Need Some Help Tuning My System

[Zerox12]

Now that I've gotten some new memory, I'm trying to get back into attempting to OC my system and could use a little advice. I understand the basics at this point and I've been tweaking this rig for quite some time now, but between having to switch bioses multiple times, memory problems, and of course school getting in the way, I haven't yet been able to get it to a stable point I'm happy with, and in order to do that, some help from experienced people would make my life much easier. The current system is as follows:

 

MSI K9N SLI Platinum Rev A1 Bios 1.7

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Currently @ 2310, 1.325 Volts)

2 gigs G.Skill DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231065

eVGA 7900 GT KO 256 MB (560/860)

Danger Den D5 Pump

Danger Den Xtreme Ice II Radiator

Danger Den Copper TDX Block

 

What I need the most direction with is memory. I just got these in today, and did a quick jump up to 210x11 just to check stability and heat (Which is a bit high because the room temp is between 75-80 F). For the CPU I know I should pump it up at 5 or 10 Mhz intervals, and slowly increase the voltage as necessary, but the memory I don't know how best to go about this since I'm forced to OC since I have an AMD CPU. I currently have the timings at stock (4-4-4-12-2T), but while I'm OCing should I just set it to Auto (Which the remaining timings are already set to), or should I just wait till it can't post and then ease up? The second question concerns voltage on that memory, how high can I go without causing any damage? It's at 2.1 right now. The final memory question right now is, will it be stable at 1T or would keeping it at 2T allow me to reach higher speeds on both the memory and most importantly, the CPU?

 

I could really use some help since my previous attempts at getting this at a level I want haven't ever been finished. And yes, I've read most of the guides on this site for OCing.

 

PS: After about an hour of Orthos it hits around 39 C (It hits it around half an hour but was solid for the rest of the test), this seems a lot higher than Prime95 used to get it, is that normal? And roughly how high would this be able to tolerate? I've seen ranges between 55 and 70ish. Temperature being taken from Speedfan as the "Core" temp.

[Systemlord]

Now that I've gotten some new memory, I'm trying to get back into attempting to OC my system and could use a little advice. I understand the basics at this point and I've been tweaking this rig for quite some time now, but between having to switch bioses multiple times, memory problems, and of course school getting in the way, I haven't yet been able to get it to a stable point I'm happy with, and in order to do that, some help from experienced people would make my life much easier. The current system is as follows:

 

MSI K9N SLI Platinum Rev A1 Bios 1.7

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (Currently @ 2310, 1.325 Volts)

2 gigs G.Skill DDR2 800 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx...N82E16820231065

eVGA 7900 GT KO 256 MB (560/860)

Danger Den D5 Pump

Danger Den Xtreme Ice II Radiator

Danger Den Copper TDX Block

 

What I need the most direction with is memory. I just got these in today, and did a quick jump up to 210x11 just to check stability and heat (Which is a bit high because the room temp is between 75-80 F). For the CPU I know I should pump it up at 5 or 10 Mhz intervals, and slowly increase the voltage as necessary, but the memory I don't know how best to go about this since I'm forced to OC since I have an AMD CPU. I currently have the timings at stock (4-4-4-12-2T), but while I'm OCing should I just set it to Auto (Which the remaining timings are already set to), or should I just wait till it can't post and then ease up? The second question concerns voltage on that memory, how high can I go without causing any damage? It's at 2.1 right now. The final memory question right now is, will it be stable at 1T or would keeping it at 2T allow me to reach higher speeds on both the memory and most importantly, the CPU?

 

I could really use some help since my previous attempts at getting this at a level I want haven't ever been finished. And yes, I've read most of the guides on this site for OCing.

 

PS: After about an hour of Orthos it hits around 39 C (It hits it around half an hour but was solid for the rest of the test), this seems a lot higher than Prime95 used to get it, is that normal? And roughly how high would this be able to tolerate? I've seen ranges between 55 and 70ish. Temperature being taken from Speedfan as the "Core" temp.

