Just need to rant

I've been dinkin around with pc's for some time now, so I kinda know a little something about em. Just a warning to all aspiring o/cers

I bought the ultimate, and I thought in o/cing as well, system...consisting of:

xp1800+
abit kg7raid w/ 2 seagate b4 40gig hd's 7200
512 of decent but not the BEST ddr ram out there
visiiontek ti200 (good oc card right?)

Cooling:
antec 1040 with 4 80mm thermaltake 2900rpm fans, 2 in, 2 out
thermoengine with 7000rpm delta on the chip (acII of course)
431 enermax whisper quiet psu, with optional bottom intake fan

You'd think I'd have quite a rig there eh? here is what I can o/c it stabily to:

145x11.5 1668 (anymore and it locks up)
ti200: 190/500 (memory a little more in some cases)

3dmark 2001 (yes, everything is off and triple checked) 6600-6700 (o/c'd)
When I mess with the mem timings, it I get lock ups and instability.

Now I've tried every driver/patch/via whatever there is to get it more stable, the only mistake I made in this system is not getting a board that would go higher than 1.85 volts...I might get a little more outa the cpu with 2.0.

This isn't so much a whining, but a warning to all...every system is different, you can have the best intentions and knowledge and **** still not work out https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif

PS: I'm not even gonna TRY to unlock the cpu, I've cut my losses. Anyway, its still a pertty damn fast system.

Agreed! The Lord knows I've built enough disappointing rigs in my days where OCing was concerned, but you have to take the good with the bad and look forward to your next chance to go GTN! https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/6.gif

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Compare 3DMark

Well the video card should overclock further than that. I have the same one and it can go 230/510. But that isn't that bad, 500 memory speed is good.

And the motherboard, dunno why you bought that one. It's based on the AMD 760 chipset, if you wanted one of those, should of bought the EPoX 8K7A. But you live and learn right?

Also that psu isn't all that great, I have the same one as well, it's decent I suppose.

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*the Masta Overclocker*
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the psu is great, super quiet, plenty of power for everything in my system. As for the ti200 sure I can probably get through a 3dmark, and in fact have set at 225/540, and scored pretty well..went to run it again, and crashed immediately...195/500 is iffy, the core could be cooled a bit better, but I'm done with the fans and all...oh btw, did I mention, I had one of the cheesy thermaltake ram fans https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif thought it was geeky enough to put in it.

I have the same card... runs 3dmark forever at 235/535... you should DEFINITELY be doing better. I'd try and get a different card though.

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AXP 1500+ @ 1.6 - 8KHA+ - 512mb Crucial - Geforce 3 Ti 200 $99 Yehaaaaa!!! (Oced to 235/535) - Audigy oem - Lite on 16x DVD/Burner - 40gb 60 gxp

Housed in a beautiful (modded) Lian Li PC 86 (bought from www.so-trickcomputers.com)
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Future Upgrades: Tbred, Raid, Case mod Madness!!! :D

Should have gotten the KR7A instead...

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The Ultimate Newbie @ Tu2thepoo computer specs page
As you can see, my specs are the worst ones posted.

Quote:

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Originally posted by TheUltimateNewbie:
Should have gotten the KR7A instead...

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Looks like he's behind the times ...... https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/6.gif


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My Gaming PC- Click Cocacola155 from the list

I admit, I was a little behind, but I doubt we're talking much of a 3dmark dif between the kr7 and kg7. My biggest goof was NOT getting a board that would support higher voltages.

About the ti200, I've done some tweaking, and am able to get the core up, while taking the memory down, and getting a better 3dmark score. For some reason, its an either/or situations. I can run through a test stabily at 225/480 and get about 6900+ probably closer to 7000. I believe I can get through it at 230/480 and break the 7k mark which is my goal. As for getting another card because this one won't o/c to my liking is not an option. Buying a card to o/c is a crap shoot, and I didn't do so hot, so I'll live. Like I said, its still a pretty damn fast machine. I also understand 3dmark is not the end all and be all of performance on a pc, but it gives me a # to shoot for. This system was also purchased a month ago, so I wasn't too sure of the kr7, it was an option too. I'm thiking that soyo dragon thing woulda been the route to go. I'm off to go shoot for 7000. I'll keep ya'll updated if you care.

Welp, I got 7068 with my ti200 @ 235/480 I think the memory or the overall heat of the card might be the problem. Will loop the game tests tonight to see just how stable it really is. I expect a crash (optimistic aren't I?)

Quote:

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Originally posted by OCking:
I have the same card... runs 3dmark forever at 235/535... you should DEFINITELY be doing better. I'd try and get a different card though.

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People, stop saying this! "DEFINITELY" is not the right word in ocing. If you can reach some speeds with your card doesn't mean
that he "DEFINITELY" should be hitting the same speeds!

hell, i think the biggest mistake was buying a motherboard that had Via components of any kind in it.

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Agreed, just cuz one video card can o/c to a certain speed, doesn't mean the entire line will. I went with the kg7 cuz I wasn't too sure on the kr7, not to mention the kg7raid was a little cheaper, and that was my goal. To build a reasonably cheap system and o/c the hell out of it.

I believe that my video card o/c problems have to do with the overall heat of the card itself. I can o/c the memory and core, but only in some sort of ratio if that makes any sense. Take for instance, if I clock the memory to 525ish and the core to 190ish then I am pretty stable. But if I clock the core to 225ish, I can only clock the memory to about 475ish. I seem to get better 3dmark results with the latter setup. I can get it to run the full battery of tests and come up with a good score, but if I loop it, it crashes. Is this a stable overclock? Not really, but then again, as I said before 3dmark is not the end all and be all of o/cing. The real tests are in the games and apps I run, which I've not really tested too much.

