A8N32 FSB speed - what's yours ...?

[QuietIce]

I've recently encountered an odd issue with the A8N32's FSB speed. Several months ago, when I was considering my first Opty 165, I checked the FSB speeds on the two boards I had running at the time. I tested both of them up to 340 FSB thinking I wouldn't need any more speed than that for a 165 (340x9 = 3060). Last week I started building my wife's machine and had three other boards to pick from so I chose the newest one I had, a rev. G board, and installed a 165 LCBQE 0711SPAW.

Everything was going really well - I was up to 310 FSB and still at 1.30 vCore. Then I bumped it again and found I needed 1.35 vCore for 320 FSB. I wasn't too unhappy about that, 2880 at stock is still pretty good! After that I couldn't raise it any farther. At first I thought the chip had hit top end but it seemed odd b/c the vCore was still very low, though some of the newer Opty's OC like that. But when I started checking the FSB I couldn't get it over 321 MHz even at 7x and when I went to NB over-volt (NB/OV) I got to 325 but couldn't get to 330.

Today I went back and tested the other boards a little farther than before since I hadn't recorded the tests (just to make sure I hadn't lost my mind - old age, you know ). One board tested to 350 FSB and needed the NB/OV above 320 MHz (5 MHz steps). The other got past 355 before needing the NB/OV, then went on to 365 - at 370 I got a BSOD. Now keep in mind I only tested the last two boards with SuperPi 1M but I would think that sufficient for the FSB only - the CPU (@ 7x), RAM (200<RAM<250), and HT link (<1000) were all slightly below their tested stable speeds (is this an incorrect assumption???). So now I'm curious how high other A8N32 FSBs have over-clocked.



What's your highest FSB and is it rev. 1.01g ...?

 

[redduc900]

What's your highest FSB and is it rev. 1.01g ...?[/I]

Rev. 1.01g and an HTT of 326 w/ a mult. of 9, and HT Link of 978...

 

[Nebulous]

I dunno what Rev my board is, but I'm stuck @ 250x12 with my FX55. Anything over 250 will fail to boot. Not sure if it's my board,ram or chip .

 

[Madoverclocker]

Rev 1.01g and so far 320 is the max I have had stable, though to be honest I haven't tried to hard to push it further.

 

[gocartman2]

never liked dropping my multi, ive been to 310x10(not stable), never saw a better clock with a 9 or 9.5

right now im at 290x10 but its not stable cause im giving it some low voltage

dunno what my revision is, got it last march-april(2006)

 

[billb]

What's your highest FSB and is it rev. 1.01g ...?

A8N32 Rev 1.01 topped out at 335 without NB overvolt.

 

[QuietIce]

Thanks for all your responses, guys!


Seems I may have gotten a couple of good boards and a so-so board (the "g"). I haven't seen a rev. g top out much over 320 yet, though, so maybe it's "normal" after all ...

 

[Nebulous]

I dunno what Rev my board is, but I'm stuck @ 250x12 with my FX55. Anything over 250 will fail to boot. Not sure if it's my board,ram or chip .

*Edit*

Just found my board is a Rev 1.01 NON-g

 

[QuietIce]

Well I had a rather disappointing thing happen last night. After shutting down the system and changing out pumps the darrn thing wouldn't reboot! I had to bring the FSB down to 316 (w/NBOV) to get it stable again.

You'd think rev. g would be better but it seems that's not the case.

*Edit*

Just found my board is a Rev 1.01 NON-g

That's a GOOD thing! But I was pretty sure it wasn't your board - not at a 250 FSB. Anything under ~310 MHz is OK for both boards, anyway. My WAG would be RAM but my FX-55 (SD) also topped out near 3.0 GHz (@ ~1.45v) so

The good news is, if your RAM will go higher (and it should) you could change to 273x11 and maybe still keep the 1:1 setting - or have you already tried that ...?

 

[Nebulous]

Tried that QI, no dice. Dunno what's holding me back I went to OCZ's site and asked why my ram won't go above the 250. They said 2gb's of ram will not clock as high as it's 1gb counterpart

We'll see if the new psu will make a difference.

 

[billb]

Dunno what's holding me back

It's pretty easy to find out with multipliers and dividers and an unlocked chip like an FX55.

