2500 Barton overclocking problems

[Paper Tiger]

Hey everyone! I'm having some trouble overclocking my 2500 Barton :frown:. I'm running a ASUS a7n8x deluxe mobo. For a psu I've got an Antec true 430. The CPU jumper is set to 200mhz. I've set the multipliers to 200x11 so it is currently at a 3200. The problem is my system crashes after being at 100% load for about 10 minutes. I think it may be overheating. I first noticed this when playing Battlefield 1942. After several minutes of gameplay it would blue screen. I assume that it is happening after several minutes of 100% load because I ran prime95 for about 10 minutes and it crashed as well. I've been monitoring the temps using ASUS pc probe and the NVIDIA system utility. Both of the programs report the same temps. At idle, according to the monitors, the cpu is coming in at an average of 37c. Currently the vcore is set to 1.75, I'm still playing with the vcore trying to make it stable. Even with the vcore at 1.675 it still crashes when set to anything around 200mhz fsb. For a heatsink I have the Zalman 6000cu on full speed w/ no fan speed controller. I used arctic silver ceramique as paste. The ram is currently set to 2.8v @ 6 3 3 2T to try and rule out any problems with the ram not having enough juice, it is OCZ pc 3200 EL Dual DDR kit (the one with the copper heat spreaders). I have a little 40mm fan blowing on the chipset heatsink, I put some arctic silver ceramique under it too. The mobo is coming in at 20c. When the cpu is set at default speeds, 166x11, it does not crash. When it does crash and I go right into the bios to the temp monitor, it reports temps that are much higher than the software monitors I run. Close to 50c. I'm not sure which to believe, and I don't know what is going on with all the crashing. I have heard before the the bios lies and not the believe it, but with all fo the crashing it makes me wonder if the software if the one lieing. I have a theory that if the bios is lieing windows is reading the bios temps and is shutting down my pc for safety, but I really don't know. If anyone has any idea on what is going on, or how to fix this I would really apreciate it.

Thanks

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

heh, i have to post this SO much because so many own this board and have this problem. that motherboard is picky as hell with FSB and dual channel mode. try running the system with both sticks of ram in the two DIMMs closest to each other. or you could try easing the FSB back to 190 or 195, usually that fixed it for me.

 

[Paper Tiger]

Awww, no more dual DDR :thumbsdown:.... Won't removing Dual DDR cut down on my performance significantly? I suppose it is better than a system that crashes every 15 minutes though heh! I will try backing it down to 195 and 190 mhz first though

Thanks for the info, any more feedback is greatly apreciated!

 

[frootbooter]

Originally posted by: Paper Tiger
Awww, no more dual DDR :thumbsdown:.... Won't removing Dual DDR cut down on my performance significantly? I suppose it is better than a system that crashes every 15 minutes though heh! I will try backing it down to 195 and 190 mhz first though

Thanks for the info, any more feedback is greatly apreciated!

No. Dual channel helps about none on athlon xp's. 128 bit memory is cool and all, but it's pretty useless if it's running 1:1 with a 64 bit bus.

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: frootbooter

Originally posted by: Paper Tiger
Awww, no more dual DDR :thumbsdown:.... Won't removing Dual DDR cut down on my performance significantly? I suppose it is better than a system that crashes every 15 minutes though heh! I will try backing it down to 195 and 190 mhz first though

Thanks for the info, any more feedback is greatly apreciated!

No. Dual channel helps about none on athlon xp's. 128 bit memory is cool and all, but it's pretty useless if it's running 1:1 with a 64 bit bus.

:thumbsup: Dual channel only helps with AXPs if using an NF2 IGP.

 

[Paper Tiger]

Well, it hasn't crashed yet. Without Dual DDR I have lost almost 2,000 3dmarks on 3dmark01 And that was with the video card overclocked... Before I scored about 18500 without the video card oced with dual ddr enabled, and the cpu at a 3200. But at least it hasn't crashed yet using prime 95, well kinda... I ran it over night and I didn't get any errors, however I woke up to find that prime 95 had crashed, which I assume is bad. /sigh

 

[ingenuiti]

That's a high vcore just to get it to run at the 3200+ speed. Will your system boot at the default vcore of 1.5 when running at a 200 fsb?

 

[TheStu]

if it is a new 2500 then isn't the default 1.55 or 1.6? if it an old 2500 then it is 1.65...

Additionally this board has problems with dual channel? that is so upsetting my roomie has the same board and his was unstable for the longest time... can't remember what we did to fix it though.

 

[Paper Tiger]

Well, it failed the Battlefield 1942 stress test. It crashed to desktop. It's an old 2500 by the way, the default vcore is 1.65. I don't know what to do anymore. I have been trying to fix this thing so it will work at 3200 for months, with no success. I need more processing power, I'm starting to notice some cpu related lag in games. Right now I don't have the money to buy a new rig, I mean I do, but it's not to spend on a new rig, need it for a vehicle heh. I have all my parts picked out for the new rig and everything but I know I've just got to be responsible and work with what I have and buy a vehicle, then go for the new rig. This box is pretty bad ass, it's just that I can't OC without it crashing all the time . What is the best board for overclocking a xp 2500? I want to stick with an nforce 2 ultra if possible, or something better, because I need onboard SATA as I have 2 36 raptors, I would also like Dual DDR, onboard sound would be nice (soundstorm) because I have klipsch 5.1 ultra's, but am willing to go and buy an audigy 2 zs in order to get a nice OC on this processor. Is there a really good board for overclocking that has the same or similar features to the a7n8x deluxe 2.0 (what I have now)?

