OC'd A8N-SLI Premium Owners...PLEASE read

[Dragon41673]

Started this thread in the CPU section...but wanted to post it here too just incase because I am having some crappy issues with my attempt to OC my rig. Posted below is what is said in the other thread in the CPU/Processors/Overclocking section...

I am having SERIOUS oc'ing issues with my M/B and CPU...

What bios are you using on your rig? I can't get past 220mhz Prime95 stable on a A64 X2 4800+ while others are hitting 2.7 on this same board...

I'm pretty sure I'm on 1005...but right now it's Prime95'ing at 220 and seeing as how it's 10 hours into it...I don't want to stop it! LOL

Thanks in advance to those that help...this has been driving me NUTZ! I prime95'd it stock speeds and it passed. So I know it's not a bum chip at least...but it could be a bum OC'ing core

Here is the link to that thread incase you want to see posts there as well
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1645908&enterthread=y

 

[Dragon41673]

K, Prime95 just rolled into it's second pass...so I shut it off. It passed in 10 hours and 35 minutes at 220mhz. So I know it's stable there...but anything beyond it (starting at 225mhz) it won't pass...so the issues still remain...

 

[The Pentium Guy]

You have an X2 4800+, it's the highest of the high. I don't think you'll have that much headroom for overclocking....

 

[Dragon41673]

others are hitting 2700 up to 2800 (on air) and up to 3300 (on water) but I believe they are using DFI boards. One member here has his 4800+ running @ 2700 each core, on air, on the same M/B as me

 

[doc2345]

Originally posted by: Dragon41673
others are hitting 2700 up to 2800 (on air) and up to 3300 (on water) but I believe they are using DFI boards. One member here has his 4800+ running @ 2700 each core, on air, on the same M/B as me

I'm not having any problems getting to 2750ish at either 12X230 - 11X250 - 10X275, using 1006.004 bios. I did just as well with 1005 and 1006.02......

 

[Dragon41673]

What are the improvements with the beta bios' and are they stable?

 

[Dragon41673]

Here is what I had lastnight after updating my bios (was using 1005, now using 1006-002, yes a beta but people have good results with it) just incase that was a problem like some are having with the Deluxe (I have the premium)

Here is the meathod I used...

1. Max HTT/FSB should be first ..*only works if motherboard has locks. Most A64 boards do today. Sata 1 and 2 are not locked on some nforce mobos use 3 and 4.
- set CPU multi to 6 or 7, this will take CPU out of equation
- set memory to SPD and 100, and set LDT x2 or x3 this will take memory out of equation
- Increase HTT/FSB up until you fail to boot or there abouts, back down 5%, (HTT * 0.95), this is your max safe HTT.

Here are my results with what it was running...

While in windows I hit 365mhz using Clockgen, tried to boot, wouldn't till I lowered to 354mhz
LDT was @ x2
Cpu multi was @ x6
Mem @ SPD and 100
Cpu volts was @ 1.55
HDD is on SATA port 3 non-raid

Here is the second step I did...

2. Max Chip capable
- Set multiplier to it's maxium
-Set vcore to 1.6 -1.65 for 130nm chips, 1.50-1.55 for 90nm chips
-Set mem to SPD and 100, this will take memory out of equation
-starting with HTT 200 raise in about 5Mhz increments up to boards max found earlier or until you start failing PRIME95 which will probably happen first..only give it 5 minutes max, that's good enough for now.
-At the point it starts failing within that 5 min time period, back down 5%, (CPU MHZ * 0.95), thats your max CPU speed, now test prime again at 95% for 12 hour for stable.

Here are my results with what it was running...

I could hit 225mhz and pass Prime for 5 minutes on both cores
230 failed prime within 5 minutes on core 0, core 1 passes as always, did not go higher
LDT was @ x3
Cpu multi was @ x12
Mem was @ Spd and 100
Cpu volts was @ 1.55
HDD is on SATA 3 non raid

My system will pass prime at 220 for over ten hours. I did not try to pass at 225 again since I am still having the same issues as before. I take it that it's possible that I have one bum core right? This is really aggrivating

 

[kman79]

This might sound like newbie advice, but did you test your memory? While isolating the memory, how fast could you run it on memtest with no errors? I use memtest 5 and 8 mostly. I'd say if you can do over 10 passes on 5 and 8 on a certain speed, move up to higher till you can't pass memtest, and move down slowly from there.

 

[Dragon41673]

Ya know...I honestly never tested except at stock speed to make sure my cpu was ok...I was just following test 1 and 2 and when I started to fail prime during test 2 I called it a day since memory is taken out of the equasion with the settings it's at. I'm gonna try the memory tests tonight at higher speeds...

 

[Dragon41673]

Newest developments...but I don't think it would cause my problem...

Well...I tried to push my memory...but guess what happened...

Here is how I tested it..

LDT - 4x
HTT - 6x
CPU volts - 1.55v
CPU mhz - 220
Mem Volts - 2.8v

Memory settings are as follows:

Timing Mode - Manual
Memclock Index Value (mhz) - 400
CAS# Latency (Tcl) - 2
Min RAS# Active Time (Tras) - 7T
RAS# to CAS# Delay (Trcd) - 2T
Row Precharge Time (Trp) - 2T
Row Cycle Time (Trc) - 11T
Row Refresh Cycle Time (Trfc) - 24T
Read-to-write Time (Trwt) - 4T
Write Recovery Time (Twr) - 3T
1T/2T Memory Timing - 1T
S/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping - Enabled
H/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping - Enabled

Well...I went into windows using the above config...and opened up clockgen. Each mhz I increased I set the value, when I hit either 224 mhz and set it...computer freaked and rebooted! Guess my memory is a tad bit touchy! LOL So...can someone help me a bit to OC this damn system of mine higher then the 2.64 that I can hit stable prime???

