Overclocking KG7

[sangberg]

I've got a couple of questions regarding overclocking on a KG7 board..

Yesterday I explored the softmenu settings and came to the conclusion that my Athlon 1.4 was unlocked (Yay!). Consequently I started to try out different settings, I started out by changing the multiplier to 11x133. I rebooted and entered BIOS to check the temp, it was 56c a bit hot but not alarmingly so. Another reboot and W2K seemed to boot just fine then...Bam BSOD, IRQ not less or equal yadayada yada..

*Sigh*

Reboot, entered BIOS, reset the multiplier..Another reboot and W2K ran like a charm...

Then I tried to change the FSB settings, I was able to boot into W2K with a FSB of 139 (above this w2k crashed during boot sequence).

Allthough I was able to boot into W2K it wasn't stable. When I tried to run Sisoft sandra's CPU becnhmark the system spontanously rebooted.

After some testing I came to the conclusion that anything above 133 FSB made the system unstable....

Has anyone else had this kind of problem ???

Shouldn't I be able to atleast raise the fsb with one tiny mhz ??

Oh and by the way this is my rig:

Diskdrive 3,5" 1,44MB
SDRAM DDR 256MB PC-2100
CD Samsung 52x CD
Thermaltake Super Orb
HD IBM Deskstar 60GXP 20GB
Miditower Chieftec DX-01B-D
Asus V7100MAGIC/T AGP
MK ABIT KG7 ATX SocketA
SoundBlaster 128
AMD Athlon K7 1400/266 Socket A

 

[svol]

Which brand of memory are you using, if it is of low quality that could be the problem.
And maybe your cpu is running to hot (56c is a bit high I think, especially right after boot-up), or you have to raise your CPUCore voltage a little (to 1,8v) but then your CPU will give more heat, so consider better cooling.

 

[sangberg]

I'am considering better cooling, I'll probably get some case fans to improve air circulation...

I can see how adjusting the fsb could be impacted by low quality memory. However changing the multiplier havn't got anything to do with the memory....Or am wrong here ?

 

[Guest]

When you adjust the multiplier sometimes you need to increase the Vcore voltage above the default of the cpu of 1.8v to the next setting or 1.9, My Tbird will only go to 12x 133Mhz =1600Mhz(1.6Ghz) and a Vcore of 2.0volt.
I cannot shift my fsb above 133Mhz as it dies due to the Samsung DDR pc2100 is unable to go above its rated specification.
So for me to go any further above 1600Mhz I need better quality memory like Corsair.

My temperatures are lower than 50C~CPU & System 28C

<font color=purple>Three ways to do things, your way, my way and the wrong way!</font color=purple>

 

[svol]

No, you aren't wrong about that.

Just as Scotty3303 said it probably will run at a higher speed if you raise the Vcore, or with some better cooling.

I also have a 1,4 Tbird@266FSB running on an Abit KG7-RAID and I use a Alpha PAL6035 with a Delta HP fan (very loud noise) my temps are: CPU 37C and MB 23C. But I also have 4 case fans.
I'm working on a watercooling system with a peltier to bring my CPU temp below 0 C, so I can overclock my CPU to extreme hights.

 

[sangberg]

It's a bit weird, I checked vcore settings and it was only 1.75 so I set the multiplier to 11x and raised vcore in increments of 0.25. After each raise I tried to boot the system without any luck, when I reached 1.85V the temp got dangerously high (62c) and I choose not to go any further for now.

Do you think I should try higher vcore settings now or should I wait until I get some better cooling ?

At what point does the Athlon chip burn ?

 

[Guest]

Wait until your cooling is under control. If your Heat sink is on the cpu it will take a lot to burn it, but best to stay under 50C on a hot run. I have heard some people up around 70C then becoming unstable.

<font color=purple>Three ways to do things, your way, my way and the wrong way!</font color=purple>

 

[peteb]

I generally doubt that until your cpu is under 50C you will be able to clock it much further.

As everyone has said, there are many culprits in failed overclocking.

Things that may affect you are memory and cpu heat, but also power supply (being too unstable/weak) PCI/AGP cards not liking increased PCI/AGP bus timings, northbridge temperature, memory voltace, pci voltage and cpu voltage. What is your case temperature? You case may be over warm, affecting your cpu temps along with it.

My battle order if I were you (but please, read about the dangers and implications of any of this before you rush off and do it)


0.5. monitoring - install motherboard monitor to get good measurement of system status
1. CPU (case?) cooling - good HSF combo and paste
2. Voltage/Power Supply. 300-350w minumum, pref more. Enermax or equiv - not all 300w powersupplies are equal.
3. Now raise your FSB/Multiplier - possibly raise the vcore to sustain stability of cpu.
4. Memory/memory voltage. Raise the memory voltage (if possible) a notch *danger - possible damage*


If your FSB still doesn't get very high, try removing all cards other than video and try again. If your memory is generic (samsung) then it may not overclock period, or if you have it set at CL2 you may need to back it off to CL2.5

See how that does you and go from there!

-* This Space For Rent *-
email for application details

 

[sangberg]

0.5 - Done, I use the Via hardware monitor....

1 I am considering buying some good thermal gel (?) just to see if has any effect...Any recommendations ?

2 I've got a 340 Watt psu.

3 Will do....

4 I'll probably skip this part....Don't like the part about possible damage

 

[sangberg]

Yay !!!

I removed some of the case and temp dropped 6 degrees which gave me enough "room" to raise the vcore to 1.93V.....I booted succesfully into w2k running at 11x133....Now all I need is some better cooling (CPU@56C)=)

One odd thing, in the softmenu vcore setting is limited to 1.85 but when this is choosen vcore is set to 1.93 according to CPU health monitor, any clues ??

