[lordkingod]

So I assembled all my stuff two nights ago and man does it run smooth. Ive started to mess around with the overclocking but I have a few questions I thought you guys would be able to answer.

First off ive used the automatic bios overclocking to boost my athlon x2 3800+ from 2.0ghz to 2.5ghz and it seems to run perfectly. The only manual settings I entered were to reduce the HTT to 800 and the ram to 166. My CPU does get up to an even 50C under full load but usually hovers around the 34-38C mark. Is this two hot? Should I upgrade from the stock amd heatsink & fan right away or can it wait?

Next question has to do with my RAM. I have 2gigs (4x512) of Hynix 3200 DDR400 (?) that came with my gateway. After overclocking I ran CPU-Z and it says my timing is 2.5-3-3-7 which means nothing to me. Ive done a bit of research but could use an explanation on what this means. Also is it really bad that my ram doesnt have a heatsink?.... I plan on upgrading in the future but would like to hold out if I can.

Lastly: Occasionally when I cold boot the computer (after say 5+ hours of being off) it will say Overclocking Failed.. Then prompt me to go to my bios. But if I just wait a minute or so (letting the PC warm up) then restart if boots up no problem in the overclocked state (and then gives me no problems subsequent boots/resets.... until the next time I leave it there for a few hours. What could this mean?

I Appreciate any help you guys can give... Thanks in advance!!!

-P@

[PIGEON1]

Firstly...you don't need a heat sink for ram....its a short term memory cell...sorta a mini hard drive if you will. The 2.5-3-3-7 is telling you how your ram is working....don't worry to much about it.....


Now your processor on the other had.....SHOULD NEVER get up to 50 or even 38, should stay in the very low 30's but best in the 20's....So yes upgrade the heat sink and fan. And the overclock failure is not good....back it down a little your gonna burn it up like a poorly instaled turbo in no time flat...


Hope this helps you out alittle

[darkpuppet]

I wish any of my non-overclocked CPUs were running as low as 40C.. they run a pretty steady mid 40's. While 50C is a bit high, it's not uncommon..especially at full load.

of course, if you're overclocking, you're gonna want to keep your temps as low as possible, but if you're room is room temp, you'll never get your CPU down to the 20's without evaporative cooling.

Typical Surface error free temps max out at 55C... that's the point that most non-overclocked CPUs will experience an increased possibility of issues.

So in this case, you probably want to improve your cooling situation.. aim for low 40's-high 30's .. (unfortunately, the better overclockers right now seem to be intel chips).

the 2.5-3-3-7 is your memory's timings...the first one is typically the CAS Latency timing... the most common one overclockers tweak. See what your memory supports, and drop it as low as it'll go to give it a shot. This will gain a little extra performance with memory intensive apps.

your memory seems to have pretty high latencies set right now.. I'd be aiming for a 2-3-2-6 or better personally.

you don't really need a heatsink on your ram unless you're trying to overclock that too.

As for the overclocking failure after running hot for some time, I'd try running at a slightly lower clock or stock and see if it fails to boot after some time, or if it's just the overclocking.

This could be caused by many things... everything from clock errors from heat, to voltage regulators being overtaxed, to motherboard interconnects detaching when fully cooled....

So best to start with, "does this happen if I don't overclock?" and work from there IMO.. or see what voltage it's putting into the chip... the automatic settings might be too agressive, and you may be able to turn it down which will lower power dissipation as well.

[darkpuppet]

btw.. check out some of the Overclocking guides at Tom's Hardware

or visit Anandtech for good info..

[NOS2Go4Me]

Hmm... a few things need to be considered as you attempt to find the coolest and best way to overclock your PC.

RAM - it's not a bad thing that it doesn't have heatsinks, but it helps in real overclocking scenarios where the RAM overall speed is run beyond the spec it was rated for in the package (DDR-400, 433, 466, etc). As you raise the overall speed of the RAM (potentially, it looks like you lowered your RAM divider and for basic RAM that's a good thing), you might need to slacken some of those timings a tad.
2.5 is the CAS latency. It's the "middle of the road" for DDR RAM - CAS2 stuff is higher-performance RAM, and CAS 3 is bargain-basement / value-segment RAM.

3-3-7 are the numbers for TRAS, TRP and RAS-to-CAS delay. They're your "minor timings" but they play an important role. If you overclock your RAM out of spec, start by incrementing each by 1. If that fails, either lower the RAM speed by the divider (where you said you lowered the RAM to 166) or as a last-ditch (I'd recommend against it, really)... raise your CAS setting to 3.

Hynix RAM, unless it came with a "leet" name (like UltraFastMegaBad DDR400), is middle of the road RAM and I don't see it doing CAS 2. Your mileage may vary, however.

The CPU is a tad warmer than I'd like it, as my dual-core Opteron 170 idles between 31-33C in my basement (warmer than most, tho) and hits 50C at full-rip. When you say full-rip, I'm assuming that's with both cores loaded. If not, you're going to want to replace that heatsink and fan combo (likely the one that came with the processor, has a big AMD sticker on the fan, etc) with an aftermarket one. Zalman, Thermalright and Thermaltake all make great coolers. I'm partial to Thermaltake myself.

