Opty 146 - Overclocking on a Asus A8n-SLI board

[farooqm]

Finally .... now that I've got all my systems bits assembled I need to try and overclock it.
I need help from someone who is familiar with ASUS A8n-SLI (have done some things but I think ASUS rename some of the settings). Heres what I have:

Opteron 146 CABYE FPAW
Thermaltake Big Typhoon (Fantasticically cool and really quiet )
Asus A8N - SLI (Standard, not much difference BIOS wise to deluxe&premium..I think)
BIOS Ver 1013.004
1Gb (2x512Mb) G.Skill LE PC4400
Leadtek 6600GT Extreme GPU
Tagan 480W Easycon
Adaptec 2940U2 with 3x15000rpm Drives Attached.

Heres what I've tried so far:

HTT Freq - x 3.......................................HTT Freq - x 3
Cool'n'Quiet - Disabled............................Cool'n'Quiet - Disabled
Memclock Index - 400Mhz.......................Memclock Index - 200Mhz
CAS : 2.................................................CAS : 2
Trcd : 2................................................Trcd : 2
Tras : 5................................................Tras : 5
Trp : 2..................................................Trp : 2
Mem Timing - 2T...................................Mem Timing - 2T
CPU Freq - 250......................................CPU Freq - 280
PCI-E Clock - 100...................................PCI-E Clock - 100
DDR Volts - 2.70....................................DDR Volts - 2.70
CPU Mult - x10.......................................CPU Mult - x10
CPU Volts - 1.4......................................CPU Volts - 1.4
PCI Clock Sync - 33.33Mhz......................PCI Clock Sync - 33.33Mhz

Stable at 2.5Ghz....................................Stable at 2.8Ghz

Can't seems to get it any higher as I'm not sure on mem timings, anything I try sends HTT over 1000 and stops machine booting (I think)

[herulach]

If i understand your settings right, then you should still have headroom with your ram because its only at 140mhz rather than 200 where its designed to be, also your htt wont be going other 1000 as that is HTT multi (3x) times cpu clock (280) to give 920, so unless youre trying to jump to more than 333 for the cpu you shouldnt have a problem.

What cpu/chipset voltage are you at? id bump both up ONE notch, and see if you get any further. You also might be at the limit of your board or chip, knock the cpu multi down to lik 5 and see if you can post at a higher cpu frequency, if you cant, its your board thats an issue, if you can youre probably right at the limit of that chip.

[Moby-Dick]

moved at op's request

[farooqm]

moved at op's request

Cheers for the move...

What cpu/chipset voltage are you at?

Not sure on chipset as I couldn't see anywhere to change that. CPU Volts: 1.4.. (I'm sure me altering the Memclock Index changed the HTT figures that the Asus Probe util gave me ??? )

[shaithis]

Out of interest.....is this the plain A8N-SLi or is it the premium/deluxe model?

[farooqm]

Out of interest.....is this the plain A8N-SLi or is it the premium/deluxe model?

Plain not Deluxe or Premium

[herulach]

LIke i said, try bumping up the cpu volts a little, dont know know why the memclock index would change htt speed (assuming its the divider, which i think it is) by a lot? or by not alot?

[farooqm]

LIke i said, try bumping up the cpu volts a little, dont know know why the memclock index would change htt speed (assuming its the divider, which i think it is) by a lot? or by not alot?

@ work at the moment... will do some more testing when I get home.

[davethechamp]

From the looks of things it could be the mem timings?
- Package : 1024MB kit (2x512MB) dual channel pack
- IC Spec : Samsung TCCD
- CAS Latency : 2-2-2-5 (PC3200) / 2.5-3-3-7 (PC4400)
- Test Voltage : 2.7~2.9 V
- PCB Board : 6 Layers PCB
- Speed : DDR 400 MHz (PC3200) / DDR 550 MHz (PC4400)

picked this up from overclockers uk. Looks like your mem should run quite happy at 2.5-3-3-7 1T which should give you 275 x 10 = 2750Mhz.
Theoretically if you set a 166 mem divider in Bios you should be running your mem at 250. with a HTT of 300 x 10 = 3000. Now so long as the CPU has the head room you should be able push this a bit more without the memory holding you back.
In my experiance with my 146 to get anywhere over 2.8Ghz a reasonable bump in CPU voltage was needed, for me up to about 1.5v.
I also bumped the chipset, htt voltage and mem voltage up 1 notch, whatever that may be for your board.

hope this helps?

Dave

[Thorsson]

Don't think you can adjust the chipset or htt voltage on this board (which may be just as well given the nasty chipset cooling).

[farooqm]

Don't think you can adjust the chipset or htt voltage on this board (which may be just as well given the nasty chipset cooling).

I've had the chipset fan swapped out and reseated better.

Dave, cheers for the info, gives me some more to go on.

[davethechamp]

No worries mate.
I try to help where and when I can


dave

[farooqm]

In the Asus Bios I have the following:

Memclock Index - starts at: 200Mhz > 266 > 333 > 400 > 433 etc...

Which of these is 166 mem divider in Bios ?

[davethechamp]

Not having an ASUS board I can't guarantee, but this is what I would suppose:

200 = 100 divider
266 = 133 divider
333 = 166 divider
400 = 200 - a 1:1 ratio

Using the divider is similar to using a higher multiplier for the CPU. If you check CPUZ before and after the change you should see what i'm on about

Dave

[farooqm]

Not having an ASUS board I can't guarantee, but this is what I would suppose:

200 = 100 divider
266 = 133 divider
333 = 166 divider
400 = 200 - a 1:1 ratio

Using the divider is similar to using a higher multiplier for the CPU. If you check CPUZ before and after the change you should see what i'm on about

Dave

Super.. Dave your a star.. just the info I needed but couldn't find on other sites.

1 final question... I can adjust the following:

CPU Volts - self explanatory
Mem Volts - self explanatory
Vcore Volts - whats this and do I need to adjust or bother with? Currently 1.39v

??

[Hans Voralberg]

Why there is a CPU volts and a Vcore volts ??? Isnt's Vcore volt = CPU volts ?? Men that's whyI hate Asus.