AM2 3800+ @ 2400mhz

[BlueFalcon]

Hey guys, just wanna let yall know up front, im new to overclocking and all that, and ive just finished my first overclock. Ive got a moderate overclock on my CPU(2400mhz from 2000mhz). I figure i can push it more if i want, but right now im gonna stay at this, with after an over night run of prime95(each core) and rthdribl(to get my gfx card all warmed up for max heat purposes). I've actually got a slight undervoltage on the CPU(reads 1.3 but at normal settings reads @ 1.34). My main issue is im useing SLI ram from corsair(XMS2 @ 4-4-4-12-2T) using the SLI profile. What has been peoples luck with relaxing those timings and hitting a higher ram clock, cause mine seems to wanna crash/fail to post with anything over a very small overclock on the ram.

AMD AM2 X2 3800+ @ 2.4ghz
Asus M2N32-SLI Deluxe Wireless Ed.
2 1gig sticks of corsair XMS2/DDR2-800 @4-4-4-12-2T(stock 800mhz)
eVGA 7900GT KO(factory overclock)
2 74G raptor SATA2 in RAID-0 array
ANTEC NeoHE 500W PS

 

[sirheck]

400mhz is pretty good.
what is your ram running at now?

when you oc the cpu you also oc the ram.

 

[BlueFalcon]

naw i used the divider to keep it at 800mhz total, cause the ram doesnt like an overclock all that much, im pretty sure its from the tighter timings, but not 100% on that(the EPP runs it @ 4-4-4-12-2T instead of the SPD which says 5-5-5-18-2T)

 

[sirheck]

ok then. i would loosen the timings and see how it goes.

 

[BlueFalcon]

well, im working on that right now, loosed em up from the 4-4-4-12 to the 5-5-5-18, gonna keep the same divider and slowly bring it up to 2.6ghz while running a rough test in prime, then to a memtest at that speed,(with the multiplier down on the CPU) just to ensure the ram is fine at that speed. figure ill have to up the CPU volts back to default, as im running a step or two under default(mom software reported 1.34V @ setting of 1.3V so i backed it off till the software read 1.3V) to get there. but so far, this mobo, and CPU are WAY more overclocker friendly than my last computer(barton core 3000+ 400mhz FSB, and an ABIT NF7-S rev. 2(nforce2 ultra chipset with no bio adjustments for agp/pci locks). that was such a pain in the ass that i stopped trying to overclock it.

BTW- my temps @ 2400mhz were high 40s under full load(C, close to 50 with vid card warmed up) and mid 30s idle, using thermaltake tsunami dream case and the zalman 9500AM2 cooler, tring to keep it under 55 under a full load inclucing vid card at full blast

 

[toasty2]

Good luck, you should be able to get to 2.7Ghz or maybe farther as long as temperatures stay below 50C on load. If you need better cooling, you might want to try something like the Scythe Infinity, I get 44C at 2.9Ghz on full load.


I've also found that keeping the side of the case open provides good cooling, I have a Rosewill case that has the exact same design as the Tsunami (I have the Tsunami case also, and even the side panels are swappable.) I only have 2 fans in my case (not counting the PSU), and it stays pretty cool...mostly due to the great heatsink on my CPU.

 

[BlueFalcon]

thanks for the advice, but an open case isnt an option for me. the closed case keeps both dust/cat hair out, and cats whom like to chew on stuff.

currently, ran prime95 for an hour w/ no errors @ 2.6ghz temps were very near 50C, without a load on the vid card(wich we all know makes alot of heat) and without upping the voltage(still reads @ 1.3 w/ volts set at 1.275- normally reads 1.34 @ 1.3 setting). waiting on the DL of 3dmark06 to see the numbers i get with the ram overclocked with loose timings. then gonna clock it back to the 2.4ghz with the tighter timings and no overclock and run everest/3dmark06 to see where that puts me.

