Done with overclocking..?

[roy]

Specs: Barton 2500 overclocked to about 2190mhz (11x200) on the Asus A7N8X Deluxe with the Zalman heatsink on the northbridge and a TT Blue orb fan over that. <BR><BR>My system has been stable for the most part. I would never get crashes or restarts. The only problem I had was that sometimes when I restarted the computer it would lock up before POST and I'd have to shut it off and turn it back on to boot. I never lost any settings though. The real problems started to come when I took my computer over to my friend's house for a LAN. I plugged myself in and a couple seconds after Windows loaded the computer just turned off. That gave me quite a fright so we tried a different outlet in his house and the same thing happened. This was odd because this had never happened before at my house and the only two differences was that I had turned up all 6 of my Smart Fan 2's to full speed, and it was a different house meaning a different power source. For some reason I thought that my Enermax 350W was crapping out on me so I lowered the RPMs on the fans a little bit and turned the FSB down by 5. It stayed on for a couple seconds longer this time. I started up again and went down another 5 mhz and it stayed on for a game of BF1942 and some Postal2 but then randomly turned off while we were exchanging files.<BR><BR>Later that night, this whole ordeal pissed me off and I was wanting stability so I downloaded Prime95 and ran it. The system turned off in 3 seconds. I set everything to stock speeds and now I have no problems. My question is: could the PSU be the source of this problem? I know 350W is a little low compared to what's out there but I didn't think I'd need like 500W when I was shopping for one.

[BAM!]

it does sound very strange. honestly i don't know exactly what the problem is. i might get a new more powerful PSU if i were you. those smart fans altogether do consumes a lot of power. not to mention you got the ti4400 going on there. also try turn down your Dram voltage down to default. i've come to realized that my Corsair doesn't like high voltage too much. besides that.. i don't know what to tell ya. or it might just have been that there isn't enough vdd voltage. i've heard it before that the A7N8X will likely run into vdd voltage shortage at some point over a certain FSB. not exactly sure tho. so give those things a try. and if not.. i would try using a different multi and fsb combination. for testing. try increase your multiplyer and decrease your FSB to at least below 180 to get the same OC speed you had before and run a series of tests.. see if it's the voltage shortage problem of the Northbridge. hope this helps <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[roy]

I think I found the problem. After my computer shut down whilst running Prime95 @ 2ghz (12x166) I got confused and went to the hardware monitor. My temperature was in the middle 60's Celcius. I panicked and shut down the computer. I thought the SLK800 wasn't properly seated. I reseated it and ran it again and the temps were fine. I am currently testing for errors in Prime95 at the same speed mentioned about with a Vcore of 1.75. Wish me luck...

[Colin]

roy from my experience the Barton's usually handle high temps well... Do you know what brand your PSU is and how are the voltages under load?

[roy]

Colin, it's an Enermax 350W. Here are the voltage readings as shown through Asus PC Probe:<BR><BR>12V = 12.544<BR>5V = 4.892<BR>3.3V = 3.424<BR>Vcore = 1.904<BR><BR>Update: I started overclocking again really slowly, each time testing with Prime95. I am currently at 11.5x193 and it's stable as far as I can tell. That gives me a clock speed of just over 2.2ghz. I am done!

[TranceJunkieXL]

Way to go roy!<img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

[chak22]

Nice job Roy!! I think with a little more tinkering you might get a little more out of it if you wanted to, So far ive got my 2100XP up to 2327mhz stable Ive been up to nearly 2400mhz but I couldn't get it stable enough for my liking but with some tinkering I think I could get it stable, I run an Allied true 450w power supply not expensive at all but I have been surprised how well its worked for me , the rest of my parts are listed below , But as I said earlier NICE JOB!!!!!!!!!

[VincentMalloy]

Wow, Chak... HOW? I have xp2100 and I can't oc past 1.8ghz....even at 1.8 the system is unstable.. I have a 300watt ps and a kr7a-RAID mobo. I have two hd's running in the sys, 3 case fans...<BR><BR>any comment?<BR><BR>Cheers<BR>-Vince

[Ginsu543]

Vincent Malloy,<BR><BR>What is the stepping and week number of your XP 2100+? The best overclockers for 2100+ are the AIUHB stepping, I believe. Most of the people here who own XP 2100+ have the AIUHB stepping, and we get overclocks around the 2.2 - 2.3 GHz range. Also, is your 2100+ a Thoroughbred or a Palomino? The Palomino is the older core, and my understanding is that they don't overclock as well. Besides the CPU, it may be your motherboard or your ram.

[DeanLowe]

A quality PSU is crucial for good overclocking results. It's just as important as a good HSF or fast RAM.

[VincentMalloy]

Well. I've been around the rest of the forums for a while now and have pretty much had my above question answered... It was a palomino and I went and bought epox 8rda, xp1700 JIUHB 312, TwinX Corsair 2700.. .I"M hopefully going to get a reasonably high overclock out of that and see what happens... Thanks for the info tho.<BR><BR>-Will.