2.048G
Freq: = 120.0
FSBRAM = CPU/23
CAS # Latency = 2.5
RAS# to CAS# = 2
RAS # = 2
Cycle Time = 5
Bank Cycle Time = 22
DRAM Idle Timer = 16

My system runs fine - but I get CTDs when I open games (FS2004 and Pacific Fighters). Do you have setting any suggestions?

Thank you all your help dude

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Try upping your Ras to Cas from 2 to 3, 2.5-3-2-5. And in my testing I get better scores with a cycle time of 7 vs 5, so you might try 2.5-3-2-7. See if either one of these settings stops your CTD's

So youre at 2.76ghz:thumbsup:, thats a nice O/C! Is your 4000+ a Clawhammer or a San Diego? You're at just about the average O/C for SD's, or above average for the CH core.

 

[JazzMaster]

GuitarDaddy! You are a goddam genius son!

I got home and was trying to read your post but was CDTing every time I tried to pull up this website! I figured it might be my video card failing on me. Then I remembered a post you placed about not running all 4 memory back at 2.5,2,2 because systems will fail or certain programs will. Then I backed it down to 2.5,3,3 and EUREKA!

Then I finally read your post - just to see your recommendation of the same exact thing! You made the correct diagnoses - you rock dude!

Oh yeah - I have a Clawhammer

 

[RichUK]

Hello JazzMaster,

Welcome to the forums, I can see by your system that it is a little bit different to my setup, although with regards to Overclocking i can still try and give advice on configuration setups as hardware fundamentals do not change between makes. i am flattered that you had asked for my opinion after reading one of my threads, thank you . As you can see there a lot of people on this forum that are equally and have more experience then me when it comes to OCing, and also would be more knowledgeable in certain specific areas.

As you can see by GuitarDaddy posts, he has given you some very useful info with specifics to settings on your motherboard, unfortunately i do not have any experience with regards to that specific motherboard so i hope others that do, will be able to help with tips and tricks.

With regards to OCing the rest of you system, please post back on this thread and i or anyone else in this forum will be able to give advice on any other steps that can be taken.

Or feel free to Private message me (by clicking on the lock icon), and i will gladly help in you queries as best i can.

By the way nice rig ,

RichUK

 

[RichUK]

Originally posted by: JazzMaster

GuitarDaddy! You are a goddam genius son!

I got home and was trying to read your post but was CDTing every time I tried to pull up this website! I figured it might be my video card failing on me. Then I remembered a post you placed about not running all 4 memory back at 2.5,2,2 because systems will fail or certain programs will. Then I backed it down to 2.5,3,3 and EUREKA!

Then I finally read your post - just to see your recommendation of the same exact thing! You made the correct diagnoses - you rock dude!

Oh yeah - I have a Clawhammer

Yeah you will have to loosen your mem timings when running four banks of mem, because like me i am running 512Mb of ram on each individual mem controller, where as you are looking to run 1Gb on each mem controller. So the less amount of memory the mem controller has to address to the better it performs, you would see a noticeable in fact drastic difference between running 2x256Mb against 2x1Gb set up, but then you have to way up the benefits for more mem which is in some circumstances very much needed.

quote: (512*2) Ballistic Crucial PC4000 500 MHz & (512*2) Corsair PC4400 550Mhz -> (2.5, 3, 3, 5)

Do you have the default mem timings for the ballistix ram aswell? what you will find is that when running 2 different sets of dual channel RAM modules, the least performing ram (RAM with the worst latencies) will always be the limiting factor when setting the mem timings. This is because when you set the mem timings in the bios, you are settings the timings for both channels 1 and 2 (aka the ballistix and the corsair RAM) what happens is the two differnt spec RAM modules Overclock differently. This means that the RAM will behave differently, to different timings and speed settings in the BIOS (this is why companies sell dual channel pairs to insure complete compatibility at given speeds and timings).

Automatically the BIOS will set the mem timings and speed, in accordance to the lowest performing RAM modules that are installed, to reduce instability for a start, this happens when the BIOS reads the SPD (serial presence detect) chip on the RAM Module, (tiny little chip, a lot smaller then the memory chips them selves).

ultimately when OCing you are telling the BIOS to not read the SPD and set the specs (speed and timings) to what you desire, and with a bit of time, trial and error you can find the best performing config for your RAM, you then have to find what the best performing speed for the processor is, and like always "CPU speed is KING" quoted from Zebo (Quick and dirty overclocking guide, stickied at the top of the forum check it out ), so compromising on RAM specs to improve the CPU speed is the better goal, so the extra 200Mhz gained when running 2T is worth it, this is when benchies come in, to find out what runs better..

FYI .. i changed my CPU speed from stock to my max OC (see sig), and i was able to run ultra settings more comfortably in doom 3, so again CPU speed is king..

RichUK