Thoughts on a failed overclock?

[leezer3]

Hiya,
Trying to get my 3700+ to 2.8ghz (What the previous owner had on stock volts). Temps have never been a problem, but I've trashed the Windows install once already. The settings that trashed the Windows install were as follows:
HT- 250
Divider- 166mhz
Mem @ 2T, 3,4,4,8 (GEIL Value)

What these gave me was a POST/ Linux boot stable overclock, but flickering on Windows boot. Dumped the power in a hurry, and it had junked the registry.

Anyone with any thoughts on where I went wrong please?- Mem was stable @ 215mhz on initial testing (15mins memtest).
Mobo is a MSI K8N SLI-Platinum.
RAM etc. were left at pretty much the default settings.
Starting to think it might want a little more voltage for the CPU? Northbridge temps are also a bit of a concern- Fan was replaced with a Zalman passive, which is hot to the touch at stock (Warm road), but I have no temp sensor for this.
I've done some simple checking, and as far as I can see the RAM should be OK & running at 200mhz?

Thoughts appreciated.

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Hi mate

If its the one you had off me, it was 2.75Ghz i had it at on stock volts. (250x11 )

It will need a bit more voltage for 2.8, i never tried it tho, i was happy at 2.75.

Yup, thats the one (2.8 was the figure off the top of my head lol)
2.75 was where it was when it failed, was basically going in 15mhz hops, & boot testing.
Its totally stable ATM at 2.35ghz, but don't want to start pushing it again until I've figured what the probable cause of the corruption was. (Ghosted the new install now, so trashing isn't so much of a problem)

Very much hoping its not the NB temps limiting this, especially as I have no way of monitoring them.

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Drat. Sounding very much like the NB temps then
I was going to start clocking the RAM after I'd dealt with the CPU, but still
Will try at 1.65ghz and report back!

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Hiya,
Been poking at some reviews etc. to see if I could find any mobo limits, & I think I know the main problem now - The HT multiplier wanted lowering to 4x!

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1734&page=4
This review says that they ran into problems at 221mhz HT, which is a bit above where its stable ATM, and when it junked it was well above.
Do you reckon I should try putting a few more volts through the NB as well?

Cheers

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Update- Lowered HTT multiplier to 4x & gave the NB 0.5v, and its now priming at 2.64ghz
Will give it an hour or so at this level & then crank it up to 2.75ghz
Current CPU-Z:


Cheers

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

OT: Yup, got a whole collection of that sort of thing
Are you a train-simmer by any chance?- I can be found at any of the main train-simming sites, and I have done some route building for BVE. (Simmers will know what I'm talking about )
/OT

Anyway, back on topic got prime errors at 2750, which I suspect was probably due to setting the RAM to 1T. I've backed off to 2700 & 2T and am currently priming.

Cheers

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Well ATM I've had an hour of prime stable so far, no probs there.
Temps are currently bouncing between 47 & 48 with a Zalman 7700 on the absolute minimum, which I'm fine with (Can crank it up to about triple the speed but starts to whine a bit at the top end). If I can't get the 2.75ghz on stock volts, then 2.7 will do me fine; Very decent overclock, especially at near silent.

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Drat. Failed after 2hrs with Illegal Sumout.
Have upped the vcore to 1.425 & am priming again in the failed range (Small FTTs), & ATM appears stable.
Not going to be anything to do with me using the PC for net browsing while priming is it?

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Further update- Gave it an hour priming in the failed range & appeared stable. Have been gaming scince, and no odd appearances etc.
With regards to the NB cooling, the only thing that could possibly fit is a 40mm fan as the whole things rather jammed into a VF700. Posted on wanted looking for one a little while back, but no response, so I've given up ATM.

Still, I think its pretty stable @ 2.7ghz which will do me ATM.

Next up is an extended session of BF2 this evening, and then hopefully a replacement GFX card tomorrow (Uber clocking BFG 7600GT, stock cooling which is being replaced with the VF700)

-Leezer-

 

[leezer3]

Ah, they're back again , weren't when I last looked (Plus I would have to pay horrendous amounts on delivery & I don't need anything else ATM)
Would rather like one of the 18db Akasas really though

-Leezer-