confusion, frustration

[molsen]

It's the second time I've overclocked this processor, but I followed the rules with the OC. I found out the max OC for my CPU and the max OC for my RAM and adjusted things accordingly. I had it going at 2.7GHz (10 x 270 @ 1.5v) and 225MHz RAM (166mhz divider). Prime tested stable overnight. (Keep in mind the MAX speed of CPU and RAM was 2.8ghz and 230mhz, respectively)

It was running fine for, oh, 4 or 5 days. Now suddenly I started getting freezes and weird restart issues. So I backed off everything, set CPU to 10 x 260 @ 1.5v and RAM @ 217MHz and it failed Prime after like 2 minutes.

So now I'm starting over. I'm going to overclock the CPU again. Then the RAM and try to figure out why it's unstable suddenly.

What could cause this suddeny instability? Even at lower clock speeds it was unstable/....I don't understand!

I tested it @ the first mentioned speeds over and over again. CPU temps never exceeded 51ºC on full load after a few hours. RAM voltage was 2.68v and was running fine and stable.

Is it possible that even though my CPU was stable by itself at 2.7GHz and the RAM was stable by itself at 225MHz, that they're unstable together?

 

[molsen]

also, my motherboard supports 800MHz HT instead of 1000MHz (dunno why, but it doesnt make a performance difference really). so I should definitely make sure to keep my HT speed at or below that mark, right?

 

[gaara]

Check the stability of your PSU rails

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Check the stability of your PSU rails

That's exactly what's holding back my overclock. I used CPU-Z to find my voltage, and it's fluctuating pretty bad. What is your PSU?

Ryan

edit: Fortron 450... got it. Hmm, another place to check your 12V rating is in Everest Home Edition. Mine floats at 11.61, and that's just... okay.

Ryan

 

[molsen]

yea my 12v in Everest Ultimate shows 1.71v. the monitoring software that came with my motherboard shows the 12v fluctuates b/t 1.63v and 1.71v...but not that often

the voltage going to my CPU changes from 1.472v to 1.502v, but that's just when going from idle to full load. that's normal, isn't it?

It's Fortron 400w. 36A total on the 12v rails. That's enough for my hardware isn't it? every PSU calculator I used has listed my MAX power consumption (including head room for another harddrive and overclocked everything) at 350-something watts.

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Well, it's plenty of power... but it just sounds like the symptoms of fluctuating rails.

Ryan

 

[molsen]

yea, it does, i agree. that's why I'm so confused. I purposely bought a stable PSU so I wouldn't have that issue. I dunno. I've upped my clock speeds back to 2.7 and 225 and it's been Prime stable 2 hours so far. I'll keep testing and diagnosing. perhaps I'll run various games and tasks to see if maybe it's a certain program/task that's causing me problems.

 

[molsen]

should I test the rails with a multimeter? seems like that might be more accurate...

I am running the PSU test on S&M right now. Was keeping an eye on my 12v and saw it dip down to 1.58v really quickly every so often. I know the lowest it should go probably is 1.6v (-5%). however, it hasn't failed the PSU test yet....

 

[gaara]

You always wanna use a multimeter for getting voltage readouts as software just isn't reliable with that sort of stuff

When you guys say stuff like "1.5v" are you talking about your vcore? I'm talking about your specific 12v rail and your PC wouldn't even be running if it was giving out 1.5v

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Sometimes Everst is wrong. I checked on my girlfriend's computer and it read 2.45V on the 12V rail. That's definately not right.

Ryan