AN7 Overclocking Guide: Revenge of the Abit NFII Black Sheep

[Darien]

If it's not Thermalright & OCZ on this forum... it's crap! Remember that Mike Myers skit on SNL? "If it's not Scotish, it's crap!"

lol.. yeah I got it... hope Hood isn't reading this though, he's scottish hehehe.

What kind of voltage were you putting to the CH-5s?

I see in the sig that it says you're pushing 3.0 volts into those PDP TCCDs... I'm sure you have, but I'll ask anyway... have you tried lower voltages? 2.6-2.7 range? If that's good TCCD, it shouldn't need 3v to do 240-250 @ 2.5-2-2-11. Basically I'm saying that I wouldn't be so quick to blame the PDP.

On the other hand, I'm sure the CH-5 was lovin' some volts!

it's the darnest thing I tell ya... I know well the normal voltages for my RAM... but remember I told ya from the get go that particular PDP RAM was having issues, it wouldn't run 240 in memtest86 without errors with less than 2.92 volts... then at 245 it would error... but if I turned up the volts to 2.95 it did better, @ 3.02v it was error free... when I was pushing it to 246 it gave errors all over the place like 10,000 errors per pass... if I bumped it up to 3.05 only about 100, @ 3.10 about 10.... and I'm like... damn! volt hungry TCCD???? (yes, it's TCCD I checked) but I wouldn't run it that high... I knew it would burn... don't know why, but that RAM just simply perfromed better with volts... @ 2.6 -2.7 @ 245 or higher it wouldn't even POST...

as for the CH-5... again... weird!! I burned in the RAM a long time ago @ 3.2 volts, loved it... loved the volts as all CH5 does.... then... one day... all of a sudden and for no reason... the CH5 wouldn't allow the computer to boot with over 3.00 volts to the RAM?!?!?? I have NO idea why... and from that day forward it would loose performance after about 2.95v... it still runs great, no problems with it... sometimes it will boot with 3.10v, but it won't run good and still won't even boot with too many volts...

the weirdest thing? TCCD that went volt hungry... and CH5 that learned to hate volts who knows?

 

[Hood]

lol.. yeah I got it... hope Hood isn't reading this though, he's scottish hehehe.

I am reading it and I think its a disgrace.
Actually dont have a clue what you guys are talking about so dont care LOL.

Bit of info for you Darien, you were talking about the 12v earlier, if my experience is anything to go by I wouldnt stress too much. When I had my Chieftec 420 PSU and the Vapo hooked up (it uses the 12v to run the compressor) my 12V rail was a lowly 11.4v and I was running my AN7 at 275 FSB
Hood

 

[harlam357]

I am reading it and I think its a disgrace.
Actually dont have a clue what you guys are talking about so dont care LOL.

My apologies Hood... I honestly don't have anything against anyone or anything Scottish.

I was refering to skit from an American sketch comedy show. Have you ever seen Saturday Night Live?

Again, my apologies... statement was not meant to offend anyone.

 

[Hood]

My apologies Hood... I honestly don't have anything against anyone or anything Scottish.

I was refering to skit from an American sketch comedy show. Have you ever seen Saturday Night Live?

Again, my apologies... statement was not meant to offend anyone.

hey harlam, dont stress I dont know what its all about but suspect it would take a lot more than that to upset us Scots, we are a very thick skinned race and love a good joke, even if its on us.

Hood

 

[harlam357]

hey harlam, dont stress I dont know what its all about but suspect it would take a lot more than that to upset us Scots, we are a very thick skinned race and love a good joke, even if its on us.

Good show! Had no intention to offend anyone... Just came to mind when my buddy said that if it isn't TR & OCZ on this forum that it's garbage- meaning that it's the general attitude of the membership.

 

[Darien]

Haha... you guys... Hood, you've heard of Mike Myers? the guy who plays Austin Powers... Fat B@stard... Also did a movie called, "So I married an axe murderer?", where his Scottish SNL skits came to the Big Screen... he's the comedian we're talking about... and he's part Scottish... anyhow..

