Need some help

Alright, so my system is finally able to run cool in every aspect, which was the problem last time I tried to run a high OC. I have a passive HS on my VRM's, a 40mm fan and copper HS on my NB, and a KingWin XT-1264 on my CPU. So everything runs nice and cool. I've been having some weird problems trying to OC though, and I was wondering if anyone could help me out. Here's a look at my current OC:


CPU-z Validate Link

CPU: 3413MHz (243.7 * 14) @ 1.375v
HTRef: 243.7MHZ
HT Link: 1950MHz (LDT voltage @ stock + 0.05v)
CPU-NB: 2194MHz (CPU-NB 7-shift @ stock; NB voltage @ stock + 0.05v)
RAM: 812MHz (3:5 divider) 4-4-4-12-20-2T @ 2.10v

These settings are Prime95 stable and my CPU idle is 28C and my CPU load is 39C. Now here's my 2 problems:

1.) While testing to see how high my HTRef would go, I was able to reach 260MHz rock solid without touching any voltages (of course I compensated everything else so they were not OCed), but no matter how much I tried, I could not even post past 260MHz even with applying CPU-NB voltage, LDT voltage, or NB voltage. I am guessing 260MHz is my limit, but I would think I could apply more CPU-NB voltage and get push it a little farther.

2.) My HTL speed seems to be acting strange too. I finally settled on working with a 260MHz HTRef, because this would give me the highest CPU-NB speed. While testing the HTRef, I kept the HTL multi at x1, so inorder to to get it close to the 2000MHz speed I was looking for I would have to bump the multi to x7 (1820MHz) or x8 (2080MHz), so I tried x7 first. I couldn't POST, finally I reset the CMOS and tried an x5 multi with again, no POST. I tried various voltage bumps with no avail. I finally decided to try an HTRef of 250MHz which also didn't like a HTL multi past x4... I then decided to see what the highest HTL speed I could achieve with a full multi starting with a 200MHz HTRef and working the HTRef up. I got to 248.3MHz HTRef and 2235MHz HTL without bumping any voltages. So I am not really sure what the problem is here. I figured if I pushed my HTRef to 260MHz and kept my HTL multi down so my HTL would stay around 2000MHz I'd be fine. This seems like some weird behavior to me.

So... I am not sure if those are normal problems or not, but I figured I'd ask. I am pretty sure the problem is my PSU. It isn't exactly stable at high voltages. When I try and push 1.55v vCore to get 3.7GHz, CPU-z would report 1.53v at idle, and then at load the voltage would go all over the place.

Would like to see the Memory and SPD tabs. Your post was lengthy and hard to follow. I'm not clear on why you are not overvolting the "CPUNB. What is CPU-NB 7 shift" all about?

The CPU-NB 7-shift is a way of adding voltage to the CPU-NB. I did try overvolting the CPU-NB, it just had no effect.

Your memory timings are too tight. Look at the JEDEC #3 column in the SPD tab. Those are the manufacturer suggested timings for your ram at DDR 400. You are running it at slightly faster than 400 with tighter timings. I would also back off on the ram voltage. 2.1 may be too high for ram that is rated at 1.8.

When you say manually raising the CPUNB "had no effect" do you mean it doesn't help with the overclock or that it doesn't actually change the voltage when you check it?

Are the OCZ Platinum rated to run at CL4? I saw that as well. You could try going to 5-5-5-15-20 and see if that makes any difference at all. You might be hitting the wall at 3.4. Don't know how high those chips will go.

Don't mind the timings. It's OCZ platinum 1066mhz (5-6-6-18 @ 2.1v) ram. I only tightened the timings after I couldn't OC anymore. While pushing my HTRef and everything else stated in the first post, I had them running with a 1:1 divider with 6-6-6-18 timings @ 1.9v.

And about the CPU-NB voltage, no matter what I raised it to, I was still unable to post at an anything higher than 260MHz HTRef.

Why does CPU-z say the ram is PC2-6400? Furthermore, you'd think if it was DDR2 1066 there would be another JEDEC column for DDR 533.

