Sempron64 2800+, need help overclocking

[Fenixgoon]

I tried OCing my Sempron once, but the BIOS wouldn't let me go past a 250 HTT rating (2.0ghz for CPU, 8x locked CPU multiplier).

the motherboard I have is the ECS Nforce 4 seen here. I've heard people have nearly 100% success with OCing Semprons, and if I'm not mistaken, the Nforce4 chipset is good for OCing. What is limiting my rig to 2.0ghz?

I'm using the standard bios and latest mobo drivers.

I have 1gig Rosewill DDR333 ram at CL2.5 with timings of 2.5-3-3

CPU is a Sempron64 2800+ Palermo core w/ 128k L1 cache and 256k L2 cache

Any info/advice would be much appreciated

Thanks,
Fenixgoon

 

[DrMrLordX]

For starters, it could be your chip. It might also be your RAM, or maybe your LDT is set too high. What LDT are you using and what RAM multiplier are you using, for starters?

 

[Fenixgoon]

This is what I gathered from my BIOS:

CPU = 200
HT = 4x
HT bus = 16up / 16down

RAM Timing = Auto
Memclock index value = 200mhz
CAS = 2.5
Tras = 8T
Trcd = 4T
Trp = 4T
Read Preamble = 6ns
Async Latency = 7ns

My bios version is 1.0b but the latest is 1.1a. I didn't see a ram multiplier or an LDT (no idea what LDT is). Should I get the latest bios?

Thanks,

Fenixgoon

 

[DrMrLordX]

okay, first thing to try would be to lower the setting called "HT" here to 3x. That's your LDT. 3x250mhz=750 mhz Hypertransport speed which should work well for you, not that 4x250 should be a major problem.

What settings are available on memclock index value? I'm guessing that's your RAM multiplier but it's hard to tell; in any case, if it has settings like 100, 133, 166, and 200 mhz, I'd set it to 133 mhz.

Once you have the "HT" setting at 3x and the memclock index value at 133 mhz (if that's available) try raising your HTT past 250 and see how it goes.

And yeah, the latest BIOS might help if you can't get things working better with this one.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
okay, first thing to try would be to lower the setting called "HT" here to 3x. That's your LDT. 3x250mhz=750 mhz Hypertransport speed which should work well for you, not that 4x250 should be a major problem.

And yeah, the latest BIOS might help if you can't get things working better with this one.

This is a Skt. 754 chip, not a Skt. 939. They have a maximum of 800 HTT, not 1000. Fenix, if you go above ~270 HTT, you'll need to lower your HT setting to 2x.

 

[nyker96]

yes it's you HT set it to 3x multiplier than you'll begin to fly.

 

[Fenixgoon]

there are 2 bios updates for my mobo - do i need to apply them separately or apply only the latest one?

Please see here

 

[calguy]

You only need to update the bios to newest version(or desired version).

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: DrMrLordX
Once you have the "HT" setting at 3x and the memclock index value at 133 mhz (if that's available) try raising your HTT past 250 and see how it goes.

Took the words right out of my keyboard.

I had that ECS board...

Zap's ECS NFORCE4-A754 mini review

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: myocardia

This is a Skt. 754 chip, not a Skt. 939. They have a maximum of 800 HTT, not 1000. Fenix, if you go above ~270 HTT, you'll need to lower your HT setting to 2x.

Ah ha, excellent point. I missed that. However, he should be okay with the 3x LDT at least up to 300 mhz HTT; remember he got to 250 mhz HTT with the 4x LDT.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Originally posted by: Zap


Took the words right out of my keyboard.

I had that ECS board...

Zap's ECS NFORCE4-A754 mini review

Nice review. Makes me miss the days when the s754 Sempr0ns were fairly new and we were all watching Avalon overclock his to 2.7 ghz. That was one hell of an overclock on a 1.6 ghz stock chip.

 

[batmang]

like others have said, lower the ht. i was capped at a 400mhz overclock, i played with the ht and got 400mhz more. totalling a 800mhz overclock.

semprons are great overclockers.
check my sig.

 

[DrMrLordX]

nice overclock batmang, that's the same cpu/mobo combo I use. Mine hits 2.32 ghz at stock vcore with the stock HSF

 

[Fenixgoon]

Originally posted by: batmang
like others have said, lower the ht. i was capped at a 400mhz overclock, i played with the ht and got 400mhz more. totalling a 800mhz overclock.

semprons are great overclockers.
check my sig.

batmang, you have the HTT at 2x, i presume, to get that degree of an OC?

by the way, new bios lets me OC a lot more, me =

preliminary results (no immediate issues, will do prime95 for testing):

3x HTT, CPU = 8x 270 = 2160

i set the ram timings to auto, has the ram at 216.1mhz 2.5-3-3-7 @ 1T timings