First OC / AMD Athlon 64 X2 BE-2300 / Need Help

[diox]

Well about 5 hours of testing, so far seems good:
CPU f. : 285Mhz
HT Link: 3x
RAM Spd: 533
Memory Voltage: 1.95v
vCore: +0.075v
tRFC all set to: 127.5n

 

[diox]

So far testing goes good with above values.

So if this is stable, then should I go for x9 and 301Mhz (=2709Mhz) or x9 and 300Mhz(=2700Mhz) when at the moment with x9.5 and 285Mhz I got 2706.9Mhz?

 

[QuietIce]

If that test passes then here is the next thing I would try. If this works your RAM speed will go up from 338 to 387. First, change the NPT to 9x, reboot, and start CPU-Z to check that the CPU is running at 9x. ((Don't worry about the CPU speed, just the multiplier.)) Go back into BIOS and change the clock to 301. With luck that will boot right up and everything will be good ...

 

[diox]

Ok thanks, will leave this test on for about 1 or 2 more hours to be sure it's stable.

311Mhz would be great (~2.8Ghz), but won't rush anything and test this, then x9 multiplier, and then 9x + 301Mhz.

If I would go for 311Mhz with 9x multiplier, that would set my RAM to about ~402-403Mhz, that would be bad or it's ok?

 

[QuietIce]

290x9.5 = 2755, which didn't pass. I wouldn't expect 311x9 ~ 2800 to pass either.

RAM has a whole-number divider of the CPU speed. Your current RAM speed is 2707 /8 = 338. The next step is 2709 /7 = 387 and the one after that is 2704 /6 = 451. Unless you can figure a way to get the CPU running faster than ~2700 those will be your RAM speed options.


You might be able to push a few more MHz out of them both but I wouldn't expect any big jumps without changing hardware ...

 

[diox]

Well 7 hours of Prime95 running, all is ok (max temperature was 54°C, total average of 46-51°C).
Basically now when I will be at 9 multiplier and 301Mhz bus speed, RAM and HT Link will be both optimized and oc'ing will be done?

 

[QuietIce]

I suspect you'll have everything about as high as you can get it at 9x301 though you might try a small 2 MHz increase to 303 MHz if 301 MHz works well.



You might give the 8x338 settings a try afterward but I'd do that in small steps - and you may have to reset BIOS on a fail. The biggest possible catch is the RAM. Going to 450 MHz RAM is doable if you can loosen the CAS up to 6. With your BIOS I don't know of it'll do that on it's own or not. Another possible catch would be the board not being able to hit 338 MHz, which is pretty high. If you want to try that after the 9x301 you can take it in steps quick-testing each move before taking the next one but if the board won't change to CAS 6 I wouldn't expect it to work ...

 

[diox]

Well in that thread which I posted earlier changing CAS helped him to get to higher CPU Frequencies, so yeah, that would help if I could change it, but for now, will go for x9 multiplier test and then for x9 and 301Mhz, prime95 test, and then will think if I want to try to go little bit further or not .

 

[diox]

Something went wrong, changed just CPU Multiplier (NTP Fid) to x9, save & exit, computer started, got till Starting Windows screen and then auto-rebooted, after that got till Starting Windows and it did nothing.. so I'm bact at x9.5 at the moment.

 

[QuietIce]

You might need to drop your vCore back down to where you had it at 270 clock. I can't see where that would mess it up but you never know.

Chances are it's the RAM messing things up. If the vCore decrease doesn't work you might try raising the RAM voltage up to 2.0v ...

 

[diox]

at 270Mhz I had vCore at +0.012 (now it's +0.075)..well, but I can try

Edit Well just tried:
Changing CPU Multiplier to x9 +

Changing vCore to +0.012v(was enough for 270Mhz before) - stuck at Windows Starting logo/screen
Changing vCore to +0.025v - stuck at Windows Starting logo/screen
Changing Memory Value to 2.05v - Blue Screen after Windows Starting screen

Now I'm back at x9.5,285Mhz,vCore +0.075v and Memory voltage at 1.95v

 

[trents]

Maybe you have hit the wall now.

The challenge of all this is fun but from a an actual performance gain standpoint the law of diminishing returns begins to set in a some point and you are putting in a lot of time and effort (and frustration) into something that isn't making much real impact.

 

[QuietIce]

Without knowing what CAS the BIOS is setting for the RAM it's difficult to know what the problem is. I'm out of options since I always believe CPU speed is more important than RAM speed ...

 

[diox]

Well then if my RAM and HT link are underclocked (RAM 338.4Mhz and HT Link at 854.8Mhz) do I lose much performance wise?
(cpu-z shows that CAS is at 4 clocks, no idea if that's what value it has at bios thou')

Try changing your CL from 3 to 4. The fact that your system is less stable at 9 than 9.5 points to the ram as the unstable element of your overclock. Maybe play with ram voltages as well?

:/

 

[QuietIce]

It shows CAS 4 with the speeds we've been running but it was at CAS 5 in your original post when it was running 400 MHz, so you know the BIOS can change it to something else, the problem is there's no way to know what the BIOS is using and no way to set it manually.

In my opinion you won't take as much of a performance hit at the lower RAM and HT Link speeds as you will if you lower the CPU speed. In other words, if that were my machine I'd leave it as is with the higher CPU speed ...

 

[diox]

Well I guess then I should leave it as it is now, stable, nice 2.7Ghz instead of 1.9Ghz and I'm even surprised that my old cpu went that high with nice temperatures and all, before started, thought that I would hit like 2.2-2.3Ghz max, but it's even better now .

Now overall I'm little bit tired of overclocking for the first time, I think it went overall great, big thanks to you guys for explaining and helping newbie like me .

Maybe will try to do something else, but probably not too soon anyway.
This was great overall, never thought that I could overclock without burning/damaging my hardware .

But really big thanks to you guys, it was fun and educating .
Probably will stick my head into these forums from time to time too .

 

[QuietIce]

I agree - you got a great OC!

I also learned something. I always thought the power-saver CPU's like yours wouldn't overclock very well but yours went higher than my 4400+ did. What a surprise!

Drop in whenever you can, plenty to read about and learn. As for helping, I'm just trying to pay back a little. I learned here the same as you just did, with help from guys who had already been through it. Without them I wouldn't be here ...

 

[trents]

What you learned in this process will serve you well in the future. You were great to work with! Quick learner.