Help with my OC - 175 Opteron, 2.9ghz Stock Cooling

[csfaith]

Hi guys 😀 i'm new to the forum and was hoping to kick things off by getting a little advice

I'm fairly good with my PC as i have toyed with them ever since my IBM Redstoned 286

This was my first solo build on a pc, and basicly being a student ect was all about bang for buck. Just a few things re my overclock that i do not understand 100% - This is to do with the actual settings of my overclock. Im sure for my cpu speed something isn't right.

Current settings - Mult set to x10, Bus speed set to 290.01 (not sure bout the .01 part) Volt on 1.4. So as far as my noob eye can see, my 175 Opty has had a clean straight out of box O/C of 700mhz. Hitting 3.0 is where it gets abit unstable. Running at 2.9 my pc is basicly left on 24/7 and never skips a beat. I am just sure something is being cut down due to my cpu speed, and im thinking its memory and my lack of knowledge ?

I'm unsure with the actual memory side of things. I'm rather sure my current settings are not optimal? Also re my HT - NB speeds. Do i just leave on auto, or manually set the speed to 1000mhz, 800 mhz, and the Width to 16 Bit? And with my current settings my mem divider is at 1/15 -

I have a 175 AMD opteron 2.2 ghz duel core (Currently set at 2.9ghz)
Asrock 939 Duel Sata 2 mboard
Ati 4850 512 Graphics card
2 gig Ram (512 x 4 Geil PC3200 DDR400 Ram)

Below is my CPUID report for my current settings. Keeping in mind that my PC runs 24/7 as im an avid gamer, but im sure my memory settings / timings or something is affecting preformance. I know all the pros and cons of my motherboard, but as it was agp / pcie (previously had ATI x1950 pro in my system) was such a simple upgrade to my PCIE card - 4850.

So any advice, tips hints would be greatly appreciated. Look forward to your replies.

CPU
Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 per processor
Name AMD Opteron 175 (UP)
Code Name Denmark
Specification Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 175
Package Socket 939
Family/Model/Stepping F.3.2
Extended Family/Model F.23
Brand ID 44
Core Stepping JH9-E6
Technology 90 nm
Core Speed 2901.1 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 10.0 x 290.1 MHz
HT Link speed 1160.4 MHz
Stock frequency 2200 MHz
Instruction sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64
L1 Data cache (per processor) 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache (per processor) 2 x 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache (per processor) 2 x 1024 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size

Chipset & Memory
Northbridge ALI M1695 rev. 00
Southbridge ALI M1563 rev. 70
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 193.4 MHz (CPU/15) ------ Dont understand why the diver is 1/15 as i understand this affects preform ..
CAS# Latency (tCL) 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 5 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 10 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T

Memory SPD
Module 1 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 2 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 3 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 4 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL

 

[RandomName]

Nice going csfaith. 2.9ghz on your 175 is very nice. I'm currently running an opty 175 as well and its sitting at around 2.7ghz with water cooling at 1.4V.

Now to answer your questions:

- Your HT link speed is currently at 1160.4 MHz. That is the sort of HT link speeds that most high end OC's get. Too much over 1000 MHz and you could start facing instability issues.

- Your Memory Frequency 193.4 MHz (CPU/15) is fine, depending on your RAM. If its rated for DDR400, then what that actually means is that your RAM is running at 2 x 193.4 = 387 MHz, which is good. I think your MB will try and use the best speed for your RAM (which is 400).

If you know the spec's of your RAM, you might be able to tighten the timings for them which might increase your RAM throughput. Also, I've noticed that you are using the a 2T command rate. If your RAM allows it, a 1T command rate will also give your RAM a boost in performance.

Just make sure you keep an eye on your CPU temperature while proving your benchmarks, I use Core Temp.

Good luck with your OC'ing and let me know how you get along.

 

[csfaith]

Well to be honest, i have been running my pc on this config for the last 8-10 months. At all the current settings i have now. What struck me was when i did a 3dmark 05, and comparing some other pcs with similar builds ect - but with way bigger scores. I think i sat on 14100 in 3d05. Also i was having thoughts that maybe my build and O/C is still bottleneck on my cpu, as i do expect my - 4850 should be running alot better than it is ??

Anyhow my ram details are posted below if you would be nice enough to shed some light on the whole timing, I thinik stock (gel 512 pc3200 ddr400) and timing 2.5-3-3-5 (and or 6)

As below
Chipset & Memory
Northbridge ALI M1695 rev. 00
Southbridge ALI M1563 rev. 70
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 2048 MBytes
Memory Frequency 193.4 MHz (CPU/15) ------ Dont understand why the diver is 1/15 as i understand this affects preform ..
CAS# Latency (tCL) 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 3 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 5 clocks
Bank Cycle Time (tRC) 10 clocks
DRAM Idle Timer 16 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T

Memory SPD
Module 1 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 2 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 3 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL
Module 4 DDR, PC3200 (200 MHz), 512 MBytes, GEIL

 

[PitterAttack]

This may not help too much but I had a opty 165 and it would do 2.8 without a volt bump or anything. I was using an Abit AT8 32x with a OCZ gamexstream 850 and OCZ gold 250 ram. It was a CCBBE stepping. I do have alot of experience overclocking. What model motherboard? What brand 4850? I will look closer at your post and get backt to you soon. later

 

[B-Unit]

Ill keep an eye on this thread too, just got a Jetway nF4 board and Im gonna try and bring my Opty 165 back to life. Def keep HT below 1000Mhz, I cant find the link anymore, but I read articles showing you could go as low as 300Mhz without losing any performance, so dont be afraid of it dipping down to 700-800Mhz.

 

[Gryphyn]

I have an Opty 170 running at 2.7 Ghz stock voltage, Tuniq Tower 120 for cooling. My memory is running at DDR440 or something like that, also stock voltage. In my case, I'm rock solid and Ice cold at 2.7, but a hair above and I lose stability, no matter what I do with the voltage.

The 2T timing issue is unavoidable in your case, because you have all four memory slots filled, and it auto defaults to that. You can try setting it back to 1T, but I doubt you'll be stable. If you really want to you can try using two 1 gig sticks at 1T timing to get better performance, but at this point you're probably better off saving your money for the next system.

The only problem I've ever had with my system is my stupid 8800 GTS 640 video card, with the nvdisp4.dll blue screen that pops up from time to time (usually in the middle of an awesome game of Supreme Commander FA. No more Nvidia for me.

 

[Minerva]

Nice to see that I'm not the only person running a slightly outdated cpu

I am running my kit at stock at the moment, as my PSU is not all that good any more, so as soon as I overclock I lose stability. I did do some testing by removing everything except the gfx card and the hdd, and I could get a bit of an OC going. I think I had mine going up to 2640MHz.

I don't know if you still have the system, but what I would suggest to try WRT the RAM, is to check in the bios if you can cgange the cpu/ram divider, maybe you can get it up to about 440mhz on the memory. What I found works well on my DFi NF4-SLi-DR mobo, is to bump the DDR voltage from 2.5~2.6v to about 2.8v that helped a lot with stability.

Let us know if you still have the system and how well it is going!