3500 winchester on a8v

Radiation · 25 Jun 2007 at 22:11

Well its been some time since i got this setup and i think its about time i tried overclocking it, i have read a fair bit about overclocking similar setups to mine but i would like some pointers if possible please.

My specs are an asus a8v deluxe rev2.0, 3500 winchester, 1gb of crucial pc4000 dual channel ballistix, i think thats the main stuff, oh also i remember hearing about possible problems on the via sata controller so i finally after all these years changed over to the promise controller.

Now i would like to overclock, its funny because i built this system for overclocking with all the quality components at the time but never bothered to overclock it until now!

So could someone give me good settings to try as really these components should achieve decent speeds (hopefully!) without too much messing around right?

Thanks.

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 12:08

Thanks, i did do a search and have read some of your thread before i posted, its quite helpful but im still unsure, i only really want to just get a fair amount out of my cpu and ram for now, 2.4ghz or 2.5ghz would make me happy, i don't care about maxing it really, also i was wondering why the ram can do 250mhz but on auto its at 200mhz?

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 12:27

Sorry im still a bit unsure of how to get this right and whats the best way

, so for now what settings will get the max performance out of my setup at 2.4Ghz, the cpu is at 2.2 now so i was thinking ram 240mhz at a multi of 10 would do it right? Im still somewhat confused by the ram divider and ram settings in general, all the cas and ras ect settings. :confused:

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 13:25

Thanks again for the help i do appreciate it!

I got cpu-z after reading your post and i noticed you can dump the info to txt so ill do that as its quicker, my bios is 1018.001 beta, temps are pretty good i believe, about 34 on idle (less with cool and quiet) and 44 on load and this is with the settings i changed earlier and they were a bit lower at stock, the case is big with plenty of air flow, im using the stock amd fan but it seems pretty good, also using arctic silver paste, the board is rev2.0 and im using the promise controller as i mentioned in first post. Ok heres the info, remember its not stock...

Code:

Processors Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores		1
Number of threads	1 (max 1)
Name			AMD Athlon 64 3500+
Codename		Winchester
Specification		AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3500+
Package			Socket 939
CPUID			F.F.0
Extended CPUID		F.1F
Brand ID		4
Core Stepping		DH8-D0
Technology		90 nm
Core Speed		2419.9 MHz (11.0 x 220.0 MHz)
HT Link speed		880.0 MHz
Stock frequency		2200 MHz
Instructions sets	MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, x86-64
L1 Data cache		64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache	64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache		512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control		yes
max FID			11.0x
VID range		1.550V - 1.450V
K8 Thermal sensor	yes
K8 Revision ID		3.1
Attached device		PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 0
Attached device		PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 1
Attached device		PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 2
Attached device		PCI device at bus 0, device 24, function 3

Chipset
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge		VIA K8T800 Pro rev. 00
Southbridge		VIA VT8237 rev. 00
Graphic Interface	AGP
AGP Revision		3.0
AGP Transfer Rate	8x
AGP SBA			supported, enabled
Memory Type		DDR
Memory Size		1024 MBytes
Memory Frequency	201.7 MHz (CPU/12)
CAS#			2.0
RAS# to CAS#		3
RAS# Precharge		3
Cycle Time (tRAS)	8
Bank Cycle Time (tRC)	11
DRAM Idle Timer		16
Command Rate		1T

Memory SPD
--------------------------------------------------------------------

DIMM #1

General
Memory type		DDR
Manufacturer (ID)	Micron Technology (2CFFFFFFFFFFFFFF)
Size			512 MBytes
Max bandwidth		PC4000 (250 MHz)
Part number		
Serial number		2103B396
Manufacturing date	Week 35/Year 04

Attributes
Number of banks		2
Data width		64 bits
Correction		None
Registered		no
Buffered		no
EPP			no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)		200	250	
CAS#			2.0	2.5	
RAS# to CAS# delay	3	4	
RAS# Precharge		3	4	
TRAS			8	10	



DIMM #2

General
Memory type		DDR
Manufacturer (ID)	Micron Technology (2CFFFFFFFFFFFFFF)
Size			512 MBytes
Max bandwidth		PC4000 (250 MHz)
Part number		
Serial number		1D04421E
Manufacturing date	Week 35/Year 04

Attributes
Number of banks		2
Data width		64 bits
Correction		None
Registered		no
Buffered		no
EPP			no

Timings table
Frequency (MHz)		200	250	
CAS#			2.0	2.5	
RAS# to CAS# delay	3	4	
RAS# Precharge		3	4	
TRAS			8	10

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 14:21

I set ram at 3:2 because when its at 1:1 it said it was 140mhz which seems low? i changed it to 5:3 (333) and it didn't start, what am i doing wrong and how do i get the most out of the ram?

