K7N2 - L bad overclocker?

Hi all. I just got my 2400 mobile in and am having problems overclocking. I cant get past 8.5x200 with a vcore of 1.55. My friend says its my mobo and thats its bad at overclocking but I think hes wrong. Does anyone here have problems overclocking with a K7N2-L? What can I do to overclock my cpu more? Jumpers? Anything?
I need help.
Thanks in advance.

I reached my max. My mobo with its 1.8v vcore max and Geil value mem are holding me back. With some better mem and some more voltage I know I could go higher. With my temps I see no problem hitting 2.6 or 2.7., but I cant go any higher.
After some tweaking I found a sweet spot at 12.5 x 200 = 2500mhz with a vcore of 1.8v. Idle temp is 38C and 44C after an hour of Far Cry. I would highly recommend anyone who wants a nice oc to get the 35w 2400+. Even me, a person with the worst luck and only decent parts was able to hit 2.5ghz.

Similar Messages

Confusion Does Bad Psu Equal Bad Overclocking

I have recentley built my first system about a year ago, and its been runnin fine. The power supply in it now came with the case and is pretty weak, its only 430 watts and im pretty sure it has weak rails but it did the job. My query is that I recently upgraded the system with a BFG 6800 non ultra and its my new best friend I also got a new stick of 512 for dual channel but thats beside the point. Ever since i installed the new card whenever i try to overclock i get artifacts even though temps are fine example would be before video card cpu oc= 3.2+, after barely 3.1 and i can only OC a little bit with the video card as well. O and Ram isent ocing to well either. O and no voltage settings have ever been touched. O all drivers/bios/and updates for all my hardware is all up to date.
Do i need a new PSU if so im on a 65 dollar budjet any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
MSI 865pe neo2 With stock bios settings (except for CPU)
3.0 NOrthwood @ 3.1 (1:1 ratio)
1024 megs of ram (512x2) pc3200 @ 420mhz
BFG 6800 Vannila @ stock settings (350/700)
3 LED case fans (80 mm) 1 HSF fan
hard drive=160 gig (SATA 7200 rpm)
DVD Drive 16x and floppy drive
430 watt (28a 40a 17a) power supply (BRAND=Award)
PS. with current system i get 9300 on 3dmark03 and 52000 on aquamark is that good scores for my system.
thank you.

Yeah, I also think that you need a new PSU but for a good one the price starts around $80-90
Your scores look fine for a system running at stock speed.

NEO 875P 1.4 Bios BAD Overclocker 1.32B Much Better

I cannot Overclocker much at all with 1.4 Bios, my 2.4C runs 267Bus with 1.32 and with 1.4 I get max 210, Looks like TEMPS are fixxed in 1.4 But they broke Overclocking, Guess we shall wait for 1.5

badwished!
I know some basic things to OC my system but I've got a very simple question:
If I set the FSB in the bios to 190 for ex., than the system tries to reach the memory at 380 isn't it?
( CPU = FSB x 4
RAM = FSB x 2 ? )
As you can seen in my signature I've 2 pcs of Kingston HyperX 512 PC3000 (ddr370) modules. The system is working with these. Would it work with Kingston HyperX PC3500 module also?
PSzabo

K7N2 Delta - best overclocking memory?

Hi guys,
I am running my system at 2500MHz after getting my new Mobile Athlon 2500+ and it's very sweet, but to do it, I was forced to change my FSB/RAM ratio to 6:5 from 1:1, as my Infineon memory is unstable at FSB200 (even though it's rated at PC3200).
I have two questions:
1) What timing should I be attempting to run my memory at? Could the timings being too aggressive explain my problems? I've tried running at 8-3-3 CAS 3.0 at DDR400 and it's a little flaky. Should I try 9-4-4 CAS 3.0?
If I do this and manage to get the memory stable at a slower speed, will my performance suffer more than leaving it at 6-2-2 CAS 2.5 at DDR2700?
2) What is the best, most stable overclocking RAM that I can get for this board? I was looking at the Corsair PC3200-XL memory (Extreme Low Latency). It's rated for 5-2-2 CAS 2.0 at DDR400 speed:
http://www.corsairmicro.com/corsair/products/specs/twinx1024-3200xl.pdf
Does Corsair RAM work with this motherboard? According to the compatibility lists it *SHOULD* but I'm looking for opinions from folks with Corsair kit.
Thanks (as always)!

Quote
btw lordban what do u cool with?
I'm using a X-Dreamer II case from Aspire with 5 case fans, a Vantec Spectrum fan card, a HardCano 12 unit (to control 4 of the 5 case fans) for case cooling.
For CPU cooling, I'm using a ThermalTake Extreme Volcano 12. It's noisy at full RPM, but effective. I run it at 4500-5000RPM and it seems to work fine.

K8N Neo2: How to boot after bad overclock settings?

Does anyone know - is holding the <insert> key down whilst booting supposed to work on the K8N Neo2? i.e. reset the clock speed back to safe settings?
I have a new 4800+ processor that I have been trying and it doesn't like high memory bus speeds. I keep trying an overclock setting (in the BIOS) and then finding it won't post. Then I have to clear the cmos and re-enter all of the bios settings from scratch again. Its becoming a right pain in the backside, to be honest.
I thought you were supposed to be able to just hold the insert key down on power up and it should boot with safe settings?
Or am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Chip

The insert thing only worked for me a few times. If I recall correctly, you need to power down everything, including the PSU itself. Then, hold the insert key, power up the PSU and then hit the power button on the case...The only thing is, and I don't know if it is BIOS version related or what, it will sometimes power on when you hit the switch on the back of the PSU.
If you are messing with it that much, then I suggest using some Windows apps to OC. Get the BIOS set up with some decent OC'd settings, stable ones. Then use apps like Core Center(voltages), A64 Tweaker(memory) and Clock gen(clock speed) to work things out in Windows. Once you have some good settings going in Windows, restart and set it up in the BIOS. This way, if you set something wrong in Windows and the PC hangs or restarts on its own, it will restart with the good BIOS settings that you know will work...Then you make note of what not to do, lol, and continue on...I hope that helps a little...Good Luck.

