Noob help with my xp-m 2500

[BadDubbin]

Alright, I'm having a little difficulty with overclocking my XP-M 2500, I'm kinda low on cash so I'm not trying to push it to far just around 200x11.
My specs are:
XP-m 2500
Abit NF7-s v2.0 (the one with blue and purple DIMM slots)
512mb cheap mushkin pc3200
slk47u with 92mm panaflo

Right now I can boot into windows with 200x11 with core voltage from 1.55-1.7 but even at 1.7 I'm getting an error in prime95(Torture Test,Blend) within 30-45 minutes. DIMM voltage is still at default. From what I've seen, I didn't think I'd need to push past 1.65v to goto 2200. I just want to make sure there isn't something I'm missing before I try raising the core higher.

Case temp is in the mid-20's and cpu idle is mid 30's usually.

Also the Abit manual said to place DIMM starting in DIMM3 and moving down, system wouldn't even turn on with it in DIMM3, booted right up in DIMM1.

Any help would be much appreciated.

 

[Nico3k]

Solution should be fairly simple. Up the voltage one step, Prime again. If Prime fails, up the voltage another step and Prime again and continue doing this until it's stable.

My guess is that around 1.75 you should be stable. Also try upping the VDD voltage and your chipset voltage. That has always made things stable for me.

 

[The Coolest]

I suggest you run memtest.
If you don't get errors, try running prime on small FFTs (the first test), if it doesn't fail at all or takes a really long time to fail, it is not you CPU.
How many RAM sticks do you have? If you got two then put one stick in DIMM3 and the other one in either DIMM 1 or 2, whichever works/is faster

 

[BadDubbin]

Have just the one 512 chip sittin in DIMM1 right now, I wasn't getting any errors in the first Prime95 Test for a while, so hooked up a floppy to do memtest got a couple thousand errors. Checking with mushkin site now to make sure I'm using the right timings. Gonna try running it again..

 

[stratcatprowlin]

Not for nothing but AMD didnt promise you a 3200 for buying a 2500.
Maybe your chip has hit the limit?

 

[BadDubbin]

Chip is nowhere near the limit, it is my memory or motherboard, i can get 2.3ghz no problem stable, but the second I put my FSB over 180, I start getting massive errors in Test #5 of Memtest. It is pc3200, but it is the cheaper end Mushkin, around $90.

Right now I'm at 166x13.5 with no stability issues, prime95 still going. Going to let it test throughout the night.

Wondering if it is the memory or the motherboard now. If anyone has any idea bout what errors on Test #5 mean, please let me know.

 

[stratcatprowlin]

Oh ok.I see. That happened to me after I added a second 512 stick.

I used to run a NF7-S with a desktop 2500@ 200x11.

After the second ram came in,176fsb then 170fsb.****ed me off.
Then I took the second stick out and it was fine.For a while!

Finally I was stuck at 170x11 with or without the second stick.The chip was superlocked.

 

[BadDubbin]

You think the ram I got in there might be my problem? I don't know what's going on really, tried raising the voltage on the DIMM and doing less aggressive timings on it. It is supposed to be pc3200, so thought it should run at stock.

Would me having it in the DIMM1 slot instead of DIMM3 make any difference on the NF-7?

Still running prime95 fine 2.25Ghz(13.5*166) stable Case temp 23° C, CPU at 42° C

 

[stratcatprowlin]

Sometimes switching the Dimm will cure that but not in my case.I had pc3200 ram also.The fsb just started to refuse me!