There's only 2 things I can't Stand!! people intolerant of other people's cultures... and THE DUTCH!!!
-Nigel Powers

Back on Topic!

I just added a section to the BIOS configuration on APIC... please read it over, check it out and give me some feed back... I found some good stuff on APIC, and have just switched to APIC off in my system... If you guys try it, lemme know if it helps your OC... many people say it does

 

[harlam357]

lol... I'm generally a really nice guy and I just hate to **** someone off when I'm not trying to. Although that problem does sneak up on me every now and then... no harm done this time.

I just added a section to the BIOS configuration on APIC... please read it over, check it out and give me some feed back... I found some good stuff on APIC, and have just switched to APIC off in my system... If you guys try it, lemme know if it helps your OC... many people say it does

Ok, I was thinking about that option myself while roaming around in the BIOS. I'll give it a try... I wonder if disabling that will cause problems with my machine talking to my battery backup. Humm, only one way to find out.

Oh yeah, been meaning to tell ya... I've got some of the OCZ Plat. Rev. 2's on the way! Got 'em for $145 w/MIR. Now let's see what this TCC5 can do... I hear it can be a little more volt hungry than TCCD. They should be here Wednesday and I plan on testing them in the 250 board.

Also, see my thread here. Let me know what you think...

 

[Darien]

TCC5 ??? why? do you think that will perform better than your TCCD? the only room for improvement with your RAM situation is dropping to 2-2-2 which Tcc5 can't do @ 250.... maybe 240 with your luck... but I doubt it...
Don't get me wrong, OCZ plat. rev.2 is great RAM, I was thinking of getting it too... just not sure why you need it, but good luck with it and let me know how it stands up.

Well I returned my PDP as I said, and I gave the G.Skill BH-5 UTT another try... MUCH better this time... I don't want to speak to soon... but this new set of G.Skill 'appears' to be running 240 @ 2-2-2-11 in memtest... it's still burning in... but it's done 51 passes with only 8 errors... and it hasn't has an error in the last 30 runs... so I'm hopping it just had to get burned in, and now it will do 240 stable... (fingers crossed, holds breath, knocks on wood)...

I'm pumping 3.45 Vdimm and 2.14Vdd and 3.3v rail is @ 3.65....

APIC is giving me trouble... ever since I've done what I posted in the guide I get the dang BSOD's frequently in windows??? 90% of the time its something like, 'IRQ is equal to or less than'.... which I think has to do with the APIC...but only above 240... maybe it would work better with a re-install anyone else have any feed back on APIC?

 

[douglasb]

TCC5 is unbinned TCCD. Some of it is better, some of it worse. There is certainly TCC5 that can do 2-2-2-x at 250 MHz and above, but obviously most of it can't.

 

[Darien]

TCC5 is unbinned TCCD. Some of it is better, some of it worse. There is certainly TCC5 that can do 2-2-2-x at 250 MHz and above, but obviously most of it can't.

Yeah, and monkeys could fly out of my Butt!.. haha

No seriously, that's WAY out of spec... It's about as possible as someone winning the lottery... possible yes, but I haven't met anyone who's won it...

and TCC5 is not unbinned TCCD... IC's come from the manufacturer, like Sansung or Winbond... then they are binned by the resaler.. like OCZ, G.Skill, Mushkin etc... TCC5 is TCC5 before it's binned and after... same with any other IC...

 

[Tebore]

^^ Yeh I've never seen any samsung TCCx series do 250Mhz 2,2,2,x using any voltage... Best I've seen was 320mhz 2.5,4,4,x at 3.x volts.

I don't get around much if there has been 250mhz 2,2,2,x at any voltage using TCCx.

The New UTT, "BH4", BH5 I've seen do 250mhz 2,2,2,5 at 3.6v.

