Overclocking Opteron 146

RE*AC*TOR

I have a new system - with an Asus-A8N-E and an opteron 146.
A limiting factor is that I have some fairly bog standard RAM.

I just put it together last night so haven't had much time.

The 146 at stock is 200x10.

I raised it to 230x10. It seems happy enough at that. Would I be right in saying then that I've also raised the memory frequency to 230mhz?

That would indicate to me that i probably won't get anymore down that avenue due to my RAM.

So I was thinking I could raise the multplier by 1 or 2 to see what effect that has.

At the moment I'm running it all on default voltage. I picked up one of these cpu coolers yesterday http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cooling/Akasa_Evo/index.htm

(seemed about the best they had in PC world).

any suggestions greatly appreciated, however, bear in mind I won't be spending any money on this PC for a while.

gline

u cant raise the multiplier on opterons only lower it

yes your ram will be overclocked aswell unless u lowered the speed setting of it in your bios to maybe 333 or 266 mhz

what ram is it?

RE*AC*TOR

as far as i can remember it PMI PC3200 Cl2.5.

so what you'r esaying is to use a divider - ie run the ram at 166/200? then increase the cpu clock more?

gline

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

as far as i can remember it PMI PC3200 Cl2.5.

so what you'r esaying is to use a divider - ie run the ram at 166/200? then increase the cpu clock more?

yes run a divider thats how i have my opty 146 rig @ 2.85ghz

RE*AC*TOR

thanks for the advice - but let me get this straight....

at the moment i've increased the FSB to 230MHz - and therefore my ram is running at that speed.

if I intorduce a divider of for example 166/200 and leave the FSB at 230

my ram will be running at 230/200*166 = 190mhz?

is this correct. Therefore I could increase the FSB more etc etc and the CPU will clock higher.

Basically i'll be running the RAM out of sync with the FSB? Am I actually going to see any performance increase therefore?

gline

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

thanks for the advice - but let me get this straight....

at the moment i've increased the FSB to 230MHz - and therefore my ram is running at that speed.

if I intorduce a divider of for example 166/200 and leave the FSB at 230

my ram will be running at 230/200*166 = 190mhz?

is this correct. Therefore I could increase the FSB more etc etc and the CPU will clock higher.

Basically i'll be running the RAM out of sync with the FSB? Am I actually going to see any performance increase therefore?

yeh u got it mate

yes you will see a preformance increase, definitly
as you should get that cpu to possibly 2.8ghz with ram running near 400mhz

RE*AC*TOR

So one last thing - basically if i got faster ram (PC4200) - i wouldn't have to bother with a divider?
I could increase the FSB until I got up to 550Mhz?

ie 275*10 = 2750Mhz

Praetorian

It's a great processor, have my own at over 2.7 ghz and I haven't even upped the voltage. You should get at least 2.6 out of it, even with crap ram. Drop the ram speed, then up the bus from 200 upto 260-270 if you leave the multi at 10, watch out for the htt speed, shouldn't go a whole lot over 1100 / 1200. I hope i have my terminology right

gline

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

So one last thing - basically if i got faster ram (PC4200) - i wouldn't have to bother with a divider?
I could increase the FSB until I got up to 550Mhz?

ie 275*10 = 2750Mhz

yeh faster ram is the best option 4400 id recommend so that you know the ram wont be holding you back

RE*AC*TOR

thanks for all the clarification.

no plans to buy new ram for the moment (budget) - but will bear in mind for the future.

I'll let you know how I get on with the divider later.

gline

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

thanks for all the clarification.

no plans to buy new ram for the moment (budget) - but will bear in mind for the future.

I'll let you know how I get on with the divider later.

yeh let us know, good luck

RE*AC*TOR

I'm gonna bench with 3dmark06.

First gonna put everything back to stock.

Then gonna put it back to 230*10 w/no divider.

Then I'll try seeing what I get using maybe 166/200 + 280*10

Then I'll start thinking about OCing my x1800xt

conzy

Seen as you know your ram can do 230mhz, try an keep it as close to that speed as possible, which will give it better performance.

So lets say your 146 will do 2.8ghz, and you know your ram will do 230mhz.

Then you can run a 280mhz FSB, a 166/200mhz divider and leave your multiplier at 10.

This will make your ram run at 230mhz (DDR460) which will give you more performance from your current setup;)

RE*AC*TOR

Stock

3DMark Score 3782 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 1804
HDR/SM3.0 Score 1806
CPU Score 789


230*10

3DMark Score 3949 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 1817
HDR/SM3.0 Score 1823
CPU Score 903


275*10, 166/200, 1.425vcore, HTTx3

3DMark Score 4142 3DMarks
SM2.0 Score 1829
HDR/SM3.0 Score 1834
CPU Score 1076

conzy

2.75ghz;)

Nice jump in Score, Cpu score jumped 25%.

You are at just about stock voltage, so if you raised vcore to 1.55 you could probably get 3ghz

RE*AC*TOR

CPU score jumped 36% i think.

1076-789=287
287/789*100% = 36%

Anyway - gonna do an overclock of the x1800xt now - just using ATis overdrive.
Should move me from 625/750 to 690/800. I know its not huge, but the card does run quite hot anyway.

conzy

Oh right:o

I done it in my head, you cheated:D

Nice overclock;)

Irishpimpdude

I was just reading this thread and had mine at 220... so i just decided to overclock it a good bit... im now at 2.70 lol gonna leave it for a while make sure its stable...

savemejebus

Irishpimpdude wrote:

I was just reading this thread and had mine at 220... so i just decided to overclock it a good bit... im now at 2.70 lol gonna leave it for a while make sure its stable...

make sure to run occt (30 mins to 1 hour) or prime 95 for a good few hours to ensure that you're stable, otherwise you could be doing some important work and suddenly :eek: :eek: :eek:

Irishpimpdude

Yeah im gonna now... its the first time i overclocked with this board... my dfi died :mad:

riptide

RE*AC*TOR wrote:

CPU score jumped 36% i think.

1076-789=287
287/789*100% = 36%

Anyway - gonna do an overclock of the x1800xt now - just using ATis overdrive.
Should move me from 625/750 to 690/800. I know its not huge, but the card does run quite hot anyway.

hey... get the Omega drivers reactor for the gfx... you'll get an extra lift from them!

BadCharlie

Irishpimpdude wrote:

Yeah im gonna now... its the first time i overclocked with this board... my dfi died :mad:

What do you make of your abit board ? Any problems ?

Irishpimpdude

Na its actually a good board not one single problem... im waiting on an RMA from komplett so ill be getting a dfi lanparty ultra-d board back soon if anyone wants dibs