s754 3200 oc dillema

[o0akoni0o]

this is for a buddy of mine and here are his specs:
s754 amd 3200+ 2.2ghz newcastle w/ xp-90c
msi k8n neo platinum nf3
1gb corsair xms 3-3-3-8

with the ht @ 3 and bumping the fsb to 220 for a total cpu speed of 2400mhz while keeping everything else stock everything runs stable. it can run prime95 for days and full loads are only 50*c. however, we tried getting to 2.5 ghz by moving the fsb to 227 but it would fail prime 95, this was with the vcore at 1.55 and memory at 2.7. then we tried the same fsb but with a 5:6 memory divider and it wouldnt post. any ideas, we were hoping to reach 2.6ghz air and it reached 2.4 with no problem.

 

[Doh!]

newcastle was never a good OC cpu. Try w/ a higher vcore. For your motherboard, there's a bios version that goes to 1.65 for vcore.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

1st try dropping the HT multi to 2.5, it won't impact performance noticably to do so. I know it is lower than spec already, but I've experienced some quirky stuff that made no sense, too often, to not tweak things that you wouldn't think need anymore.

1 or 2 sticks of ram? If 2 sticks you may need to set the command rate to 2T, but run memtest first to see if the ram is even a culprit. You can try a bit more CPU&ram voltage, I put 1.6v through a 3000+ NC for a considerable period of time with no ill effects and that ram will take more without a problem too. Ask over at MSI's forums which bios is the best for overclocking on that board too.

 

[Zap]

Sometimes a particular memory divider doesn't work properly. Test this theory at default clock speeds by lowering the memory multiplier.

2.6GHz on a Newcastle may be pushing it. I had one that wouldn't POST (a 3400+ default 2.4GHz). A second chip (2800+ default 1.8GHz) was better in that it would POST at 2.7GHz, highest stable I tested for was 2.5GHz (didn't try 2.6 but temps were climbing).