OCing Opteron 165

[Dexmaus]

I just got a Opteron 165 from newegg, I'm fairly new to Ocing, but from what i've read, these CPUs can overclock pretty good, i hope u guys can help me OC it

This is what i got
-AMD Opteron 165 Denmark 1000MHz HT Socket 939 Dual Core Processor Model OSA165CDBOX - Retail
-ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce SPP 100 ATX AMD Motherboard
-ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Blue LED Light Cooling Fan with Heatsink
-G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 500


So what is the first thing I should do? when should i up the voltage for the CPU? how much mhz increase i should be looking for from this? thanks!

 

[Zim]

I'd aim for 2.6GHz right from the off. Look at my sig for settings.

 

[gobucks]

here are some guidelines:
1) get the newest bios for your mobo. I bought an Abit AN8 32X (abits version of your board) and couldnt get past 279HTT, but now its stable way past that with a bios update.
2) drop the HTT link down to 4X. If you manage to get your CPU past ~300HTT, then you need to drop down to 3X. The HTT bus doesnt like to be running past around 1.2GHz in my experience. Some people even feel you shouldnt go past 1GHz, but I am not one of them.
3) your memory may crap out before the CPU hits the limit. so when you're trying figure out a max speed for the CPU, run a memory divider. since you have DDR500, the 333MHz divider will give you DDR500 at 300HTT, so you should be able to find the CPU's max with that. If not, then drop down to a 266MHz divider.
4) in order to get higher CPU speeds, you'll probably need to up the voltage some. the Zalman 9500 is a pretty damn good cooler, so I'd say anything up to about 1.525V should be fine. I'm running a Zalman 7700-AlCu on mine at 1.52V, and its hitting around 52 degrees C during load, which is acceptable. Just keep cranking up the HTT speed at a given voltage (start at stock) until its unstable, then bump the Vcore up by one notch (.025V). Repeat until a) youre satisfied with the speed b) you hit around 1.5V or c) you're getting really high load temps (high 50's, low 60's).
5) Once you have found the max CPU speed, drop down the CPU multiplier (to like 8X or 7X) and crank up the HTT to find the max memory clock. you may have to loosen the timings to like 3-4-4-8 or something in order to find the max speed.
6) once you've found the max speed of the CPU and RAM, you can set the appropriate divider that will allow you to maximize both as much as is possible. Also, if you're getting pretty good timings at a high speed, like 2.5-3-3-7 at DDR480 for example, then you might want to set your divider such that you can get these timings.
7) most importantly, TEST THE STABILITY AT YOUR SETTINGS!!!! What I do is this: I open superpi, and run the 1M test. Then i keep adjusting the HTT speed until superpi fails. Then I bump up the vcore and repeat. Once I'm around the maximum range I think i can get safely, and I've found a speed that is superpi stable, i bust out prime95. prime95 is the best tool, altough there is a better, tweaked version called Stress Prime 2004, or SP2004. It makes it much easier to test multiple cores, and has a nice GUI. Simply open up 2 instances of SP2004, set one to core 0 and one to core 1, and click start. One of the cores will probably fail after a few minutes. Then back off a few MHz and try again. Eventually you should get it to run stable for hours. Some people insist on testing for 24 hours, but I dont really have time for that. Its not like Ive ever been doing 2 different really intensive things on a PC for an entire day straight. For me, if I start it in the morning, and its stable when i get home from work, then its fine for me.

 

[Dexmaus]

wow, that is a great guide for me, although some of it im not quite understand, when i get home after work today, im gonna try exactly what you say, maybe i will know what u are talking about. ill give more feedback after my test. thanks gobucks!!

 

[Brounstoun]

Hi all,

Just got an Opty 165 as well, so I'll be watching this thread very closely !
I read Zebos overclocking guide, but I was wondering if there was a good spot to start learning about more basic explanations of RAM timings, definitions of acronyms, etc.?

Thanks for that reply gobucks, thats a great spot to start from. Do you have an Opty ?

 

[Brounstoun]

I was looking at those Zalman 9500's, and it seems like if you mounted that unit on sideways (as most people's mobos are on their side), it would make the liguid inside trap in the elbows of the cooling pipes at the lowest point.

Picture: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Showimage...ght+Cooling+Fan+with+Heatsink+-+Retail

Wouldn't you want the liquid to run down against the processor itself, as when the unit is installed on a horizontal surface, in order for it to absorb the most heat and make the pipes the most effective? just a little observation...

 

[Jinru]

question, would u lose performance if ram ratio isnt 1:1? i've just jumped to dual core after selling my socket A so i'm wondering if things work differently?

 

[Mogadon]

The performance hit of running a RAM divider against running at a 1:1 ratio is minimal, in the region of 3-5% I believe.

 

[Noubourne]

Originally posted by: Brounstoun
I was looking at those Zalman 9500's, and it seems like if you mounted that unit on sideways (as most people's mobos are on their side), it would make the liguid inside trap in the elbows of the cooling pipes at the lowest point.

Picture: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Showimage...ght+Cooling+Fan+with+Heatsink+-+Retail

Wouldn't you want the liquid to run down against the processor itself, as when the unit is installed on a horizontal surface, in order for it to absorb the most heat and make the pipes the most effective? just a little observation...

