Overclocking help!

[acidrain]

Hi guys,

Can someone possibly help me out in trying to OC my system. Doing the CPU is simple in the BIOS, it's pretty much the ram i just can't figure out. Standard the ram runs at 800Mhz with 5,5,5,18 timing @ 1.8V

Either I just fail at googling but i just can't seem to find any information on what my timings should be to get it to 1066 which i've read can be overclocked to.

Someone said the easiest way is to just up the FSB on the mobo but can't find this setting in the bios.

Mobo is ASUS M4A785D-M Pro, cpu and ram are in my sig.

Thanks

 

[Archer]

There should be a setting for bus speed. Its the reference clock for everything. Upping that will increase CPU, RAM, HT Link and one or two other things. Otherwise manually set the RAM speed to 1066, then relax the timings to 9,9,9,35. If you complete a few minutes of prime95, or 5 runs of intelburntest the setup is semi stable. You can then either leave it at that, or gradually tighten the timings. Rule of thumb, first 3 numbers all the same, last number is the sum of the first 3 plus a little bit - eg - 7,7,7,24. Then to find out if its 100% stable, run prime95 for at least one hour, or 15 passes of intelburntest at max ram. You may also need to increase the voltage on the ram though I wouldnt advise it. IIRC phenom CPUs dont like ram going over 1.9V, and you're pretty close to that.

 

[acidrain]

Cool thanks, funny thing is, and this is where my confusion lies.. is if i try set my ram speed manually, the only options i have in the bios is 400/533... i've seen in some OC forums that 533 is 1066 but when i set it to this my system hangs and requires me to remove the cmos which is a shlep to say the least.

I'll see if i can find something referring to bus speed in my bios now

 

[acidrain]

OK found the bus speed, turns out its called the CPU/HT reference clock.. upped it to 225Mhz from 200. Now I've got CPUID running, where will i see what frequency my ram is running at.

Edit: Nvm i see my FSB : DRAM ratio is 1:2 and frequency is then 450. AM i correct in assuming my ram is now at 900Mhz?

 

[acidrain]

UPDATE: Ok so was running prime 95 for about 20min and decided to take a shower... came back and win7 load screen was on.. weird.

So I let it finish and popped up a warning...

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 124
BCP1: 0000000000000000
BCP2: FFFFFA8004A368F8
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000000
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\060810-24710-01.dmp
C:\Users\Toady\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-71651-0.sysdata.xml

I'm assuming it was my RAM since when i left the CPU was at 39C @ 3.6Ghz. Trying to open the dump file but its restricted :/

RAM timing is currently 5,5,5,18


Edit: Ok so after some reading I think I'm going back to stock as increasing ram speed requires relaxing the timing, which in turn can possibly make the ram slower even though it is running faster. bleh

 

[The_Assimilator]

Overclocking is a balancing act - to get higher speeds you have to settle for slower timings, and vice versa. That's why you have to benchmark after you've changed something to see if your system as a whole is actually faster. As you've found out, going to 1066 will possibly require you to relax RAM timings, which will probably have a negative effect overall.

If you're still keen to push the RAM, try upping the volts. DDR2 runs at 1.8v but most modules can be pushed to 2.1v without any trouble, and higher voltage does help with stability when overclocking. Also, have you tried keeping the RAM clock at 800MHz, but lowering the timing (eg 5-5-5-18 to 4-5-5-18)?

 

[acidrain]

Didn't try that, but on CPUID is see my EPP shows 4,4,4,12 @ 2.1V Don't know what it means though.

I did try it at those timings with 1.8V but got a bsod. Didn't think increasing voltage could solve that problem

 

[Archer]

The SPD tab in CPUID should give you the timings and volts needed to run at various ram speeds. Upping volts btw will increase stability.

 

[acidrain]

UPDATE:

OK so i've got my ram running stable ( prime95 been running for about an hour now ) at 800Mhz, timing is 4,4,4,12 @ 2.1v. Wanna see if i can revert to the old timings, up the FSB and to make ram run close to 1066 keep the voltage @ 2.1 hoping for stability since upping the fsb will speed up some other things as well... would this work?

