Acceptable voltages when overclocking

jozi

I was stress testing with prime today to see do i have a stable overclock and noticed the voltages fluctuating a lot.
I ran prime for 4 & 3 hours on the first 2 setting for stress testing today and have a screen shot of mbm attached. Can someone tell what conclusions they can make of it regarding voltages?
Thanks in advance

Jozi

Col_Loki

CPU Vcore will always fluctuate like that nothing really to worry about. MBM5 takes the very highest and lowest even if its only for a split second so thats why it looks worrying. Once prime95 isint crashing due the the change then your fine.

I wouldnt worry about it myself. You seem to be getting nice results, 2.5ghz....... mobile chip right? What CPU fan are you using, must be pretty damm loud at 4.5k rpm?

jozi

Col_Loki wrote:

CPU Vcore will always fluctuate like that nothing really to worry about. MBM5 takes the very highest and lowest even if its only for a split second so thats why it looks worrying. Once prime95 isint crashing due the the change then your fine.

I wouldnt worry about it myself. You seem to be getting nice results, 2.5ghz....... mobile chip right? What CPU fan are you using, must be pretty damm loud at 4.5k rpm?

5.6k rpm! Yeah pretty loud! its a termaltake volcano 12, speed adjustable thank god i usually have it full speed when playing games or stress testing etc
Prime was stable for 4 hours, then i stoped it but i'll let it run for longer some day.
Yes mobile 2500+ chip, its at highest multi 12.5 so not sure if it will go higher. Seen a wire trick on the net to flip the multies so i can only use 13 and up but not so sure about it.
Thanks for the fast reply

Jozi

Col_Loki

Ohhh god , i had a TT Volcano 7 on my first computer and after 4k RPM it was crazy crazy for noise. You could hear it runnig all over the house pretty much. Dreadfull yolk, would never buy a TT heatsink again....... silence is fantastic . Does it have to be that high to get 2.5ghz? Would you up the Vcore a little more and reduce the fan speed? Temps will increase some bit but that should be ok.......

Wire trick, has been ages since i read up about that. Are you talking about the one where you mod the bridges on the CPU to access HL multi's? Is there a socket wire trick to do it ( i know you can select any multi by using the wire trick on the socket but not sure about changing to HL's with it)?

jozi

It's a wire trick for the socket to flip the multies, i think i might have seen a link here at some stage.
I only really have it that high to see what the coolest is the chip will run, will half the speed when i test using prime again.
Dont hink i'll up the voltage more i had it running lower first and was stable when playing games, crashed prime just before it had been running for 2 hours.
I wouldnt mind getting a new heatsink and fan but it does the job and can be silent when turned on lowest setting, not going thermaltake route again after this though.

Jozi

Azza

Jozi how you find that motherboard of yours at overclocking. I'm curious as I have the same one. Secondly what sort of ram have you in that rig. I have only pc 2700 and its putting me off attempting to overclock my system. I may switch to a mobile barton though.

jozi

It's fine i think, my board before couldn't oc at all and this is my first pc so not much to compare to.
Before i got the mobile chip i had ram from pc world and a barton 2500, highest fsb was 220 if i remember right. Now i have mushkin ram and it wont do 220 fsb, both where pc3200. Not sure if its cause of the ram or the cpu haven't really tried at all.

Jozi

Col_Loki

Which Mushkin Ram did you get? Are the timings tighter?

Have you tried lowering the multi just to see what the Ram can do? Also 2.8v should be fine for constant usage so mabye increase it a bit to get the memory up a bit.

Since your multis are at the top, instead of using a wire trick why not up the FSB to overclock more? It would help overall performance more aswell.....

jozi

Col_Loki wrote:

Which Mushkin Ram did you get? Are the timings tighter?

Have you tried lowering the multi just to see what the Ram can do? Also 2.8v should be fine for constant usage so mabye increase it a bit to get the memory up a bit.

Since your multis are at the top, instead of using a wire trick why not up the FSB to overclock more? It would help overall performance more aswell.....

