First time OCer, $5000 in Hardware ;)

[cuddles]

Alright, so, this is my first time ever OC'ing anything. It's becoming addictive, I always want more, even with this set up (came from a P3 with 192 Ram and a 32 MB PCI Radeon ).

S939 FX-53
2x512 Ballistix DDR400
K8N Neo2 Platinum, 1.3b6
Dual Raptors
Lian Li PC75B
x800 Pro VIVO -> XT @ 575 / 590
Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
21" Viewsonic G220fb

Now, I have a LOT of questions (waited a full week for my account here to let me post), so I'll start first with my CPU OC'ing issues.

First, I was on SATA 1/2, figured it out and dropped to 3/4, set my AGP to 67 and disabled Aggressive Timings. This helped me over my first bit of issues. This is all stock HSF by the way.


Now, at 1.64v or so, I can boot at 2.7Ghz (246x11, 2.5-3-2-10), but 3D apps crash and boom, although Windows itself is fine. 240x11, 2.5-3-2-10 is bench and game stable, but not Prime stable (never had a crash, Prime still fails in under 5 minutes).

So the question is, what exactly is holding it back from being stable? Anything I can do to fix it? I plan on getting a Vapochill LS or Mach II GT, but that's months away. Any way I can squeeze more performance out of it now?

I tried 264x10, 3-3-3-10 and got lower scores all around as opposed to 240x11, 2.5-3-2-10 suprisingly, so I don't bother with that setting, and it didn't help my 2.7Ghz stability either.

Any thoughts?

[__TRONIK__]

I have a question -
how on earth did you spend that much on that hardware?
best I can figure is you paid less than half that if you didnt get any deals...

but nice setup!

[conrad.maranan]

Are you overclocking everything all at once? You should definitely overclock your memory first by finding its maximum frequency at the tightest timings. When doing this, keep your CPU as close to the factory speed as possible. Once you've ironed out your memory clocks and tested everything out using Memtest, SuperPi 32M, and Prime 95, start tweaking your processor. This method allows you to discover which component is holding you back from making the progress you desire.

Good luck!

[cuddles]

I have a question -
how on earth did you spend that much on that hardware?
best I can figure is you paid less than half that if you didnt get any deals...

but nice setup!

Fixed, I'm at work and taking calls so I wasn't typing straight. About $4000 USD and $5800 CAD for total price with tax :p

Are you overclocking everything all at once? You should definitely overclock your memory first by finding its maximum frequency at the tightest timings. When doing this, keep your CPU as close to the factory speed as possible. Once you've ironed out your memory clocks and tested everything out using Memtest, SuperPi 32M, and Prime 95, start tweaking your processor. This method allows you to discover which component is holding you back from making the progress you desire

I have done so. My memory is stable at the timings I'm at (245 Mhz, 2.5-3-2-10). It is more processor related, just trying to find out how to get the most out of it, or if there's anything I can do to get it farther on the stock HSF. I can boot past 2.7 Ghz as well, but it gets really unstable. 2706 Mhz doesn't crash in Windows itself, but crashes all 3D apps. 2640 is bench / game stable (currently running at that speed), but dies in Prime after a few minutes.

[quicksilverXP]

Try it first with IDE... I know its a pain.... but SATA is never a guarantee when it comes to desired overclocks. Then I would suggest conrad's idea of overclocking each aspect separately and then combining it all for the best overclock possible.

What is the week of you FX-53? You may have gotten an early version that doesn't clock so well. Everytime I begin overclocking I always start with the CPU by knowing exactly what stepping/week it is. With AMD64... it's even worse than P4s because the overclocks are so different that I dunno what to expect anymore... but I do know that there is a common trend towards later weeks overclocking best.

[cuddles]

Where can I check the week of the CPU? If it involves taking off the stock HSF I won't do so until Friday when I get my AS3.

I have no IDE drives to use, just my dual Raptors. And as I said, I have overclocked each aspect. My ram is stable at the current timings and speed. I know that it's my CPU, just wondering what more I can do to get it stable.

