OC'ing Athlon 3700+ recommendations?

Hendrix89

You tried on a 3700? Dam.. 1.55vcore? I have been OCing slowly. I am at 2.67GHz now (243x11) and so far things seem stable, however I just started a torture test now in Prime95 so I'll have to see and hope it passes. If I am at 2.67 now and at only 1.48vcore then would I really need 1.55 to get (246x11) 2.70GHz?

Anti

Maybe maybe not, for that we need your stepping code.

I have just booted into 250x11 which is 2750ghz and all is fine. Here is the cpuz and smartguardian results.

First is at 248x11




Now cpu-z




3dmark01




3dmark03




3dmark06




Pretty happy with 2.75ghz, Am gonna go for more later though. And hopefullydrop the vcore.

Hendrix89

Hey we're almost head-to-head. Its on!:D

Anyway I passed Prime95 and ran a round of 3Dmark06. Everything stable at 2.67GHz (243x11). Do you think I should try upping the frequency to 246 slowly? That would give 2.70. Also my temps are excellent. No temp increase from the previous 2.62 so far. If I could get to 2.70GHz without a bsod and without raising vcore I would be happy!

L31mr0d

yeah but aren't you OCing a 3500+ Anti? lol, that's a good OC for that chip.

Hendrix89, move up through your clocks in FSB increments of 5Mhz, try out 2.7Ghz, and if the temps are stable keep going until something craps out, you might need to do a CMOS reset so take a note of whatever settings you change as you do it so you can easily restore them after a reset. Like I said just keep going until you get a load temp under 60'c or you can't push it any further (usually if the temps aren't high and you aren't stable then something else in your system is hampering your overclock, usually your RAM or chipset)

You might get 3Ghz out of her yet

Hendrix89

Yeah I really really don't want a BSOD! Im scared I don't want to have to reset CMOS. Im gonna go for 2.70GHz. I really don't think a jump from 243 frequency to 246 is gonna get me a BSOD do you?? I mean if its stable now?

L31mr0d

Hendrix89 wrote:

Yeah I really really don't want a BSOD! Im scared I don't want to have to reset CMOS. Im gonna go for 2.70GHz. I really don't think a jump from 243 frequency to 246 is gonna get me a BSOD do you?? I mean if its stable now?

Man, 1mhz could make your system unstable, who knows? A BSOD isn't that bad. Personally i've had a quiet a few from overclocking and never lost anything, just reset the CMOS, lower the clocks by a few hertz and move on. It's all part of the process of overclocking, you aren't going to know your systems limits without doing it. Usually you'll get a hang at post before you get a BSOD. Although I always have all my important data backed up, just because overclocking for me has never damaged any of my hardware does not mean it can't.

Try it out at 2.7Ghz, if the temps are still fine, aim for 2.75Ghz, you need to see how far you can get with your present voltage levels.

Anti

You should be fine.

Whats your 3dmark 06 score at this point ?

I got 5223m with a cpu score of 1064.

the extra cache on your chip should give you a better score.

L31mrod, i can hit 3ghz with this chip. But its not to stable. If i can get 30k on 3dmark01 and 15k on 3dmark03 ill be happy. And if i can get pi 1m to under 30 seconds too.

Ill try 255-260x11 later, Am a bit drunk after that bottle of wine i just had with dinner

Hendrix89

Right guys got to 2.70GHz, prime stable and idling 29C, 45C load! Didn't increase vcore! Still at 1.48v (stock)!! And guess what! Didnt change any settings other than the FSB! RAM timings same as before, voltage, HT multi etc. all as they were!

CPU score for 3DMark06 with 2.70GHz is 1057. Overall score 4291. (at 1280x1024)

I must have a good stepping!

L31mr0d

you've got a good stepping when you get to 3Ghz.

The way you are overclocking is not smart at all. If you BSOD it could be due to any number of things as you are stressing every component in your system, to troubleshoot the problem would be a nightmare.