K7n2 + xp 2200 overclocking

hi guys
i am new to all this o/c stuff so i am wondering if anyone can please tell me where i am going wrong . i have a k7n2 mobo with a xp 2200 cpu . i have moved my cpu fsb from 133 to 145 mhz. if i go any higher than this my pc crashes on me . is there anything other than this i should be changing ? to make it go higher than this . and if so what should i change next .
thanks for any help i may get :]

Quote
Originally posted by variable
Depending on your memory you can push your FSB as far as 200 mhz (that's as far as the MB will allow). There are other ways to push unlock the processor but this is probably the safest and easiest to switch back to.
I recently made an attempt at pushing my XP2200+ up, and of course when I tried to increase/change the muliplier it would'nt even post. So I started bumping the fsb up, I hit 141 and the pc locked up during benchmark. But the temp was at 41-43C. I am now running it at 137 FSB on an MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU with mem settings at full speed timings.. If I lowered those Memory settings would I possibly be able to go farther on the fsb? Or maybe even just switched them to SPD?
Also, my memory is PC2100 only. I had some pc2700 once, but I got jacked on the deal (it ended up being a samsung chip/3rd party board maker stick), and it would only accept the lowest/safest timing settings in bios, so I ditched it and stuck with my 512 PC2100 which allowed more flexibility IMO!!
Anyway, that Ram is probably whats limitting me?? Its running fine with the current 1.86Ghz speeds, but I was really hoping to get it up to at LEAST 1.90....
:(

