X2 Overclock advice?

strelly · 4 Jul 2007 at 23:46

Hey, i have recently upgraded from a A64 3200+(Venice) to a X2 3800+ (Toledo).

I been researching and experimenting with overclocking the new chip having never overclocked the previous ones.

That is my attempt so far, i would like to push it to around 2500 MHz, but it has been unstable when trying.

At 2320MHz its perfectly stable, and have had no problems in the last 24 hours of use(including an hour of Orthos).

What would be a good route to take as increasing the Bus speed any more seems to lead to instability!

Spec:

X2 3800+
A8N-SLI Deluxe
2 x Crucial 512MB DDR 400MHz/PC3200 CL3 2.5V
6600gt

Idle temp of CPU is around 27-32 degrees

Thanks

Charlie

strelly · 5 Jul 2007 at 00:04

Thanks for that, Have upped the vcore to 1.45.

Core temp states its now 1.35v

Cpuz states it is 1.472v

Now the voltage is up can i resume increasing the FSB?

Thanks again

strelly · 5 Jul 2007 at 00:32

Mattus said:
Yup. CPU-Z's generally pretty accurate with voltage on AMD CPUs.

Core Temp is giving your VID, which is like the base CPU vCore - not always the same as your actual voltage as some mobos raise the volts by adding a certain amount to the VID, ie. 1.35v + 0.1v.

Excellent!

Windows booted up fine with 2500mhz, but Orthos stopped after a minute with an error.

Now at 2400mhz to play it safe, seems fine so far. Will see how it goes overnight.

Thanks for all the help!

strelly · 5 Jul 2007 at 23:43

El Jimben said:
What RAM have you got mate? You might be overclocking that too hence Orthos failing after not very long. Post a pic of the SPD tab from CPUZ if u can. I would also say that 1.45v is probably too much for only a 400MHz overclock unless you have a really bad stepping chip. I'd try lowering it and then go higher if you need to, not the other way around.

Screenie:

RAM is Crucial 512MB DDR 400MHz/PC3200 CL3 2.5V, bought it about 2.5 years ago.

The only thing i havent got my head around is the RAM timings etc..

I do agree its the ram causing the poor overclock.

The ram is set at 2.6v on bios, havent changed anything else on the ram.

Sorry to be a noob, but could you tell more about the stepping chip?

I am tempted to buy new/more/better RAM soon, as that is quite basic!

Cheers guys!

strelly · 7 Jul 2007 at 08:49

Amonlym said:
that rams probably based on 5B-F or 5B-D (single sided) or 5B-G (double sided) chips, can you take a shot of the sticks themselfs with clear view of writing on the mem chips?

if it is one of the above, drop the cas rating to 3 and it should do atleast 250mhz if you feed 2.7 to 2.8v. but will run hot.

if it turns out to be 5B-G you might manage 2.5-2-2-6 @2.8v @ 250mhz (if your lucky)

all the above are the same chips as on the ballistix line, and its known to pop up on all the crucial moduals from time to time

If that is the wrong pic then its no problem taking more!

cheers!

strelly · 7 Jul 2007 at 23:24

craig_kennedy83 said:
mines is at 2.8 the now, solid as a rock!

keep going with your oc

Good work, is that with air cooling?

If so what temps/cooler you got?

Also... will post some pics of the chips tmw!

thanks!

strelly · 8 Jul 2007 at 11:03

strelly · 8 Jul 2007 at 17:06

Amonlym said:
5B-D (nice pic btw, good camera?)

Should be good for crazy mhz (280ish for a good stick 250-260 for average) @ 3-3-3-8 1T then. avoid going over 2.8v for the ram tho.
so in theory shouldnt be holding you back just yet (unless its a poor batch of chips)

good luck going further,
did you pass 2400 stres testing?

you might get further by dropping ram to the 166mhz setting, or upping the ram voltage a bit. im not to familier with your board tho, so cant say for sure, sorry!

Camera isnt anything special, (fujifilm z1, 5 MP) got it for £15 at an auction!
As long as you get good light its a great camera!

So far i managed to get up to 2600Mhz, slowly getting there... i know i said 2500mhz, but now i want more!!

Temps are good, it had 9 hours of orthos overnight, no trouble.

My board seems a little odd for the ram settings (or im just rubbish!)

The RAM when set to manual defaults to 400mhz (im not sure if that is the setting to set to 166mhz?)

Well that setting is now at 333mhz, makes it far more stable doing that.

Good to know i bought alright RAM all those years ago!

Updated Screenie:

NB: Vcore is actually 1.45v, cpuz must have blinked when i took the screen shot!

Cheers!

strelly · 8 Jul 2007 at 17:37

El Jimben said:
Nice work Strelly! Overclocking is addictive eh? Are you sure your vcore is 1.45v? Coretemp and Powermonitor seem to reckon it's set at 1.35v.

I know!! And if i ruin this processor its only £40 quid to start over! Great to learn!

It is 1.45v, core temp and power monitor seem to get confused past 1.4v.

Once i get my head around the RAM itll be great!

Cant believe how helpful everyone is on the forum!

I guess your addicted if you find the bios more fun that windows!

Cheers

strelly · 8 Jul 2007 at 22:22

****!!

I turned my computer off earlier for a while, when i came to turn it on it hung on the post screen, just before it was ment to display the ram info.

I have taken battery out for 1 or so hours and reset the jumper. still no luck.

I think is the ram. Balls.

Luckily i took photos of my bios screens before i turned it off(im not weird, it was to remind me when i was in windows!)

Obviously ill share them with you guys!

Before it crashed i did up the ram .5v, and thats it im sure.

Now this is why i feared overclocking before!

Oh well, its still great fun!

Any ideas of how to resolve this problem?

Cheers

strelly · 9 Jul 2007 at 10:18

spookywillow said:
you upped the ram how much? 0.5v or 0.05v, what did it read? 2.75v or 3.2v?

you could also try 1 stick at a time to see if 1 died

0.05v, i went from 2.65 to 2.75.

Tried clearing the cmos many many times, still no luck.

Ill investigate when im back home.

If it turns out to be the ram, what should ram should i get?

Cheers!

strelly · 10 Jul 2007 at 11:59

jaykay said:
I dont think raising it up that small would cause the ram to die.

I thought so, so i put it in another comp and its working fine, i also put the old processor in to see if the fault was the cpu. nope.

Ive run out of ideas, ive tried many times reseting the bios(i have done it before with no trouble).

Its annoying, as i cant decipher the problem, its not the ram or the processor and reseting the bios does nothing.

Any ideas?

EDIT: i hold down del when the comp is booting up and it says 'entering setup' and also just hangs there.