Epox 9NPA Ultra + 3200 Venice OC help..

[ITgamer]

Posted this in another forum, have a look and lemme know what you guys think. Thanks..
------------------------------------------------

3200 Venice, Epox 9NPDA+Ultra here..

I am totally new to OC'ing so I figured, I would get at least 2.5 out of my chip. Either I'm wrong or I screwed something up...

Here's the setup:

3200 Venice
Epox 9NPA+Ultra (just flashed to new bios last week)
4 x 512 Corsair XMS (DDR 400)
FS Blue Thunder 500w

I went through the steps on Zebo's Guide (yes i upped volts on CPU and DIMM), and here's what I came up with..

Max HTT / FSB:
I set PCI to 200 Mhz
CPU Clock to 7x
Memory to 100Mhz
Multi to 3x

Board maxed out at 300 Mhz

Max chip:
PCI = 100mhz
Clock = 10x
Mem = 100Mhz

Chip maxed at 250 Mhz (prime 95 stable)

Memory:
maxed at 230 Mhz (didnt go all that hard on the mem, stayed with this to be safe)

Now I tried to use the script in the guide to help with the settings, here's what I found with those settings...

1st Choice: (The only reason I chose this first is becaue I can only set my mem to 100, 133, 166 or 200. And can only use whole numbers as my multi and HT)
HTT: 277
CPU: 9 x 277 = 2493
Mem: 5:6 (166) x 277 = 226.63
HT: 1 x 277 = 277

When I tried this I got the two long beeps at boot, system would not post. The Epox auto-kicked it down so I could get back into bios. I could not try any of the other choices, b/c my board would not adjust to the settings like I explained in the above.

After trying a few different combinations, I still could not get into Windows. I then had to reset the CMOS, and start over. I then left everything at default and tried a weak o/c just to see whats going on.

HTT: 220
CPU: 10 x 200
Mem: 200 (then tried 166)
HT: Auto

This would not post either, sometimes it would, but not get to windows. I kept getting some kind of file error when Win tried to load. And after going back to stock, a ton of programs would not work properly in winsdows... I had to restore to the previous day to fix anything....

Ok, guys what am I doing wrong? I double checked all the steps in Zebo's guide..

I dropeed my mem to 512 x 2, still same issues....gah

Getting a little frustrated here... spent a ton on this stuff and cant get it to go at least to 2.5...

Do I need to OC with a fresh install? Is there a tool I need to be using to divide my memory lower?....

I am hoping there is something I forgot to do thats holding me up here, thanks for the help..

 

[scottchen]

You just destroyed your windows registry with your unstable clocks, gotta format! and reinstall windows.

More info needed, what volts are u using? what cooling u got? temps?

 

[ITgamer]

I worked with it some yesterday, and I have found that 4 x 512 is not very stable. I could not get it to post past 220 Mhz.

So, I pulled out the extra GiG of RAM, set the timings to 2.5-3-3-6 1T, Vcore at 1.55v, VDimm at 2.8v, 166Mhz divider, HT at 3, and I was able to push the chip all the way to 270. But stupid me I reglected to even see if it would load windows..I only checked to see if it would post...Obviously, at that speed it would not load windows.

Ok I made some head room..

So I then tried to back off the Mhz, to get it to load windows. But it woud go as far as the Windows screen then go BSOD(registery).. The only way I could get it to load completely was to clear the CMOS jumper. Once I did that I could run at stock again.

Ok, how can I oc without borking the registery?

 

[scottchen]

The reason why 4x512mb ram didn't work is because you must use 2T command rate, for 4 sticks of ram. 4 sticks of ram is very stressful for the CPU, but venice cores corrected most of winchester's problems, and should have no problem running 4 sticks of ram, i myself is running 4 sticks of 512mb double sided Samsung DDR400 ram.

The trick is to not push too far, go bit by bit, 1.55Vcore is low for 2700mhz, i'm using 1.7V for 2700mhz on my 3000+ venice. You didn't answer my question what cooling u got? and your temps.

 

[ITgamer]

Zalman 7700 CU, CPU temps are 40 idle, 46 load. Chipset stays around 38.

I was using 2T rate, still could not get it past 230. Once I went down to 1G, I could then go faster. Maybe those 2 other sticks didnt want to work well, or I am forgetting something. I suspect its the latter, thanks.

<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by ITgamer on 07/13/05 01:29 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[scottchen]

Crank that vcore up, and keep your ram's speed low so you can narrow down what's limiting you.

 

[ITgamer]

So, stay with the 4 x 512? How much voltage should I bring it up?

Isnt over 1.6 pretty bad?

 

[scottchen]

Meh... who keeps a CPU for more than 2 years. 1.7V even 1.75V is no problem if you keep it cool enough, but 1.6 for you should be fine, higher requires water.

 

[ITgamer]

So keep the same settings(4x512) and cranck the vcore to try again?

 

[scottchen]

Yeah, but make sure they're set to 2T.

 

[ITgamer]

Ok ill give that a run, thanks