• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Need Help!! - Newbie with Northwood 1.8a and Th7II-Raid

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

alm

Registered
Joined
Feb 19, 2002
Location
USA
First Post... long time reader.
I hope I explain this correctly, as I'm soo frustrated now, I'm sure I'll leave something out.

I just got a new ABIT TH7II-RAID with 1.8a Processor.
I seem to be stuck @ 117FSB = 2.1Ghz. (1.6v)

I cannot for the life of me figure out why I can't go any higher.

If I try 133FSB even with 1.75v (Bios reports 1.7) it either freezes during booting WinXP, or I get errors during bootup. This is using the BETA 77 Bios.

Frustrated I bought an AVC Sunflower Fan, got it today, installed it with AS-II and still the same thing!
Temps @ 1.8Ghz or 2.1Ghz are 40c idle and 47c Full Load.
This was with either with the Retail Fan or SunFlower!
Something doesn't seem right.. can that be possible?????

I have tried ECC and NON-ECC RIMMS, both yield the same result.
117FSB is 100% stable @ 1.6v but if I try anything more even @ 1.75v it's unstable.

In the bios you can choose Auto, 400, or 300Mhz for RAM, what am I suppose to use?? Am I suppose to step down to 300Mhz for 133FSB, or can I run Auto? At 117FSB I use Auto and it's 100% stable. I've tried Auto, 400Mhz and 300Mhz and nothing works for 133FSB.

I'm lost now.. no idea what else to try, so that's why I'm asking here.. can anyone help me out??

What kills me is.. @ 117FSB everything is out of spec.
I'm not running the "FIX setting" for PCI and AGP ports so they are overclocked also... and the system is 100% stable, but if i try 133FSB the AGP and PCI are in spec and it's not stable at all even @ 1.75v.

Please help, I know there's a few people with this type of system here and maybe they can shed some light on this for me.
 
Hi alm, Welcome to posting in the Forums!

It sounds like you are doing things right. You may just have a CPU that won't do it. There are some out there like that :)

You don't mention your RIMM size or whether you are running 2 or 4 RIMMS. It's a fact that 2 128's are easier to overclock then 2 256's. 2 RIMMS are also easier then 4 RIMMS.

I had 4 256's in mine and I had to drop to 2 256's to get over 120 FSB.

Also, I'll move this post to the ABit boards section. Will probably get a better response there!
 
Thanks Skip,

Hopefully someone will help out.

I'm using (2) 256's and (2) 128's, but I will step down to (2) anything to get it stable over 117FSB.

Thanks
 
Let me see if I can help. First of all take a deep breath. Your frustration is contagious and I'm getting strung out just putting myself in your shoes.

Let's see. The first thing I'm noticing is that when you say you can get to 117 but not 133 there might be a problem here.
Did you try and jump from 117 to 133? I tried that and my computer locked up and I'm at 133fsb now. You just need to go slowly.

Also, I noticed you tried 300 mhz and 400 mhz with no luck but if you were bumping up your fsb by more than 2 or 3 at a time, these setting changes won't make much of a difference.
However, at 100fsb and the 400mhz mem setting your Ram will be running at spec. At 133 fsb and the 500mhz mem setting your Ram will be running at 533mhz(PC1066 RDRAM). At 133fsb and the 300mhz mem setting your Ram will be running spec again.
So I would deffinitely try leaving it at 400 till you get to 117 but then switch to the 300mhz setting.

Also, I'm using two sticks of Samsung 256MB ECC PC800 and they are working just fine at 533mhz. I guess I got two good sticks because I've also read that It's harder on the 256 than the 128s.
So try just using your 128MB sticks and see if that helps. Don't forget your C-Rimms though:)

Also, in the Power Management section in the Bios bring the Thermal Throttling down to the lowest (12.75% I think). This is one thing that was giving me problems because the default was set at around 67%.

Can't think of anything else right now.
Hope that helps though.

Arch5
 
Thanks for the help Arch5. I changed the Termal Throttling like you said.. and stepped up from 117 to 133 in 2 Mhz Increments and changed the Memory from Auto to 300 once I reached over 124FSB.

