Achieving stability with AXIA

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Guest

Guest
I have my AXIA 1.0 Ghz currently running at 11 X 133 (1466 mhz) @1.85v (3.6v i/o) which I am happy with.....
The trouble is I get the odd explorer error causing me to have to restart IE and also 3d Mark 2k crashes back to my 98 desktop - usually after some time.

I have the following setup:

ABIT KT7-A (non raid version) ZT bios version
OcUK SuperThermalright SK-6 copper h/sink
1 X Crucial 256mb pc 133 cas 2 (150 g'teed)
T-bird AXIA 'Y'
Creative Geforce 2 Ultra
Creative SBLive Value

I seem to be near stable at this speed but obviously something is holding me back, any suggestions for bios settings/tweaks etc welcomed.If need be I will give more info on what setting I am using in the bios etc
Cheers (I know some of you more experienced AMD o.clockers will be able to come up with something)

Kev

p.s. I have carefully applied some thermal grease under the southbridge cooler as I had heard this can sometimes help.
 
Crashman

Crashman

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Your probably either overheating, too low a voltage for stability, or not enough power. I would try one more step in voltage since that is free, then try more cooling (maybe a better fan on the same heatsink), then the power supply.

Cast not thine pearls before the swine
 
P

peteb

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erm - do you mean northbridge cooler?

best thing is to let us know what your temps are. It is either a temperature thing, or a voltage thing as Crashman says.

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G

Guest

Guest
Aah yes that should have read Northbridge cooler (oops!)
My voltage is already maxed out at 1.85 - short of getting the mobo modded that is (scary territory)!
My typical temps as indicated by the h/w monitor are around 35c-39c degrees idle up to 48c (this was using a cpu stress tester: Hot Potato to be precise so is a worst case scenario as it is specifically designed to heat the cpu and find any weakness).My case has what appears to be good airflow with 2 input fans up front and 2 exhaust fans out back (all 8cm 2w Sunon units)though it is damn noisy! I haven't given up just yet, though the setup doesn't seem keen on a fsb of more than 133 (which is a disappointment) I could also try experimenting with i/o voltage but what is safe to use as I don't want to go too far?
All help really appreciated guys.

Kev
 
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peteb

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well - your temps are a little high to try anything radical - you may get better performance dropping your multiplier back to 10 and going for 140+ fsb instead.

Try the lastest bios and drivers if you are still not getting anywhere with FSB over 133. Increasing VIO will help memory, and there is a jumper to supply a little more juice to the PCI devices if they need it as well. As with all things it may reduce the component life but it is very hard to predict by how much.

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G

Guest

Guest
I had thought the temps seemed a little high so I may well get some silver grease and apply that in place of the goo I am currently using (it came with an old Alpha).
I may have not put enough on to allow for the inevitable movement of the h/sink whilst fitting the clip (I know not to use loads for obvious reasons).What sort of temperature ought I be able to expect roughly bearing in mind my case temp is reported as 25/26c and this is pretty constant?
I tried to watch a dvd today and got about 1.5 hrs in before the machine gave a windows protection error - why should it take that long to have a problem it is real weird?
ALso what is a safe limit for the i/o voltage without risking the memory/AGP card ?
Sorry for all the questions, I just need a few pointers (just hoping my AXIA isn't the duff one out there !)

Kev :O)
 
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peteb

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it may just be heat again, a good heatsink combo should keep a cpu to at least within 20, if not 15 degrees of system/case temperatures but at a likely penalty of noise. For instance - I use a swiftech 462 and that keeps my 1.33@1.6G tbrid at 16-17 degrees over mobo temp.

Regarding duff AXIA - I think you are already over the average overclock for a 1G AXIA, so even if you back off a little you are doing better than most!

-* This Space For Rent *-
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G

Guest

Guest
Well the figures I have (from the Via h/w monitor) are:

vcore = 1.85v (1.80 in bios)
3.3v = 3.78 steady
5v = 4.91-5.08 fluctuating (polling interval set to 2 secs tho' !)

12v = 11.65 -11.83 also fluctuating

Something else odd I noticed tonight when benching with 3dmark and Quake 3 was that when I increased the fsb up to 140 (1400 mhz - cpu speed) the frame rates dropped substantially. I was alarmed to say the least as literally the only thing changed was the fsb in the bios - I didn't want to change too much at once.
Consequently I am back to 136 (reported as 1370 mhz) but I should point out that it is damned hot here at the moment which won't help.

