Can't breach the 212 Mhz FSB barrier on A8V Deluxe

Heres the Rig:

Fans:
3x Thermaltake Smart Fans(Opposite side of heatsink, front and back of case)
2x offbrand light up fans(for the window)
1x Scythe high speed fan for the heatsink
1x Scythe FCS-50

RAM:
512(2x256) OCZ EL DDR 3200 Dual Channel RAM(Voltage @ 2.8)

Video:
Video/PCI are locked @ 75/xx
64MB 8500LE(soon to be replaced
Netgear Wireless card

Mobo:
A8V Deluxe BIOS:1.009

Processor:
Athlon 64 3K+ S939 5.0 Volt, FSB 212Mhz, Multx9

IDE Devices
1x 200 GB 7200 RPM Western Digital HDD
1x Plextor 12x DVD-ROM

Now, heres what I think is the weak point.

PowerSupply:

Powertek 500 Watt power supply

12 V is hooked up, as is standard ATX Power.

The system is currently only @ 30 odd degrees, but every time I try and get to 220, or 215 or anything, It doesn't go. I increased voltage to 5.5, but I'm not sure how much farther I can go with it.

Any suggestions?

its most likely the board.
look at my specs in sig and i couldnt overclock very well at all.
Even 240 wasnt very stable so most of the time i have to run 220x13 at 1.75.
im giving my a8v to a friend to build a system around that he wont overclock much, and getting an epox 9nda3+ for myself.

"WELCOME TO THE FORUMS"

Its a BIOS problem. Did you guys try the 1009.005 beta?
Ther seems to be no quick fix for this.You may have to wait for the official 1009 release. Disappointing for the Winchester users to say the least.

I just picked up the mobo lastnight...wont even run at 220fsb...I think I picked a ****ty board =(

What would the best oc'ing board be for a 3500?

What HTT multi are you guys using? Hopefully not 5X like i think you are. Try using either 3 or 4

is it a revision 1.02 or 2.0 board? if its revision 1.02 it wont go past 220 no matter what. What are the power readings in the bios like? I tested my power supply with a multimeter, and my bios readings were right on, but the readings in windows were way off.

I think ASUS stopped making the Rev 1.02. If the board is non-wi fi its a rev 2.00.
ASUS are having big problems with their BIOS supporting Winchester cores. This is the 8th person in 2 weeks having the same problem.

I'd say the MSI-Neo seems to be a better option ATM if you are financially constrained.

If you are going to get a different MoBo, I'd strongly advise you to wait for a couple of weeks (or the RMA window) to see how the latest A8N SLI performs. If ppl don't report too many problems go for it! Its a bit pricy ATM and I'm guessing the price will stabilize at the $230 mark.

Hope this helps.

Super Nade said:

I think ASUS stopped making the Rev 1.02. If the board is non-wi fi its a rev 2.00.
ASUS are having big problems with their BIOS supporting Winchester cores. This is the 8th person in 2 weeks having the same problem.

I'd say the MSI-Neo seems to be a better option ATM if you are financially constrained.



Hope this helps.

Click to expand...

Agree...I am looking at the NEO now. Only 120ish or something. Seems like a tight board, and a sweet price to boot.

I'd say buy it from somebody who actually tests the board before its sold. I would recommend KC Computers. They are a bit pricy but the service is excellent. You absolutely don't have to haggle for RMA's. After looking at the slew of problems with the MoBo, I'm happy that I got it from KC (cost me an extra $45 compared to Newegg) The owner's name is Kevin Chalker:-
http://www.resellerratings.com/seller1595.html

Hi guys...

I also have a A8V R2 Bios 1.07 & Winny 3200+ , ive tried getting over 215fsb and its also a no go for me as well regardless of what HT i run 5x 4x etc + mem timings @ auto etc etc.

If ive read this right theres no fix or way around it at the moment?

Part of me isnt that bothered because most of the time i'm playing games and its plenty fast enough compared to my old Pally 1800+ system, but its bloody annoying when one wants to OC and get some nice numbers.

Is there any word on the grapevine that this particular problem with the Winchester chips will be fixed in the final version of 1.09? or is it a matter of wait and see?

Thanks in advance

Ok! Got it!

Now I'm running @ 260 FSB 1.575V, 5xHTT Mult, and 2.5 CL 1.8v. Rock stable. I mean, ROCK stable.

I think how I got it is this: I dropped my CL by .5 When I push it back to 2.0(which is what I think its rated at) it won't go past 210.

I can run it @ 270, but I worry about restarting, and I changed my HTT multiplier down, but it still doesn't give me any more stability. I'm gonna try 3.0 CL and see if I can push it up higher later tonight.

If the CL thing doesnt work, I also disabled this thing called t2, I have no clue what it does, its in the memory settings page, I was just flipping switches. I'm leaving it off because of the fact that it runs fine with it off .

Anyways, thanks for your help!

Elif Tymes said:

Ok! Got it!

I think how I got it is this: I dropped my CL by .5 When I push it back to 2.0(which is what I think its rated at) it won't go past 210.

Click to expand...

Thats one thing i didnt try, i left mine on Auto, this Ballistix defaults to 2-3-3-8 @ 200 so im wondering....

+ Its rated @ 2.5-4-4-10 @ 250, oh well i'll give it a try @ 2.5 and see what happens but i think this memory should handle 215-220...2-2-2-10 without any probs

Thats what I thought too, I had OCz... But that appears to be whats stopping me.

Please try the memory settings in here first.
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=332591

I assumed you guys did loosen the memory timings and the problem still didn't go away.
Elif and Spirit please read the above thread to really understand what's going on with your system and how to Overclock.