Overclocking the i7, a beginners guide

To give credit where credit is due: This was not written by myself. I have only edited parts of it.
I found this on the internet, but it was such a great article, that I wanted to draw your attention to it. Credits go to Chad. Thanks for all the effort you put into this.
What is overclocking?
Overclocking is a process of making various components in a computer to go faster than their stock speeds. So if you buy a processor (lets say an i7-920 2.66 GHz) and make it go faster (lets say 3.6 GHz), that can be deemed as overclocking.
HALT! Do not proceed any further until you have read this:
Dell, Gateway, eMachine, etc... do not overclock very well, so proceed at your own risk. You break it, it is your fault.
A little bit more of some explanation:
This guide is intended to explain how to overclock and its uses. It was made for those who have computers (moreover, motherboards and other components) that support overclocking. If you bought a brand of computer like Dell, Sony, Gateway, HP, eMachine, or any other crappy PC (not saying all of them are) that comes for a store like Walmart, Best Buy, or Circuit City, then this guide does not pertain to you. Even though it is possible to overclock these systems with software, it is not recommended nor advised. This guide is meant for anyone who has a motherboard made by ASUS, GIGABYTE, Abit, DFI, (sometimes Intel), or any other well known brand known for their boards and overclocking abilities. But be forewarned, not all boards made by these companies are made to overclock. Check and see if yours does before going any farther than this final line.
Note: There are ways to bypass hardware overclocking via software, but it is not recommended and can make your PC unstable, even rendering it unable to stay stable till the system is returned to normal. Overclocking software is made for boards that supports overclocking so that changes can be made without having to restart.
Further notes:
-Motherboards not designed for overclocking will not go as far in overclocking, become unstable sooner, and heat far quicker.
-Computers with boards that do not support overclocking do not have adequate cooling.
Why would you want to overclock if it could be damaging?
Simple, to get more out of what you payed for. Overclocking is similar to going and upgrade a car's engine by boring out its piston chambers and adding better fuel injection, air intake, transmission, etc..., but there is always a risk in doing so. But it all boils down to one thing: performance. It is hard to fry your system if you are careful and know what you are getting yourself into. If you are careful about what you do, then it is rather hard to do any kind of permanent damage to your system by pushing it to its sheer limits.
As with any kind of performance enhancement, there is a level of risk involved. The first and foremost danger is heat. Heat will degrade and damage your components beyond repair if left unchecked and will most definitely lower your system's life span. When you overclock, you are making your computer do more work than it is used to, thus it is going to generate more heat, so having a good cooling system is essential. If you do not have sufficient cooling, then your system could and will overheat. Overheat by itself cannot kill your computer though, the only way for that to happen is to repeatedly overheat it time and time again past the recommended temperatures. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS TRY TO STAY AT OR BELOW YOUR CPU's MAX RATED TEMPERATURE! If you go above this, you can risk harming your CPU. Do so at your own risk. Run your CPU at 5-10C above its max temp for short periods only and ONLY for benchmarking purposes only. DO NOT DO IT FOR LONG TERM!
And as luck would have it, you do not have to be overly worried about your system overheat as there will be signs before you system becomes a fried potato. Random crashes are probably the most common sign. Overheat is easily prevented by the use of thermal sensors which can tell you how hot your system is getting. If you see temperatures that you think is too high, then either run at a lower speed, or get better cooling, which I will cover later on.
The other danger of overclocking is voltage. Too much, and you can significantly shorten your components' lifespan. A small boost will not do much, but if you plan on a rather hefty overclock, you may want to be aware that it will decrease the lifespan of your computer's components. But this is usually not an issue since most people who will overclock do not use their components for more than 4-5 years and there is a good chance your components will not fail before 4-5 years regardless of the voltages running through it. Most processors are designed to last in upwards of ten years. So most of the time, loosing a few of those years is worth the performance gained for overclocking.
Disclaimer for my own protection:
WARNING!!! READ THIS DAMN WARNING!!! I DO NOT WANT TO HEAR YOU WHINE YOU BROKE YOUR COMPUTER SO READ THIS WARNING!!!!!!
Overclocking can really mess things up, and it wares down your hardware and its life-expectancy. In other words, the more you overclock, the shorter your computer will live (like how an F1 car's engine must be replaced after every other race). If you attempt to overclock, then I am not responsible for any damage or destroyed hardware when using this guide. Follow at your own risk.
Overclocking
This guide is meant for beginners and not for people looking to squeeze out every last bit from their processor. That’s when things become extremely motherboard specific. The goal of this guide is to try to make overclocking the core i7 an easy and enjoyable experience. Overclocking your core i7 is a must; if you don’t you’re a chump. This guide will focus more on core i7 920s, but ideas will probably carry over into EE and higher end chips with locked multipliers.
Recommended hardware:
1. A good cooler (Do not use stock if you plan to go past around 3.5. You will run your processor way too hot) (Noctua, ThermalRight Ultra Extreme or Megahalem are my preferred ones but read around.
2. DDR3 1600+ - You can get away with 1333 but with ram being as cheap as it is, why not.
3. Pretty much any x58 board (although some are better than others, read some reviews).
4. A good PSU with an EPS(8 pin) plug.
5. Paper, Pencil, and Patience – Write things down so you can remember your successes and failures. There is not much to play with in terms of the i7, but keeping track of what you tried can eliminate any frustrating experiences and also allow you to go back to a known stable settings.
Recommended software for stability testing:
1. Prime95.
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
2. Memtest86+ http://www.memtest.org/
3. Realtemp http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/
4. CPUZ - http://www.cpuid.com
Many people have personal favorites but the above are what I use.
Not all I7s are created equal:
1. So you read on a thread that someone hit 4 ghz on a C0 stepping processor with only 1.28 vcore and you’re wondering if yours will do the same. It’s doubtful, but who knows. It may take you up to 1.4 volts at least with a C0. That’s life; if you're unhappy, sell it and buy a D0.
2. Not all i7s have the same quality IMC (Integrated Memory Controller). Some are more temperamental than others and will refuse to run your ram at its rated speed without a huge raise of qpi/uncore (VTT). This is not common and often it can be a sign of the quality of the ram.
3. For the most part, D0's overclock higher and at lower voltages than C0 chips, due to refinements in the fabrication process. Late C0 chips benefitted from the same refinements, and random other batches hit 4.0 ghz at really low volts. I have been told that some D0's do not hit 4.0, but most will do so at a lower voltage than most C0's. A D0 is a more desirable chip, but it's not a must and this guide is still useful to owners of C0's.
4. Toms Hardware article about speed vs power consumption is flawed and based on one really terrible C0 that needed 1.5 vcore to hit 4ghz. Is a D0 at 1.2v at 4 ghz going to consume more power than a C0 at 3.6 and 1.32 volts? No. The D0 will use less. Power consumption at any given voltage will increase about 3-11 watts (avg 5 for every 100 mhz you increase). Something brough to my attention recently though is that this may differ because some chips are leakier than others. A D0 is by no means a guarantee that it will consume less power.
5. If you want to reach higher clocks, you may need a better motherboard, cooler, chip or whatever. This guide is not for advanced overclockers.
Key Terms and Settings Quick Guide:
BCLK – Base Clock - This clock controls your memory speed, QPI speed, and core speed based on whatever multiples for those settings you have. It's the most important part of overclocking the Core i7. It's stock setting is 133
