2.4C p4p800 FSB won't go past 240 stable - Help!

[bershatsky]

I have a p4p800 and 2.4c
my ram is generic ddr 400

My FSB is 240 or 2.88 GHZ
My Ram speed is at 320 MHZ (5:4 ratio)
Vcore @ 1.55

If i up the vcore to even 1.7 no change...I cannot get it above 240 without stability issues.

I tried bios 1009 and 1006

also tried moving ram settings to 133 @ 133 I can overclock to 299, but the ram is clocked slower...and the machine is not any faster than with the 5:4 ratio.

Am I missing something...should I be able to hit 3 GHZ plus???

Any help would be great.

[Blunt]

my ram is generic ddr 400

this may be your problem
what are your ram timings?

[bershatsky]

using cpu-z

they are

frequency 192.1

fsb:dram 5:4

Cas# Latency 3

ras to cas 4

ras precharge 4

cycle time 8

I don't know what these mean or what to change them to.

[batboy]

First, at 240 FSB using the 5:4 ratio, your RAM is running at DDR384, not 320 like you stated in your first post. It's correct in the last post (mulitplier the frequency X2 to get DDR speed). Second, the RAM timings you posted are already fairly relaxed. The lower the numbers, the more aggressive the timing (faster, but can be less stable). I'd leave the timing where it's at since this is generic, I would not try to lower the numbers.

Using dual channel memory is harder to run the RAM at higher speeds. I'm guessing your generic RAM is reaching it's limit using the 5:4 ratio. Drop down to the 3:2 ratio and see what happens. Before you try doing anything more, make sure your PCI/AGP bus is "fixed" or "locked" to default speeds.

[bershatsky]

This morning I changed my ram timings to 2.5, 3, 3, 8

I don't know what any of those mean, however it is faster at 250. I will try to push it farther later (also I will do as you advise).

Should I mess any more with my ram timings???

[batboy]

Ok, I'm confused. I thought you couldn't go above 240 FSB? Now you're saying you are at 250 FSB? If so, then using the 5:4 mem ratio, you should be at DDR400, which is probably getting close to the limit for your RAM. You lowered the RAM timings a little, which means the memory is a little faster and probably benchmarks a little better, but more aggressive timings might cause stability problems. I usually try testing out what the system will do first before I mess with RAM timings. Memory timings are sort of like fine tuning.

[substratus]

I should tell you that it is probably not one definitive thing stopping you, but a number of things.

If all else fails, it would be worth a try to disable hyperthreading. There's a chance it will really help. But, there is a chance it won't. I would consider it a last resort measure as hyperthreading does make a difference; unfortunately, I had to disable my HT in order to break the 3200mhz barrier on my 2.4c. If overclocking is very important to you and you want to get you max overclock possible at all costs, then try disabling it and see what happens. I'm like that, so that's what I did.

How's your cooling looking? Might want to look into that. Give us some details on your heatsink and fan and what sort of thermal compound you're using. If it's stock you will definitely want to change some of these things. :)

Also, the northbridge cooling on those asus boards is none too special. Have you looked into better northbridge cooling? Thermaltake makes something called the "tiger" that helped me a lot.

[(HR)Titan]

like BatBoy said "aggressive timings might cause stability problems"
so try with default mem speeds

[althes]

Yea try the default speed, and more volts.