NF7-S + Barton 2500+ [Newbie]

First, thanks to this group for all the help. I'm going to but together a new system next Friday (either newegg or Fry's). I still have a few questions:

1) The NF7-S v2.0 supports 400FSB, I plan to get PC3200 (400Mhz) ram. If I want to overlock above 400Mhz (eg. 11x220) then I need to overclock the ram to 440Mhz too right? Looking at the (online) manual for SoftMenu I don't see a place to set the ram freq. Does the ram just use the freq set for the MB?

2) Putting aside long term issue, short term, does raising the freq or multipler so high that the board fails to post hurt the CPU? I assume not but...

3) As long as the CPU temps stay < 50C I can raise the Vcore as much as I want?

4) If I want/need to raise the DDR voltage how can I tell it's temp (ie when/what is to much). [if at all possible I do not want to play with the memory until I learn more about overclocking]

Thanks in advance

The way you control the speed of your memory is by setting the ratio of the memory speed to the fsb. You pretty much want to run your memory in "sync" with your fsb (ie: 6:6 ratio). There is an option for this in the softmenu screen.

If you are doing gradual increases in speed and keeping an eye on your temps then there is not a whole lot of risk in getting so high you can't post

Shortterm you can raise your vcore pretty high if you have good temps. I will try and find a good post that lists the effects of high vcore long term on your cpu. vcore can be a double edged sword though. Raising vcore in itself will cause more heat which decreases stability. There will come a point when more vcore can hurt more than it helps. On air cooling you will reach that point pretty easily.

The NF7-S has vdimm options up to 2.9volts. Without a volt mod you can't really run your memory at an extremly dangerous voltage. If you have good case airflow you should be fine at 2.9. This can really be one of those touch it with your hands to measure its heat type of things

Ok here is the info I promised. This is a snippet of a real nice thread that you may want to read. This is on the last page I think:

hitechjb1 said:

Statistically, for the same level of temperature specification,
A 10% increase in Vcore, would shorten the failure time to 83% of nominal failure time.
A 20% increase in Vcore, would shorten the failure time to 69% of nominal failure time.
A 30% increase in Vcore, would shorten the failure time to 59% of nominal failure time.
A 50% increase in Vcore, would shorten the failure time to 44% of nominal failure time.

So a 30% increase of Vcore reduces the 50% sample failure time to 59%. 30% over stock voltage for Tbred B/Barton are
- 1.95 V for DLT3C, such as the famous Tbred B 1700+/1800+
- 2.08 V for DUT3C, such as the popular 2100+
- 2.15 V for DKT3C, such as the Barton 2500+ or higher.

E.g. If the nominal CPU life expectancy is 10 years, for Tbred B DLT3C
- 30% overvolt to 1.95 V, the number would be down to about 6 years (59%).
- 20% overvolt to 1.80 V, the number would be down to about 7 years (69%).
- 10% overvolt to 1.65 V, the number would be down to about 8.3 years (83%).

They seem to fit nicely w/ the AMD absolute rating 2.05, 2.15 and 2.20 V on Vcore for the DLT3C, DUT3C and DKT3C respectively. Max Vcore for Tbred B and Barton (page 5)

Click to expand...

Here is the whole thread:
http://forum.oc-forums.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=187887&perpage=50&pagenumber=1

1) when u up the fsb it ups the mem speeds aswell

2)no it doesnt hitting 200+ fsb u will have to up the chipset voltage

3)well no u cant u can up to 1.95V on good air cooling but i personaly wouldnt go past 1.9V with good watercooling u could do 2.1V

4) dont worry about the temp off the mem its ok unless your putting 3.1+V through it 24/7 and the NF7 only let up to 2.9V so its ok

hope this has helped u

1) Yes, its the same as the motherboard frequency unless you use multipliers, if you do that it explains it in the manual.
2) Um... If you do it too much it might but I have never heard of it killing a CPU/motherboard/memory, however usualy you do have to cleaer the CMOS and if it posts but doesn't load windows correctly and crashes you could get HDD corruption.
3) I don't know about as much as you want but as much as the motherboard supports is probably ok, however when you start getting around 1.9v you should be careful (esp with T-Breds and Bartons which I think use 1. defual vcore -Palmilos use 1.75 I think wich is a little higher)
4) You can't without putting a sensor on there. Corsair's warrentee goes up to 2.8 though and 2.9 is where most people draw the line. However some have brought it up to 3.2 w/o problems.

