Hi,

I Own an NF7-S rev. 2 motherboard and a superlocked Barton (locked for sure but not certain on the superlock until I remove the heat sink etc.) and I have a few concerns and questions. Really I'd like someone to guide me with this as I test suggested settings to get the most I am going to get with little risk to harming anything or shortening the lifespan ..of any parts.

Since this CPU is likely Super-Locked. I am FSB overclocking.
I'm worreid that by doing this I could get non-standard PCI and AGP clocks that will be harmfull to my system or just cause general instability.

I'm familiar with some bios settings and still novice. I have seen my processor boot and run things smoothly but when I run a game such as GRAW or BF2 it'll either crash and enfd the game or I get a freeze and loud digital scrambled sounds!

I'm very reluctant to overvolt my chip sicne thats what does the damage when overclocking. Am I being to scrimpy on upping the voltage? I want the thing to last vs overclocking. At 218FSB (below)

My gear is this Abit NF7-S rev. 2 motherboard
An Athlon XP Barton 3200+ (I also own a 2800+ which is in the living room PC)
2x1GB sticks of Corsair XMS PC3500 (2-3-2-6)


Some Details:

DDR437
2-3-2-6
218 FSB

DDR438
2-3-2-6
1.675 core volts (upped, needed to boot proper minimum)
219 FSB

DDR441
2-3-2-6
1.675 core volts (too low?)
220 FSB
2425Mhz (crashes instability probably due to undervolt)

How do I make sure the rest of the system isnt getting overclocked? AGP, PCI .....I started to dabble in OCing back when the Pentium III was the best but not alot.

Noone needs to hold my hand but help appreciated.

Thank you

Complete System Specs:

Abit NF7-S v2.0
Athlon XP 3200+ Barton
Thermalright SI-97a CPU cooler
Corsair XMS 2GB (2x1GB) DDR 433 (PC 3500) Dual Channel
BGF GeForce 6800GT OC (stock clocks)
Lian Li PC-61 USB Black Aluminum ATX Mid Tower
Sony SDM-P234 DVI-D 23" LCD monitor
Creative Audigy 4
Intel 82544XT PRO/1000 Ethernet Adapter
Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 SATA 160Gb
Seagate Barracuda 7200's (x2) 600Gb PATA storage drives
PC Power & Cooling Ultra Quiet Silencer 470 ATX (520w)

What the hell for?

Its well known to go really far at it's stock 2.6v.
I'd like to know why you say that.

I'll try the rest though, thanks

I've got mine RAM running at 2.7V. They do make stock volts and speeds for a reason. If you are going above FSB of 220Mhz, then you are stretching the limits of the stock settings of your RAM. Although you probably don't need 2.8V, you should at least bump it up to 2.7V

Oh...

Well I looked up the tech specs and its a default 2.75 volts anyway. Just keep worrying about frying silicon in my chips.

Anyway running HOT CPU Tester Pro 4 on it in a bit. All tests including Prime95 and I'll see what it tells me.

Here's where it is now:

2400Mhz
DDR438
1.7 core volts
119.5 FSB
2.7 dimm volts
77.7 mem latency

I did have it at 220 FSB but games suddenly exit...poof!
If that soudns familiar pls fill me in.

Well, that Abit motherboard is based on the nForce2 chipset. The nForce is able to use asynchronous speeds for the CPU FSB, MEM clock and PCI/AGP clocks. So you might use 218FSB with 33PCI and 333Mem (as an example)...

Also, there is an overclocking utility from nVidia (take a look at the nForce2 drivers) that let's you overclock those speeds freely from Windows:
NVIDIA System Utility

I have an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe with a 2500+ Barton and 1GB Kingston ValueRAM DDR 400Mhz. That originally would be:
FSB: 333 DDR Mhz
Mem: 333 DDR Mhz synchronous 2.5-3-3-7
PCI/AGP: 33/66 Mhz
CPU volt: 1.650v
CPU speed: ~1833 Mhz
P-rating.: 2500+

Note: The memory is faster at 333 DDR Mhz synchronous with the FSB, than at 400 DDR Mhz (3-3-3-8 )!

