2300MHz @ 1.65V, then a brick wall..?

i dunno whats holding me back. right now im running 217 x 10. earlier i tested 217x11, and no matter which setting i try, it will get into windows, then BSOD. i tried 217 x 11 with both CPU interface enabled and disabled. ive tried all the way up to 1.85V, nothing. i just ordered up myself an SLK-900A today and i wanted to dip my foot in the water and see what my chip is capable of. i have a 300W PSU and the rails read as follows: 12V = 15a 5V = 30a 3.3V = 28a. everything you see in my sig is being run off of it. BIOS reports readings as follows, 12V = 11.92V, 5V = 5.05V, and 3.3V = 3.33V. think it could be my PSU holding me back? if so, is there any good PSUs out there that wont set me back a ton?

It sounds as if your cooling is holding you back. The SLK900A should fix that one. Although you can't trust motherboard voltage readings, your current PSU seems all right for the task at hand, although you may want to consider upgrading to a 350W Fortron. Don't let the wattage rating fool you; it'll take anything you could possibly throw at it.

any good fan recommendations for my SLK-900A? i have a 92mm sunon laying around. would that be sufficient?

FWhat brand is your PSU? I kind of doubt it's the PSU's fault though...the rails look fine.

It could be that those certain multipliers don't work. You could try dropping the fsb to 133 or something, and then raising your multi back up. Basically, it makes sure that the CPU isn't a limiting factor. If the multipliers work fine at that setting...hmm. I don't know. It's unusual for a CPU like yours to not see any improvement at higher voltages.

What are your temps like?

*Edit - didn't see the replies until after I posted...hadn't hit refresh in a while.

What are the CFM ratings on that fan?

well, the temps in the BIOS at 1.8V were reading 54C. im running 1.6V at 217 x 10 right now, and im getting 41C idle. those temps do look mighty high at that voltage, so i think Gautam may be correct in that my temps are getting a little up there and causing me to BSOD/restart.

would anybody else like to give me a hand here?

johan851, the fan is rated for 56cfm i believe.

Yeah, then it sounds like that fan would be just fine for the SLK-900A. I would agree that your temps are causing the 'brick wall' effect. Increasing the vCore produces drastic increases in temperature, so I'd guess that whenever you take your CPU above 1.6v-1.65v the chip is just getting to hot.

FYI - I have a watercooled setup. I get about 33C load at 1.5-1.6v, but once I move up into around 1.75, I get about 40C load temps. At 1.95v-2.0v I get as high as 48C.

I don't want to be obvious but have you ran memtest at 217 or 218fsb. In your sig it shows PC3200 ram so that is good for at least 200mhz. Maybe you should try higher vdimm or looser timings. Make sure it is memtest stable. I hope this helps. Just google memtest and you should get some results. Hope it works out for you.

yep, im memtest stable, i ran memtest a couple weeks ago. im memtest stable at 221FSB as well with the same timings,

Sir Barton said:

-snip-
...think it could be my PSU holding me back? if so, is there any good PSUs out there that wont set me back a ton?

Click to expand...

A good Power Supply is an investment, not only in the present problem, but also in the future. A good PSU will follow you from case to case, motherboard to motherboard, processor to processor, etc. Read: Long term investment. Good Power Supplies, with an eye towrards the future, will cost more, but the cost can be recovered over time since you won't have to keep buying more powerful ones in the future. I'm not sure what you would call a "Ton of money", so I'm not sure what to recommend to you. Antec power supplies deliver. Plain and Simple. So do PC Power and cooling. To a lesser degree, Fortrons are good also. If you look at the Antec True430, 480,or 550, there's only about $10 difference between each step. Given that a good power supply will last many years, the initial cost can be money well spent. You can have overclocking issues that are caused by a power supply that do not show up when reading the static voltages and certainly if those voltages are read by the onboard sensors. By providing your system with a known-good power supply, you remove that variable from the list of potential causes for a poor overclock. They are not the only factor in an overclock, not by a long shot, but they are a variable that throwing some money at, will often remove them from consideration. Every make and model of any product will have the occasional lemon, so be prepared for someone to quote you how their high-buck PSU was a POS. Than applies equally to a motherboard, CPU, whatever. Look to the group average opinion of this stuff, not the extreme examples, either positive or negative.

