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

Opteron 180 overclock?

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

geobronc1

New Member
Joined
Feb 22, 2008
I have an Opteron 180 overclocked to 2780. Load temps get as high as 55C, Idle as low as 26c. Am I safe? Anyway to get to 3ghz?

My System:

Asus a8n-E Motherboard (socket 939)
Patriot Memory Cas 2 4x512 (2gig)
Amd Opteron 180 Dual Core (2.4) at 2780
Bios Settings: 333 memory speed, HT= 4x, DRAM 2.5, 3, 3, 6, FBS 252 x 11, Vcore 1.425, DRAM Votage= 2.7

CPU cooling: Thermaltake V-1 running at high speed
Thermaltake PSU 500watt
ATI Radeon HD 3870 at 820 core and 2300 memory (1150x2)
 

Attachments

  • CPU.JPG
    CPU.JPG
    78.2 KB · Views: 4,938
Welcome to O/C Forums! :welcome:


Drop your HT Link to 3X. You have to keep your HT Link speed to1k or under otherwise you'll get unstable and it could corrupt the OS.

Another thing to be aware is running 4 sticks of ram will hinder performance/overclock as opposed to just 2 sticks. Be advised that 4 sticks of ram will force the command rate to 2T instead of 1T.

You might be able to squeeze 275 from the ram, thus giving you the 3.0Ghz (11x275=3025Mhz).

The HT Link @ 3X will keep you HT speed @ 825MHz, well under the 1K mark, thus possibly giving you the 3.0GHz Cpu speed ;)

The Asus A8N-E mobo isn't the best overclocking board, but it might let you get that 3.0Ghz, depending of course if the ram and the cpu will cooperate.

Good Luck
 
Welcome to O/C Forums! :welcome:


Drop your HT Link to 3X. You have to keep your HT Link speed to1k or under otherwise you'll get unstable and it could corrupt the OS.

Another thing to be aware is running 4 sticks of ram will hinder performance/overclock as opposed to just 2 sticks. Be advised that 4 sticks of ram will force the command rate to 2T instead of 1T.

You might be able to squeeze 275 from the ram, thus giving you the 3.0Ghz (11x275=3025Mhz).

The HT Link @ 3X will keep you HT speed @ 825MHz, well under the 1K mark, thus possibly giving you the 3.0GHz Cpu speed ;)

The Asus A8N-E mobo isn't the best overclocking board, but it might let you get that 3.0Ghz, depending of course if the ram and the cpu will cooperate.

Good Luck

Hi Nebulous,
hope you read this post as we are on April 15, 2011. Well sir, I need your help, but first I give you the specifications of my PC.
CPU: Opteron 180 dual core (Denmark), native 2.4GHz.
CPU Cooler: Zalman pure copper six pipes and fan.
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, northbridge chipset Nvidia nForce3 Ultra 250.
GPU: Sapphire HD 3850 AGP 512MB 256bits
RAM: 2x G.Skill 1GB(each) PC DDR 400 double channel (3200) 2.5-6-3-3-1T.
HDDs: 2x WD Raptor 10K RPM 74.3GB SATA
PSU: Enermax Liberty 620w 2rails +12v total 42Amp.
DVD: LG IDE Double Layer.
Case: Thermaltake Shark Full Tower pure aluminum
OS: WinXP Pro-SP3.
I want to overclocking this thing. May you help me?
Many thanks in advance.
 
To the OP: You already have a damn-nice overclock and you aren't likely to get much more out of it, depending on your CPU stepping. At 55C loaded you're already on the ragged edge for Socket 939 processors. And with a 4x512mb kit of RAM, you're limiting both your overclock and your RAM speed. You'd do better with either 2x512mb (least favorable) or jumping up to 2x1gb (most favorable). Doing either would allow you to run your RAM at 1T instead of 2T. It should also take a little bit of stress off of your processor's integrated memory controller running two sticks instead of four. It is my opinion that a socket 939 system is best-served by a 2x1gb kit of matched dual-channel RAM.

Beyond your RAM, you're really at your heat wall already. If it were my computer, I'd upgrade to a beefier heatsink. The 939 dualies were known for being nuclear reactors of heat, and the Zalman coolers just can't compete with other air coolers in today's level of technology.

If you bump your system up to a 2x1gb kit of nice DDR and also upgrade your cooling to a TRUE-120 modified for 939 or something similar, then you have a good chance of getting your overclock up to 2.8-3.0, depending you the stepping of your processor. Worst case, you just lowered your load temps by several degrees and you end up with some faster RAM. You might get a little more out of your processor and overall the system will be faster, but the big bonus here is the peace of mind of a cooler processor due to the better heatsink. Zalman just doesn't cut it anymore.
 
:welcome: to OCF!


Hi Nebulous,
hope you read this post as we are on April 15, 2011. Well sir, I need your help, but first I give you the specifications of my PC.
CPU: Opteron 180 dual core (Denmark), native 2.4GHz.
CPU Cooler: Zalman pure copper six pipes and fan.
Mobo: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum, northbridge chipset Nvidia nForce3 Ultra 250.
GPU: Sapphire HD 3850 AGP 512MB 256bits
RAM: 2x G.Skill 1GB(each) PC DDR 400 double channel (3200) 2.5-6-3-3-1T.
HDDs: 2x WD Raptor 10K RPM 74.3GB SATA
PSU: Enermax Liberty 620w 2rails +12v total 42Amp.
DVD: LG IDE Double Layer.
Case: Thermaltake Shark Full Tower pure aluminum
OS: WinXP Pro-SP3.
I want to overclocking this thing. May you help me?
Many thanks in advance.
This is how I started my first overclock so long ago and it's still one of the best guides I've seen. Take a read through it, run some of the tests, and post back with any questions or results you may have. :)

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=391768
 
:welcome: to OCF!


