New to DFI, couple questions

[highfigh]

First, just wanted to say that this board ROCKS!!! There is just a wealth of information that it's making my transition into the OC world smooth and exciting! I've recently built my first rig, and had a great time doing it. I built a fairly simple system compared to some of yours, but for the money I think it's a good package. However, I had problems with my mainboard (faulty pata controllers), but instead of just RMA'ing it, I decided to just step up a few notches and get something more flexible. Never felt that comfortable oc'ing the cpu via software anyhow.

 

So after some research, and wanting to stay 754, I had no doubt that the lanparty board was the one. Then i found this board and was totally sure I made the right choice.

 

The board is still in the mail, but I wanted to get some things in order before it came in. If you can help, the questions I have are:

 

1. Is there any chance that I can plug my sata raid drives up and get the board to post without reinstalling the OS?

 

2. Does anyone have any experience with this board running with a sempron 3400 palermo... if so, what are the realistic OC potentials?

 

3. Do you think that the memory i have, 1gb stick OCZ professional OCZ4001024PF, has any potential? I've not been able to get very far with it on this board, and I haven't seen any reviews of it anywhere. And i can't find what chips it uses. It's not on the compatibility chart, does this mean it's no good with this board?

 

I'm sure there are more questions, but if you could help me with these, it will give me a good feel for where i'm going with this. Thanks in advance!

[Mr. Jules]

So far as question #2 goes, check out the 754 OC Database. There might be some 3400s in there that should give you some direction.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11318

 

Welcome to the street too! It's a great place to be involved in and learn much from!

[highfigh]

So far as question #2 goes, check out the 754 OC Database. There might be some 3400s in there that should give you some direction.

http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=11318

 

Welcome to the street too! It's a great place to be involved in and learn much from!

 

Yea, thanks for that! I had not came across that thread yet, that's great! I didn't see anyone with the same memory, but I'll keep searching. I'll also try to keep my thread here up to date as I undergo my overclocking to help any other newcomers with a similiar setup. I'm just really curious to know if this memory is going to hinder me. I've only found one guy on newegg reviews that claims he has it at 245 3 2 2 8. I can't tell with my current setup because most of the features I need are not in the bios, and the easytune software that came with the board scares me.

 

I'm also not to confident with my psu, but i'll get my multimeter out and check everything before i go too far with the new motherboard.

 

Seems that a lot of users here have 2x512 rather than 1 gig sticks. Would that be wiser for more stable overclocks? The only reason I got a 1 gig stick is so I can get another gig if I ever upgrade to vista when it's released. I did test the rc1 beta with 1 gig of generic on my old socket A and it ran ok, so maybe I should just get the 2 sticks of 512? Any recommendations for 2x512 brands? Thanks guys!

[red930]

if the OS is from a different board its not a good idea to use that OS. if you have to do not boot the OS run XP repair. only use the 5.10 drivers if you can and that CPU should do around 2600 to 2700 but might have to drop down to the 8 x to get to 2700+. the memory will be fine but 98% of the people have to use slots 1 & 3

If you use the sata make sure you use port 3 & 4 as 1 & 2 will stop your over clock at 234 fsb. If you get new memory. Anything with TccD chips work best with the board. All corsair XL is TccD. the reason you see a lot of 2x512s is because the 1 gig sticks had not come out till most of the users had gone 939

[highfigh]

Thanks for the input! Yea, after doing some more reading, 2700 seems to be the average top overclock. I can live with that

 

Ok, sata ports 3+4, gotcha. I think i'd be better off doing a fresh install. So if my raid 0 is set up with 2 partitions (20 gig system, 130 gig progs and files) could I just reformat the system partition and not lose the other files on the second partition?

 

Thanks again!

[highfigh]

Well, I swapped the boards tonight, and everything is running fine. I'm actually using the same xp install I don't know, maybe not the best thing to do, but I'll see if I get any driver errors. I just uninstalled all the nvidia drivers, then ran driver cleaner pro to get everything else. Then I powered down, swapped boards, and she fired right up after I set the boot priorities and stuff. Kewl, eh? Just got to do some more research and see what bios I should be using. Not really sure I need to switch just yet, just seems a lot of people are for some reason. Didn't have so much flexibility on the old board. Think I like this

 

Well, gonna run off and see what this bad dad can do :drool: Nice and slowly, of course :angel:

[red930]

might be a good time to update your Sig too:)

[Clawhammer]

i got my 3100 palermo to 2.6 on air using the big typhoon.

http://img291.imageshack.us/my.php?image=2614wn5.png

if i was buying new ram i would go with 2x1gb tccd. most of your questions can be answered in these forums just take the time and read, and remember search is your friend.

 

P.s- my palermo was .13nm. i think the .9nm might clock a lil better

[highfigh]

Thanks for the input! Well, i've been pushing it real slow, and so far my highest is 13 hours prime stable at 250x10, next lowest ram divider, 1.55v cpu, 2.9v ram. I loosened the mem timings just a bit to 3-4-3-8. I'm priming right now for 2600 mhz. If I can get it up to 2650mhz I'll probably be happy with that, for now anyways. I just get a little confused about the cpu multiplier, and when I should lower it. Oh well, still learning, and it's really cool to get this far. I'm totally loving this motherboard! Feel I've just scratched the surface, haven't messed with other settings like chipset voltage and stuff yet.

[Clawhammer]

most people are running 1.7-1.8 chipset voltage with similar fsb.

the stock hs on the board is not great at all.at 1.8v i just put a small fan on the stock hs.at 1.9v i replaced the hs with a zalman zm-nb47j and attached a small but beefy evercool fan.i usually run pcmark02 when im testing my OC. it gives me a good idea how my cpuram likes the selected multiplyerdivider.my best results are have been when keeping the stock multiplyer and running ram at a 1:1 ratio.if having to run a divider i prefer to run the divider that allows me for tighter timings rather than maybe a higher frequency.

[red930]

Clawhammer that board taught you some good info. you should cary msmolts golden Rule around with you

 

Just al little Checklist of what I had to do, to get so far:

 

- Turn your cpu temp control to shut down at 60c

- DO NOT USE SATA 1+2 (Cant get over 230MHz)

- raised V-Chip set to 1.8v when it stops passing go to 1.9( it is important to use a after market sink and fan)

- LDT-Multi down to 3x, Till you hit 2550 then 2.5

- Try disabled Command per clock, so RAM running at -2T) Just to get memory out of the way (Only if your having memory problems)

- raised AGP-clock to 67 MHz (seems to be unlocked at 66MHz, sometime 68MHz, too)

- V-AGP raised to 1,7V

- disable Cool'n'Quiet

- disable Thermal Throttling

 

run memtest 5 & 8 every time you make a change in your bios

 

Caution when making changes in your bios I use the strike three your out rule. If you don’t make it into your os the second time go back were you know you can and boot the os. I have never corrupted or lost an os using this

 

Takes most people 1.696 vcore to hit 2.6xx on a E6 NO one has had any luck past 1.8

If my CPU is running 50c and above I’m not stable

I have run stable at 8x338 with stock cpu cooler

If you use any of this Please use caution and watch your temps close

[Clawhammer]

Clawhammer that board taught you some good info. you should cary msmolts golden Rule around with you

 

are you trying to be HELPFULL,or am i completly missing something?