Need help OC'ing/Suggestions

[janko10]

Ok here's the setup so far, I'm kinda disappointed.

8RDA+ 1.1 A1 (Vantec on NB, NB stock on SB, NO VDD Mod)
XP2100+ Tbred B JUIHB (I think, can't remember)
2x 512mb Kingston HyperX PC 3500 (In dimms 1 & 3)
Gainward ti4200 128mb

So far, the best I can do is 13*166 stable. This is 1.775 Vcore and 2.77 Vdimm.

I've taken off the FSB jumper (as suggested in some other threads).

Tried 13*180, Get to XP but errors
Tried 11.5*195, same result.
Upped Vcore to 1.825, same, BSOD's @ XP

Suggestions?

[Lord Vetinari]

Suggest you should try to see the limit of the CPU first by keeping the FSB between 150 to 166MHZ and changing the multi.

Having found the CPU limit, try increasing the FSB but keeping the CPU MHZ constant.
You could try running memtest86 to make sure the memory is ok at each FSB increase before going into windows.
What are your temps like under load and what are your current memory settings?

[janko10]

My temps are fine I think, 28 idle, about 33-35 under load (SLK-800 + Smart Fan II).

Timings are 2-2-2-6.

The ram is rated for 2-3-3-7 @ 217mhz so I don't think my timings are too strict.

[thuggator]

Originally posted by janko10
Ok here's the setup so far, I'm kinda disappointed.

8RDA+ 1.1 A1 (Vantec on NB, NB stock on SB, NO VDD Mod)
XP2100+ Tbred B JUIHB (I think, can't remember)
2x 512mb Kingston HyperX PC 3500 (In dimms 1 & 3)
Gainward ti4200 128mb

So far, the best I can do is 13*166 stable. This is 1.775 Vcore and 2.77 Vdimm.

I've taken off the FSB jumper (as suggested in some other threads).

Tried 13*180, Get to XP but errors
Tried 11.5*195, same result.
Upped Vcore to 1.825, same, BSOD's @ XP

Suggestions?

I have the same ram, mobo, cpu. why would taking off the fsb jumper help?

Also, you may have to give it more vcore. It seems that a lot of these guys who have 180+ fsb have 2.0V (or more). I am at 175x13 right now with 1.7vcore, but I can't see if 2.0V will get me to 190-200fsb until my sk-7 comes in.

[janko10]

Originally posted by thuggator


I have the same ram, mobo, cpu. why would taking off the fsb jumper help?

Also, you may have to give it more vcore. It seems that a lot of these guys who have 180+ fsb have 2.0V (or more). I am at 175x13 right now with 1.7vcore, but I can't see if 2.0V will get me to 190-200fsb until my sk-7 comes in.

What Vdimm are you running?

Also, there's a thread in the Epox forum at amdmb.com about removing the jumper.

[The WhiteRabbit]

have you tried taking it from a troubleshooting perspective?

Set the multiplier to something low, the memory timings to very conservative settings, and see how high of a FSB you can get and retain stability. As soon as it starts to get unstable, up the Vdimm (you shouldn't have to worry about the Vcore yet, as you should be keeping the multiplier low enough that you won't yet even be doing much, if any, overclocking above the rated speed) a hair, and test to see if it's stable.

Keep going until you find out how fast of a fsb you can pull off, then start uping the multiplier, a little at a time.

[janko10]

UPDATE: Well, I flashed the bios to the 3402 bios and now I'm stable @ 13x180, but 180 is the absolute highest FSB I can get and I'm pissed cause I have PC3500 ram which is rated to freakin' 217mhz! That just doesn't make sense to me. I dropped the multi to 8 on my proc, upped the Vcore and put the Vdimm to 2.9, relaxed timings, and I STILL could'nt get past 180. With the proc multi so low, it has to be the ram that's holding me back, but I don't understand how it can be rated to 217mhz when I can't even hit 180 with it.

Any more ideas cause I'm stumped?

[janko10]

Tried everything else I can think of, just can't get this ram above 180. Maybe I should RMA it. I can't understand how ram rated at 217mhz won't run above 180, regardless of timings and voltage. That just doesn't make sense to me. I'm utterly disgusted right now.

