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Whats limiting my overclock?

A

awdark

[H]ard|Gawd
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Mar 22, 2003
Messages
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I was wondering what is holding back my overclock I assume I hit the max when I bsod or freeze.
2600+barton limit at 2212mhz
DFI nforce2 400-al
mushkin 3200ddr (economy series)
Coolermaster aero7 lite

I use the cpufsb util for the nforce board to overclock, don't like the bios.

Pushing to 190mhz gets it unstable at about 180 it tolerated 3hours of encoding course the temps went to 130°f...
 
a) learn to use the bios, because the nforce OC utility is pretty much crap.

b) better cooling + more voltage to the core will allow you to overclock higher, assuming you didn't get a lemon of a chip.
 
Originally posted by awdark
don't like the bios.
Click to expand...

Hahaha... you might be in the wrong place then ;)

Like busdriver said, use the BIOS. Use it and love it or don't overclock.

Read up some of the threads and you'll find out what software is useful for testing and diagnosing problems. Memtest, prime95, sandra, 3dmark, are all benchmarking and stress testing software that is useful while OCing. If you're running at 130F, there's a good chance your cooling is the problem. I'm not familiary with your HSF, but you might want to try reinstalling the HSF with some AS5 and do it properly. Most people don't apply thermal paste properly, almost everyone puts too much on.

The question you are asking has been asked about six million times before. Take some time and read other threads, the info is all here.
 
Well it was at 130 because I dont like the noise from my fans.. I usually try to keep it around 110 but I was kinda trying to test its limits.
Right now its running at 107F. So I dont think heat is generally my problem..
I would gladly go water cooling... except the parts are a bit expensive.

Would cooling the north/south bridge make any difference? Currently a relatively large funny looking passive heatsink on northbridge only. Should I consider pulling the heatsink from another board? my intel board has a small heatsink on its northbridge but my current board doesnt have mounting holes on the southbridge and I dont have any of that thermal paste/epoxy stuff.

Sigh.. my dfi bios isnt exactly logical to me.. they have one section for ram and I think another section for overclocking and stuff like that. eh.. ill play around with that.. but whats wrong with software overclocking? I only sometimes want to have the full power without the extra heat and all that fun stuff.
 
Originally posted by awdark
Would cooling the north/south bridge make any difference? Currently a relatively large funny looking passive heatsink on northbridge only. Should I consider pulling the heatsink from another board? my intel board has a small heatsink on its northbridge but my current board doesnt have mounting holes on the southbridge and I dont have any of that thermal paste/epoxy stuff.
Click to expand...


Well cooling the southbridge is a waste of time, as it doesn't really do much of anything. The northbridge needs some type of cooling, but chances are the cooler its already got may be good enough already. After your computer is running for a while, touch the northbridge HS with your finger. If it sizzles, you may need more cooling. If its lukewarm, don't worry about it. I can rest my hand on my northbridge all day long and its barely warm. I also have a P4 and not an AMD board so your results may vary.
 
its an amd board. I have a intel board that died so I take parts from that computer. :( least its being used. Ill go poke at that heatsink later then. (note to self.. dont stick finger into fan)

When do I know its time to increase the voltage? It is currently at about 1.63 volts.. any general rules of increasing the voltage?
 
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