First specs on new rig. Take a look. Where's my problem?

[BMORIN]

OK, first specs. Can't seem to go any higher, don't know what is holding me back. Take a look:

8RDA+ (c31 bios)
2400+ @ 2361MHZ (188*12.5) (2.025v) (Max Load on Prime95 is 47c - system is 27c) (Rock solid stability)
AXDA2400DKV3C/AIUGB024S(or 5)VPDW
SLK-800 & SF2 w/ AS3
2 Case Fans (SF2's, 1 intake, 1 exhaust)
OCZ basic series cl2.5 w/ alum. heat spreaders 512MB pc3200 (2.9v)
6,3,3,2.5 Timings
Radeon 8500LE 64MB (275/275) (1.6v) (thought I should be able to OC it higher than that, but I guess not)
Maxtor ATA133 80gig
ttgi 420W PSU (manually adjusted rails)
10189 3DMark2001SE
http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5669342

Ok, originally, I dropped multi on cpu way down and the highest FSB I could get and still complete 3DMark was 192. I thought I should be able to get higher than that? I keep seeing these other guys getting 200-235 FSB on this board (vdd mod for higher FSB)

What's holding me back.

Originally I thought it was the PSU since I used to have a 300W on this system. I just got the ttgi 420W in, but it hasn't helped me at all. I even adjusted the rails a bit, but still no change in system performance.

In fact, my rails are a little dangerous right now: 4.811-4.865/12.707-12.828 when running Prime95. Before I adjusted them, they were 4.650-4.677/12.403-12.464 on full load. I'm a little disappointed with the poor railing I'm getting with this PSU.

What I can't understand is that I was running a 1GHZ Tbird & cheap 256MB pc2100 in this 8RDA+ and I was getting the exact same stable FSB as I am now.

How is that possible with new Ram, new psu, and new cpu? Doesn't make sense, I can't figure out what's holding me back.

What's the problem? Under-performing board? Not high enough vdimm? Poor ram? Do I need a vdd mod?

Open to suggestions.

I know that 2361MHZ isn't bad for this cpu, since I don't see other people getting much higher (in fact I seem to be running faster than most). But I really was hoping for 200FSB and another 100MHZ on cpu.

Sigh

[caspergt]

OCZ is known for theyre cheating with ram modules, they just take some pc2700 put another tag on in like pc 3200 put heatspreaders on it and voila you got pc3200 !
The rumor goes that they deliver special sticks to benchmarking websites like hardocp etc .
So it may be that OCZ

[kiz]

no ocz has changed...they were under a bigger company that had shady dealings and has since broken away, now they produce ram up there with kingston and corsair

[twiztdskatr]

you gave us this same message over at the OCforums

[GVCryan]

Well you had different ram, cpu, and psu, but the identical fsb.

Its either your mobo or a stupid peripheral honking out on you. Do you have any soundcards/nics/tvtuners/raids or other crap from either system?

If its not that, it may be either the nb overheating or a lack of vdd (which when boosted causes nb overheating. A vicious circle.:mad: )

Try disabing a lot of your onboard periphs in BIOS, and try turning off things like fast decode, fast writes, and vid caching.

Hope it helps.

[BMORIN]

Yeah, no peripherals at all, so I'm just not sure. Thinking I'm a candidate for a vdd mod. What do you guys think. And by the way, what is a safe voltage on that?

[Shuki]

my money is resting on that ocz ram

try burning it in for a while and see if she'll do better for ya.

burn in = looping sandra mem bench (high priority) for several hours at highest possible fsb with most relaxed mem settings. Burn it for a while and then try bumping fsb by 1 and burn some more.

though you know, I could NOT get over 195 with my stick of samsung CTL pc2700 and my brand new kx7... come to find out it was 100% dimm slot 4!! slots 1,2 and 3 = 200+ So for starters, try a different dimm slot :D

[TheDude]

Are your fans connected to mobo headers or directly to PS? Try connecting directly to PS if they are not already.:D

[BMORIN]

Yeah, they're on PSU

[Shuki]

you tried that different dimm slot yet?

[BMORIN]

Thx for the advice Shuki, see my other thread to see what happened to my FSB. Sry, shouldn't have made another thread.