I screwed up big time, need help!

[WildMonkey]

Hi guys.

I recently got a BFG 7800 GT, DFI Ultra-D Lanparty NF4, 148 Opteron, OCZ 2x512 Gold VX.

I been having a monster of a time trying to get my comp up and running. It took me days just to get it stable.

It was getting stuck at MUP.SYS at startup and everytime I re-installed windows it ran CHKDSK and found zillions of errors and index problems.

The HD's were fine before the upgrade.

I overclocked it. But I think I did it wrong. I was getting a bunch of corrupted sectors. So I formated the HD and removed the OC and everything seems okay for now.

Stupid me, I was running the system with an old 350w PSU that only had 20 pins (board is 24 pin) while my new 550w PSU got here.

I'm almost sure it was a power issue, but I might have also set up the memory settings wrong, which can also contribute to data corruption.

What do you guys think, and how do I safetly do the OC?

Thanks.

 

[Dukeman]

First install your new PSU. Second, if you are using PATA drives then check the bios and lock the PCI bus speeds. Then use the OC sticky in this forum to systematically approach the overclock. Also, DFI boards can be tricky so you may want to post something in the motherboard section. Hope this helps.

 

[dreammmatt]

As Dukeman said, OC'ing is a systematic and time-consuming process, so take your time with it, and that should reduce the chances of catastrophe and therefore also reduce the overall amount of time it will take to get it stable. As for power, yes, I've read that running a 20-pin 'can' hold you back... But it depends on 'what' 20-pin you're running. I'm using an Antec 430W 20-pin and it's suiting me just fine - if anything it's just the low wattage of yours that's holding you back. 10:1 installing your new 550 should solve the problem.
edit: (heh, keep in mind too that the rated wattage is generally the peak that it is capable of achieving...so what you're actually drawing may be a lot less)

 

[Yuriman]

Are you trying to install windows on an overclocked PC? Generally, thats a pretty bad idea.

Overclocking in a can:

Generally, what I do first is set the CPU, HTT and memory dividers/multipliers as low as they can go, and find out about where the board tops out. With a DFI, you might be able to skip this step, mine goes pretty high . Next, find out where the CPU tops out. Adjust the CPU multiplier and HTT bus, while keeping the HTT multiplier and mem divider as low as they can be, until you find out about where it tops off. Run some stability testing stuffs, such as Prime95 or SuperPi. Once that is done, slowly increase your memory speed until it tops off. If you have to sacrifice 10MHz on your CPU to get 10MHz on your ram, I'd probably do that, but CPU speed is generally more important. Then, set your HTT multiplier to whatever keeps the bus under 1000. Say you are running 250 x 10 for the CPU, you would want a 4x HTT multi. Any higher, and you would want 3x.

As for voltages, I'd keep your processor under 1.5v until you are very familiar with overclocking. 1.5v is a pretty safe limit on these chips on air cooling. As for your ram, it really depends on what kind of chips it has on it. Some really like voltage, and will respond with 3.2v+. Others will become unstable if you try to put more than 2.8v through them. I'd check the memory section for recomendations on that, but I think 2.8v is probably a good place to start.

 

[m_k]

Your ram should be safe at 3.2 volts and keep it within range of ocz's lifetime warranty. If you're still having problems with your harddrives after all this, try looking at the manufacturers website for a zero fill format program. it will fix most of the errors on hdd's. Also what psu are u runnin? the new 550W that is. you will need a fairly devent psu if you really wanna push that opty and run the 7800gt. also if you are planning to upgrade to sli in the future it would definately help. good luck bro!

 

[Xtreme Barton]

i would suggest reading some of the thousands of threads covering this topic

 

[WildMonkey]

thank you all for your replies.
It's not so much of an OC topic, but rather "what the fudge happened to my PC?" type of question.
Everything was alright the first time I reinstalled windows (without formating the HD) then I OC'ed it to 245 x 11 clock, 4x HTT, ram at 133.
And everthing seemed okay for a day or two. Then I started to get sudden and random reboots after a 3 sec BSOD. That's when the OS and HD started to crap out.