Having a few problems

[Rabbatt]

Just put a new system together & I having a couple of problems with it. short specs are as follows

a7n8x-e mboard
2500+ mobile
PQI DDR 400(PC3200)512mb
Cas Latency: 2.5-3-3-7
Support Voltage: 2.6V
radeon 9600 pro 256mb
volcano 12 HS + Fan
Artic silver 5 thermal paste
400w psu

The problem I am having is I cannot get the memory to boot at 200mhz and it is driving me crazy. The processor is running at 2.4ghz(219x11/1.6v) but I have to set the memory at 83% which puts its speed at 181mhz. I know I can get it to go higher by raising the cpu bus speed. but is that safe? If I try to run it at 200mhz, it just won't boot up & I have to clear the cmos to get it to boot. If I run it at 200 & up the voltage on the mem to 2.7 or 2.8 it will pass the POST, but hangs before loading windows & I have to reset. I do have the pci/AGP bus locked at 66mhz. Does anybody have any suggestions on what to do? I know I can just leave it as is, but how much will that effect the perfomance of having the mem bus speed lower that specified, or just not running in sync with processor?

 

[c627627]

Version 1 of that mobo can't do 200. Version 2 can.

Forget async.

100% 1:1 insync is best for nForce2s.

So get your FSB as far as you can, then increase the multiplier.


1.6 volts is way too low for major overclocking...

 

[Rabbatt]

I know 1.6 is low, I am only raising voltage as high as I have too...I'll go higher as I raise the values. It loos like the highest I can have my memory run is 182mhz...anything higher than that & it won't boot.....normal I take it as you said for version 1 if that is what I have

 

[c627627]

What do you mean "if," take a look, if it's 1, at least we know what's up.

If you can do 180 or so, do that 100% insync, put in a little speaker wire in there like so
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=279392
to enable 13 and up multipliers on your mobo (only Abit, DFI and Soltek don't need a wire for 13 & up), then see how high you can get, I'm guessing around 2.5 GHz or 14 x 180 or 14 x 17something with adequate cooling and voltage...

 

[Rabbatt]

I said if, because at that moment I wasn't sure which verison it was, but it is a v1 mobo...so I may have to do the speaker wire. Right now I have it running at 2.5ghz with a 410mhz FSB and and a 342mem bus 36' idle, 42' under 100% load. I gather it is better for the mem & processor to run insync, so I'll work on that.

Edit: hmm well damn, CPUZ says my mobo is Rev 2.xx, but nvidia system utility says it is version 1.1....which is right?

Edit2: Asus Probe also says it is rev 2.xx so I'm guessing my board is a rev2 & the nvida was just reading something else or was just wrong. And if it is rev 2, any idea why I can't get my mem to run 200mhz?

 

[c627627]

It should say so right on the board, doesn't it say on some corner of the board which revision it is?

 

[deception``]

You bought the wrong PQI. The TCCD-based PQI Turbo is advertised at default 2-2-2-5 timings. Furthermore, the price of this memory should not be any more than your current solution. If you did purchase your ram from an online vendor such as Newegg, it would be quite adventageous to retrun your memory for it's TCCD counterpart.

deception``

 

[Rabbatt]

doesn't say anywhere on the board

So it's the memory then? well that sucks. Guess I'll have to do a bit more thorough research next time. The ram you specified is only 50buck more than the ram I got, if that truly is the problem, then maybe I"ll just get new ram.

 

[alinosa]

as long as your memory is ddr400 it should run at 200 MHz FSB. Just at looser timings. have you gotten your FSB and memory back to 1:1? Even I can do 200 MHz and my memory is ddr333... is there a sticker or anything on your mobo that would help you determine wheter it's a v.2 or v.1? Maybe a serial number...

 

[Rabbatt]

I can get my cpu & mem back to 1:1, but that would mean running my FSB at 333, & best OC I could do would be 2ghz(12.5x200)...now matter what I do, that damn mem refuses to run at 200mhz. Even if I up the mem voltage to 2.8 it won't run 200...by upping the voltage I can get it past the POST, but it hangs at loading the SATA, or hangs before loading windows.

 

[Rabbatt]

Ok, I got the mem to run 200mhz, but I had to bump the voltage from 2.6(stock) to 2.7 & loosened the timings all the way to 10-4-4-3T...is it worth it to get it to run 1:1? PLus I had to up the voltage to 1.675 for the cpu to run 2.4ghz at 400fsb...idle it is running 40'C..kinda high but not too bad. I'm thinkin gthe higher temps are due to case temp...it's a bit warmer here than before, I just notice the case temp is around 4'c higher than before, so that would account for the 4'c rise in idle cpu temp.

 

[Rabbatt]

cpu temp doesn't seem to be much of a factor, I put it under 100% load with cpu burn-in for 10 min & it didn't go above 42'C...so, do the settings look like the best I can achieve?

 

[Optimus Prime]

well i have a few suggestions.
1) make sure you get the uber bios for that board.
2) take the chipset cooler off and at the very minimum put some arctic silver on there.
3) use the extra settings in the uber bios to bump up your chipset voltage
4) run the ram at 2.8vdimm
5) run the vcore at 1.75-1.8
6) run cas timings 2.5, 3, 3, 11, t2
7) run 200*12 or 200*12.5

I would say that you definatly have the ability to run those settings at those voltages and such and preaty much the necessary cooling.