Opteron 165 unstable at 1.30volts & 1.8Ghz

[Marty Kessler]

Hi

This is kinda relevant to overclocking since I really wanted to overclock the crap outta this cpu but alas it just wasn't to be. I got it a few days ago and from the get go it's given me nothing but trouble.

 

The Stepping is CCBBE 0615DPMW

 

Ok, I stuck it in, not bothering to reformat but I did reset the bios. So I was at 1.30 volts and 1.8Ghz 9X200. My Ram was at 3,3,2,7 1T 1/1.

 

As soon as I boot into Windows, I check the temps. 22-23C idle, 30C for the short time it's been under load. Then I try Super-Pi changing the affinity like I saw on another post on here but 10 seconds into Dual Super Pi and I get this message "Not Convergent in SQR05". Then I try Orthos Dual Prime 95 but it quits after 10 seconds. 3D Mark 06 just crashes and reboots me computer.

 

I then installed the Dual Core Optimiser, checked it was in the boot.ini file, then tried Super-Pi and Prime 95 again but still the same result.

 

Then I installed the Microsoft Dual Core Hotfix and activated it with the Registry edit but there was still no difference.

 

I ran Memtest86 and came up with no faults with my RAM. I relaxed my timings to 3,4,4,8 and again, no difference. I tried 1.325, 1.350, 1.375, 1.40, 1.425 and 1.45 volts and again, no difference.

 

I then reformatted my hard drive, installed me chipset drivers and before I installed anything else, I tried again with Super Pi and Prime 95 with still the same result. I again went through all the above step by step with no change.

 

If I try to play a game it crashes either to desktop or reboots.

 

I'm just about to send this chip back to Komplett but thought I'd run it past you peeps to see if there's anything I'm missing.

 

Thanks

[PhoetuS]

Sounds to me like you need to manually set all the memory timings. I don't know much about that particular RAM, but I am sure there is some info here at the street that can help you.

[27floyd]

The secondary timing are very important to the CPU<->RAM working well together.

Id bet you have to do some tweaking to get it working properly.

[Thraxz]

I believe the stock voltage on that cip is 1.35Vcore. Certainly sounds like a CPU lack of voltage to me.

[Marty Kessler]

Hey folks.

 

Thanks for the replies. Was having a read around just after I posted and have played around a bit with ram timings. Hasn't made a difference so far. Here's what I've done.

 

 

I upped volts to 1.35v and lowered me LDT thingie from 5 to 3 (just in case

 

I changed me DRAM Drive Strength from Auto to 01 but when I booted to windows it just froze on me every time.

 

By the way, I'm using the 04/06 BIOS.

 

Any other ideas are welcome. Thanks.

 

 

Tried running Prime 95 with just small FFTs`instead of on the Blend setting. So far it's been running for 2 hours. Not sure what the story is there.

 

 

Holy Smokes Batman!! Just dropped my divider from 1/1 to 1/2 and it's running Prime 95 on blend no probs but hey, it's only been a coupla minutes ^^. Better than the usual 10 seconds tho. Hmmmm......I'll leave it running the rest o the night and see what happens. Hope I can raise me divider a bit though as that's very low.

[27floyd]

That chip should be able to hit 2.6Ghz on stock volts (1.35v)

Iv have mine at 2.7Ghz @ 1.38v (1.225 ^113%). You will have to tweak that ram , but you should have good success with it.

[Boosted420a]

Test you ram and make sure it's performing as it should. I had a helluva time with my opteron165 when I first got it. I couldn't clock it to save my life, no matter how loose the timings were. I finally wised up and tested my ram. One of my sticks had gone bad. Using the good one, the system became comepletely stable, and I easily OC'd to 300x9 1:1 @ stock vcore.

[PhoetuS]

Tried running Prime 95 with just small FFTs`instead of on the Blend setting. So far it's been running for 2 hours. Not sure what the story is there.

 

That means it is a RAM issue, not a CPU or Vcore issue. You will need to tweak your RAM settings.

 

 

Try changing these settings:

 

READ PREAMBLE to 5.5 or 6.

TRFC to 13-15

DRAM Drive Strength to 7

 

 

Also what voltage are you running the RAM at? I think that they are rated for 2.6-2.9 (I could be wrong). You may need to try different volts as well. Are they the Redlines?

 

 

Make sure that you check any changes that you make with MemTest86+ just to make sure that it is stable.

 

Good luck.

[Marty Kessler]

Hey folks. Thanks for all the help. Much appreciated. I think I know what I'm doin now at least.

 

Yes, you're right Phoetus. I remember when I bought the RAM that it could go to 2.9v. I have it at 2.66v at the moment but I'll have a play around once I've found me cpu limit.

 

So far I've had 8 hours Prime 95 at 2.7Ghz 1.375v. (yes, I know, I got a bit ahead o meself by pushing that far so soon but couldn't help meself ^^) Gonna keep on pushing though (in smaller increments ;-) ).

 

One question though. At the moment I'm Priming at 2835mhz 315x9 1.45v.

I'm using Ntune monitor and Smart Guardian to monitor temps and they're telling me 41C under load.

 

I downloaded the Core Temp program and that's telling me that both cores are at 55-56C. Of course I want to believe Ntune and Smart Guardian but thought I'd run it past youz peeps. Is this Core Temp program reliable?

 

Thanks again for all the help. I couldn't o done it without ya.

 

Just found a thread telling me all about it

 

It says my TCase Max is 55C. And me running at 55-56C right now. Hmmmm......soemthin tells me I won't be goin much further with this oc, at least, not until I've given the Arctic Silver 5 time to burn in ^^

[PhoetuS]

Glad to know that you got everything straightened out

 

Some people regard the CoreTemp as being more accurate then other software, and in alot of ways I agree, however, I have found that it doesn't always report accurately. For instance, in my secondary rig I have my naked 170 clocked at 240x10 @ 1.2v. Core temp reports the idle temp as 19c-20c on Core 0 & 24c-25c on Core 1 with an ambient temp of 26c. Smartgardian reports my idle temp as ~27c. Obviously the temp of the cpu isn't below ambient so, CoreTemp must be wrong...

[27floyd]

Glad to know that you got everything straightened out

 

Some people regard the CoreTemp as being more accurate then other software, and in alot of ways I agree, however, I have found that it doesn't always report accurately. For instance, in my secondary rig I have my naked 170 clocked at 240x10 @ 1.2v. Core temp reports the idle temp as 19c-20c on Core 0 & 24c-25c on Core 1 with an ambient temp of 26c. Smartgardian reports my idle temp as ~27c. Obviously the temp of the cpu isn't below ambient so, CoreTemp must be wrong...

 

 

Good point.

I also kinda disregard core temp. It has always been flaky with my chips. And I just looked at it like this.

If my CPU at 2.7GHZ was running at 50-55 as core temp reports it would never be able to pull off 24hrs prime stable. Which it has. So im not to worried about that reading . In MBM5 it never got over 41C.

[red930]

Good point.

I also kinda disregard core temp. It has always been flaky with my chips. And I just looked at it like this.

If my CPU at 2.7GHZ was running at 50-55 as core temp reports it would never be able to pull off 24hrs prime stable. Which it has. So im not to worried about that reading . In MBM5 it never got over 41C.

 

I think you might still be able to run 24hrs prime at that temp, I wish I could disregard Core Temp readings, 2.6GHz at stock v's on full load MBM5 reports 35C while Core Temp shows one core at 40C and the other at 50c.

 

I really don't want to go much over 50C (if that's the real temp),don't have the money to replace this chip.

 

This is on a 165, disregard sig