Help me do my overclock (please bear with me)
 

I've read the info's & faqs on the board, but I couldn't get it completely linked to my mainboard - cpu - ram.

My System:
Athlon 2000+
256 MB Apacer PC-2700
MSI KT3 Ultra
GF4 Ti4200 64 MB

For the moment I didn't really dare push my GF4 Ti4200 to the limit, because I don't know how to find out where exactly is it's limit, so I bumped it up to 275/550 (stock 250/500).

Now the tricky part: BIOS settings

this is what MSI offers me (between brackets I'll put what it is now)

DRAM TIMING CONTROL
------------------------------

configure timing by: SPD/USER (SPD) (1)
SDRAM Frequency: SPD/FSB/FSB+33 MHz (FSB + 33)
SDRAM CAS#: 2,2.5,3 (auto because of (1) --> 2.5)
Row Precharge Time: 2T, 3T (auto because of (1))
RAS Pulse Width: 6T, 5T (auto because of (1))
RAS to CAS delay: 3T, 2T (auto because of (1))
Bank Interleave: Disabled, 2way, 4way (auto because of (1))
SDRAM Burst Length: 4QW, 8QW (8QW)
SDRAM 1T Command: Disabled, enabled (disabled)
Fast Command: normal, fast, ultra (ultra)

FREQUENCY/VOLTAGE CONTROL
----------------------------------------

Spread Spectrum: Disabled, ... (±0.25%)
CPU FSB Clock: 100-220 MHz (135 MHz)
CPU Ratio: .... (Auto)
CPU Voltage: .... (Auto)
DDR Voltage: ... (Auto)
AGP Voltage: ... (Auto)

Some last notes:
a) my CPU is not unlocked
b) I have not much experience with this kinda thing, so please bear with me.
c) I have an Arctic Super Silent 2500 Cooler (yeah, lots of you think it sucks, but there's a big 80 MM blowhole right behind it) and 4 case fans (2 suckers in front, 1 blower in the back, 1 blower on top) and a 400 W PSU with one blower. Temps in windows range from 43°C (absolute lowest) to about 49° - 50° C for CPU, case temps are at around 32°-35° C.

Please help me make this a good overclock (first without unlocking). Thanks for you help!

You can find the optimal memory settings in the FAQ/INFO section. It's a very good guide written by Pilsy@icrontic, so read it. It will take only 5 minutes and solve your problem. :)

Resp. setting @ freq/volt ctrl:

- disabled
- 133FSB (standard), rise this untill you experience lockups
- auto (since you haven't unlocked your cpu)
- MAX 1.8vCore since you have sucky cooling. I suggest you keep it at 1.75vCore (auto)
- auto, try increasing it if you experience lockups at higher FSB
- auto

43° Idle, 50° Stressed, is it that bad? If I were to install a volcano 7+ would that be good? According to www.dansdata.com, this would be a very good solution, not to noisy on "medium" setting, however, I would like to know what 'not to noisy' means. (I don't like the fact of drilling holes in my mobo -PAL- and I don't want a tornado sound coming out of it - It's hard to sleep next to my pc allready)

EDIT:

also I can't find anything in the guide about:
- Row Precharge
- RAS Pulse Width
- RAS to CAS Delay
- SDRAM Burst Length

the other way I around, I don't know where to find "drive strength" in my bios.

What test do you like as CPU Burn in test?

UPDATE: I checked the CPU temp when doing a 10-loop Sisoft Sandra test (with MBM) it amounted to 51°.

Does this have a grave impact on overclockability/temp? After all, it's merely some ram.

Also this is the 'not to noisy' Volcano 7+ (35dBa @ 4800 RPM)

Temps say absolutely nothing, stable overclocks do.

A v7+ cools well, but the fan is LOUD and you can't change it because of the unusual size (70mm).

Here's a guide helping you to decide which fan&HS to buy.

Most aggressive: 2T - 5T - 2T, 4Q

CpuBurn. :)
See the FAQ/INFO section for a donwloadlink.

Yes. Increasing FSB will not only increase the frequency at which your ram works, but also the PCI slots, AGP transfer speed, ...

I meant wether upping the DDR voltage will make a noticable difference in

a) temperature

b) FSB overclockability

I thought it wouldn't? ???

about the guide:

OC: Volcano 7(*) + papst NG (37dBa)

first, on the Papst.de site they say it's "only" 32 dBa
secondly: which is better a Volcano 7 with this fan, or a volcano 7+ with it's proprietary 70 mm fan? Does anybody have benches about this
thirdl & lastly: My current rig has 4x 29 dBa Casefans (AddA) and 1 Arctic Super silent 2500 (25 dBa) will it be much louder when changing this to Volcano 7(+)?

