M2N-SLI w/ Phenom II X4 945 - What should HT link and NB frequency be?

[DOAJones]

I put together a computer for my eight year old using old parts I had laying around and I am trying to squeeze the most out of it. It is an old M2N-SLI motherboard (nForce560 SLI) with a Phenom II X4 945 processor and DDR2-PC6400 (800MHz) memory. Video card is a 750TI and there is currently 6 Gb of ram though I am looking to upgrade to the maximum 8 Gb the board will support.

CPU-Z reports:
Bus: 206 MHz
HT Link: 824 MHz
Dram: 412 MHz
NB Frequency: 1648 MHz

Are these roughly the correct stock speeds? Any suggestions? Not looking to put much money into this and I am a novice at overclocking so not looking to spend a bunch of time fine tuning, but would like to know if there is anything relatively safe/easy I can try.

 

[scout_03]

use asus ai ovecloking feature for this board but adding ddr 2 ram will cost more since they need to be in dual channel and with the same cas settings .

 

[Calvin7]

Beta BIOS Version 5001 is required for that CPU.

 

[Shaun o]

By default the HT in the bios should be set to a X5 setting.

200 x 5 = HT 1000 Mhz

Bus speed should be set to 200 Mhz 200 x 4 = 800 Mhz memory speed.

NB frequency 200 x 8 = 1600 Mhz .

DDR 2 memory will report running at 400Mhz, but due to it being Double Data Rate memory meaning it can read and write data at the same time during on memory clock cycle.

It is always times two.
Dram 400 x 2 = 800 Mhz.

The cpu multiplier on the cpu you have is locked.

So in order to overclock the cpu to a higher frequency. you must select a lower Dram clock speed for example 333Mhz
and lower the HT multiplier value in the bios so set to x4 HT link speed.

Then simply start adding from the base bus speed of 200 Mhz upwards
That in turn will start to add extra Mhz to the speed the cpu run at on your system.

You may reach up to 218 to 224 setting for the bus value before the cpu starts to freeze, or crash when running windows.

I think the limit on my old M2N board was about 224Mhz.
Anyway it`s what you need to do to get a decent overclock of the Phenom II X4 945 cpu you have.

Hope this helps and all the best.

 

[DOAJones]

Beta BIOS Version 5001 is required for that CPU.

I am running BIOS version 1103 dated 4/22/10. Maybe this is part of the issue though the system is recognizing the processor (seemingly correctly) and setting the correct processor speed.

Thanks - I will try to update to the 5001 version and see if this helps.

 

[DOAJones]

use asus ai ovecloking feature for this board but adding ddr 2 ram will cost more since they need to be in dual channel and with the same cas settings .

I tried using the AI overclock and no matter what settings I tried, the system always failed to post. I will experiment with it some more. Thank You.

 

[DOAJones]

By default the HT in the bios should be set to a X5 setting.

200 x 5 = HT 1000 Mhz

Bus speed should be set to 200 Mhz 200 x 4 = 800 Mhz memory speed.

NB frequency 200 x 8 = 1600 Mhz .

DDR 2 memory will report running at 400Mhz, but due to it being Double Data Rate memory meaning it can read and write data at the same time during on memory clock cycle.

It is always times two.
Dram 400 x 2 = 800 Mhz.

The cpu multiplier on the cpu you have is locked.

So in order to overclock the cpu to a higher frequency. you must select a lower Dram clock speed for example 333Mhz
and lower the HT multiplier value in the bios so set to x4 HT link speed.

Then simply start adding from the base bus speed of 200 Mhz upwards
That in turn will start to add extra Mhz to the speed the cpu run at on your system.

You may reach up to 218 to 224 setting for the bus value before the cpu starts to freeze, or crash when running windows.

I think the limit on my old M2N board was about 224Mhz.
Anyway it`s what you need to do to get a decent overclock of the Phenom II X4 945 cpu you have.

Hope this helps and all the best.

Very Useful information. Thank you. Funny thing is when I set the HT link to auto in the BIOS it defaults to 4x but when I manually pick 5x in the BIOS it is still reported as 4x in CPU-Z. I was able to use the Nvidea performance app to boost it to 5x. This is the utility I used to bump the bus speed up from 200 to 206 as it seemed safe and easy. Most of my attempts at messing with OC settings in the BIOS have lead to POST failure or simply not been applied despite confirming the settings. Maybe it is the BIOS version I am running - thought I had the latest but it was pointed out that I need 5001 and I am running 1103. At least I now have the HT link up to 1030.

 

[Shaun o]

I know that from the first X2 and X 4 range of phenom cpus the Physical Hyper transport speed linked to the Bus started off at around 800 Mhz.

For later Phenom II cpus the HT speed could be set to 1000 Mhz. it was due, or in part to the fact that the controler for HT settings was part of the Phenom cpu.

Anyway If I were to be honest memory sort of fails me when it comes to overclocking older cpu`s that were multiplier locked, and how to get the best results. so I had a good look on tom`s and found you this complete guide Doa Jones

That`s quiet old detailing all the methods, and step by step what to do.

So it may do you more justice.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-cpu-overclock,2396.html?_ga=1.156187771.1314634059.1483334931

 

[DOAJones]

I know that from the first X2 and X 4 range of phenom cpus the Physical Hyper transport speed linked to the Bus started off at around 800 Mhz.

For later Phenom II cpus the HT speed could be set to 1000 Mhz. it was due, or in part to the fact that the controler for HT settings was part of the Phenom cpu.

Anyway If I were to be honest memory sort of fails me when it comes to overclocking older cpu`s that were multiplier locked, and how to get the best results. so I had a good look on tom`s and found you this complete guide Doa Jones

That`s quiet old detailing all the methods, and step by step what to do.

So it may do you more justice.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-cpu-overclock,2396.html?_ga=1.156187771.1314634059.1483334931

My motherboard BIOS does not have great controls for overclocking but I was able to to bump a few things and am reasonably happy with the old rig though the 8 year old does like to jump on my computer when he can as it is faster. I think my main issue is that the board only supports up to DDR2-800. It does support overclocking to DDR2-1066 but I don't have any laying around.

 

[scout_03]

tel him to use it this way and get use with computer and when he be old enough you could build a computer with him if the budget permit .