Sapphire A9RD580 Bug/Issues/Fixed

[markr]

Now you are getting somewhere.......

Yes, try 2.5-3-3-7 and the 133Mhz divider.

[eXa]

and 1t!

[Changis]

Okay, this is my official I LOVE THE SAPPHIRE A9RD580 MOTHERBOARD Post:

Tried 133mhz, no go.. hmm so much for increased ram speed...
Not being too happy about that.
Then, since I had to reset BIOS again I thought I should try to get more out of my CPU so I pushed the FSB up to 325!! and changed Command rate to 1T running smoothly

Proof: CPU-Z INFO



1125mhz OC an aprox 162.5% OC

and still the CPU seems to be saying "this all you got, ya p*ssy?" :P

[Changis]

For those wandering My Bios Settings:

These are all the changes I made in the Bios:
MPS to 1.4
Nb/HT link Voltage to 1.30
FSB upped in stages: 200-250-300-315-325 (but you can probably jump directly from 300 to 325)
HTT Settings: 600mhz-16bit-optimal-optimal-High Speed
Ram settings:
Limit @ 100mhz
Read preamble 6.0
asyc latency 9.0
Command rate 1T
the rest of this list is continued down from CMD rate, and have not been changed
From Queue Bypass Count:
8 (q.b.c.)
enabled
16clk
4
not reduced
disabled
normal drive
disabled
enabled
disabled
Level 6
Level 6
Disabled
0

All the rest of the settings are left untouched
(gonna restart and set my clock and date anew now )

(this is with the leaked AMI Manta bios)

[Changis]

330 and 335give bsod and restarts, 327 seems to be the magic number.
but I'm happy with 60+%/1100+mhz Oc

[Revv23]

hey changis, this board should have alot more then 325 in it, what is your nb voltage?

[markr]

Is that at stock cpu volts? Up it......Up it

[Changis]

nb Voltage 1.30
Cpu volt 1.350V (stock) (1.375V didnt help, and 1.4 is max V)

Then again i'm not to sure the CPU has more in it, it's running cool, (not over 50(c) load) but doesnt like itself @ just 1-3fsb (*9) higher than current speeds. (bsod)

[markr]

nb Voltage 1.30
Cpu volt 1.350V (stock) (1.375V didnt help, and 1.4 is max V)

Then again i'm not to sure the CPU has more in it, it's running cool, (not over 50(c) load) but doesnt like itself @ just 1-3fsb (*9) higher than current speeds. (bsod)

You can go higher on the CPU with the offset.

[eXa]

jup, you can go daam high, belive me!

[Changis]

I already think I'm Daamn High with this CPU :P
Upped the offset to +0.6v and have now passed the magic 3ghz barrier. (not bad for a stock 1800mhz , so glad I didn't Go for the X2 4200+ when I was deciding on CPU's :P (running 200mhz over stock FX62 for 350-400 bucks )

But When it comes to temerature measurement, I rely on ATi system manager combined with A64info.. Bios shows -1 to 0 on the CPU, ATi S.M. shows 30-35 (c) and A64info shows 35-40.. Guessing the gap is because of Unofficial Bios, but wich one can I rely on? (as default, I always rely on the Highest Values..)

EXA: you have the same CPU and stepping (CCBBE) how high can you get? or are you limited by Air heatsink?

anyway, This Board ROCKS!!

CPU-Z 3ghz Proof 3009 mhz

[flashnc]

that is one sweet overclock changis....congrats

[markr]

Very nice OC. Now you just need to figure out whats up with your ram settings. Your missing out on some more free speed.

[Changis]

what free speed? upping the mhz to 166? (133 doesnt work, 150 not available)
is there much to be gained? or will it just take 0.002seconds less starting windows?

[flashnc]

your already there...be happy, be satisfied...there are too many wishing they had gotten as far as you have....any more wont be worth anything even remotelyworth the struggle..yes ther may be a 0.002 or there abouts left in it....but to what end????if your benching for the absolute max possible then try more....

[Changis]

yes, thank you, thats my point also, how can you not be satisfied with a 1200mhz overclock or almost 70%
well ofcourse, after a little uptime @ 3ghz, I'll try to push it some more

btw: check out my "glow in the dark" case, GLOW:
http://www.techpowerup.com/gallery/420

(cables will be managed)

[markr]

what free speed? upping the mhz to 166? (133 doesnt work, 150 not available)
is there much to be gained? or will it just take 0.002seconds less starting windows?

Run sysoft sandra and see what your bandwidth is. Your ram should run at least the speed it is spec'd at. You don't need to up your cpu anymore but your ram is supposed to do what like 217mhz? Just for comparison my bandwidth is around 7000. I would guess with your ram uderclocked yours will be significantly less. 133 should work just fine you will need to get the right timings and voltage. This is where A64info becomes your friend until you find the right settings. Then you can set them in bios once you know what they are. The 133 divider will put your ram at 215Mhz, that is right at spec.

