Problems Overclocking

[Sevarai]

Hi, I've been lurking for quite awhile now reading various posts and trying to pick up as much as I can on overclocking, etc. Very cool stuff! I have a problem that I've run into however...

My system:

Athlon Tbird 1.1ghz (Currently @ 1.254)
Abit KT7A
512mb PC133
GF3 ti200

I've unlocked the multiplier on the chip easily and have so far been able to overclock up to ~1254mhz (12x multiplier & 114mhz FSB) with no problem. I wanted to go up to over 1.3ghz if it is at all possible. So far I have only been able to boot the system with a FSB of 114mhz. This seems a little bit low as I've seen quite a few systems running the same cpu/mobo at way over 133mhz FSB. The system simply doesn't post at above ~114-116.. blinking monitor and no warning beeps of any kind.

My cooling is more than adequate for what I'm trying to do I think. I have an
Alpha PAL6035 which keeps the CPU ~118F(overclocked) in a Lian-Li with good airflow.

Anyone know what my problem could be? I've seen 3dmark2001 scores with my setup in the 8000 range.. quite a few actually. I'm wondering if it'd be possible for me to get that high with what I have. Being the poor college student that I am, I don't plan on upgrading again until early next year if even that soon.


Thanks!


Also, think it could be because I lack DDR ram?


Edit: You're right, that was a typo! Was really supposed to be farenheit..heh.. I have core voltage now at 1.8 and I/O voltage at 3.6 (I think). What do you mean by PCI divider? I'm a bit confused on that one.

[absalom]

Maybe that's a typo what's the temperature again and presently what's the cpu voltage?Also what PCI DIVIDER are you using?

[absalom]

CPU FSB/PCI clock settings

[Bigjakkstaffa]

raide the FSB slowly - dont jump from 100Mhz to 133 straight away :eek:

Go 100 - 115 - 133 testing the system for stability in between, see if that helps

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

Thanks for the replies!

I'm not totally sure without a quick reboot as to what the pci divider is.. but I think it's something like

114/36

Actually I'm almost positive that's what it is. I tried raising it very slowly from about 115 up to 120 in increments of one and it doesn't boot at somewhere around 117 or 118. Shouldn't I get higher than that since I'm running PC133 ram and not PC100? I know that some PCI cards don't like working on a higher bus speed and so that could be a problem also. I tried removing everything except the video card however and it still won't boot after a certain point.

Also, I do have the most up-to-date bios. I just flashed it two days ago to see if that might help.

Weren't there versions of the Tbird that wouldn't overclock much over 100? If so, that could be my problem. I got my Tbird around when they first came out.


Thanks!

[absalom]

what is the highest multiplier setting do you have for that motherboard and highest cpu voltage is it 1.85volts?

[Sevarai]

Yea, the highest is 1.85 volts which I have tried also along with raising the FSB and it hasn't seemed to have any effect.

12x is the highest on the motherboard I have which is where it is. There is a "12above" setting but it doesn't seem to do anything. Maybe I need to do something with this?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

You tried lowering the CAS latency?

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

Hmm, not sure.. how would I do that?

I changed DRAM timing from 8ns/10ns to "Turbo" hoping that would do it.

Is that what you're talking about?

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Turbo wil be even worse, if its you rmemory thats failing you on the OC, setting it faster will make it even less stable, it weanst to be set slower...

CAS latency is a number in the BIOS either 2 or 3, set it to 3

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

Ok, I checked the bios and it was already on CAS3.. I set the Dram timing back to "8ns/10ns SDRAM". I bumped it up to 116 FSB and it boots but I can't get 3dmark to run all the way through and so I guess it isn't stable enough.

Any other options for me?

Would it be worth it for me to get a Tbird 1.4 to hold me over until next year or would that be pointless?

[absalom]

I would say it's pointless upgrading the t-bird just for a few more Mhz . If you are going to upgrade then you might as well upgrade the mobo,cpu and DDR memory. The system should hold you for a while you got some juice out of it as I read. Save your money for the future cpus from AMD.

[Sevarai]

I ran into an interesting problem just a few minutes ago. I could boot the system continuously at 117/39 with a 12x multiplier except that it couldn't find any files on bootup and couldn't proceed. When I then dropped the multiplier to 6x with a 117 FSB, the system wouldn't post. Very strange.

I think you're right absalom.. I'm going to stick with 1254mhz and just not worry about it for now. I'll upgrade when hammerhead (right?) is released or go with an XP when it drops in price. For now, I still am able to play just about everything perfectly fine.


I'll keep checking back in case someone figures my little problem out.

[absalom]

AMD Clawhammer 64 bit cpu that is what you should be definitely saving for Good Luck:t

[morpheus kain]

Try lowering the mutliplier and see if you get stuck on the same FSB. If you get stuck on the same fsb then it's your ram that is holding you back. If your ram is holding you back, just up the multiplier and presto, more mhz.

