M3A overclocking

[jpierce555]

My Asus engineer was from Taiwan.

I hit 2.66 on the processor. Ram speeds seem off just like with the M3A. My best performance was at 2.5x with more aggressive ram. Regardless I sold the Phenom, I decided I spent to much, and I need a new carb on the Mustang.

I am getting more aggressive performance with the x2 on this board, but still strange with the ram. At 14.5 multiplier or up ram speed is 413, but 14 makes it sky rocket to 458. I guess it is something quirky with the 7xx series chips. I don't feel comfortable with cranking volts above 1.475, but with 1.6 I hit 3.5ghz (probably not stable).

The M3A needs that 16x ht width setting and voltage.

I feel stupid, I am out about $225 on this venture to get little above where I was in the first place, but at least I have a good upgradeable board for when the new AMD stuff releases.

[crazydiamond]

My Asus engineer was from Taiwan.

I hit 2.66 on the processor. Ram speeds seem off just like with the M3A. My best performance was at 2.5x with more aggressive ram. Regardless I sold the Phenom, I decided I spent to much, and I need a new carb on the Mustang.

I am getting more aggressive performance with the x2 on this board, but still strange with the ram. At 14.5 multiplier or up ram speed is 413, but 14 makes it sky rocket to 458. I guess it is something quirky with the 7xx series chips. I don't feel comfortable with cranking volts above 1.475, but with 1.6 I hit 3.5ghz (probably not stable).

The M3A needs that 16x ht width setting and voltage.

I feel stupid, I am out about $225 on this venture to get little above where I was in the first place, but at least I have a good upgradeable board for when the new AMD stuff releases.

what bios are you using thats giving you those odd ram speeds? im runnin the 5000be on the m3a and havent noticed anything wierd with the speeds. i can flash to whatever bios your on and check again to be sure.

i hear ya on the 16x ht width, and i would still like to see a nb volts option in the bios for x2's

[SocketMan]

"At 14.5 multiplier or up ram speed is 413, but 14 makes it sky rocket to 458"



Different multiplier for the cpu=different RAM divider (ratio/divider)
That's (one of the reasons)why AMD added a separate North Bridge for the k10-
so that people can set the RAM speed regardless of the CPU speed.

For exaple for my 5000 BE I use 250x12=3000 with the RAM 500 (1000ddr)
If I use 200x15=3000 then my RAM speed will be lower (different cpu/ram ratio)
M3a unlike some other boards does not have a cpu/ram ratio (divider) setting in the BIOS,so users need to find
that "sweet" spot for their RAM/CPU speed.

[jpierce555]

Yeah and that sucks, the KA3 gave me killer power with the memory. The memory would run somewhat aggressive timings, 430mhz, and 2.15v. The GB and Asus board run the same speeds as each other.

So Socketman, I am to assume the KA3 must have automatically made the multiplier adjustment?

BTW guys Newegg has the 9600be for $225.

[crazydiamond]

BTW guys Newegg has the 9600be for $225.

and the m3a for $90....

[justapost]

My Asus engineer was from Taiwan.

I hit 2.66 on the processor. Ram speeds seem off just like with the M3A. My best performance was at 2.5x with more aggressive ram. Regardless I sold the Phenom, I decided I spent to much, and I need a new carb on the Mustang.

2.64 with 1,375V Vcore here with the new mobo.

The M3A needs that 16x ht width setting and voltage.

Does not seem to have 16xht with F4 eighter.

I feel stupid, I am out about $225 on this venture to get little above where I was in the first place, but at least I have a good upgradeable board for when the new AMD stuff releases.

Must have been a hard decision between better overall performance with x2 and better increase in performance with phenom.

[jpierce555]

Its a shame, I think the M3A has potential, I hit more mhz on it with stock voltage than my new board. I think Asus does not want it to perform to well.

2.64 at 1.375 same voltage I hit 2.66 on. Feels better?

