is my 2.2ghz overclock with my 2600xp ok?

[johnnr892]

My 12volts rails average about 12.05
3.3 are about 3.35
5volts is above aswell so they are ok. My load temps never go above 55 so now probs there. Yeah, my computer always fails prime with rounding was 1 digit too small or the sum wasn't right. Ok, I will loop and intensive 3dmark01 and see how long that runs for, sound good, yeah it boots at 400fsb. Also, it gives me option of running as 2600+ or 3200+ or user define. What happens if I just put in 3200+, will it just try and run at 400fsb because it looks like it changes the multiplier down to 11 when my cpu is locked? Thanks, John.

[weebroonieuk]

temps and volts are fine so thats one thing out of the equation

booting at 400fsb is another step in the right direction

dont worry about the user define options , there there for when your new cpu isnt auto detected by the motherboard so u can select it , as a locked cpu wont boot with different multipliers ....

ok your booting at 400 now loop 3dmark for 3 runs for a quick test , check temps and everythings ok , if it is then loop it for several hours as much as u see fit .

try maybe another benchmarking program but not prime as it seems to be fussy with your system and your not planning on building a prime number finding machine i think

if all is stable then u can start on lowering the memory timings to make them a bit tighter if u wish , some say u may not notice any different , i have checked myself but do it for the sake of it

because your ram might not like tight timings at the higher speed dont worry about it , u can also try lowering the cpu and ram volts each 1 step at a time to see how much voltage they need to be stable.

once thats sorted i like to put the volts up by 1 increment to allow for power fluctuations and just for a bit of goodluck !

keep us posted

[johnnr892]

Ok, update. I have found that pretty much nothing will take my system 100% prime95 stable over 185fsb. But as you say Prime95 may have issues with the NF7 and it's not the be all and end all. So I have tried runnning my system at 200fsb with 2.9v on the ram (thats as far as it will go according to the bios) and 1.725 on the core. The ram timings are 3, 4, 4, 9 i think which is quite slack but i din't expect great things. All in all it's looking stable in games and alike! The difference is cs:s from 184fsb and 200fsb is quite a bit and everything is really smooth. It obviously fails prime95 after about 30seconds with a rounding error but i have tried to ignore that. I looped 3dmark2001 and all seems fine but it isn't the greatest test but i can't loop 3d mark 03 or 05 because I don't have the licence to. I have been trying other system stability tests but only found a few. Apart from memtest what others are there?

[weebroonieuk]

http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/

try there and download it , im sure thats what ive used before

try bringing your ram down to 3,3,3,9

your cpu aslong as its not overheating will be fine if u feel u want to lower it u can and by checking for stability u will know if its safe to do so !

[johnnr892]

Yeah my cpu never goes over 50 under full load since i instyalled a new panaflo, what great fans. Ok I will try the program. Did it come up with no errors when prime95 was failing with yours?John

[weebroonieuk]

cant remember mate i tried with it a few times , done a bit of digging and found a few people had issues with it so just left and carried on regardless an im still running fine months later

prime errors are when it gives a sum for the cpu and it checks to see if its done correctly and when it finds it isnt it logs an error and halts the operation , these errors arent always down to being clocked to high sometimes its fault ram or cpu sometimes it can be software related

[johnnr892]

Well I have finally managed to get the image of memetest burnt to a cd so I'm running that overnight to make sure, but if it doesn't have any errors i'm gonna owe you for persuading me to be bold. My xp2600 @2.3ghz makes a really BIG difference when gaming as opposedto a 1.91ghz xp2600. My frame rates have gone up about 15fps on almost all games and I have zero slowdowns and stuff. Thanks a lot for your help weebroonieuk, I will let you know what happens in the morning with memetest86.

[weebroonieuk]

me and this beer are cheerin for ya !
ive not tried memtest myself but i am going to when i need to restart the pc again as it might not be subject to possible windows/software errors like prime!
goodluck on the memtest

[johnnr892]

Ok bad news already, after 10 minutes I have about 10 errors , i have my ram set to 2.9v. I guess I'm going to have to back off and increase the vcore to 1.75. I'm putting the fsb down to 196 and testing again. I'm guessing if your ram fails memetest then it's definately not stable at that fsb. Oh well guess this ram will never be stable at 400fsb. Unless of course I can slacken my timings even more from 3, 4, 4, 9. Can I put the 4s up to 5 in the middle or will that give me a big performance hit?