What did you set the baseline DDR2 speed at in the bios? I assume it would be 333 as your system bus speed (HT link) is 243.72 and yet your ram is only running at 406.

trents said:

Why does CPU-z say the ram is PC2-6400? Furthermore, you'd think if it was DDR2 1066 there would be another JEDEC column for DDR 533.

What did you set the baseline DDR2 speed at in the bios? I assume it would be 333 as your system bus speed (HT link) is 243.72 and yet your ram is only running at 406.

Click to expand...

Well I have no idea why it says it's PC2-6400, probably because there is no JEDEC entry for 1066MHz. Most 1066mHz ram I've used (like Crucial and G.Skill) don't have a 1066MHz JEDEC. It's probably because it was originally DDR2-800 DIMMs but the manufacturer determined they could be relabeled as DDR2-1066 and sold as such.

I said my ram divider was 3:5 (Bus:RAM), which would be DDR2-667 if my bus was 200MHz. And if I were to set my ram divider higher, to say DDR2-800, my ram would run at 975MHz with 5-5-5-15 timings, which isn't as good as 812 and 4-4-4-12.

Okay, I'm sure you have that all figured out but what I'm not clear on after reading and re-reading your post is what you are having a problem with, practically speaking. You have overclocked a Kuma to an unusually high level on air and you say it is stable. What exactly are you asking help with from the forum members?

Oh, I am sorry, I wasn't sure what I was being unclear about. My problem is that my HT Link speed and HTRef are being kind of weird. For instance, I am perfectly stable at 260MHz HTRef without changing any voltages and with the rest of my system underclocked so I can test only my max HTRef speed. But I can't even post at 261MHz no matter how much voltage I try and push, I just thought It was odd that it would all the sudden not go any further. My second problem is that I can't get my HT Link stable at 260MHz HTRef no matter what multi I tried to use for it. I know I can push my HT Link speed to around 2200MHz by keeping the multi at 9 and slowly pushing the HTRef up. However, I want to keep my HT link in the 1900-2000 range since any more isn't beneficial and at the same time have my HTRef at 260 or even 255. So you would think I could set the HTRef to 260 and then lower the HT Link multi to x7 so it's only running at 1820MHz, which is perfect. But I couldn't post at the setting no matter what voltages I tried with the CPU-NB or LDT. So my main question is, why is my HT link being weird, or is this normal? I think it's that my PSU isn't stable enough and doesn't have enough power on the +12v (26A and like 336watts).

So, you're: 1. puzzled over the HTref ceiling you're hitting and 2. you seem not to be so much interested in achieving a higher CPU speed so much as optimizing your overclocking parameters at a certain CPU speed. Am I understanding you correctly?

You could very well be having PSU issues, it's always hard to tell with those.

What board are you running ...?

trents said:

So, you're: 1. puzzled over the HTref ceiling you're hitting and 2. you seem not to be so much interested in achieving a higher CPU speed so much as optimizing your overclocking parameters at a certain CPU speed. Am I understanding you correctly?

Click to expand...

Yes to both of those. My CPU is 24/7 stable at 3.5GHz, so thats what I want to shoot for. But I know that having a high CPU-NB speed can also increase performance so I am trying to max that out as well.

QuietIce said:

You could very well be having PSU issues, it's always hard to tell with those.

What board are you running ...?

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JetWay XBLUE-N78VM, which has a nvidia 720a chipset. It's a super cheap board, but I just want to push it to the limit, and I am pretty sure I've hit that limit.

Yes, you may be pushing the power limits of the board instead of the PSU ...

I figured... oh well, I'd say I have a good OC going. I am debating over upgrading this system farther or building a new one

I would say you have a great OC going. Every time I pop into this thread I'm always surprised it's a Phenom instead of a Phenom II.

You'd think eventually I would remember but old age does odd things to people ...

Yeah... it makes me jealous with all these 4GHz chips going around. Oh well, I only paid about $180 for my CPU+RAM+Mobo =)