Over clocking help please

leoh

Hi this is my first post here,

Basically im want to over clock my AMD phenom II x4 3.2Ghz 955.

my motherboard is xfx 8200 the 125w edition,
4gb (2 x 2gb) kingston 1066 ram
stock cooler on cpu and two three fan blowing air through, but i may upgrade it later.

At the minute I'm just upping the bus in the BIOS from 200mhz to 240 mhz, so currently I'm running at about 3.819 Ghz at about 32 Celsius at idle.

the problem is when i go into the BIOS and use the option "amd overclocking configuration" i can set the multiplier to what ever i want but it is asking for me to set the "NB-FID" which goes values go from (0) to (34) but it can include letters so it could look like "2b" or "8e"

the same for setting the "NB-VID"

I have left these values at (00) but the comp will not boot at all so i guess i need to set them to something,,

also some guides to setting the cpu voltage,,

Any help will be appreciated

Monotype

I think that NB FID is related to the Northbridge frequency while the NB VID refers to the voltage.

The reason for the letters is that it's in hexadecimal - so you count 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A B C D E F 10 11...
The H after each one is just signifying that it's in hex.

You can convert it with the windows calculator if you go to programmer mode.

Now let's see...

Your current (i.e., present) NB FID is '4H' which leads me to assume that it's a multiplier... probably multiplying your CPU's HTT. I think you're allowed to go up to 2000MHz with AM3.
The VID is 24... 24 what I'm not sure - that's 36 in base 10. Maybe 1.36 volts?

I'd say try copying what's there for the default for now. 4 for FID and 24 for VID.

Edit: Download CPU-Z and have a look at HT Link speed.

leoh

so i used
multiplyer (x16 = 3200)
voltage (1.350)
NB-FID (04)
NB-VID (24)

didnt boot

then i tried

multiplyer (x16 = 3200)
voltage (1.350)
NB-FID (04)
NB-VID (36)


didnt boot,,,

???? what did i do wrong ??

Monotype

CPU voltage @ 1.55 is a quite high by the way.

I just realised that you're overclocking with the multiplier rather than the frequency. This should have little effect on the northbridge... maybe the CPU isn't handling that high a multiplier very well. I had assumed that those values were the default values, but maybe they're not since it didn't boot with no overclocking. The FID might also be referring to an actual frequency and not a multiplier.

Can you maybe reset everything to defaults and have a look at what it gives for the current values then?

M00lers

I have more or less the same chip OCd@3.8, not sure how much of an OC you can get with stock cooler though.
Monos suggestion it spot on, reset to default and try uping the frequency, you may need to bump up the volts to get it stable, just watch out for high temps!

Monotype

Found some new info:

Hex to Voltage Conversion Chart:
HEX = Volts HEX = Volts
00 = 1.5500 14 = 1.3000
01 = 1.5375 15 = 1.2875
02 = 1.5250 16 = 1.2750
03 = 1.5125 17 = 1.2625
04 = 1.5000 18 = 1.2500
05 = 1.4875 19 = 1.2375
06 = 1.4750 1A = 1.2250
07 = 1.4625 1B = 1.2125
08 = 1.4500 1C = 1.2000
09 = 1.4375 1D = 1.1875
0A = 1.4250 1E = 1.1750
0B = 1.4125 1F = 1.1625
0C = 1.4000 20 = 1.1500
0D = 1.3875 21 = 1.1375
0E = 1.3750 22 = 1.1250
0F = 1.3625 23 = 1.1125
10 = 1.3500 24 = 1.1000
11 = 1.3375 25 = 1.0875
12 = 1.3250 26 = 1.0750
13 = 1.3125 27 = 1.0625

Hex to CPU-NB Multiplier:
00 = 4
01 = 5
02 = 6
03 = 7
04 = 8
05 = 9
06 = 10
07 = 11
08 = 12
09 = 13
0A = 14
0B = 15
0C = 16
0D = 17

From http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/showthread.php/30637-Anyone-running-a-720-BE-on-an-XFX-750a?p=204025#post204025

I'll take a look at what the voltage is on my AMD board...

It seems that ~1.2V is normal for the NB voltage. So try 1C for VID.
You could try the NB FID at 01. If your frequency is 200MHz, this should give you either 1000MHz or 2000MHz. If you can get into Windows, you can run CPU-Z (from cpuid.com) which will tell you what the frequency is.

leoh

thanks for the new info guy,
i can reset the bios handy enough, just a push button at the back.

il look at the defaults setting after the rest set. im pretty sure its going to be the same tho,, il do that now

M00lers

Might come in handy...might not!!
Stock Voltages:
CPU voltage: 1.35v
CPU-NB voltage:1.175
HTT voltage: 1.2v
SB voltage: 1.26v
NB voltage: 1.1v
CPU VDD: 2.5v

leoh

i tired just now

PFM (16x 3200)
NB FID (oc)
NB VID (10)


no boot...

M00lers

How many volts are you giving the CPU?

leoh

oh sorry,,
i left the cpu voltage at (1.350)
i left it at this as thats the voltage it is running at now after the reset..

M00lers

Just spotted that you have CPU voltage control on auto. Turn it to manual and try again at approx 1.40v.

leoh

just tried that moolers2000,,, no boot,,,
damn!!!

M00lers

Your BIOS it pretty different to my own, so I'm not sure what to advise. Did it ever boot at 3.8?

M00lers

From memory I had to up the CPU volts to approx 1.43-1.44 to get it stable, maybe you could raise the volts another little bit! Be careful the extra 0.6 is not worth frying your CPU for.

leoh

yeah by just upping the bus it worked fine at 3.8
i did have at 4ghz but i was quite unstable and the temps were getting from 40's to 50's with not much of a load,,,

maybe i should just leave the multiplier alone and just go back to upping the bus,, then maybe up the voltage a little to make it more stable,,??

M00lers

I'll have a look at my own settings when I get home. I could get to 4.0 myself but 1 of the cores didn't like that clock so went back to 3.8ish.

leoh

i am running a stability test on the cpu at 3.9ghz,,, at full load the temps are 57-59,,
would this be too high??? should i keep the fans on full to fight the heat..

basicially would this temp fry the cpu over a long time??

M00lers

Seems a bit too high, what program are you using to test?

leoh

im using the Everest stability test running , it has temp readings but i also have cpuid hw monitor,, gives lots of readings,, all very close to everest,,, but it seems to be droppping down to 55-56 now. i think thats caus the cpu fan is flat out now at like 4560 rpm..

M00lers

Thats about the highest temps that chip can handle without degradation. How many volts for that OC?

Must be noisy as hell:eek:, would you consider a new cooler?

leoh

hah yeah its louder than the kettle,,,
yeah i might,, don't think i want to head down the water cooler road tho,,,
is there good fan cooler available,,, are they expensive...???


oh yeah it was running at 1.404 volts on the core

M00lers

Nice volts, but those temps need to be tamed, 20-30euro should get you a decent cooler. I wouldn't bother with that level of overclock without a decent cooler TBH!

leoh

sorry was wrong again, 1.44 volts.. yeah il have a look on ebay, can you advise any coolers.. like arctic cooler freezer or something,,, or do those big flashy lookin cooler just look good??

M00lers

Can't recommend any of the top of my head, I currently use a Noctua cooler and I have an older Akasa freedom tower sitting in a box..
Anything should be better than the stock cooler though. Don't forget some thermal paste.

What case do you have and what/how many case fans have you installed?