M3A overclocking

[justapost]

Can you see that? Set it to 195ns when you oc HT ref/RAM/IMC.

Lol, yeah if have those settings in MemSet here too. Will try if they survive an reboot with bios modifications.

-I disabled all cores but core 2 (3rd one) and it reached 2.8GHz before it crashed, on just multiplier. Never took any ss because I thought I'd see them in the valids anyway but they're too old to verify. I would try again but if I have to reset BIOS again it won't boot. So waiting for the new BE.

Now 2,8MHz with one core whould be pretty nice. With disabling you mean 5xmultis with aod I assume.

-Yep, the updated CPUZ shows exactly as you're saying. What I meant is, ganged DCT mode is synonymous to single channel and optimized for single threaded performance; in performance, IMC stress, RAM oc'ing and so on, it is like having a single DIMM installed. Unganged is synonymous to best performance typical of dual channel, harder to oc RAM in, much harder on the IMC and also restricts IMC speed oc'ing and HT ref.

Well I know the difference between the two modes but interchanged em.
Unganged means both dct's operate independent.

I'm still thinking you can get more for some reason.
Have you tried these settings? One of them might work for you.
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=279946
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=279944

The best setting all round for me was this (stable/benched/ran for 3 weeks):
http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc.php?id=278357

Must do day-to-day business here now to fund my latest hardware orders.
Thank you for the settings gonna try em later.

[justapost]

Lol, yeah if have those settings in MemSet here too. Will try if they survive an reboot with bios modifications.

Settings do not survive a reboot.

Now 2,8MHz with one core whould be pretty nice. With disabling you mean 5xmultis with aod I assume.

None of my cores is stable ~2,6MHz.

[KTE]

-Those settings won't survive a reboot, yep. We set them using the BIOS options we have for them.

-The way to get only one core is simple>
1.


2.

[justapost]

-Those settings won't survive a reboot, yep. We set them using the BIOS options we have for them.

-The way to get only one core is simple>
1.


2.

We do this (platform independent) using the BIOS options we have for them.


The boot option does not let you choose the core you want to disable I guess.

[KTE]

Nope it won't let you choose specifically, but it works in numerical order: core 0, 1, 2, 3.

We don't have the option for disabling cores as such through the BIOS.

[justapost]

Got an english reply from Asus Support. They sent me the bios for testing due to my feature request so it's ok if I upload it somewhere and post a link here.

[justapost]

Download Link for Bios 0501.

[justapost]

Measured the mobo's power consumption yesterday:

System:

MB: M3A
Prozessor: GP-9500/BE-2400
Mem: 2x1GB G.SKill F2-6400CL4D-2GBHK
GFX: HD 2400 Pro (500/400MHz)
HD: Maxtor 7H500F0 (500GB/Sata II)
PSU: Zalman ZM460B-APS
OS: Windows XP Prof. 32Bit

No fans no opticals used. Cooling was done with Reserator 1p whom was not taken into account and pulls 4-5W AC.

CnQ and Desktop where idle measurements.
The load was generated with prime95 and Fritzchess running in parallel.
I used stock/auto settings in the bios. For 9100 simulation i use an 9xcpu multi together with an 8xnb/ht multi and 1,2V cpu-v 1,175V nb-v.
Ambient temps ~20°, CPU temps idle 36° under load 45°-47°, nb ~30° sb 25°.

Quadcore GP-9500:
CnQ: 95W AC / 75,6W DC (79,6&#37
Desktop: 125W AC / 99,9W DC (79,9%)
Load: 173W AC / 140,6W DC (81,3%)

Triplecore GP-9500:
CnQ: 93W AC / 72,7W DC (78,2%)
Desktop: 122W AC / 97,4W DC (79,8%)
Load: 150W AC / 121,2W DC (80,8%)

Dualcore GP-9500:
CnQ: 91W AC / 70,0W DC (77,0 %)
Desktop: 111W AC / 87,7W DC (79,0%)
Load: 133W AC / 106,7W DC (80,3%)

Singlecore GP-9500
CnQ: 88W AC / 67,4W DC (76,6%)
Desktop: 98W AC / 76,5W DC (78,1%)
Load: 114W AC / 90,4W DC (79,3%)

Quadcore: GP-9100 (simulated)
CnQ: 93W AC / 72,7W DC (78,2%)
Desktop: 114W AC / 90,4W DC (79,3%)
Load: 158W AC / 128,3W DC (81,2%)

Dualcore: BE-2400
CnQ: 68W AC / 47,6W DC (~70%)
Desktop: 80W AC / 60W DC (75,0%)
Load: 100W AC / 78,3W DC (78,3%)

Difference between load usage with two vs. four cores is ~34W so a dual core whould have an ~60W TDP based on these numbers.
Difference between dual core k8 and k10 is 28,5W. Based on these the dual core K10 TDP is ~73,5W.

The accouracy for the psu's efficiency is low for 68W AC, so these measurements can not be used to estimate phenoms idle power consumption.

[dball3]

thanx for the bios, so far so good

[justapost]

thanx for the bios, so far so good

Glad it helped.

Pushed max ref HT with the BE-2400 a little bit.



392MHz can boot everytime, 393MHz never but I did not try all posiibilities yet.
With an 1x cpu and ht multi I can reach 282MHz max.

Max the cpu can handle are 1,55V. I can reach 3,33GHz+7MHz with all multis betweem 11,5-8,5, no way to get any further. Prime95 errors with 1,575V.