I would suggest Buffalo PC3700 memory, it is cheap and the stuff that newegg has right now is Winbond B chips (as opposed to C, B is the most baddest assed).
http://www.buffalotech.com/memory/prod-ddrdimm.html
has the part numbers and chip types.

Thanks guys. I saw the FSB/DDR ratio option but didn't put it all together (sorry newbie).

Deathknight - thanks for the ref. This will be an air cooled system. So if I keep the temp < 50 and Vcore < 1.90, it doesn't really hurt the long term survival of the CPU as 4 yrs is about as long as I expect to keep the thing anyway.

CrashOveride - I'll check out the memory you recommended. I'm still reading up on cas x-x-x 1T/2T thing But this looks like some nice ram for $99 PC3700 512MB.

Given the recommendation/price I'll order everything from newegg on Friday (payday):

Abit NF7-S rev 2.0
AMD Barton 2500+
2x Buffalo 512MB PC3700 DDR (Winbond Module)

This will be my first overclocking experiment but I think I've got it all down now. Assembly the system (stock), repair winXP, install MBM5:

1) Set 8x200 raise FSB until no post
2) Raise multipler until no post (and/or BSoD)
3) Raise Vcore (if needed, since air cooled < 1.85 or temp < 50)
4) Run prime95 overnight to confirm stable (monitor temps)

Sound good? Btw does prime95 give an error if something is unstable or just lockup/crash. I assume that if it crashes/winXP restarts I can take the fact that it's no longer running that the system is unstable

THANKS IN ADVANCE, and wish me luck

Prime 95 should not crash. you will get some kind of error message that says something like hardware failure due to rounding error.

1 thing about the method you just described there. Just because you post means nothing really. Its not that hard to post into windows at a speed and fail prime95 in 10 seconds. I would not worry too much about testing prime95 at low speeds but you are going to want to run p95 alot when you start getting into those upper speeds. There is going to be quite a bit of tweaking retesting etc etc. Once you get to where you are not stable you are going to need to take a step back, rerun prime95 wash rinse repeat.

Got it, thanks Deathknight (you also answer another question I had in the cooling forum). Before I get into the super tweaking I've set a short term goal of 11x200 @ 1.65 (lots of people seem to have no trouble running this with the above setup). Once that's stable I'll spend the how ever long is necessary to squeeze out the last bit of speed.

First time out, but if the system reaches 2500 I'll call it quits (reading the CPU database that's a long shot without watercooling, so 2400 might be more reasonable, esp since I don't have a super cool case). 1 front fan 1 rear fan.

Doesn't hurt to try though

One tip for ya. You may already have been told this but just in case. If you oc a bit too much and you cannot get back into bios to reset your changes hold down insert while the machine is booting. This should set your mult and fsb back to default in order to get you in to bios so you can undo whatever you did. If that doesn't get you in then you will need to clear cmos. The motherboard manual shows the location of the clear cmos jumper. You basically need to set it to the clear position briefly (with the PSU unplugged) then set it back.

Goog to know. I was going to buy a Barton 3000+ but this forum convienced me that would be a waste. Plus I should really learn more about how my PC works (been away to long).

vejita-sama said:

Goog to know. I was going to buy a Barton 3000+ but this forum convienced me that would be a waste. Plus I should really learn more about how my PC works (been away to long).

Click to expand...

The front page (though I don't know that we can still consider it that) has omse good articles about that (www.overclockers.com)