Advanced Overclocking Advice - Should I call it quits?

[jerm1027]

I'm trying to overclock my old AMD system. I'm going for the fastest stable overclock with an even hundred digit clock speed in MHz (3200MHz, 3400MHz, 3600MHz, etc.), ideally above 3.5GHz, I've seem to hit a ceiling at ~3.4GHz. It will boot fine at 1.35V, but fail Prime95 (in place FFT) inside of 30 minutes. Temps don't exceed 35c.

Here are my system specs:
AMD Athlon II x4 630 CPU (C2 Stepping)
Zalman CNPS 9900A-LED
ASUS M4A785-m Motherboard
2x 2GB Kingston HyperX DDR2-1066
Integrated Radeon 4200 (500MHz)
750GB Seagate Barracuda
Rosewill 530w Green series (80+ cert.)
Windows 7 Home Premium x64

Here are my OC settings so far:

CPU
Mult: 12.5
Bus: 267MHz
Voltage: 1.35 - 1.375V
Freq: 3338MHz
--other--
CPU/NB Freq: Auto
VDDNB Volt: Auto
LoadLine Cal.: Auto

RAM:
DRAM: 400MHz
Voltage: 2.205V
CAS: 5-5-5-15
Timing Mode: DCT 0
Freq: 1068MHz

HTT:
Mult: 8x (1600MHz)
Width: 16bit
Volt: 1.205V (<-- lowest setting)
Freq: 2136MHz

Something to note: adding voltage passed 1.3625V seemed to adversely effect stability. At 1.38125V, Core #3 failed inside of 2 minutes, which is strange because Core #2, and #4, seemed to be the unstable ones with both failing simultaneously at 15, 10, and 7 minutes at 1.3625, 1.36875, and 1.375V respectively. I've done a pass of Memtest86 with no error at current memory settings (1068Mhz).

Are there any changes you would suggest, or just admit I have a not-so-great OCing chip and call it quits?

 

[Z1NONLY]

What's your RAM specs for normal operation? 5-5-5-15 seems like really tight timings to me. (Even at 1068Mhz)

 

[jerm1027]

What's your RAM specs for normal operation? 5-5-5-15 seems like really tight timings to me. (Even at 1068Mhz)

It's within spec. It operates at 800MHz with 5-5-5-18 @ 1.8V, or 1066MHz with 5-5-5-15 @ 2.2V.
http://www.kingston.com/datasheets/KHX8500D2K2_4G.pdf

 

[Z1NONLY]

I spent an entire weekend trying to get my 1045t from 3.4Ghz to 3.6 Ghz and failed at 3.5 Ghz and ridiculously high voltages....And went back to 3.4Ghz at 1.34v

My weekend of fail included endless research and fiddling with obscure voltages mentioned in said research. But no joy.

Unless you are trying to get the highest possible benchmark scores, I don't think that last little bit is worth the hassle once you start adding a lot of voltage to get it.

If your RAM is within spec, then you may have reached the point of diminishing returns for your overall system. You could try 5-5-5-18 with 2.2 volts just to make sure your RAM isn't on the edge of stability, but I doubt that's what's holding you back.

 

[jerm1027]

I spent an entire weekend trying to get my 1045t from 3.4Ghz to 3.6 Ghz and failed at 3.5 Ghz and ridiculously high voltages....And went back to 3.4Ghz at 1.34v

My weekend of fail included endless research and fiddling with obscure voltages mentioned in said research. But no joy.

Unless you are trying to get the highest possible benchmark scores, I don't think that last little bit is worth the hassle once you start adding a lot of voltage to get it.

If your RAM is within spec, then you may have reached the point of diminishing returns for your overall system. You could try 5-5-5-18 with 2.2 volts just to make sure your RAM isn't on the edge of stability, but I doubt that's what's holding you back.

From what I hear, OCing Thuban and Deneb are different and that Thuban has weaker cores. I did post this on another forum and from what they said, it's probably my motherboard as it's low-end. Anyway, I'm stable at 3.25GHz (260x12.5) and RAM is at 1040MHz, 5-5-5-15 2.19V. Killed a 2 hour Prime95 run with in place large FFTs; temps not above 37c.

 

[gto1970]

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1643565
Link to my M4A785-M with AMD 980 X4 at 4.3Ghz overclock
Change your NB/CPU to lower HTT back closer to 2000 and bring NB voltage down

 

[gto1970]

http://browser.primatelabs.com/geekbench2/1622228

 

[gto1970]

Motherboard not low end... just no knowledge base from Asus to use it correct..your HTT speed to high and may need extra cooling on NB chip and that blue small Blue chip SB cooler changed mine to add about 5 times more area for cooling...custom made myself...still uses push pins. if requested will send pctures... now playing BF3 with a visiontek HD 7750.

 

[gto1970]

Using same memory...my timings Manual 400Mhz, Both, TCL4, TRCD4,TRP4, TRTP3-5,TRAS12,TRC16,TWR4,TRRD3,TRWTTO4,TWRRD3TWTR3TWRWR3TRDRD3TRFCO 105,105,105,105 VOLTAGE@2.265 @ 215 BUS SPEED X2 +430 DDR2 @860 yours try changing times at each start up to approach to find best speed, change one at a time is what I did.