At 124 FSB, it posted to Bios, but it requires more than 1.6v to be stable just to get into the bios, and when running 124FSB I use the "FIX" option to get the PCI and AGP in spec. If I use 1.7v it seems to be stable, however the memory is now underclocked. I slowly strive to reach 133, and it actually reaches 133FSB. The bios posted and it got to the point where it was going to boot, but I got an error on startup. Then I tried 1.75v (actually about 1.68-1.69v) dunno why it's -.05v less than what I want, but @ 1.75v the temp starts to get really high. Idle I'm 48c. Eventually the system boots.. great.. yeah!! However after starting up Prime 95, after 5 mins.. the system get's an error. I think it's CPU heat related, but I can't be sure. The processor read 47c before I start Prime95. I shutdown MBM5 when I start Prime95, because I want to dedicate the CPU time to that process. I wish the AVC Sunflower would do a better job, plus it's got AS-II underneath, that should help, but it doesn't seem to be doing Jack!

Frustrated as $hit, I have decided to stick to 117FSB @ 1.6v (1.57v reported by bios) At 117, the memory is overclocked, the System bus (AGP and PCI) are overclocked (not running "FIX") and the system is 100% stable. Idle temps are 39c. I guess I can't complain.. I do get 2.1Ghz out of this 1.8a, however I would have liked to get over 133FSB, but it's a crap shoot.

I do have one more question.... Will changing Motherboards and Ram help?? I mean, If I was to try this chip on an i845D motherboard with PC2700 Ram, would that make a difference?? I'm not saying I'm going to rush out to buy a new MB and memory, but I'm wondering if I made a bad decision to go with the i850MB with RDRam, instead of DDR and i845D???

Thanks
 
Sounds like that CPU and mobo will run at 133 FSB, you just need a bit more voltage, BUT before you can raise voltage, you need better cooling (like the Swiftech MCX478 or water cooling). I have the best luck overclocking my TH7-II if I leave the PCI/AGP setting at "fixed". If you have the RAM BIOS setting at 300 (should be above 125 FSB anyway), then at 133 FSB the memory bus is actually running at the default 400 MHz. I have to feed my 2.0a Northwood 1.75v to be stable at 2.5 gig and 1.85v to be stable at 2.6 gig. At those high voltages, cooling gets extremely critical.
 
Try using some Arctic SilverIII, it should drop it a couple of degrees. Also maybe try the official BIOS with a voltage mod. How are your case fans? I have two 80mm's in the side and when I leave the side off temps are three degrees higher at idle, so the volume of air flow is important.
I'm using a 100k pot on pin7 mod to get a higher more stable voltage on my 1.6. My Temps are 40C@idle - 50C@full load, this is at 1.7v, 133FSB and mem set to 400 and fixed PCI/AGP. Setting your mem to 300 will exclude the memory from your problem.

So I'd say if you can squeeze a few more degrees of cooling out of your current setup, use bios38 w/volt mod, and set your mem to 300 you may get lucky and hit 133FSB.

Hey Arch, good point on the thermal throttling, I didn't even notice it before.:beer:
 
Ok.. I'll get some AS-III, shouldn't be too expensive, I'll wait for that and try for 133FSB again once that comes in. I do agree getting another cooler like the Swiftech is a great idea, but I just spent 45.00 to get this AVC Sunflower.

I'll post again when I get the AS3.

I have a Sparkle 300 Watt Power Supply.
I have 3 case fans in the front all sucking-in air to the inside of the case. 1 case fan sucking air out the back, as well as the PowerSupply Fan sucking air out the back also. The air is cool to warm, certainly not 100-110F that the CPU temp is reporting. The Case reports 78-82F. I think that's good air-flow, considering I'm using regular UDMA66 Cables, not the rounded type...
Do you think I should get that also????

Talk about spending $$ like it's water.

Thanks for the help guys.. this is a great forum.

Alm
 
Alm,
I'm glad you were able to get to 133, the fact that you were able to POST at that speed is good. Now if you just improve your cooling I don't think you will have any problems getting it stable.

Another thing you might look at, and I'm not sure what kind of case you have, but if you check the CFM ratings of your case fans you might find that you're putting a strain on your exhaust fan and PSU fan. If your intake fans are much larger than your exhaust fans I would consider taking one of them and making it an exhaust fan. That might help your CPU get a little cooler.

Also, it's OK if your PCI and AGP clocks are over 33/66 and although I can't remember the exact number, I think the PCI clock will still do fine up till around 47. Do some checking on that, but that's why you can change your PCI/AGP dividers from 2/3 to 2/4.

arch5
 
Arctic Silver III might be a little better than Arctic Silver II, but probably not much of a difference.

Arch, I think you mean that the PCI bus can handle 37 MHz ok, not 47 MHz. Not many (if any) PCI cards or harddrives can handle 47 MHz. I generally started having instability problems at around 40 MHz on most of my overclocked systems.
 
Back