AMD 64 3200 Overclocking

[Name]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Hi, I'm new to this NG and I hope someone can help.

I'm in the process of overclocking, so let me tell you my setup, settings,
benchmarks so far and then I have a couple of questions.

I'm running:

AMD 64 3200
Asus A8N-E
1GB (2x512) Mushkin HP PC3200/DDR400 blue


My BIOS settings are:

HTT = 255 (os won't boot any higher)
HTT multi = 4 (os won't boot at 3)
CPU multi = 9
DRAM freq = 333 (bios stops at 400)
Cmd Rate = 1T
Memory Timings
Auto or 2,2,3,5 (gives about same benchmark)
All voltages are at Auto


My benchmarks are:

Aida = Memory Read 6252, Memory Write 2486

Sandra = Memory Ram Int 4185, Memory Ram float 4185

cpuz = core speed 2554, muliplier 10, HTT 255.4, Memory frequency 212.8

I get similar readings with clockgen

My questions are is this a reasonable overclock, shouldn't the memory
frequency be higher, am I missing something, am I doing something wrong?


TIA,
john

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

name wrote:
[...]
> My BIOS settings are:
>
> HTT = 255 (os won't boot any higher)
> HTT multi = 4 (os won't boot at 3)
> CPU multi = 9
> DRAM freq = 333 (bios stops at 400)
[...]
> cpuz = core speed 2554, muliplier 10, HTT 255.4, Memory frequency
> 212.8

Is your multiplier 9 or 10?

[...]

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

 

[Name]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

"Michael Brown" <see@signature.below> wrote in message
news:427edf71$1@clarion.carno.net.au...
> name wrote:
> [...]
>> My BIOS settings are:
>>
>> HTT = 255 (os won't boot any higher)
>> HTT multi = 4 (os won't boot at 3)
>> CPU multi = 9
>> DRAM freq = 333 (bios stops at 400)
> [...]
>> cpuz = core speed 2554, muliplier 10, HTT 255.4, Memory frequency
>> 212.8
>
> Is your multiplier 9 or 10?
>
> [...]
>
> --
> Michael Brown
> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open
>

cpuz says a multiplier of 10, but that's where I'm confused. I'm using a
CPU multiplier of 9. Is the 10 multiplier that cpuz shows something
different than the CPU multiplier of 9?

john

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

name wrote:
> "Michael Brown" <see@signature.below> wrote in message
> news:427edf71$1@clarion.carno.net.au...
>> name wrote:
>> [...]
>>> My BIOS settings are:
>>>
>>> HTT = 255 (os won't boot any higher)
>>> HTT multi = 4 (os won't boot at 3)
>>> CPU multi = 9
>>> DRAM freq = 333 (bios stops at 400)
>> [...]
>>> cpuz = core speed 2554, muliplier 10, HTT 255.4, Memory frequency
>>> 212.8
>>
>> Is your multiplier 9 or 10?
>>
>> [...]
>>
>> --
>> Michael Brown
>> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
>> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open
>>
>
> cpuz says a multiplier of 10, but that's where I'm confused. I'm
> using a CPU multiplier of 9. Is the 10 multiplier that cpuz shows
> something different than the CPU multiplier of 9?

Hmm, that's unusual ... Try CrystalCPUID and see what it says. I'd say CPU-z
was correct based on what you are saying so far, but there have been many
instances where it has been wrong so it can't hurt to get a second opinion
Also, try putting the system clock back to 200MHz and the RAM ratio back
to 1:1 ("400" setting?), and playing around with the multiplier only to see
if that works. You should notice a difference in benchmarks (and even
general performance like games) between 10x and 5x (don't use the 4x
multiplier, this will drop your RAM down to 160MHz, artificially decreasing
the performance). Then drop the ratio back down to 5:6 (333 setting) and
make sure the multiplier still works, then finally start messing around with
the system clock speed. If it's all working fine at this point, then it must
have just been something slightly funny.

In any case, you should take a methodical approach to overclocking your
system. Drop the HTT multi to 4x (though I'm surprised that it doesn't work
with a 3x multi; you should try this again with all-stock values), the CPU
multiplier to 5.0x, and start cranking up the system clock speed. Run
memtest86 at each step and see what the limits for your RAM are. Now, do a
similar thing for your CPU. Keep the HTT multi as low as possible, and drop
the memory ratio to as low as possible (200 ar 266 setting ideally).
Increase your CPU multiplier to 10x. Starting again from the default 200MHz
system clock, start cranking up the speed and doing 5 minute tests in
Prime95. Once it starts failing the 5 minute tests, start decreasing the
system clock until it stops failing Prime95 (give it an hour or two, no need
to go nuts at this point). Now, you need to decide on the optimal
configuration for what you're doing. A tool like <plug>my tool posted in
other thread</plug> will help you visualise your options and decide what's
best. At this point, it's mostly down to fine-tuning and stability testing
to make sure that you're not going to have any problems (or return corrupt
work units if you're running a distributed computing apps).