Mushkin basic green, it just till i get some money for geil value ram (someone here has it and recomends it very much with the high fsb he's getting) then its for my brother.

Was going to up the fsb once i got it stable 12.5X200 which it is now.
Was messing for a few mins and either my ram or psu didn't like low multi and high fsb. Had multi 10 and fsb 220, wouldnt even post, 11X220 would post but that all. Something like that anyway, only spend a few mins at it but it was weird how a low multi wouldn't work?
Tomorrow i'll spend somemore time with the fsb.
Thanks

Jozi

jozi

Not sure about the timings by the way, ram is still an area i have to read up on.
Find it all a bit confusing, tight timings and cas this and that?
Jozi

Col_Loki

Jumping to 220mhz isint a good idea TBH. Most Pc3200 Ram will go to mabye 210mhz depending on the timings. You really should try it in 3-5 mhz increments to see what the Ram can do........ you shouldnt expect it to do aswell as the other Ram (it might have had worse timings so hits a higher FSB ) .

Another thing i noticed with my NF7-S is that different multipliers could hit different FSB speeds, ie the 9.5 could hit 245mhz FSB while the 10 could only hit 208mhz......... might be the same in your case , im not too sure about the A7N8X-dlx

You have 2.5ghz which is already a great result from Air cooling. Try upping the FSB in small increments , give your Ram 2.8v (mobo's limit if i remember correctly but its not that much) , put the timings at 2.5-4-4-8 (if there not there already)....... this should help max out your CPU's ability without any wire tricks. Ie 215mhz FSB x 12.5 multi = 2.69ghz , and if your chip isint done by that stage id recomend getting new parts based arround that CPU

[edit] PS ideal timings with that Ram would be 2.5-3-3-11 (end figure meaning nothing performance wise really)...... wheather it would be stable at that or not is another story (at the overclocked FSB).

jozi

Ie 215mhz FSB x 12.5 multi = 2.69ghz , and if your chip isint done by that stage id recomend getting new parts based arround that CPU [/QUOTE]

Like what? Better cooling?

I'm going to run prime now till i get home after work with 200X12.5 to make sure its stable.
After that i'll start trying to up the fsb
Thanks for the replies and advice

Jozi

Col_Loki

I only ment that you will be able to max out your chip with 215mhz FSB thats all. On air 2.7ghz is possible with the mobiles, but its not common and you have a TT cooler not a Thermalright .

Pop up the FSB a little more, bit by bit to see what it can go to . You can probably afford to up the voltage more if you want, for testing etc (ive ran Xp2500+'s @2.1v with no problems) . 2.5ghz stable with the fan turned down to mid way (ie a system you could use all the time) would be a good result. See if it can get to 2.6ghz or whatever for benchmarks or braggin rights mabye?

jozi

prime been running for over 9 hours today, time to see how high the fsb will go then.

Thermalright the good ones then? I didn't have a clue when i bought my heatsink lats year, not that i do now :rolleyes:

Jozi

jozi

I just booted into windows 210X12.5 but....
I was getting errors trying to browse the net, pop-up saying had to close internet explorer.
I think i'm just going to leave it at 200X12.5, it's already more than i expected and seems to be stable.
Much thanks for the advice above.

Jozi

I'll be back for another go (pretty soon to prob)

TacT

I stumbled across that wire trick you are referring to on www.lostciruits.com some time ago but the favourites list it's saved in is on another hd that is sitting on the shelf as backup at present so worth having a dig around there to see if you can't find it again.

This one? http://www.lostcircuits.com/cpu/amd_unlock/3.shtml

jozi

It think it has the same effect alright but the site i seen it on actually inserted thin wires into the socket itself.
I'll see can i find it again if there's anyone interested in trying it?

Jozi

Col_Loki

http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?/html/workshop/pinmod/amd_pinmod.html

Think thats the link . Its for the Pinmod to the socket (U pieced thin wire).

jozi

Yeah thats the one

Jozi