 

[Paper Tiger]

Awnser to my own question: best board is abit nf7-s after looking it up on the forums. But now I have another Q.... Sence this board has what I am looking for... Would it be the best use of my money to buy the board, and a zalman CNPS7000B-Cu LED to change out the 6000cu I have now, and buy a 2500 mobile and overclock it, or am I going to be able to get a decent (similar) oc buying the new board, using my current 2500 barton with the zalman 6000cu I have now?

 

[WebGammon]

Hi there,

I currently am running a Barton 2500+ (mines a mobile, not sure if yours is). However, I am running mine at 174 x 13.5 for 2.4Ghz using 1.775 vcore. I am using pretty good PC3200 RAM (2 x 256 = 512MB running DDR). I'm using an Abit NF7-S Rev 2.0 mobo. System is stable and runs fine. Sounds to me like your RAM could be the culprit, alot of what your experiencing is RAM related. If you have really good RAM, then your mobo is quite fussy about your multiplier. I have found that the 11 and 11.5 multipliers are a pain in the A$$ in getting a stable system. I have found that the 13.5 multiplier works best.

Possible solutions:
Start out at using this: 160 x 13.5 = 2.160 Ghz (vcore at 1.65), if stable, then bump up the FSB by increments of five

Examples:
165 x 13.5 = 2.227 Ghz (vcore = 1.675 or if unstable use 1.70) Your mobo will register the proc speed at: 2.2Ghz
170 x 13.5 = 2.295 Ghz (vcore = 1.70 or if unstable use 1.75) Your mobo will register the proc speed at: 2.3Ghz
175 x 13.5 = 2.362 Ghz (vcore = 1.775 or 1.80) Your mobo will register the proc speed at: 2.4Ghz

I see your using a Zalman 6000, they are not good for overclocked systems. You will find this to be true if you go to several Overclocker forums. I would try to invest in either K7 Silent Boost (aluminum w/ copper core) if on a budget or use an SP-97 Thermalright with a 92mm fan to handle the higher temps produced by the above settings.

I have had very good luck with my NF7-S mobo and 2500+ Barton, however, these settings should work on yours. Let me know if this helps.

Take care,

Michael White

 

[WebGammon]

Somehow I missed your last posting. DO NOT BUY A ZALMAN 7000, just did that and not only will it not fit the NF7-S mobo (Capacitors are in the way) without significant modding of the mounting brackets, the NF7-S will not even start up overclocked at all. The mobo gives a No-CPU Fan alarms and shuts down the computer after 4 seconds of operations. Apparently the Zalman 7000 fan's max speed is around 2500 RPM which the mobo see as insufficient for any speed over 600Mhz. Yes, I said 600 Mhz. The NF7-S requires RPM's of at least 3700 plus or it will not allow boot up.

This is why I say Zalmans are not for overclocking. If your going to invest money in something, get the mobile and try it in your Asus mobo and use an SP-97 or SI-97 hsf from Thermaltake. I almost bought the same mobo your using now. I think you will have better results using an XP mobile.

If you have any questions regarding this, PM me and I can answer more questions for you.

Michael

-------------------------------
Athlon XP Barton 2500+ Mobile
Abit NF7-S Rev. 2.0
Thermalright SP-97 hsf
Muskin 2 x 256 (512MB) RAM

 

[Paper Tiger]

So I guess my last question is... To get a 2.4ghz+ OC am I going to need to get a 2500 mobile, or will the 2500 barton oc to 2.4+ with the nf7s

 

[WebGammon]

To be honest, I'm not sure. The Barton 2500+ XP Mobile can do it with out breaking a sweat. You have the Barton 2500+ which I believe is a locked CPU, I could be wrong, but from what I have read, they usually are. You can get around the lock, but it's a pain and somewhat tricky and you do not always get success, it's a crap shoot really.

I really think the Barton 2500+ XP Mobile would work in your Asus board no problem. Like I said I almost bought that board. It should work. For guaranteed results though, use a NF7-S Rev 2.0 board. That currently what I use now at the following settings:

175 x 13.5 = 2.362 Ghz (vcore = 1.775 or 1.80) Your mobo will register the proc speed at: 2.4Ghz

-------------------------------
Athlon XP Barton 2500+ Mobile
Abit NF7-S Rev. 2.0
Thermalright SP-97 hsf
Muskin 2 x 256 (512MB) RAM

 

[Hyperlite]

check out my sig....WebGammon, i'm interested to know how you got your NF7-S to 13.5x...mine won't even post at 12x. it didn't really matter for me, i was more worried about a higher FSB than i higher core clock, just wondering how you pulled it off. i'm about at the limits of the NF7-S. i assume you can trade off between multiplier and FSB, but you can't have both. i've tried all sorts of combinations, but there are 3 things i know for certain: 1)i can't POST at 1.85vcore 2)i can't POST at 12x 3)i won't get through boot above 219 FSB. i now wish i had a DFI lanparty, as it appears to have a just about limitless FSB.

the settings in my sig are about my max stable settings, prime95 for 12 hours.

 

[WebGammon]

Sorry for the last response. When I first tried to overclock the board, I was having similar problems until I upgraded the bios on the mobo. After that it was a piece of cake. All the settings are there for the FSB and Multiplier. The two most stable speeds that I have right now are 200 x 11.5 = 2.3 GHz (vCore at 1.75) and 176 x 13.5 = 2.4 GHz (vCore at 1.8 better have a good hsf or your gonna have temps very close to 60C if not higher). Both of those work excellent on the NF7-S, I generally use the first one as the difference between 2.3 and 2.4 is negligable and I like the lower temps (39C no load, 43C at load). Again, I am using a Barton XP 2500+ Mobile. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[Disruptive]

I've had the xp2500+ clocked to a 3200+ since I bought almost a year ago and here's the most stable combonation for it.

multiplier 11x
fsb 200
voltage 1.75

http://www.soldiers-palladium.com/stable.JPG

also i have the a7n8x (non-deluxe)