 

[Darien]

^^ Yeh I've never seen any samsung TCCx series do 250Mhz 2,2,2,x using any voltage... Best I've seen was 320mhz 2.5,4,4,x at 3.x volts.

I don't get around much if there has been 250mhz 2,2,2,x at any voltage using TCCx.

The New UTT, "BH4", BH5 I've seen do 250mhz 2,2,2,5 at 3.6v.

Yeah I had some TCCD that did 240 @ 2-2-2-11 and I nearly crapped myself... cuz even that is out of spec for TCCD... ofcourse it didn't do that for long and I also ended up frying that RAM due to my stupidity.

I'm almost getting 240 stable with my BH-5 UTT G.Skill @ 3.40 - 3.45.... I bet it will stablize if I give it more juice... but I just got it last night... I don't want to push it too fast... I'll give it a slow burn this time... work it up a little first.

 

[harlam357]

Guess who's back... back again, harlam's back... tell a friend.

TCC5 ??? why? do you think that will perform better than your TCCD? the only room for improvement with your RAM situation is dropping to 2-2-2 which Tcc5 can't do @ 250.... maybe 240 with your luck... but I doubt it...
Don't get me wrong, OCZ plat. rev.2 is great RAM, I was thinking of getting it too... just not sure why you need it, but good luck with it and let me know how it stands up.

Ok, in all seriousness... No, I don't think the TCC5 is going to out perform my TCCD on my nForce2. It might on an nForce4... but it will be a little while before that is seen.

Picked up the RAM because of the price and because I needed another set of sticks for my old T-Bird. Plan on running some good RAM in the T-Bird rig until I go A64... then I'll have 3 different sets of TCCx based RAM to test to see which will take me the furthest. Then I'll get some valueram for the old T-Bird. Trying to plan for the future... but I'm not quite done tweaking out these Barton rigs yet, I'm just picking up pieces along the way so the A64 build won't hurt the wallet so bad. It'll probably be the first of the year before the full build though.

Well I returned my PDP as I said, and I gave the G.Skill BH-5 UTT another try... MUCH better this time... I don't want to speak to soon... but this new set of G.Skill 'appears' to be running 240 @ 2-2-2-11 in memtest...

I'm pumping 3.45 Vdimm and 2.14Vdd and 3.3v rail is @ 3.65....

I see... you have changed your sig to reflect the G. Skill. Nice! You really have that sucker dialed in at those voltages. Almost 2.2v on the NB! That's nuts! I've never seen anyone push that much power through an nF2. You are the Vdd King of the AN7!

anyone else have any feed back on APIC?

Didn't try it... after I read the steps you laid out I was a bit hesitant- I don't enjoy reinstalling, that's why God made Symantec Ghost. I think I'm hitting the limits on both my boards anyway, so I really don't think it will help my situation.

OK... now for the bad news! Mushkins... DEAD! Well, they POST... does that count? This is my second set of Mushkin ram from one purchase... this is about to make the third. First I had real BH-5, second TCCD, and I'm expecting another set of TCCD or TCC5. Real bummer this set croaked. Funny thing is... I had already ordered the OCZs before I saw the instability in the rig due to RAM. So it was a quick swap and memtest on the OCZs and they do 250, 2.5-2-2-11 without a sweat.

I took a lot of time to check the Mushkins... I swore that my 250 board was damaged and that the RAM was fine. Not the case... Mushkins produce identical errors in both rigs. In defense of Mushkin, their service has been excellent and I have not had any problems obtaining an RMA. I hope I get a set that'll hang on this time... they are awesome modules. Kudos to Mushkin! Everyone gets unlucky Darien... even me.

