Hey guys, you gots a n00b on your hands :D

[FORSAKEN]

Hello everyone, Im new! (yay for me).

lol, anyway, the reason I registered here is because I started building myself a new computer a couple months ago, and recently almost got it finished. Then I started reading on overclocking and such, and well, its all down hill from there (up hill?).

I built myself an AMD system, based off the new 64 bit chip. I got a 3400+ with (original mobo) ASUS K8T800 Deluxe, Thermaltake XaserIII Super Tower case, Thermaltake HS/F, Radeon 9800pro 256, gig of Corsair XMS PC4400 DDR550, SoundBlaster Audigy Platinum, 2x Raptor 74gig HDD in RAID-0. etc etc etc....

First computer Ive ever built, ran extremely fast. Then I started messing with the FSB in BIOs, and enjoyed the results :D
But I think, and read somewhere, that the VIA chipset wasnt all that great for overclocking, and the most I could get stably (that a word) for any extended period of time was a 215mhz FSB.

At that point I started looking for alternative motherboards, with locked AGP/PCI, and found the nForce3 250 (hadnt been released at the time). Then, like a week ago, the Chaintech ZNF3-250Gb became available, and I ordered one, hooked everything up, and here I am.

Heres the deal though, I cant get it to overclock at all. If I even raise the CPU frequency in BIOS by 1mhz, it wont boot. Somethings wrong, and with my limited knowledge, I cant figure out what. What am I doing wrong? Everything else about this board works, so Im not so sure somethings wrong with IT, Im assuming operator error...but whatever, any ideas? Thanks.

[Çhrist0ph]

PC4400 on an amd system?

afaik, thats a big ouch

[EnJoY]

Could be ram incompatibility. Some nForce 3's hate 512mb modules for one, and secondly...it's PC4400 which is a big no no for AMD. Beside that, have you tried flashing the latest bios?

[FORSAKEN]

I searched the Chaintech website, they dont have a newer version of the ZNF3-250Gb BIOS, at least, not that I can find.

And why is PC4400 so bad for AMD systems? Just because they run at lower clock speeds?

Also, it OC'ed on my ASUS board, just not this one.

[charlie]

The PC4400 is designed to run at high speeds but with low performing memory timings. Since you will probably never get the 3400+ over 240ish, you need DDR that will perform "optimally" at 240-250 AND be compatible with that mobo. Probably talking about singlesided BH-5 there...check Ebay for some Mushkin Level 2 PC3500 2 x 256mB.

OH! And BTW,

Welcome to Xtreme!
:toast:

Or as some here may be heard saying, "Welcome to the Sickness"

Or the best DDR on the market currently would be the Mushkin 222 SPECIAL PC3200, handpicked BH-6 sticks...

[Çhrist0ph]

you should definetley sell that PC4400 and get some OCZ EB PC3200-PC3700.
I cant recommend BH5 because youll be lucky if you can find it at a *reasonable* price.

[stasiu]

Like was stated earlier....go with the OCZ EB's. I've spent over a $1k trying to get 1gb of RAM that will OC on this system with no luck. If you just want 512 total...go with some BH-5, but if you need a gig...i think the only reliable choice is the OCZ EB's, that's the direction i'll be going too.

[FORSAKEN]

Now, would the wrong ram prevent me from overclocking this mobo AT ALL? Because the thing runs perfect without any OC, but as soon as I raise FSB by 1mhz, it crashes.

And again, it OC'ed just fine on the ASUS VIA board. Same ram.

[Çhrist0ph]

Originally posted by FORSAKEN
Now, would the wrong ram prevent me from overclocking this mobo AT ALL? Because the thing runs perfect without any OC, but as soon as I raise FSB by 1mhz, it crashes.

And again, it OC'ed just fine on the ASUS VIA board. Same ram.

of course, there might be a compatibility issue between the two.

[charlie]

No, we're speaking generally about the ram issue.
About your specific issue with the Chainy, not many of us have that mobo... it's PROBABLY just a BIOS setting issue. Something small like Spread Spectrum Disable or something similar.
You will figure it out soon, I'm sure :D
And YES, like stasiu said, go for the OCZ EB DDR if you need 1 gHz, and the BH-5/6 if you only need 512mB

C

[FORSAKEN]

Wait...is Spread Spectrum supposed to NOT be disabled? Crap...

EDIT

I tried enabling Spread Spectrum, and OC'ing, it gave me an error message on boot, saying I should go into BIOS and change my CPU frequency back to default, or F1 to bypass error. I hit F1 to see if it would continue to boot, it did. Once in windows I ran CPU-Z to see what itd show.

It said that my CPU was running at 2200mhz..normal speed. It wasnt changing it to the frequency that I set it to in BIOS.

I rebooted back into BIOS, and it still showed the frequency change there, but it said that Spread Spectrum was disabled again. So I enabled it one more time, and rebooted, going back into BIOS. I checked Spread Spectrum one more time, said disabled again. Did that twice, and it wouldnt leave Spread Spectrum as enabled no matter what, why is this?

[charlie]

SS suppose to be DISABLED.
Until more peeps get that mobo, it is hard to guess at this point :D I'm sure your rig will FLY, just be patient.

C

[FORSAKEN]

Its hard to :/ spent 180 on this mobo at newegg, and I cant even USE it to its fullest potential.

[charlie]

soon...........

Just try all the standard type stuff... try with 1 stick of DDR, switch dimm slots, set Mem timing to AUTO, make sure there's not a setting that switches FSB to MANUAL...stuff like that!

C

[afireinside]

I have the VNF3-250. Make sure your VDIMM is 2.9V. That might help. Like said try only 1 stick of ram.

[FORSAKEN]

Ok, pulled one of my sticks of RAM out, and itd let me OC 5mhz, but that was it, anything higher and it wouldnt boot. So Im guessing that means its my RAM right?


http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=20-146-985&depa=0

That the RAM you guys suggest?

[Formann]

Originally posted by FORSAKEN
Ok, pulled one of my sticks of RAM out, and itd let me OC 5mhz, but that was it, anything higher and it wouldnt boot. So Im guessing that means its my RAM right? '

yup.. sounds like your mobo ang RAM doesn´t get along very well.

With OCZ EB sticks, i would guss youre inn for some 250*10 action.. 2.5-2-2-6 timings making your benches really nice :D

[Evil_Spork]

Originally posted by Çhrist0ph
you should definetley sell that PC4400 and get some OCZ EB PC3200-PC3700.
I cant recommend BH5 because youll be lucky if you can find it at a *reasonable* price.

quoted for xtreme truth. ditch teh pc4400 ASAP. thats probably the problem here.

you want low latency memory for amd, and intel youll want the 4400 for really high 1:1 mem speeds, but at lax timings.

grab some 3500EB(the 3700 got really pricey, $185=2*256)