[mike.elmes]

I am using a pci SAT raid card to run my raptors. Mine's an Adaptec but there are others that may be better. The raid cards are fairly cheap.

[jikdoc]

nice monitor~
i'm a 1st time rig builder/oc'er and learned tons on this site. just keep learning and reading. and yes oc'n is addictive and harsh on the banking account. i went from air cooling to buying stuff for watercooling to realizing wc wouldn't get me the results i wanted (for the cpu) to ordering a vapoLS before all my wc arrived. hopefully i'll stop there...

[cuddles]

I am using a pci SAT raid card to run my raptors. Mine's an Adaptec but there are others that may be better. The raid cards are fairly cheap.

This will help me get a higher OC how? I can boot up fine at 264x10 with no issues. It's not my ram, I don't think it's my SATA ports either due to that fact. I don't see how getting a RAID controller will help, excuse me if I'm being ignorant, only had my PC for 1.5 months and only been reading about OC'ing for a few months :p

[cuddles]

nice monitor~
i'm a 1st time rig builder/oc'er and learned tons on this site. just keep learning and reading. and yes oc'n is addictive and harsh on the banking account. i went from air cooling to buying stuff for watercooling to realizing wc wouldn't get me the results i wanted (for the cpu) to ordering a vapoLS before all my wc arrived. hopefully i'll stop there...

Heheh, I feel that I know a reasonable amount, I'm just not sure what is holding my CPU stability back this much, as I've never had any hands on experience until now

[conrad.maranan]

Read my signature. Dropping $800.00 on a CPU does not guarantee better chances of overclocking. You can always exchange it in high hopes of acquiring a CPU with more luck.

[cuddles]

Oh I know it's luck of the draw, kind of weary of just RMA'ing it before I know how far it can truly go. You just mentioned the RAID controller and I didn't know if that would affect performance at all.

If anyone has suggestions on how to keep this baby 100% stable, I'm all ea-... err... eyes?

[Nanobot]

Nice rig! Maybe you should try the 1.41 BIOS HERE

It is supposed to help getting higher clocks.

But the BIOS might not be the issue here.The late series of the k8N Neo2 are reputed to be better than their earlier counterparts,if your mobo came with a bios *pre 1.2* it might be an OC dog.

Try dropping the HTT multi to X3 to see if you can go up in HTT speed.

Is the memory in the first purple and green slots( 1&2) ? The 3 & 4 slots are not as stable.

If all these fail:
Try this;remove the ram in the second slot,leave the one in the first slot and try overclocking the HTT more*drop the multi to X3,or 2.5*.If it is successfull the CPU's memory controller is most likely at fault.
This would mean you might have to RMA the processor.

[cuddles]

Using DIMM slots 1/2, I have swapped the RAM around. Used HTTx4 and x3. Mobo came with 1.2 BIOS. I mean I can boot at 2.64 with 240x11 or 264x10, I'm just wondering what I can do for now to try and stabalize it at 2.7 Ghz.

[conrad.maranan]

Give it more voltage. Try 1.550V + 15% or 18.3%. If that doesn't work, your CPU has seen its max and there's nothing more you can do short of sub-ambient cooling.

[cuddles]

Yikes! 1.55v + 15% or 18.3% with the stock HSF?

That scares me.... I know a lot of people here are super rich, but I'm a 19 year old living in his parents basement, I can't burn this out :P

I guess you mean try it and Prime it to see if it lasts longer? I plan on going with a Vapochill LS or Mach II GT later on, so maybe I can still hit 3 Ghz if it tops out at 2.7 Ghz with the stock HSF.

[Nanobot]

Yes bumb the vcore up a bit to around ~1.7 verify the vcore reading using CPU-Z or the MSI utility.

It would really help if you knew what the memory's max is .
Try Conrad's advice but drop the CPU's multi and bump the memory clock then run memtest,repeat untill you are absolutely certain of the memory's stability at high clocks.

Try running 2.5-3-3-10 this is going to give you best performance per clock at the higher MHz.