This is how I started my first overclock so long ago and it's still one of the best guides I've seen. Take a read through it, run some of the tests, and post back with any questions or results you may have. :)

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=391768

I appreciate a lot you reply. I know about all these programs you suggested me and even more useful programs. I don't pretend you be the panacea to my questions. So I think I must be more specific. Of course I already have tried to overclocking my PC, but until know I didn't get stable solutions. However SuperPi and Memtest 86 pass, I my Bios says me update success, but that's no true. Okay, I down from 200MHz to 166 MHz (I have also proved with 183MHz) and from 5x to 4x, so I up the bus until 234MHz say (234x4<1000Mhz, no problem!). 12x is the multiplier, so that I get 234x12=2808MHz (native 2400MHz); I have disabled all the recommended for my mobo i.e. Cool and Quiet, Speed Spectrum, Fast Write Cache, etc.; you know very well this. Further I put CPU voltage in 1.55v+8.3% (this is in red zone), GPU voltage in 1.60-1.65v ( I know doesn't help much, but anyway), RAM voltage in 2.75-2.80v (also in the red zone). Default timings: 2.5-6-3-3-1T (I never have proved with 2T, but I think that's not the problem). But with this parameters my PC hangs playing e.g. Crysis2 or Metro2033. However, if I put in default everything (of course, antialiasing and V-Sinc off) my PC runs like a champ. Paradoxical, don't you? But let me tell you 3 important things (maybe you know these one).
1.- My VC is Sapphire but HIS also released the HD 3850 AGP, so I went to HIS site and I was surprised about its driver (old version and no WHQL) is 183MB, whereas the official ATI driver is 50MB until now, all whql versions; I have no proved the last version 11.3, but I'm almost sure this driver will not work too. I always get a BSOD with these official whql drivers but with the HIS old driver 6.14 (2009) I have not any problem. And this fact is connected with
2.- I know nForce3 ultra 250 doesn't like ATI drivers (ATI2dvag.dll is the main one), so I suspect HIS solved the problem because the size of its driver but, honestly, I don't know.
3.- I also suspect that the main problem overclocking my PC is precisely the old chipset nForce3, a 2004 technology but, again, I'm not sure.
Now you have a wide knowledge about the issue, so I think you can have some good opinions at respect.
A warm greetings for you,
Pedro
 
I think the chipset is good but I don't know about video driver conflicts. With those systems I use nVidia cards, not ATi.

Your RAM and HT Link speeds look good. My Opty 180 would clock 2805 (255x11) @ 1.52 vCore but wouldn't pass a 3DMark05 test at that speed. However, it would run SETI 24/7 for weeks - so, in my experience, video stability was first thing to go.
 
I think the chipset is good but I don't know about video driver conflicts. With those systems I use nVidia cards, not ATi.

Your RAM and HT Link speeds look good. My Opty 180 would clock 2805 (255x11) @ 1.52 vCore but wouldn't pass a 3DMark05 test at that speed. However, it would run SETI 24/7 for weeks - so, in my experience, video stability was first thing to go.

Many thanks by your well aimed opinions. You're right about using Nvidia VC for the nForce3 Ultra chipset. In fact when I built my PC (end of 2004) I bought the Geforce 6800GT which possesses the same features as the ATI HD3850, but with 256MB memory instead of 512MB and, of course, a 2007 technology. Lamentably Nvidia was not interested in manufacturing more powerful AGP cards. By using Catalyst Control Center Ato-Tune and Test Custom Clocks I have overclocked my HD3850 from 669/829 (default) to 709/939 passing both tests and also nTune.
As far as our Opty 180 specifications, CPU voltage is 1.30-1.35v, but like you I always have used high voltages: 1.47-1.57v. I don't know if these high voltages are causing instability in my system.
Greetings,
Pedro
 
Many thanks by your well aimed opinions. You're right about using Nvidia VC for the nForce3 Ultra chipset. In fact when I built my PC (end of 2004) I bought the Geforce 6800GT which possesses the same features as the ATI HD3850, but with 256MB memory instead of 512MB and, of course, a 2007 technology. Lamentably Nvidia was not interested in manufacturing more powerful AGP cards. By using Catalyst Control Center Ato-Tune and Test Custom Clocks I have overclocked my HD3850 from 669/829 (default) to 709/939 passing both tests and also nTune.
As far as our Opty 180 specifications, CPU voltage is 1.30-1.35v, but like you I always have used high voltages: 1.47-1.57v. I don't know if these high voltages are causing instability in my system.
Greetings,
Pedro

NONSENSE! 7800/7900 GS and the 7950 GT AGP are all still available new and tweaked right a 7900 GS or 7950 GT AGP will stomp the proverbial mud hole in the 3850 and most definitely overclock higher themselves. That 3850 is almost certainly holding you back. I have A LOT of experience benching AGP cards and nForce2/3/4 boards and ATI cards WILL hamper your reaching the potential that CPU/NB combo has. That and the 4 sticks already mentioned.

IMHO the 3850 AGP is overrated and overpriced. I have a 7950 GT AGP that eats them for light snacks.
 
Back