Opteron OC with lots of RAM?

[TheFoot]

Hi all,

I have recently heard that the new breed of socket 939 dual core Operton chips are overclocking extremely well, sometimes from 1.8Ghz up to 2.6Ghz or higher!

I have a need for a fast dual core server-grade system with a ton of RAM. I currently use a HP DL385 dual Opteron 2.6Ghz with 8GB of ram. It works great, but I could use three more systems like that.

The HP system was just under $13,000, so I am not exceptionally excited about plunking down $39,000 for three more systems!

My need is two fast processors and a ton of RAM. The other "server-like" features, such as hot swappable, the support, and the ILO are not necessary. So I was pondering the idea of building a few home-made Opteron systems to crank the data that I need.

My question to you experts though is I have heard that using four DIMMs pretty much makes overclocking impossible, is that still correct?

If not, then I was considering a system with a MSI K8N Neo4-F motherboard, 4x1GB RAM, and an Opteron 165.

Does anyone have any idea if 4x1GB of RAM will ruin any chance of overclocking the Opterons?

Thanks!

Eric

 

[RichPLS]

4 gigs using 4x1gig modules will overclock, just not at 1T timings, they will switch to 2T, then overclock as always.

 

[the_guru]

The more memory modules you have the harder it is to get a stable OC.

 

[fishmahn]

Also want to bring up the point that overclocking by definition is not stable - its stable enough for gaming & general use, but I wonder if introducing a possibly unstable CPU in a server environment would be a problem. Not something I'd try, but some people take risks I wouldn't... (like bungee jumping - I have no problem trusting a parachute, just not a rubber band...)

Mike.

 

[HideOut]

these guys nailed it. Your not gonna get a full blown 2.7ghz per core but you'll get maybe 2.6. Thats fast for the $400 per chip you spend. If your gonna be around to monitor these systems perhaps a good water cooling setup would be advisable. Just make sure you have a water level gauge and check it periodically. Alot of server racks are now using sealed water. its not bad, cools well, overclocks hard and is quieter. There are lots of 2 x 1 gig sets of ram that do 2.3.2.5 timings now. They make good overclockers. Also note, you dont HAVE to overclock your memory to much on an A64 based system if ya dont want. its just a bit faster. Using memory deviders you can OC it just a bit or none at all but stil get a faster "FSB" as it were. If ya got the budget, a couple sets of this stuff will rock on pretty hard. Heres a narrowed search for ya.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.asp?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147+70001224+70002020+70001216&Subcategory=147&description=&srchInDesc=&minPrice=&maxPrice=

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820220040 this is a nice setup and this is nice too on a slightly tighter budget http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820141236

The overall performance of these will be higher than a dual proc 2.6 even without the perfect 1T command rate and such. Your overall FSB is much higher and its NOT ecc or registered, and that stuff slows down memory. Now keep in mind that also means you dont have that protection which is a server class thing though...

Also, if you need good drive arrays the PCI, PCI-X (when the boards have em) and PCIe systems are locked or adjustable so you can still ad high end drive array cards and extra controllers. On board Gigabit and dual Gigabit will save alot of cash too.

What kinda work ya doin with these? Damn...

Hide

 

[RichPLS]

My System
Lian Li PC-60plus Black Aluminum Case (w/TR-3B Black Thermometer/Fan Controller 3.5” bay)
Opteron 175 (2x 2.2 GHz, 2MB cache, Socket 939, .09 micron, E6 stepping, OSA175DAA6CD)
ThermalTake BigWaterSE 12cm liquid cooling system complete kit
Asus A8R-MVP Motherboard (ATI Radeon Xpress 200 CrossFire, socket 939, SATA2)
HiS X1800XT Graphics Card (625 MHz/700 MHz OC core/1500 Mhz/1600 MHz OC mem, Dual DL-DVI VIVO 512 MB PCIe)
ATI TV Theater 550 PRO Tuner (PCI TV and FM Tuner)
4x 512MB Corsair Micro Xpert DDR RAM (2-2-2-6-2T (spd 2-2-2-5-1T) TwinXP 1024-3200XL)
2x 74gig Western Digital Raptor Hard Drives RAID-0 (WD740GD RAID0 150gig Boot Drive)
2x 250gig Western Digital Caviar SE16 Hard Drives (WD2500KS storage and data)
Plextor 716AL Black 16x DVD/CD Burner (IDE slot loading type)
Antec TP-II 550 Power Supply (550 Watt ATX12V v2.0 PSU)
Dell 2405FPW 24-inch LCD Monitor (UltraSharp Wide Aspect Flat Panel Display)
Logitech G-15 Gaming Keyboard
Logitech Cordless Optical TrackMan
Case Fans (SilenX 120mm intake, Adda 120mm exhaust blower, SilenX 92mm exhaust and SilenX 80mm Fan)

Anyway, the fastest stable overclock I can reach is 2680 with 2 or 4 sticks RAM; I seem to hit a brick wall at around 2700 MHz.
Whether I use 11x250 or 10x270 or even 10.5x260 it fails to boot, but if I back it down 5MHz things work pretty good, and it makes no difference at settings CAS 2.5 or 3, using 3, 3, 8, 3, or with just 2 stick or RAM; either way, around 2680 is my overclock limit. But this system is quick and stable; I keep it normally at 2420 MHz (11x220 at 2, 2, 6, 2) 2.8 volts for now. I am pretty sure the overclock limit is the processor and not the memory, but would have liked to see top out well better than a 20% stable overclock with this system, considering the components.
It gets 4,578 marks in 3DMark06 and 9,652 marks in 3DMark05.
Overall, I recommend this system to anyone wanting a solid system for gaming, video, or design work.