This is a good question. I'd like to see someone bench a heatpipe on its side. The main mechanism for moving the heat away is vapor, so it may not have much of an effect in such a space - as heat turns the liquid to vapor in the hot end, it moves over to the cool end and then condenses again. I'd be interested to know how much a heatpipe depends on gravity to allow the heat to rise to the cool end of the pipe.

Someone should test that!!

As for the memory divider thing, with Athlon 64s the hit for using a divider is typically overcome quickly by the increased speed of the CPU that is gained by using the divider. It's hard to find RAM that will do DDR600, but it's not hard to find a CPU that can do HTT300.

Using a divider allows you to push the CPU to the limit without the need for a huge expense on some sick overclocking RAM. If you can get an extra 100Mhz or more out of your CPU by using a divider then go for it. My EL Plat didn't like much over 275HTT, for instance, but my Athlon 64 3000+ went to 2.6Ghz which is 289HTT. I gained over 100Mhz on my CPU by using a divider, and I was able to clamp down my memory timings too.

I think most people find after testing both RAM and CPU limits on their board, that it's a no-brainer. Especially if you've got a CPU with a low multiplier. With a high multiplier you could kick up the multiplier and drop the HTT to run synchronously without a hit to your max CPU speed, but with an Opty 165 or other budget OC chips, using the divider is almost universally a performance net gain.

 

[Dexmaus]

Hi everyone, i tried to OC now, i change the FSB to 267 (which is 2400mhz) save the bio and restart, but the computer will not boot, right now im at 222 FSB which is 2000mhz with 1.375v idles at 33-34 degrees , i didn't change anything else but the CPU FSB, i really dont understand what those memory timing means, can someone help?
and what is HTT? wheres the option for that? im a totally noob, plz help me the best that you guys can to OC this thing , i really appreciated!!! thx



i have some screenshots below, if you guys can explain some of these for me.

Pic 1
Pic 2
Pic 3

 

[Dexmaus]

bump

 

[Dexmaus]

Originally posted by: Zim
I'd aim for 2.6GHz right from the off. Look at my sig for settings.

okay, im at 2.6ghz with 1.4v right now, i set memory at 183 with 3-4-4-8 timing = 260.1mhz with 2.7v , right now both running stable with prime95. i set the FSB at 300, it wont boot again, unless i set it to 3x and take memory out of equation. i want to squeeze more, how..?

also in CPU-Z, does it always show the voltage higher than what you set in the bios? which one is correct?

and in CPU-Z, SPD shows my memory 3-5-5-10, isin't it suppose to be 3-4-4-8 from what i bought?

 

[starwars7]

Ok, well your OC doesn't mean anything unless you can run stable in Prime 95 for at least a couple hours, 8 hours is ideal. Seems like you already know that

I have the same RAM and chip as you, and it can definitely effect your OC. I had to pump up the Vcore a little until I figured out that my RAM timings were what was messing with my stability. Some of the G.Skill was shipped with different default timings by accident, so you need to go into your bios and make sure they are set correctly. Now I don't know anything about your MOBO, but this link has some timings for a different mobo:

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41953&page=1&pp=15

It might help. Although I would leave many of the settings to auto if you are new to OCing (I canged most of my auto settings to a fixed setting, but when I changed one or two my system would not even boot to the bios, so I decided to put them back to auto ).

EDIT: Also, the memory we have doesn't necessarily like more volts. It tends to crap out at anything over 2.7

 

[gobucks]

i really wish i could get my 165 up past 2.52GHz, but i guess its not meant to be . You're welcome for the advice though, and i'm glad you're opty is doing better than mine lol.

Also, the voltage typically does differ slightly from the VCORE setting chosen. for example, my AN8 32X seems to overvolt by .02-.05V - my opty is set to 1.475V Vcore, but it reads 1.50-1.52 in abit's uGuru and cpu-z. Ironically, Abit's AT8, which i sent back due to stability issues, undervolted by nearly the exact same amount.

Anyways, if lowering your LDT and memory lets you clock higher, then try to isolate one of them and figure out the bottleneck. From what I've heard, the LDT on the nforce4 x16 is supposed to be pretty robust; i've only got mine at like 950MHz (3X) but apparently some are stable up to 1500MHz. Also, most will do over 320HTT, so you should have a bit of room. My guess would be the memory. So run a bigger mem divider, and then see how high you can stably OC the CPU. Then tighten the memory timings as much as possible and you should be good to go.

 

[robertk2012]

Originally posted by: Mogadon
The performance hit of running a RAM divider against running at a 1:1 ratio is minimal, in the region of 3-5% I believe.

its less than 1%

 

[Xcobra]

Id suggest that you isolate, set RAM on a ratio (i.e. 5/6 or something) and lower HTT multi to like 2 or 3 and then raise HTT bit by bit (since cpu has a multi of 9, make sure your board can handle high HTT) while testing each time you raise it and also raising the Vcore a bit, dont go past 1.5v on air (right?), and also youre supposed to check both cores but since i own a single core A64, im not completely sure about that... keep doing this until you hit a wall, thats your max cpu OC, do samething with RAM, i got the same RAM and could only do to 260 which is not back but i was hopping for more...well hope this helps, good luck!