I have an Athlon XP-M 2500+ batch AXMH2500FQQ4C on a Epox 8RDA3I mobo with NVIDIA nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset. I have 1GB of DDR (2x512 MB) of Kingston PC3200 KVR400X64C3 and an XFX GeFORCE FX 5700 Ultra 128 MB DDR3. I use air cooling on the processor with a Vantec Aeroflow VA4-C7040.
I managed to overclock the processor to 2430 Mhz (180x13.5) which gives 2441 Mhz actual clock rate. I did two mods on the socket: An L12 mod to get the maximum FSB speed and a higher multiplier mod to get multipliers above 12.5. The voltage is VCore = 1.750V, VDimm=2.90V and VDD=1.6V.
I was not able to increase my FSB to 200 Mhz and beyond. I noticed that the L12 mod was necessary to raise the FSB beyond 170 Mhz but even after the mod the memory could not handle more than 185 Mhz FSB. I am very sure it is the memory problem because I was able to run the system at 210 Mhz with no problem when I had the memory run asyncrously with an FSB divider. I am sure it is not a processor problem as I had the processor clocked up to 2.5 Ghz without any problems.
The serial on the memory chips is W942508CH-5 which I think is made by Winbond and it is PC3200 memory. I have two stiks placed on dimm 1 and 3 to utilize the 128-bit mode that the nForce 2 supports. I called kingston next and asked them about that issue and they told me that the recomended memory for all EP-8RDA3 is 333 Mhz memory. I insisted and they told me that 400 Mhz memory is unstable on these mobos and they are not recomended.
Next I contacted Epox. I told them about my problem and they told to try memory latencied 7-3-3-2.5. Those latencies made the system more stable but it still cannot pass a thorough Prime95 test. When you lower the FSB down to 185 Mhz then the system becomes stable.
Then next thing I did was to place memory coolers to cover the memory sticks. That didn't help much. Later I noticed that the shoubridge gets really hot. Much hotter than the northbridge. So I ordered a Vantec Iceberq CCB-A1C and placed it over the northbridge. I moved the original heatsink over the southbridge and I placed a fan over the southbridge heat sink.
The temperatures while running Prime95 are 54C from the processor and 42C for the chipset but I am having the side panel of the case removed (I assume the temperatures will go higher once I close the case). After wasting many many hours of testing with Prime95 and Microsof memory diagnostic I was not able to make the system stable at 200 Mhz FSB.
Currently the status is (200x12.5) 2500 Mhz and very frustrated. Anybody run into similar problems? Any help or suggestions is appreciated.
I managed to overclock the processor to 2430 Mhz (180x13.5) which gives 2441 Mhz actual clock rate. I did two mods on the socket: An L12 mod to get the maximum FSB speed and a higher multiplier mod to get multipliers above 12.5. The voltage is VCore = 1.750V, VDimm=2.90V and VDD=1.6V.
I was not able to increase my FSB to 200 Mhz and beyond. I noticed that the L12 mod was necessary to raise the FSB beyond 170 Mhz but even after the mod the memory could not handle more than 185 Mhz FSB. I am very sure it is the memory problem because I was able to run the system at 210 Mhz with no problem when I had the memory run asyncrously with an FSB divider. I am sure it is not a processor problem as I had the processor clocked up to 2.5 Ghz without any problems.
The serial on the memory chips is W942508CH-5 which I think is made by Winbond and it is PC3200 memory. I have two stiks placed on dimm 1 and 3 to utilize the 128-bit mode that the nForce 2 supports. I called kingston next and asked them about that issue and they told me that the recomended memory for all EP-8RDA3 is 333 Mhz memory. I insisted and they told me that 400 Mhz memory is unstable on these mobos and they are not recomended.
Next I contacted Epox. I told them about my problem and they told to try memory latencied 7-3-3-2.5. Those latencies made the system more stable but it still cannot pass a thorough Prime95 test. When you lower the FSB down to 185 Mhz then the system becomes stable.
Then next thing I did was to place memory coolers to cover the memory sticks. That didn't help much. Later I noticed that the shoubridge gets really hot. Much hotter than the northbridge. So I ordered a Vantec Iceberq CCB-A1C and placed it over the northbridge. I moved the original heatsink over the southbridge and I placed a fan over the southbridge heat sink.
The temperatures while running Prime95 are 54C from the processor and 42C for the chipset but I am having the side panel of the case removed (I assume the temperatures will go higher once I close the case). After wasting many many hours of testing with Prime95 and Microsof memory diagnostic I was not able to make the system stable at 200 Mhz FSB.
Currently the status is (200x12.5) 2500 Mhz and very frustrated. Anybody run into similar problems? Any help or suggestions is appreciated.