 

[Darien]

I think it's been much more frustrating on my end over here... those GSkill's have degraded instead of improved, and that's not even the worst of it...

the GSkills, like I said, were 'almost' doing 240 @ 2-2-2-11 stable, the best they did was 47 loops on memtest #5 before an error... I was hopeful... I was wrong... They began to error more and more, I backed down to 235, same senario... very very close, no cigar... same at 230... and I'm thinking... they are just going to have that little error not matter what? but no... they run 2-2-2-11 at 200 perfect .... ****es me off!
they're weird... it will be running any speed, say 240, pretty good at 2-2-2-11, but if I try it at 2.5-2-2-11 or 3-2-2-11 it will get thousands of errors??? it's like it's 2-2-2-11 or nothing!?!?

Prime Stable for only an hour, these things suck!!! so strange though, they do 240 as well as they do 220... but they always get that random occasional error that I can't chase down, and it those errors never happen at 200... conclusion, good stock RAM, pure crap for OC'in...

What's worse, my PNY nVidia card fried FNR (for no reason).... wasn't doing a darn thing to it, wasn't even OC'd when this happened... it just plain crapped out on me... crazy artifacts everywhere, on POST screen, windows, anywhere, I swapped it into my other computer, same story, even with everything completly stock... the Video card is blown

What sucks worse than that...
After I last talked to you, I had a power surge when saving my BIOS, BIOS won't save and was corrupted POST 90!!! dead board so I couldn't finish, testing out and burning in my GSkill, that's why I haven't posted here in a while... I had to wait a whole week to get a new BIOS chip!!! once I got the new BIOS chip, I realized that it also corrupted my HD and I hap to re-install windows too, cuz windows wouldn't boot! then ofcouse right after that my video card dies, and now I'm realizing the GSkill just won't work out

I'm 95% sure that I'm gonna start over, scrap the AN7, I was considering going to a DFI LP B... I know that board will easily do 250... or maybe give in and blend into the Nameless Sea of the NF7-S r2 crowd... but I've invested so much into the AN7, I think I will just spend $50 on a refrub AN7, mod the hell out of it, doing a better job, mod the back of the board, and NOT screw it up this time .... I know My AN7 is the limiting Factor, I'm really aggravated that I ruined the Vdimm Mod... the method for doing the mod is perfect, but I screwed up the procedure... and now my board is a pain in the A$$ to even get the board to POST after changing a BIOS setting, I have to open case and manually turn the VDIMM's VR all the way down and then up, it's a pain... would be OK if it was already stable but when you're tweaking the BIOS a 100 times a day it blows, I'm about done with this board... plus I think the memory controller just sucks on this board.. which is probably why I've returned more RAM than most people will ever own their whole lives...

New Egg must hate me, I doubt they will let me return these GSkills but I'll Try... now what RAM will I try? I can get refurb Gskill TCCD LE's for $206... that will do 250 if it will even run... maybe the OCZ plat. rev 2... PQI TCCD PC4000 for about $180... everyone says muskin redline and OCZ VX won't work on NF2, but I'd like to try it, couldn't be any worse than all the other crap I've tried... got any input?

 

[Darien]

OK,

I just ordered from NewEgg

OCZ plat. rev. 2
Refrub. AN7
A budget video card
SAPPHIRE ATLANTIS RADEON 9600XT100575L-BK Radeon 9600XT 256MB 128-bit DDR AGP 4X/8X Video Card

I was hoping to get another nVidia card, but I couldn't pass up the deal on this one, it blew away any offerings by nVidia in the same price range... 500 MHz core and 900 MHz VRAM with 256 MB for under $100

Everyone loves the OCZ plat. rev 2, I'm sure it won't let me down, If it does,I'm gonna test it on the new AN7, if the new AN7 performs good, I'll keep it and deck it out, but if the OCZ does good on my current rig, the AN7 goes back.

wish me luck

 

[harlam357]

I think it's been much more frustrating on my end over here... those GSkill's have degraded instead of improved, and that's not even the worst of it...

Wow... G. Skills degrading, PNY card dies, bad BIOS... what next? I agree, that is most frustrating... and really sucks.

