Well - It's done and stable

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fubar569

[H]ard|Gawd
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Dec 16, 2003
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...at least i think so...

the barton core XP isn't all i had hoped for. .initially when i purchased the chip it was my understanding it would do 2.4ghz on stock cooling at decent voltage...

it tops at 2437mhz so far. that's 12x 203fsb - memory timings are 2-3-2-5 and the DIMM's are at 2.77v - it's patriot performance memoryand honestly isn't that great in the OC department unless you really wanna loosen the timings up

now the depressing part...

it takes 1.95v to get there - but i am on air, although it's an SI-97A with a 120mm fan adapter and a 130cfm delta on top. temps right now as im typing are about 28c - load sees about 38c...i also have a swiftech NB cooler on with the stock epox NB fax zip-tied to the side of the cooler (only way it'd fit with the SI-97A)

the EpoX 8RDA3+ Pro board is pretty nice overall. layout coulda used work, but the onboard 8 channel audio is amazing. BIOS is ok for casual tweaking, but lacks for hardfore overclocking (DIMMs max at 2.9, only 3 NB volt selections). so far at this speed it's really stable and i'm impressed with the overall speed.

my 2 80gb HDD's come this week and then i'll be able to get an idea of how it does with 2 SATA HDD's in RAID-0

overall, an OK build, but wish at this point that i invested the time and cash in a good s939 build...then again a can't really bitch for under 400 spent total including drives, AIW9800pro, and all accessories including heatsink, fans, and case.

next time, it'll be 64 bit for me :cool:
 
ok, guess it's not stable. gets through the 4th or so prime self test before it quits. i'm back down to 2357mhz :( volts are down to 1.9 (trimming as much as i can)

11.5 x 205fsb at 2-3-3-6 timings at 2.77v - NB still at 1.8v

in other news, the AIW 9800Pro seems to be decent. from stock clocks i'm at 402 core / 351 memory artifact free so far. can run ATi Tool's scan forever it seems - i'll try higher later after i find the CPU's sweet spot, then it's off to the classifides.
 
Nforce 2 chipsets are particular to RAM timings. From experience, 11-3-3-2 worked best for me. You should loosen your timings and try the following on your board. Use Sisandra to determine what timing is giving you the most throughput.


1.) 11-3-3-2
2.) 10-3-3-2
3.) 11-3-3-3
4.) 10-3-3-3

I have read several places (at the time) on how the looser timings actually benefit more on the Nforce 2 chipsets...

Hope this helps, good luck and let us know what happens!!!
 
i'm currectly sitting at the aforementioned 2357mhz at 2-3-3-6 timings 11.5x205fsb ram is at 2.77v

if FF11 wasn't updating (little bugger takes 6 cd's and over 4hrs of updates on DSL) i'd be trying that right now...

more tinkering will come later after this thing is done

good news is this is prime stable right now, which is something the last OC lacked.
 
hitting the prime ropes at 2380mhz after a timing adjustment to 2-3-3-11 (11.5 x 207fsb - vdimm 2.77) - we'll see if it stays stable. i played FF11 at maxed options for about 15-20min while prime was in the background and it was fine...

the AIW 9800Pro also has hit a new totally artifact free overclock of 403/353

thanks for the suggestions and we'll see where this takes me...i'll report more later
 
update: AIW 9800Pro is at 405/353 now

i'm BACK OVER 2.4ghz finally..something like 2407mhz. timings are set to 2.5-3-3-11 in BIOS, CPU is at 1.95v and the vdimm was increased to the board's max of 2.9v - shoulda got the DDR booster and a couple sticks of BH5 lovin...lol

priming now...thanks guys for the help
 
hmmm...

something's amiss - at 2407 it bombs out of prime after about 7 or so complete self-tests.

i backed off to 11.5 x 208 for 2392mhz and the timings are still at 2.5-3-3-11 in the BIOS and vdimm is 2.9v - i also have F@H running (for the horde of course;)) in the background along with Prime95 and so far it's stable.

i'm kinda disappointed in the chip, but to tide me ober for now, it'll do...
 
Well, my last suggestion (besides the timings of your ram) would be to get ahold of a mobile processor. Their voltage is set a lot lower at default, so then if you decide to overclock you only have to pump about 1.75vcore into it to get to 2.5ghz.


Good luck finding one though... a mobile 2200, 2400, 2500, or 2600 should fair you well!
 
It really sounds like a RAM timing thing. even at the timings you have "loosened" up to, its still kinda low latencies. You should really try taking the timings up above atleast 3 in most of those areas.

could also just be the fact that you dont have good ram (if you dont that is atleast), your RAM might just be at its peak.
 
i really think it's the chip though. the ram isn't the best but then again at the time i didn't plan on clocking this way way up. i left the memory at default 2-3-2-5 and 200fsb speeds and went strictly by multiplier..and it still bombs out at anything past 2400.

still, according to sandra, seems to hold it's own against a stock clocked opteron 150 so i'm pretty stoked about that. yay for ghetto-rig-ness

all things aside, i still might hop on an overclockable opteron or otherwise wait to see how the AMD roadmap pans out. this rig with the overclocked AIW should serve me well as a HTPC even after i get my gaming uses out of it.

and like already mentioned, there's always mobile XP's to try :cool:
 
Smoove910 said:
Well, my last suggestion (besides the timings of your ram) would be to get ahold of a mobile processor. Their voltage is set a lot lower at default, so then if you decide to overclock you only have to pump about 1.75vcore into it to get to 2.5ghz.


Good luck finding one though... a mobile 2200, 2400, 2500, or 2600 should fair you well!
Click to expand...



QFT. I have an Athlon XP 2400+ Mobile (1.8ghz stock) that runs quite easily at 2.7ghz on water, and 2.5ghz on quiet air, at a measley low vcore of 1.55 :D
 
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