Overclocking my new 3800X2

[sjps220]

I just got a 3800X2 (too cheap for conroe) and I am trying to OC for the first time.

I've had it up to around 2.7 GHZ, but I am having some temperature problems. When I run dual prime 95's, temp3 in speed fan, goes up above 50. I can't figure out what this temp is. When I stop the prime 95s, it drops back to under 30C instantly.

Any suggestions?

 

[roncpem]

2.7 is terrific, you can't hardly ask for more than that. when i get mine i hope i can get it to 2.5 on air & stock volts.

 

[roncpem]

btw, right now i have an asus a8v deluxe revision 2, 3200+, x800pro flashed to an x800xt pe, 74 gig raptor, antec neo 480. how did you get to 2.7 on yours?

 

[sjps220]

Does anybody have an asus board and understand what temp 3 is in speedfan?

I don't want more than 2.7, I just want to make sure that all my temps are good enough for me to keep an overclock between 2.4 and 2.7. I don't want my northbridge etc to be stressed by the heat all the time, and I don't want my room heating up everytime I use my computer.

 

[krazyIvan]

A stable 2.7 is good, 2.6 is pretty much the max on air-cooling without dropping your HT and RAM mult by so much it has a negative effect and requires a CPU voltage that’s so high heat becomes a problem.

 

[sjps220]

KrazyIvan, can you explain the HT multiplier to me? I am having a hard time understanding it. Right now I have 10X240 and my ht mult is at 4X. Is this correct? how do you decide what to put it at?

Thanks for the response!

 

[cranbers]

Well as you can see I have almost an identical setup. i can't seem to get mine past what it is now. I have my ram under clocked to 333. The ram is running at 206 right now at a fsb of 247x10 multiplier. As you can see I have good memory, but it wont go past 215mhz or ddr 430. So if you got yours at 2.7 I would say your doing good.

My temps are 131 degree f with both cores at full load. It idles around 96 to 100 degrees. As for temp 3 on speed fan I think it is the psu. I known its not the north bridge because when the fan is disconnected there is no change in temp. I couldn't figure that out myself, it does shoot up at full load then drop suddenly when at idle. maybe it's the ram? My mb temp is around 98 degrees idle and 100 when system is being worked hard.

So fill us in on how you achieved that oc. I would appreciate it, your ram is running at ddr 400 or 333 speeds? If so what is your ram's final mhz rating? Do you use cpuz to find out ? Also what are your memory timings at that speed?



I look forward to your reply.

 

[cranbers]

As for the htt speed, normally it runs at x5. It is ddr so the frequency is 1000x2. For a good over clock that has to remain at or around 2k mhz. This changes as you up the fsb, So if fsb is standard 200x5. If you go to 250x5 thats 1250 or 2500, so going to x4 knocks it back down to 2k.

Hope this helps. Although it didn't help me out much. I set mine and I hit a wall still at 247 it doesn't matter what I do differently I can't get anything above that stable. Changing voltages on the proc didn't even help. I haven't messed with the ram timings yet. I guess I can lower the ram speed even lower. But I haven't had a chance to mess with it all that much. I have been spending so much time upgrading the cooling and components of my system I haven't been able to play with hit much other then the oc I already got to.

Also I read somewhere that clock speed on the processor is the most important. That along with tight timings on the ram. So lowering the ram speed, to say 333 speeds, will clock your ram at 166mhz, then as you up the fsb, it will start to increase that as much as you up the fsb. So if your running at ddr 400, and up the fsb to 250. Thats 250mhz or ddr 500 speeds on the ram. Only the best ram or highest bandwidth ram rated for those speeds will make it. but if you knock it down to 166mhz or 333 speeds, you have 33 mhz on the ram to work with before it even gets to its rated speeds.

In other words, memory bandwidth doesn't affect perfomrance as much as the speed of the processor. So if you can run at 2.7 ghz and its stable memory bandwidth doesn't have any negative affect, at least nothing even close to what you gain by going with such high speeds. Sandra 2007 tests prove this under the memory bandwidth tests.

 

[NaDa]

What's your voltage?
Voltage plays a major role in your temperature?
What cooling are you using? Is your case well ventilated ??

I have a 3800x2 and have overclocked it to 2450, 1.4V (default 1.35V), runs Prime95 stable, temps 42C.
I have Big Typhoon and a lot of vents.

Can anyone tell me whats the safe voltage to run that proc 24/7.
I can get my temps below 50C. I'll put as many vent as it needs

I have managed 2600Mhz out of this proc but would probably need 1.5V and I dont consider that worth it whan it's running 24/7.

 

[krazyIvan]

http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=1815&p=6
A good over view of K8 arcitecture.

The thing to remember is the entire system is tied to the CPU frequency as a multiplier, so in order to achieve stability it’s necessary to decrease the multipliers because the Ram and HTT bus can’t take the same increase the CPU can.
Also make sure the PCI bus is locked, as it can’t go up either.

