The Abit IC7-MAX3 that couldn't....

[EricMartello]

I just put together a new system:

Abit IC7-MAX3
1GB Geil PC3500 "matched" pairs (dual channel)
P4 2.4C GHz
ATI Radeon 9800SE w/Omega Softmod

CPU Is cooled by: Alpha PAL-something (I forgot the number, it's the popular P4 cooler)
CPU temp is around 42 degrees C at idle, system is 32 degrees C at idle.

Here is my problem...I cannot overclock AT ALL! Not even by 2 or 3 MHz!!!! This is driving me up the wall. I bought this board to OC to at least 2.8 GHz with this CPU, but I can't even get that! What am I missing? Is there some secret? I keep hearing how all these people can OC this CPU with "Stock cooling" and "Stock voltages". What a load of B/S! I can't even get my memory to run in any mode other than AUTO. If I put the memory in "turbo", "street racer" or "f1" modes, the system won't post.

I have messed with the voltages, and I have tried various levels of settings. NOTHING WORKS! Any attempt at OCing results in my system not posting at all.

HELP!

 

[fredtam]

1. Make sure pci/agp frequency is locked.
2. Test your memory. (memtest) Sound like it could be a memory problem since you can only run GAT
on auto.
3. Relax your ram timings.
4. Disable the last two GAT settings to disabled.
5. Believe it or not your chip is not guaranteed to OC. Those a$$hats at intel only guarantee that your2.4 will run at 2.4. What BS huh?

I run a 2.8 @ 3.47 on stock cooling/slight voltage bump so I can assure you its not BS its maybe a 2.4 that will only do 2.4 or most likely user error.

What errors do you get exactly/where does it stop?

 

[EricMartello]

Last night I messed with the settings. After I switched the CPU:MEM ratio to 5:4, I was able to bump the FSB up to 250, putting my CPU at 3.0GHz. It requires 1.65V to be stable, according to prime95. P95 will crash with a CPU voltage any less than 1.65. I wanted to get it working at 1:1, but I guess the memory won't do 250 MHz.

For the memory, it is running at 200Mhz, which is within spec. The timings are 2-6-3-3, which are stock for 200MHz. I have the voltage at 2.6 right now...still, no matter what voltage or timings I choose, the game accelerator settings won't work on anything other than auto. Geil ram is supposed to be really good for running beyond spec. I could understand if some generic ram was giving me problems, but the geil stuff should be fine.

 

[MrSmithers]

I have seen very few memory sticks (if any) that could do 250 at a 1:1 with those timings. From something I saw here the other day, can't remember which section the link to it was under, you only take like a 2-3% loss at any given FSB speed from going from 1:1 to 5:4, so those tighter timings just almost make up for the mem speed. Factor in that you will max out (since most P4 max's I have seen have been from RAM) higher than at 1:1, and it isn't going to drop your performance enough to worry about. So go to 5:4 and "set it and forget it".

Smithers

 

[EricMartello]

I was actually running my memory FSB at 275 and my memory was at 212. With those settings, Sandra was giving me 6.2 GB/s memory bandwidth readings. My system wasn't as stable as I would like it to be at that speed, probably because I am using quiet fans rather than more powerful and loud fans. Right now I am reasonably stable at 250/200 using the 5:4 ratio. I occasionally get system freeze-ups, and I believe the OS to be the culprit. I did not bother to re-install windows xp after upgrading my system because I am too lazy to reinstall all the software.

 

[RideFree]

Originally posted by: EricMartello
Last night I messed with the settings. After I switched the CPU:MEM ratio to 5:4, I was able to bump the FSB up to 250, putting my CPU at 3.0GHz. It requires 1.65V to be stable, according to prime95. P95 will crash with a CPU voltage any less than 1.65. I wanted to get it working at 1:1, but I guess the memory won't do 250 MHz.

For the memory, it is running at 200Mhz, which is within spec. The timings are 2-6-3-3, which are stock for 200MHz. I have the voltage at 2.6 right now...still, no matter what voltage or timings I choose, the game accelerator settings won't work on anything other than auto. Geil ram is supposed to be really good for running beyond spec. I could understand if some generic ram was giving me problems, but the geil stuff should be fine.

According to the Mushkin theory of RAM, all (or most) chips are rated as a single unit. RAM pairs operate differently in tandem and can not produce the same timings as quoted by the manufacturers.

Quoted from the Mushkin site
Before considering investment of your money in GigaByte density modules, please read the following:
The load on the clock generator as well as the address and command bus of the memory controller increases in a linear fashion with higher memory configurations.
Each chip has a certain input capacitance and if the number of chips is doubled, the amount of work that has to be done by the controller will be doubled as well.
Higher load, in turn, will slow down the signal. Therefore, by definition, higher system memory configurations will have to run at lower frequencies than low density configurations.
High quality components will be able to partially ameliorate this problem, however, the tuning of the overall chipset and memory timing will be the most critical factor for whether the system will be able to handle e.g. 2 GB of total memory.
Everybody knows about CAS latency but there are other factors like setup and hold time, Read Latch Delay, Data I/O strobe delay (DDR only) and drive strength adjustments that need to be precisely tuned.
Because of the competition, every manufacturer tries to squeeze the maximum performance out of their boards which is potentially counterproductive for handling high memory loads.

The site has other statements with respect to reduced RAM performance in pairs.

And, Yes, I know that there are 'matched pairs' that are available as rated in the matched series. For example, the Corsair TwinX1024-4000PRO and others, including Muskin.

 

[EricMartello]

That makes sense. The ram I bought is supposed to be matched, I believe. Looks like messing with the Game Accelerator could yield some nice gains.