VNF4 Ultra & A64 3000+ Overclock (Stable at 290 HTT, 2.61GHZ), BUT.....

[xpose]

Originally posted by: user1234

Originally posted by: MajorPayne

Originally posted by: hafa
Congrats, MajorPayne!

I'll be looking forward to when NF4Us are available in my part of the world!

As for your detractors:

Originally posted by: user1234
...and certainly windows has its uses, mostly as xbox++.

And this is why IBM chose to port the 5250 emulator/OS400 software, iSeries access to Windows and Linux both? The corporate world just does not see things that way. The overwhelming trend is towards adoption of multiple o/s. Most developers, myself included, develop for Win, OSX (unix) and Linux. Only by understanding and acepting the various platforms will we remain competetive.

Oh well, no OS can be perfect for anyone. I myself actually use Linux quite a bit, but NOT for gaming. For that, I reserve my Windows XP machine exclusively.

I don't take any of it personally though, and thanks for sticking up for me guys!! I appreciate it!

Oh, and currently, I am running at 275HTT (which overclocks my A64 3000+ to 2.47GHZ. I did a test boot at 310, but with just stock air cooling, I was not comfortable jumping that far at once. I will look into a better cooler (any suggestions that fit this board are welcome -- does the XP-120 fit this one?) before going much further. Chaintech has done a great job of addressing the OC concerns with this board!

First, to all the people who thinks Linux does not have games - you may be surprise to know the follwing games run natively on linux - Doom 3, Unreal Tournament 2004, America's Army, Return To Castle Wolfenstein, Enemy Territory, Neverwinter Nights - and in most cases it's FASTER THAN WINDOWS, especially with regard to level loading times and networking. And if you use an emulator, you can get many other games to run, like Half Life 2 (all this is from personal experience). Also to the moron that mentioned ftpd - newsflash: no one is using it anyomre. If you didn't know that, you're probably also still using internet explorer with active-x, and you're messed up system is chok full of spyware I'm sure.

Now let's get to this board - if you really can get to 2.6 stable, then it's a very nice overclock. So what are your temps and voltages ? and why do you need a better cooler ?

Its snowing out here in the northeast so I have nothing better to do than to reply. I know a few things. One is that most games use DirectX. Don't bother to argue about games on linux compared to windows. Your one of those linux advocates who would rather go through 30hrs of getting your comp to work with linux just so you can say "i dont use windows!". And as far as ftpds are concerned. I take it you've never dealt with the scene before, because everyone uses glftpd. And yes, I will ssh to config one, with a kickass sitebot-but id never use linux on my own comp. Over your head? I see. This wasn't about comparing linux to windows. Its about the fact you insulted MajorPayne for no reason. Only because your some crazy linux junky whos probably got on your linux hat on and tshirt while replying to this and laugh hysterically at any retarted joke that refers to linux. I suppose 3394343 posts on this forum means you use most of it to insult people and the other half to promote linux.


However, regardless what linux tshirt you have on today. . .I'd like to mention my spyware infested comp runs great at 2.6 gz just so ya know. Oh, and I use Maxthon for my browser, because I like unsecure IE with tabs

 

[user1234]

Actually, I do use windoze, it's installed on some of my machines, and I can assure you I own and play more games on it than what you ever heard of, including all the top games of the last 3 years, and with better performance using my 6800 ultra than you'll get on your setup. But for most of the other things, I use Linux, that's why I said windoze is like an xbox for me. But Linux can do gaming, if only more games were released for it.

and please answer what are your temps and voltages at the so-called 2.6, and how did you verify stability ?

 

[dfedders]

Originally posted by: user1234
Actually, I do use windoze, it's installed on some of my machines, and I can assure you I own and play more games on it than what you ever heard of, including all the top games of the last 3 years, and with better performance using my 6800 ultra than you'll get on your setup. But for most of the other things, I use Linux, that's why I said windoze is like an xbox for me. But Linux can do gaming, if only more games were released for it.

Wow. All the top games from the last 3 years? You're a badass. :roll: I'm sure that a majority of the people on these forums have played the top games for the past 10 years.

Does it make you feel cool to mis-spell Windows? To me it makes you look like a lame linux zealot.

Why was linux even brought up in this thread? There is what, maybe 1 game released a year that has linux binaries? Anyone purchasing a PCI-Express mobo and video card to run linux is just wasting their money.