FWIW, a while back, I had an Antec 400W power supply that went belly up. After contacting them and entering into a dialog with a Customer Service person, I made them comfortable that I wasn't just some "snot-nose" trying to scam them out of a power supply and they sent me a new one, sight-unseen. I didn't even have to return the bad one. Now, that's worth paying for.

Hoot

One thing to do that can help test the quality of your PSU is to que up a bunch of tests (with Sandra burn-in or something) and use the MBM5 log feature during the test. That'll log all your voltages over the course of the test, so you can see if you fluctuate at all under different kinds of load. Just a thought, but definitely not a definitive test of power supply quality.

Its your chipset voltage. Im having the same problem. Up the NB volts and you should get more

I hit a wallt at 2338Mhz on my XP 2100, I too only have a 300w PSU, at 1.8v my 5v rail drops to 4.65v but the system is perfectly stable, BUT when I try 1.85 or 1.9 my 5v rail dips below 4.65 and I get a BSOD on loading windows and my vcore actually only gets about 1.84v. So I know where my limit is, perhaps its the same for you.

the only rail that takes a hit when i run 1.85V is my +12V, which runs at ~11.85 when im at that voltage. i have my VDD at 1.7V right now, on 217FSB so i dont think thats the problem. i ran at 221FSB on 1.7VDD as well.

Yeah, I doubt it's your chipset voltage. I'm fine at 216fsb w/ 1.6v...IMO you don't need a lot of chipset voltage if you have the right processor or do the L12 mod. The nForce2 Ultra400 doesn't seem to need much in the way of voltage - not nearly as much as the older nForce2 did. I'm reluctant to put more volts into anything when I don't have to.

I would again look to processor temps as the source of your problems...once some CPU's get above 50C or so they don't overclock well at all.

My 12v RAIL is the only thing that takes a hit as well...my 5v RAIL actually tends to overvolt a little.

yep mine overvolts a bit too, both 5V and 3.3V.....theyre reading 5.05V and 3.33V respectively.

Re: Re: 2300MHz @ 1.65V, then a brick wall..?

Hoot said:

A good Power Supply is an investment, not only in the present problem, but also in the future. A good PSU will follow you from case to case, motherboard to motherboard, processor to processor, etc. Read: Long term investment. Good Power Supplies, with an eye towrards the future, will cost more, but the cost can be recovered over time since you won't have to keep buying more powerful ones in the future. I'm not sure what you would call a "Ton of money", so I'm not sure what to recommend to you. Antec power supplies deliver. Plain and Simple. So do PC Power and cooling. To a lesser degree, Fortrons are good also. If you look at the Antec True430, 480,or 550, there's only about $10 difference between each step. Given that a good power supply will last many years, the initial cost can be money well spent. You can have overclocking issues that are caused by a power supply that do not show up when reading the static voltages and certainly if those voltages are read by the onboard sensors. By providing your system with a known-good power supply, you remove that variable from the list of potential causes for a poor overclock. They are not the only factor in an overclock, not by a long shot, but they are a variable that throwing some money at, will often remove them from consideration. Every make and model of any product will have the occasional lemon, so be prepared for someone to quote you how their high-buck PSU was a POS. Than applies equally to a motherboard, CPU, whatever. Look to the group average opinion of this stuff, not the extreme examples, either positive or negative.

FWIW, a while back, I had an Antec 400W power supply that went belly up. After contacting them and entering into a dialog with a Customer Service person, I made them comfortable that I wasn't just some "snot-nose" trying to scam them out of a power supply and they sent me a new one, sight-unseen. I didn't even have to return the bad one. Now, that's worth paying for.

Hoot

Click to expand...

This is very very true. The power supply is hugely important. You mention PC Power & Cooling - they truly are 'THE' power supply to own. The price is borderline insane though. The Antec 550 should be more than enough.