[justapost]

Its a shame, I think the M3A has potential, I hit more mhz on it with stock voltage than my new board. I think Asus does not want it to perform to well.
2.64 at 1.375 same voltage I hit 2.66 on. Feels better?

With the M2A-VM it took em around a year to build a proper bios. It's a power efficient board in terms of prozessor voltage but i compared it with the M2A-VM and phenom at stock.
In idle it requires ~100W AC the M2A-VM requires ~70W AC. Under load they both require ~140W. System spec are the same as in my previous tests used crucial ram here.
Max oc with M2A-VM was 2.55GHz at 1,475V. Under load the system required ~200W AC. 1,475V was the max I could apply stable.
AM2RD790 requires ~215W AC oced to 2,62GHz at 1,375V. AT 1,4V the system becomes unstable, reboots and freezes.
The board needs an extra fan to keep the digital pwm and chipset cool, i used one from an stock amd cooler, was an easy mount on top of the pwm passive cooler.
The bios can save four different profiles and and additional one whom is saved at each boot. I like this because I'll need an oc'ed profile only every now and then. I miss the EZ-Flash utility, DOS-Floppy based method is alittle stone edgy.

Hmm shouldn't software crossfire work with an HD 2600 XT and an HD 2400 pro

I'm abit confused about temperatur readings on this mobo.


Damn, seems my phenom is dead, did not run long at 84° core only a few seconds. System worked fine for nearly an hour afterwards with the settings in my sig and temps below 50° under load, suddenly powered of and does no longer post. Can be related to 2,16Vbios/2,26Vsensor reading for the ram.
Tried him in the m3a, same result. Both boards post with the be2400 but the sapphire does not boot and hangs during DMI verification.

[SocketMan]

Must be nice,worm and cozy near that board

I've got the Brisbane BE in Phenom BE out for the time beeing.
Thinking of getting the new DFI m2rs LP DK
about 150CAD at my local shop compare to 275CAD for their LP UT.
I still use my 939 nf4 Expert board too,just can't resist-too sexy
That way I'll have my Brisbane in m3a and Phenom in the DFI or the other way around
I think the "problem" with BIOS in Asus boards- is the fact that Asus has
too many boards.

"Hmm shouldn't software crossfire work with an HD 2600 XT and an HD 2400 pro"

Unless it's CrosfireX driver where (I assume ) you can use 2 (or more) different cards?

[i found nemo]

so if i were to get a 6400+ black edition would i have problems adjusting voltage, ram timings, ram voltage, ram speed?

[Methious]

I run the 6400 on the M3A, it doesn't have a lot of head room to over clock, I can run it at 3.7, but run it at 3.52 for longevity. On the X2 series you can adjust the voltages you ask about no problem. Ram timings are adjustable also. I've had the board since it came out and haven't had any problems with it other than on setup it read my ram timings wrong. Since then they've updated bios and it detects them correctly now.

You need a cpu cooler with the 6400 as one isn't provided, zalman 9700, or thermalright 120 ultra do it good.

[i found nemo]

i'm willing to run 1.55v+ if possible. i'm used to running high volts, for example i'm pushing 1.6 v's into a 1.2v processor. and my old clawhammer i ran 1.9v's to get 2.6ghz. hoping for 3.9 - 4 ghz but expecting 3.5-3.8thanx for the advice on a cooler i was gunna use my a64 freezer.

[crazydiamond]

well i think m3a bios only goes up to 1.55 vcore, but i dont think you would want to go higher than that on the 6400 with a freezer 64 pro

[jpierce555]

Oh, that sucks! Sorry to hear that... I have heard high ram voltages cause the Phenom to die, but don't understand how that works.

[THE JEW (RaVeN)]

So, if I may generalize.......

....it seems the M3A is decent at overclocking X2's, but not so hot when overclocking the new quadcores? Would that be a fair assessment? I'm starting to look at buying a new mobo. Basically, if you were to do it all over again, would you have bought the M3A? Thanks.