 

[BlueFalcon]

alright got the results from my everest and 3dmark tests- lemme know how these seem, cause i was on the low end of the similar systems for 3dmark

2600 = 2.6 ghz w/ ram @ 5-5-5-18-2T + OC @ 433mhz(866)
2400 = 2.4 ghz w/ ram @ 4-4-4-12-2T @ 400mhz(800)(stock speed due to dividers)

everest home ed.(2600/2400)
mem read - 5488MBs/5208MBs
mem write - 2679MBs/2876MBs
mem latency - 46.3ns/46.9ns

3dmark06 2600/2400

3dmarks - 4926/4864
CPUmarks - 1927/1777
SM2 - 1979/1978
SM3 - 1978/1980

not 100% on stability of my CPU @ 2.6 at the moment, need to run prime longer, but wanted to see if it runs better with the ram faster or with it with tighter timings. seems ive proved i need to be running @ 2.6ghz

 

[BlueFalcon]

Also: i am taking errors @2.6ghz so those benchmarks are now flawed, currently working on clearing out the errors by upping voltages, right now slightly above 1.3V setting(reads 1.36 on MB software)

 

[capnbfg]

A few months ago I was working on overclocking the same CPU. It sounds like your memory divider options are working properly though, whereas mine were not. That should give you a better shot at exceeding 2.8GHz than I had.

For some reason my system would only POST with memory dividers of 5 or 10, and when set to use DDR2-800 in the bios, it would never change the divider to anything other than 5. Luckily I had purchased some G.Skill DDR2-1066 Cas 4 memory just to be sure that I wouldn't run into problems with memory being a bottleneck. I was able to overclock that memory to 1120MHz at stock voltage and latency, which gave me a CPU speed of 2.8GHz. Unfortunately my memory kicked and I had to settle for DDR2-1000 (all newegg had in stock), which limited my overclock to 2.5GHz. I haven't tried overclocking the memory again since I needed the system to be stable for this past semester of school.

You can find more info about my overclock in this thread:
http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/8GHZ-AMD-x2-3800ftopic-198699-days0-orderasc-25.html

A few quick details:
At 2.8GHz and 1.45V with Arctic Cooling Freezer 64, I was running 45°C at 100% load.
At my Prime95 stable speed of 2.77GHz at 1.45V my temp was the same.
At my current speed of 2.5GHz at 1.45V with the Zalman 9500, my 100% load temp is still the same.

The problems I had can probably be fixed with a BIOS update, but I haven't checked recently to see if EPoX has released a new update.

 

[BlueFalcon]

sounds like a mobo problem to me(from all that ive read- been reading up on OCing since sometime last year). booted into windows after 2 post fails @2.6, ran prime95(failed w/in the first min- upped volts, rinse repeat 2 more times) volts are now at 1.39 and prime is up and running without errors so far, only thing is temps are @ ~55 with GPU warmed up and kicking(rthdribl software- really kicks up the GPU temp- google it) which i would be happier w/ about 5deg less, but ahh well.

Case fans should be as follows, side fan is an inlet, front is an inlet, and rear is exhaust right? just checking but i did read that somewhere and wanna make sure im doing it right, added a PCI slot exhaust fan to the mix to help dump my GPU heat

Thermaltake Tsunami Dream comes with 2 120s(front and rear) and a 92(sidewindow)
running with a Zalman 9500AM2 cooler

 

[toasty2]

It's kind of sad to see people with normal Athlon X2's having trouble overclocking very high. I can go to 3.1Ghz, I haven't tried 3.2 yet, but I will. Like another person said..."once you go Opty, you never go back". 😀

 

[Mousemonkey]

Case fans should be as follows, side fan is an inlet, front is an inlet, and rear is exhaust right?

Low pressure = cooler, so you should have more exhausts than inlets, side exhaust will vent hot air away from the graphic card area.

 

[BlueFalcon]

It's kind of sad to see people with normal Athlon X2's having trouble overclocking very high. I can go to 3.1Ghz, I haven't tried 3.2 yet, but I will. Like another person said..."once you go Opty, you never go back". 😀

I never said i had any trouble, im just not all warm and cosy about the temps im running on air.... besides, im sur i can hit higher if i really wanted to... my goal is 2.6 and it seems ive hit it.

as to mousemonkey, ill flip that fan around as soon as i finish this run through superPI mod 1.5 😛

 

[BlueFalcon]

well finally done, atleast for my standards. 2.6ghz OC. ran superPI mod1.5 32M fine, bout to jump on BF2142 and see how it holds up gaming. ill run prime95 overnight tonight....

AM2 3800+ @ 2.6ghz
XMS2 DDR2-800 @ 866 5-5-5-18
149G RAID-0
500W Antec NeoHE
eVGA 7900GT KO(factory overclock)

 

[BlueFalcon]

well, the results are in from the overnight prime95. it passed all night, but im not too comfertable with the temps, so im gonna put it back at 2.4ghz as it stays under 50C the whole time. just to be sure i removed the heatsink and reapplied the TIM(artic silver 5) maybe in a few days ill crank it back up to see how its running.