Linux is good for a lot of things, but games ain't one of them.

 

[user1234]

Ok, can you now please answer what are your temps and voltages at the so-called 2.6, and how did you verify stability ?

And btw, I doubt too many people here have finished farcry,hl2,doom3,and riddick. I said ALL the top games, not SOME of the top games, which I'm sure most people really did play SOME of the top games, but very few have played ALL the top games. Kapish ?

 

[Geforce man]

just thought id add, with the jan 17th bios, i am prime stable 240 1:1 @ 4x LDT multi, @ timings 2.5-3-3-10, booted up right away no issues. this board is definitly a keeper. still not as good (yet) as my 9nda3, but it is pci express, and its still beta bio's. so im not expecting too much for another month or so. i haven't tried higher yet, but i only o/c with bios, never clock gen, as i am after 24/7 stability, not benchmarks. (although i do like to have a high 24/7 bench ) sys is as follows

2x512 TCCD
geforce 6600 non GT
chaintech VNF4 ultra
3200+ winny (that does 2.7 on air easy)

 

[shira]

Over the years, I've come across a few (thankfully, a VERY few) people who remind me of Mr. user1234. I doubt it will surprise any of you that the user1234 clones I've encountered were without exception lonely, bitter people, who flaunted their esoteric expertise in an inevitably futile attempt to prove their worth. They succeeded only in alienating others, reinforcing the loneliness and bitterness that they so deperately seek to aleviate. Rather than get teed off at user1234, just understand that his only outlets are flames, gaming, and occasionally spanking the monkey. Sad. Very sad.

 

[user1234]

Originally posted by: shira
Over the years, I've come across a few (thankfully, a VERY few) people who remind me of Mr. user1234. I doubt it will surprise any of you that the user1234 clones I've encountered were without exception lonely, bitter people, who flaunted their esoteric expertise in an inevitably futile attempt to prove their worth. They succeeded only in alienating others, reinforcing the loneliness and bitterness that they so deperately seek to aleviate. Rather than get teed off at user1234, just understand that his only outlets are flames, gaming, and occasionally spanking the monkey. Sad. Very sad.

OMG, this made me laugh histerically....good one, I'll give you that, you little....

Talk about bitter and lonely people - why else would you post personal remarks about someone you don't know, sharing personal experience in front of people you don't know (and don't care). And to your point, you seem to be confused about the difference between style versus substance.

This is a PUBLIC INTERNET FORUM, stay on topic moron, or stfu.

 

[dfedders]

Originally posted by: user1234
[This is a PUBLIC INTERNET FORUM, stay on topic moron, or stfu.

You're the one who took it off topic with your "LINUX RULZ, WINDOZE SUCKS", and "I'm leet 'cause I've played every game in the universe and beat it, and you guys suck" BS.

And btw, I doubt too many people here have finished farcry,hl2,doom3,and riddick. I said ALL the top games, not SOME of the top games, which I'm sure most people really did play SOME of the top games, but very few have played ALL the top games. Kapish ?

Some of us have lives, so we can't play every game, but at least we purchase our games. Go back to bittorrent and kazaa and finish downloading your games.

 

[hafa]

Sigh, I shouldn't contribute to this threadjack, sorry MajorPayne. I just wanted to clarify what an emulator is and what I do with it...

.And if you use an emulator, you can get many other games to run, like Half Life 2 (all this is from personal experience)....

Uhhh.... Well, actually, I don't game at all, except for FS2004 about twice a year... I spend most of my time using IBM 5250 emulators to interface with AS400 midframes to do RPG programming on OS400, developing web apps over MSSQL/ASP.NET and creating graphics with Illustrator and Photoshop. I spend 18-20 hours per day working 6 days a week, so don't have time to game, but do enjoy forums like this... My original comments stand, however.

 

[TJmoney]

Thanks for that linkChineseDemocracyGNR.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with the 3200+, since the math is nicer and i'm assuming it'l overclock a little easier and be a bit more stable. Is it safe to assume that since the 3200's mult. is 10 that ddr400 is 1:10, ddr333 is 1:12 and ddr266 is 1:14? I'm assuming the proc's default multi determines the memory divider ratio. So, a 3200+ with ram set at ddr333 with a clock running at 240mhz will have a cpu speed of 2.4ghz and a ram speed of 400, right? (2000/12)*2.4=400. From what i'v heard this overclock should be easy with a winchester, and I'l be able to buy value ram if I do this setup. If I get a good OCing proc and (value) ram I could probably push it to 2.5ghz, and 417DDR. Is value ram going to be able to do that? I'm also thinking about just spending the extra $80 for that PDP TCCD ram and just run the memory synchronously.

