New Unlocked 2500+ not OC'ing well?

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Just got a new 2500 from Newegg and was lucky enought to get a AQXEA that was unlocked. But this one is not, at this point, a very good OC'er. My other 2500 went to 2100Mhz with no problems and at stock voltage this one however throws errors at 200x10 unless the Vcore is upped to 1.675. That is where it is now. I dont realy like to up the Vcore but looks like Im going to have to. Anyone else having this issue? Any suggestions would be helpfull.


Thanks
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ASUS A7N8X-X BIOS 1007
Barton 2500+ 200x10 Vcore 1.675 Temps 36c idle 43c load
512 Corsair XMS PC3200C2
Radeon 9800NP
Audigy2 ZS
WD 40GB HDD

[Imperion1]

Have you read This yet.

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Is that a hint that I should stop where I'm at? If so what kinda overclocker would I be? I wouldnt be able to respect myself in the morning! Let me ask this..... How high would you go on the vcore. My temps are fine, my trusty loud *** Volcano 7+ is doing its thing so that isnt an issue. Memory isnt an issue it's brand new Corsair running like a champ. So it has to be Vcore, or just a crappy chip. I have not had to up the vcore before so looking for some guidance....


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[fishybawb]

The VCore should be fine at anything up to 1.85v. My (locked) AQYFA 2500+ needs 1.75v to run stably at 2.3GHz (11x209).

[Someone Stupid]

That is still well within the averages for that stepping. I've ran an AAUIB on 2.1volts for a couple months then 1.9v for a few more before retiring it to another machine running stock. Some AQXEA's do incredibly well, some just do really well. Yours is really well as you are getting a bit over 300 mhz overclock from it on stock core. Anything below 1.85v is pretty much completely safe to the CPU.

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Well, I went at it again last night and the highest I can get it is 2Ghz. I only went up to 1.70 on the Vcore so tonight I'll go up to 1.75 and see what that does. The odd thing is when I first got the chip I put it in at 166x12.5 because I only had Corsair XMS PC3000 memory at the time. It ran fine at stock voltage but wouldnt go any higher. So when I got the new memory I raised the FSB to 200 by 10.5 which was basicaly the same as 166x12.5 maybe 25Mhz more and started to reformat. No go. It wouldnt format the HDD it would start loading the setup files and then blue screen as it tried to start windows. So then I flashed the BIOS to the newest one, 1007 and that didnt help either. Now it wont even do 166x12.5. Anyway I think it's the board and not the chip. I formatted it orginaly when it was 166x12.5 so it was working fine at first now it will only go to 2Ghz no matter what config I try. Whether 166.12.5 or 200x10.5 I cant go past 2Ghz, and it has to be at 1.675 now to stay stable. Before it would do 166x12.5 at stock voltages. If it isnt the board then maybe the new memory is pulling more voltage?

What do ya think?

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[Someone Stupid]

Try changing you memory timings/voltages. Also go for a lower memory overclock, say 175 and a higher multiple than ten. Sounds like you maxed the memory out at those timings/voltage. I'm taking it that this is the same motherboard your other 2500 was in?

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I changed my memory timings all around, from realy loose, to tight with no difference. I also lowered the FSB to 170 and set it at 12x for 2040Mhz and that worked but I lost about 200 points in Sandra memory bench. So that sucks. I'll get more performance at 200FSB even if it is only 2000Mhz instead of 2040 from going at 170. What I dont get is that it was running fine at 166x12.5 at first with the slower memory now it just wont do it. Hard to believe this memory wont do it. Or, maybe it is this BIOS. I think the board had 1005 on it at first, now I have 1007. I put that on because it supposedly stablized the board more..... Maybe not. I know the chip can do 2075Mhz, it has done it before. But if that is it, it is rather dissapointing. I'm going to put the other memory back in tonight and see if I can at least get it to 12.5x166 again wihtout raising the voltage. If no go, then I'll try a different board.
BTW what do you think of the KT600 Chipset? And what about Albatron boards. I had one of their Ti4200's and it was very nice. thinking about getting one.........


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[Someone Stupid]

You may have just gotten a relatively low quality one out of the batch. What happened to your other 2500? You could use it since it clocked better.

EDIT: Skip the KT600 boards. Albatron is a good company, excellent video card wise with my experience with them. Just for overclocking, your best bet if you really want to replace a motherboard is the ABIT NF-7 V2. I don't think it is the motherboard if it could clock the other chip higher - though some nb's early on for the nforce chipset had hard times with high mem speeds or just throwing tons of data across it, ASUS avoided it fairly well and your board worked before just fine, so I doubt it is that. The ABIT is pretty much the overclocking board at the moment since EPoX discontinued the 8rda+.

[Slapshot]

I was an idiot and sold it with another computer a month ago. I dont think it is the chip but the board. I am ordering an Albatron KT600 board from newegg tomorow and will try it again. If it doesnt work, Ill send the board back and deal with it at 2ghz.


Wicked

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Yeah I was thinking the NF-7 myself I have had the A7N8X Deluxe and the -X, I was thinking of trying another chipset though. I just built a intel rig for a buddy on an Albatron board and was realy impressed, add that to the fact that I was REALY impressed with their Ti4200 and Im ready to try'em. They do have an nForce board as well but I just havnt been that impressed with them. And the dual channel I have found to be nothing but Hype. The only good thing about them is the Soundstorm. I still prefer it over my current Audigy2 ZS. Im getting it from Newegg so I'll probably start with the KT600 first and see what it's like. If it sucks I'll get the NF-7.

Thanks for the help, I'll let you know how things turn out.

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[Someone Stupid]

The Dual Channel isn't why I'm recommending it. I'm recommending it as VIA's drivers have never been the best out there and also the fact that nforce 2 mobos, especially the 8rda+ and the NF7-S V2 really are pure overclocking boards and pretty much you see the highest stable FSB speeds from the nvidia chipset. The KT-600 is just not what your looking for IMO.

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Point taken.... It helps that Newegg has the NF-7 for $81! Only thing is it isnt the S.


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[Someone Stupid]

I can't recall all the differences, but the S is mainly the version with all the bells and whistles, the S denotes Soundstorm though. As for how it overclocks, I don't know as most overclockers get the soundstorm capable boards either because the sound is really good or they know that Soundstorm is the least taxing of any mainstream audio solution on the CPU (including Audigy's) thus more usuable speed. I would guess that it MIGHT be slightly nuetered in terms of performance, but I can't say for sure as some without all the bells and whistles beat out the ones with them from the same company.

[Slapshot]

Well I have come to the conclusion that it is indeed a poor sample 2500+. Kinda sucks to get an unlocked chip that wont OC for SH@#. So far the highest I can get it is 1903Mhz stable without Vcore adjustments. The XP 3200+ runs at the same 1.65 Vcore as the 2500+ so I dont see raising it as an acceptable option. Oh well, games run fine it just puts be outa the benchmarking business!
On a side note I got the KX600Pro board by Albatron and ran some tests with it. Overall I would say it is a well built board and feels as solid as their video cards. It's problem is the chipset as was stated earlier by Someone Stupid. My A7N8X-X absolutely spanked it. Even when the Albatron was overclocked and the ASUS was stock it couldnt beat it. With 3Dmark2K1 I lost 800 marks on the KX600 with stock settings, compared to the same settings on the Asus. The board wasnt any help with getting my chip to go any higher either. So it is RMA'd......


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