Athlon 64 weaksauce overclock (8KDA3+)

[iZero]

So I got to OC'ing my EP-8KDA3+ and 3200+ A64. I hit a 220 MHz HTT wall. My memory maxes out around there anyway, so it's not a huge deal as I can run it 1:1 with the HTT. But as far as moving that HTT speed up, forget it. 230 makes the machine take a dump. We're talking about having to hold insert just to see the POST. I've tried dropping the multiplier down to something really low like 7, I've turned down the memory multiplier (it shows up as 133, 166, 200 in the BIOS, but they are really just fractions), and I've turned up all the voltages. Come hell or high water, my MoBo will not run above 220 or so HTT. Sounds a lot like the Asus nForce3 250Gb MoBo, doesn't it? Just letting everyone know.

 

[iZero]

Oh, and yes, I did drop down the HT multiplier as well.

 

[krizzle]

it's not a CPU problem if yo put the multiplier to 7 and the fsb higher than 220... htt, whatever. It's most likely your ram that won't be pushed farther, and if it isn't it's possible that it's your AGP/PCI bridge cards that cause instability past 220... although that's pretty unlikely. If you have old cards in it, it might just be the problem. (old as in those 2-mbit network cards, the first PCI slots)

 

[iZero]

it's not a CPU problem if yo put the multiplier to 7 and the fsb higher than 220... htt, whatever. It's most likely your ram that won't be pushed farther, and if it isn't it's possible that it's your AGP/PCI bridge cards that cause instability past 220... although that's pretty unlikely. If you have old cards in it, it might just be the problem. (old as in those 2-mbit network cards, the first PCI slots)

The AGP and PCI buses are locked at 66 and 33 MHz. The memory is running at .83 (166/200) or .665 (133/200). For instance, at 240 MHz HTT the memory is running at 200 MHz with the 166 setting or 160 MHz with the 133 setting. I've already tested this memory on this MoBo to run at 220 MHz at 1:1 as stated above. Therefore, it's not the memory as it's not running anywhere near its rated speed (200 MHz - PC3200 XMS Corsair).

 

[p3n]

er ... its running 20 mhz over its rated speed .. ?

 

[iZero]

After nine hours of running at 220, it took a dump to a BSOD when I tried to use it to do other things. OK, so I know for sure the memory I have runs at 210 MHz. Its done it in a couple of MoBos. I found changing "System Performance" from Fastest to Normal (whatever the hell it even means) allowed me to get the FSB up higher. Using CG-NVNF3, I was able to go all the way up to 275 MHz in Windows. Of course, trying to set this in the BIOS made everthing take a shit. Setting it to 250 allowed me to POST as long as the memory was set to 1:2. That's a pathetic 125 MHz.

I found I could get up to 245 and still see the POST. OK, I figure 245 is alright since it's letting my memory run at ~203. Try to up the muliplier to 9... No good. I played with all the voltages, and enabled and disabled every built in peripheral. Nothing worked. I dropped the HTT to 240. OK, so I got it to POST at 9x. Unfortuantly it would randomly choose not to boot at all. And here's where it got fun. The thing was actually locking up in the BIOS settings screens. Joy of joys.

So I had to jumper the thing back to reality, and I'm running at 210 HTT with no change in multipliers at 1:1 with my memory. Frankly, I'm disgusted with this result. I could have purchased any number of other boards on the market and gotten the same results. I swear reviewers get ringers. 283 MHz HTT my ass.