[cuddles]

When I get home tomorrow I'll try 2.5-3-3-10 at 240 or 245 FSB just to put your minds at ease, although I'm 98% sure it's not the ram. Once that works, I'll try 264 just for fun, although that has to be at 3-3-3-10.

I will also try 1.7+, although if it burns out or explodes and catches my house on fire you're all dead! :P

[Nanobot]

I will also try 1.7+, although if it burns out or explodes and catches my house on fire you're all dead! :P

Yeah more like this is why your house will explode

We are all risk takers here if you're not you are not in the right forum.

A lot of ppl are running their CPU at ~ 1.7v it should be safe.

[conrad.maranan]

Yikes! 1.55v + 15% or 18.3% with the stock HSF?

That scares me.... I know a lot of people here are super rich, but I'm a 19 year old living in his parents basement, I can't burn this out :P

I guess you mean try it and Prime it to see if it lasts longer? I plan on going with a Vapochill LS or Mach II GT later on, so maybe I can still hit 3 Ghz if it tops out at 2.7 Ghz with the stock HSF.

At 1.550V + 15%, you'll figure this comes out to 1.78V. It doesn't. The voltage is approximately 0.1V lower if you take a reading using a digital multimeter. If you do not have a DMM, open up CPU-Z and the voltage indicated on the screen is very close to what is actual. At 1.550V + 18.3%, the voltage should be 1.83V. Believe it or not, it's closer to 1.74V.

I'm running a 3000+ Winchester at 2610MHz on the retail AMD HSF at 1.550V + 18.3%. I can run it Prime95 stable at 1.550V + 10%, but for the last two weeks, it has been at the maximum the BIOS will allow me to set it at. Why I push this much voltage through my CPU, I do not know.

EDIT:
You're running Crucial Ballistix. With a good memory controller, those modules have seen DDR560 and beyond at 2.5-3-3-x.

[cuddles]

Well as long as it's safe with the stock HSF I have no qualms in trying, I've just seen shots of people at like 3 Ghz at only 1.6v so I never wanted to push more through it. I'll give it a shot though for sure. You've eased my mind, so I'll be going for the max and trying to get as high as I can and as high as I can stable as well.

Thanks for the advice!

If I try 1.75v+ and it STILL isn't stable at 2.7Ghz, will I still be able to get farther on the Mach II GT or Vapochill LS? It won't be the max of my CPU, will it? If so, I'll be depressed and RMA! (well, not really, but I'd want to).

[cuddles]

I think it was 250FSB + that I had to set it to CAS3. Doesn't matter though, I'll have BH5 or OCZ VX within 3 weeks or so (hopefully), then we'll crank it up

[Nanobot]

Try running the ram at a 5/4 divider then ,if it's what's holding you back.

[jinu117]

At 1.550V + 15%, you'll figure this comes out to 1.78V. It doesn't. The voltage is approximately 0.1V lower if you take a reading using a digital multimeter. If you do not have a DMM, open up CPU-Z and the voltage indicated on the screen is very close to what is actual. At 1.550V + 18.3%, the voltage should be 1.83V. Believe it or not, it's closer to 1.74V.

I'm running a 3000+ Winchester at 2610MHz on the retail AMD HSF at 1.550V + 18.3%. I can run it Prime95 stable at 1.550V + 10%, but for the last two weeks, it has been at the maximum the BIOS will allow me to set it at. Why I push this much voltage through my CPU, I do not know.

---> FX <> Winchester. You just told him to overheat his chip really nicely on stock HSF as the voltage would be around 1.8-1.9v depending on fluctuation. (i've seen as high fluctuation up to 1.92v setting with that depending on PSU). I think it is important we try to inform people with RIGHT information before leading them to certain disasters.

[STEvil]

What PSU are you using?

TCCD memory seems to clock well with TRCD and TRP at 3, although 3-2 looks tasty.. what voltage are you running to your ram?

EDIT

Ballistix 4200 are tccd right? My brains are mush.. too much benching