I'm new to overclocking, though I get how it works pretty well. Someone with more experience please tell me where i'm right and wrong.

 

[hafa]

Originally posted by: TJmoney
Thanks for that linkChineseDemocracyGNR.

I'm thinking I'm going to go with the 3200+, since the math is nicer and i'm assuming it'l overclock a little easier and be a bit more stable. Is it safe to assume that since the 3200's mult. is 10 that ddr400 is 1:10, ddr333 is 1:12 and ddr266 is 1:14? I'm assuming the proc's default multi determines the memory divider ratio. So, a 3200+ with ram set at ddr333 with a clock running at 240mhz will have a cpu speed of 2.4ghz and a ram speed of 400, right? (2000/12)*2.4=400. From what i'v heard this overclock should be easy with a winchester, and I'l be able to buy value ram if I do this setup. If I get a good OCing proc and (value) ram I could probably push it to 2.5ghz, and 417DDR. Is value ram going to be able to do that? I'm also thinking about just spending the extra $80 for that PDP TCCD ram and just run the memory synchronously.

I'm new to overclocking, though I get how it works pretty well. Someone with more experience please tell me where i'm right and wrong.

Your math looks correct as fasr as I can see and 2.4 should be a realistic overclock for this chip with adequate cooling. I'd go with some twinx ram if I were you, however. The cost is not that much more (using Corsair as an example here), and you'll likely have better luck with xms if you're going to push it. At Mwave, for example, 1gb of PC3200 cl2 xms is $195 vs $172 for value select PC3200 2.5cl. Only $23 more.

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: user1234

Now let's get to this board - if you really can get to 2.6 stable, then it's a very nice overclock. So what are your temps and voltages ? and why do you need a better cooler ?

I am currently running at 300HTT stable with my new cooler -- also, I am NOT using clockgen to get there... The new BETA BIOS on the Chaintech site unlocked the overclock ability of this board completely!

I wanted a new cooler because above 280HTT, my temp started to rise toward 40 degrees C, and I do NOT want to fry such a great performing system because I was using stock aircooling. Also, in the one review of this board, the reviewer fried his board at 300HTT because the Nforce4 chipset itself is passively cooled (and owners of this board can verify that the cooler gets too hot to touch even at stock speeds), so I got a heatsink/fan for the chipset itself, took off the original, and put the new ones on (with Artic Silver paste). It is much cooler now (although I am not sure HOW cool exactly, since the board does not have an actual temp sensor for the chipset itself -- an oversight I would think in this case.

The new CPU cooler I got was a CoolerMaster Hyper6 (2+ pounds of copper heatpipes and fins, with a sidemounted fan pouring air through it directly). It fits (just barely), and cools excellently (if a little loudly, but I am a little deaf anyway, so I do not care about the noise -- after all, I am running 7 case fans, 2 PSU fans, 2CPU fans (1 on each side of my Hyper6), 1 video card fan, and 1 chipset fan!).

The Hyper6 cooler I bought is a great damn cooler too! The design goes perfectly with this board, since the CPU on this board is located right in front of my rear exhaust fans. All of the CPU heat goes straight out the back. And adding the chipset cooler is what allowed me to reach 300HTT stable (I was getting errors calculating PI at 275 htt before I got the new cooler).

Using this cooler, I am running temps of 26 degrees C idle, and 38 degrees C under heavy load at 300HTT, which makes my A643000+ 1800MHZ processor run at 2700MHZ! It almost puts my ram back to 400MHZ too with the 133 divider I had to use to get there, and at this speed, my HTT bus is running at 900MHZ, with the 3X multiplier I have on it -- very close to the ideal ceiling of 1000MHZ.

