opty 170 issue

[smc1]

overclocked my 170 to 2500 out of the box using OCZDDR500. So I detuned the ram to a 3xmultiplier and a 166 ratio and bumped the cpu to 2550 at stock volt to find cpu ceiling. Wouldn't boot windows. Bumped the volts to 1.4 and would'nt boot windows. so I put the cpu back to where it started 2500 at stock volt and leet ram at 3x and 166. It would'nt boot to windows and came up with a "couldn't find or file is corrupted" and the file is "windows.\system32\ntoskrnl.exe". So I put the ram back to 4x and 200 (1:01) and it booted to windows without problem. It doesn't make any sense to me. Any comments or suggestions before I try again. I'd hate to corrupt this file anymore if that's what really happened, or maybe there is something in Bios I didn't change (like some auto setting or something)
Thanks

 

[peleejosh]

What board, you might have to manually set the memory timings. I had this problem with my friends dfi ultra-d and ocz ddr500 xtc gold. I had to manually set most of the mem timings, and now they can run at any divider i want.

 

[smc1]

I've got a DFI UT NF4 SLI D and the Ram is OCZ5002048ELGEGXT-K. So do you think by changing the mem divider I have to set timings? Also I'm concerned about the error I received while booting. I'm not sure it's real since I'm writing this post from the computer. By the way, I forgot to mention that it primed on small ffts for 20 hours at the 2500 mark so I know it's stable there.

 

[peleejosh]

yes you will have to set the mem timings manually. I will try to find the settings i used on his in a little bit. DOnt worry about the error, if it boots fine now, then its fine.

 

[peleejosh]

OK here are the timings i used to get it stable.
Dram voltage 2.8


CPC Enable
Tcl 3
Trcd 4
Tras 8
Trp 3
Trc 13
Trfc 16
Trrd 3
Twr 3
Twtr 2
Trwt 3
Tref 3120
Twcl Auto
Bank Interleave Enabled

Skew Control Auto
Skew Value 0
Drive Strength Auto
Max Async Auto
Response Time Fast
Preamble Time Auto
Idlecycle Limit 256
Dynamic Counter Disable
R/W Queue Bypass 16x
Bypass Max 7x
32 Byte Granularity Disable(4 bursts)

 

[seanp789]

maybe your pci bus didnt lock.

 

[smc1]

So I went ahead and set my Ltd multible on auto , kept my ram at 1:01 stock (because it seemed as though setting at 166 was causing my problem) , my cpu multiple at 10, my cpu volts at stock amd bumped my fsb to 255 and it primed on small fft for 9 hours. I just read your posts after I bumped my fsb to 260 with the same settings and started prime in blend. So it seems as though I"m stable at 255 and we'll see if it stays stable at 260 overnight. I was reading your post and although I realize I"m not going about the process right by finding my individual settings max and then consolidating them, I just wanted to keep going until I got unstable cuz I had'nt received much of a post until now. So as peleejosh posted, it seems as though my problem earlier was that when I changed my ram divider to a smaller ratio it was screwwing me up because I did'nt change my timings. His second post shows the timings that may work and when I fail I'll take a step back and adjust my ram timings and ratio and find which iss the issue RAM or CPU. What
I don't understand is the comment that seanp789 made about the pci bus not locking. Can anyone explain this to me?
Thanks
Scott

 

[smc1]

So, this is where I'm at.

DRAM Config

DRAM Freq: 200(1/01)
CPC: Auto
Tcl: Auto
Trcd: Auto
Tras: Auto
Trp: Auto
Trc: 07
Trfc: Auto
Trrd: 02
Twr: 02
Twtr: 02
Trwt: 03
Tref: 3120 cycles
Twcl: Auto
Dram Bank Interleave: Enabled
DQC Skew Contol: Auto
DQS Skew Value: 0
Dram Drive Strength: Auto
With these settings my timings read (on start up) Tcl:3 Trcd:4 Trp:3 Tras:7, 1T

The rest of settings are:
FSB: 260
LDT/FSB: Auto
CPU/FSB: X 10.0
PCI express freq.: 100Mhz
Cool & Quiet Support: Disabled
Cool & Quiet max FID: Auto
CPU VID Startup: Startup
CPU Volts: 1.36v
LDT Bus volts: 1.22v
Chip Set volts: 1.54v
Dram 2.5v Volts: 2.68
CPU VID Control: Auto
CPU VID Special Control: Auto
LTD Volt Control: 1.20v
Chip Set Volt Control: 1.50v
Dram Volt Control: 2.6v

As you can see I'm running stock volts with various settings on auto. CPU-Z shows my cpu running at 2600.3MHz and temps are 26c idle and 38c loaded. I've run prime using small fft test for 10 hours and then ran memtest86 5 times all without errors. Originally I thought I would have to tweak slightly to get to 2600 and be happy with that. And even though I will probably run this system at that, I got this itch to find out what's left in the CPU since it's running stock at 2600 and stock Ram settings.
What do you guys think?
Thanks

 

[peleejosh]

Here is where you should focus your efforts on changing ram timings. Also when you leave the main settings on auto, they may try to run tighter when you lower the ram spees, causing a problem.
Mine
Trc 13
Trfc 16
Trrd 3
Twr 3
Twtr 2
Trwt 3

Yours
Trc: 07
Trfc: Auto
Trrd: 02
Twr: 02
Twtr: 02
Trwt: 03

 

[smc1]

Thanks for the numbers peleejosh. So last night I ran the same config as listed earlier, except I took the CPU multiplier to 9 (to remove cpu from test) and bumped (in increments) the ram to 270 still using the auto settings. It passed full memtest86 4 times without errors. So I put the cpu multiplier back to 10 and brought the FSB to 265 and ran prime. It crashed within minutes. So I bumped CPU volts to 1.4v and it's started prime which has been running for 4 hours now and still going. My question is this, it seems as though when I was running the ram at 270, it was taking a little longer for memtest to complete. Does this tell me that the settings/timings are becoming unstable? If after I"m done looking for the top overclock and back it back down to 2600 using stock volts and auto timings, can I assume that the system is still being the most effiecient as possible using the auto settings?
Thanks

 

[peleejosh]

First of all, run memtest overnight on test 5 or 8 and see if you get any errors. Then when you are running dual instances of prime, you need to run the small fft test.

 

[smc1]

Peleejosh,
I might have to burn another copy of memtest86 cause I cant get the scroll to work in memtest and have to reboot to get out of program. Anyway from what your saying....test with my auto config I have now to see if stable. I've run the prime small fft for 8-10 hours and passed but only have run memtest full up 5 times without errors. I'm assuming that's not enough?
Thanks for the help
Scott