 

[svol]

That's not so strange. Your VCore isn't a set Voltage, but it will differ in ranges of +/- 10%
My Vcore, in example, is set to 1,75 but both VIA HWM and MBM 5 display a Voltage of 1,8 so this isn't really a problem.

And a good thermal paste is Artic Silver 2.

 

[Guest]

Sangberg, I'm getting a KG7 with a 1.4Ghz Athlon. Can you continue to post here with the things you have done and the speeds you have achieved with overclocking? I would appreciate the "road map" once my board gets here. Thanks in advance.

 

[sangberg]

Will do but I'm not buying those extra fans and thermal paste until the 25:th...I'll post about my progress then

See ya !

 

[mark_h]

sorry just found this thread !!
anyway heres my specs & results uptill now
kg7-raid
t-bird 1400 @1656 12*138
2* 256 stick of crucial 2100 CL2.5 ram @ CL2 turbo 138fsb
elsa 920 @ 240/550
2*ibm gxp60 20gig in raid0 setup
enermax 430w psu
maze2 waterblock (open system)
pci slot cooler (for graphicscard)
2* 80mm intake fans(lower front)
1* 80mm exhaust fan (just behind cpu)
hope this might give you some clue as what can be expected from your setup

 

[Guest]

Well, since misery loves company... HiYa bestest bud!

I had a very similar expeience with my KG7-R 1400/133 systems.

Mine (I have 2) are air cooled and I am able to keep the temps to about 48 idle and 52 under heavy load. BUT, I haven't had much luck getting to high FSB speeds either. I've been able to run with 11.5X on both systems. One is still at stock Vcore and the other is Vcore=1.825. In both systems, raising Vcore anything above what they are now just gave me a warmer CPU (still couldn't get 12X to run through windows start-up).

Anyway, I started uppin' the FSB with 11.5x and (thought) I had made it to 139. but as time went on (and a couple all-nighters with TFC and CS) I saw some instabilities and it turns out that I can run a whoppin' FSB=134 and be 100% stable. :/

I really don't know enough about diagnosing these instabilities to identify if it is a PCI card (I don't bother with experimenting here, because I am not planning on replacing them even if they are the problem) or my RAM (each machine has 2, 256MB sticks of PC2100 CL2.5 which uses Micron chips, but I don't know who makes them) or the CPU.

I did notice that overclocking my GF2 (GTS) too much gives very similar instabilities as does raising FSB too high...

As a side note, before I got rid of the stock AMD HS/Fan, I couldn't even do 11.5X, so maybe it is all heat?????

(by the way, I use CL=2 and TURBO for my RAM settings)

So I settle (actually, very happy with) 1542/134.

Not the best of news, I know, but at least you know you aren't alone!

happy 'putin

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Insidious on 09/25/01 06:32 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[garett]

the best i have been able to do with stability so far is 1.567ghz. this is with the following settings:

multiplier: 11.5x
FSB: 136
vcore: 1.800

if i raise any of the settings just a notch i have problesm on boot up. at this point the temp of the cpu is 50C, so im starting to lean towards the fact that maybe if i get it cooler i can get it faster. this is my first time overclocking anything so im guessing a lot here

also i am using 1 256MB corsair pc2400 ram and the best i could do with that is is CL2 and Turbo. i tried the Ultra setting but once again i could not boot up. this makes me wonder what the benefit to pc2400 is. anybody know?

 

[Guest]

The advise I am getting makes me believe that the limits are usually heat, PCI cards, or memory.

If we really want to identify it, we'd have to go through the process with no PCI cards installed, find the limit, and then re-install the cards one at a time to see if they were where the limits come from as FSB is raised.

If the PCI stufforz aren't changing the limits, then the next thing would be to change cooling and see what that accomplished, or change RAM and see what that did.

I see from some of the results in here the athlons are capable of more than you and I are getting, but I also see that a lot of these folks are setting up their computers for nothing but benchmark results.

I need a fun, useful desktop (background and lots of icons), high resolutions (pinpoint targeting in games), and desire all the graphic functions enabled on my computer and applications. (lots of gaming here and eye-candy is half the fun).

Bottom line, if you don't want to try water cooling (I know I certainly don't want to get that involved for a few benchmark points) and you want a computer that performs more than benchmarking, you are probably right about where you want to be!

Happy 'pootin!

 

[Guest]

The only thing I've read about the benefit of PC2400 DDR is that some of the newer stuff will run at 300MHz (or faster?). So this will prevent the RAM from being the limiting factor of your OCing if it was running at only 266MHz comparatively. Of course PC2400 DDR at 300MHz will have limits also as to how high you can OC. I don't know how accurate this information is, but I hope it helps a little.

 

[Guest]

I have just replaced my Samsung pc2100 DDR 256mb stick with 2x Crucial pc2100 256mb (512) in an attempt to raise the fsb, surprisingly with no result!
Turns out a setting in bios called "autodetect dimm/clk enabled" was the limiting factor along with cas latency at 2, changed it too cas 2.5 and was able to raise the fsb to 143 (143 x 10.5=1500Mhz). Anything above this is unstable and on fsb133 I could adjust the multiplier to 12x 133 at cas 2, still have to try cas 2.5 on normal settings starting at 12x 133 which I know it will run ok, then raise the fsb again.
But overall I am starting to think DDR memory is not great for O/C.


<font color=orange>Beam</font color=orange><font color=red> me</font color=red><font color=green> up</font color=green><font color=blue> Scotty</font color=blue>