 

[Dragon41673]

Newer settings are as follows due to recomendations from others...

Ok...bios now says the following...

Timing Mode - Manual
Memclock Index Value (mhz) - 400
CAS# Latency (Tcl) - 2
Min RAS# Active Time (Tras) - 5T
RAS# to CAS# Delay (Trcd) - 3T
Row Precharge Time (Trp) - 2T
Row Cycle Time (Trc) - 11T
Row Refresh Cycle Time (Trfc) - 14T
Read-to-write Time (Trwt) - 4T
Write Recovery Time (Twr) - 3T
1T/2T Memory Timing - 1T
S/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping - Enabled
H/W DRAM Over 4G Remapping - Enabled

CPUz says...

freq - 220
FSB: DRAM - CPU/12
Cas# Latency - 2
RAS# to CAS# Delay - 3
RAS# Precharge - 2
Cycle Time (Tras) - 5
Bank Cycle Time (Trc) - 11
DRAM Idle Time - 16

 

[kman79]

I'm a bit new to this game also, but this is what I would do.

I'd set the timings of your RAM to SPD. Lower the Multi to 6 and LTD to 3, and start going up the DDR speed ladder or even smaller like 1mhz increment, and run memtest for at least 10 passes on either test 5 or 8. I know it's time consuming, but that's the only way I've done it when I had 2X512MB of RAM.If you know your ram is stable at 2.8V at DDR440, which is 220MHz, start from there. Go to 221MHz, if it fails, add more voltage or lossen timings, and go up some more, fails again, add more voltage or lossen up timings.

What I did to avoid this headache with 2 1GB sticks is just bought DDR500 1GB sticks, at least that way I was almost guaranteed 250MHzX11 OC, which I was. The crucials I have will run higher than 255MHz, but I can't give the CPU anymore volts than 1.55, which is fine, I don't feel comfortable running it higher than 1.55

Good Luck

 

[Dragon41673]

Yeah I've been considering that...but I'm trying to find out if the memory is what is effecting my oc. I'm not sure it is because I did what you said and what Zebo said for steps 1 and 2 and I can get into windows and such...but when I tried to run 1:1 I guess they call that...it won't work and even when I'm not running 1:1 it's not prime stable in core 0 past 220

 

[kman79]

Have you tried running a lower multi and a higher FSB?

 

[Dragon41673]

yeah...still couldn't get past 220 prime stable

 

[skimike]

Just thought I would post my experiences in some minor overclocking. My rig is very similar:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4800+
ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (BIOS 1007-02)
Enermax Noisetaker 600W SLI
OCZ 2GB (2x1GB) DDR400 Platinum RAM (2-5-3-2 stock, 2.5-5-3-2 OC, both with 1T command rate)
2x WD Raptor 74GB 10K RPM (RAID 0)
BFG Geforce 7800GTX
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS Gamer
Sony DVD-ROM DDU1615
Thermalright XP-120 w/ Thermaltake 120mm fan (2000rpm, max 78cfm), Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound

Stock 2400MHz (200x12):

Idle temp: 36C
1 core fully loaded: 44C
Both cores fully loaded: 49C

Overclocked to 2640MHz (220x12):

Idle temp: 38C
1 core fully loaded: 49C
Both cores fully loaded: 54C (52C if I pop the case - I have some case fan balancing to do, apparently)

All temps are according to nvMonitor. nvMonitor reports CPU voltage as 1.5500 V regardless of what it's actually set to. BIOS seems to report 2C cooler than nvMonitor for idle temps. Core load was generated with prime95 torture test for max heat and power consumption.

In order to reach a stable overclock of 2640MHz, I had to tune exactly 5 BIOS settings:

1. CAS# latency (Tcl) from 2 to 2.5
2. Overclock Profile from Auto to Manual
3. CPU Frequency from 200.0 to 220.0
4. CPU Voltage from Auto to 1.4125v

All other BIOS settings were left at their defaults (mostly "Auto") except where necessary for my configuration (RAID, sound, etc). I disabled S/W and H/W DRAM over 4G remapping.

With anything less than 1.4125v, running 2 instances of prime95 with processor affinity set would always result in a hardware error on core 0 within 37 minutes (longest run without an error at that voltage). Having bumped the core to 1.4125v, I've gone for 10 hours with 2 instances of prime95 running without any errors before stopping the test.

I haven't tried going any higher though I don't see anything that particularly stands out as to why I couldn't aside from heat becoming an issue.

Are other people seeing similar temperatures from their systems?

 

[doc2345]

Those numbers are probably right.............

At 12X225 (2.7) @ 1.4875, I'm running 34 idle and 44 full load (both cores) on water..........

 

[aurelius97]

Not to change the subject a little bit, but you guys with the asus premium board that are using the ocz platinum memory, are you running everythink ok at stock voltages and timings? Reason why I ask is because I have the same board with the 4400 X2 proc. and I need to buy memory for it. I originally wanted to use the very same sticks, but decided to go with corsair because I did not see OCZ on asus' qualified vendor list. I really want to use OCZ, but I want minimal issues as possible. Can you give me some feedback?

 

[Capt Caveman]

No problems with OCZ ram.

 

[Dragon41673]

I'd love my rig a lot more...if I didn't have a lame core 0