3500+ Newcastle, ASUS A8V Deluxe - Pre-overclock checklist

Right I think I'm fairly clued up on what to do now but I'd appreciate a bit of input before I dive in.


The kit:
Athlon 3500+ newcastle, socket 939
4 x 512Mb Corsair XL PT (TCCD chips 200mhz @ 2-2-2-5)
Asus A8V Deluxe (looks to be Rev 1.12)
Tagan 480W
Geforce 6800GT (agp)
2x 120mm fans, and Coolmaster Hyper48 copper heatpipe CPU cooler, arctic cooling on the 6800GT


The basic plan:

Find memory timing limits @ 245HHT by dropping CPU multiplier and Hyper Transport multiplier to lowest values. Once RAM timings @ 245HHT (which should allow CPU 2.7Ghz). Set up the following:

Lock AGP/PCI to 66.6:33.3
Set Hyper Transfer to 800Mhz (x4 mode - to allow upto 250HTT)
Set the memory divider to 6:5 (333DDR)
Set Vcore to 1.65v (1.5 default)
Set Vdimm to 2.8v (2.6 default)
Leave CPU multiplier at x11

Issues to resolve:

Change my SATA drive to the promise SATA controller. See here http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=340042

I believe I have a revision 1.xx board (no AGP/PCI lock!). See bold text here http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2128 However item 8) of General Known Issues - see here http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php...81&postcount=3 ...suggests that if I have a BIOS revision 1005.002 I'll be ok? Are AGP locks always accessible from BIOS or are they sometimes "fixed" settings that aren't viewable?

Possible target?

According to here http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.p...5&page=1&pp=20 I can expect an overclock of around 2.6/2.7Ghz if I'm lucky.

I don't fully understand the relationship between HHT/HTF Ratio/RAM ratio/CPU Multiplier. Specifically how the CPU multiplier affects the RAM speed??? See here http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php...85&postcount=4

To be honest that part isn't very clear....

So can anyone offer advice for a first time OC'er? Is there anything I've forgotten to do, any warning you'd like to give. All help appreciated.

I wouldn't bother overclocking your ram much because 4x512 is going to be very difficult to overclock.

For vcore, I would say stick with around 1.55V, because 1.65V will be A LOT hotter than running at 1.5V.

Regarding to the ram speed, it work like this:
If you have your CPU at 250x11 (2750Mhz), you would have expected DDR416 for the ram, BUT in fact it is running at a ratio to the CPU. Your motherboard will pick the speed closest to your desired ram speed which is DDR393. The ram divider is just an APPROXIMATION. Thats why on some motherboard you see dividers like 150(DDR300), 166(DDR333), 183(DDR366) but on some board there is only DDR266,333,400. Some motherboard manufacturers decide to put in more multipliers but some don't.

The way it works is:
CPU work at the speed decided by multiplier and HTT, BUT the ram speed is decided by CPU / Divider. The HTT does not affect ram speed directly. The ram speed is shown rather than the ratio just because most users do not understand how it works and just looking at DDR speed will be simplier for them. Since most users will not overclock, the DDR speed shown is always correct.

Not many Newcastles reach beyond 2.5 you be very lucky to reach 2.7 not matter how many volts you push through the cpu.

I'll just wizz through the basics here...

FSB x CPU multiplier = CPU speed
FSB x LDT Multiplier = HT bus (which you keep under 1000MHz on S939 boards)
FSB = RAM speed
RAM divider = This divides the FSB going through your RAM, therefore putting less pressure on your memory.

As for the voltage going through your Vcore, I mirror what 'arthurleung' says, 1.65v is a little high on air, stick with 1.55v and keep it safe.

Start with the CPU as we're hoping to get 2.5GHz out of it (thanks to 'teachmech').