Cheers
Kev
 
G

Guest

Guest
Actually I forgot to add to my last post I have just added a Blue Orb cooler to cool the North bridge along with some Arctic silver 2 paste. I have also used Arctic silver 2 for the cpu.This might not make a huge difference but every little helps I guess.
I am looking to try and borrow a psu from a friend to ascertain whether lack of power from my 300 watt psu could be hindering my efforts.

Kev
 
B

Bud

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Now that you're stable, you could up the CPU DRIVE STRENGTH
and see if that give you anymore headroom...but it sounds like you're running pretty fast right now :)

I'm not in touch with my feeings, and I like it that way!
 
G

Guest

Guest
Sounds great,I will definitely give that a go- cheers !
What sort of thickness wire will I need, also is it worth putting h/sinks on the MOSFETs or will this not help at all?
If you have any pics tho' that'd be useful so I can make sure I use the right pin (either of the ones mentioned in the thread will be fine I assume).
Damn I love this forum - you guys really know your stuff which is helpful as after years as an Intel 'sheep' I am now getting in to the AMD scene.

Thanks again

Kev
 
G

Guest

Guest
I used some spare wire I had from case fans, they are meant to have 12V so the 5V you put through them isn't a concern.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Hmmmm...
I have just connected a wire between a 5 volt line and middle bottom MOSFET (precisely as described in the thread) and I am still getting a voltage drop between the power header and the MOSFET.
I will have another look at this later but surely if all I have done is run a wire directly between the 2 it shouldn't be dropping like before the mod?
Mind you I am typing this whilst running at 1470 MHZ (the highest so far tho' I have yet to really test it) but I can't seem to interest it in 140+ fsbs.
 
G

Guest

Guest
If it doesn't increase too much then that means that your power supply just isn't up to the task.
 
G

Guest

Guest
I thought that might end up being the case - still at least I now know.
I am going to get hold of a psu from a friend and connect that for all my drives etc and keep the existing one powering the mobo. That way I can find out if I am able to overclock further before I buy a new one - an Enermax 431 watter I think as it's about the best price/performance ratio (a friend paid a small fortune for a 550 watt one)
Cheers

Kev
 
P

phsstpok

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For Internet Explorer crashes or program exceptions try turning off Smooth Scrolling.

In Internet Explorer click or select

Tools >Internet Options >Advanced >Un-check Smooth Scrolling.

For 3dMark2000 just quitting, a couple of ideas. Could be the GPU on your video card overheating. Open the case and use a room fan to blow air at the video card to test this idea.

If you are using Win2K you might be experiencing the AMD AGP bug. It was first discovered using 3DMark2000. Read about it here.

<A HREF="http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html" target="_new">http://www.amd.com/products/cpg/athlon-duron/amd_win2k_patch.html</A>
 
G

Guest

Guest
Well i now have some idea of why I have been a little held back with my overclocking efforts. Yesterday I connected up a 2nd psu for my drives leaving my 300 watt free to power the mobo alone.
My observations were as follows:

The 5 volt line was around 5.08/5.10 idle and 4.98 under load both figures were pretty constant and measured in h/w monitor.
Now thinking that because it was still dropping a little when under load I wasn't any better off I tried to overclock higher..
My best stable speed using the 1 psu was 1370 mhz (136 X 10 selected) but using 2 psus I have been able to boot into windows and run various tests at 1400 and also 1470 though I didn't thoroughly test the latter much.I will run some more strenuous tests over the weekend.
I am probably safe to assume therefore that by replacing my existing psu with a beefier 430 watt(?) Enermax or similar (no space inside case for 2 units) will improve my overclock/stability.
Thanks to all that have offered suggestions- you are a great bunch of guys, I am certainly learning more overclocking AMDs than I ever did with Intels.

Kev
 
C

CALV

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Certainly sounds like it, im experiencing similar problems, at 1300 or higher (its a i gig) as soon as I load the cpu the 5V drops to about 4.7 and the 12V drops also, you can also hear a faint but noticable hum from the PSU when I start prime95 or genome, its a 300W generic psu, Im also thinking of getting a new one, but may also try the dual psu trick first, my waterblock has now arrived so in the next few weeks (stuck for time..) I will be posting my experiences <A HREF="http://www.calvsplace.cwc.net" target="_new">HERE</A> under the project section.
Good luck


Next time you wave - use all your fingers
 
peach

peach

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tmod

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Something you might want to consider is the AGP Driving Value. My understanding is the Geforce has problems with the VIA chipset and in order to achieve stability you have to change the driving value to manual and change the hexadecimal number to the suggested setting. Go to creatives site and look for the AGP Driving Value setting. The setting is in the bios.
 
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