How do I get to 3.2 ghz?

[civicexcoupeman]

Hey guys let me tell you about my setup and you tell me how I can improve it and get to maybe 3.2

Story:
This is my File and FTP server I’ve had for years. Just recently I upgraded the BIOS and installed a Phenom in it as well as I removed Windows 2003 Server R2 and installed Windows 7 Ultimate x64. I was able to configure the same file server and FTP roles I had before with the server operating system. Yet my current flip flop on this build is I want it to do those roles as well as be my gaming machine. Some of the listed parts maybe basic/entry level I got them just to satisfy a Server build that wouldn’t require much resources thus the parts may not be in par to what I’m trying to get at now.

I know for a fact that my Power Supply is to low as well as my Graphics card is really bad for gaming (or entry level at that). I will upgrade my Power Supply very soon as well as the graphics card to a Nvidia GeForce GTS 250.
Current Specs:
*Antec 900 case
*M2N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
*Phenom x4 9850 CPU
*OCZ Vendetta Heat Sink
*2GB of DDR2 667
*Nvidia Geforce 8400GS
*4 7200RPM SATA hard drives
*Thermaltake 500w Power Supply

Current Overclock:
CPU Frequency: 248
DDR2 Voltage 2.10v
CPU Voltage 1.5v
CPU Multiplier 12.5x
Memory Clock Frequency DDR2 667

Now I didn’t touch this section of the BIOS but heres the current specs..becuase maybe I need to change them
Advanced Voltage Control:
CPU/Chipset HT Voltage 1.2v
Chipset Core Voltage 1.4v
Chipset Standby Core Voltage 1.4v
CPU Vcore Offset Voltage DISABLED

Currently that gives me 3.1Ghz which is great and will be more stable with a better power supply but I seem to not be able to get any higher. But what do I need to do to get to 3.2 minimum

Oh ye almost forgot all fans in my Antec 900 case which have a High, Medium and Low setting are on the Medium Setting and my temperatures are

Idle 32-36C
Under Load 36-49C

Heres my CPU-Z validator

http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=874341
Edit-the above screenshot was when I had Windows 2003 Server installed all is the same with the Windows 7 install as in CPU-Z stats

 

[Cuiiey]

Don't think that there will be a huge difference between the 3.1 and 3.2 clock speeds of your computer. If your new to this, i suggest download a program that does it for you

 

[civicexcoupeman]

Don't think that there will be a huge difference between the 3.1 and 3.2 clock speeds of your computer. If your new to this, i suggest download a program that does it for you

AMD overdrive,ntune etc doesn't work with the nForce 570 on the motherboard if that was an option I would of used that instead of manual overclocking via the bios as well as if I can get higher then 3.2 by all means sure. But for now I'm talking about 3.2ghz As well if you do know how to get me to that high mark 3.2 or above please post up what I need to change in the bios...thanks

 

[theflyingrat]

3.1GHz is already quite respectable for the X4 9850. Very good, in fact.

Part of the problem is likely the fact that none of the Nvidia chipsets have a real ACC function. That is, extra timing controls that would help stability and overclocking ability with first-gen Phenoms. The old X3s and X4s can get an additional 100-200MHz in clock speed by using this most of the time, but it's only offered with AMD chipsets equipped with the SB710 and SB750.

Beyond that, it's definitely looking good for you thus far. A question, though - is your 9850 a Black Edition CPU? If it is, it might work a bit better to modify the CPU multiplier to hit your current 3.1, and fine-tune it with the bus speed frequency from there... but there were 9850s that weren't BEs, so that may not be possible. Just throwing things out off the top of my head...

 

[civicexcoupeman]

3.1GHz is already quite respectable for the X4 9850. Very good, in fact.

Part of the problem is likely the fact that none of the Nvidia chipsets have a real ACC function. That is, extra timing controls that would help stability and overclocking ability with first-gen Phenoms. The old X3s and X4s can get an additional 100-200MHz in clock speed by using this most of the time, but it's only offered with AMD chipsets equipped with the SB710 and SB750.

Beyond that, it's definitely looking good for you thus far. A question, though - is your 9850 a Black Edition CPU? If it is, it might work a bit better to modify the CPU multiplier to hit your current 3.1, and fine-tune it with the bus speed frequency from there... but there were 9850s that weren't BEs, so that may not be possible. Just throwing things out off the top of my head...

I got it as OEM from Newegg a few weeks ago um in the Specifications page of the OEM one i got it says this is the model number HD9850XAJ4BGH but it didn't mention if it were to be a black edition but a simple google search provides this http://www.compusa.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4082332&CatId=3496 which says the model number is black edition. So I'd assume if the Comp USA ad is correct which I hope it is. That it is a black edition.

 

[QuietIce]

to OCF!


