Biostar N68SA OC Athlon ii x4 640

[thekio1984]

hi all, any advice for a 1st time CPU OCer.. ive managed to oc via bios & have it running stable (prime95(max heat test) hits 38c , yet cpuz stress test hits 47c, or so says hwmonitor) But i say stable when really it should be stable-ish...every few reboots/shutdown-restarts, i get the `bad checksum error`any ideas why? i can re-enter the exact same settings again & it reboots perfectly...


if i change cpu volt back down, OC doesnt work, i can adjust everything else there (Chipset,HT) in the amd OC config, is`P-States` which is off, as when on,again OC doesnt work, havent adjusted DRAM/mem timings, as when i do, the OC doesnt work... tbh im not fussed about pushing it harder, just annoying having to reconfigure bios every other time i reboot..although so far under settings in pic, ive restarted a few times & seems bios is playing ball..maybe ..so fingers crossed &/or if ive gone wrong/destroying something important..any suggestions/help would be awesomes


Heres what ive got so far:


on a Biostar N68SA mobo.

 

[Johan45]

What is the ram that you have. 2x2Gb? Are they the same? Could we see CPU-z SPD tabs for all sticks?

 

[thekio1984]

there 2x 2gb both same brand/model/type (pic below...although appear to be running different timings)(all set on auto)...would that affect it?? as said im a n00b lol, i read on another forum to lower the ram speed then gradually increase the cpu freq by +5mhz at a time, which didnt work, however upon changing cpu volt to +3.3 it booted fine... a couple times..when i hit about 217 it returned cmos error, so i up`d the mem volts by +0.05, it booted, restarted again, booted fine, then i up`d it to its current 221,no boot, so mem volts went up to +0.10, where it was fine, but a lil warm @ like 65c-70c so.. i read that the lower volts reduce the heat, so i decided to try the lower that its on..& thats where im at.. havent rebooted since tbh.. I managed to get it to 3.68ghz (cpu @ 235 i think, but on stress test it got real warm, in fact hit the auto shutdwn temp of 70c (rather safer than sorry), but then ive only got air to cool with, cpu fan, case fan & 2sys fams sucking the air out..

 

[Johan45]

I assume when you say CPU fan it's the stock cooler for the CPU?. If so then you won't go too far. I would keep working the way you are and try to reduce the CPU core voltage as mauch as you can and still remain stable.

 

[thekio1984]

yh its the stock cooler, the cpu volts only has 2options, default or +3.3%?!? it doesnt boot past bios with default tbh im happy enough with a small OC as with just air, i knew i wernt guna get an awful lot, but these checksum errors are annoying..would that be the cpu volts being to high, or is it just guna be trial & error to find the balance??

 

[thekio1984]

ok i think maybe ive gone about it a lil wrong maybe..idk...but i rebooted n got cmos error again, so i went with ur advice & put cpu volts back to default, changed the mem volt from -0.05 to +0.05, only other thing i did was raise the cpu freq to 227,now cpu @3.4ghz...which if my research was right, is pretty much the ott max i can "safely" go on air...so am i right in thinking that OCing this is just down to the cpu freq & the mem volts?? is it really that simple?? ive been reading about manual ram timings, latency,cas, northbridge..etc,blah,etc lol yet on my rig it seems way easy, just boot-unstable..for me...

Edit: forgot to mention that these change:
HT Link: >1135.79 NB Freq: >1817.3mhz - DRAM Freq: >757.1mhz
also temps so far only differ 3c-5c higher...

Edit Number 2: Thats at full load for near 30mins so far, firefox, 3 instances of cpuz & cpuz running its stress test...Again am a n00b so apologies for all this info bombardment, but i joined for a reason....to overclock baby..but in a safer kinda way wish cpus were/seem as easy as a graphic card OC lol

 

[Blaylock]

to the forums Thekio! No need to apologize for asking questions. That's why we are here.

Something to remember is that when you OC with the CPU Frequency you are also OCing the memory, HT Link, and NB Frequency. It's all tied to the CPU Freq (a.k.a. FSB). So as of right now your CPU is OC'd to 3.4G, the Ram is up to 757 from 666, and so is the HT & NB. It's actually a pretty decent OC at stock voltage on a stock cooler.

 

[trents]

To get it completely stable you would need to increase the CPU vcore more than +3.3% but it sounds like you don't have that option. I note that you are under volting the RAM (-0.05) and that could be causing the instability. I would be overvolting the RAM since you are running it beyond it's rated max frequency.

 

[thekio1984]

hi guys thanks for all the suggestions..yeah i cant up cpu volts more than 3.3% & tbh the actual OC seems stabe enough, temps stay as low as expected,ive got everything on default now except for the cpu freq.... its just the cmos checksum error that gets me, ive narrowed it down to only happening when i switch the mains off at the plug... ive shutdown but left the plug on, left it for 4-5hrs & rebooted fine, so i shutdown, turnt plug off, then on again & rebooted with cmos error again, even put a new battery in there just in case lol think its just guna remain 1 of them things with this board tbh Thanks guys advice appreciated

Edit: Mains plug switching, doesnt affect it...its like the mobo just doesnt like it.... theres an "amd overclock config" thing, but i can only lower values & everything ive tried, kills the clock speed, im talking like drops down to 0.5-2ghz :O but i think thats something to do with chip being locked/unlocked..?!? so as for this OC ive nearly given up...lol..... just glad i got another board with an i3, ive heard that the 2.8ghz can be OC`d to like 4ghz,but thats another adventure, another time

 

[cdawall]

You need more voltage this is just an AMD box cooler (the heatpipe one) on an equally cheap biostar board.

