SD 3700+ Safe Volts?

[nheather]

Bought a SD 3700+ about 4 weeks ago and am trying to get as close to 3GHz as I can.

I'm on air cooling (Arctic Freezer 64 Pro) and at the moment it's looking pretty stable at 265 x 11 @ 1.5V (temp = 32degC).

The highest I reckon I can get is 270 x 11 (I think 270 is the limit of my MoBo).

But to do this I'm going to need extra Volts.

Is their a rule of thumb for the safe max volts on an SD?

Cheers,

Nigel

P.S. Little disappointed about the plummeting prices especially as bought it as a limited special offer just 4 weeks ago. I expect prices to fall, but down by 40% in just 4 weeks. If my crystal ball had have been working I would have hung on and bought an SD 4000+ for less - oh well, c'est la vie.

 

[Cyber-Mav]

all depends on your temps. but best not to go over 1.6v when on air cooling. i personally would not go over 1.55v on air.

 

[matt1]

1.6v max on air I'd say too, but personally I don't like more than 1.5v

 

[J.D]

all depends on your temps. but best not to go over 1.6v when on air cooling. i personally would not go over 1.55v on air.

I'm with Cyber-Mav on this one.

 

[nheather]

Thanks for the advice.

My 3700+ is PRIME stable at 265 x 11 (2.915 GHz) at 1.5V.

J.D.
===

I notice from the signatures of many forum members (including yourself) that they are usually running their SD 3700s in the range 2.6 - 2.8.

Can I ask why this is?

Mine will do 2.75GHz at stock volts and 2.86GHz with just a small increase in volts.

Why are guys running lower? Have I just got a good CPU or is it that others just haven't tried or are playing safe?

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[man_from_uncle]

Well nheather, there are 2 reasons we run them slower. 1) Our chips just won't clock that far 2) A lot of people are using opteron 144s with a x9 multi, and unless you've got a good DFI board (unlike me) you can't really get a stable HTT of more than 300-310, which equate to 2.7-2.8ghz.

 

[nheather]

man_from_uncle

I am only looking at SD 3700+ - I appreciate it's pointless do comparisons unless you are comparing apples with apples.

As for HTT - that's less of an issue for the SD 3700+. I understand that my Asus A8N-E is unlikely to handle anything above 270 but that is sufficient to get up to 2.970GHz which seems to be about the limit of the SD 3700+.

Can't beleive my SD is so much better so just wondering why guys choose to run at 2.6 or 2.7 - it's not a criticism, just wondering whether I am missing something.

Cheers,

Nigel

 

[Gecco]

Mine wont boot @ 270 x11 @1.45 Vcore

260 x11 is absolutely fine & stable.

Not bothered about an extra 100MHZ

 

[Unforgiven]

Usually the last 100 MHz or so needs a marked increase in Vcore. I can get mine up to 2.7 only with 1.55 volts, so I step it down to 2.6 @ 1.45 for 24/7 Folding usage.

For me its all down to the trade off between speed and Vcore (hitting a nice balance rather than the absolute maximum).

 

[booyaka]

For me its all down to the trade off between speed and Vcore (hitting a nice balance rather than the absolute maximum).

agree with above - mine hits 2.75 with stock volts (prime stable)- can't be bothered increasing vcore etc to squeeze another few 100mhz out of it. fast enough for me.

 

[nheather]

Thanks for the advice.

I think I will drop mine down to 260x11. I can run at 265x11 but I need 1.5V for that. To get to 275x11 is going to need even more volts and will stress the CPU.

Shame about the memory speed though. I have Geil Value which is quite happy at 225MHz at 2.5-3-3-7 (1T).

But at HT=260 I have to run the 333 divider (11:14) which means the RAM runs at only 204MHz.

Is there anything more I can try with the RAM?

Another question - hyper transport - for those running at 260 do you use x3 (780) or x4 (1040)? I'm tempted to use x4 but I thought you weren't supposed to take it over 1000.

Cheers,

Nigel

Wish I'd waited a few weeks for the 4000+ (and it would have been cheaper) - hindsight is a wonderful thing!