Uncore – This is basically the speed of everything which isn't your core (i.e. L3 cache, IMC, etc). It should be 2x your memory speed but allows for multipliers higher than 2x as well. Stability will be greatest at 2x.
QPI – Quickpath interconnect - It's basically the intel equivalent of AMD's hypertransport. It's how the CPU and the X58 chipset communicate. It has multipliers of 18x, 22x, and 24x. The 920 should be left at 18x creating a 9:8 ratio between the uncore and the memory multiplier assuming you use the 8x ratio, which some claim offers the greatest stability. Although people have been able to run it at all sorts of ratios.
Memory - Memory is calculated based on either a 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x, or 14x of your base clock. I recommend 6x and 8x. Depending on your mobo bios it may be called ratio or multiplier.
Ram Timings – This guide will only deal with the first four and the command rate. There are other guides regarding these. You can use XMP (intel's memory profile system) to have these values plugged in but it may set your QPI/uncore voltage automatically to 1.35 which may be more than you need (although it will be stable).
Turbo mode – This enables the 21x multiplier on the chip. Most boards allow you to do this with eist disabled, but some boards require it enabled. See if a newer bios lets you change things.
CPU Multiplier – On the 920 the range is from 12x – 21x (22x on one core when at stock speeds). It has been found that the 19x and 21x multipliers are more stable than the 20x.
Vcore – Voltage of your cpu. See below for tweaking instructions.
PLL – phase-locked loop – Just use the settings recommended below (1.8 – 1.88 is within specification).
QPI/Uncore (VTT) – This voltage is the VTT although it does play a role in feeding the IMC with voltage enough to overclock your ram, the L3 cache and a number of other things (Specification is that it should be less than 1.35 but when taking droop into account you can go higher, probably 1.4 is safe. Some ram modules have XMP profiles which call for higher QPI so some will argue that this is safe. I'm not going to argue one way or the other.)
Vdimm – Your ram voltage (Specification says 1.65 max but 1.66 is fine and so is a bit higher depending on your QPI/uncore voltage).
Important to do before you overclock:
EIST – Enhanced intel speedstep technology - It's a power saving tech that should be disabled while testing overclocking stability. This should be disabled while finding your OC, but can be enabled after you are stable (Disable if you have stability issues).
C1E – Another intel power saving technology. Disable while overclocking, enable afterwards.
Anything Spread Spectrum – Disable it.
PCIE frequency – Always at 100, but see FAQ questions below.
LLC - Load Line Calibration - This gets rid of vdroop when enabled and can help stabilize overclocks. It breaks intel spec, but it is highly recommended to enable it, since it will reduce the needed vcore for a stable OC. The argument for vdroop is that it's a standard and reduces voltage spikes. I have not been able to find anyone who's done any damage by enabling LLC and thus disabling vdroop. In an old anandtech review from 2007 they found that it increased power consumption on an X38 asus board; a newer xbitlabs article using X58 found that it actually decreased with more threads or was otherwise the same. This guide pretty much assumes you use it, but like anything else you are taking the risk. Then again, on my board, enabling it doesn't give you any red letter warning like when you maybe tap your vdimm above 1.65.
All other settings leave at auto unless needed for stability.
Initial steps:
If you've played around with any settings before reset your bios to its stock options. There's probably no need to reset your CMOS, but it can't hurt; if you don't know how to reset your CMOS then I suggest you learn to do so. It's unlikely that you will have to as most modern motherboards will usually have some sort of protection against bad overclocks and automatically allow you to reset the bios upon a bad boot.
Once your bios is at its stock configuration disable EIST, turbo mode, C1, and any other power saving options that may interfere with an overclock as well as any spread spectrum settings. Now, boot into windows (If you want to use the 21x multiplier then go right ahead and set it as long as you can do so without enabling EIST). Open up cpuz, load up prime and see where the voltage goes. This is your approximate vid for stock. The chip may very well run under this voltage, but this is the vid that the bios is seeing.
From here we have a number of different methods we can try. I always change my BCLK in my bios settings so that anything set to auto will adjust itself if need be, although you are free to use whatever windows based tools you want although beware of any problems they may cause you.
You should always set your memory to 8x or 6x depending on what you have and your uncore to 2x the memory. Leave the QPI at the lowest setting.
Set windows not to restart on a bsod (You want to know what the error was):
Windows XP and Vista Directions, but it is the same for Win7.
Method #1: Optimizing for max performance per watt.
This method takes by far the most amount of time but for many its worth it in terms of its power efficiency.
Begin by going into the bios and changing your voltage to your vid and setting QPI/uncore (VTT) to 1.25 (I have raised this due to concerns about droop at 1.2) and vdimm to 1.65 (Most boards can't do this; 1.66 is safe, ignore your spaz bios warnings; you are not going to explode anything, although if you do, it's not my fault. Set it to 1.64 if it helps you sleep easier. I recommend at this point to be working with either the 21x multiplier if possible in order to keep your ram as much out of the equation as possible. 20X has known problems and 19x will land you with high ram speeds quicker which will require raises in the QPI/uncore voltage sooner.
Open up real temp and run Prime 95 with 8 threads and check stability for an hour at least (The more the better. I recommend overnight just to make sure all is good). Record your settings on a piece of paper or email them to yourself. Make sure to have Realtemp open in order to watch your temperatures. Temperatures should not exceed 80-85 during Prime. During normal use for extended periods, they should never see these kinds of temperatures. I like to keep mine below 70 for normal usage.
After its stable go into the bios and increase the BCLK by 10 and repeat the process. Find the max BCLK for your stock vid (or any voltage, if you'd like by lowering by smaller amounts when you find an unstable clock. This will help you know what you can run at any given voltage.
See below for known Prime 95 errors and how they relate to your settings (also some settings to try for stability). Once you get to the clocks you want, I recommend running Prime for at least 16-24 hours. I have in fact had errors in the 14th hour so it's good to know that you're truly stable.
See also below for optimizing your ram settings.
Method #2: Quick and dirty method for 4ghz aka screw efficiency
Set your ioh and ich to 1.2, your vdimm to 1.65, your cpu pll to 1.88, and your QPI/uncore to 1.35.
For D0 users set your vcore to 1.275 and for C0/C1 users set your vcore to 1.4 and BCLK to 190/191 or 210/211 and multiplier to 21 and 19 respectively. Check for Prime stability. D0's should be fine, but C0/C1 still may not make it, at this point your temps may be too high if you're not on water, so I suggest you start working backward in order to hit a much lower vcore or use method 3.
Method #3: Quick and dirty vcore boosting.
Set your ioh and ich to 1.2, your vdimm to 1.65, your cpu pll to 1.88, and your QPI/uncore to 1.35. Set BCLK to 190/191 or 210/211 and multiplier to 21 and 19 respectively.
The D0 chip usually hits 4.0 in the vcore range of 1.175 and 1.25. Try those voltages until you find whats right for your chip.
The C0/C1 is a much more difficult beast with a much larger range of 1.27 to around 1.4 and up to 1.5 (Do not attempt on air unless you live somewhere really, really cold). Some may not hit 4ghz at all.
This method is more difficult as some chips may not boot until you give them the proper vcore
How to use Prime95 to test stability:
Open up Prime95 and Realtemp to check your idles and loads. Set Prime95 to whatever priority you'd like. I prefer 4 or 7 so that realtemp still updates but some people prefer 10 and will run without a temperature monitor. Either is fine, but I'm always paranoid that my cooler will somehow become unlatched spontaneously. Set windows not to restart on bluescreen by setting [insert settings here] so that you can catch the error (although windows will record it somewhere). Start a mixed torture test and let it run for however long, depending on if you're only doing a temporary stability test in order to raise (about 1 hour) or a true stability test (16-24 hours). Once you've passed Prime95 you can run any other stability test that you want.
Prime 95 Errors:
