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overclocking help

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jesse

Member
Joined
Jun 5, 2005
OK I'm new to this forum and new to overclocking. I just built a new setup and am wondering about a few things. I have an 939 Winchester (CBBFD 0434), Asus A8N-E mobo, and 2x 256 corsair xms 3200C2PT ram.
I'm trying to overclock but I can only get my cpu up to 2.43ghz with it being stable, and to do that, I had to take the ram down to ddr266.
I'm also wondering about my ram timings and FSB:RAM ratio.
Here's some screenshots of cpu-z:
cpuz1.JPG

cpuz2.JPG

Do you guys have any suggestions for a better overclock? Could it be the cpu model or ram?
Thanks :)
 
First off, WELCOME TO THE FORUMS DUDE! :)

Now, down to 'business' :)


Depending on your cooling, your processor overclock is far from shabby - ~2400 MHz with aircooling (I'm assuming you are using aircooling) is a respectable achievement. Lets forget about the processor overclock for now, it looks like your chip maxes out at ~2400 MHz, when given the amount of voltage that you're comfortable giving it (~1.55V from your screenshot). That's reasonable.

Your RAM however, is rated at DDR400, and it should run at 200 MHz easily with no VDIMM overvolt and the stock timings that it's rated for. You currently have your memory on a 'divider' to the processor's HTT speed - your HTT is set to 270 MHz, and the 'divider' puts your memory to 173 MHz.

One of the secrets to overclocking, especially with these complex and multi-part A64s (There's loads of stuff to play with :)), is to divide and conquer. Drop your HTT speed to 200 MHz, drop your processor multiplier to 8X, drop your LDT multiplier to 2X, change the FSB/HTT 'divider' (or 'ratio') to 1/1, and start pushing your memory independantly of the processor. Since we know that your processor can handle 2400 MHz, any processor clockspeed below that is "safe" for memory-specific overclock limit testing.

By keeping the processor at a slower and "known stable" speed, we remove the processor as a source of error, allowing you to push your memory by itself, and see how far it will go. Raise the memory 'FSB' in 5 MHz increments using stock timings, stability testing as you go. When your memory loses stability, add a 0.1V VDIMM overvolt and continue to increase in 5 MHz increments. Stop at 2.8V of VDIMM, and see where that leaves you for a stable memory overclock. Later on, you can come back to this, overvolt more if you want to, and play with timings a little bit. For now, sticking to stock timings and a small overvolt is a good idea for simplicity's sake.


Now that you have your memory's "peak" clockspeed for 2.8V, put it together with your processor's "peak" clockspeed of ~2400 MHz. Close to where we left off, 270x9, is a good place to start on your processor overclock - although this time change the memory divider so that your memory is running closer to it's limit.

For example: A 5/6 divider, with your HTT set to 270 MHz, would get 225 MHz out of your memory (5/6 is a ratio of 1.2, so an HTT of 270/1.2=225 MHz).



I don't know what type of memory chips your RAM uses, although knowing this information will give you a rough idea of how they'll behave with more voltage and with different timings.

What are the version numbers, and the stock memory timings on your Corsair sticks?

XMS-PC3200C2 Rev1.0 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Winbond CH-5
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev1.1/2.1 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Winbond BH-6
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev1.2/2.2 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Winbond CH-6
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev3.1 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Infineon B-5
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev4.1 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Samsung TCCD
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev4.2 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Samsung TCCD & TCC5
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev5.1/6.1 (2-3-3-6-1T) --chip--> Mosel Vitelic 5ns
XMS-PC3200C2 Rev1.5 (2-2-2-5-1T) --chip--> Winbond New BH-5 ~ Brainpower PCB

With your memory's revision number and stock timings, you'll find your chip type on this list. I hope all that helps you break the "memory-overclock ice" a little bit :).
 
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Thanks! But I still am a little confused. How do I:
Change the FSB/HTT 'divider' (or 'ratio') to 1/1?
Raise the memory 'FSB' in 5 MHz increments?
Is there a program to do this in? I do not see these settings in my bios.
Oh, and for the ram, I have two DIFFERENT chips: a 1.2 and a 4.1. Is this a problem?
 
in your bios the ram divider is likely to say (200, 166, 133) set it to 200 that is 1:1, meaning that if your fsb is 200mhz then your ram is 200mhz.

The fsb/HTT is a multiplier not a divider its 5x, 4x, 3x, and 2x, set it to 3x that way you HTT never gets above 1000mhz.

where it says FSB or HTT and has the number 200 in it is where you raise the FSB by 5mhz at a time, once you have the other things set then you adjust this.

Yes it could cause issues with the different revision numbers TCCD likes high fsb with low voltage, CH-6 likes high voltage with lower fsb. This will likely be the limiting factor in your overclock.
 
in your bios the ram divider is likely to say (200, 166, 133) set it to 200 that is 1:1, meaning that if your fsb is 200mhz then your ram is 200mhz.

The fsb/HTT is a multiplier not a divider its 5x, 4x, 3x, and 2x, set it to 3x that way you HTT never gets above 1000mhz.

Whoops, by "FSB/HTT" I was referring to the memory divider (for example: "5/6", or "166 MHz"), by "LDT multiplier" I was referring to the "HTT multiplier".


It's unfortunate that your Corsair memory uses different chips, TCCD and CH-6 are quite different as infinitevalence said :-/.

Did you buy the sticks together, or seperately? It's worth a shot to take them back to the store, explain the situation, and ask them if they'll let you swap one of the sticks for a small fee. Some stores will let you do that if you explain that you are in need of two sticks using the same memory chips. If you bought the sticks together as a set they should be identical, and a return might be in order.

It's a long shot, but if you can't swap in one of the sticks, I would even go so far as to just find and buy yourself another 256 meg stick of the "4.1" memory, for a matched set. A set of TCCD would be perfect for your purposes.

At ~2.8-2.9V of VDIMM you should still be able to get around 220 MHz or so out of your memory using 2.5-3-3-7 timings. With your current processor overclock, if your sticks can make it to 225 MHz with stability, you're all set, and can run them on the '5/6' or '166MHz' memory divider along with your current processor overclock.
 
Thanks for the help guys.
I bought them separately, so I guess I'll do some negotiating with Corsair.
Also, I was thinking of upgrading ram soon anyways.
Is it better to have 2 x 1GB or 4 x 512? The 512 sticks I'm thinking about are faster, but what are the downsides of running 4 sticks instead of 2? Are there any compatibility issues about the Winchester and 4 sticks of ram?
I was thinking either http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146971
(2 x 1 GB)
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227208
(2 x 512)
What do you think?
 
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