Question: When 3dmark freezes, doesn't that usually indicate the memory is o/c'd too high? And sometimes when I clock the core up, it'll crash to a blue screen (running winxp) could this be a sign the core is maxed?

One more note...I've learned a lot from reading the posts in this forum, there are some very knowledgable people here, there's a buncha putz's too, but I really want to thank "you" for all the help and info I've gotten from here.

Lag

You can do a fairly easy voltage mod to get 2.05 Volts. http://www.ocinside.de/index_e.html?...kg7_vcore.html

well...i have the epox 8k7a...and my fsb will NOT run any faster than 148. i have a gf3 ti 200 and it will NOT run any faster than 230/460. so dont worry about it...its still a killer sys.

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GF3 Ti 200 @ 225/450
256mb crucial 2100ddr
epox 8k7a mb
athlon xp1600 @ 1470 140FSB
sony 20inch .26dpi
wd 20gig 7200
acer 10x8x32
compaq 32x
hauppauge tv tuner
antec 300w
"influence comes from experience"

LAG... Have you tried burning i hour vid card for about a week or so of non stop pounding? I know that after i did that my stability increased and about 6 months later i tried to oc it some more and got another 50mhz out of my core on my leadtek gf2 mx its now running at 240 core.. i would say thats pretty good.

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Windows 2k Professional
Dual P!!! 1Ghz @ 1.26Ghz
Asus CUV4X-D MoBo
100ATA 7200RPM Seagate 30Gig
Alas... geforce 256 64MB DDR core: 120@155 mem: 300@390

Frankly I think your CPU OC went rather well, turning an 1800+ into a 2000+ is quite a feat IMHO (about 130$ worth https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/6.gif ).
As far as your 3dmark score goes, did you run it with AA turned off and mipmapping set to fastest performance? (yer not THAT far behind though)
Some performance 'loss' comes from the mobo, it's using AMD's 760 northbridge (VIA's KT266A is definetly faster).

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Athlon XP 1900+@1667
ABIT KR7A-RAID
512MB PC2100 DDR
2x60gig Maxtor ATA100 HD
LG GCE-8160B 16x-10x-40x
Pioneer DVD-113
VisionTek GeForce3
SBLive Value
3COM 10/100 ethernet

Agreed, I'm not too bummed about not being able to get a faster fsb, though it would be nice. I was really hoping for a true 1.6ghz machine, but its pretty damn close.

About burning in the video card, I had did the same thing with my geforce2's that I had, but didn't get that much more of an o/c on it. I've made it through a 3dmark with my ti200 @ 225/500 and was able to break the 7k mark, if barely (7007) now, how stable in games this is gonna be is another story. Once again, I've not really tested it that much, but I'll keep you informed. I guess my biggest beaf is with tom's hardware site where he compares some ti200's w/ xp1800 and p4's and other stuff, and withOUT o/c he was getting well over 7k in 3dmark, I don't know how he's doing it, but it just doesn't seem possible. Here I am o/c the crap out of it and I can barely break the 7k mark. And for the record, yes, AA is off, anisotropy is off, mipmaps are set at 14. I use gtu, and set it for fast when I'm running 3dmark.

What is all this stuff I've been hearing about memory timings? Is this system ram, or video ram? I see people's list of how they have them set, but in my bios, I have 2 more settings than those listed...say someone lists 8 numbers for timings, well I have 10. I guess this is used to inflate the 3dmark score?

Also, don't get me wrong, once again, I'd like to reiterate, 3dmark isn't everything, but its something I can go by. I've not run any q3 or cstrike demos in a loop or anything, and anytime I try to loop 3dmark it crashes. Even when not o/c'd. If I can get through a test without crashing, that's the first step, the next being stability in gaming. In the next couple days, I'll sit down for a cstrike session and see how that works. Oh, btw, did I mention I'm the best at cstrike? https://www.sharkyforums.com/images/.../2005/06/5.gif jk, but I do ok.

once again, thx for the help brothas

-LAG

I like the Nvidia 21.83 drivers, they seem to be the most stable.. did you try those?

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Windows 2k Professional
Dual P!!! 1Ghz @ 1.26Ghz
Asus CUV4X-D MoBo
100ATA 7200RPM Seagate 30Gig
Alas... geforce 256 64MB DDR core: 120@155 mem: 300@390

Dude, I've tried just about every driver out there. And what is kinda funny, the general consensus is the 23.11 are the most stable, but on my system, I lose 3-400 pts and cstrike looks like ****. So far the 22.80's have been the best deal so far. I'm tired of rebooting, so I've given up on the driver issue for a while.

And to the guy who posted the vcore tweak, haha, I appreciate the help, but I don't think I'll be soldering my mb anytime soon, hehe, if I can't get it the old fashion way, I'll live, but thanks for the link, my roomies had a good laugh.

-Lag

Try changing AGP Aperture Size in the BIOS to 128mb, it would help scores a whole lot.

I have, I've tried 64(sucks) 128 and 256...right now I'm running 256, to be honest, I don't remember what I was getting at 128, but I can't imagine it being much different than 256.

Well, I thought I had the ti200 stable at 225/500, but after about 20 minutes of kicking *** in cstrike, I got the blue screen. I hate that! Is that memory, or core? what do you guys think? I've bumped it down to 220/490, will try cstrike tomorrow.

-LAG