OC'ing Athlon 3700+ recommendations?

Hendrix89

Right I came across a really helpful page after a lot of googling. This guy seems to have the exact same ram as me, motherboard and CPU and has it at 2.8GHz. As you can see (the link below) he has his CPU voltage at only 1.45v stable (mine is now 1.48). From reading his post on previous page he was having promlem getting stable at 2.75 like me. Once again as you can see he just raised the voltage to his RAM to 2.7volts. Think I should give that a try?

Here is link. (Post no.39) http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=1105489

Alkers

NOT UNTIL YOU FIND OUT WHAT IS HOLDING YOU BACK!!!
Have you ran the ram on a divider yet?

Hendrix89

No havn't tried the suggested timings for the RAM yet. I will try now if it really must be done. I'm gonna try 3-4-4-12 @ 2t (DDR333Mhz). Is that good to try?

Alkers

DDR 333 and what FSB are you running? The reason you will be running your memory slower is not for performance. You run it slow so you know it is not causing instability and hence find out what is the fastest speed your cpu can run at. Then you do the opposite, leave your cpu at stock and see how fast you can get your memory. Then you deceide what the best of both worlds is and run it at those settings. That's it in a nutshell

Hendrix89

Right now FSB is 248 (x11). So basically what I will do is set the timings slower to 3-4-4-12 (2t) then set my FSB back up to where I started becomeing unstable before (250). Then I run prime again for a couple of hours and if it's stable then it's the ram, if it unstable at 250FSB then it's most likelt the CPU?

Alkers

yea - run at those settings with your memory set to 333. That will mean it is running at around 207mhz which is perfect. Then you know that any errors are due to the cpu...

Hendrix89

Okay done. Timings set to 3-4-4-12 and 2t @ 333MHz. CPU FSB set to 250MHz. Just started torture test in prime now. Will know in about an hour (thats when it failed last time) and i'll report back. Thanks for the speedy replies by the way:)

Hendrix89

Failed prime in less than 30mins. Looks like it's the CPU then... What do you suggest I do? Crank up the vcore?

awhir

try more vcore but keep the times loose.

Hendrix89

Okay I don't want to go overboard though so what vcore do you think I should set safely? Would 1.5v do the trick? Im at 1.48 now.

Hendrix89

Okay wait now serious problem here! I've just ran prime again with my settings back to where they were (3-3-3-8/248FSB) and it failed!!? I was passing it before! Have I damaged something!?

Alkers

No, if it's that unstable at 250 it is likely not to be perfectly stable at 248. Leave the RAM alone (at the loose timings and on the 333Mhz divider) and increase your vcore slightly and leave FSB at 250. Then see if it is more stable. What is the stock voltage for your ship? What temp did it reach when it failed with 1.48V? What is your htt?

Hendrix89

No but the thing is it was stable at 248 with 3-3-3-8 before! Then I changed the timings and raised the FSB to 250 and failed prime and now when I've changed back to 248 and the stock timings I fail!! I think I need to get this problem sorted first cause it is really concerning!

Stock voltage for my CPU is 1.48v and that is what i have left it at so far. My HTT with 248FSB and 3-3-3-8 is 992Mhz around... I used to be stable at 248!!!

Alkers

Hendrix89 wrote:

I think I need to get this problem sorted first cause it is really concerning!

!

I don't think there is a problem as such. You're just at the limit of the CPU without upping the Vcore.
How long did you run Prime for @248Mhz when you claimed it to be stable? If 1.48 is your stock then 1.5V should be fine. Set it to that and then try prime at 250 with the same settings. How far you up the Vcore is up to how comfortable you are with it and how hot the chip is running. You're not making it easy for us to help you if you don't answer the questions asked before.

Hendrix89

I ran prime for about 4hrs with 248FSB (and 3-3-3-8) stable before. Now fails after less than 30mins.... Right i'll try 1.5v then, but only cause i am really p****d off with my comp right now! I'll see what happens.

Alkers

24hrs is supposed to be stable. What temperature is your cpu running at when you're testing at? (this is important when adding more voltage)

Hendrix89

It runs at 44C full load (using prime)....

Alkers

That's alright. I'd be weary when it starts nearing 50C so keep an eye on it. Post up how it goes after you run Prime at 1.5V

Hendrix89

Running it at 1.53vcore now with the 250FSB. 2.75GHz. Booted up alright. Temps seem good. Gonna run prime now for about an hour and i'll see what happens. I am preparing for a failure... Anyway I will report the result as soon as im finished the prime run. If all goes well (havn't got my hopes up..) I will shoot for 2.8.

Hendrix89

Okay stable with prime with the 1.5vcore and 250FSB, close to 2hr run (still going). Max temps hit 47C. Im at 2.75GHz now (250x11), with my ram at the stock 3-3-3-8. Am I in the clear for 2.8GHz do you think?

Alkers

Go for it. Try 2.75 then 2.8 or something similar. Do you plan on leaving it at 2.8 or seeing how far you can push it? If you're leaving it at 2.8 let it run prime 95 overnight and see how it gets on.

Hendrix89

I am at 2.75 already. Yes I think I might settle with 2.8GHz if I can get to it. Although I can't say for sure cause OCing is addictive as you know...:D I remember saying I would be content with 2.5!

Will try for 2.8 tomorrow.

Hendrix89

UPDATE!

Had a crash when I tried to open CPU-Z a couple of minutes ago and then my comp froze up forcing me to manually shut down. Upon reboot I got an alarming voice alert saying 'system failure due to cpu overclocking' at a black screen with the option of entering the BIOS to resolve the problem! Thankfully I was able to enter it alright and so I changed my vcore back to normal and underclocked the CPU back down to 2.72GHz (248FSB).... I got into windows successfully and so far everything seems normal. I am now running prime and will let it run through the night to see if I caused any damage to my system!! Dam why werent there any signs of the OC being unstable and dangerous ffs! Passed prime 2hrs. No signs of unstability! Ran through 3dmark06 fine! Then suddenly it jumps into heart stopping crashes and freezes. And then a bloody alert on reboot!! I've probly done it now... really messed up my system... God this always happens to me:rolleyes: :mad:

Hendrix89

Right I failed overnight prime95 after only 2hr.45mins... I decided to try setting the vcore up to 1.5v again and then I ran a 4hr tortur test and it seems stable. So I guess that points to the CPU voltage as the element that is holding me back... I am still at 2.72GHz. Can I get some help here plz?

Alkers

What's the adjustment in your BIOS for Vcore like? Is it Vcore + % or can you choose any voltage? Have a look on the web and see what voltage people have used on that CPU. What cooler are you using? I would up the Vcore again and try for 2.8 but I also wouldn't be using the stock cooler.

Hendrix89

In my BIOS I don't have much options with vcore. 1.55v is the limit. At 1.50 now, options go up in 1s: 1.50, 1.51, 1.52, 1.53, 1.55.

My CPU cooler is a Zalman 7000B AlCu. It's quite good actually.

Should I go for the highest vcore option? 1.55?

awhir

i think 1.55 is a bit to high well its is for my dual core..

Hendrix89

I see. I'll continue to search google but suprisingly its difficult to find anything on the 3700 vcore

Hendrix89

Actually I have just thought of another option that might do instead of the need to increase the vcore.. When I was unstable at 2.75MHz my FSB was at 250. My HT Link (according to cpu-z) was slipping over 1000Mhz. Do think I should try setting the HT multi in BIOS to 3x?

Also CPU-z reads the vcore as 1.53...

Alkers

How much over 1000Mhz? No harm in trying 3x anyway.