You have active RAM cooling, so I think the G. Skills should be able to handle the volts you're pushing. The PNY card might not have liked the 99mhz AGP freq., the 1.6vagp shouldn't have hurt anything. As for the power surge, all I can say is APC UPS- both my rigs are on APCs.

Although you've got the NB cool, I think 2.0v+ is more than you need on an nForce2. It's so much voltage that you could possibly be degrading your NB due to the high volts. 1.9v should be the upper limit imo. There comes a point where the law of diminishing returns comes into play.

That's why I haven't been so apt to blame all the ram you've tried... I think 2.0v+ is too much to run into an nF2 NB.

I think you'll like the OCZ plats. The spreaders look awesome and are really heavy. Much heavier modules than my Mushkins. I'd pickup an NB-1 as well. It's designed for the NB unlike the Vantec Iceberg you've got now. Too bad the NB-1C is out of production, but I just picked up a couple NB-1's and they're just as nice, need to get 'em lapped though.

I'd flash the 2t bios, do the L12 hardmod, replace the NB cooler, then see where that new board will take you. Get a baseline before you start doing all the volt mods.

Good luck bro! I hope this new board will fly for you. Keep us posted on your progress...

 

[Darien]

Wow... G. Skills degrading, PNY card dies, bad BIOS... what next? I agree, that is most frustrating... and really sucks.

You have active RAM cooling, so I think the G. Skills should be able to handle the volts you're pushing.

yeah, the chips are rated up to 3.6v and they were kept cool.

The PNY card might not have liked the 99mhz AGP freq., the 1.6vagp shouldn't have hurt anything.

the card wasn't overclocked when it failed. it just plain failed, PNY, never again.

As for the power surge, all I can say is APC UPS- both my rigs are on APCs.

nice... expensive

Although you've got the NB cool, I think 2.0v+ is more than you need on an nForce2. It's so much voltage that you could possibly be degrading your NB due to the high volts. 1.9v should be the upper limit imo. There comes a point where the law of diminishing returns comes into play.

Maybe, the NB chip is cool but I don't any way of knowing how all the circuits are handling it... but there have been plenty of people that put 2.0v through a NF2 NB without problems..

That's why I haven't been so apt to blame all the ram you've tried... I think 2.0v+ is too much to run into an nF2 NB.

Well.. I believe that the NB / memory controller is a problem on my board... but not cuz of the volts I'm pumping through it... I believe the memory controller is what has always held me back, but it defineately, every time works better with more volts... but above 2.20v it will cause errors, the sweet spot is 2.13 - 2.17 for my NB...
The idea that my NB voltage may be sabotaging my RAM has merit... I've considered it, but I don't think its the case, because my good 'ol Kingston Hyper-X CH5 RAM is still performing great and has stood the test of time on this system.... hell to be honest, it's even performing better... I just did 24 hours prime blend stable with it @ 240 x 10 @ 3-2-2-11 and it does memtest86+ perfect @ 245.... but for some reason even though its flawless in memtest @ 245 it won't boot to windows past 241.... CAS 3 sucks though, if it could do CAS 2.5 I'd just settle with it and keep it... and use my junk 266 RAM in my old ECS/semprom system.

I think you'll like the OCZ plats. The spreaders look awesome and are really heavy. Much heavier modules than my Mushkins.

yeah I hear nothing but good about them, reports of 240 @ 2-2-2-x even... I don't expect that, but should give me all the 2.5-2-2-x bandwidth I can use... I really wanted to check out the GeIL One series, they look bitchen!! but the are NFS right now, they won't be available for a little while... the GeIL PC4000 I had were beefy, super thick... but didn't perform very well.

I'd pickup an NB-1 as well. It's designed for the NB unlike the Vantec Iceberg you've got now. Too bad the NB-1C is out of production, but I just picked up a couple NB-1's and they're just as nice, need to get 'em lapped though.