I'm assuming the 3500+ has a 11x CPU multiplier so:
- Set the Vcore to 1.55v
- Set your RAM to whatever it stocks at (2.8v like you said)
- Set a RAM divider so your memory runs below 200MHz (5:6 or DDR333)
- Set the LDT Multiplier to 4x
- Lock the AGP

Doing the above takes the RAM and motherboard out of the equation.

Now... set your FSB to 225 which should give you a 2.475GHz CPU. If Windows doesn't boot, lower the FSB 5MHz at a time until it does. With Windows up, open something that'll show your temperatures and then run Super-Pi at '32M' to test for stabilty. Keep an eye on your CPU temperature, you don't really want it going above 55°C.

If all is well, go back into your BIOS and bump the FSB up another 5MHz, remember, you want to be keeping your RAM under 200MHz and the HT bus under 1000MHz, so set higher dividers and lower the LDT Multiplier to x3 on the off chance you're getting above the 250MHz FSB mark.

Eventually Super-Pi will fail (restart the PC or show an error message), when it does go for the previous stable FSB (should be 5MHz lower).

After finding this you can then go about setting your RAM, report back if you need some help. :mrgreen:

Cheers for all the advice guys, will keep you updated as to progress :) This is all assuming the 1005.02 bios gives my agp lock function (yet to confirm!)

Dunno if this is any help. You could try doing the same with your board, if the values go up just update your BIOS as I know the later versions include a PCI/AGP lock.

Ok I think I'm screwed...

Still in the "preparation" phase I reverted back to rev 1005.02 of the BIOS as suggested in point 8 here (my board is Rev 1.02) http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php...81&postcount=3 ...however i just get message "system failed due to CPU overclocking" (i.e. an audio message...don't even get anything onscreen!!!).

By the way I haven't overclocked yet I have JUST reverted the BIOS. Now I've tried clearing CMOS, the manual suggests I just reboot and everything will revert to default values (but since they're at default...that doesn't work).

I can only assume the obvious - that this version of the BIOS doesn't support my CPU (given it's a 3500 newcastle I just took it for granted I'd be absolutely fine). Need to confirm this revision of the BIOS doesn't support my CPU to confirm this theory.

Really desperately short of ideas on how to fix this now. Any help appreciated.


EDIT: From the ASUS website


Athlon 64 3500+ (CG version) (Socket939) ALL (assume this is the newcastle???)
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.D) (Socket939) 1007 Earlier BIOS may boot up with single channel memory only (winchester???)
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.E3) (Socket939) 1011 (venice rev1???)
Athlon 64 3500+ (rev.E4) (Socket939) 1015.002 (venice rev2???)

EDIT 2:

Bloody hell what a pain in the arse! Works with only 2 x 512 RAM sticks

Can you get into the bois? If so try lowering the cpu multiplyer to x8 say and check everything is set at what it should be.(ie ram 200, htt x5, command 2t cas and all the rest)
edit try setting most thing to auto.

I get this all the time in my AV8 last time, the screen just went blank, u can only hear the system go wizz...

Just pull off the power cord... clear CMOS, let it clear for like 30 minutes (overkill i know.. but just to be sure)... put the jumper back to default and restart...

I get this by just reverting my settings back to stock sometimes.. like going from 280HTT back to 200HTT... and the screen goes *blink* weee....

Try it and post back... im sure its no biggy...

I notice when I do this, the BIOS doesnt only go back to default, it goes back to the fail-safe settings, which was ultra relaxed timings, 2T, no RAID, no lock, 200Mhz HTT and multi down to 7x. But thats ABIT... Asus might be different..

All sorted now...unfortunately doesn't look like I'm going to be able to overclock due to lack of AGP lock.

U cud try loosening up 2 slots of RAM, K8T800Pro AGP locks tends to not work when 4 slots are filled... (at least on my AV8).. it always goes back to 6:2:1 ratio whenever I ask it to lock at 74MHz or 67MHz..

If your lock works with 2 sticks, u might want to sell those 4x512 and get a 2x1g..