To verify stability, I did several things. For memory, I ran memtest looped overnight to make sure the memory was stable (I am actually running 4 sticks of 512MB Kingston HyperX in dual channel at 400MHZ, which is not supposed to be supported), and it reported no errors in all of the loops. I also ran prime95 overnight, and got no errors. I then ran SuperPI (calculating PI to 1million digits) 20 times (THIS is the test I most often find giving errors when overclocking too far), and got no calculation errors (I am down to around 35 seconds to calculate PI to 1M at this overclock). I also run several iterations of 3dmark 03 to make sure that gaming is stable (I currently score around 12400), and the counterstrike video stress test (143 FPS is about my average score right now).

I use Motherboard monitor to log my temps throughough the bechmarks, so I can see the highest point they get to (even if the system reboots), so I can verify that I have never gotten higher than 38 at any point. My average idle temp seems to be around 26 degrees C.

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: Thrax2000
I would like some help setting up MBM though, because my bios says my temps are around 30-35 at idle (I have virtually the same setup as you, Major Payne, but still stock speeds). I clocked down my fan quite a bit, as I am currently looking for quiet as opposed to speed. I'm just concerned that my temps are too high.

MBM5 works fine for this board, and I use it to monitor (and log) my temps, so I can see if I have pushed the board too far during overclocking. I just installed MBM5 and picked some random other chaintech board (since it makes you pick a board, and MBM5 does not have native support for the VNF4). I then set the temp sensors to the following (which were verified as correct by a Chaintech rep on another forum): CPU Temp -- ITE8712F-1 Diode, and CASE temp -- ITE8712F-2. As far as I know these are the only temp sensors on the board, and the temps for them in MBM5 match my BIOS temps perfectly.

 

[user1234]

MajorPayne, congrats for reaching 2.7 ghz with your 3000+ ! Mine cannot get above 2.4 at 1.58V (which is the max with the a8n-sli). But I'm still not clear what are your CPU temps and voltage ? Can you clarify that ? Also, can you try to also clearly mention what is your chipset voltage, if you changed it, and the chipset temps ?

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: user1234
MajorPayne, congrats for reaching 2.7 ghz with your 3000+ ! Mine cannot get above 2.4 at 1.58V (which is the max with the a8n-sli). But I'm still not clear what are your CPU temps and voltage ? Can you clarify that ? Also, can you try to also clearly mention what is your chipset voltage, if you changed it, and the chipset temps ?

I am not sure about the chipset temps (there is no direct temp monitor on this board for the chipset itself, just the CPU and the CASE.

As for my temps, I posted above, but I will post them again here (I am running temps of 26 degrees C idle, and 38 degrees C under heavy load). Basically, when it is doing nothing, my system runs around 26 degrees C. If I am running heavy load (benchmarking, burn in, calculations, etc.) it may go as high as 38 degrees C, but has never gone over that. During gaming, etc it seems to hang around 32 degrees C.

I think that my stock chipset voltage is 1.6V, and I upped it to 1.65V. The reason I am not certain is that I am not at home, to look at the settings, and I cannot be sure this is accurate, but I believe that it is.

The CPU voltage for my processor is currently at 1.65V, and stock on this processor is 1.4V, so I upped by .25V (which is why I needed a better cooler).

The RAM voltage is 2.8V currently, up from a stock voltage of 1.6V. And I have run memtest overnight to make sure that the RAM is stable at this voltage (it is).

I hope this clarified a little, sorry the temp/voltage info was hard to read in my first post.

 

[dfedders]

Originally posted by: MajorPayne
I wanted a new cooler because above 280HTT, my temp started to rise toward 40 degrees C, and I do NOT want to fry such a great performing system because I was using stock aircooling. Also, in the one review of this board, the reviewer fried his board at 300HTT because the Nforce4 chipset itself is passively cooled (and owners of this board can verify that the cooler gets too hot to touch even at stock speeds), so I got a heatsink/fan for the chipset itself, took off the original, and put the new ones on (with Artic Silver paste). It is much cooler now (although I am not sure HOW cool exactly, since the board does not have an actual temp sensor for the chipset itself -- an oversight I would think in this case.

Do you have a link to the hs/fan that you bought for the chipset? What kind will fit?

 

[user1234]

btw, MajorPayne, why do you even need to raise the memory voltage if it's running at the stock 200 MHz ? What are your memory timings ?

Is your RAM model KHX3200A ? From my experience, this model can do up to 225 mhz at 2.5-3-3-8 w/2.7V. At 200 mhz, it should be able to do 2-3-2-6 at 2.7V. Not sure if you could do better, even at 2.8V, cause this Kingston HyperX is not exactly the really high end (e.g. TCCD based) stuff like Corsair XMS, etc.

