overclocking 965 take two

so i tried overclocking my processor once before, but since then ive learned alot and before i couldnt get it to boot bassed 3.8ghz... i got it to boot at a hairs breath below 4ghz! but 3 seconds after i started a stress test is crashed...

just wondering if there is any adjusments i can make in the bios to get it stable? here is the CPUZ screen shot...

Try lowering the HT Link down a bump or two. What is the CPU-NB voltage? What is the NB voltage? What is the NB frequency?

HT Link speed can cause instability when it gets too high.

Hey Sean, I been working on the same thing...heat is my main issue as I'm on air and my Phenom seems to like 1.5v for 4ghz. Anyways, I have been testing my motherboard and overclocks looking into performance and such...like what combinations get me the best performance regardless of clock speeds. Don't know if this will help you, but I figured I'd share the information.

I'm running 8gb of RAM just so you know. My BIOSTAR needs a BIOS update in regards to memory performance...can't really get anything above 1600mhz, but I can keep my 1333 timings at 1500mhz, that seems to work pretty well. I'm also surprised how much more performance I get out of FSB overclocking as opposed to simply BE multiplier overclocking.

It's not complete, but simply a spread sheet of things I have tried.

Try lowering the Htlink. I run mine at 1800mhz just to keep stability in check and you don't need it higher unless you have a lot of pci-e saturation (Tri-sli/Quad x-fire).

It would also be helpful to know what type of crash happened during the stress test and which test was used.

Another really helpful tip would be to post screen shots of all the relevant tabs in Cpu-z.

[threadjack]

xokeman said:

I'm also surprised how much more performance I get out of FSB overclocking as opposed to simply BE multiplier overclocking.

It's not complete, but simply a spread sheet of things I have tried.

Click to expand...

I'm not surprised at all. Higher RAM speeds than 1333 with the same timings should get you better performance and, as you've shown, slow and tight performs better (or at least as good as) fast and loose ...

[/threadjack]

QuietIce said:

[threadjack]

I'm not surprised at all. Higher RAM speeds than 1333 with the same timings should get you better performance and, as you've shown, slow and tight performs better (or at least as good as) fast and loose ...

[/threadjack]

Click to expand...

Agreed, I guess I'm just surprised at how much difference it makes. I mentioned in another post, this is my first time off a real FSB forever. It makes perfect sense with the RAM timings and what not, just surprised how say 3600 via multiplier and 3600 via "fsb" are so different. Or do attribute that all to the RAM speeds?

/threadjack, lol

It's all RAM timings/speed and cpuNB speed. If you use a 240 MHz clock with 15X CPU, 10X cpuNB, and 1333 RAM speed it should be the same as a 200 MHz clock with 18X, 12X, and 1600 as long as the timings are the same.


PS
... and 8X / 10X for the HT Link - not quite the same but close ...

QuietIce said:

It's all RAM and cpuNB speed. 240x15 = 200x18 as far as the the cores are concerned ...

Click to expand...

So, for the sake of simplicity...the cpu/nb speed increase is kin to old school fsb increase...ie cores doing the same, but bandwidth increased right?

Right - but don't forget the L3 is also on the cpuNB, which includes inter-core communications.


Anymore I think of the cpuNB as the old NB (plus the L3!), the NB chipset as super AGP (whether it's on-board or not it's still the tie-in point for video and that's about all it does now), and the SB is still the SB like it's always been ...

QuietIce said:

Right - but don't forget the L3 is also on the cpuNB, which includes inter-core communications.


Anymore I think of the cpuNB as the old NB (plus the L3!), the NB chipset as super AGP (whether it's on-board or not it's still the tie-in point for video and that's about all it does now), and the SB is still the SB like it's always been ...

Click to expand...

I appreciate you learning me! This lack of FSB makes me feel all warm and noobish inside, it's fun.

/Threadjack

I'm still beating on mine, I have accepted that 4ghz is out of my range without better cooling or turning my Enzotech into a vacuum. I'm ok with that, I'm crashing out somewhere around 3.85-3.925 range on stock volts. Problem with this BIOSTAR is I can't lock the RAM into any set spot...not sure if this is a mobo thing (needing new BIOS) or if this is just how the AM3 platform rolls. With my stupid clocked Intels I could set a ratio for the RAM...hold it at 1 to 1 or something, but my RAM keeps dynamically heading up with my FSB...which in itself isn't the end of the world...but...it keeps whatever timings it had at the original speed. So, if I set my Ram at 1333 it's timings are 7-7-7-24 somthing....I can push it up to 1500 by FSB bus abuse, but it keeps those same timings instead of auto relaxing them. Every time I go into manually adjust them I crash on reboot regardless of what I change.

Thus far my two best runs in the 3800 mhz range look like this....

cpu@3825 (225x17) NB@2250 RAM@1500 7-7-7-24-33-2t

cpu@3800 (200x18) NB@2600 RAM@1600 9-9-9-29-40-2t

...the 3825 just barely edges out the 3800, but thats expected given it has 25 more hz. I'll keep playing, lol!

I would assume the much better nb speed of the 200x18 would best it, but I guess not. The tighter timings win in this case.

Sean W. where are you? You've been hijacked.