At wits end! amd 1200mhz wont go past 1333mhz.

[pmoores]

First ill mention i got a cak38 and temperatures do not exceed 50c even in the worse case scenario. Im stable at 10x133mhz in all apps but any attempt to exceed it making instabality.

a. tried 10x 140/36 and get reboots within a few mins of running 3d rendering apps at 100% usage.

b. k, maybe its the ram, did 10x1.333 and upped the bus speed only by 7mhz to get 1.404 and still failed to stay stable.

c. tried 10.5x 133 at up to 1.85v and system reboots withing 2 or 3 mins of running a high end rendering app

d. tried even higher and my old matrox marvel g200 wont even show a post, have to swap in a old ati rage3d, enter the bios and change settings then swap cards out. (keeping rage in causes win2000 to bluescreen if you let it keep booting)

I found here that people saying a random reboot is a sign of a inadequate power supply. I went out and bought a 650w Enermax but all the above problems appear as if i never swapped PS.

Just wondering what else i should try. Im considering watercooling but i dont think at this point its my heat.

One error i was getting is: ***********IRQL_not_less_or_equal ******* beginning dump of physical memory followed by lockup.

amd 1200
k7a-raid (disabled)
usb and coms disabled
512 megs generic? pc133 ram
Intel pci 100 meg nic card
g200 matrox marvel
sblive value
1 pci modem
1 isa modem

Take into account that at up to 1.333ghz im fully stable, not even a problem with the sblive card that many have.

Before i go blow money on a dangerden watercooler/peltier solution i need to find out why its failing at this point.

Could it be that i need to up the voltage past 1.85v??? If so then the watercooling and motherboard mod might solve the issues.

Any help appreciated.

[Ferg]

i would say up your VIO a bit and see what that does and did you add thermal paste when you attached your hsf. If you used thermal paste on that hsf and it is attachted properly then there is no reason that you should have any heat problems.

[pmoores]

yep arctic silver, heat isnt the issue since i dont get past 50 or so celsius, voltage ive maxed to 1.85v to no effect. actually that not true, at 1.75v it tends not to boot into win2k. but 1.775 up and no prob on that side.... ive considered the motherboard mod to get more voltage but then id have to spend the money on a watercooler. This was my plan but id like to find out its something totally unrelated before blowing the money and having the same reboots even at a higher voltage.

[Incarnated666]

I have 2 case fans and 1.5ghz cooling fan and arctic silver and I never get above 40 or so even @ 1.9v

[Hoot]

My 1.0G/266 AXIA will go up to 1524 (10.5x145) and 1500 (10x150) rock solid, but it will not run faster than 10x133 when I allow the CPU to run at 50C. Small wonder yours won't either. I don't care what other people tell you. There are more important temperatures than just the "drop-dead" temp for an AMD Tbird. They have performance threshold temperatures. By that, I mean a temperature where once your CPU passes it, it will not run stable for a given Vcore, Multiplier and FSB speed and you have to slow it down. Here are some of my personal thresholds for my 1.0G/266 AXIA:

32C Above this I can not run 10.5x150 (1575) stable.
35C Above this, I can not run 10.5x145 (1524) stable.
40CAbove this, I can not run 10x150 (1500) stable.
43C Above this, I can not run 10.5x140 (1470) stable.
45C Above this, I can not run 10x145 (1450) stable.
50C Above this, I can not run 10x140 (1400) stable.

By Stable, I mean capable of running Prime95 Torture, error free, until the CPU temperature stops rising and then running 3D Mark 2001, error free, until the CPU temperature stops rising.

Do consider getting that CPU temp. a little lower.

Hoot

[pmoores]

Maybe ill go ahead and give the watercool/peltier option a try then. My concern is that at 1200 i was stable at 70c, yes, 70c with the stock hsf. That was the main reason i did some research and got the cak38. Since then ive got caught up in the overclock thing and want more.

My theory (uneducated) was that if it ran at spec speed at 70c, then even 60c max overclocked should be stable. Obviously i was wrong, on monday ill contact dangerden.

[Hoot]

Hold on now. You can improve upon your CPU temperature quite a bit yet, without resorting to water cooling. Not that there is anything wronfg with water cooling, other than the cost.
Our own Joe Citarella tested the CAK-38 and reported it is capable of .25c/w performance. If your CPU is running at 10x140 @ 1.85V, that is 81W. At .25c/w, your CPU temperature will run 20C higher than the air cooling it. So, if it is running at 50C, then the air inside your case, being sucked into the HSF, must be 30C or 86F. A properly ventilated case will run somewhere around 2-5C above room temp. Mine runs 2C above room. Lets say yours does also. That means your room is 28C or 82F. If you can get the room temp down, that will get your case temp down and consequently your CPU temp down. I have a lot of "Natural Insulation" ;D , So I like my computer room cool. I keep it at 20C or 68F, year round. Have you tried with your cover off? Did it result in a significant change in CPU temperature? BTW, I'm envious of your Enermax 650W PSU. A 400W would have sufficed, but more power to you. Lastly, temperature may not be your problem, but you owe it to yourself to put that issue to rest by lowering it and seeing if it helps.

Hoot

[krakerman]

it may also be possible to add or improve on the case cooling to help. i added a couple case fans and dropped the temp a few degrees w/o having to lower the room temp ;-)