Athlon 64 Overclocking Issues

[Synthetic]

So I got an Athlon 64 3000+, MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum, and an eVGA 7800 GT - along with 2 x 256 mb and 1 x 512mb Corsair XMS memory from my previous computer. I also have a good thermalright heatsink with a 120mm fan. Anyway, I haven't had much luck overclocking the memory so I decided to start conservative. I went ahead and overclocked my system, left the video card at stock. After some messing around I set it at 290 x 8.5 for a processor speed of 2465MHz, CPU VID at 1.593v, and a 2:3 memory divider with the ram running at 193. When testing just how far I could push the FSB/HTT it seemed to be stable up at 310 so I figured 290 would be safe. The processor seemed to be ok up to about 2.5ish as well. Temps were fine, Prime95 ran for many hours without issue, same goes for memtest86.

Well anyway I started to get problems in games, the only games I play at the time are WoW and Battlefield 2. Basically what happens is every once in a while, the frequency varies quite a bit, the video just locks up but I can still hear the sound going on the background. I also get a decent amount of artificating. I figured the video card must just be bad because I have it running at stock. However when I run my entire system at stock I don't experience any problems, I even tried relaxing my memory timings big time to 2.5-4-4-8, and lowering the overclock quite a bit but that didn't help. Any ideas as to what the problem could be?

 

[Paintballfreak66]

try taking out either the two 256 sticks or the 1 512 and see if that fixes the problem. My oc went to hell in games just like this until I took out 2 of the 4 modules I had in.

 

[Mogadon]

Could well be the memory. Test your memory with memtest, not totally sure exactly which number tests you want to use, maybe someone else can give you those details. I figure it's more likely to be the memory than the video card as your video shouldn't be affected by the overclock whereas your memory is.

Not a SATA/PCI lock problem though as you can run the HTT at 290, in my opinion.

edit - sorry just noticed you have used memtest, make sure you are using the right tests and looping them for a number of times at least.

 

[Mogadon]

Just to add, I have had similar problems in games as you do, admittedly with my AXP system. The system would pass P95, memtest and 3Dmark03 looped for a few hours, but when I played certain system heavy games i would end up with a BSOD. You could just try dropping the o/c by 50MHz and see if you continue getting the errors.

Also you may want up the RAM and Video card voltage by 0.1V each.

There's many things it could be, try 'em one at a time and see what works.

 

[Budman]

that board absolutely sucks for overclocking,it never runs at what you set you memory at in the bios (you can confirm this by running a64 tweaker in windows) I had one & after 3 weeks of frustration i gave up on it & sold it.

Got myself a Chantech NF4 ultra board & been happy ever since.

 

[lifeguard1999]

Cool-n-Quiet is off, right?

 

[Synthetic]

Originally posted by: lifeguard1999
Cool-n-Quiet is off, right?

Yes

 

[SamzAthlon]

sorry I im much of an msi guy

To me it seems like you are running too many variables at the same time. If I was you I would set defaults in mobo and start fresh. Start with your ht frequency and multiplier. Isolate and consolidate using Z's dirty guide.

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Battlefield 2 is one heck of a buggy program, I hear. Do you experience the same problems with WoW?

Try running Prime95 in various modes. As long as it tests stable, you know your overclock is okay.

 

[Synthetic]

Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
Battlefield 2 is one heck of a buggy program, I hear. Do you experience the same problems with WoW?

I notice the majority of problems in wow.

Try running Prime95 in various modes. As long as it tests stable, you know your overclock is okay.

Unfortunately that isn't true. I've done overclocking for a quite a while now and while Prime95 is a great test, one of the best for what it tests for, passing it does not mean your overclock will cause no problems.

 

[Shimmishim]

for memtest, be sure to loop test #5 for at least 6 hours.... and also loop test #8 for a while as well.

these two are the ones i use.

but for a quick and dirty test, try 32M superpi. if your mem isn't stable, it should pick it up pretty quickly.