EDIT: failed at 196 fsb going down to 191 fsb, if this fails memtest at stock 166 am I eligable for RMA?

[Firelord]

if it fails memtest at 166FSB then yes they would be eligible for RMA.

I have run up to 3.4v through my RAM and have had no issues with that My old Corsair XMS3200 XL at 3.2v every day for 5mths and it survive as I made sure I had adequate cooling on them . Some of the top benchers stick 3.8-3.9v through RAM without issue so running it at 2.9v shouldn't be a problem

[RoganJosh]

whack up your cpu voltage to 1.775 and increase your chipset voltage to max 1.6 i think - you should be ok - oh and if you're not using a serial drive use the d10 bios, it's excellent for high fsbs and multi set to 10 - I have managed 245x9 using d10, and that was with samsung 3200

[weebroonieuk]

mate if u read through the thread you would have seen that his ram is struggling as it is and has took a fair bit of work to coax it to where its at now

he dont want to have to purchase more ram or the topic wouldnt have reached this far

its ok for me and you as we have ram with samsung tccd chips in it

the max the chipset goes is 1.77 , raising it very rarely helps in overclocks so is usualy left alone but some people report it helps

as for the d10 this is not really recommended this bios was released aaagees ago were now at 27 or something and as you would have saw by the last few pages he really wants stability so a bios 17 revisions out wouldnt be helping too much

however if u want an overclocking bios you can try the likes of the tic-tac or merlin bioses they are customised bioses which include the high fsb goodness of the old d10 but with working sata and other fixes comparable to the newer bioses

but , one step at a time for him please we might just have got his machine stable at a clock rate he can feel improvements in and is happy with , lets not fook that up

when the time comes he can buy some good samsung tccd ram and possibly a mobile athlon cpu if he wishes but i suspet like alot of us hes just trying to get a bit of a boost to hold him out till moveing to a whole new platform.....

[weebroonieuk]

ok jus read your post john you can try slackening the timings that little bit more my guess is it aint gonna happen

test at their default rated speed and see if they fail , what company and when did you buy them and how much were they ?

could be worthwhile getting rid of them and asking if u can put a little cash towards some better dimms if u have some spare cash if not give us a shout here and we will see if there is other options we can help with

[johnnr892]

Ok, they are crucial sticks 2x512 running in dual channel. I will test them at default to see whether or not they are failing. They did however have no errors and 1 pass at 188fsb but that was with the vcore upto 1.8. Also, my bios settings will only allow 2.9v. Thanks, John.

P.S, my RMA list of things to e-buyer is pretty bad. I have rma'ed an
1 Arctic cooler rev 3
2 9800 pro (replacement)
3 9800 pro (refund) With this money I bought a 6600gt
4 Gigabyte motherboard (replacement)
5 Gigabyte motherboard (refund) with this money I bought an NF7
6 wireless card (replacement)

Don't get me wrong, all those things had faults with them but with the money from the refund I got better items so it may look like i'm cheating them. I guess if the ram fails at default settings and at default timings then there is nothing they can do. But because I have had them so long, I won't be eligable for refund unless the new sticks fail aswell. Thanks, John.

[weebroonieuk]

hmm you could always chance your arm and see if they will take a reund and then offer to upgrade your order as a sort of peace offering since you are unhappy with the amount of faulty goods u have recieved from them

if need be try going through crucial as they are a great company for returning items !

even though your bios says 2.9 the abit usualy gives .1 more so your most likely running at 3.0 so it looks like your stuck untill you get better ram

[johnnr892]

Unless it is faulty, but it looks as if otherwise because no errors on memtest default voltage...When I first built the computer i was really strapped for cash and I just wanted a wroking computer but I wasn't as ambitious as I am now and so i thought for £5 less I would get pc2700 seeing as that was the speed my processor was rated. Oh well, it will be a long time till i can upgrade (still 15 and applying to jobs as we speak) so when i get that extra money i will give you a bell. Cheers for all your help guys, especially weebroonieuk. One last question, how come if memetst comes up with errors all over the shop at 400fsb and yet it games flawlessly for about and hour and run 2dmark01 for over 2 hours without problems? John