Advice on OCing an Opteron 170 (my first ever OC)

[Comdot]

Well I've never overclocked anything in my life. I have a basic understanding of how it works and the difference between AMD and Intel with the memory controllers. I picked this guide up from nickm926- Overclocking Guide - MajorGeeks Support Forums -so that's the basics covered but says nothing about my Opty.
Now I need to know just what I need to do to my own rig, to get the speed up. E.g. what's the first thing I should do? Then where do I go from there etc.
Also what are the right settings to my specific processor and what settings should I be aiming for in general to get the max.

My system spec is in my sig. A little more info on my motherboard- ASRock Motherboard - Product - 939N68PV-GLAN - Overview (I believe this is fine if an obscure Taiwanese brand)

Thanks in advance.

My idling numbers-

 

[Trotter]

I'm interested, too. I had my 3200+ ODed a little way back when, but have never OC my 4200 X2. I have forgot what settings I used back then.

 

[Comdot]

I think I will work it out in a couple of days. Just a case of reading all the info out there, and deciding who to listen to :snob: . Seems there isn't as much on the net about OCing Opties as I'd like but there's enough.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

Just add HTT in 5-10mhz increments. Set your HT link multi to 3x. Here's my old system w/ a 165 otpy. That is on an Asus A8N32 mobo and G.Skill NS ram. I had it at 2.9 but forgot my settings for it.

 

[Comdot]

Super! That's just what I was asking for i.e. what to do with an Opty rather than how do you overclock a processor.

How does my RAM compare with your G.Skill? I don't understand too much about CAS RAS and tRAS (or whatever) and I don't know about 1T/2T. Should I try G.Skill? I hear they're pretty cheap in that flavour now.

Also I'm debating whether to have 1:1 with my CPU and RAM but I guess actually that will depend on results.

 

[Comdot]

Well my new mobo is useless. It only allows me to get the CPU to 1.400 volts! So I only got it to 2.30GHz from 2.00GHz.
I will look on ebay for a better mobo. My original mobo was the ASUS A8N-SLI SE but I think it had static discharge damage after 2 years of tampering, so I can't use it (it's in a box).
Also the RAM won't be pushed over about 235 MHz so I might want better RAM.

Well at least I lost my OCing virginity! :love_at_first: :nerd: :happy:

 

[Comdot]

Happy happy happy!! :happy: :happy: :happy:

I changed a setting in BIOS called "Flexibility Option" to being enabled.

From mobo manual:

Flexibility Option
The default value of this option is [Disabled]. It will allow better tolerance for memory compatibility when it is set to [Enabled].

2.90 GHz!!

Strangely I seem to be only able to get that crap RAM MHz.

HT link multi 3x...yes.

Scratching my head here... maybe I am just running out of votls for my CPU and RAM has nothing to do with anything because basically it won't let me go to the golden 3GHz no matter what I set the HT multi to or how low I run the RAM. Yes my PCI-E bus is running asyncronous i.e. the standard 100MHz. I left my RAM timings on auto (hence they are now even crapper than before).

Hmm...I dunno what to do now

45% OC'ed! Bed time! lol

p.s. cool 'n' quiet is turned off as well.

 

[thirdshiftdj]

you need to up the NB vcore on it.

 

[Comdot]

Yeah well I had it at 1.31V but the mobo won't let it go any higher. I presume this is my mobo just being crap and not my processor being locked to low voltages. I've no idea.

I've now opted to reduce my OC to 2.2GHz whilst keeping my RAM 1:1 instead of having 2.9GHz and RAM at <200MHz. (my RAM needs replacing). Also it crashed in Counterstrike so wasn't stable enough anyway (<volts?).

From what I hear, to get above 2.9GHz I'll probably need better cooling, even though it idles at 38C.

My HT link is now running at 1.1GHz, is this a problem in itself, should I have it lower?

 

[Comdot]

That is on an Asus A8N32 mobo and G.Skill NS ram.

Sorry what is this RAM?