Unable to overclock opteron

00fil00 · 8 Feb 2006 at 14:41

well im not sure how but enabling voltage boost in sb to nb and all that except cpu seemed to do the trick?! still not sure how. im on a 166 divider now and my ram should do 183 but it doesnt. but im happy lol ive got an FX57!

any tweak advice?

brightside_ · 8 Feb 2006 at 17:29

That RAM should do 233, my Corsair XMS does 245, although it doesn't like much higher than that. Have you tried increasing the RAM voltage slightly (eg from 2.6V to 2.65V or to 2.7V) This might help you RAM be stable at higher speeds.

One more thing, what is your stepping? It may be that you have a poorer stepping than some, and oyu might have reached your CPU's limit. Also, letting it burn in for a week or so of use, from what I've found, can help loosen it a little, and allow you to clock higher. I could get max of 2.6, left it for a week or normal running, and last weekend got 2.7 out of it with a 333 divider on my RAM.

a lot of the time instantaneous overclocking thats stable will not happen! Be patient, and keep trying

00fil00 · 9 Feb 2006 at 15:56

the ram should do 250 as its pc4000, ive managed to get 166 divider stable but a 183 divider is still unstable. that should run the ram at 255 which is only a 5mhz overclock and the name on the ram is OCZ! this should be possible. is there anything im not thinking of? would more voltage to the cpu make this stable or does cpu voltage not effect ram? the cpu is fine, will try to push it further later once its burnt in.

lokkers · 9 Feb 2006 at 18:33

what do you mean by not stable? have you run memtest on the ram at its stock speed?, and then overclocked (forget about the cpu for the time being - use a multiplier to keep it at stock).

00fil00 · 9 Feb 2006 at 22:02

i mean the pc turns itself off like its burnt out at 183 divider, the monitor turns off and i need to pull the battery and start over. will try testing more when i get time, got uni tmrw

lokkers · 10 Feb 2006 at 08:02

have you checked to see if there are known issues with the 183 divider on your motherboard? have you checked for an updated bios? check to make 100% sure you have the ram in the correct ram slots on the mobo (using the wrong ones can cause instability). have you checked OCZs specs to see if the ram is designed to run at 1T @ 250mhz - i'd be pleasantly surprised if 1gb ddr4000 sticks are designed to? finally, have you run memtest on your ram, both at stock and overclocked?

also, is your gfx overclocked at all?

00fil00 · 10 Feb 2006 at 15:33

oh MAAAAN! it clocks to 2780 into windows and then 2800 it fails! argh. so whats better? 2780mhz only 2HTT away from 2.8ghz with a 183 divider, or 2800mhz with a 166 divider?

TaKeN · 10 Feb 2006 at 16:31

From what ive read, running the memory on a divider doesnt affect AMD Cpu's so the faster clock speed is better on the cpu, if thats what you were asking

00fil00 · 10 Feb 2006 at 17:16

but 50mhz?

. i know dividers dont affect performance MUCH, but how much is much?

about as much as a measly 50mhz?

iraiguana · 10 Feb 2006 at 17:59

well you could always try and bench it and find out which gives the best results, would do a combination of tests to get a decent view as just one test may put more bias on a certain aspect of the system, eg may say cpu speed more important than ram.

00fil00 · 10 Feb 2006 at 22:08

yea thats the best way but the problem is i dont have a graphics card yet, im waiting till the new nvidia comes out to push prices down and see what its like so will probably just have to wait a few months and see which is better for games, unless you know any tests that doesnt use graphics? i presume 3dmark does and aquamark

Joe42 · 10 Feb 2006 at 22:30

hottiger said:
These are the bios settings for my A8N32:
Processor Voltage 1.325 (this gives you around 1.525 with overvoltage option enabled)

Any reason why you use the overvoltage option rather than disabling it and raising the voltage manually?
What temps are you people with overclocked opterons getting?
I've got arguably the best aircooling heatsink there is and its hitting 47c @ 2.5.
Also, i'm finding either the bios voltage options or the voltage measuring inaccurate. If i set it to 1.45 it reads 1.42...

speeduk · 10 Feb 2006 at 23:48

Joe42 said:
Any reason why you use the overvoltage option rather than disabling it and raising the voltage manually?
What temps are you people with overclocked opterons getting?
I've got arguably the best aircooling heatsink there is and its hitting 47c @ 2.5.
Also, i'm finding either the bios voltage options or the voltage measuring inaccurate. If i set it to 1.45 it reads 1.42...

With a 144 @ 2.9ghz 1.58v I got about 52c load with a standard freezer 64. Run it at 2.8ghz though as the motherboard can't handle over 320htt and get about 47c load @ 1.47v.

Joe42 · 11 Feb 2006 at 10:58

speeduk said:
With a 144 @ 2.9ghz 1.58v I got about 52c load with a standard freezer 64. Run it at 2.8ghz though as the motherboard can't handle over 320htt and get about 47c load @ 1.47v.

I've definately made a mess of the thermal paste then, as my heatsink is supposed to be better than that and yet it hits 47 @ 2.5.
I think this is also suggested by the fact that it hits about 43-45 at stock, and only rises to 47 when overclocked to 2.5. Also the heatsink itself is a lot cooler than the cpu. Its almost certainly not making good thermal contact with the cpu.

n3x · 11 Feb 2006 at 11:19

my runs abit hot atm aswell, up to 51 under load, was thinkin about getting a scythe ninja but will try reseating the heatsink once again first

00fil00 · 11 Feb 2006 at 12:18

on a stress test i get about 38degrees. i use the zalman LED. i like it as its the best quiet cooler and thats afterall why the a8n32 has a heatpipe and not a fan. why get a a8n32 and then ruin it with a ninja?

Joe42 · 11 Feb 2006 at 22:12

00fil00 said:
on a stress test i get about 38degrees. i use the zalman LED. i like it as its the best quiet cooler and thats afterall why the a8n32 has a heatpipe and not a fan. why get a a8n32 and then ruin it with a ninja?

Been there, fried that.

00fil00 · 4 Apr 2006 at 10:27

after months of my opteron being stable at 2.8, my keyboard broke and i had to remove the cmos battery to get it detected again. now all my overclocking is reset and i cant get it back! what am i forgetting? i set to x10 multi, ldt to x3 ddr volt to 2.6 - 2.8, limit memory to 166. what else is there? im sure ive done the same as before but now i cant get it past even 2.2 before it stops posting. this sounds like ldt but ive done that - unless my bios is not posting correct values. im tempted to think that because in 1 option i press the + to raise v core and it actually loweres it! i thought removing the battery would set bios back to normal? any advice?

a8n32
opteron 146
zalman cooler
ocz pc4000

00fil00 · 4 Apr 2006 at 11:07

ok since last post ive found out its not the chip, it can still get to 2800 but i have to limit my ram to 100! so its something about my ram. does this help further?

geeza · 4 Apr 2006 at 12:23

^

have you tried running memtest?

To all those who say about not applying paste properly, on my 146 I left the thermal pad on that came with the cooler 64 pro and put AS5 ontop of it. Then stuck it down and scraped away any that ran out the sides. Mines 24hr prime stable at 2.8ghz, game and superPI stable at 2.9ghz and boots windows at 3ghz but generates errors on superPI after a minute or 2.
Im sure i could get it 2.9-3ghz stable but i cant be bothered messing about with memory timings any more. im happy with 2.8ghz until games require more