 

[knoober]

...every few reboots/shutdown-restarts, i get the `bad checksum error`any ideas why? i can re-enter the exact same settings again & it reboots perfectly...

This "bad checksum error" suggest to me that your bios is corrupted and may need to be reflashed. Im not certain on that though so dont do anything you arent ready to try (its easy and fairly painless, but dont be afraid to say if you want help with it because the wrong mistake can brick your board).

Dont forget to write down your settings because they will be lost in a reflash though. Check the voltage on the CMOS battery if you have a multimeter handy. A brand new on will read around 3.3V and if it has dropped below half that, it is time for a new one.

If the error persists through a reflash and a battery change then Im out of ideas

 

[thekio1984]

Your bios is very similar to mine, things in diff places, except for the overvoltage config..mine doesnt have that..at all lol...maybe a bios update might help?!? Tbh i think ive tried nearly every diff combo lol same results..

Total Happy Edit:
After manually decreasing the ram speed from 1666 to 1333 (was doing anyway)..& having these settings in bios.. (Lowered the NB FID & VID & +3.3`d cpu volt, up`d the HT voltage & lowered the mem volt by .10)..... Currently at: with reboots, shutdowns/restarts, mains plug on or off & everytime its booted fine, usually itll take 10+ secs when it "fails" before even getting an option to enter bios, now it seems to boot fine or has done for past 8-10 times...crazy AF IMO?!? but 3.4ghz, seems stable enough..@ idles 24c-28c with load highs of 55c-60c i did get it up to 3.68ghz-ish, but like 2mins into stress test, pc rebooted.. i think a 3.8 maybe even a 3.9 is totally possible, with top end cooling..but way overkill for me tbf,id rather put the money in a new chip for my 1156 socketed mobo..like an i7 lol...but yh hopefully all is sorted now..will leave it off overnight & see how it is 2morrow... again awesomes for the advice/suggestions..muchly apprieciated

 

[cdawall]

Can you not set vcore higher than 3.3%?

 

[thekio1984]

Can you not set vcore higher than 3.3%?

No mines more basic...what ya see in them last 2 bios pics i posted, thats it for OCing.. ive checked to see if theres an updated bios & there isnt so at the moment, im just runnin a different combo everytime it fails to boot, which tbf still happens, but i must be gettin closer as they are less frequent than before..currently got all same settings as above, but just dropped the multi to x14.5, in bios, defaulted ht volts & mem volts...& still is booting like a boss...but for how long lol...

 

[thekio1984]

To get it completely stable you would need to increase the CPU vcore more than +3.3% but it sounds like you don't have that option. I note that you are under volting the RAM (-0.05) and that could be causing the instability. I would be overvolting the RAM since you are running it beyond it's rated max frequency.

yh no option other than a measly 3.3% & i assumed thats what setting the lower ram speed was for? (667>533) to give you room to increase, then after a certain point,obviously more volts would be needed, just need to find that "sweet" spot i guess..

 

[trents]

ok i think maybe ive gone about it a lil wrong maybe..idk...but i rebooted n got cmos error again, so i went with ur advice & put cpu volts back to default, changed the mem volt from -0.05 to +0.05, only other thing i did was raise the cpu freq to 227,now cpu @3.4ghz...which if my research was right, is pretty much the ott max i can "safely" go on air...so am i right in thinking that OCing this is just down to the cpu freq & the mem volts?? is it really that simple?? ive been reading about manual ram timings, latency,cas, northbridge..etc,blah,etc lol yet on my rig it seems way easy, just boot-unstable..for me...

No, it's not really that simple. Check what Blaylock said in post #7. If you stay within the frequency rating of the RAM you probably don't need to fool with CAS and timings but you will need to make adjustments to HT Link and CPU/NB frequencies as you increase the FSB. As Blaylock said, these things are tied together and adjustments need to be made to keep the HT Link and CPU/NB stable. HT Link just needs to be adjusted so that it's frequency stays close to the stock. The CPU/NB can tolerate considerable overclocking with additional voltage and memory performance is helped by that.

Edit: forgot to mention that these change:
HT Link: >1135.79 NB Freq: >1817.3mhz - DRAM Freq: >757.1mhz
also temps so far only differ 3c-5c higher...

Edit Number 2: View attachment 178987 Thats at full load for near 30mins so far, firefox, 3 instances of cpuz & cpuz running its stress test...Again am a n00b so apologies for all this info bombardment, but i joined for a reason....to overclock baby..but in a safer kinda way wish cpus were/seem as easy as a graphic card OC lol