My first overclock - Advice needed

[Daveee]

Well I recently purcahsed a DFI Ultra-D and AMD 3000+ (all specs are in my sig). This is my first time overclocking, so I'm a little confused and not sure where to go next.

 

Firstly, the initial BIOS values I put in were a combination of RGone's and Angry's from the following thread... http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread.php?t=5844

 

Now I guess the main BIOS value concerns are the Genie and DRAM stuff. So here are mine (what I think is important).

 

FSB:230

LDT/FSB: x4

CPU/FSB: x9

 

CPU Vid Startup value: 1.425

CPU Vid Control: 1.475

CPU Vid Special Control: x 110%

LDT Voltage: 1.4

Chipset Voltage: 1.8

DRAM: 2.9

 

 

Now for the DRAM. I'm going to list everything in order (without typing out what the name is).

 

DRAM: 200 (1:)

CPC Enabled

Cas 2.5

03

06

03

07

14

5

03

02

05

3120

05

Interleave: Disabled

 

Increase

0

Level 6

Level 4

7

5

256

Disabled

16x

7x

Disabled

 

Now I started by upping the FSB. I got to 230. Any higher and it would try to load windows but nothing would happen. Occasionally it would come up with an error saying Windows didn't have the 7mb of extended memory it needed?

 

I tried upping it further and lowering the multiplier but it still wouldn't go into windows. So ATM I'm running at 2070mhz, which is a bit better than the stock 1800, but I'd like it to go further! Does it sound like my RAM isn't up to the task? Can I try fiddling with the DRAM ratio?

 

So what do you guys suggest I do next? (I haven't done any stability testing yet, I will do some tonight but also think it should be able to go higher than this?)

 

Any help appreciated

Thanks in advance.

[spdiscus]

Are you running memtest as you increase the FSB? I never try to boot to Windows without knowing that the current config is memtest solid for at least an hour (8 hours when you're doing real stability testing).

 

Something to try: set everything other than the big four RAM settings to Auto. At 230, try 3-3-3-8.

[Opponent]

I don't know anything about your RAM but just by looking at those settings few things come to mind that you could try first...

 

lower LTD multi at 3 or auto

 

raise trc from 7 to something like 9 or even 12. 7 is very tight, not many RAM can handle it at higher speeds...

 

try different trefs, 3072 or 4708 for example.

 

If that is TCCD chips you got there you might try drive strenght 7 and dram drive strenght 3 at those speeds.

 

If your 1 gig is actually 2x512 you could set bank interleave enabled.

 

You don't get any performance hit with dividers but for me they work extremely weird, sometimes I can't even boot with the same fsb and CPU Mhz that works like charm 1:1. So go 1:1 if you can... If you can't THEN only try dividers...

 

And yes, use Memtest always first to see if its worth even booting to windows, when tweaking memory settings I usually just loop #5 and #8 about 10-15 passes.

[Daveee]

Thanks for the advice guys. The ram is 2 x 512.

It's 1am now, so I'll give it all a shot tommorow!

 

Oh, and I have to admit it IS cheap(er) RAM.

[Smoken Joe]

OpponentHas some good suggestions just remper this is play and try diffrent things out. I doubt you will be able to try bank interleave enabled but ho knows it might help.

 

Try 2.5 4 4 8 and yes you should increase trc upp too. My memory hates cas 3 so dont be shocked if that doesnt work.

 

You must lower LTD or put it on auto if you want to go higher!

[Daveee]

Ok, I put LTD multi on auto.

I raised trc to 12. I also tried different trefs.

 

In the end I ended up with the RAM at 2.9v running

TCL: 2.5

TRCD: 3

TRAS: 7

TRP: 3

 

I could memtest up to 227mhz, after that I would get errors. I tried loosening the above timings but it didn't really help. Is it possible I've hit the ceiling of my RAM already? Is there anything else I can try?

 

Is it worth playing the DRAM multiplier to try and get more CPU speed?

What's more important? 1:1 or more raw CPU speed.

[Fracture]

Is it worth playing the DRAM multiplier to try and get more CPU speed?

What's more important? 1:1 or more raw CPU speed.

 

Raw CPU speed, without doubt. Check out the Confused about HTT, FSB, etc Sticky at the top of the page for more info.

 

Drop the ram to a DDR333 divider, and see what happens. Athlon64's don't mind ram dividers.

[Daveee]

Sweet, will try it out

[Daveee]

I've set the ram to ddr333. I memtested all the way up to 260FSB.

 

However when I load windows it will load up, then start loading the system tray icons and then restart itself! When I drop the FSB all the way back to 220 it doesn't do it.

Initially I thought it was MBM monitor was causing the problem as when it hadn't loaded it would come up with the error message and when i would tell it to load it would reset on me.

 

I'm a bit confused as to what the problem might be! Does anyone have any ideas?

[Vista]

As you increase the FSB frequency to OC the CPU, RAM timings that might pass Memtest still might not be stable under Windows, even at DDR333 speeds. Programs like OCCT, Prime95, and SuperPi can isolate instabilities once you get past Memtest. I think that Geil is TCCD memory, so you might not need 2.9v... my memory was more stable at 2.6v than at lower or higher when I started OCing. It is also possible you are hitting the limits of your CPU with your current cooling and volts. Can you get up to 225x9? How about 200x10? If you have a 10x multi on your 3000+, give that a try.

[Daveee]

I'm running at 220 x 9 with DDR400. As soon as I drop it to DDR333 it won't boot windows. I even got an error saying a windomssystem file was corruped

 

What should I do? Re-install windows and start again?

[Daveee]

I can't even run at DDR333, 230 x 9.

 

But right now I'm running at DDR400, 227 x 9.

 

Could windows have saved the settings I was running and now spits the dummy if everything isn't right?

 

I really don't think it's my RAM any more and it seems weird that I can't get my FSB past 227 now

 

Any help appreciated.

 

EDIT: Earlier today I was running at around 240 x 9 with DDR333. Now nothing.

Have I corrupted windows? What do you guys think I should do?