Also whats the best bench app to run, got 3dMark Vantage but doesn't seem to have a test for ram, just cpu and gfx ( dont want gfx since my card is in for repairs and running onboard ATI 4200 ).

 

[Archer]

Upping the FSB will work to increase your RAM overclock. But can you simply set your RAM to 1066 in the BIOS? The problem you are going to get is this, upping the FSB will OC the RAM, northbridge (iirc) and CPU. If anything goes wrong you'll have no idea where to look. So you managed to get your RAM working at a specific value. Now keep it like that, and only OC the CPU. One thing at a time makes life a whole lot easier unless you really know what you are doing.

Prime has a benchmark built in, and so does intelburntest (it gives you average GFlops for the calculation). I dont know of any other memory benchmarks

 

[acidrain]

Upping the FSB will work to increase your RAM overclock. But can you simply set your RAM to 1066 in the BIOS? The problem you are going to get is this, upping the FSB will OC the RAM, northbridge (iirc) and CPU. If anything goes wrong you'll have no idea where to look. So you managed to get your RAM working at a specific value. Now keep it like that, and only OC the CPU. One thing at a time makes life a whole lot easier unless you really know what you are doing.

Prime has a benchmark built in, and so does intelburntest (it gives you average GFlops for the calculation). I dont know of any other memory benchmarks

Cool tx, gonna try CPU now, luckily thats easy just up the multiplier. Was able to get max 3.8 on air, hoping for 4 now but i reckon thats shooting a bit too high. Only settings I have in bios for ram is 275, 400 and 533... probably cos my fsb:dram ratio is 1:2 so assuming 533 is actually 1066. With timing, if i need to relax them, is it usually very specific, i.e. if i need to relax them alot could i use say 6,6,6,20 etc.

Also in the SPD I dont see a column for 533. It use to be there but now just shows 275,400 for JDEC and 400 for EPP under frequency. COuld it be because my memory isnt in slot 1/2 but rather 3/4?

 

[Archer]

I do know that some motherboards will prefer specific slots when overclocking ram. However, it should not affect what is shown in the SPD column. Those numbers are read directly from the ram, but hey, stranger things have happened in PCs.

Then yes, 3.8ghz is dead easy, especially if you have a C3 revision of the 955. You can get there without changing anny voltages. But to break through to 4ghz+ you need to look at about 1.425 - 1.5V. Do not go higher than 1.5V while cooling on air! It is the rated max for Phenoms, and I personally dont like going higher than 1.45V. Proceed at your own risk. Also remember that if you start getting to 65 degrees max load temp its time to stop, the max temp for Phenoms is 69 degrees (iirc) but its always better to be well below that, especially if you are planning to leave the OC on 24/7.

And Everest is alos a good RAM benchmark if you are still looking for one

 

[Looter]

Upping the FSB will work to increase your RAM overclock. But can you simply set your RAM to 1066 in the BIOS? The problem you are going to get is this, upping the FSB will OC the RAM, northbridge (iirc) and CPU. If anything goes wrong you'll have no idea where to look. So you managed to get your RAM working at a specific value. Now keep it like that, and only OC the CPU. One thing at a time makes life a whole lot easier unless you really know what you are doing.

Prime has a benchmark built in, and so does intelburntest (it gives you average GFlops for the calculation). I dont know of any other memory benchmarks

If im understanding you correctly there is a mistake in your statement.... if you set the "System Clock Mode" to unlinked, increasing the FSB will have no effect on any other hardware.... thus only changing the ratio of memory/cpu.

I own a pritty old 680i motherboard and im sure in todays time there should be a setting like this on all bios versions. If not then there is some way you can force certain hardware to lock at the needed frequency. Good luck

 

[Archer]

If im understanding you correctly there is a mistake in your statement.... if you set the "System Clock Mode" to unlinked, increasing the FSB will have no effect on any other hardware.... thus only changing the ratio of memory/cpu.

I own a pritty old 680i motherboard and im sure in todays time there should be a setting like this on all bios versions. If not then there is some way you can force certain hardware to lock at the needed frequency. Good luck

All components mentioned are linked via the FSB. You can not turn it off, its a physical link. However you can set varying multipliers so that it has different effects on different components.