I'm pretty sure the Black Editions use the first three numbers followed by a "Z" instead of using all four numbers. Both my 9950BEs are HD995ZFAJ4BGH and my 9850BE is HD985ZXAJ4BGH - so yours probably isn't a BE.


Some things to try:
You might get a better clock turning down the RAM one more notch.

What speed is your cpuNB running at? (That's shown in the CPU-Z Memory tab in the upper right.) I'd stick with ~2000 MHz but you may be running higher than that since you've changed the clock speed. It's worth checking.

What is your vCore running? CPU-Z will show that but the validate does not include it.


Good luck and check back with results! You've done a great job so far ...!

 

[civicexcoupeman]

to OCF!


I'm pretty sure the Black Editions use the first three numbers followed by a "Z" instead of using all four numbers. Both my 9950BEs are HD995ZFAJ4BGH and my 9850BE is HD985ZXAJ4BGH - so yours probably isn't a BE.


Some things to try:
You might get a better clock turning down the RAM one more notch.

What speed is your cpuNB running at? (That's shown in the CPU-Z Memory tab in the upper right.) I'd stick with ~2000 MHz but you may be running higher than that since you've changed the clock speed. It's worth checking.

What is your vCore running? CPU-Z will show that but the validate does not include it.


Good luck and check back with results! You've done a great job so far ...!

Thanks for the welcome. I just found the same OEM CPU on Tigerdirect and it has the model number and claims its a black edition. Yet the retail version on their site had one of the model numbers you mentioned.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4082332&CatId=3496

If someone has some hard evidence of if this is actually a black edition that would be nice. As for the rest of what you asked heres CPU-Z and Hwmonitor


this is without down clocking my ram like you mentioned which I did in the past but it seemed to be less stable
As you notice the vcore is less then 1.4 yet when I put 1.4v in the bios it freezes when it gets to the win7 boot loader then reboots. The higher you go the more stable it became thus my current voltage

so the vcore seems less then 1.4v but as I explained putting it at 1.4v causes freezing. And NB is 248x12.5

and turning my NB down to 240 will result me getting 3.0 ghz even....


Edit-just down clocked the ram to DDR2 533 and set the vcore to 1.4v even before the boot loader it blue screens...So thats worse then I had before lol.
edit2-tried 533 ram and 1.425v vcore and you can log into windows and use it for a mere 5 minutes before a BSOD
edit3-putting vcore to were it was before at 1.5v and putting ram at 533 results in the computer freezing. I'm not sure if this issue is just plainly because my power supply is barely giving it enough power cuasing unstability and itll be the case till i get my new power supply. Regardless I'm going back to the settings I have in my OP.

 

[civicexcoupeman]

I'm thinking maybe ram speed and power supply wattage is the faults of my setup can anyone confirm? What wattage would you recommend for my setup listed in the OP?
Yet I tried 2 of my friends ocz 1GB chips that are ddr2 6300 basically 800 and the computer wouldn't even boot with ANY changes in the BIOS regarding DDR2 voltage or frequency. But both those settings set to auto the comp would boot.

 

[QuietIce]

And NB is 248x12.5

and turning my NB down to 240 will result me getting 3.0 ghz even....

The NB speed, as mentioned earlier, is in the upper right on CPU-Zs Memory tab and shows as 2480 MHz, which I would expect if you kept the NB multiplier at it's stock 10x setting. You might try turning that down to 8x (or even 7x), if you can find it in BIOS. Sadly, your board may not have that option ...

 

[civicexcoupeman]

The NB speed, as mentioned earlier, is in the upper right on CPU-Zs Memory tab and shows as 2480 MHz, which I would expect if you kept the NB multiplier at it's stock 10x setting. You might try turning that down to 8x (or even 7x), if you can find it in BIOS. Sadly, your board may not have that option ...

Their is an option in the bios and I tried that but theirs no boot for anything around 3.1ghz. Yet it does boot the closer you are to the default 2.5ghz

 

[civicexcoupeman]

Their is def a power issue with the current power supply; supplying power for my system. Its currently as mentioned in the origonal post a 500w Thermaltake. Seems like it only turns on when it wants to now. But when it turns on it loads the OS with all settings I mentioned in the first post no issues but I want more. Now yet again if any of those settings you see could make me more stable please don't be afraid to mention them. I will be upgrading in a week or 2 to a 750w Thermaltake Power Supply and a GeForce GTS 250 1GB.

 

[TomWoolford]

I just craped myself reading this thread because I noticed you're running a Phenom on the same regular AM2 board I've got. I thought I had to upgrade to an AM2+ board to run a quad core?

Well this is me running off to Newegg and buying a Phenom...

