First Time Overclocking..

[thejeremy]

Hello forum,

Last night I figured I'd try out this overclocking thing (first time ever). Here's what I did:

I have a Biostar motherboard (check sig), its FSB was running at 200MHz before I tweaked it. In the BIOS I changed the FSB to be running at 205MHz, and I believe the CPU multiplier is set to 11 (the default value). This makes sense to me because, from what I've been raeding, CPU speed = multiplier x FSB speed. Before, the CPU was running at 2.2GHz, the default speed (200 x 11 = 2.2GHz). AFter overclocking, the computer reports 2.6GHz! Is this correct? I figured it would be 205 x 11 = 2.255GHz. I'm a n00b when it comes to all this right now but I want to learn this stuff.

Also, from the mobo's website , it appears that DDR400 RAM isn't supported. My RAM was always previously detected as DDR333. However, after OC'ing the mobo, since I have DDR400 RAM in there, it ran it as DDR400 according to the output on the screen during bootup. I'm pretty sure this is normal, since OC'ing the mobo will basically OC everything in the system to an extent.

One more thing...I was reading some posts about dual channel RAM. I have a pair of 512MB Kingstons made for dual channel in the dual channel slots, and a third 512MB stick in the third slot of some other brand, can't remember brand or clock speed of that stick. During bootup, the computer indicates that dual channel is enabled because it prints out a line like "Dual Channel Enabled, running at DDR400". But from what I was reading, dual chanel won't work with memory in a third slot? I know the 3rd stick isn't Kingston for sure. I guess a little more general info here would be helpful in any case.

I ran Prime95 on this last night, and it ran for around 5.5 hours, then I got an error. Is this too unstable to use? Should I increase the voltage to the CPU so it can keep up?

Thanks in advance.

 

[The General]

I like you. A "noob" who does his research before asking questions.

You just made my day.

 

[thejeremy]

heh well i'm sick of reading posts that consist of "it's broke, help me!!!!!111"

but this is my first time doing this, so i wanna make sure i'm doing it right cuz i know the risks involved


glad to know i made your day tho

 

[thejeremy]

AFter overclocking, the computer reports 2.6GHz! Is this correct? I figured it would be 205 x 11 = 2.255GHz.

I'm obviously blind...it does show up at 2.26GHz. My bad.


How about the dual channel memory? Is it really running in dual channel since I have a third stick installed?

 

[john3]

no i doubt it is running in dual channel, i cant remember which but there was a mobo that would support it if it was like 2x512 and 1x1GB but cant even remember. anywayz. us hould really stick to dual channel. anywayz, ur doing great, just keep increasing by 5mhz intervals and stress test it until u run into a wall then report back with results.

 

[Lord AnthraX]

Depends.

If you have (1) 1GB stick, then no.

If you have (2) 512MB sticks then yes.

If you have (2) 512MB stick and (1) 512 MB stick then no.


Dual channel requires I guess you could say evenness, but that dosent mean you can take 5 128MB stick and anoother 5 and have dual channel. Not that thats possible any way...

 

[john3]

dual channel includes !2! channels, plane and simple.

 

[thejeremy]

I guess I was assuming that, with the setup I have (2 x 512MB sticks in dual channel slots, 1 x 512MB stick in a third slot), that the 2 dual channel sticks would operate in dual channel, and the third would operate at its normal speed.

Guess I was wrong.

Ok I'm gonna download some benchmark software and test the current setup, then remove the third stick and test the system again. From what it sounds like, the dual channel configuration using only 1GB of RAM should be faster.

Anyone have any suggestions for accurate benchmark software??

 

[john3]

3dmark06. also use memtest, and prime95 and aquamark. but dont benchmark just yet, just finish OCing and run memtest and prime95 each 5mhz FSB interval.

oh and of course we cant forget, SuperPi!

 

[thejeremy]

So I did some more research...apparently it is possible to run dual channel RAM with 3 sticks. Most boards will revert to single channel, but it seems like boards utilizing an nForce2 chipset remain in dual channel. This is what my board has, and it reports the memory operating in dual channel on bootup.

Here is the quote I found on another forum:

It depends on the motherboard. A nForce 2 based motherboard can run in dual channel with three memory modules. If we're talking about Athlon64s, they're either socket-754 (which doesn't have a dual channel memory controller in the first place) or socket-939 (which will switch to single channel with 3 memory modules).

On the Intel side, I believe it will revert to single channel mode aswell.

Basicly, anything other then a nForce 2 motherboard will revert to single channel.

I'm gonna try pushing the FSB a little more tonight. Don't wanna go too high though, I'm not installing any extra fans or anything.

I'm gonna mess with my video card too. I was reading bout that, and I saw CoolBits as somethin I should get. Looks like it basically edits the registry, but I didn't see any added menu options after doing so. Anyone have that problem?