3700+ San Diego Overclocking Hell

[asicman]

Think I should bump up to 260x10 if the 16M test passes?

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Dooo it!

 

[n7]

Why are you running the 10* multi?

I know using it gives you better total bandwidth than than 11* will, but until you have determined the max CPU, i'd use the 11* multi.

 

[asicman]

OK, I'll move to 236x11.... That's nearly 2600.

 

[asicman]

236x11 fails SuperPi immediately. *sigh*

 

[n7]

Hmm...have you tested your RAM dimms separately to verify both are fine?
Edit: I think you said they memtested fine...i'd try different slots if you can.

 

[asicman]

They're 1GB sticks, and no I have not tested them separately. Not a bad idea.

Right now they're in dual channel slots DIMM1 & DIMM2. I'll try each separately in DIMM1, and then try both together in DIMM3 and DIMM4.... But I have to double check and make sure that leaving DIMM1 and DIMM2 open is a valid config.

 

[asicman]

Well each stick separately fails in DIMM1 and in DIMM3 at 236x11. SuperPi fails immediately. 3-3-3-8 2T DDR 1:2, HT 3x

 

[n7]

It almost seems like you truely got a poor OCer.

As they say though, OCing is never guaranteed.

The other thing that i'm guessing is that for some reason your Epox hates your Patriot RAM, though it doesn't make sense since you are running it way below its rated speed.

You might want to try running at 2400 MHz for a few days or a week. Give things some time to burn in. Then maybe try again.
Or you might've just gotten unlucky sadly.
Have you updated your bios to the latest one, or if you have the latest one, to an older one?

 

[asicman]

Yeah, it could be a memory thing afterall. You wanna try my 3700+ in your rig and see what you get, n7? But the RAM timing *does* seem to be super sensitive... For example at 236x11, with 3-3-3-8 Windows is stable, but Super Pi fails repeatedly. But then at that same CPU but 3-3-3-10, Windows hangs. Very unforgiving to say the least.

Also, if I drop Vcore from 1.55 to 1.53 (according to the BIOS reading), then I can't even boot to Windows at all. So that leads me to the PSU again....

Regarding the BIOS.... I'm using 6/29 which is one rev down from the latest. The latest had even more instability - it wouldn't work at 240x10. And the rev prior to 6/29 was just terrible.

 

[NetZeroZeus]

You may have just gotten the crappiest San Diego known to man, but don't give up yet, try everything, are your temps ok?

 

[kman79]

I would say it's the PSU. If it's not, then I would reiterate that you would be the first to have bad luck with a 3700 San Diego.

How about trying to disconnect everything you don't need to boot or bench. Unplug the floppy and other drives you don't need. If the case is open and you have a fan that can blow into it, unplug the case fans for now, but make sure you still have one the CPU, and watch your temps. Take as much load off the PSU as possible, then try it again.

If you isolate it and figure out it's not the PSU, go look up your motherboard and see which RAM it works best.

I'm not too sure what the policy is, but I don't think you can RMA a CPU for not being able to overclock. Would the retailer you bought it from allow an exchange for the same CPU? I just think the only part of your system that you would have problem getting replaced would be the CPU, so test everythig else first

 

[blckgrffn]

Return it, take a 15% hit, there is no shame in that. I was thinking of getting one of these as they seemed to be guaranteed good as I had horrible luck with winchester and venice cores, but know I think that I would probably just get a bum san diego too

Good luck to you!
Nat

 

[asicman]

Originally posted by: kman79
I would say it's the PSU. If it's not, then I would reiterate that you would be the first to have bad luck with a 3700 San Diego.

How about trying to disconnect everything you don't need to boot or bench. Unplug the floppy and other drives you don't need. If the case is open and you have a fan that can blow into it, unplug the case fans for now, but make sure you still have one the CPU, and watch your temps. Take as much load off the PSU as possible, then try it again.

If you isolate it and figure out it's not the PSU, go look up your motherboard and see which RAM it works best.