Hell NO! my vantec is the s_h_i_z_z_n_i_t !!! I woulda bought a NB-1c if I could find one... but I've already modded it to fit and it works awesome, it's a keeper.

I'd flash the 2t bios, do the L12 hardmod, replace the NB cooler, then see where that new board will take you. Get a baseline before you start doing all the volt mods.

ya know I was gonna try the 18 1t and see how far I can get with that... just for the halibut... I've been talking with pallmall from the Abit forums, he is an AN7 pro, he's got 3 AN7's all b/w 245-250, I posted a link to my guide here, and said he liked it, so I asked him to stop by and give his input... he was recommending a 1t with cas 2.5...

but yeah, if OCZ RAM doesn't make my system perfrom like I want, then I'll test out the new AN7 stock with a modded BIOS and L12 mod, if it appears worthy, i.e. give me atleast 240 stable, then I'll deck it out and go the whole nine yards, no VDIMM mod this time though, I know I can do the mod without screwing it up this time, but with TCCx RAM I just won't need it...

Good luck bro! I hope this new board will fly for you. Keep us posted on your progress...

THx, I'll need it

 

[Darien]

Well... OCZ platinums are great!!

did 240 2.5-2-2-11 no sweat... then the same thing happened that always happens, @ 245 2.5-2-2-11 or even 3-2-2-11 it errors... back it down to 244 and it works... just like my PDP Patriot 3200XBLK TCCD RAM...

the difference is I had to give the PDP 2.95v then upto 3.02v to get it do to 244... then after two weeks it couldn't to 244 anymore...

with the OCZ plat. rev 2's I'm only giving it 2.83v... it does produce an occasional error @ 244... was good @ 243 but not 3dmark stable... so I'm running it @ 242 x 10 2.5-2-2-11 memtest over 4 hours over 151 passes without a single error... passes 3Dmark01SE no problem (haven't looped it for 4 hours though)... I'm confident the RAM is solid @ 242 and would easily pass Prime Blend for 24 hours....

but what's the point? It is painfully obvious this poor little AN7 is completly Maxed at 244... and I won't tweak and torture my system and this RAM to get 244, I'll leave it stable at 242...

So, looks like I'll have to bust out the refurb AN7 I got here and see if it will give me some love and break the 244 wall I've hit with my current AN7...

 

[harlam357]

The plats are great! I think my Mushkin's had a tiny bit more bandwidth, but that's only what synthetic benchies show. Real world performance is no different.

Bust out the refurb and see what she'll do... you'll never know if you got lucky until you try it.

Keep us posted... I've got my fingers crossed for you.

 

[Darien]

The plats are great! I think my Mushkin's had a tiny bit more bandwidth, but that's only what synthetic benchies show. Real world performance is no different.

Bust out the refurb and see what she'll do... you'll never know if you got lucky until you try it.

Keep us posted... I've got my fingers crossed for you.

Busted it out, L12 Hard and 17 de8 2t BIOS...

couldn't boot at 240 x 10 @ 2.5-2-2-11... neat though.. I had my PSU 3.3v rail all the way down was reading 3.38v... I turned it up to 3.65 would boot up to 242... I let it run for 5 hours @ 240 x 10 in memtest86+ 181 passes on test# 5 with 24 errors.... not bad, but not stable.... Prime95 failed in 14 minutes...

this was giving me mixed results... more on the negative, so I said screw it.. did the Vdd mod this morning... @ 1.85v I could boot at 245 but MTF (memtest froze) @ 1.95v 245 was MTR (memtest ran), couldn't boot @ 250...
2.01v 250 can boot but MTF.... 2.07v 250 and MTR, but would give over 2000 errors per pass...

really cool to see how much the 3.3v rail mod and the Vdd mod help... I haven't had enough time to play with it... but with these results there is a 95% chance the board is going back...

I'll play with it some more tonight, but for now we'll assume it's going back.