Weird memory issue with Opteron 165 Overclock

[aaronking]

I've just upgraded from a Venice 3000 to an Opteron 165. I have a DFI Lan Party NF4 board and Patriot 2X512 PC3200 memory. The Venice was running at at 285X9=2565 with memory running at 7/10 or 199Mhz at SPD settings (2-3-2-5). The Opteron runs at 300X9=2700 at stock voltage, BUT I can't get the memory to run at 2/3 or 200Mhz unless I up the CAS Latency from 2 to 3. I can't even get into windows at 2. Yet, if I load the optimized settings, the memory runs quite happily at 200Mhz at 2-3-2-5. Is this due to the memory controller of the CPU? Any ideas? I haven't upped the voltage on the RAM yet.

 

[myocardia]

It's due to you not giving your processor enough vcore (called CPU VID Control in DFI BIOS's). Of course, you're almost certainly gonna have to give your HTT bus more voltage (called LDT Voltage on DFI boards), to run at 300 Mhz, and probably will have to give your chipset more voltage, also. Try starting with 1.425v of vcore, 1.30v of LDT voltage, and 1.60v of chipset voltage, and start raising them, if it still isn't stable. BTW, if you knew how to set up your RAM, it will run @ more than 230 Mhz. Mine will do 237 @ 3-3-3-7, with only 2.7v of vdimm, and will do 2.5-3-3-6 @ 230 Mhz, with the same vdimm.

 

[smokeyjoe]

I posted a very similar issue about a month ago. I was able to get my opty over 2.8 on an asus premium board (312*9 was orthos stable, would have to check notes for how long I ran it).. Did not need to bump HTT voltage at all, I did jack up the vcore though. I really wanted (and still do) to run it at 300*9, but I am having the same RAM issue.. sorta. I can't get through post with the multiplier at 9, no matter how I set the RAM. I haven't fooled with it in bit, but I am curious if you found a solution to your problem?

I am currently running at 305*8 and RAM at 204mhz, forget what divider that is (266mhz in ASUS Bios). My timings are 2.5-3-3-6, vdimm 2.75 I think. Oh, RAM is 2GB Corsair XMS pc3200.

Anyway, any input on this would be appreciated. I really think I should be able to get this thing running at 2.7 with a divider to put my RAM at 200Mhz and I really want that extra 300mhz.

Thanks

 

[myocardia]

Well, I don't have XMS RAM, I have PQI Turbo, which has the same IC's as the OP's RAM, Infineon. I hear that XMS overclocks pretty well, though, up to around 240-245, with 3-4-3-8 or 3-4-4-8 timings and 2.8 or 2.9v of vdimm. Does your motherboard have the ability to change any of the subtimings, like Trc, Trfc, or Tref? If so, they may need to be changed.

 

[smokeyjoe]

I am at work so I can't check, but I will when I get home.. I know there are other timings there besides the 3-3-3-6 and 1T.. maybe like 2 or 4 other ones that I really haven't fooled with. I know that 2 of them were defaulted to 19 and 21 and I lowered them to 11 and 13 with no problems in my current overclock. I put them back at default when trying to get it working at 300*9.

Something I didn't mention though.. I can post and boot into windows when I set the divider to 200 Mhz, the lowest divider in my bios. This effectively runs the RAM at 150 mhz when my cpu is at 300*9. I wonder if it would be worth it to just keep the RAM underclocked and the cpu at 2.7?

 

[lopri]

Download this little app and run it. (it just opens in its own folder - no installation needed) Take a screenshot and post a link.

http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=106

This will help diagnosing your problem. First thing to look at is Read Preamable and Max Async Latency. Those values need to be loosened as HTT goes up, regardless of your memory's capability.

 

[myocardia]

Actually, before you run A64 Tweaker, you have to install and have CPU-Z running, or A64 Tweaker will give you some really crazy readings.

 

[smokeyjoe]

Ya, I already have cpuz. I will try that other program when I get home and post the screenies. I am crossing my fingers hoping this (along with some help from you guys ) will finally fix my problem!

 

[smokeyjoe]

Bleh, took forever to make photobucket show the correct image.

I have to manually set my RAM to "200" in bios to post/boot into XP. The next divider of "266" will not work at all. As you can see it is underclocking quite a bit, this is ddr400 RAM.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l273/smokeyj0e/27GHZ.jpg

 

[myocardia]

So, where's the A64 Tweaker screenshot? Also, I should have asked this first, but forgot: do you have 2GB of XMS or do you have 4 x 512 MB of XMS? That's gonna make all of the difference. If you've got 4x512 MB, 204 Mhz is about all you're gonna get out of your RAM, and slightly less would be a good thing (make it more stable). If you've got 2 x 1 GB, then you shouldn't have any problems using the 150 Mhz divider, and having your RAM run @ 225 Mhz, with your processor @ 2.7 Ghz.

 

[smokeyjoe]

It is 2 x 1 gb modules. Not sure what you kind of screenshot you are asking for?.. there is a window of A64 tweaker open in that screenshot.

