Help please

[Meadmaker]

Hi there, Overclocking Experts!


I have the following setup:

EPoX 8K3A Mobo

XP2000+ CPU

256Mb Samsung DDR2700

Seagate HDD @9600) (if that's relevant - I don't know)

W2000Pro. O/S

I have wound up the FSB to 142, keeping the voltages at default. This is the highest I can go and keep the system stable at full load.

At this setting, the CPU temp hovers around 57C, even with a huge Taisol cooler, and two case fans (1 blowing in at front, the other blowing out at back)

I would love to rack it up some more, but no matter what I try (increasing the core voltage 1 step, etc.) it always locks up after about 15 minutes on full load.

I would appreciate any suggestions.

I am also considering replacing the CPU with a MP2000+ (which I believe is unlocked, and can therefore be adjusted as well, unlike the XP variety). Is this a valid move, or just a waste of cash?

TIA,


Meady.

[^7_of_9]

Just a waste I think. Grab an XP and Unlock it I think is better.

[Dewill]

Hi Meady
I have played about with MP chips with the 8k3a an found the mp1800 to be the best I tried. Tried 1800 an 1900.

They both came unlocked, as I think they all are.
My eyes are not so, good these days, so unlocking an XP is out of the question, but if you can do it, or get somebody to do it for you, then you will be able to go higher :)
My MP1900 is just under 2gig at the mo ;)
The new XP's 26, 27 ,28 will oc well, but are a bit on the high side price wise :(
The ep-8k3a is one of the best ocing mobo's I found mine to be much better than the abit kx7.
You may need to upgrade your bios.
But either way you should be able to go higher :)

Jed ;)

[Fireblade]

as suggested... flashing yer BIOS t' the latest version should be yer first priority Meady ;)

But it could be a temp thing? The best fan in the world won't help that much if the heatsink itself ain't much cop. So what heatsink R U using? Maybe a better HS+F combo would help? Just a thought... ;)

[BigBen]

Hi,
Not sure about your heatsink but I think you always use a copper one with the AMD chips ....... artic silver 3 helps and a good fan ....the fan I have now slings out 53CFM and is quiet 39db :D compared to my last 80mm delta screamer which was slinging out approx 70CFM

Regards

[Meadmaker]

Thank you for all your replies.

This is the current heatsink/fan combination I'm using:

TAISOL CGK760172 XP2200+/370 HONEYWELL R

Compatible with AMD Athlon and AMD socket 462 Compatible with Intel socket 370 FC-PGA Athlon XP 2200+ and beyond, Athlon MP 2000+ and beyond Forged with Copper Base with Honeywell grease Fan Size 60x60x10mm, Dimension 80x60x56.3

(This is pulled from the website where I bought it)

If anyone can suggest a better combination, I'd be very grateful.

[Meadmaker]

Flashing the BIOS:

I've heard about this, but never tried it. Can I please have an "idiot's guide"?


Meady the idjit.

[BigBen]

I would hazard a guess that artic silver 3 would be an inprovement over the Honeywell grease ..... but the biggest improvement would be to junk that 60x60x10 fan ..... get a 60x60x25mm or 38mm fan .... your fan I reckon is dead quiet but! the air flow it is giving out is real low

Regards

[Meadmaker]

Cheers for that, BB. I figured that it might be the HS/Fan. What would you recommend? (Noise is not an objection)

[Bursar]

What PSU do you have? Maybe when you crank the system up further, the voltages from the PSU drop and that's what's causing the problem.

I know the Enermax PSU in my Epox based AMD setup is the limiting factor. Get Motherboard Monitor and check what your voltages are like.

If they're a bit low, then that's going to hold you back.

Have you upped the voltage to your RAM as well? I've got some heat spreaders on my PC2100 RAM, and just stuck the voltage up as far as it would go.

Flashing the BIOS on an Epox board is dead easy.

If you've made any custom changes to the BIOS settings (RAM timings and so-on), it might be worth going into the BIOS and noting them all down for use later.

Head over to the Epox site and download the latest BIOS for you board. Stick the .bin file on a floppy disk, and reboot (leave the floppy in the drive).