And to be completley honest with you, If you're able to pony the extra cabbage, go with a GTX 260. You can get one for less than $175 now, and you'll thank yourself in the end. Just make sure you have a minimum of a 500 watt power supply with minimum of 38 amps on the 12v rails, otherwise you'll pop it like I did.
And good luck overclocking on this board. I've only had success in minimal increments and after about 80mhz of overclocking I become as unstable as an epileptic in a cheap trance rave.

 

[civicexcoupeman]

I just craped myself reading this thread because I noticed you're running a Phenom on the same regular AM2 board I've got. I thought I had to upgrade to an AM2+ board to run a quad core?

Well this is me running off to Newegg and buying a Phenom...

And to be completley honest with you, If you're able to pony the extra cabbage, go with a GTX 260. You can get one for less than $175 now, and you'll thank yourself in the end. Just make sure you have a minimum of a 500 watt power supply with minimum of 38 amps on the 12v rails, otherwise you'll pop it like I did.
And good luck overclocking on this board. I've only had success in minimal increments and after about 80mhz of overclocking I become as unstable as an epileptic in a cheap trance rave.

Thanks for the recommendations on the card but for my kind of gaming that will be above and beyond what I need at this time. I did look up the card you mentioned and found it for 194.99 on newegg which is above my price range this is the bundle I'm thinking about at the moment PSU and GPU combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.300145

And I lol'd at the Epileptic trance rave part

and by the way I love this board. But I may start another build with a full ATX in a full tower. But for this board i think a gts gpu and this mobo is sufficient for the moment.

Cough teaser of mobo's for next build
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188048
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188058

Sorry AMD fans. I've been a fan boy for life but this build will satisfy me till AMD gets something better then the i7 then ill sell the build.

 

[civicexcoupeman]

I'm thinking maybe ram speed and power supply wattage is the faults of my setup can anyone confirm? What wattage would you recommend for my setup listed in the OP?
Yet I tried 2 of my friends ocz 1GB chips that are ddr2 6300 basically 800 and the computer wouldn't even boot with ANY changes in the BIOS regarding DDR2 voltage or frequency. But both those settings set to auto the comp would boot.

Stabilized 3.1ghz by clocking down the ram to DDR2 400..Now the computer boots up fine everytime unlike before.

now my ram ratio is 1:1 instead of 3:5

before http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=874341

current http://valid.canardpc.com/show_oc.php?id=883023

Yet I'm still waiting on someone coming in here to verify my settings and see if they can figure out a possible setting I overlooked or can change to make me go to a higher clock speed...thx

 

[TomWoolford]

A GTX 260 is out of your price range but you're looking at a 400$ i7 board



Edit: By the way, I just recently noticed that our board doesn't carry 2.0 Express slots, so we're Bottlenecking our GPU's not only on core, but on Bus.

 

[civicexcoupeman]

A GTX 260 is out of your price range but you're looking at a 400$ i7 board



Edit: By the way, I just recently noticed that our board doesn't carry 2.0 Express slots, so we're Bottlenecking our GPU's not only on core, but on Bus.

I'm talking about doing that build in a few months as to getting this build up and running within the next couple weeks.

As for the overclock I think its something to do with the HT Multiplier yet I cant find it in the bios besides this voltage stuff

Advanced Voltage Control:
CPU/Chipset HT Voltage 1.2v
Chipset Core Voltage 1.4v
Chipset Standby Core Voltage 1.4v
CPU Vcore Offset Voltage DISABLED


can some one help me out in regards to HT multiplier?

 

[QuietIce]

The HT Link multiplier is probably under "Chipset" in advanced options, at least it is on my A8N32 and the M2N32. I don't know about yours specifically. The motherboard manual should have all that. It'll be K8 > NB or something along those lines and may or may not have a 16^16v option nearby ...

 

[civicexcoupeman]

all i see is
Advanced Voltage Control:
CPU/Chipset HT Voltage 1.2v
Chipset Core Voltage 1.4v
Chipset Standby Core Voltage 1.4v
CPU Vcore Offset Voltage DISABLED
thats the only HT multiplier I see in the bios. But I tried setting it to 1.25 or 1.30 and it doesn't boot..

and in the chipset page theirs
CPU <->MCP55 HT Speed 5x which is the max setting

 

[QuietIce]

!!! That's the one. CPU > MCP55 is correct and it's set too high for an AM2 system. I saw the 1240 earlier but I'm used to AM2plus with Phenoms. You should drop that at least one notch to 4X ...

 

[civicexcoupeman]

!!! That's the one. CPU > MSP55 is correct and it's set too high for an AM2 system. I saw the 1240 earlier but I'm used to AM2plus with Phenoms. You should drop that at least one notch to 4X ...

tried that just now and it doesn't help me increase the FSB any further. It plainly won't boot when i put 249.