I think the problem is my lack of understanding on how dividers work. I thought I should be using the "266" divider on my ASUS board at 300*9. So, the 150 mhz divider would be the "300" option then in my bios? I honestly don't remember having that option. I will have to double check.

 

[myocardia]

Oh man, sorry. I didn't even see that screenshot. Okay, your problem here is that you need to get everything concerning your RAM completely stable, before you start overclocking. I'm not sure that you don't have a bad stick. Put your processor back to 1.375v of vcore (to allow for vdroop) and 200 Mhz HTT, and put your RAM to SPD (or all auto settings), then run MemTest. Before you do, though, after saving your BIOS settings and rebooting, make sure that your BIOS is giving your RAM 2.7-2.75v of vdimm. If it passes MemTest, then leave everything the same, and post a screenshot of A64 Tweaker, with the RAM @ SPD and 200 Mhz.

edit: In case you've never used MemTest, just run test #5 for about 10-15 minutes, then run test #8 for about 30 minutes-- that will catch about 98% of all errors. If it passes both, then run all of the tests once or twice.

 

[smokeyjoe]

Ok, pretty sure I ran Memtest when I bought the ram almost 2 years ago. I will run the tests.. I have Memtest on a cd somewhere around here. I did have to manually set the vdimm to 2.75 when I first put it in. Corsair website stated that is what it should be set at, as well as timings of 2.5-3-3-6. I don't get why cpuz shows different SPD then what Corsair rates it for. Anyway, I'll run the tests at both timings.. 3-3-3-8 being what cpuz shows. Will follow up later, thanks for you help.

edit: http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx2048-3200c2.pdf

actually rated at 2-3-3-6

 

[myocardia]

Yeah, make sure it's running @ 2.5-3-3-6 and 2.7-2.75v of vdimm, before starting MemTest; that's what it's supposed to run at. If it won't do that at 200 Mhz (with your processor at 1.8 Ghz), then one of your sticks has gone bad.

 

[smokeyjoe]

Ok, ran the tests as you asked with no problems at 2-3-3-6 and 2.75 vdimm, everything at stock. Test #5 for about half hour, test #8 the same. I then let it run for about 6 hours through all tests and I didn't see any errors. That is, assuming if there are errors, it saves them on the screen and does not erase them when you move to a new test. I ran them while I was sleeping.

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l273/smokeyj0e/stockram.jpg - Screenshot of my settings I ran memtest at.

To restate my issue, I can't run the divider of "266" at all when my cpu is set to 300*9. The best I can do is "200" which underclocks my RAM to about 150 MHZ.

Thanks

 

[myocardia]

Okay, try this: leave Trc and Trfc on "Auto", and set your Tref to 1560. Also, change your Tcl to 3.0, your Trcd (also called RAS to CAS) to 3, Trp (aka Row precharge time) to 3, and Tras to 7. All of this with your HTT @ 200 Mhz, and your RAM @ 400 Mhz. Now, you can find out how high your RAM will overclock. Just start raising the HTT with the processor's multiplier reduced to 5 or 6. I'd start at 210 Mhz HTT, then go 4 or 5 Mhz each additional time.

Now, here's the important part: run MemTest test #5 for about 10-15 minutes each time. If it passes, then raise the HTT another 4 or 5 Mhz. Now, unless you have a stick that just won't overclock (much), you should really be able to hit at least 230-235, if not higher, with 3-3-3-7 timings, and 2.75v of vdimm. From everything I've been able to find out about your RAM, it uses the same IC's as mine, and also the same as OCZ Platinum, and should overclock roughly the same, at/near the same timings and voltage. Oh, and if you can't get much above 205 Mhz or so with the RAM, let me know, and I'll tell you what to set the Trc and Trfc to for each frequency. Most good motherboards (nearly all decent motherboards, actually) will raise those two timings as the RAM speed rises, so Auto will probably work just fine. And lastly, if your BIOS has the ability to change the Idle Cycle Limit, set it to 64 cycles. Good luck.

 

[smokeyjoe]

So in order to make some of those changes, since they are not all in my Bios, I need to set it in A64 tweaker and "apply settings at startup" I presume?

Also, if I am running at 300*9=2700, and I am trying to run the 266 divider, wouldn't that put my RAM at 192.85 mhz? Oo I guess I am just not understanding why I can't run that divider.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: smokeyjoe
So in order to make some of those changes, since they are not all in my Bios, I need to set it in A64 tweaker and "apply settings at startup" I presume?

Also, if I am running at 300*9=2700, and I am trying to run the 266 divider, wouldn't that put my RAM at 192.85 mhz? Oo I guess I am just not understanding why I can't run that divider.

No, if those settings aren't in your BIOS, then they are handled automatically by the BIOS. BTW, have you tried resetting your BIOS yet? That helps more often than you'd think it would. By reset, I mean leave the power supply unplugged, then remove the battery from the motherboard, and leave the CMOS reset jumper in the Reset position for about ~20-30 minutes. Then, replace the jumper back to it's original position, and replace the battery.

If that doesn't help anything, I'd also try swapping my RAM, e.g. put the stick that's in slot #1 into slot #2, and the stick that's in slot #2 into #1. That also occasionally helps, with some motherboards and some RAM. Good luck.