Overclocking an x2 4800+

[Eviltwin17]

Ok heres the deal. I have an amd x2 4800+ and im trying to OC it to 3ghz for kicks but i cant seem to get past the 2.9ghz mark. I am running this system on
x2 4800+ 939
asus a8n5x mobo
corsair xms pc3200

I tried increasing the voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 and past that to see if i could get to 3ghz but the system did not boot up.

my memory timings are as follows

cas latency: 3
Ras to cas: 3
RAS pre: 3
Tras: 15
TRC: 22
command rate: 2t

I have played around with the timings and tried to get them as tight as possible but the system becomes less stable as i do so. Maybe i should overclock my ram?

any suggestions on getting me a higher OC would be nice

 

[ThunderGodThor]

You might be at the max oc all ready. Not all chips oc equally. That and you really need to take uping the volts more easly. Also try playing round with the ram divider.

 

[BaronMatrix]

Ok heres the deal. I have an amd x2 4800+ and im trying to OC it to 3ghz for kicks but i cant seem to get past the 2.9ghz mark. I am running this system on
x2 4800+ 939
asus a8n5x mobo
corsair xms pc3200

I tried increasing the voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 and past that to see if i could get to 3ghz but the system did not boot up.

my memory timings are as follows

cas latency: 3
Ras to cas: 3
RAS pre: 3
Tras: 15
TRC: 22
command rate: 2t

I have played around with the timings and tried to get them as tight as possible but the system becomes less stable as i do so. Maybe i should overclock my ram?

any suggestions on getting me a higher OC would be nice

My opinion of OC is that before you do it, you should try to see if you EVER USE 100% CPU. The only thing that I know of that reaches it is HDCP (BluRay/HD-DVD).

I have a 4400+ and I did fially turn the bus up to 220 and it runs smooth but I have all the power I need and your chip is stock ~10-15% faster.

I wouldn't be worried about it until you notice slowdowns....you won't.

 

[SidVicious]

Specs on your OC would help such as the HT multiplier, HT frequency, CPU multiplier and memory divider.

BTW, by increasing the HT frequency, you also are increasing the RAM frequency at the same rate, given that memory is much less tolerant than a CPU is, you'll have to use a divider at some point.

Consider that by OC'ing an X2 4800+ from 2.4 to 2.9GHz without using a memory divider, you'll be running the memory at 240MHz which pretty much is the breaking point for most PC-3200 modules, lowering (not increasing) the timings and pumping more voltage through your memory will only take you so far.

Setting your memory to run at 166MHz (well, 160MHz or CPU/15 according to This Table) will buy you a lot of headroom since your memory will be running stock when your CPU hit 3GHz.

 

[Eviltwin17]

my HT frequency is at 5x my multiplier is at 12x

 

[1Tanker]

Ok heres the deal. I have an amd x2 4800+ and im trying to OC it to 3ghz for kicks but i cant seem to get past the 2.9ghz mark. I am running this system on
x2 4800+ 939
asus a8n5x mobo
corsair xms pc3200

I tried increasing the voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 and past that to see if i could get to 3ghz but the system did not boot up.

my memory timings are as follows

cas latency: 3
Ras to cas: 3
RAS pre: 3
Tras: 15
TRC: 22
command rate: 2t

I have played around with the timings and tried to get them as tight as possible but the system becomes less stable as i do so. Maybe i should overclock my ram?

any suggestions on getting me a higher OC would be nice

You will likely not get much past that... unless you use dry ice, but then there is the cold bug. Some steppings are less prone than others, also -- there is an overclocking section in the Forumz, so do be surprised if the thread is moved.I thought(for some reason) that the cold bug only affected FX's...doesn't make sense though.

@OP. The general rule when overclocking an A64, is to lower the HT frequency multiplier to 3x. You want the total "FSB" to stay at 1000 or under. 241x5=1205..too high.

 

[endyen]

Wow, It's amazing that you got your HT that high. Most times the HT will fail just above 1 gig, you are over 1.2. Set the HT multiplier to 4, and use a divider on your ram.
I would use the 166 setting for ram, but also to 1T.

 

[Eviltwin17]

the lowest i can use on my ram is 200. Am i stuck now?

oh as an update here are my settings:

im still running at 2.9ghz

multiplier 12
HTT 240
vcore 1.35

I have my HT at 3x right now

RAM:

from cpu-z it says

Frequency: 120mhz
Cas: 2
Ras to Cas 3
Ras pre 3
Tras 8
TRC 11
Command Rate is at 1T

 

[1Tanker]

Ok heres the deal. I have an amd x2 4800+ and im trying to OC it to 3ghz for kicks but i cant seem to get past the 2.9ghz mark. I am running this system on
x2 4800+ 939
asus a8n5x mobo
corsair xms pc3200

I tried increasing the voltage from 1.3 to 1.4 and past that to see if i could get to 3ghz but the system did not boot up.

my memory timings are as follows

cas latency: 3
Ras to cas: 3
RAS pre: 3
Tras: 15
TRC: 22
command rate: 2t

I have played around with the timings and tried to get them as tight as possible but the system becomes less stable as i do so. Maybe i should overclock my ram?

any suggestions on getting me a higher OC would be nice

You will likely not get much past that... unless you use dry ice, but then there is the cold bug. Some steppings are less prone than others, also -- there is an overclocking section in the Forumz, so do be surprised if the thread is moved.I thought(for some reason) that the cold bug only affected FX's...doesn't make sense though.

