What can I do to improve my 3800 X2 OC?

[deanx0r]

What I have:

Athlon 64 X2 3800
XP90 w/ 92 mm Panaflo fan
2GB OCZ EL 2-3-2-5 Titanium
MSI Neo2 Platinum (NF3, 1.A bios)
BFG 6800GT
FSP Blue Storm 500AX (460W) PSU
Audigy 2 ZS
Seagate 7200.8 300GB hdd & Samsung 160GB hdd (both SATA)

I've set the memory divider to 166MHz (2-3-2-7-1T)
Vcore is cranked up to 1.47v (1.4v +5%)
AGP is set to 67MHz (when the AGP/PCI lock kicks in)
HTT is set to 4x
CPU shutdown/health monitor is disabled as well as Cool'n'Quiet

Ambiant temp is 21.9C (71F), case temp is 27.5C (81F)

Using clockgen, I was able to push the FSB to 238MHz giving me 2.38GHz. I ran 2 instances of Prime95 fine and load temp average 57C (Vcore 1.47v).

If I push it by an extra MHz, the system just freezes and beep at me.
I tried to push the VCore to 1.51v but with no success.

Now I try to set the FSB in the bios at 235MHz and try to boot the system and Windows just crashes on me, giving me a drive corruption. I have settle back to 230MHz FSB in order to boot in windows.

Do I just have a bad chip? or am I doing something wrong?

 

[stevty2889]

Try setting your ram to an even lower divider and use looser timings. The mem controller can be picky at times. You can try lowering the LDT multi to 3x as well and see if that helps you push it farther.

 

[biostud]

coul also be that the X2 3800+ just isn't such a good o/c

 

[deanx0r]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Try setting your ram to an even lower divider and use looser timings. The mem controller can be picky at times. You can try lowering the LDT multi to 3x as well and see if that helps you push it farther.

I saw other people with very similar configurations to mine and they all OC it past 2.4GHz without a prob. The only prob I might have is the 2x 1GB OCZ ram modules, but then I saw that you carry the same type of RAM (double sided) and hit over 2.4GHz easy.

 

[Furen]

isnt titanium ECC? have you tried disabling that?

 

[JEDIYoda]

I would also disable the Coffee maker attached to the USB port!

 

[Furen]

Originally posted by: JEDIYoda
I would also disable the Coffee maker attached to the USB port!

Sounds like you're the one who got some good weed...

 

[n7]

Hold on...you say you are getting drive corruption?

That's not gonna happen unless your AGP/PCI isn't locked, or your SATA drives are on the unlocked ports.

You need to have the SATA drives on the SATA ports just above the AGP slot (Silicon Image ones), NOT the ports below. The nVidia SATA ports (lower ones) are not locked.

If that's not the case, you will of course experience great instability & HDD corruption, etc.

Also, when OCing, always take the RAM out of the equation when testing the CPU. Use the 133 divider or 100 divider at loose timings till you've found the CPU max.

Keep me posted, since i should be able to help you get it figured out (i have the same mobo).

 

[Bona Fide]

Originally posted by: n7
Hold on...you say you are getting drive corruption?

That's not gonna happen unless your AGP/PCI isn't locked, or your SATA drives are on the unlocked ports.

You need to have the SATA drives on the SATA ports just above the AGP slot (Silicon Image ones), NOT the ports below. The nVidia SATA ports (lower ones) are not locked.

If that's not the case, you will of course experience great instability & HDD corruption, etc.

Also, when OCing, always take the RAM out of the equation when testing the CPU. Use the 133 divider or 100 divider at loose timings till you've found the CPU max.

Keep me posted, since i should be able to help you get it figured out (i have the same mobo).

Wait I hadn't heard about that...do you HAVE to use the second SATA controller? Or is there some way to lock nVidia's? Because my board only has the nVidia SATA2 controller, and the other ports are PATA.