As the PC boots up, press Alt + F2. This starts the built in BIOS flash routine. Once it's finished and the PC reboots, head into the BIOS, and make whatever changes you want. Save and Exit the BIOS, and you're done :)

Having typed all that out, I'm not sure if that board support the Alt+F2 BIOS flash. Ah well :)

If it doesn't, you'll need the AWDFlash program as well (should be able to get that from the Epox site as well).

Bung it on the disk with the BIN file, but you'll need to make the disk bootable as well.

Then just reboot, and at the DOS prompt, run the AWDFLASH program and follow the prompts (make a note of the filename of the .BIN file, as you will need to type it in).

[Meadmaker]

Hi Bursar,

The board's only 8 months old, and I believe it does support the Alt-F2 method. I'll head off to EPoX and see what I can find.

The PSU is 300 Watts. I have Motherboard Monitor installed: Dashboard values below:




Sensor 1 Sensor 2
24.0C 57.0C

Core 0 +3.3 +5.0 +12.0 -12.0 -5.0
1.73V 3.3V 4.76V 12.28V 2.04V 0.43V

Fan 1 Fan 2
5192RPM 3276RPM

Holly
1787 MHz

[Fireblade]

Originally posted by Meadmaker

Flashing the BIOS: I've heard about this, but never tried it. Can I please have an "idiot's guide"?

Have a read of this guide (http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/biosflash1.html) m8 :thumbsup:

[Bozo]

Originally posted by annihilator

Have a read of this guide (http://www.pcnineoneone.com/howto/biosflash1.html) m8 :thumbsup:

Nice Link m8 :)


I dont understand why people will spend money on extra cooling, heatspreaders, psu's etc to squeeze a little more from a chip when the extra money involved would have bought a faster chip to begin with; overclock that a little and surely it is a better option ?

Maybe just me being to :chicken: or more likely too lazy to fiddle about. :)

[Dewill]

Hi Bozo
It's true to a point, but with a lot of the new kit, you need a very good psu an hs/fan anyway.
If you buy a faster chip, the chance is your hs/fan will not cut it, so you end up buying a better one anyway.
Most XP 's will oc and some by as much as 300mhz or more, thats a fair few models higher, my 1900 runs as 2400, but didn't cost me the price of an 2400, besides its fun :p an you know what us dc folk are like, anything that will crunch a few more :D


Jed ;)

[Bursar]

The 5v rail seems a bit low, and the 12v is a bit high. If you're lucky, there will be some pots in the PSU which you can turn to adjust the voltages.

Are those voltages at idle? If so, then you'll probably find that the 5v rail drops a bit further when you start thrashing the system and that's when the problems start occuring.

If you can't adjust the voltages in the PSU, then you've probably reached the limit unless you replace the power supply with something a bit more stable.

[Meadmaker]

Hi Bursar,

Thanks for your input, m8.

Those figures are at full load (with Genome@Home running) as well as all the usual stuff (IE5, OE5, GSpy etc.)

I don't think I can adjust the PSU - there aren't any switches or dials on it as far as I know.

Have you any recommendations for better PSU's, HS/Fans etc.?

[Bursar]

The pots will be inside the PSU. You'll need to pop the cover off and see. Not all PSUs have them though.

As for better supplies, the Antec ones have been getting rave reviews recently.

As for heatsinks, I'm a bit out of the loop. My AMD system has a Taisol 760 on it (same as yours I think), and my P4 has the stock Intel HSF.

You could always go with a water cooling setup :)

They're not that tricky to setup, but a decent water cooling rig will be quite expensive.

[BigBen]

Hi Meadmaker :)
For a 60mm fan I would still say a delta is still the best as it spins around 7000rpm ...... it you want a heatsink and fan then look at my sig below ..... I have wasted loads of money on fans and am at last happy with the one I now have :) ..... I can send you a 80mm delta fan (if u r in the uk) free :) if u would like .... it throws out about 68/70CFM and is great for cooling .... I wanted less noise after having 2 years of delta .... people will understand why but you do get used to it :D

Regards

[Meadmaker]

That's a very kind offer, Big Ben. I am in the UK, and I would certainly accept. Let me know what you want to cover the postage etc.

