Fuzz

Loosened the RAM timings, knocked back the multiplier to 9.5 and started upping the FSB to the point where it failed a prime95 test. now before I go upping voltages how do I know whether it's the memory that's now maxxed out or the CPU ??
Memory frequency is at 100% to keep it synchronous.

_RIP_

1. You should run really loose ram timings first, say 2.5, 3, 3, 7 and find out how fast your CPU can be clocked with the minimum voltage adjustments, then 2. clock your CPU back to standard and find out how fast your memory can run, then 3. finally ramp up your ram timings to 2, 2, 2, 6 or whatever it will run at and 4. find a happy meduim between them both. Small adjustments every time. I'd up the voltages as a last resort for stability. It would help knowing what MOBO, CPU, RAM and cooling you are using

FWIW I can get my X2 3800 running at 4800 speeds, 250+ MHz fsb with water cooling, OCZ EL PC3200 (2,3,2,5) dual channel on a A8N SLI Deluxe with only the memory voltage upped to 2.8 V. It took me a few scary moments and bios resets though

Fuzz

Although I'm not at home at the moment I'm pretty sure the timings are quite loose at 2.5T, 3, 4, 7.
As for what all the bits are,
Althlon Barton XP 3200+
Corsair XMS3200LL 2 x 512MB in dual channel slots
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
Heatsink I cant remember the name of, but it was the biggest that would fit at the time of build, with a little modification to a couple of capacitors that stuck up in the way (known mod).
I have one 120mm fan on the heatsink it'self and a duct of fresh air with another 120mm fan on the case blowing onto heat sink fan.
Standard temps with FSB @ 200, an 11 X multiplier and 1.60v gave me 39 deg C during Prime 95 testing.

What I can't get my head round at the moment is the fact that it failed a prime 95 test before reaching the stock clock speed of 2200Mhz.
Currently @ 220 FSB x 9.5. I sort of understand that I reached the limit of the Bus speed but dont know how I'm going to get back up to at least stock speed?? or is bus speed more important than overall clock speed.

I Left home this morning with Prime 95 running so we'll see what it's done when I get back.


Andy

_RIP_

You've got a similar combo to what I was using prior to getting my A8N and X2 3200. The A7N8 Deluxe or otherwise was never a great OCing board, although a few people seemed to get it working reasonably well. If yours is not a Revision 2.0 board then it's never going to give you high OC's. I'd say it probably will be though if you're already getting 200+ fsb speeds. I know there was always talk about not using .5 multiplyers on this board as it became a bit glitchy.

I ran my Barton 2800 at either 10 or 11 X 200 which was as much as I could ever get with decent stability, but then the 2800 was only meant to run with a 133 MHz fsb. It would run ok with a slightly higher fsb but the extra latancy made some benchmarks slower.

9.5 * 220 only gives you 2090 MHz. You'd be better off keeping the stock settings with as tight memory timings as you can get away with say 2,3,2,6. You could try 11 * 210 = 2210 MHz, but I'd say that is the max you will ever get from the 3200 on air cooling. 2400 MHz is practically the limit of processors on the .13 mk core even with water cooling. Your voltage is a bit low as 1.65 should be standard so you should have a look at this.

Unfortunately I'd say if you want to run the latest games at speed then a slight overclock isnt going to make much of a difference. Sorry but you're looking at spending a few bob m8

Fuzz

It's been a week or sleepless night because this things been whirring in my ear non stop since then

Results so far are...
Clock speed of 211.59Mhz
Multiplier is resting nicely at 11.5
So all in all 2433.30Mhz total on air cooling
AND I managed to tighten the timing to 6,3,3,2T
Vcore is 1.70v and holding 44 deg C with the covers on during torture test.
looking good so far at about 9-10 hrs in on this latest test.

What's going to happen if I re-enable 8X AGP support ??
Smartgart is currently reporting 4X is stable and active
Will that make it unstable again.
I assume I should be using 8x support for the graphics card to get the best out of it?
(9800 Pro 128MB)


Getting somewhere at last.

Andy

_RIP_

Nice one

I doubt enabling 8X AGP will make much difference in benchmarks or speed but I always had it enabled. I would keep fast writes disabled as that has been known to cause instability. All you need now is some nice waterblocks and cooling for the northbridge and CPU