 

I havent ever owned an AMD, but sometimes the setting for "auto" for your Vcore some boards over do it or the other way around. Set your CPU core voltage to a safe setting and just keep raising your MHz until you see instability, at that point raise the Vcore a little and begin again. Sooner or later your going to hit a "wall" (your Vcore reaching higher than what is safe) and you need to deside if more Vcore is ok, but also watch those temps! By the way great choice on the Ram, thats some hot selling ram, I've seen people go as high as 2.3 @5-5-5-15 @1000-1200MHz at that setting.

 

But wait just a minute, when ever you go higher than the spec's you'd better have some added cooling to your Ram. When I was OC'ing last week even at stock settings my Ram was really hot because I was running Orthos as that really stresses your hole PC, so I put a 120mm fan over my dimms. As for you temps Orthos is one of the most powerful stress tests for just about anything, even more than Prime95 so its normal for one to be more stressful than others. Whats your thermal limit on your AMD as well as max Vcore? For Core 2 Duo's 65c is safe, 70ish is warm & 75 is hot using Core Temp/Speed Fan. I think 2T is better for high OC but don't quote me on that one. What is the max Vcore/temp for you processer? Also what cooler you using? B:)

Edited June 21, 2007 by Systemlord

[Zerox12]

I havent ever owned an AMD, but sometimes the setting for "auto" for your Vcore some boards over do it or the other way around. Set your CPU core voltage to a safe setting and just keep raising your MHz until you see instability, at that point raise the Vcore a little and begin again. Sooner or later your going to hit a "wall" (your Vcore reaching higher than what is safe) and you need to deside if more Vcore is ok, but also watch those temps! By the way great choice on the Ram, thats some hot selling ram, I've seen people go as high as 2.3 @5-5-5-15 @1000-1200MHz at that setting.

 

But wait just a minute, when ever you go higher than the spec's you'd better have some added cooling to your Ram. When I was OC'ing last week even at stock settings my Ram was really hot because I was running Orthos as that really stresses your hole PC, so I put a 120mm fan over my dimms. As for you temps Orthos is one of the most powerful stress tests for just about anything, even more than Prime95 so its normal for one to be more stressful than others. Whats your thermal limit on your AMD as well as max Vcore? For Core 2 Duo's 65c is safe, 70ish is warm & 75 is hot using Core Temp/Speed Fan. I think 2T is better for high OC but don't quote me on that one. What is the max Vcore/temp for you processer? Also what cooler you using? B:)

 

Thanks for the tips. As far as the thermal limit, as I said last post, I'm not entirely sure, as I've seen it anywhere between 55-70ish C on most sites (Including AMD's own page). Voltage I've seen people hit more than 1.4 stable so I'm not too worried on the CPU. As far as RAM coolers, I have no clue how the hell I'd mount one unless they make special coolers to sit in the DIMMs. I suppose I could figure it out though one I redo the wiring and clutter in my system (After messing with my water cooling loop so many times it's extremely cluttered and hard to get to things like the RAM, I intend to fix this). How would you suggest mounting something like that, or could you recommend some fans designed specifically to cool RAM? I was thinking of throwing a PCI dual fan in at some point since that would greatly reduce the temps put out by my video card (Idles around 60ish C), so I suppose that could always help in the long run.

[Zerox12]

Looks like I just hit another wall. It won't seem to post at or above 230x11. Any suggestions?

 

Also, what should I do about the spread spectrums? I know the CPU/LDT one should be disabled, but what about PCIE and SATA spread spectrums?

[Systemlord]

How would you suggest mounting something like that, or could you recommend some fans designed specifically to cool RAM?

 

The Ram Fan from CoolIt. Its fits on any MB, has a 92mm fan & I'm getting one on the 1st. It only costs $20-$30 bucks. NewEgg has them for $29.99, and I think you"ll really like it. When I hit a FSB wall I aways shoot for something far past it, nine times out of ten if your MB permiting. I was at a FSB wall of 450, so I shot for 500 FSB and was loven it, but the temps were too high for air cooling. Sometimes when you hit a wall, its cuz the processer for some stange reason it don't like that FSB so I aways try to shoot past the wall.

Edited June 22, 2007 by Systemlord