Drop me a line at meadmaker@ninjamicros.com and I'll send you my details.

Thanks again!


Meady the grateful.

[Fireblade]

As Bursar suggests... the Antec range of PSU's are certainly up there among the best Meady ;) I've just put a 480w 'TruePower' in me new rig :) The downside to em is that you pay for that quality :rolleyes:

A very good alternative are the 'Q-Tec' range - you can get a stonking great 550w gold-coloured dual-fan Q-Tec for £32.00 incl VAT from here (http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/product.php?view=1729&PHPSESSID=1d2755094e36b8b5bfc6f5fb1fb15223) - with the added bonus that they only charge £2.00 for Next Day delivery! :thumbsup:

Go for something like that rather than risk takin' yer PSU apart m8 - particularly if ye've never done it before! A PSU can retain enough power for days after its been turned off and unplugged t' KILL ya :explode: :eek: Don't risk it :tsk: :nooo:

[Bursar]

Yeah, guess I should have mentioned that dismantling your PSU can be dangerous, but I figured it was one of those things that most people would know anyway.

[Meadmaker]

Well, I'm one step nearer, as I've just got in with a lovely 550Watt PSU. :D

The Flagship is due into Starbase 114 tomorrow morning, where it can be docked safely, and the new warp core inserted. Hopefully that will sort the voltage probs.


Meady, who must try not to watch more than 5 hours of Star Trek each day! :lol:

[Fireblade]

nice one Meady... hope all goes well wi' the new installation when the ship docks :D :thumbsup:

BTW... which model PSU did ye go for in the end? Hi-spec/expensive, or lower-spec/cheaper?

[Meadmaker]

It's an high-spec, good one, m8. Details below:

Enermax EG651P 550W ATX Power Supply (CA-002-EN)


I noticed you used Enermax on Fire (and possibly Ice as well), and thought "what's good enough for him is good enough for me" :D

Best bit - I got it brand-new for just under £70!

[Bursar]

Hmmm, I'm not that impressed with my Enermax 350W PSU.

If I ever have to buy another PSU, I'll probably go the Antec route. They seem to provide much more stable voltages than the Enermaxs.

And the Enermaxs also come with abusrdly long power cables as well. Useful I guess if you have a full tower case, but the long cables also contribute to the voltage drop.

[Fireblade]

I'm humbled that you chose Enermax just coz I'm usin' em in 'Fire + Ice' Meady :blush: - but they're a good choice anyway ;) I've had none o' prob's wi' the voltages that Bursar has... maybe they're more powerful models are more stable?

BUT... you lucky, lucky man... I paid half that much again for me 431w jobs :eek: Ohhhhh to have a store like yours locally :D

[Meadmaker]

Originally posted by Bursar
Hmmm, I'm not that impressed with my Enermax 350W PSU.

If I ever have to buy another PSU, I'll probably go the Antec route. They seem to provide much more stable voltages than the Enermaxs.

And the Enermaxs also come with abusrdly long power cables as well. Useful I guess if you have a full tower case, but the long cables also contribute to the voltage drop.

Oh dear. All I can hope for is that the 550W is better than the 350W one then.

Mind you, I do have a big case - not a full tower, but bigger than the standard case (5x5.25, 4x3.5 - 2 internal), so the wiring length could have been an issue.

[Meadmaker]

Originally posted by annihilator
I'm humbled that you chose Enermax just coz I'm usin' em in 'Fire + Ice' Meady :blush: - but they're a good choice anyway ;) I've had none o' prob's wi' the voltages that Bursar has... maybe they're more powerful models are more stable?

BUT... you lucky, lucky man... I paid half that much again for me 431w jobs :eek: Ohhhhh to have a store like yours locally :D

I was very lucky. The guy isn't stocking them any more - it seems that in Hull there isn't the demand for high-end stuff. He was just happy to get it off the shelf, and had it marked at 50% off!