which bios is best for you? some things to think about in overclocking

[CJ4]

Hey Angry,

So you advocate running asynch memory (with a divider) and a higher CPU Mhz as better performance than a lower CPU Mhz at 1:1? Only reason I ask specifically is because I've always heard it's better to run the memory 1:1 and have been reluctant to use a divider on my setup (but I've been running Intel for a while).

 

Yep- that's the beauty of the A64's- no penalty for using memory dividers.

 

CJ

[Angry_Games]

there IS a slight penalty, but not anything like you saw on the AthlonXP/Pentium4 where ther was a separate memory controller hub (Northbridge)

 

the memory controller being on the A64 cpu core itself means that you can never really feed the cpu enough memory, no matter how fast your memory is heh.

 

i wouldnt go below DDR166 divider...I've tried DDR150 and did ok, but DDR150 is where you start seeing a penalty, and DDr133 and lower you are unable to make up the penalty in cpu performance (ie @ DDR133 and lower, even an extra 200Mhz on the cpu doesn't make up for the penalty of the divider)

 

DDR180 and DDR166 are EXCELLENT dividers to run...you should never run out of memory Mhz at DDR166 (ie @ DDr166, if you set your cpu's FSB to 250, your memory is still only doing actual of 200Mhz, which leaves you plenty of clocking room assuming your memory has it...going up to say 275 would put your memory at about 225 actual, but your cpu would be doing 275x the multiplier...275x10 @ 2750Mhz w/225Mhz real memory performance = HELL YEAH!)

 

it gets really confusing sometimes I know...I have been fooling with this stuff over a year and I STILL learning new little tricks etc.

 

it took me a LONG time to UNLEARN about memory dividers....because they truly were the anti-christ of overclocking on the NF2/P4 stuff...but I've been finding that isn't the case on teh A64, as long as you stick to a relatively decent divider (above DDR150, prefer DDR166 or better)

 

 

i had to use a DDR166 divider to get my cpu @ 333 (333x8 = got me a 1060Mhz overclock on my Sempron 754!)

[slugsly]

I didn't think it was confusing until I read the above post... Isn't the end result memory speed more important then what multiplier you are using? Wouldn't a ddr150 divider with 280mhz htt give a higher fsb and thus faster memory bandwidth then a ddr166 divider with 220mhz htt?

[Angry_Games]

cpu mhz is what you are after

 

but

 

there comes a point when the divider penalty is too great for the cpu increase in mhz to make up for it

 

memory speed = pointless compared to cpu mhz

 

but

 

memory on a low divider (DDR150 or lower) means that it starts to hinder overall system performance

[Forceman]

Thanks Angry - I'll drop my dividers and see what I get - I know this stupid memory is holding me back.

[Angry_Games]

I know this stupid memory is holding me back.

 

OCZ EL 4000? unless it is built on Hynix IC's it shouldnt be holding you back

[Ubermann]

The most fun with new hardware is the tweaking that comes, to see things improve.

FSB goes up and MHZ goes up and all scores go up.

But after a month (If there is more then 1 new hardware) you finally find max on everything and how to set bios correct.

Then it should be gaming ?

No then its game over cuz the thrill of overclocking is vanished again.

Then buy new stuff and start all over =)

 

It's still funny so see people that buy BH-5 or TCCD and spend one day tweaking and put their hate words on internet how crappy their new ram is =)

[Alienwhere]

currently im at 235X12 on a 180 devider at 2820 with 29-30 idle temps @ 1.375 & 104% volts

with room to grow

i wanna run my bh-5 1:1 but for some reason i cant do anything with it on this setup. cpc off i have 6 errors at stock speed with 2-2-2-5-7-16

im gonna break 3g on air prob tomorrow or next day

but i really wanna run this all at 1:1 eventhough ur posts say theres no performance increase i know thes 1a4t's can do it I jusy dont understand why theu arent now

any help would be awesome fellas thnx

[cpuz]

agreed. maybe the question you mean is what bios should i flash to that will work with my components.

[red930]

It's still funny so see people that buy BH-5 or TCCD and spend one day tweaking and put their hate words on internet how crappy their new ram is =)

 

That's true,but you can get some really good buys on ram sometimes when this happens

[pilotw]

I've been modifying everything I own since I was very young. I did overlcoking back in the day when the BIOS were limited to FSB only, hehehe.

 

I was going to overclock my last machine but I blew up the ability for the CMOS to store data by shorting out the MB one day, ooppsss... The machine still works fine but I made a promise to myself that my new PC would be made for overclocking.

 

Here comes this august and the X2 3800+. Just so happens my b-day was aug 12th and I ordered the parts on the 5th. Newegg recieved the X2 3800 on the 2nd and I was one happy camper.

 

Now I have a $1700 system that I'm happily tweaking. With all the new settings, the process is very slow and I still don't fully udnerstand some of what I'm doing but I'm merrily pushing the machine up to new limits each day.

 

OCing is all about being determined to succeed. My goal is quite modest compared to most people on this board but for me it's just right.

 

I plan to have a stable system at 2.5Ghz that I can run 24/7 and get about 2 years of use out of(not including video card updates).

 

I know my processor is happy at 2.5Ghz(8-10 hours on prime95(2 instances)) but now I'm doing the ram divider dance. Since there is no "right" setting I'm trying 200, 180, and 166 at the closest timings possible to see which yeilds the best benchmark results. Once done, I shall post up the info.

[Voltes-5]

pilotw, I just got the X2 3800+ and a pair of Patriot XLB and am looking to flash my bios to support my X2, where did you get your bios from? The only one I see at the dfi site is the 623-3.