I'm not too sure what the policy is, but I don't think you can RMA a CPU for not being able to overclock. Would the retailer you bought it from allow an exchange for the same CPU? I just think the only part of your system that you would have problem getting replaced would be the CPU, so test everythig else first

Good idea. But to be honest, there isn't much load on the PSU. I have two DVD drives, 1 floppy, but those are all idle. 4 case fans. 1 SATA HD. My video card is only a X300 since I'm not a gamer.... The Epox 9NPA is supposed to OC great, and the San Diego is supposed to take OC'ing very well..... I never thought it'd turn out like this. I figured once I hit 2.7 to 2.8 it'd start to get challenging.... But topping out at 2.5 ???

 

[Shimmishim]

i DOUBT its the psu.

i'm convinced that either its mem conflict with your cpu mem controller and ram... or your chip has hit a wall

my SD i'm running right now is very strange... i can't run 10 x 285 1:1 w/o superpi failing on the 1M test... then i use the 166 divider and superpi, prime95, anything i can throw at it works with no problems... so...

2.5 is only 300 mhz above stock but how much more would you expect? if you check the o/c database at xtreme and thats your expectation... well... most of the people on that database have older chips... 0512, 0515, 0517, 0519 but nothing newer..

i had a SD 3700+ 0522 and it only did around 2.6 stable...

 

[asicman]

0522 is some kind of part number? Will it have that on the box, or do I need to take the XP-90 off and look on the chip itself??

Sounds like your advise is to try different memory....

 

[TGS]

Originally posted by: asicman
0522 is some kind of part number? Will it have that on the box, or do I need to take the XP-90 off and look on the chip itself??

Sounds like your advise is to try different memory....

That's the year/week code. 2005 week 22, and you will need to yank off the heatsink to see it. Unless CPU-Z shows it.

What memory divider are you using? I'm using the 512MB 2-3-2-5 Patriot sticks, and it's not so hot for overclocking on my setup.

 

[asicman]

Originally posted by: TGS

Originally posted by: asicman
0522 is some kind of part number? Will it have that on the box, or do I need to take the XP-90 off and look on the chip itself??

Sounds like your advise is to try different memory....

That's the year/week code. 2005 week 22, and you will need to yank off the heatsink to see it. Unless CPU-Z shows it.

What memory divider are you using? I'm using the 512MB 2-3-2-5 Patriot sticks, and it's not so hot for overclocking on my setup.

I had been using the 100MHz divider to test for MAX CPU.... that's 1:2 so the mem ends up running at 125 when i'm testing at 250x10

 

[asicman]

Well I disconnected all power except the mobo, the SATA drive, and the CPU fan, and my CPU Max didn't improve. I'm going to suspect the PDP (Patriot) RAM at this point and pickup a stick of something else locally to see if that helps. I'll try for OCZ if I can find it. Isn't there a compatibility issue with Corsair and EPoX boards?

 

[kman79]

If you have friends with decent memory , and wouldn't mind letting you test with them, I'd ask to barrow them first. No sense in spending money on good memory only to find out it's the chip and not the memory.

 

[asicman]

Originally posted by: kman79
If you have friends with decent memory , and wouldn't mind letting you test with them, I'd ask to barrow them first. No sense in spending money on good memory only to find out it's the chip and not the memory.

I wish I did.... I think I'll yank off heatsink and check the date code first before ordering anything. If I have a known "Bad" date code from an OC standpoint, then I'll just live with it.

 

[ohwell78]

Im having a similiar problem, Can do 230 x 11 but if i got to 235 it wont even boot. Im more concerned about the increase vcore, every review ive seen says it should make 240 at 1.4, but im at 1.54 for 230. what are your temps like? I stay around 45 under load.

 

[Leper Messiah]

wow. Worse than my CBBID winchester. Try higher vcore? my winnie doesn't mind 1.65 and I'm on stock cooling. 55C loads. too lazy to install my zalman until I buy a new mobo.

 

[shira]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
the difference between being stable and not stable can be 5 mhz.

By definition, the difference between being stable and unstable is 1MHz: There's the maximum stable frequency. 1 MHz more will be unstable.

 

[kruull]

Hi there,
well i've been running the 3500+ Winchester on defaults for 5+6 months now and would like to replace is by the 3700 SD - but this time not @ defaults. I am just not quite sure if to go for one when I look at the problems some are experiencing, as also not sure if the RAMs would work fine: the best i could get are Kingmax - but do not tend to invest in those as they are quit expensive here.
What would you guys suggest: should I go for the 3700 SD with those RAMs or not?