Argh ! How do I push my Barton 2500+ further ??

[Neoprene]

Hi all ,

I`m finding an impasse OC`ing my Barton any further . Specs are as in my signature .

Looking at other posts on here , some have managed to reach , for example, 11x200 FSB @ stock Vcore , or minimal increases in voltage . I have tried lowering my RAM timings down as far as 9,4,4,4 Cas 3.0 , voltage @2.77 , and then tried upping the FSB gradually .

I can reach 215x10 with Prime 95 stable , but not thereafter . If I bump the voltage up even as far as 1.9v , it doesnt seem to help stability. My temps dont seem to be a problem, even at the higher voltage , reaching max 52-53c ( ok a bit hot , but this is air cooling )

I found as I increased the FSB , that Prime errors could be overcome by upping voltages , but I dont want to keep throwing voltages at my CPU , especially since it is still unstable at even 1.9v.

I dont think its my RAM .. I`ve managed to run the RAM at CAS 2.0 as I`ve upped the FSB , and switching to CAS 3.0 when the instability appeared made absolutely no difference .

So ... my questions after this essay ..

Could it be Northbridge overheating causing the problem ?

Why am I having to give the CPU a lot of volts when others can overclock at much lower voltages ? Simply down to the particular chip I have ?

Should I try bumping the VDD ? How might this help things ?

I`ve tried reseating the heatsink, and I`m using Artic silver 3 .

Could it be the board ??

Wiggo I think we have the same Epox board , any suggestions ??

Thanks,

Gerry

ps Memtest works fine on the RAM , my ambient temps are a rock solid 32C, and all voltages across all lines look fine :confused:

[Wiggo]

I'd say that ya've found the top of ya mountian with that CPU though I do use XMS3500 memory which is spec'd for 233MHz where as PC3200 is only 200MHz.

[Neoprene]

Hi again,

Oh no ! Do u think thats the max I can get out of this chip ? I must admit , if I had a choice again I`d go for an XP1700+ , they`re majorly overclockable and the extra 256 on the Barton chip doesnt appear to do much in the way of performance .. at least not when most people are getting 2.3-2.4 mhz out of them !

Hmm maybe I`m going to have to shop around for an overclocking friendly Barton 3000 or something .. or maybe wait for the new Hammer chips :grr:

Thanks Wiggo for the advice ! Can I ask what your Barton is running at ??

Gerry

[Wiggo]

Well I don't have any Bartons atm but I do have 2 x 8RDA+'s with an XP1800+ T'bred @ 12.5 x 166/2.09GHz and an XP2600+ @ 12.5 x 180/2.26GHz though as yet I havn't pushed either to the extreme (I just set them there and they felt good).

[Neoprene]

Well I don't have any Bartons atm but I do have 2 x 8RDA+'s with an XP1800+ T'bred @ 12.5 x 166/2.09GHz and an XP2600+ @ 12.5 x 180/2.26GHz though as yet I havn't pushed either to the extreme (I just set them there and they felt good).

Thanks for the info :thumb:

I tried relaxing the timings and increasing VDimm to 2.9v with no go, and also increasing VDd to 1.8 and still no go . Either my RAM isnt up to it ( but I dont think this is the case) or my chip simply wont go further. If I get any more info , I`ll let u know.

I suppose I should eyeball the chip markings, but it may be the chip and not the batch . Woe is me !!

: peace:

[Neoprene]

Hi all,

Well I poked around my mobo a bit , and found that the cpu fan was off centre ( a 92mm on an slk800u) . Moved it , and had better temps , so jacked up the Vcore to 1.925 . And seems to work fine , Prime 95 is doing ok so far. This chip seems to need a LOT of volts for stability , but getting it to run at 3200 speeds is enough for me :-))

Roll on the Hammer !

Gerry