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

 

[Name]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

"Michael Brown" <see@signature.below> wrote in message
news:427ef68f$1@clarion.carno.net.au...
> name wrote:
>> "Michael Brown" <see@signature.below> wrote in message
>> news:427edf71$1@clarion.carno.net.au...
>>> name wrote:
>>> [...]
>>>> My BIOS settings are:
>>>>
>>>> HTT = 255 (os won't boot any higher)
>>>> HTT multi = 4 (os won't boot at 3)
>>>> CPU multi = 9
>>>> DRAM freq = 333 (bios stops at 400)
>>> [...]
>>>> cpuz = core speed 2554, muliplier 10, HTT 255.4, Memory frequency
>>>> 212.8
>>>
>>> Is your multiplier 9 or 10?
>>>
>>> [...]
>>>
>>> --
>>> Michael Brown
>>> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
>>> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open
>>>
>>
>> cpuz says a multiplier of 10, but that's where I'm confused. I'm
>> using a CPU multiplier of 9. Is the 10 multiplier that cpuz shows
>> something different than the CPU multiplier of 9?
>
> Hmm, that's unusual ... Try CrystalCPUID and see what it says. I'd say
> CPU-z was correct based on what you are saying so far, but there have been
> many instances where it has been wrong so it can't hurt to get a second
> opinion Also, try putting the system clock back to 200MHz and the RAM
> ratio back to 1:1 ("400" setting?), and playing around with the multiplier
> only to see if that works. You should notice a difference in benchmarks
> (and even general performance like games) between 10x and 5x (don't use
> the 4x multiplier, this will drop your RAM down to 160MHz, artificially
> decreasing the performance). Then drop the ratio back down to 5:6 (333
> setting) and make sure the multiplier still works, then finally start
> messing around with the system clock speed. If it's all working fine at
> this point, then it must have just been something slightly funny.
>
> In any case, you should take a methodical approach to overclocking your
> system. Drop the HTT multi to 4x (though I'm surprised that it doesn't
> work with a 3x multi; you should try this again with all-stock values),
> the CPU multiplier to 5.0x, and start cranking up the system clock speed.
> Run memtest86 at each step and see what the limits for your RAM are. Now,
> do a similar thing for your CPU. Keep the HTT multi as low as possible,
> and drop the memory ratio to as low as possible (200 ar 266 setting
> ideally). Increase your CPU multiplier to 10x. Starting again from the
> default 200MHz system clock, start cranking up the speed and doing 5
> minute tests in Prime95. Once it starts failing the 5 minute tests, start
> decreasing the system clock until it stops failing Prime95 (give it an
> hour or two, no need to go nuts at this point). Now, you need to decide on
> the optimal configuration for what you're doing. A tool like <plug>my tool
> posted in other thread</plug> will help you visualise your options and
> decide what's best. At this point, it's mostly down to fine-tuning and
> stability testing to make sure that you're not going to have any problems
> (or return corrupt work units if you're running a distributed computing
> apps).
>
> --
> Michael Brown
> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open
>

Both CrystalCPUID and CPUZ say the CPU multiplier is 10 when, in fact, the
BIOS setting says 9.
This doesn't make sense. At an HTT of 250, shouldn't I have a clock speed
of 250*9=2250 not what both CrystalCPUID and CPUIZ report as 2500.
What am I missing?

john

 

[Name]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

>
> --
> Michael Brown
> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

Confusion solved. I had a corrupt BIOS, I flashed with the new 1003 and the
multiplier reads 9 as it should.
Had a bit of a scare, though, system wouldn't until I removed the cmos
battery and reset bios.
In any case, thanks for your help and I can go on from here.

thanks,
john

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

name wrote:
[...]
> Both CrystalCPUID and CPUZ say the CPU multiplier is 10 when, in
> fact, the BIOS setting says 9.
> This doesn't make sense. At an HTT of 250, shouldn't I have a clock
> speed of 250*9=2250 not what both CrystalCPUID and CPUIZ report as
> 2500. What am I missing?

I'd say that, for some reason, the BIOS is not setting the multiplier
correctly. Grab CPUMSR and see what that tells you for startup, maximum, and
current FID settings.

--
Michael Brown
www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open

 

[Name]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

"Michael Brown" <see@signature.below> wrote in message
news:427f4fbc$1@clarion.carno.net.au...
> name wrote:
> [...]
>> Both CrystalCPUID and CPUZ say the CPU multiplier is 10 when, in
>> fact, the BIOS setting says 9.
>> This doesn't make sense. At an HTT of 250, shouldn't I have a clock
>> speed of 250*9=2250 not what both CrystalCPUID and CPUIZ report as
>> 2500. What am I missing?
>
> I'd say that, for some reason, the BIOS is not setting the multiplier
> correctly. Grab CPUMSR and see what that tells you for startup, maximum,
> and current FID settings.
>
> --
> Michael Brown
> www.emboss.co.nz : OOS/RSI software and more
> Add michael@ to emboss.co.nz ---+--- My inbox is always open
>

CPUMSR shows current, maximum and startup all at 10. I double checked the
CPU multiplier setting and it's at 9. Do you think I have a corrupt BIOS?
What's going on here?