Also if you are have settled that all you want from that CPU is 2.7Ghz then run prime95 for a couple of hours (i'd recommend 8hrs) all you have proven is that your CPU can handle being stressed for 30minutes, how long do you usually play games for which also stress your CPU? I'm betting its longer than half an hour.

If I was you, i'd be smart about it and lower all your other settings to the ones I recommened and aim for 2.8Ghz, with your temps at present, i'd say you could get to 2.8Ghz with a load temp of 55'c

Here is the settings to try:
HTT: 3x
RAM: 3-4-4-12 @ 2T at DDR200 (i.e. 1:2)

Try:
11 x 250 (test for 30 minutes) then
11 x 255 = 2805 and do another test for 30 minutes, if it passes try a HTT multi of 4 (the HTT can usually handle up to 1050), and return your RAM back to stock then try and pass the test again

Anti

Right im gonna go try 260x11. And hopefully drop the vcore form 1.86 to something ........ safer.

Hendrix89

Oh I know I would not be able to keep using this method and only adjust the FSB lol!. I know there will come a point where I will need to start playing around with the RAM timings (done that to an extent already) and volts but I thought the current settings could handle 2.7 and so far I havn't noticed anything wrong or unstable. I will run a good few hours of prime95 later and see. If it passes then I think I might just stick with 2.7GHz for the moment cause tbh I don't like the thought of having to adjust all those BIOS settings and straying from the defaults...

Here are the current CPU-Z readings (referring to the OC to 2.7GHz I have just done):


If the readings I have there are as dangerous as you say plz let me know.

Anti

Nope not gonna work, I got a bsod with " unmountable boot value "

Looks like ill have to loosen the timings a bit more.

Hendrix89

I ran a 3 and a half hr torture test in Prime95 (wouldn't play games for longer than that at a time) and it passed with no errors so I am content with what I am at for now. Stability wise.

anti, I just noticed from one of your pics at the top of this page that you have very similar memory timings to me. How are they working for you so far?

Oh wait you have different RAM. Nevermind then.

Anti

You must have a good stepping then so. Congrats.

Hendrix89

anti wrote:

You must have a good stepping then so. Congrats.

Cool I dunno how much farther I am gonna go but according to L31mr0d I wont manage any higher without some major adjustments in the BIOS. I will do a bit of research and see if im up to it but at the moment i dont want to risk anything.

Anti

um, all you have to do is up the vcore a little when it becomes unstable. you do have some tweeking to do, but not that much. You should be able to hit atleast 2.8 stable.

Give 250 then 255x11. See if its stable.

Hendrix89

Hmm.. Alright I'll have a crack at 2.8, may as well. It's dam addictive! I just can't stop lol It's gonna come back at me eventually though. Just waiting for something to happen! Okay before I go up anymore I must be clear on one important thing. What vcore can I safely set? And will I need to tweak the chipset voltage/ram voltage?

awhir

1.5v is around the max it think.you can probly add a volt onto the ram and chipset

Hendrix89

Oh right... thats odd only 1.5?? Hmm i'll see what happens. Hey I might reach 2.8 without having to do anything I doubt it....

L31mr0d

Listen everything about overclocking with air cooling is proportional to your temps. Keep increasing everything as long your temps are alright. i.e. if you can get 1.7v and load under 60'c then go for it. Although, your mobo probably has a default limiter set on the voltage.

Also there are other factors which could cause your system to become unstable, don't just keep pumping volts into your CPU if it isn't stable, try increasing your chipset and HTT volts. Also i've heard that if you increase you PCIe clock to around 105Mhz that it will also give you a bit more headroom to overclock the FSB.

Also there is nothing difficult about any of this, we are telling you what to do and how to do it, the only reason you should loosen up your RAM timings at this point is to remove the RAM as a cause of instability while you are testing your CPU. Once you have your max cpu clocks you can begin overclocking your RAM to find its limits.

I'd say a perfect final setup for that rig would be that DDR500 RAM at 1:1 @ 255Mhz @ 1T with a cpu multi @ 11 giving you 2.8Ghz.

Also you should have a look around the net for what others where getting as their max FSB for that board and how they got it.