[Sevarai]

It's my ram then.. I tried lowering my multiplier down to like 5x and upped my FSB to 120 and it still won't boot. I kinda thought that if this was happening, it wasn't my chip overheating or anything. Oh well, was worth a shot! :)

[RamonGTP]

Aren't the tbirds suppose to run at 133mhz stock???

-Ramon

[Giblet Plus!]

There are both 100 and 133 fsb tbirds. I had a 900 mhz tbird (100 fsb) that wouldn't go over 1050 mhz. I unlocked it and it ran at 133 fsb just fine. The overclockability of a chip varies a lot per batch and revision.

[Bigjakkstaffa]

I think the max 100FSB was the 1300 which ran 100x13

133FSB's started from 1ghz onwards if memory serves :S

--Jakk:t

[RamonGTP]

Ok, thanks for clearing that up... I was under the impression that all tbirds were 133, and the regular Athlons (non tbirds) and Durons were the only ones that ran on 100MHz.

-Ramon

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Nope... when i got my 1ghz Tbird i set out for the 100Mhz FSB one so id ave more headroom to play with for FSB overclocking :D

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

Ok, so I CAN hit 133? I just realized last night through SiSoft Sandra that although it says in my bios that I"m using a 12x multiplier, it's only at 11x.

12 x 114 should be 1368mhz and I'm only getting 1254mhz... which says that I haven't unlocked it fully right?

I remember unlocking the chip with a pencil but I don't think I unlocked ALL of them! I thought there was only one to unlock at the time.

Giblet Plus!: How did you "unlock" your 900 mhz to achieve 133fsb? Is there something I need to do that I'm not doing?

Thanks :)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

You dont need to UNLOCK it in order to change the FSB... only multiplier... personally i dont see the point in Multiplier O/c'ing unless you can get an unlocked chip in the first place.. liek me :D

Basically undo all that you have done as regards unlocking the CPU and just try to overclock it by FSB only... you'll still get good results.. on my unlocked CPu i can only raise by X0.5 before it gets unstable.. FSB o/c is the surer way IMO

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

Ok, will try that as soon as I get back from taking this DataComm test.. ugh.

Edit: Problem is though, even if I don't touch the multiplier, I can't get the FSP over 115 or so before it won't boot up no matter how high I set the voltage. Someone mentioned that it was my memory holding me back but I'm running PC133 (two different brands though). I even tried using one stick of each kind and it didn't boot. One of the sticks is Crucial and you'd think that'd be good enough.

[morpheus kain]

Pull out the other stick and try it with the Crucial. It's definitely a ram problem IF you TRULY had a 5X multiplier. I am not convinced that your chip is truly unlocked. To unlock your chip, take a pencil and connect ALL of the L1 bridges. Leave the other bridges alone, but connect all of the L1's. It may take a few tries, it did with my friends 1ghz Athlon. It will hit 11X130 no problem!

[Bigjakkstaffa]

From what i hear your best actually painting the L1's in with conductive paint, such as windscreen paint or sumink liek that-- personally i dont see the point in multiplier o/c'ing, it seems to be fr too fiddly.. id rather o/c through FSB and increase the speed of ALL the system componenst on a whole...

--Jakk:t

[morpheus kain]

FSB is the easiest way to overclock, but he isn't having much luck in that category is he?

[Sevarai]

Ok, I'm going to go take out my CPU and re-connect all of the L1's.. I don't think I got them all before. I just hate doing it because my fan clip is a B*TCH to get back on. It's one of those screwdriver clip things. I almost put a screwdriver through the motherboard last time I did it. I got my girlfriend to help instead :)

Wish me luck! Will be back to report any findings..

[Bigjakkstaffa]

FSB is the easiest way to overclock, but he isn't having much luck in that category is he?

i THINK the reason he's not having much luck is that he may have unlocked the L1's incorrectly or not entirely...

Once youve reconnected them have another crack at overclockign em and report back... :)

--Jakk:t

[Sevarai]

It worked!! I just got my system back up and running again after erasing the L1 connections and reconnecting them. They all looked like they were connected.. but I guess not :)

I have it running now with just a 5x multiplier but at 145 FSB!! It's running very stable so I'm going to go in and start raising the multiplier to see what I max at.

Will return with results! Thanks everyone!

[Sevarai]

I'm up to 1.2ghz comfortably with a 133FSB and I just broke 6200 on 3dmark2001.

Two days ago I was lucky to get 4400. This is awesome :)

[Bigjakkstaffa]

Nice one m8, glad to hear it :)

Happy hunting :D

--Jakk:t

[morpheus kain]

Sweetness! Glad we could help bro!