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 16:20

That didn't work either while overclocked, im not sure what im doing wrong.

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 16:43

Yeah its off, i changed my oc to ht 800, ram 3:2, 10.5 multi, 240fsb which gives me 2520 MHz with ht at 960 MHz and ram at 194 MHz, i wonder why the ram doesn't want to go above 200 MHz, do you think im just making a fuss over the ram and it doesn't really matter?

Its just that i don't get why its rated 250MHz yet i've never seen it over 200MHz, anyway how much improvement would more MHz out of the ram give me?

edit: also it seems stable running prime after about 10 minuets, temp is 48c.

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 17:25

Thanks for all the help, i think ill play around for a while and see how it goes.

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 17:35

str said:
Did you manually set the ram timings to 2.5-4-4-10 when at 240 HTT with the 1:1 setting?

No i just changed the divider? :confused:

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 17:45

If i set the ram up right with 1:1 etc and the fsb to 250 at 10x multi and ht 800 i should get 2.5Ghz and ram should be 250Mhz right? Im not really sure of the correct settings for the ram though.

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 19:03

str said:
Yep if your CPU can handle that speed. The labels for the memory settings are:

tCL (CAS Latency): 2.5
tRTC (RAS to CAS Delay): 4
tRP (RAS Precharge): 4
tRAS (Precharge Delay): 10

There are other sub timings but having them all at auto should work fine.

I changed it to that and it runs at 1:1 and 3:2 but fails at 2:1, what should i do?

Core Speed 2500.3 MHz (10.0 x 250.0 MHz)
HT Link speed 1000.1 MHz
Stock frequency 2200 MHz

3:2
Memory Frequency 208.4 MHz (CPU/12)
CAS# 2.5
RAS# to CAS# 4
RAS# Precharge 4
Cycle Time (tRAS) 10
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 10
DRAM Idle Timer 16
Command Rate 1T

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 19:15

str said:
The motherboard could be changing the sub timings when you use a divider and could be why it's not working properly at 2:1.

If it's stable at 1:1 then that's the best if the max HTT you'll be using is 250.

Your probably right but why is it when 1:1 is set cpuz shows the ram running at 125Mhz with these settings and similarly with the old settings as well?

Radiation · 26 Jun 2007 at 19:46

A few posts above is 3:2 setting with the ram changes you pointed me to but i changed the divider again now to 1:1, heres the part from the output of cpuz.

Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Frequency 125.0 MHz (CPU/20)
CAS# 2.5
RAS# to CAS# 4
RAS# Precharge 4
Cycle Time (tRAS) 10
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 7
DRAM Idle Timer 16
Command Rate 1T

Radiation · 27 Jun 2007 at 14:46

SOLDNER-MOFO64 said:
I'd drop my HTx to 3x to ensure stability and rule it out a possible weak link. Winny's ain't especially known for their fantastic OC'ability and they have their fair share of dodgy mem controllers too.

I dug this out in a hurry....

http://s43.photobucket.com/albums/e364/mofo64/?action=view&current=twinmoss484mhz.jpg

This is on air with my old winny 3500+...1.55v in BIOS on my A8N-SLi deluxe. I found booting into windows with close to stock speeds and timings then adjust via windows with either clockgen or a64info beta. You can change virtually any setting desired this way.

nice overclock there, id be too worried to go anywhere near that, but now im wondering whats a safe overclock then for these cpu's?

I was thinking about 200mhz or 300mhz is ok, i had a crash on boot today with the settings i used last night so im on default atm, im thinking about forgetting the ram and leaving it at around 200mhz and going 11x 220mhz on the cpu at 2.4ghz for now, i only really just want to squeeze a nice bit extra out.

About the ram, yeah seems its 2:1, i was also wondering are lower timings quicker in some way or is slightly higher timings with more mhz faster, was always a bit confused how that works?

Radiation · 3 Jul 2007 at 11:08

Its now been a while and it seems stable, im running 228MHz fsb at x11 for 2508MHz, ram is 5:3 with quicker timings and running over its default MHz at 209MHz, done memtests and prime now and then, temps no higher than 50c on load, do you think i should leave it be or try to get it up to 2600MHz?