Few Issues With New Build

[GrymTidings]

Ok, just got through putting together my new rig last night. You can see the system specs in my signature. Hand picked all parts based on price/performance.

 

To give a little background, I have been building computers for many years now but dropped out of it for a little bit a couple of years ago. Not much upgrading in that time. As we all know, the computer field constantly changes so I am finding myself trying to catch up to the current hardware trends and terminology. I have always been an avid tweaker though and thus why I am here.

 

Being out of it quite a while, when I booted up the computer for the first time the BIOS had tons of settings I was not familiar with. Definately not a board for a newbie that is for sure! The first thing I did, which maybe I shouldn't have, was flash the BIOS to 704 using the neat booting CD I got from here. I fumbled around for the settings that I knew for certain and tried to optimize the best I could. I had read in reviews at Newegg that my memory is able to go 2/2/2/5/1t and since it uses BH5 chips it would like lots of voltage. I set the voltage at 2.8v and set all the memory timings (using the settings in my sig). I left the CPU at stock which is 10x multiplier by 200 bus. Quite frankly I am still a bit perplexed by the settings right below them. I know they deal with setting up the HTT bus speeds and such but didn't want to mess with them just yet. My primary concern was to get the system stable first before I start overclocking and playing with other settings. At any rate, it ran the memtest fine with the new timings and voltage so I felt safe enough to install the WinXP Pro SP2 on the box.

 

Everything went fine with the OS install so I proceeded to update drivers that I downloaded from the various manufacturers. Everything appeared to go smoothly with the driver installs as well. Then I went to install a game (World of Warcraft) on the machine to test it out. Unfortunately it took me 4 tries to install the game for it kept getting stuck on the 3rd CD. The CD was clean but I cleaned it more and finally on the 4th try it went through. I noticed other odd issues kept popping up, generally when trying to access the hard drive or the DVDROM drive. I did update the firmware on the DVDROM to the latest version so that should be alright. I also noticed a few files that I had downloaded (3DMark 2005 and Macromedia Flash) would not install properly. World of Warcraft was finally patched this morning so decided to get into the game. First time in it was able to stay for roughly 15 minutes before I crashed to the desktop. It just so happened to crash while loading into another zone.

 

Now to my question: I was browsing through some of the sticky threads and I saw that if you are not using a RAID configuration that you shouldn't use the Nvidia IDE driver and to skip it when it asks to install. I am wondering if there are any other people with a particular issue with that driver or if it has been fixed since that post was stickied? I tried to do a search for it on the site but pulled up links which didn't address this particular problem.

 

My second issue is with overclocking. I am wondering if anyone else here has the OCZ Gold series DDR 3200 memory and if so what timings and voltages do you use at particular buss speeds? Also information on memory dividers and such would be helpful as well.

 

First thing first though, I need to get the system stable at stock first so any help would be appreciated!

[Boppo]

You probably want to up your VDIMM to 3.0V first off and try booting with it.

 

You would probably be best served right now to just load optimized defaults, change the VDimm and let it run.

 

When you want to really start tweaking, read the OC guide in the AMD OC forum.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

 

It will explain what all of those settings mean, plus tell you how to go about OCing.

[GrymTidings]

You probably want to up your VDIMM to 3.0V first off and try booting with it.

 

You would probably be best served right now to just load optimized defaults, change the VDimm and let it run.

 

When you want to really start tweaking, read the OC guide in the AMD OC forum.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=20823

 

It will explain what all of those settings mean, plus tell you how to go about OCing.

 

I did, in fact, take the VDIMM to as high as 3.2 and it not only posted but worked fine all the way through to Windows. Reason why I lowered it is because I went back to stock speed on the processor so the extra voltage to the memory is only causing heat buildup.

 

I will start reviewing that forum shortly, thanks for the info!

[Boppo]

Actually that memory takes a lot of voltage just to run at stock even. There are people that can not get it to run properly with only 2.8V. If it gives you trouble, just up the VDIMM a little and it should be good.

 

You will want to put a fan on that memory too. My Redlines are similiar in both regards.

 

Good luck with the OCing. It can be fun.

[GrymTidings]

Actually that memory takes a lot of voltage just to run at stock even. There are people that can not get it to run properly with only 2.8V. If it gives you trouble, just up the VDIMM a little and it should be good.

 

You will want to put a fan on that memory too. My Redlines are similiar in both regards.

 

Good luck with the OCing. It can be fun.

 

 

Hmmm, alright, will try that when I get back home. However, if that is not the problem should I get rid of the SATA drivers that came with the Nvidia drivers and go back to default or?

[Boppo]

The IDE drivers cause problems for a lot of people. It is generally recommended you not install them or the NVidia firewall.

[GrymTidings]

The IDE drivers cause problems for a lot of people. It is generally recommended you not install them or the NVidia firewall.

 

 

Great to know, thanks a ton!