[Jakalwarrior]

Did it help you get higher stably? or just let the HT go higher and give us more voltage?

[justapost]

Did it help you get higher stably? or just let the HT go higher and give us more voltage?

Testing stability with 392MHz ref HT now. With higher cpu multis I got it stable for at least 30 mins with prime95.
It's no 24/7 setup placed the reserator 1p'2 reservoir outside the window to gain 10°.

EDIT: Seem's the board was just in a good mood max I can boot now is 382MHz.

It's stable at 380MHz with 8,5xCPU at 1,525V, Mem with 461MHz 4-4-4-12 at 2,2V and 2xHT.

[Jakalwarrior]

I just gave 0501 a spin and my system didnt like it. CPU temps reported very high (50+ at idle) and in orthos I get errors very quickly with the overclock I was running previously.

[informal]

Guys,what's the best and most stable BIOS for this board?I will have one by next week for testing .

Thanks in advance

[justapost]

Guys,what's the best and most stable BIOS for this board?I will have one by next week for testing .

Thanks in advance

301 gives the best memory bandwith but the phenom support is on an initial state. It lacks cpu-multi settings.
406 Allows cpu-multi settings, max ref HT i could reach was ~235MHz
501 Allows nb-multi settings and allows higher ref HT's with lower nb-multis

So id go with version 501 if you use a phenom cpu.

[informal]

Thanks a bunch justapost .
I will use it with a Brisbane CPU,if it performs well i will keep it for my main rig .
So with X2 still a good choice a 501 version?I don't plan on using Phenom anytime soon(i have no need for quad core cpu for the time being)

Thanks for the valuable informations in this topic

[Nedjo]

-Those settings won't survive a reboot, yep. We set them using the BIOS options we have for them.

-The way to get only one core is simple>
1.


2.

I've tried manually to set NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS value from advanced system settings\environment variables, but it didn't work after reseting (Vista 64bit)
Where can I DL this util of yours?

[justapost]

I've tried manually to set NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS value from advanced system settings\environment variables, but it didn't work after reseting (Vista 64bit)
Where can I DL this util of yours?

On WinXP there was msconfig.exe for that issue. Not in the PATH locatet in C:\WINDOWS\pchealth\helpctr\binaries.
If vista still uses C:\boot.ini you can also use a text editor and add /NUMPROC= manual.

[KTE]

Testing stability with 392MHz ref HT now. With higher cpu multis I got it stable for at least 30 mins with prime95.
It's no 24/7 setup placed the reserator 1p'2 reservoir outside the window to gain 10°.

EDIT: Seem's the board was just in a good mood max I can boot now is 382MHz.

This is the crap thing that throws me off! What the heck is happening with one high offs and then low and then higher later one and so on?

[flippin_waffles]

I've tried manually to set NUMBER_OF_PROCESSORS value from advanced system settings\environment variables, but it didn't work after reseting (Vista 64bit)
Where can I DL this util of yours?

Type msconfig in the run box in start menu, and under the boot tab, click advanced options.

[Jakalwarrior]

Thanks a bunch justapost .
I will use it with a Brisbane CPU,if it performs well i will keep it for my main rig .
So with X2 still a good choice a 501 version?I don't plan on using Phenom anytime soon(i have no need for quad core cpu for the time being)

Thanks for the valuable informations in this topic

My brisbane much prefers 0406. 501 lowered my max stable overclock. Dont be scared to try it and see what it does for you though.

[KTE]

One thing Achim: for 9100E 1.8GHz, voltage/vid and so amperage won't be the same as 9500 so power consumption can't be simulated unless you have the unlocked 9600. In that case you can throw voltage to sub-1.1V (my 95W 9600 BE is 1.192V at 1.2VID stock).

So your volts/amps at 1.8GHz would have to be maximum 1.085V at 15A per core to simulate those 65W models and NB speed slower than CPU speed by at least 200MHz and thus low IMC voltage and VID. I should be able to test something similar soon but still not as low.

[Thesavage]

Tried low voltage @2.2 lowest I could get was about the 1.1 before the machine shut down, temps did drop nicely though nearly 8c.

[justapost]

One thing Achim: for 9100E 1.8GHz, voltage/vid and so amperage won't be the same as 9500 so power consumption can't be simulated unless you have the unlocked 9600. In that case you can throw voltage to sub-1.1V (my 95W 9600 BE is 1.192V at 1.2VID stock).

So your volts/amps at 1.8GHz would have to be maximum 1.085V at 15A per core to simulate those 65W models and NB speed slower than CPU speed by at least 200MHz and thus low IMC voltage and VID. I should be able to test something similar soon but still not as low.

Good point, i'll try to find the minimum voltages required for 5xmulti and add those results. Had used a 7xnb/ht multi together with an 8xcpu multi, can be the 9100 comes with an 6xnb/ht multi. You get an lower clocked ES from your uncle?

[KTE]

Do one thing though; you might crash your system if your VID is too high for the low CPU speed you selected. So if you drop the VID to 1.1 at bootup and set low CPU speed, that would be better.

Nope, the only ES there were 9700 and 9900 and those I saw long ago. X2 sorta clockers, better than all the retail products I've seen.

EDIT: you can try PowerTOP to check which process uses most power at idle in your testing with Phenom if you have a distro using a kernel after 2.6.21. It'd be interesting although it won't give you any power measurements.