@OP. The general rule when overclocking an A64, is to lower the HT frequency multiplier to 3x. You want the total "FSB" to stay at 1000 or under. 241x5=1205..too high.

All CPUs manufactured at manufactured under 'normal' conditions suffer from a cold bug in someway or another, you just need to get them cold enough. The SOI exacerbates the phenomena, Intel's CPU will bug too just well below LN2 temperatures.

It is a big whoopteee do for NASA really as they need to specially design and manufacture various chips for spaceflight, they must withstand, among other things liquid He type temperatures.

JackSee, there are times when a simmering hot Prescott comes in handy.

 

[Eviltwin17]

heres what i was able to max out on with this processor... since im on air fo those of you who are interested

243*12 = 2916 mhz

Heres the specs i used to get there
vcore: 1.45
Multiplier: 12
HTT freq: 1

Mem clock: 200mhz

cas: 2
Ras to Cas: 2
Ras pre: 2
Tras: 5
TRC: 7
Command Rate: 1T


I think a 500mhz oc on air is pretty good. Im satisfied. Now to run tests and find the exact point where stability is 100% ughh

 

[clue69less]

RAM:

from cpu-z it says

Frequency: 120mhz
Cas: 2
Ras to Cas 3
Ras pre 3
Tras 8
TRC 11
Command Rate is at 1T

Might be an expensive long shot but have you considered switching RAM? Maybe try something like this? I've managed to make a little progress on my Opty OC by switching to DDR500 but I'm not finished tweaking just yet.

 

[1Tanker]

heres what i was able to max out on with this processor... since im on air fo those of you who are interested

243*12 = 2916 mhz

Heres the specs i used to get there
vcore: 1.45
Multiplier: 12
HTT freq: 1

Mem clock: 200mhz

cas: 2
Ras to Cas: 2
Ras pre: 2
Tras: 5
TRC: 7
Command Rate: 1T


I think a 500mhz oc on air is pretty good. Im satisfied. Now to run tests and find the exact point where stability is 100% ughh

I would set the HT frequency multi to 3x. I would think a setting of 1x would really hurt performance.

 

[Eviltwin17]

heh, my HSF it already good. I have a thermaltake i dont remember what that i bought a year ago for Overclocking and it works great. It was about $30

 

[SidVicious]

As 1Tanker mentionned, a 3x HT multi will do the trick, no need to drop lower than that.

I also noticed that you misinterpreted my advice about the memory divider, 166MHz (well, 160MHz in reality) would be the 333 setting as it seems that your motherboard refers to the DDR speed instead of the clock frequency. This means that by setting your memory to 200 (CPU/24), you are getting less bandwidth than dual channel PC-2100, try 333 instead as it would be just slightly under your memory stock speed.

Use CPU-Z to find out at what speed your memory really is running.

Depending on your CPU temperature and how "responsive" your CPU is to voltage, you may benefit from a 0.05V increase.

I'm also curious to know if you are doing stress testing along the way, one instance of Prime95 Torture Test per core running for 6~12 hours should catch most instabilities.

 

[Eviltwin17]

the only stress tests ive been using are game benchmarks and 3dmark06 which i havent had any crash yet. I havent tried prime 95 yet but i should. I put my settings back to 333mhz and 3x htt.

 

[Eviltwin17]

ok i am still having stability issues should i decrease my memory to the next step down because my memory is running at 192mhz.

 

[Eviltwin17]

heres an update. I decreased the memory to 266mhz which brought its actual speed to 160mhz which is close to what i need for 3ghz. I am going to raise the FSB to 250 and see what happens.

 

[SidVicious]

Let me guess, you did'nt manually force your ram timings to 3-3-3-10 2T after setting your memory to 333 (which would use the CPU/15 divider) ?

My opinion is that the motherboard defaulted to the SPD timings for PC-2700 operation which would obviously be tighter than the timings for PC-3200, therfore your memory is causing instabilities.

The idea behind the memory divider is to keep your memory within specs (under 200MHz, aka 400DDR for PC-3200) while you hike the HT bus upward.

Also, did you increase the Vcore to 1.5~1.55V ?

 

[Eviltwin17]

sigh*, i think i might have hit a brick wall since i dont have water cooling. Ive tried everything and i cant seem to get higher than 2.9ghz. If i raise the vcore any higher than 1.4 my processor will idle at 50c and thats not good.

Heres what i have right now.

Ram:
set at 266 running at 160mhz in cpuz

timings are all the same

processor"
2.9ghz
Multiplier: 12
FSB: 241
HTT mult: 3x

I think thats as far as i can go before i have to raise the vcore by a bunch.