 

[rchiu]

Originally posted by: deanx0r
What I have:

Athlon 64 X2 3800
XP90 w/ 92 mm Panaflo fan
2GB OCZ EL 2-3-2-5 Titanium
MSI Neo2 Platinum (NF3, 1.A bios)
BFG 6800GT
FSP Blue Storm 500AX (460W) PSU
Audigy 2 ZS
Seagate 7200.8 300GB hdd & Samsung 160GB hdd (both SATA)

I've set the memory divider to 166MHz (2-3-2-7-1T)
Vcore is cranked up to 1.47v (1.4v +5%)
AGP is set to 67MHz (when the AGP/PCI lock kicks in)
HTT is set to 4x
CPU shutdown/health monitor is disabled as well as Cool'n'Quiet

Ambiant temp is 21.9C (71F), case temp is 27.5C (81F)

Using clockgen, I was able to push the FSB to 238MHz giving me 2.38GHz. I ran 2 instances of Prime95 fine and load temp average 57C (Vcore 1.47v).

If I push it by an extra MHz, the system just freezes and beep at me.
I tried to push the VCore to 1.51v but with no success.

Now I try to set the FSB in the bios at 235MHz and try to boot the system and Windows just crashes on me, giving me a drive corruption. I have settle back to 230MHz FSB in order to boot in windows.

Do I just have a bad chip? or am I doing something wrong?

Sounds more like a motherboard issue, either the motherboard is not able to run at certain FSB, or the HTT bus speed isn't right. Usually if it's a CPU problem, you will see prime95 failed at certain speed, but not caused the system to beep or freezes.

 

[subzero813]

isn't 238-240 fsb on a DDR400 motherboard kind of overkill without upping the chipset voltage?

i'm not familiar with the new amd64 boards, how does the memory divider work and whats it do?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: deanx0r

Originally posted by: stevty2889
Try setting your ram to an even lower divider and use looser timings. The mem controller can be picky at times. You can try lowering the LDT multi to 3x as well and see if that helps you push it farther.

I saw other people with very similar configurations to mine and they all OC it past 2.4GHz without a prob. The only prob I might have is the 2x 1GB OCZ ram modules, but then I saw that you carry the same type of RAM (double sided) and hit over 2.4GHz easy.

Actualy I am having problems with my OCZ sticks right now, I took them out and put in 4x512mb sticks from my other PC. I think one of my sticks is actualy bad, as it fails by itself as well, while the other stick passes. I have my mem divider set to 150, with timings of 3-4-4-8. I am at 230mhz FSB since my 4200 has a 11x multiplier.

 

[theMan]

you have to use sata 3 and 4. i think that is your problem for sure.

 

[Acanthus]

use sata 3 and 4, and up the chipset voltage.

 

[valkator]

Originally posted by: Acanthus
use sata 3 and 4, and up the chipset voltage.

hmm i wonder if i have that problem. I am using the sata 1 and 2 on the nvidia chipset and when i try to OC, it will only let me go to 2.5GHz prime stable no matter what i set and i have the SLI-DR dfi board with a 3200+ winnie. HMM i should try that

 

[deanx0r]

Originally posted by: n7
Hold on...you say you are getting drive corruption?

That's not gonna happen unless your AGP/PCI isn't locked, or your SATA drives are on the unlocked ports.

You need to have the SATA drives on the SATA ports just above the AGP slot (Silicon Image ones), NOT the ports below. The nVidia SATA ports (lower ones) are not locked.

If that's not the case, you will of course experience great instability & HDD corruption, etc.

Also, when OCing, always take the RAM out of the equation when testing the CPU. Use the 133 divider or 100 divider at loose timings till you've found the CPU max.

Keep me posted, since i should be able to help you get it figured out (i have the same mobo).

Whoa

You were dead spot on!

I've no problem hitting past 2.4GHz now.
No one ever mentioned that the nVIDIA SATA ports are unlocked in any past OC guides.