In order to obtain a higher CPU freq (my 3000+ (1800) 939 Venice is OCed to 2400Mhz!) you will need to decrease the HTT multiplier by 1 or more to keep the HTT bus stable:
CPU Freq X HTT Mult = HTT BUS speed.
You need to keep it close to 1000Mhz as you OC.
You will also need to decrease your Ram timing to 333Mhz for the same reason.
When Ram is @ 400MHz, CPU (Freq) X 2) / 1.0 = Ram speed in MHz
When Ram is @ 333Mhz, (CPU (freq) X 2) / 1.2 = Ram speed in Mhz
When Ram is @ 266Mhz, (CPU (freq) X 2) / 1.5 = Ram speed in Mhz

You should additionally increase your Vcore to 1.5, DDR SDRam to 2.7 and HTT to 1.25 or 1.3.
That will give you more room to raise your CPU freq before instability sets in.
Start in increments of 5Mhz and run Prime95 for .5hr after each increase.

 

[sjps220]

okay, so right now I'm at 2400mhz = 240X10 with a ratio of 6:5 (333 mhz) which means my memory runs at 200mhz. My HTT mult is at 4 I think. I tried lowering my voltages, and everything was stable, but the temperature didn't really go down. I'll have to wait until I'm home to tell you exacly what they are, but it was low 1.3_

I've tested my ram, and the highest I could get was 224. I know this chip can get fairly high OCs (~2.8) but I'm more concerned about keeping the temperatures down. I'm in university which means living in small rooms and I dont want to be forced to turn off my computer because my room is a sauna. I might try to increase further when I get home, and see how much my load temps increase.

So what would people suggest I try for my next OCs, keeping in mind I want low temps? I've thought of 250x10 333 (memory at 208), 260X10 333 (memory at 217), 270x10 266 (memory at 180), 300x9 266 (memory at 200), 280x10 266 (memory at 187).

Would something like 300x9 put more or less strain on the motherboard and powersupply?

yeah maybe temp3 is my psu. I have a 425W enermax. Is that sufficient for this type of overclock? I would have thought so since my voltage can stay quite low.

Edit: and cranbers, I haven't adjusted my memory timings. they are 2.5-3-3-7

 

[sjps220]

So how much would changing my memory voltage from auto, to a set (higher) voltage help my ocing, and how much hotter would it make my case?

 

[sex_monkey]

this link has been posted before,i have found it to be a good guide
http://www.short-media.com/review.php?r=300
a lot of reading but it should help you there mate

 

[sjps220]

thanks for the guide sex monkey, I'll read it tonight.

One more question, then I'll give it a rest for a bit. I swear!

Okay, will the performance of my memory be lower if I use a smaller memory divider?

For example, if I was to overclock to 240x10 by using a divider of 333, my memory would run at 240x5/6= 200. Now if I overclocked to 300x10 and used a divider of 266, my memory would run at 300x2/3= 200. I know the overall effect would be faster, but does my memory run slower?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[cranbers]

I would be really amazed f you could even get your computer to post at fsb of 300. or even 300x9 worked.

I got my system to post and work somewhat at 270x10 ram at 266ddr. It ended up even at a fsb of 270 around 177mhz, which is a little bit over 333 rated speeds. I did have to up the voltage a bit to 1.45volts but my temps were a little out of control at 142 degrees f or 62 c. I think the thermal limit is somwhere around 65degrees c. Also I would get rrestarts once in awhile so lowering the fsb would continue to lower the ram frequency. So I went back to my current fast, trusty settings at 246x10 stock voltages and ram at 333 with 2-3-3-6 timings. It is running at 205 right now and my systems is rock solid, with excellent performance. According to sandra 2007 lite bencharm its clocking at around a x2 4800+. So I am happy with that. Your best bet to keep temps down is to have cool and quiet enabled, my system idles around 98 degrees and stays pretty quiet with the antec performance heat sink fan.

I also noticed my system did not seem as fast at those higher speeds, maybe it was the ram being over 25 mhz slower but I am not sure. It just lost its zippy ness. When starting up the system seem to take longer to boot.

 

[sjps220]

cranbers, its not whether my computer can do it or not thats important, I just want to know how the memory performs.

Anyways, right now I'm at 2.6 ghz, with the mem divider of 333 and my memory is performing at 217mhz. My idle temp is 34C and under load it gets to 46C on 1.328V. I think I'll leave it at that.

 

[sex_monkey]

i would say that is a good comprimise,260 on the fsb,ram doesnt usually overclock much so a few mhz is good.you should if your going for a max overclock,find out your max stable fsb (HTT),your max Ram speed/timings,and max cpu speed. you can do it by lowering all the other variables,ie to test Max fsb,put the biggest divider on so that the ram is very slow,and use a low multiplier so the ram and cpu arent maxed out but the fsb is. repeat for the other 2.then you can comprimise between the 3.its explained further in the guide. also a good way to optimize your overclock use http://math.gogar.com/athlon64.cgi

 

[sjps220]

If I'm at 260, should I have the ht multuplier at 3 or 4?

okay, I'll try that calculator once I test my maxes.

 

[Eviltwin17]

if you are worried about heat then lower the vcore and put the clock at 2.6ghz. That is a very nice OC for a 3800+ and i wouldnt expect to get much higher on air cooling. You might want to continue checking your temperatures during peak stress times on your processor, though because 2.7 seems a bit high for air. Good luck though