Freeze: Increase the vcore
Other errors can indicate instability with the chip if they are during small fft (increase vcore by .125) or instability with ram large ftt (Try raising the ioh and/or running memtest).
BSOD code 101: Increase the vcore. I recommend increasing by +.025 if you get a bsod
BSOD code 124: Increasese or decrease the QPI/uncore by .25. Depending on where you are in your stability tests you'll probably need to increase it. 1.375 is the max I'm comfortable with although people say 1.4+ is safe. This is for you to determine and research. Don't do anything you're not comfortable with. Intel says do not go above 1.35 so 1.375 with droop and loss is safe and not too far outside specification.
It is important to note that sometimes QPI can be too high and that might cause this code. That's why it's not a good idea to just set things to 1.35 and hope for the best. If you find that increasing QPI/uncore voltage is not increasing stability, try decreasing it. Just remember of course, to keep track of your settings. I recommend not increasing, unless you have to (Don't be arbitrary about it).
D0 exclusive BSOD weird 2 letter/number codes: Treat this as a 101 and increase vcore by +.025. Update: It seems that these error codes can crop up for other reasons. Depending on where you are in the process you should take a look at your other voltages. I realize this is vague, but you may need to experiment.
If any worker fails, especially during small fft then it's cpu voltage. Bump it once or twice. If it fails during large fft then its probably memory error you can try running memtest/upping ioh. I would try running small fft at that point for a good amount of time and make sure its not the cpu voltage. If it passes 8-12 hours of small fft then work on making it pass large fft. Just remember to keep track of your settings. That's not to say that a large fft error won't be the result of cpu voltage, it's just not what I would try. Be methodical. If something allows Prime to run significantly longer then keep it. Significant depends where you are in the process. If your workers fail as soon as you start and a setting change gets you through a test then I'd say its good. If you get crashes during the 8th hour, and the setting change only gets you another 5 minutes in the 8th hour, it's probably just random and not the setting.
Testing Memory Stability with memtest 86+:
Personally, I do not run memtest until I actually encounter what could be memory errors( I assume things work until proven otherwise). Begin by setting your ram timings in the bios and setting your QPI/uncore to 1.35 and your vdimm to 1.64-1.66. Do not oc your cpu. Just run your ram at its rated spec to make sure that the ram is stable and not defective. You can also check it again with an oc'ed cpu as well. If it's unstable try raising the ioh to 1.20 or higher. If you are still getting errors try each dimm one at a time and see if you need to RMA (A pain in the *** but necessary).
Optimizing ram with memtest86+:
Assuming your ram is stable you can either overclock, lower voltage, tighten timings, or all of the above.
1. Lowering voltage. Run memtest86 for 20 minutes, if you get errors, stay where you are. Otherwise lower the vdimm by .02 and repeat until you get an error within 20 minutes. Then run it overnight.
2. Overclocking. You may be able to run your ram faster than you thought. Loosen the timings(make them higher) and then increase BCLK. You can optimize your voltage with the above number one. Depending on the ram, you may be able to overclock quite a bit or not at all. Running your ram at anything above 1066 is in fact overclocking the IMC.
3. Tightening timings. Timings should be decreased as such. Assuming you begin with 9-9-9 your next step should be 9-9-8 then 9-8-8 then 8-8-8. You can also try 8-9-8 but this is going to depend on your memory. You may need to raise voltages to tighten the timings.
The usefulness of overclocking your ram is limited. See the useful links sections below to see how certain ram settings will impact your real life performance.
Frequently asked questions:
Q: I can't raise my BCLK over some number. How do I fix it? What's the deal?
A: Not all chips and motherboards are made the same. You can try playing around with voltage amplitude, pll, skew or pcie (pcie is probably best not raised as it can cause damage). This is a question that is better asked on a thread dedicated to a specific board. You may end up being out of luck.
Q: What are safe voltages?
A: According to Intel or common knowledge the following are the safe air temperatures:
Vcore: ~1.4
QPI/uncore (VTT): 1.35
PLL: 1.88
Vdimm:~1.65 (Some will say that you are safe within .5 of your QPI/uncore allowing for a max of 1.85 on vdimm. See the link to the xtreme systems forum below on this subject for a long thread).
IOH: Less than 1.3
ICH: Less than 1.3
Q: My chip is too hot before I can reach 4 ghz. What can I do?
A: Disable hyperthreading or buy a better cooler (Noctua, TRUE or Megahalems recommended).
Q: But don't I want hyperthreading?
A: It's certainly nice to have a feature you paid for, but it sometimes decreases performance and it definitely causes a lot of heat. It's up to you.
Q: How do I go past 4ghz?
A: Same way as you got there in the first place. Just keep increasing BCLK. Past this point though it's up to you to do some research on your own.
Q: What is this multiplier throttling I've heard about?
A: Some boards will throttle down the 21x multiplier if the wattage becomes too high. The culprits without public fixes are the Asus P6T Deluxe and vanilla (The Deluxe v1 has a bios available on the xtremesystems forum which can be crossflashed onto the v2 which will fix this problem) It really only becomes a problem at high voltages with high frequencies. Other boards have ways of disabling it.
Q: Why would I want to optimize my voltages?
A: Save money on power bills and leave more wattage for other devices.
Q: My chip was stable for X amount of time and now it's not?
A: Have you added any hardware? How are your temperatures? High voltages and high temps can cause decay and make the chip require more voltage for an overclock. It may also be that your PSU is starting to go or maybe your motherboard is. Do your best to troubleshoot this.
Q: My temperatures seem really high? Is X degrees ok?
A: A better question is whether or not you are ok with X degrees. How long do you plan to won this chip? What are your ambients? If your house is 40 degrees centigrade, don't expect your chip to drop below that unless you are using extreme cooling (also try to move somewhere cooler cause that's really hot or get some AC, are you trying to cook yourself?). A cpu well taken care of can last over a decade when run within spec. How long do you really think you're going to keep this chip? A rule of thumb I go by is never push a part that I can't afford to replace if I break it (I do this anyway, but its a good rule nonetheless). Your temps will always get higher than normal when stress testing so do some normal stuff to see if your temperatures are acceptable. Try backing down a bit if you are unhappy.
Q: I heard this will work or this needs to be this way?
A: Try it. This is a general guide, not a set of hard and fast rules.
Q: My computer restarted while priming; how do I find out the error?
A: If you haven't already, disable bsod restarts in windows. Sometimes, though, it decides to restart anyway.
Open Computer Management by right-clicking the Computer icon on the start menu (or on the Desktop if you have it enabled) and select Manage. Navigate to the Event Viewer. Note: If you did not disable UAC then you will be prompted to consent to the action you're about to perform. Click Continue. Note: You can also open the Event Viewer by typing Event Viewer in the Search box and pressing Enter, or typing eventvwr.msc in the Run command.
Also check the results.txt in your Prime95 folder for a log of when it ultimately crashed and what it was doing at the time.
Q: Whats the deal with PCIE frequency? Can it help break my BCLK wall?
A: Yes, but I advise caution. Raising this too much can damage things running on the pcie bus or cause them to not work. I would not raise it personally more than a few mhz. You are probably safe at 103, but I take no responsibility of course.
Voltages/settings you can try to use to increase stability:
PLL: 1.88
IOH: 1.2+
ICH: 1.2
CPU voltage amplitude: +800mv
CPU Skew: +300ps
Command rate: change from 1n to 2n
You should really check in on your specific board as not all boards have the same settings. Be methodical in testing settings since you want to know whether something helped or hurt by itself before you combine.
Useful Links:
http://www.overclock.net/intel-cpus/538439-guide-overclocking-core-i7-920-4-a.html
Intel Info on the i7
QPI/Uncore voltage (XS) (Do not take this as gospel try to stay in spec unless you feel like really pushing things)
Info on multiplier throttling (XS)
Memory Scaling on the Core I7