My MSI manual says that 8QW should be faster?

Thanks for noticing the error, I meant the papst NH (37dB), not the NG.

You'll hear the difference between a ss2500 and a v7+ pretty well.


8Q is pr0lly faster. I didn't mention it cause I didn't knew your mb supports it.

Damn, I would like to test it before I buy it, because too noisy, is too noisy :(

no such thing as a free lunch...

Quitest air heatsink&fan combo useful for OC: alpha 8045 + papst NH.

It will cost much though.

Could you give me a price guess, plus how it compares in raw power (so not in noise) to a Volcano 7 (+), Dan's Data says it still performs exceptionally well on medium speed and the noise is "only" 35 dBa then.

Twice as expensive.

Thermaltake sound ratings are to be ignored, they sound A LOT louder than officially stated.

A papst NG 37dBa sounds much quieter than a Tt 31dBa fan... i know it sounds crazy but it is...

as in €70 ??? That's a tremendous amount of money for AIR cooling...

yes, but an Alpha PAL 8045 is the best heatsink around, well, some swiftech is equally good, but it's even more expensive.

so an Alpha PAL 8045 + papst is performant AND silent

37 dBa isn't really silent, it's merely just bearable.

Now, I've heard you have to mount this Alpha with screws and such, doesn't this damage te mobo? Also, would this heatsink fit on my MSI KT3 Ultra?

What is the price of the alpha PAL (point me to a site where they sell it please)? If it's possible to use the 2500 RPM fan of the arctic cooling for I while, I might spread my expenses a little... Would I gain a lot allready when using this 2500 RPM, 24 dB, 30,8 CFM fan on the alpha?

Also I've heard pretty wild stories about the "fantastic" silverado noisecontrol. Are they (still) true?

EDIT: found the alpha @ modder.be for 48.85EUR, is this a good price, or is there cheaper to be found in Belgium?

EDIT 2: also the have this Thermalright AX7 Full Copper 37.27EUR .

I thought you mentioned it?

yup, it should be mountable, see if there are 4 holes around your socket.
-> i checked msi site, there are 4 holes :)

well, loveno sells them, but loveno is expensive...
try comtechnology.net, tones.be, ...


Silverado is cool, but for €75? no way. Alpha+papst is fine then
btw... loveno sells papst fans, you can go there for the specs

bonbon is selling his silverado nc in the madbargains
maybe ask himp for a deal

i have changed my mind ,
instead of making a fanduct on a normal cooler, i'm gonna move on to watercooling this summer , that means i need the silverado at least another month... (i have no cpucooler spare)

or you guys should let me 'win' the volcano of the contest ;)

So could you answer these two questions:

a) buying this thermalright AX7, is a good idea (?)

b) using my existing fan for a (relatively) short while on the Alpha/Thermalright is a good idea (?) It should be an improvement anyway, if the are such good heatsinks.

yes, but an alpha is better :)
we will all point at you and laugh

what fan is it? beter buy an new one fans get aged very fast :grum:

an alpha costs more than €10 more

the fan is now a 2500 RPM model as described above (30.8 CFM)

Is that a good cooler? It's low priced! Would be very nice!

yep, laying next to me, and 2nd price ;)
performs very well, needs to be lapped though
1 warning: that fan is LOUD :D

Damn damn damn, is the Thermaltake Volcano 6 better? having a 4900 RPM fan?

This is in Dutch, sorry :D
 

Ik heb hier wat gespeeld met memory timings en alles, en kortweg: mijn OC SUCKT.

Conclusies:

- op mijn ram hangt er "Apacer PC2700 CL2" als ik CL2 aanleg in bios: wil niet booten. CL2.5 wel.

- Met voltages op standaard gelaten kan ik welgeteld mijn FSB 3 MHz opkrikken zonder dat de burn-in wizard van SiSoft Sandra 2002 crasht.

- Memory FSB lijkt niet de beperkende factor, want als ik van clocksnelheid + 33 MHz, naar "clocksnelheid" ga voor mijn memory, dan crasht hij nog steeds, ook als ik het memory voltage op maximum zet (2.8 V)

Ik moet hierbij zeggen dat ik wel op safe gespeeld heb: CPU geen hoger voltage gegeven (ik heb geen OC koeling ik mijn CPU) en ook niet geünlockt. Wat niet wegneemt dat ik toch wel teleurgesteld ben van het resultaat. :(

Current settings

Very feeble overclock isn't it? What I really don't get is why my RAMS don't want to do CL2...