Stability Issues at Stock Settings

[satandole666]

I've been playing a fair amount of HL2 and CS:S at high settings recently so I decided to OC some. I've done it before, but not with my current hardware (upgraded a few months back).

I was impressed with my results. I ran 290 FSB x 9 for 2610mhz on my Opty 165. Ram was on a 5/6 divider running at about 242mhz 2.5-4-3-8. Volts were 1.504 and 2.83 respectively. Temps were 30/38c with an ambient of 27c. It passed all of the PCMark/SuperPI/etc and was Prime stable for at least 9 hours while I slept. I was pretty happy with it.

So I go to use it today and my computer wasn't too happy with me. I am getting a lot of screen glitches (windows in the background flickering in/out of foreground over other windows) and occasional crashes/freezes. I turned the FSB down to 275 and the problems still persisted. I bumped it all the way down to stock everything and it BSODed on me during the first boot. Next boot went fine and it works, but I still get the screen glitches. I'm going to run Prime tonight on stock settings to see if it passes. Other than that, I have no idea if I broke something or not. Thoughts?

 

[matticus222]

it could be your vid card driver i had a simler problem

 

[Trap05]

Is the video card overclocked? If so turn it down. If not try a newer video driver if possible. Could be a lot of things causing it. Perhaps some new piece of software you installed?

 

[satandole666]

The video card isn't overclocked. Not yet at least. No new software except Core Temp Beta and Orthos Beta. Nothing that requires an install.

I think the problems might just be in my head. I'm running it at 2610 (290 FSB) testing the processor out right now. This seems to be its max. It gives an error occasionally in Orthos (shortest was 5 minutes, longest is still ongoing at about 20 minutes). I'll probably have to drop it down to 285 or so for the processor to be stable. Speaking of which, I bumped the volts up to 1.52. Core readings under load are topping out at 57c, normally about 54/55 with a 1-3 degree difference between procs. I read somewhere that 70c core is the ceiling, is this correct?

I might have overstated the problem to begin with. I'm going to go through the entire process again as well as reinstalling my video drivers. Thanks.

 

[satandole666]

Ok, I did some testing.

CPU is Prime stable for 10+ hours at 2655 and 1.504v. Core Temp Beta says load temp didn't exceed 56c for either core. Memory was underclocked for this, of course.

I went on to test the RAM. 2.5-3-3-8 at 2.8v. I've had it up to 245 stable on my old ASUS board, so I started at 240 and pushed it. It got up to 265 passing all of memtest multiple times. Since this is the 9/10 divider for my CPU max I stopped there and tried to boot Windows. Instant crash. Dropped it down to 250, instant crash. I tried 240,230,220 all to no avail. I could finally get a boot at stock settings.

Thinking it was my RAM, I went for a 270FSB with a 3/4 divider, keeping the RAM at stock speeds. No luck here either.

I bumped everything down to stock and ran Prime overnight. No errors.

So...whats up with my RAM? If its keeping me from OCing the 165 at stock settings I'm going to be ****ed. I've been thinking about upgrading to a 2x1 gig kit. Anyone know of a good one that is known to run DDR600 at something around 3-3-3-8? Thanks in advance.

 

[ziggo0]

So...whats up with my RAM? If its keeping me from OCing the 165 at stock settings I'm going to be ****ed. I've been thinking about upgrading to a 2x1 gig kit. Anyone know of a good one that is known to run DDR600 at something around 3-3-3-8? Thanks in advance.

It could be ALOT of things right now. What I would do, in this case, is set your Opty's Multi to 7 or 8x, loosen the RAM Timings to 3-4-4-8, and how high your can get the RAM Prime95 Stable. Just because it's Memtest86 stable, does not mean it will be in Windows. Also, to throw another variable into the equation, your Opty's Memory Controller may not be able to handle that high of a raw FSB. I had one that wouldn't do 251 for its life, but it would do 250 all day long. ANOTHER THING, 56C is pretty warm for an A64. It may run stable while Priming, but does it get unstable whiling gaming? You don't just have the CPU warming up the ambient this time, video cards throw heat off like effers thusly raising the ambient air MUCH HIGHER than it needs to be, overall, hurting your temps.

AND! *takes deep breath* For DDR600, if your CPU's memory controller can handle it, OCZ PC3200 Platinum Enhanced Latency 2x512mb TCCD is the best set of RAM i've ever owned. Had 3 pairs, 2 with TCCD, one with TCC5. TCC5 did 280 (board limited), one TCCD did 300, and my golden set of TCCD, which did 311 - DDR622. As for 2x1gb, your best bet would be the G.Skill HZ's everyone loves so much. They are stock 250 and usually get a good 270 ~ 280 out of them, some much higher than that.

Hope this huge jumble of info helps lol.

 

[satandole666]

Alright, I gave your advice a try. The ram stock is 2-2-2-5. It boots in as 2-3-2-5 on auto. Originally I set it to 2.5-4-3-8 and went to town. Memtest stable but not Windows stable up to 260. It didn't seem to like 200 either. I tried 3-4-4-8 and it wouldn't boot at 220. I think when my power supply went out it might have damaged the RAM. Vid-card, soundcard, and processor were fine but it fried my mobo and harddrive. I'm going to just work on OCing this Opty for now. If I get the itch I'll mess with the RAM more later.

On another note, after looking through the AS5 instructions it seems that I was a bit too liberal with the application (read: massive noob-job). I cleaned and reapplied...so far I've seen a 2-3c drop in temp at load. While I had the XP-90c off I noticed it is begging for a lap job. I could feel the grooves on it (or maybe it was in my head). I'll probably order one of those kits and behead the 165 all in one swoop. For now I'm pushing my stock voltage OC. I'll risk 1.5v if I can get it to stay around 50c at load. Thanks for the help.