[i found nemo]

Oh, that sucks! Sorry to hear that... I have heard high ram voltages cause the Phenom to die, but don't understand how that works.

they said the same thing with k8 and voltages of ram that was usually for bh-5 users ( 3.2+v's) and the fix was to give a lil more juice to the core i think.

[crazydiamond]

So, if I may generalize.......

....it seems the M3A is decent at overclocking X2's, but not so hot when overclocking the new quadcores? Would that be a fair assessment? I'm starting to look at buying a new mobo. Basically, if you were to do it all over again, would you have bought the M3A? Thanks.

ive bought the m3a 2x now. sold the last build it was in to make a buck, bought it again for myself. if i sell this one and do another x2 build before we get a sli phenom board, i will probably grab another m3a

[justapost]

i'm willing to run 1.55v+ if possible. i'm used to running high volts, for example i'm pushing 1.6 v's into a 1.2v processor. and my old clawhammer i ran 1.9v's to get 2.6ghz. hoping for 3.9 - 4 ghz but expecting 3.5-3.8thanx for the advice on a cooler i was gunna use my a64 freezer.

You better get an 790FX board if you plan to go above 1,45V. You'll run into temperature isuues with mosfets and nb at those volts.

Oh, that sucks! Sorry to hear that... I have heard high ram voltages cause the Phenom to die, but don't understand how that works.

Not sure if that caused the failure. At least i managed to get the board into an usable state again. With an other X2 cpu the bios did not hang at "DMI pool" so i flashed latest dfi bios and now it works with the be2400 again.
Lol, first i thought i was totally locked out of my new mobo.

So, if I may generalize.......
....it seems the M3A is decent at overclocking X2's, but not so hot when overclocking the new quadcores? Would that be a fair assessment? I'm starting to look at buying a new mobo. Basically, if you were to do it all over again, would you have bought the M3A? Thanks.

It's a nice board as long as you don't run into temperature issues. I bought it to replace my P830 server and for that issue i'd buy it again, because it works flawless with current linux kernels.

[i found nemo]

790 fx? not really wantin' to go over 130$ for my mb and don't want the msi fire cracker either ... any suggestions? is it THAT SERIOUS? fan won't help?

[SocketMan]

http://www.motherboardpro.com/DFI-LA...ard-p-519.html
That would be my pick.
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=309887

[justapost]

http://www.motherboardpro.com/DFI-LA...ard-p-519.html
That would be my pick.
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=309887

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=299021
That worked on one day, next day max was 272MHz.
Round 270MHz was max on the Sapphire PCFX 790FX I could reach before the cpu stopped working.

[justapost]

http://www.motherboardpro.com/DFI-LA...ard-p-519.html
That would be my pick.

Only difference to M2R is it has analoge pwm, only one on board nic and no heatpipes for the chipset.
Earlier problem with phenoms seem to have been fixed with the latest bios.

[Methious]

I might be able to tell you about the heat issues with the mosfets in about a week. I have a set of heat sinks coming for the mosfets, had to go with vga heat sinks because they put capacitors to close for stock mosfet heat sinks. It'll be about a week because for a change Xoxide.com had the prices and a couple of bucks shipping.

They have a pci anywhere adjustable fan/HD holder at the egg I'm going to try out next time I order from there. Made by sunbeam and from the looks of it in most mid towers with a large video card it'll have to be modded.

[KTE]

Achim: this is why your motherboard temperature for EVEREST+Smart Guardian were wrong: http://www.lavalys.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=2939

[SSN585]

I've been quietly lurking here for a while...finally got registered.

I've made a fairly unimpressive overclocked M3A. Air cooled only, Silent Mode I get about 43C with about 24C room temp, idle. I peaks around 48C when stressed with a FPS game like COD4. I had the FSB up to 250MHZ, but it was a little unstable. Anyway, I'm using the 0601 BIOS.





The Enzotech Extreme-X CPU H/S works pretty well on a M3A. I had to sacrifice one stick of RAM to fit it in (something low profile might work). How 'bout that mirrored surface?

(shown with only 2 sticks...third stick reinstalled after photo)