My i7 rig is with a socket 1156 board, an Asus P7P55D mobo, and an 860 CPU. I know the Corsair DDR3 memory @ its stock 1.65v simply doesn't run at 1600mhz like it says on its box - 1333mhz seems to be its stability wall.
I upgraded my Q6600 and Asus P5B deluxe rig because so many people said to never consider overclocking on an editing rig. Was that over-cautious advice?

Help needed - Computer Dead

Here is the setup:
Athlon XP 2400+ with Coolmaster HS+F
512 MB Corsair 3200
MSI K7N2 Mobo
No overclocking.
My system has been fine for a couple of months, then 2 weeks ago I bought the new ram and it was fine for two weeks. Woke up this morning and the screen was all corrupted, though ok Windows XP has crashed, rebooted and my PC speaker started going like a police siren (I am assuming this is not the all is well siren!). I thought something might be over heating so I reset the CPU FSB to 100 and reset the bios. Computer booted, got into bios and then crashed in the bios. Now my machine wont boot. With the CPU FSB at 100 it just doesn't startup (Monitor never kicks in) at 133/166 the warning siren goes off.
Somebody please give me some suggestions here!
The mobo manual says nothing explaining what the warning siren is trying to tell me!

Same thing happend to me turned out that the PSU went bad get borrow a PSU and try it.

Memory/Processor upgrade for my K9A2 Platinum V1 board

Hello everyone. I am considering jumping up to a Phenom II x4 940 and 8GB 4 x 2GB sticks of the following memory....
1. Geil Black Dragon GB28GB6400C5QC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144074
2. Geil Black Dragon GB28GB6400C4QC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820144240
3. G.SKill F2-6400CL5Q-8GBPQ.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231151
4. G.Skill F2-8800CL5Q-8GBPI
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231195
5. Or just getting a second set of Corsair XMS2 (TWIN2X4096-6400C5) for a total of 8GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145184
I would just get a 2nd set of corsair memory.... but if I get a quad kit I know I am getting 4 matching modules ( Or at least should ). Instead of memory manufactured a year ago or longer (for original set) and up to this year (for 2nd set). I don't want problems between same type of memory using different chip sets. Oh btw, I would really prefer PC2 8500 or so.
Anyone out there had or have any of these combinations. Or is there other memory that you would recommend instead. Overclockability is a plus.
Oh ya I have also thought about upgrading motherboard as well and get something with the 790X or 790FX/SB750 chip sets instead of the 790FX/SB600. But not quite sure what to get on that end either.
My system specs are below.

Anyone of the above should work fine. I would consider Mushkin XP2-8500 modules, but with 4 x 2 GB modules you will probably have bad overclockability with any memory.
If you have a K9A2 Platinum now, it's not really useful upgrading to a 790FX + SB750 board. Granted, SATA and USB performance should be a bit better with the SB750 and it has RAID 5 support. For the rest, you will not notice the difference...

ITunes Blue Screen of Death when starting

Since iTunes 4.7, half the time when I enter iTunes, I get a stop error 0x00000050 or PAGEFAULT_IN_NONPAGEDAREA
Sometimes when iTunes starts, it will run just fine, but most of the time it just crashes instantly. When I reboot, the computer says its recovered from a serious error, most likely caused by a device driver. I dont know how to isolate the error, because the error result isnt that specific. The only changes I've made to the system before these errors is installing or reinstalling iTunes.
I used to not care as much because I normally use winamp, but now that I recently bought an ipod, I use it a lot more often. Thanks in advance for the help.