But I have had it overclocked since the day I bought it like this:
(Note: I use SpeedFan to switch the speed dynamically between a low-power mode and a high-performance one;
it supports Abit NF7 too )
FSB: 266 / 380 DDR Mhz
Mem: 266 / 380 DDR Mhz synchronous 3-3-3-8
PCI/AGP: 33/66 Mhz
CPU volt: 1.700v
CPU speed: ~1466 / ~2100 Mhz
P-rating: 1900+ / 2833+ (as reported by CB-Id)

As you can see, I increased the CPU voltage by 0.050v. Without the voltage increase the system is stable up to 362 DDR FSB, with that voltage increase the limit get’s increased up to 388. I have had it work at 400 DDR Mhz with 1.750, but there is one thing to have in mind: voltage increases means more heat at the same speeds (I noticed that ~52ºC while full load at 1.650 turns into 54~56ºC at 1.750 at the same fan speeds [80%]).

Anyway, the computer has been working like that everyday since two years ago without any stability problem. So I think you really should try with a some voltage increases. Just keep it under 10% increase (a fairly reasonable range).

After testing with Hot CPU Pro 4 all night (the part I slept) I woke to a blue screen.

I was using the settings WUSY recommended.

After defaulting the BIOs I still could not boot - many different blue screens.

It turns out my new RAM is either bad or I fried it.

RMA city

....I'm now thinking about a different brand.
This RAM is reported to keep the tightest timings when overclocking very high than any other. It's also CAS 2.

Should I try another set? I can't believe its dead.

Using my OCZ right now.

What settings, 1.725v and 2.4Ghz? That voltage should be safe (but I wouldn't recommend 1.8XXv). Also 2.8v seems safe for the RAM.

Try MemTest86, if the memory is fried or clocked too high it should fail almost always on the same memory directions.

If MemTest86 fails try lowering the RAM speeds (or timmings) as the 'default BIOS settings' may not be the most suited for your RAM.
Also, I have seen lots of 'random' problems with memories working at high speeds, that where solved just by plugging in the memory modules again (sometimes after some tries)... on those cases MemTest86 always reported errors after running test 5 for a while (like 15 mins). You should check that too (memory modules may have moved slighty when you reset the BIOS or with the heat increase due the stress test).

The Corsair XMS RAM was either bad or I fried it somewhow.... bad most likely - returning it. Memtest86-3.2 says its bad RAM.

What?

( what is he talking about? )

I got mine to 2500mhz for 20 minutes and to 2400 myz permanently stable.

check the link in my sig.. Lots of nice guys in that forum. they'd be happy to help you out. IN the meantime lets eliminate some variables on your O C problems. First off, 99% of the time a bsod is caused by too little vcor.

2nd, here are a couple tips on finding your max stable memory settings, courtesy of Stone_Age at SocketAplus.

If you want to set your sights on a higher fsb, here is how I do it. First good cooling is a must

Down load UBCD
1:Instead of running full passes on memtest, run just test 5 for a minimum of 5 passes by pressing C for configure after it starts, then 1 for test selection, then 3 to select tests then 5 for test 5, press enter, the 0 to resume, this will loop test 5.

2: if you fail test 1 thru 4, the memory is junk..... period. Won't work at any speed.

3: After passing test 5 for the minimum of 5 passes, then hit escape, which will reboot, go into the bios, raise the fsb, and do it all over again.

4: when you get to a point where test 5 no longer passes without errors, try raising Vdimm a step, if that don't work, then loosen the timings. If still no go, then its the end of the rope for the memory.
Also, active cooling on the memory helps too.

5: go back to the speed of your last good pass, and run it again, this time 8 passes. when done, Configure again and run test 8 for 5 passes.

6: Now that you know your Memory limits, set your fsb back to where it you know it will load windohs. leaving the memory timings and voltage at where it passed at the highest fsb.

7: Boot windows, Download clockgen for NF2, and also OCCT.

8: Run OCCT at your baseline fsb, if it passes, then use clockgen to raise fsb,and try again, if it fails raise Vcore, and try again at that speed.

9: the idea here is: Finding your max stable fsb. If your memory can run way up and pass memtest, it doesn't mean your CPU can be stable at that speed without a bunch of voltage. You can get to a point where more Vcore won't help. If you get to that point, call it quits. Every CPU has its limits. If your stable at 211 fsb, but need to bump the Vcore a ton to get 212 stable, then 211 is the limit, anything past that is going to be dangerous.
Using clockgen as an alternative to raising the fsb in the bios, is a safe way to do it. First, your already in windows, second, if it locks, a reboot is all you need to do to revert. Less chance of going too far and having to clear cmos or boot safe mode and reset.

My New Corsair XMS RAM was bad and was most likely causing the instable overclocks.

Memtest gave me over 435 errors. It's going back tommorow for a replacement.