 

[Nebulous]

It's pretty easy to find out with multipliers and dividers and an unlocked chip like an FX55.

Hmm, if it was I would know I tried it all, and still a nogo. Before i got this OCZ, I was using Corsair XMS4400 and I had no trouble getting 300+ from them. I got this OCZ ram and it will not run pass the 250.

So if you have any suggestions/ideas, i'm willing to try again

 

[QuietIce]

I take it you've tried dropping the memory limit down to 166 before pushing the FSB higher?

Hmm, if it was I would know I tried it all, and still a nogo. Before i got this OCZ, I was using Corsair XMS4400 and I had no trouble getting 300+ from them. I got this OCZ ram and it will not run pass the 250.

So if you have any suggestions/ideas, i'm willing to try again

Did the Corsair crap out on you - or did you put it in another machine ...?

 

[Nebulous]

I take it you've tried dropping the memory limit down to 166 before pushing the FSB higher?

Did the Corsair crap out on you - or did you put it in another machine ...?

Corsair crapped out so i rma-ed it. The XMS4400 was discontinued and obsolete so the what i got as returns were XMS4000 Pro's, the ones with the purdy LED's on 'em I traded them for the OCZ's i have now.

Now why would i want to drop the ram divider? The whole purpose is to run the ram @ 1:1 isn't it? Drpping the divider would just defeat that.

*Edit*

Max is 310
Divisor @ 166
2.9Vdimm
HTT 3x
Multi: 10x
HT Voltage Enabled
Vcore: 1.5v

Unstable Figured 300 is the max before she craps out.

 

[billb]

Max is 310
Divisor @ 166
2.9Vdimm
HTT 3x
Multi: 10x
HT Voltage Enabled
Vcore: 1.5v

Unstable Figured 300 is the max before she craps out.

AAARRRGGGG!
Is the memory stopping or is the CPU stopping at 3.1ghz?...You don't know!

310 FSB, 166 Divider, and a 10 multiplier runs the memory at 258.33Mhz and the CPU at 3.1ghz

Ok...which one is failing?
...and how do you know?

 

[QuietIce]

Corsair crapped out so i rma-ed it. The XMS4400 was discontinued and obsolete so the what i got as returns were XMS4000 Pro's, the ones with the purdy LED's on 'em I traded them for the OCZ's i have now.

Now why would i want to drop the ram divider? The whole purpose is to run the ram @ 1:1 isn't it? Drpping the divider would just defeat that.

*Edit*

Max is 310
Divisor @ 166
2.9Vdimm
HTT 3x
Multi: 10x
HT Voltage Enabled
Vcore: 1.5v

Unstable Figured 300 is the max before she craps out.

It is important to push the RAM to the limits but CPU speed is the king with RAM in second place. If you want to stay at 1:1 that's easy - try 239x13 and see if that works. On the POS motherboard I've got I was running the FX-55 @ 230x13 (on water) with the RAM at 1:1 - I couldn't push it any higher due to a lack of voltage controls.


And on my caseless machines I like them purdy RAM lights - it lets me know the rig's still runnin' ...

 

[Nebulous]

Well found out the ram goes up to 310 using an 8 multi and 3v on the ram. So my guess is the chip itself maxes out @ 3.0GHz. Maybe 3.1GHz, but I don't like using more than 1.55vcore.

 

[QuietIce]

I agree with that - 1.55 vCore is my self-imposed limit, too.

If the chip tops out at 3.0 GHz and your RAM will run 300 then I'd run 300x10 @ 1:1. You should get a lot more RAM bandwidth and a little better performance that way ...

 

[Nebulous]

I agree with that - 1.55 vCore is my self-imposed limit, too.

If the chip tops out at 3.0 GHz and your RAM will run 300 then I'd run 300x10 @ 1:1. You should get a lot more RAM bandwidth and a little better performance that way ...

Yeah, that's what i was thinking too. Once i get the new psu then I'll go for it

 

[Agis]

Hi guys,

I am new in here.

This is the highest FSB i did without overvolting anything.
I don't know what revision is my mobo,where i have to look to find out?

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=151174

I don't know if this is the highest the mobo can do,i was afraid to push it more.

Agis