Thanks!

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: deanx0r
Whoa

You were dead spot on!

I've no problem hitting past 2.4GHz now.
No one ever mentioned that the nVIDIA SATA ports are unlocked in any past OC guides.

Thanks!

BTW, you can't just tell us now you can get past 2.4 GHz
You gotta keep us updated with CPU-Z screenies!

Where's she at now?


Also, as a side note, if you want to learn more than is humanly possible to learn...well almost , check this thread out!

 

[deanx0r]

Well, I didn't want to OC it too much... I am just fine with 2.4GHz, but I am having trouble keeping it stable (and cool), at least in Prime.

My temps are about 5C to 7C higher than average than other people with similar configuration to mine. I tried to resit the HSF quite a few times with no success. I am starting to think that the thinner air due to the elevation here (6000ft) and low humidty (<10%) are responsible for those weird results.

Also, I can 't get two instances of Prime95 to run stable at all without errors. Once core always fails and with a Vcore already pretty high (1.44V/1.47V idle/load), I am not sure if I can't push it any higher without endangering the CPU.

 

[stfrances]

I think you can increase the vcore a bit more. I have mine currently at 1.58 at 2.65 two instances of P95 12 hr+ stable. See, I started with 1.64 then 1.61 and all ran 12 hr+ prime stable with the xp120 with a panaflo, to top it off its summer here in Hawaii and the room temps are really hot. But with the 2.4 and 1.44 vcore it should be stable because I ran mine at 2.5 with 1.475, although I ran it only for 5 hrs no errors then I proceeded to increase it.

...might wanna try HTT 3x

 

[deanx0r]

I tried to bump all the way to 1.51V but I saw the temp hitting 65C and stopped immediately,

Are there any difference between Prime95 and SP2004? I know the GUI is different, but out of the blue, I decided to try SP2004 and it's been running rock solid for over 3 hours now when Prime95 failed after less than 10 minutes in.

Also what kind of temperature are you getting with those settings? and with which motherboard? I presume not all motherboards are the same.

 

[Furen]

Different programs work differently. If ANY program fails you're not stable and you may eventually experience problems as you try other programs.

 

[stfrances]

The mobo I am using is the same one on my sig and am using a pair of Patriot XBLK 1 gig also have not rigged up the watercooling for it, just using the XP 120. I pretty much used the same setting from the 3500+ NC and tweaked a bit and used the 623-3 BIOS from DFI. You might wanna try and google up your board and see if any one have used it for or any of the latest amd chips and take notes from them. That"s how I got all my settings from, X2 reviews from Anand and others and also reviews for my particular rams that pertains to my board. I did a bit of research before I proceeded to overclock it and in my first try got it stable for 12 hr+, and my temps went as high as 73 at some point while running P95 two instances and that's for 12+ hrs.

 

[Farmer]

As for hard drive corruption, try running on the other set of SATA plugs. In the case of the nF3, the set near the AGP port (3 and 4) are locked, while 1 and 2 (in the primary location) are not.

Definitely loosen the timings, perhaps to 2.5. AFAIK, that OCZ RAM should overclock like a dream, so the divider making it 166MHz may not be too necessary. Maybe try bumping up VDIMM a notch or two, or bring the ratio closer to 1.

From your numbers, your FSBxLDT HTT bus is 1904 MHz. Try making the LDT ratio 3 instead of 4. I know whenver I go over 1700MHz on the HTT Windows never seems to want to start. Of course, this is with a single 130nm Clawhammer. This decrease in HTT should be waaay more than made up for by the clockspeed increase you might get.

Just for checks, what is the default core freq. and VCORE on the X2 3800?

EDIT: I see someone has already answered your question. I feel stupid. Still, you should try getting your RAM to 200MHz.

 

[stfrances]

1.35-1.4 - 2.0GHz

 

[Farmer]

Oh. Well, that is a decent OC already!