hi
i am new here and just on this subject i had run in with similer problams in past as i build pcs for photo video editing co
BSOD (blue screen of deth) normaly occurs due to hardware (or software trying to push hardware ) in your case if i am not wrong cpu or ram or hdd in my cases 1st one i had was cpu was not set at correct voltage and running at higher clock (bad overclocking)
2nd time different machine i had hdd failure (it was secondory drive not os drive)
3rd and recent i had problam with ram 8 gb ddr3 1600 wich motherboard decided to run at 1.4v insted of 1.65v and timing was set to 7-7-7-32 insted of 9-9-9-24.
in short i have seen machines giving bsod jor just having faulty usb connector ( draining power ) to faulty psu but to trace it follow normal comman sence
1 dose it happnes at peak cpu use ?
2 or memory use
3 hdd use
4 did it use to happen before or just happning now if yes then what changed scince last use ? (confliting programs, reg keys)
5 if all above is fine then dose it happen at random times or just under load ?
check bios and compare all the settings with hardware specs that it is configured right
strip pc down to bare minimum and rum it if works start adding other bits till you get problem
in most new build pc (self build) it is down to bios setting or not compatable parts (fully approved by mobo)
old pc over heating confliting software or reg keys ( good clean heatsinks and clean install easiest solution)
vivek

BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) when starting AE CS5

Is anyone else having this problem? It started randomly after a fresh install where AE just crashes to bsod and writes a dump file. After I reboot, I can go into it no problem but it tells me this error.
"After Effects Warning: Error parsing properties list from file C:\users\joe\appdata\roaming\after effects\10.0\AIFEffectCache.xml. It has been renamed to "AIFEffectCache.xml.old for backup. Proceeding."
I've tried disabling OPENGL, defaulted back to default prefs.. No idea why this is happening but it's only in AE. No other application crashes my machine.
Thoughts? Please let me know. Thanks!

hi
i am new here and just on this subject i had run in with similer problams in past as i build pcs for photo video editing co
BSOD (blue screen of deth) normaly occurs due to hardware (or software trying to push hardware ) in your case if i am not wrong cpu or ram or hdd in my cases 1st one i had was cpu was not set at correct voltage and running at higher clock (bad overclocking)
2nd time different machine i had hdd failure (it was secondory drive not os drive)
3rd and recent i had problam with ram 8 gb ddr3 1600 wich motherboard decided to run at 1.4v insted of 1.65v and timing was set to 7-7-7-32 insted of 9-9-9-24.
in short i have seen machines giving bsod jor just having faulty usb connector ( draining power ) to faulty psu but to trace it follow normal comman sence
1 dose it happnes at peak cpu use ?
2 or memory use
3 hdd use
4 did it use to happen before or just happning now if yes then what changed scince last use ? (confliting programs, reg keys)
5 if all above is fine then dose it happen at random times or just under load ?
check bios and compare all the settings with hardware specs that it is configured right
strip pc down to bare minimum and rum it if works start adding other bits till you get problem
in most new build pc (self build) it is down to bios setting or not compatable parts (fully approved by mobo)
old pc over heating confliting software or reg keys ( good clean heatsinks and clean install easiest solution)
vivek

You'r wrong man and you know it!!

Quote
Another one to close....
You guy's should really investigate a bit more on the AMD64 CPU....
It doesn't overclock that well!!!!!
Remember, when you turn up the CPU clock, you also turn the Memory controller up the same level, and it's there that things goes wrong.
MSI DID NOT falsely advertised, they made the board to be the best at overclocking the AMD64.
The only problem is that the AMD64 is NOT a good overclocker at all.
Discussion closed, if you have an issue with MSI, mail them, don't bother users with your griefs.
PS. Capcom, it would not hurt a bit if you took the time to read the forum rules, they will explain a few bit and pieces of this user-to-user forum.
I don't know if you know this but the MSI Neo FISR-2 does overclock very well as also stated by MSI and this is a AMD 64 board(look here for all the happy users owning that board http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/). User can crank the FSB way up there to 275 and higher depending on wether their memory supports it and this fully stable. So don't try to sell me halftruths. If MSI can do it for that mobo then they should also be able to deliver it for the K8N neo plat. Unless ofcourse nvidia is the main culprit here, something which I highly doubt. Right now the board does not perform AS IT IS BEING ADVERTISED.
Your closing my topic is the same attitude I expect to get from MSI when I send my mail, wave it away as if its the most normal thing in the world. AMD64 does not overclock well, hahaha I guess you never visited this site then,
http://pifast.hexus.net/pifast.php
nothing but AMD in the top 20 and all seriously overclocked so seriously I don't know where you get your knowledge but I would suggest changing sources;) Scroll down the list and even aircooled AMD 64's can be seen everywhere trumping the high clocks. If you don't think 300-500Mhz are good overclocks well then indeed you are right, AMD64 is one bad overclocker:(
There now thats cleared up as well, pretty arrogant of me eh, but you not letting me have my last word, to me, is just as arrogant,
Regards,
Capcom
EDIT : Look at place 87 on that site, that guy has an nforc3 board, namely this one,
http://www.ocfaq.com/reviews/Gigabyte/K8NPro/
almost 300Mhz overclock on stock cooling, and all these users have to submit several official forms so there's no cheating the scores. WYSIWYG!!

what have boards running 3.3v vdimm and liquid cooling got to do with this forum
at the end of the day you choose to jump on the first board of a brand new chipset
so at the end of the day if you know anything about the way things go
you have bought a lottery ticket
you quote that list
i ask you why did you not buy the board the guy at the top of it is using
their adverts like all board makers are hype ,and based on reviews
who all get and use the best of every thing ,if your to naive not to realise that
then im sorry
fact there are users can o/c this board
the punk buster thing at the end of the day i dout is an issue
to which it will prove msi has the solution
my monies on it being between the other three envolved
nvidia ,punkbuster and may be ati in the software not the hardware
its quite simple if you want to rant them spam the msi email box to your
hearts content
but its not going to be tolerated in here

Kernel Update to 3.10.9-1 Causes HIDs to load slowly.