Hendrix89

Right I tried for 2.75GHz (FSB-250) and everything seemed stable until I failed a prime95 torture test after an hour. 1 'fatal error' reported. I have now clocked the FSB back down a bit to 248Mhz. Will have to see if its stable. Just started a prime95 run now... Well looks like I have reached the end of the line. Don't even know if this FSB will be stable. What do you think is the problem? According to CPU-Z my HT was just under 1000 (999.8) which seemed perfect. Memory frequency was at around 197Mhz. Tbh I am very surprised I failed 250x11... Do I need to increase the vcore? RAM?

*UPDATE* - Passed prime95 with 248FSB. So I am stuck at 2.728Mhz. FSB wont go to 250 stable. Need to know what needs to be done to get say 2.8GHz, or at least get me to 2.75.

L31mr0d

Listen I have no problem giving you advice, but if you are just going to ignore it then i might as well leave you to figure things out for yourself. Have you still got 2gigs of RAM in? Have you loosened your timings? Have you put your RAM on a divider?

If not then there are 1 of 100 things that could be causing your system to fail prime, good luck figuring out which thing it is.

Hendrix89 wrote:

Right I tried for 2.75GHz (FSB-250) and everything seemed stable until I failed a prime95 torture test after an hour. 1 'fatal error' reported. I have now clocked the FSB back down a bit to 248Mhz. Will have to see if its stable. Just started a prime95 run now... Well looks like I have reached the end of the line. Don't even know if this FSB will be stable. What do you think is the problem? According to CPU-Z my HT was just under 1000 (999.8) which seemed perfect. Memory frequency was at around 197Mhz. Tbh I am very surprised I failed 250x11... Do I need to increase the vcore? RAM?

*UPDATE* - Passed prime95 with 248FSB. So I am stuck at 2.728Mhz. FSB wont go to 250 stable. Need to know what needs to be done to get say 2.8GHz, or at least get me to 2.75.

awhir

man there trying to help you out and tell you how to find your max core overclock to do this you gota loosen the ram so that wont be pullen it back.

Hendrix89

L31mr0d wrote:

Listen I have no problem giving you advice, but if you are just going to ignore it then i might as well leave you to figure things out for yourself. Have you still got 2gigs of RAM in? Have you loosened your timings? Have you put your RAM on a divider?

If not then there are 1 of 100 things that could be causing your system to fail prime, good luck figuring out which thing it is.

Hey no Im not ignoring your advice, if it seems like that, I am just very confused at the moment. Thing is about the RAM. If I slow down the RAM timings then won't that kinda contradict OCing the CPU cause my system probly wouldnt be much faster? Also I have never loosened timings before so I do not know the best way to do it. I am pretty much confused about everything and so am trying to find the simplest way of doing this. I mean what about upping the vcore? Or do you think its nothin to do with voltage?

Alkers

You don't know what part of your computer is holding you back! By slacking the ram timings or putting it on a divider you can eliminate the RAM as the cause. If you don't know what is holding you back what voltage are you going to increase? e.g. you could end up piling more volts into your cpu when it's your ram that causing you to fail Prime 95.

Hendrix89

Well I think the only way I will feel comfortable changing the RAM timings is if someone can tell me what to set them to. My RAM again is Corsair XMS 3200 (currently set at 3-3-3-8). If nobody can tell me then what do you think about setting to 3-4-4-8?

Here are the exact readings in BIOS and CPU-Z:

CPU-Z

Frequency - 195.1MHz

3.0
3
3
8
11
1t
16 clocks


BIOS:

3
8
3
3
11
14
5
3
1t

Anti

try the timings i used.(look back to my cpu-z screenshot)

Also drop the 1T bolloix. Best to move to 2T, Even though i find cpu-z does not show when you change that.

And move from 8 to 11/12.

awhir

try 3-4-4-12 or 4-4-4-12

Hendrix89

Alright I'll try that. I'm heading off tomorrow for a week so I will try when I get back. Im actually going to Wales anti, near swansea, might see ya!

Right thanks guys. I'll get back to you soon with my results.

awhir

antis away i think.....