board copping out @ 2200mhz???

this is probably going to sound really stupid... but my epox 8rga+ wont let me get over 2200mhz....

i know its not voltage... my psu's 5v and 12v are slightly over (5.08 and 12.16)
i know its not the cpu, it did 2400mhz in my 8rda+ and ran for months
i can set the cpu to any combination of multipliers are fsb combinations but ANYTHING over mid 2200mhz hard locks the board about 5 secs after windows boots

my vdd voltage is 1.8 at the moment... i have a 40mm fan on the northbridge and put as3 on it. the heatsink is cool to the touch.

im running @ 9.5x233 atm ram @ 75% (175mhz) ram will do 192mhz no sweat.

what would cause the board to not be able to go over a certain frequency???

Questions:

Are you using the onboard video or a sep. card.

Disable 8X agp and fast writes

Remove the 133/166 jumper completely

What is the cpu voltage, cooling setup and temps

Check out the MOSFETS, the northbridge may be cool but the mosfets will burn your finger off, try some small ramsinks with a little thin thermal tape, artic silver adhes is better but VERY tricky to apply in the small area of the MOSFETS.

1. using seperate vid (gf4 ti4200)

2. check and check on 8x and fast writes

3. didnt know the jumper was supposed to be off.. will do that

4. cpu voltage is 1.70v @ 2200mhz.. its stable... it does 2200mhz @ stock... so 1.70v to make sure its stable... mcx462+ with vantec tornado... 95*f load.. cpu is barton 2500+ (aqxea0321)

waiting on a reply to a post in "motherboards" as to mosfet heatsinks.

NB has as3 on it and a 40mm fan.

thx in advance

none of it helped.... still hard locking above 2250mhz

In order for me to reach 2400mhz on my rigs, they are all between 1.85 and 1.875 V for the CPU. All my chips are the HIGHER amperage DLT3C so I don't go past 1.875.

The law of diminishing return is clearly evident here.
1.7V stock all the way to 2200 is great, but from there on it will take alot of voltage just to make SMALL 50-75mhz steps.

Bartons normally can hit 2300 and if your lucky2400 on air, but it takes more than 1.7 to do it.

Which BIOS version do you have? For me 2/25/03 is the most stable.

the cpu was doing 2400mhz (12.5x192 @ 1.925v)
i have no problem doing this again.... but the board wont let me...

and my cooling can handle it (mcx462+ vantec 80mm tornado)
the cpu RARELY goes over 100*F load

i stopped using onboard sound and that let me hit 220fsb.. so thats good.
and i just updated the bios to the latest version.. cause it was doing it with the old bios also.... i dunno what the old one was
but im up for trying an older bios.

edit :: found that when i updated the bios it dumped the old one in my c:\ directory. it was the 2-25-03 bios.

I would reccomend Arctic Alumina thermal epoxy over the Arctic Silver, because the Alumina doesn't conduct electricity, and isn't capacitive. You will have no trouble applying either compound, because each comes with a little applicator stick.

ok, i figured some things out.

1. prime95 wont run AT ANY FREQUENCY it hard locks the comp no matter what speed & voltage
2. at any speed above 2200mhz, seti freezes the comp... this sucks cause thats the entire reason i overclock... SETI.. otherwise the comp runs decently...

any other suggestions?

FIGURED IT OUT!!!

the as3 on the cpu had dried up
i was scraping as3 out of the tube to get the last of it, when i switched boards...

got a new tube and put some on
fired it up and im doing prime95 as i type this.
on test 4 @96*F when it was 104 degrees before and it would crash on the first test


i cant believe it was something so stupid!

i feel like such a newbie!

thx all for your help!