[Changis]

Benchmark Results
RAM Bandwidth Int Buff'd iSSE2 : 4285 MB/s
RAM Bandwidth Float Buff'd iSSE2 : 4319 MB/s
Results Interpretation : Higher index values are better.

Int Buff'd iSSE2 (Integer STREAM) Results Breakdown
Assignment : 4301MB/s
Scaling : 4314MB/s
Addition : 4252MB/s
Triad : 4274MB/s
Data Item Size : 16 byte(s)
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 82% (estimated)

Float Buff'd iSSE2 (Float STREAM) Results Breakdown
Assignment : 4339MB/s
Scaling : 4362MB/s
Addition : 4286MB/s
Triad : 4289MB/s
Data Item Size : 16 byte(s)
Buffering Used : Yes
Offset Displacement Used : Yes
Bandwidth Efficiency : 82% (estimated)

Performance Test Status
Run ID : GLOW on 30. september 2006 at 00:36:39
Memory Used by Test : 512MB
NUMA Support : No
SMP Test : No
Total Test Threads : 2
Multi-Core Test : Yes
SMT Test : No
Dynamic MP/MT Load Balance : No
Processor Affinity : P0C0T0 P0C1T0
System Timer : 3.6MHz
Page Size : 4kB
Use Large Memory Pages : No

Features
(W)MMX Technology : Yes
SSE Technology : Yes
SSE2 Technology : Yes
SSE3 Technology : Yes
SSE4 Technology : No
EMMX - Extended MMX Technology : Yes
3DNow! Technology : Yes
Extended 3DNow! Technology : Yes
HTT - Hyper-Threading Technology : No

Chipset 1
Model : ATI Technologies Inc ??? (5952)
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 1320MHz (2640MHz data rate)
In/Out Width : 16-bit / 16-bit
Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 10560MB/s (estimated)

Logical/Chipset 1 Memory Banks
Channels : 1
Width : 32-bit
Memory Controller in Processor : Yes

Chipset 2
Model : Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Athlon 64 / Opteron HyperTransport Technology Configuration
Front Side Bus Speed : 2x 990MHz (1980MHz data rate)
In/Out Width : 16-bit / 16-bit
Maximum Bus Bandwidth : 7920MB/s (estimated)

Logical/Chipset 2 Memory Banks
Bank 2 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-2-2-5 (tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS) CR1
Bank 3 : 512MB DDR-SDRAM 2.0-2-2-5 (tCL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS) CR1
Channels : 1
Bank Interleave : 2-way
Speed : 2x 164MHz (328MHz data rate)
Width : 128-bit
Memory Controller in Processor : Yes
Cores per Memory Controller : 2 Unit(s)
Maximum Memory Bus Bandwidth : 5248MB/s (estimated)

[markr]

Make sure you set your ram votage manually in bios to the required setting.

Then use A64info to change the top row to 2.5 3 3 7.
Change DRAM Data Drive Strength to 50% reduced.
32 Byte Granularity to 4 beats.
now hit set.

After that change if you are still up and running change your tref to a 133 compliant setting (1032 or 2064)and your divider to 133 and hit set.

If this works try your bandwidth test again and compare results.

This will also get you a <30sec superpi.

[Changis]

Well, I'm already pretty close :P

[markr]

The best way to do it is to try it out yourself. Sorry no references that I know of. You guys can start your own reference thread. The quickest way to skip through all the options and get a rough idea of what is best is to run the ATI System Manager while running windows memtest. Boot up at settings that you know are safe and run windows memtest. Then slowly increase the htt clock until you are on the verge of errors in memtest, then change the Pmos /Nmos strengths to see if the errors go away. You can very quickly tell what is better and what is worse. You can do all this with the ASM. You have to do things slowly and in steps. Trying to raise the htt too fast or change the drive strengths too much will only lead to a hard hang.

So far I have found P/6 and N/4 to allow me to tighten my timings back to where they were at 1:1. Previously I had to loosen MAL and others when on a divider. Has any one else played with these yet?

[eXa]

what\how do you test ram stability?

[markr]

what\how do you test ram stability?

I have been using Prime95, Torture test with Large FFT's.

[eXa]

ok thats all? how long. ive tested a few hours earlier when i was trying to tweak my machine. (man i should start again so i can use this cpu as intended) seemed stable but occasionally i got bsod and stuff....

[markr]

ok thats all? how long. ive tested a few hours earlier when i was trying to tweak my machine. (man i should start again so i can use this cpu as intended) seemed stable but occasionally i got bsod and stuff....

So far with this board I have not had a failure beyond 1 hour 10 min. In other words if it makes it that far it just keeps going. When I tweak my ram to something unstable I usually get a failure in just a few minutes. When I think I have it stable I usually let it go overnight for say 8 to 10 hours to be sure. When trying different settings you can use SuperPI 8M to get a preliminary idea as to if you are close or not. If you can't pass 8m then there is no need to dual prime yet.