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: dfedders
Do you have a link to the hs/fan that you bought for the chipset? What kind will fit?

Well, I hate to admit this, but I tend to be kind of a I want to buy it now kind of person, and so (not wanting to wait for one ordered online), I wandered into my local Fry's and bought whatever fan on the shelf looked the best -- I did not even know the size, I just kinda eyeballed it, and it looked right. ANY fan which is the same widths as the heatsink should mount to it fine. Mine did not even come with any screws at all, so I just went to a hardware store, and found some that were long enough, and used those. I DID pinch a couple of vanes together on the heatsink (on purpose) to let the screws get a better grip -- it was a pretty low-tech solution, but it only cost me $10.00, and it works great (the cooler is cool to the touch even AFTER overclocking).

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: user1234
btw, MajorPayne, why do you even need to raise the memory voltage if it's running at the stock 200 MHz ? What are your memory timings ?

Is your RAM model KHX3200A ? From my experience, this model can do up to 225 mhz at 2.5-3-3-8 w/2.7V. At 200 mhz, it should be able to do 2-3-2-6 at 2.7V. Not sure if you could do better, even at 2.8V, cause this Kingston HyperX is not exactly the really high end (e.g. TCCD based) stuff like Corsair XMS, etc.

Initially, I raised it just to be sure that the RAM was not holding me back. Later, I chose to push the timings somewhat. Currently I am running them (all 4 sticks) at 2-3-2-6 (although I may try a switch to 2-3-2-10, since I have heard that this sometimes gets a better performance -- which makes little sense to me). Also, using all 4 sticks together (which is not officially supported for Dual channel at 400MHZ) seems more sensitive, and the increased voltage helped with this (I think).

EDIT: Not sure WHICH model of HyperX I have -- it is Kingston HyperX PC3200 DDR400MHZ. Is there a way to find this out within windows?

 

[Ackbar]

MajorPayne: YGPM

 

[user1234]

I think cpu-z should be able to show them memory information including he model. There are a few models of hyperx 3200 - like KHX3200A and KHX3200UL, which is better because it support lower latencies. The most common currently is the "A" model, which can do what I mentioned previously, so it's not exactly a high end overclocking memory, but still better then "value" ram.

 

[dfedders]

Originally posted by: MajorPayne

Originally posted by: dfedders
Do you have a link to the hs/fan that you bought for the chipset? What kind will fit?

Well, I hate to admit this, but I tend to be kind of a I want to buy it now kind of person, and so (not wanting to wait for one ordered online), I wandered into my local Fry's and bought whatever fan on the shelf looked the best.

Cool, that'll work. I'll go look for an old video card or something and see if I can steal a fan off of it and try that.

 

[gobucks]

Hey everybody, there is a new beta bios out on the website right now. It adds 1T/2T memory controls, and is supposed to be more conducive to overclocking. I just overclocked to 242FSB with a 5/4 divider, for a 2170MHz clockspeed. Unfortunately, my memory seems to be limiting quite a bit. I have a 1GB Value select kit, and even when I run at like DDR420, I still get crashes in HL2 after like 15 minutes. Also, my slot 0 and slot 1 cause crashes with the kit, so I'm using slots 2 and 3, so that may have something to do with it. I think I might have a defective board, unless I'm just retarded or something. Oh, well.

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: Ackbar
MajorPayne: YGPM

Oops, sorry I did not notice before now... I sent one back atya (after I had to look up what YGPM means -- DUH!)

 

[MajorPayne]

Originally posted by: user1234
I think cpu-z should be able to show them memory information including he model. There are a few models of hyperx 3200 - like KHX3200A and KHX3200UL, which is better because it support lower latencies. The most common currently is the "A" model, which can do what I mentioned previously, so it's not exactly a high end overclocking memory, but still better then "value" ram.

I tried CPU-Z, and it says that my Kingston HyperX is Part Number "K", and one of the serial numbers (they differ) is 421D5563. It also says that it is week 50, year 04 -- wooo.
Anyway, I am not sure what to make of all of this "useful" RAM information, since I do not know much about different revisions of HyperX -- is mine one of the better ones, or do I got some loser sticks!