Opteron 180 not performing

[Bobberrific]

Hey guys,

I just upgraded a few things on my computer. One of which is an Opteron 180. I just got finished doing a clean xp pro install and I'm only getting 1.8ghz out of my processor. I've tried the hotfix as well as the dual core optimizer without luck. Did I get a bad processor or is it something on my end?

System Specs:
Asus A8N-E Ultra
2 gigs corsair value select
GeForce 7950gt 256mb
Opteron 180
Stock cooling
Rosewill 550 Watt PSU

 

[Bobberrific]

Bumping so I can figure out if I need to send it back.

 

[nerp]

Check your bios settings. You might have an incorrect setting. It could very well be running at a slower rate. Crank your FSB/memory settings to match the 180s default. If this is a 939 box, perhaps your board is set to ddr333 or something.

 

[NXIL]

Hi-

do you have Cool n Quiet enabled? My Opteron 170 shows as a 1.0GHz CPU in CPU-Z and "system info" right now, i.e. it is throttled back--but it runs at 2.0GHz x 2 coreswhen it is loaded up.

As Nerp says: BIOS settings altered, or, did you remove a slower CPU and put in the 180 without changing the BIOS settings? It may remember the old CPU....and miss it.

HTH

NXIL

 

[Bobberrific]

Haha, perhaps my mobo is missing my old 3000+. Quite a shock with this new one. I'll try the bios thing.

 

[NXIL]

Hmm, the AMD 64 3000 socket 939 runs at 1.8GHz....

http://www.amdzone.com/modules...rticle&artid=63&page=1

 

[Bobberrific]

and that makes sense that my mobo only wants to run my new one at that, exactly which settings in the bios will i be changing?

 

[Bobberrific]

Well then, just flashed the BIOS with AsusUPDATE and everything seems to be working delightfully. For future reference, do I always have to flash the BIOS after I throw in a new CPU?

 

[SergeC]

No - it sounds like the last CPU's multiplier was manually set in the BIOS, and flashing it cleared the settings, allowing it to auto-detect the proper multiplier for the Opteron.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

check out my sig. I've got basically the same system and the same chip. I have cheap memory and at the time of the sig overclocked it up...I have since backed it down, but you should be able to come close to these numbers without freaking out your system.

oops, just realized I bought the Cheaper 170. Still, look at the settings.

 

[bryanW1995]

a lot of older 939 boards need a new bios to properly recognize newer x2 cpus. Your older bios probably came out before the x2 cpus were common or perhaps even available at all. I tried my opteron 180 in an older biostar agp/pci-e combo board a month ago, but even with an updated bios it only recognized one core. What a letdown...

 

[Bobberrific]

Sorry to hear that Bryan.

My bios was all up to date before I changed. I just reflashed it with the same version and all seems to be working beautifully. SUCH a step up from that 3000+

Cron, I probably won't overclock for a bit. It's fast enough right now and I don't want to void any warranties.

Thanks for all of the help everyone. I knew it was something simple but I couldn't figure it out.

 

[bryanW1995]

oh, don't feel bad, I originally had the opteron in an k8n neo 4 platinum but fried the mobo while going for higher voltages on it (mobo, not cpu). I got an a8v xe open box for $38 from newegg, it works great with the opteron. They're sitting to my right, ostensibly as the wifey's file server but actually used for crunching.