[BlueOval]

That is very strange in view of the fact that I can get to a 200 FSB - albeit at a mult of 8 - w/my HyperX PC3000 without having to up the Vdimm at all. Didn't try upping the mult at 200 FSB, instead I backed down to 190 FSB and was able to use a mult of 10 without upping Vdimm or Vcore. Each time I changed either the FSB or mult, I ran MemTest and Prime95 benchmark. Then I got impatient and upped my mult to 13 and it failed to POST. lol

[janko10]

Originally posted by BlueOval
That is very strange in view of the fact that I can get to a 200 FSB - albeit at a mult of 8 - w/my HyperX PC3000 without having to up the Vdimm at all. Didn't try upping the mult at 200 FSB, instead I backed down to 190 FSB and was able to use a mult of 10 without upping Vdimm or Vcore. Each time I changed either the FSB or mult, I ran MemTest and Prime95 benchmark. Then I got impatient and upped my mult to 13 and it failed to POST. lol

Ridiculous

I set my multi to 8, Vcore to 1.950
I set CPU interface to Optimal
I set Vdimm to 2.77, timings 2.5-3-3-7.

Could not even get to 190

F*cking bullsh1t.

[janko10]

I'm thinking now maybe I should RMA the ram. I dunno what else to do.

[janko10]

Well, just tried alternating sticks of ram, to see if just one was the problem. Exact same freaking results with each stick. So it's gotta be mobo or ram, but I don't think it's mobo. It's such a hassle to RMA and I don't have any other ram to try.

[janko10]

Well I decided to RMA the two sticks directly to Kingston. I hope the two new sticks will help, but I doubt it. Very upset about this, just can't understand how I can't get over 180mhz, not even 1 f'in mhz over.

[BlueOval]

Originally posted by janko10
I set my multi to 8, Vcore to 1.950
I set CPU interface to Optimal
I set Vdimm to 2.77, timings 2.5-3-3-7.

Could not even get to 190

Yeah, maybe you should RMA the RAM then. Am curious as to why you upped yer Vcore. Mine's at 1.63 - mult is currently at 10.5. Vdimm's at 2.62 w/FSB of 190 and timings of 6-2-2-2. CPU temp currently at 39C. Have yet to make any changes to NB cooling...

[janko10]

Originally posted by BlueOval


Yeah, maybe you should RMA the RAM then. Am curious as to why you upped yer Vcore. Mine's at 1.63 - mult is currently at 10.5. Vdimm's at 2.62 w/FSB of 190 and timings of 6-2-2-2. CPU temp currently at 39C. Have yet to make any changes to NB cooling...

Well, I upped the Vcore just for the sake of arguement so that I knew for sure that the CPU couldn't be the cause.

Here's a recap of everything I've tried so far. So dejected about all this...

XP2100+ JUIHB
8RDA+ 1.1 A1 w/ Vantec Iceberq on NB, Stock NB HS on SB, 3402 bios
2x 512mb Kingston HyperX PC3500 (the new LL modules, came out about a month ago, 2-3-3-7 [the old PC3500 modules were 2-4-4-8])
Gainward ti4200 128mb
Antec True Blue 480watt

The situation:

No matter what the hell I do, I can't, for the life of me, get my FSB over 180mhz (and remember the ram is rated for 217mhz).

I have tried:

Any and all CPU multi's (can get up to 14 with 2.1Vcore)
Any and all CPU Vcores
Rotated the sticks in each dimm slot (both sticks together, then single, same result)
Any and all timings from 2-2-2-6 to 2-4-4-8
Cpu interface set to both Optimal and Aggressive
Any and all Vdimms
Always have FSB and Mem Frequency set to 100%
Disabled all unecessary stuff in the bios
Have all system and cpu fans on a fan bus
Tried 3305 bios (even worse, couldn't get over 166)
Everything is ROCK at 13x180. Dropping the multi to, say, 8x181 and WinXP will BSOD.

I can't even get 1 freaking mhz over 180.

I'm at the end of my rope here.