As far as automatic overclocking goes, I'm kind of against it. I've always been a hands-on kinda guy when it comes to ramping your CPU up.

One thing that would be interesting is for you to boot into Windows at your current settings, load CPU-Z and tell us what the BIOS has your core voltage running at. The voltage will be right under the processor (likely S939).

Otherwise, keep good ventilation going throughout the case and you're golden. A lot of folks forget that a well-tuned computer includes good case airflow, which lowers ambient temperatures inside the case. Lower temperatures ensure better performance and longer life for your components.

As for the final error message... it could well be a sign that your overclock is not as stable as you think it is. Download a copy of MemTest86+ and run that after burning it to a CD and rebooting... if your RAM clears 2 passes (about 15 minutes per pass) of testing... you can move on to Windows-based testing. Download Prime95, install it TWICE - one install for each core, to separate folders and run the built-in CPU-only benchmark. If you want a hand getting set up for Prime95, PM me or add me to MSN via the addy in my profile.

Good luck.

Adam

[lordkingod]

Sweet thanks for the replies guys... Altough im not using my PC right now, Im manking mental notes of all of this.

NOS2Go4Me I tried both of those tests (last night) and I let MemTest run for like 2.5 hours, one on each core... no probs. And then I got bored of trying to get prime to run so I gave up. Im not really for the automatic overclocking either but I thought I do it for now.

Darkpuppet: The overclocking doesnt fail after running "hot", it fails after the PC being off for hours on end. My brother mentioned something about ASUS being notorious for shoddy welds on the power switch pins on the mobo, he thought that might be the issue (it seems to boot better when I hold the switch for about three sec) Is this what you were reffering to when you mentioned the mobo interconnects cooling?

As for a heat sink and fan I think im going to order this badboy:

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/Sea...87028&CatId=493

Can anybody reccomend something as good/better and within the same price range?

Gotta go the girlfriend is bitching cuz im supposed to be watching Greys Anatomy with her.... fVCK im sick of this show

Thanks for the help though guys!!
Darkpuppet:

[darkpuppet]

I haven't seen any tests on that cooler, but I see 'heat pipe' and I'm all for it.

They're probably the next best thing besides water cooling...

another thing too... check the amount of thermal grease you put on between your heatsink and the CPU... some people tend to put a lot on thinking it's a good thing. BUt if there are globs when you pull it off (and not just a super thin, consistent layer), you have too much... which also lowers cooling efficiency.

[NOS2Go4Me]

Here's what I do, and I've argued this method before ad nauseam on many sites(so use it if you wish) and I've NEVER had any issues in the 6+ years I've been doing it:

Find an old bank debit card or a cancelled credit card that's still in one piece. Failing those, find a slightly flexible, tiny spatula or other straight-edged utensil (knives don't work, even against the back of the blade).

Take your thermal grease (hopefully it's laden with pure, atomized silver) and put a dab on one side of the heatsink's contact patch. By side I mean in the centre of one of the 4 edges, about 1/4" from the edge or more depending on the size of the heatsink vs. the size of the CPU's heatspreader footprint.

Start spreading the grease across the heatsink. You'll immediately notice two things.

1 - there are fine grooves and nicks along the surface of the heatsink's contact area. This is normal. If they're excessive, you will not get the required surface area of the contact patch against the CPU's heatspreader. You'll need to consider sanding the contact area of the heatsink down slightly with a fine and ultra-fine set of sandpaper. Some folks even wet-sand with 800 grit and higher. I haven't tried it, but I'm not convinced it's that much better than dry sanding.

2 - the card / spatula leaves marks in the thermal grease you've spread across the heatsink. That's to be expected as the card can't be flawless. If the grooves are too deep, again... coverage may be an issue and thermal pockets may develop on the surface. It's unlikely that any real damage will result, but I tend to be a stickler for these things. Flip the card to the other long edge and try again if you wish.

As you go, work the thermal grease across the heatsink contact area such that when you're done (after having gone in all 4 directions) the grease is now a completely-covering sheen across the copper contact area. It should be just opaque enough that you can't make out the colour of the heatsink below it. If it's too thick, you'll see it in the raised profile if you were to look across the heatsink. Too thin and you'll be able to see the heatsink's colour coming through the grease.

If that's the case (too thin), dab a little more on the opposite side of where you initially started from and go again. Wipe one side to the other, and then crossways, before going back and forth again.

You'll waste some, but that's alright. When done right, it's a real champ to have on there.

[lordkingod]

PC is running perfect as far as I can tell now. Think the booting problem stems from not holding down the power switch long enough (if that makes any sense) I ordered the following fan and some of the OCZ 5+ Ultra thermal compound.

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cf...cleID=1895

Ill be sure to use your method of applying the compound Nos. Thanks guys.

[NOS2Go4Me]

I love OCZ's Ultra 5+ - I just ordered another tube today with my NCIX rewards points.

Good luck man! Let us know if you need anything else.