The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Lucky! I bump my northbridge frequency, and things start acting up...
When I get my new board, I can devote a lot more attention to this one, and hopefully find out EXACTLY what it's issue is. Maybe anyway...

 

Maybe it is, I don't know the first thing about black holes (of any kind). Looks I'll just need to restore the OC lol. Thanks guys.

 

Well I tried to restore the OC that's in my sig (3.2ghz) and was met with near immediate failure. About 4 BSOD's in in less then 20 minutes lol. The only thing that has changed in my system since it was last OC'd and stable is the addition of hdd's & RAM which as far as I know shouldn't have any effect on anything relevant (for a minor OC like this). Any ideas on why it's no longer stable at a previous stable OC (I ran 3.2Ghz on this rig for at least a year with no problems)?

I did notice a little peculiar, although I don't know if it's related or not. According to everest my 3 2GB sticks of ram run on 2.1v while the sole 1GB stick is listed as 2.2v. The memory voltage is manually set in the bios to 2.1v so is it possible that the 1GB module is causing problems when I push them to higher speeds?

TIA

 

Red_Maw,
You are using 4 sticks of memory, and that can be a big problem when overclocking. I've done it in the past by overclocking with two sticks and then adding the other two when everything was set, but I don't ever recommend 4 sticks for overclocking. Installing a different size stick into the mix doesn't help a lot either. Ideally, the 4 sticks should all be the same model, size, manufacturer, timings, and speed. Mixing different modules, is generally not a good idea!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Haha I was afraid some one would say that. The sticks are exactly the same with the exception of one of them being 1GB instead of 2GB so at least they aren't mix & matched. I might as well take some out and see if it helps although I'll probably just end up putting them back in even if it does lol. Thanks Russ.

Edit: And in doing so it killed the second lan port on my MB lol.

 

Red_Maw,
I don't think mixing a 1GB module with a 2GB module helps either. Keep in mind that if one memory stick has higher speed timings, all the memory will run at those slower timings. The same thing goes for speed. Add a slower stick, and it will all slow to that speed.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Oh wow, 3 2Gb sticks with one 1GB stick? I'm amazed you got a mhz beyond stock... That needs rectifying!

 

I wonder what that does to Dual Channel operation, as well?

 

Haha you guy's are completely right. Took out the 1 1GB module and it ran perfect at 3.0Ghz all day yesterday. For the record every stick was the same make and model PC2 8500 ram (with the exception of the size of course). Thanks for the advice.

While the the good ambient temps hold (still under 20C at idle @ 3.2Ghz) I'm going to see if I can finally break 4Ghz.

Edit: All most forgot, as far as actual dual channel operation goes I wouldn't know how to test for that but every program I checked (everest & cpuz iirc) reported dual channel operation. If anything I would think that the 2GB stick paired with the 1GB stick would only be half utilized.

 

4Ghz with three sticks of RAM is still likely to be tricky. I'd recommend you only use 2 sticks if you want to get a good overclock.

 

Not only that but 2 sticks will use dual channel then. So not only will it OC higher, it will be faster per clock. That would give you more benefit than an extra 2GB of RAM I think.

 

wish we got mushkin here

 

I agree with what Sam said! Each pair of memory sockets is one channel, so populating 3 of the sockets leaves you with the one with the single stick, running in single channel, while the first pair is running Dual channel. It should run and overclock better with just 1 pair of modules installed in either channel. That could be sockets 1-3, 2-4 or 1-2, 3-4, depending on the motherboard. For instance, mine is 1-2, 3-4. I'm currently using sockets 3 & 4, because of the height of the Dominators, as they won't clear the CPU fan if installed in sockets 1 & 2! The data transfer bit rate for the single stick is half that of the pair in dual channel, I believe the dual channel is 128 bit, while the single channel is only 64 bit. That's why it should overclock better and easier if you remove the odd stick.

If you run CPUz on it it should show the pair as dual channel and the single stick as single channel. Just select SPD from the menu, and select each stick from the upper left where it says Slot#.

Russ

 

Can't get it stable at 3.2Ghz with all three sticks so one does have to go. I never realized that by using an odd number of ram modules it wouldn't run as dual channel; good to know thanks.

Russ, I don't see what you're talking about with CPU-Z. Here's what I get:

 

I didn't think CPUZ Showed dual channel mode as being enabled or not, but it's easy to tell - if you have an odd number of memory sticks, you aren't in dual channel!

 

Mine says dual channel, but I'm running 4 modules. Perhaps it's simply identifying the module as Dual channel...

Oh, you meant an ODD number of modules. Sorry

 

Red_Maw,
It's there, only on the memory tab. What's puzzling is that it shows Dual Channel for yours, with only 3 sticks of memory. Look in the top right part of the top left pic you posted!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Isn't it possible, that it's merely noting that the module is capable of dual channel?

 

Oman7,
No! Because it not only shows that it's running in dual channel, it also shows the mode it's running in as Symmetric. Mine shows Dual Channel, and runs in Ganged mode.

Russ

 

Well then, I stand corrected