Overclocking my Barton 2800+ on an A7N8X2.0 Deluxe

As the title says, Barton 2800+, Asus A7N8X2.0 Deluxe

Ok, heres the deal. I decided i was going to do my first overclock. I went into the BIOS, and i changed the FSB to 200 from 166, and i changed the multiplier from 12.5 to 11. Thus going from 2.083Ghz, to 2.205. This is a relatively small overclock, right? So i was expecting it to go off without a hitch. So people tell me i should run a program called Prime95, i run the torture test on the "blend" setting, and it comes up with an error after only 30 minutes. So a day later after talking with some people, i up the vCore from the lowest setting up one setting to ~1.7v. So i run Prime95 again, and now i get an error after 11 minutes! It said that "rounding was 0.5, it was expected to be less than 0.4" or something like that.

So basically, i want to know what's going on! Why can't my computer handle this easy overclock?! Is 1.7v still too low for my vcore? Please help! Anyone!

Thanks!

Welcome to the Forums

are you sure you have an unlocked barton?

blend also tests memory. what memory do you have and what timings are set on the memory?

Welcome to the Forums!

When overclocking, it is best to go up in small intervals, it's not a good idea to jump right up to 200MHz from 166MHz. Also, I don't think the multiplier on regular desktop Bartons is unlocked downward, so you may still be at a 12.5 multi.

Another thing you need to look at is your temperatures, what kind of cooling are you using and what are your temperatures?

Thank you for your welcomes

Well, it's an alienware (don't bash me, i regret it ) The ram is pc-3200 corsair XMS at stock timings.

CPU-Z tells me that it's at 2.205 with 11x multiplier. So i'm guessing that the multi is unlocked. Also i realized i had my vcore set at 1.675 for this overclock, is that enough? I think the auto is 1.650.

As for temps, i haven't checked load yet, but idle is like 43 degrees C.

The main reason i wanted a 200 external clock was to have 1:1 timings with my RAM.

Thanks for the quick responses/help so far!

what are the memory timings set to?

if you are at a 10x multiplier, your FSB is at 220mhz. that is also probably pushing the memory to run at 220mhz. try giving your memory a bit more voltage than stock. 2.6-2.7v should be enough

Sorry, the multiplier was at 11, not 10... (200x11)

Should i up the DDR voltages to 2.7 anyways?

The memory timings are at the stock value. I think it's 2-3-2-5

You need 1.8 volts or more for major overclocking of old unlocked chips like yours as far as average chip go...

When you increase the voltage the temperature will go up, so you need a decent heatsink to take care of the temps...

I got it around December 2003, could it be that old?

Are you sure i should raise it to 1.8v?

Could you recomend a good motherboard monitor to watch the CPU temps under load while stress testing?

Thanks!

Motherboard Monitor will do fine.

i believe stock mem timings for AMD systems is 2.5-3-3-6

Doesn't the RAM designate the timings, not the CPU?

In CPU-Z it said my timings were 2-3-2-5


Question: Should i look at CPU socket temp, or CPU diode temp in motherboard monitor?

Ok, i upped the vcore to 1.75v and the DDR voltage to 2.7v the processor was at 200x11, and after about 20 min of Prime95, my Motherboard Monitor was beeping for overheading...

lol the CPU diode was at like 90 degrees C, and the CPU socket was at 64 or so.

I guess i need a new heatsink if i want to overclock.

What should i read? The Diode, or the Socket temp?

What temps can i expect after running Prim95 for 2 hrs?

Diode temp.

temps vary from system to system. Without knowing what case you have, ambient room temp, and # of fans/placement, you won't get an accurate estimate.

Ram timings are also dependent on the motherboard chipset.

Have a look at Corsair's site for XMS, making note of this particular line:

"2.5-3-3-6 latency on AMD platforms. "

http://www.corsairmemory.com/corsair/xms.html

Snowblind said:

lol the CPU diode was at like 90 degrees C, and the CPU socket was at 64 or so.

Click to expand...

Whoa! That could damage your chip. Take it down to default speeds until you get better cooling.