After preforming the latest kernel update (3.10.9), all of my USB keyboards and mice load after ~10 minutes. Here is the snipped dmesg output:
[ 99.570290] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
-- SNIP --
[ 114.769866] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 114.979662] usb 5-1: new full-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[ 130.075878] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 145.275440] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/64, error -110
[ 145.485294] usb 5-1: new full-speed USB device number 4 using uhci_hcd
[ 150.499773] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[ 155.613141] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[ 155.821501] usb 5-1: new full-speed USB device number 5 using uhci_hcd
[ 160.836425] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[ 165.949789] usb 5-1: device descriptor read/8, error -110
[ 166.051126] hub 5-0:1.0: unable to enumerate USB device on port 1
-- SNIP --
[ 166.720668] usb 4-3: USB disconnect, device number 2
[ 167.190333] usb 2-1: new full-speed USB device number 2 using uhci_hcd
[ 167.593385] usb 2-2: new low-speed USB device number 3 using uhci_hcd
[ 167.823830] hidraw: raw HID events driver (C) Jiri Kosina
[ 167.846684] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbhid
[ 167.846689] usbhid: USB HID core driver
[ 167.850429] input: Razer Razer BlackWidow Ultimate as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.0/input/input12
[ 167.850976] hid-generic 0003:1532:010D.0001: input,hidraw0: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Razer Razer BlackWidow Ultimate] on usb-0000:00:1a.1-1/input0
[ 167.856697] input: Razer Razer BlackWidow Ultimate as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1a.1/usb2/2-1/2-1:1.1/input/input13
[ 167.857132] hid-generic 0003:1532:010D.0002: input,hidraw1: USB HID v1.11 Keyboard [Razer Razer BlackWidow Ultimate] on usb-0000:00:1a.1-1/input1
[ 167.859559] input: Razer Razer
[ 167.860132] hid-generic 0003:1532:010D.0003: input,hidraw2: USB HI
[ 167.860331] input: Microsoft Microsoft Basic Optical Mous
[ 167.861462] hid-generic 0003:045E:00CB.0004: input,hidraw3: USB H
[ 300.211887] mce: [Hardware Error]: Machine check

Might have better luck posting to lkml. Perhaps related, perhaps not... your mce error at 300 sec is symptomatic of a bad overclock:
https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Stress_Test
...but you did say this started to happen after the update to 3.10.9-1 so I'm not sure... can you downgrade and make it go away? Note that there is a trivial difference between .9 and .8.
Last edited by graysky (2013-08-25 07:29:03)

Strange power-on (issue?) with K8N Neo4 Platinum

Hi all, i have a new K8N Neo4 Platinum, non-sli.
My rig:
A643000+ winch, no overclock
2x512MB Corsair XMS DDR400MHz
2x200GB Seagate mirroring
Plextor PX-708A
BenQ DVD Burner
AN OLD Matrox Mystique 4MB PCI (new pci-e gfx card later...)
A powerfull enermax coolergiant 600W ATX 2.0 power supply
Latest official nforce4 drivers and bios
It seems to be ok: installed winXP pro sp2 and updates, installed two Seagate in raid-mirroring with the nforce4 controller, installed some progs and utils, firewall is ok, prime95 go without problems for 1 our (more tests later), cpu temp is 34°C and sys temp is 30°C.
CoreCenter Say:
Vcore -> 1.41V
3.3V -> 3.39V
+5V -> 5.13V
+12V -> 12.26V
memory volt -> 2.60V
FSB -> 200MHz
PCI-E -> 100MHz
cpu volt -> By-VID
Apparently no weird things...
When i switch-on the Pc, for some seconds( ̃10 secs) it don't want to boot, optical drives blink repeatly and the screen is blank, like a bad overclock... But the machine isn't overclocked, and the bios is ok, i think. After 10 secs, finally it go and run flawlessly, post and other things are ok. When i reboot in win, the 10secs-issue repeat itself. So this strange thing at the post is normal? Anyone with the same "problem"? For now the rig is ok when it logon in winXP...

Hi all my friends
@JER101 >>> Ehrr i mean post, sorry
I had unplugged the optical drives, but the problem persist. When plugged, they blink for some times and after blinking the machine go into post-phase and after it boot in the correct manner. I think the PCI card is the problem, like some of you said... I will buy one pci-e card (obviously), but i hope things are not dangerous for now
In the mean time, i have a new problem: emule+firewall=BSOD. I know, there are tons of post about this issue around, but the solution is unclear... Tried to disable DEP, patched WinXP SP2 with latest things from winupdate, but nothing work for me, emule and the firewall generate a crash&reboot. Tried with the Marvell LAN, too, without success.
Any suggestions? Usefull links? If i uninstall the "NVIDIA Forceware Network Access Manager" it will work without problem with a thirdy part firewall, like sysgate?
P.S.
What's the problem with nvidia drivers? C'mon nvidia, solve this damned issue!

P67A-GD65 Huge Problem

I was overclocking today and I found a bad overclock and my system would not even post a display on the monitor. The tower would show that it was on but the monitor showed nothing and said there was nothing to display. After removing the motherboard battery and doing the old fashion reset bios trick, it started working again. Bad news is my CPU no longer overclocks the way it used to. Almost any attempt at overclocking above 3.8ghz won't even get pass the bios screen before rebooting and rebooting. The only way to overclock now is to use the control panel, which is very sad because I missed having instant overclocks right when I turn on my computer...
Edit: Even changing simple things like turning off or on turbo boost, speedstep and anyother setting would now result in a reboot loop. Always fixes after shutting off the power supply from the back and turning it back on, but now it feels like my bios is useless

Quote
I seem to have fixed my problem and now am overclocking nicely
Glad you got it sorted.
Quote
You think I should flash mines to the beta bios?
Suggest you read this thread https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=144655.0 and particularly the later posts and then at your own risk make a decision.
If you are going to flash the BIOS then use the forum tool >>Use the MSI HQ Forum USB flasher<<
Any further Beta Bios or OC related questions should then be posted in the appropriate sections of the forum.

K7N2 - L bad overclocker?

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