I have been seeing similar problems this past week which have not been solved by changing the CAS Latency or disabling 2T. Please watch the thread above for a detailed troubleshooting update.

I'm troubleshooting my exam for tomorrow so bear with me

Btw
WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I read your thread, in its entirety before I even started....

And I tried all sorts of different things off of it, I really doubt the T2 has anything to do with why my system wouldn't OC. I admit that freely.

However, I'm terribly superstitious....

Remember, I am not a Über overclocker pwner man, I am a geek who thinks he knows stuff about computers, and likes to pretend he is Über. I mean, I even use the two dots above the U, how geeky is that?

Anyways, my point is, that although the CAS latencys may not be the "Underlying cause" of all of our woes(I think my lack of girlfriend is that) it is what fixxed it for me.

I don't know why(Specifically) it fixxed it for me, and I find it absurd that my system can't handle even a 214@CL of 2. However, I'm not complaining, I can hit very nearly 3800+ speeds, or an improvement of 400 dollars. Heck, I can get higher than yours can with an actual boot, [email protected]. Course its not "Stable" but its Windows :-D.

So, instead of decrying me as "having no clue whats going on with my system" and saying that I don't know how to overclock(Which, I assure you, I do. I just did, and it worked) take the post for what its meant for, how I got around my propblems, and as a possible way to fix others. Its not a be all end all, because nothing truly is.

Be cool.

Well blow me, switching to 2.5-2-2-10 1T instead of 2-2-2-10 1T boots straight into windows from 215 & above...thanks guyz.

Still alittle to why my Ballistix wont do cas 2 @ a min of 215, but i'll take that as a bios problem.

Things ive noticed like many others, ive set the Voltage to 1.5v but in windows it still reads anything from 1.450 to 1.475 up and down up and down (making me seasick/landsick...lol)

Elif Tymes said:

I read your thread, in its entirety before I even started....

And I tried all sorts of different things off of it, I really doubt the T2 has anything to do with why my system wouldn't OC. I admit that freely.

However, I'm terribly superstitious....

Remember, I am not a Über overclocker pwner man, I am a geek who thinks he knows stuff about computers, and likes to pretend he is Über. I mean, I even use the two dots above the U, how geeky is that?

Anyways, my point is, that although the CAS latencys may not be the "Underlying cause" of all of our woes(I think my lack of girlfriend is that) it is what fixxed it for me.

I don't know why(Specifically) it fixxed it for me, and I find it absurd that my system can't handle even a 214@CL of 2. However, I'm not complaining, I can hit very nearly 3800+ speeds, or an improvement of 400 dollars. Heck, I can get higher than yours can with an actual boot, [email protected]. Course its not "Stable" but its Windows :-D.

So, instead of decrying me as "having no clue whats going on with my system" and saying that I don't know how to overclock(Which, I assure you, I do. I just did, and it worked) take the post for what its meant for, how I got around my propblems, and as a possible way to fix others. Its not a be all end all, because nothing truly is.

Be cool.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry if I came across as Mr.Know it all. That truly wasn't my intention. There is some useful stuff in my sticky not talked about in many other forums. The sticky being kind of long, I naturally assumed that people would dive into the memory timing's part skipping the other sections. Hence the reminder. I fully understand that being a new member doesn't necessarily translate to being a N00b. Again, I didnt mean to offend you or anybody else.

Now, your "fix", runs contrary to what we would expect. A64's love tight latencies and timings. A64's really shine when running in sync with the RAM (or the other way around RAM in sync with the CPU). Nobody has actually studied what you have described i.e lowering CAS=better performance (?!).
In many other cases I have seen this was not the solution to similar problems/symptoms. Hence, although I'm glad this worked for you I cannot endorse it as a sure shot fix for all ills. Also, if you read the sticky, 2T actually translates to a more relaxed timing parameter and your results run contrary to this perception as well.

I am in no way disputing your results.

Instead, I will use your results (and hope that this works for others as well) as part of a data collection drive for a possible new issue. You may be onto something here and more data will make things clear.

PS* What is your "Stable" frequency?

Spirit1969 said:

Well blow me, switching to 2.5-2-2-10 1T instead of 2-2-2-10 1T boots straight into windows from 215 & above...thanks guyz.

Still alittle to why my Ballistix wont do cas 2 @ a min of 215, but i'll take that as a bios problem.

Things ive noticed like many others, ive set the Voltage to 1.5v but in windows it still reads anything from 1.450 to 1.475 up and down up and down (making me seasick/landsick...lol)

Click to expand...

Unfortunately, you are not alone with fluctuating VCore. Mine fluctuates too. I naively blamed the PSU for the problems, but it seems to be the board. Attaching heatsink's to the MOSFETS didn't really help (I couldn't sink all of the MOSFETS). Do both Ballistix sticks have the same SPD (default settings)? Could you try changing the CAS to AUTO and reading it off on CPUz?

Good Luck!

Ya ive tried it on Auto but its a no go as Auto (spd) on these 2 sticks of DDR500 @ 200mhz is 2-3-3-8. I can boot into windows with timings of 2-2-2-5 upto 210 but like Elif Tymes it trashes out any higher than 215 which leads me to think its a fault with all A8V's using Winchesters at the mo regardless of what bios is being used (1.07 here).

At least i can have a crack @ OCing now

I don't have OCZ ram but instead Corsair. My ram is rated for 2-3-3-6 and the RamGuy specifically told me to set it to 2.5-3-3-6 for AMD systems. Not sure why but I would assume this would be the same for all memory types.