Athlon64 3200+ disappointment on k8t neo

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Azhreal

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 11, 2003
Messages
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I'm extremely disappointed in my overclock. k8t-neo FISR2 w/ ath64 3200+ 1mb version, corsair pc3200 xms 512+256. The ram runs fine 5-2-2-2 2.7 at 210fsb not locked to 400mem, but anything higher won't run stable in windows t all. I get automatic system reboots when loading into windows at anything over 210, even with mem timings relaxed and locked to 400. Cpu voltage at 1.5, 1.55 didn't help. Default cooler 45c MAX under load, so it's definitely not a cooling problem as I've got extremely nice airflow in my full tower antec case. Looks like the chipset is extremely limited, but I was hoping to hit 2.2 since every review of ath64 boards seemed to do that much. I'm not even sure if I'm stable at 210fsb right now, so it looks like I got really screwed for an oc.
 
look at your soundcard/vid card, when you up the fsb the PCI and AGP go up also. I wonder when the first TRUELY lockable pci/agp boards come out.
 
My board isnt prime stable over 214mhz. Upping cpu voltage and lowering timings didnt work. And i just tried turning turbo to normal and that didnt help.

:rolleyes:
 
im extremely disapointed with the motherboards for this system... you would think they would have learned something from the socket A platform.
 
Well the current crop of A64 mobos aren't that great. Most of them don't even lock the AGP/PCI buses when overclocking. I'm holding out for the nForce3 250 myself. I've also heard good things about the SIS 755 chipset as a decent budget mobo, but not many people on a tight budget are buying A64's.
 
The new AOpen board appears to have a true agp/pci lock. Anandtech has an excellent review of it.
 
I hear the sis755 has respectable performance plus clock locks. Asus needs to release theres, as all we have to consider is the ECS A2 version (A1 version shouldn't be talked about). Look at www.anandtech.com with their review, it even OCs good, which surprised me for an ECS.
Jason
 
I just bought a MSI FSR motherboard for $99 and an Athlon64 3200+ for $270 and a fan for $14, I don't know how much of OC'ing I'll do (as my ram is rated at 400MHz.), but I sure hope I am happier with the setup then you are. Also I have heard of the CoreCell chip causing OC trouble, you might be able to disable that and do a tad better.
Jason
 
Originally posted by Azhreal
I'm extremely disappointed in my overclock. k8t-neo FISR2 w/ ath64 3200+ 1mb version, corsair pc3200 xms 512+256. The ram runs fine 5-2-2-2 2.7 at 210fsb not locked to 400mem, but anything higher won't run stable in windows t all. I get automatic system reboots when loading into windows at anything over 210, even with mem timings relaxed and locked to 400. Cpu voltage at 1.5, 1.55 didn't help. Default cooler 45c MAX under load, so it's definitely not a cooling problem as I've got extremely nice airflow in my full tower antec case. Looks like the chipset is extremely limited, but I was hoping to hit 2.2 since every review of ath64 boards seemed to do that much. I'm not even sure if I'm stable at 210fsb right now, so it looks like I got really screwed for an oc.
Click to expand...

Increase your vdimm (ram voltage)......Not sure what the Max is for the MSI

I'd go 1.7 on vcore
2.9 on vdimm
 
Originally posted by Azhreal
I'm extremely disappointed in my overclock. k8t-neo FISR2 w/ ath64 3200+ 1mb version, corsair pc3200 xms 512+256. The ram runs fine 5-2-2-2 2.7 at 210fsb not locked to 400mem, but anything higher won't run stable in windows t all. I get automatic system reboots when loading into windows at anything over 210, even with mem timings relaxed and locked to 400. Cpu voltage at 1.5, 1.55 didn't help. Default cooler 45c MAX under load, so it's definitely not a cooling problem as I've got extremely nice airflow in my full tower antec case. Looks like the chipset is extremely limited, but I was hoping to hit 2.2 since every review of ath64 boards seemed to do that much. I'm not even sure if I'm stable at 210fsb right now, so it looks like I got really screwed for an oc.
Click to expand...

I found this at X_Bit Labs, regarding the MSI Neo.

The BIOS of MSI K8T Neo mainboard is based on AMI microcode, which makes it very much different from the BIOS’s of other mainboards participating in our roundup. Actually, the BIOS Setup of MSI K8T Neo cannot boast a lot of settings. For example, even though the board allows using not only standard DDR200/DDR266/DDR333/DDR400 memory frequencies, but also DDR300 frequency, the BIOS Setup doesn’t offer any opportunity to enable the ECC support, and the adjustable memory timings include the minimal ranges for CAS Latency, RAS# to CAS# Delay, RAS# Precharge and Active to Precharge Delay.

At the same time, the set of overclocking friendly features is pretty impressive. FSB frequency can be adjusted from 190Mhz to 280MHz. However, as we have already mentioned several times in this roundup you will not be able to take an y advantage of such a high top FSB frequency without the possibility to adjust the frequency divider for AGP/PCI buses (MSI K8T Neo doesn’t actually have this bus at all). Note also that MSI K8T Neo is probably the only mainboard, which allows reducing the FSB frequency below the nominal value. Although I do not really know if we need this opportunity at all.

As for voltages, you can change the CPU, memory and AGP voltages in the BIOS Setup. The processor Vcore can be increased by 3.3%, 5%, 6.6%, 8%, 10%, 11% and 15% above the nominal value (the BIOS of MSI K8T Neo mainboard supports this way of setting the processor voltage: in percents). The memory voltage can be set to Auto, 2.55V, 2.6V, 2.65V, 2.7V, 2.75V, 2.8V and 2.85V. The last voltage, Vagp, can be set to any value from 1.5V to 1.85V with 0.05V increment.

Next to the overclocking friendly options there is a menu page where you can enable D.O.T. (Dynamic Overclocking Technology). This is exactly that particular quiet dynamic overclocking feature, which has received such a great response. The idea of this technology is very simple. In normal working conditions the CPU functions at its nominal frequency. However, as soon as its utilization reaches 100%, the mainboard automatically raises the FSB frequency by the value set in the BIOS Setup. This value can be adjusted via the BIOS Setup and can vary from 1% to 10% of the nominal parameter value.

Well, MSI K8T Neo looks like a cool board, boasting a rich features set and a number of exciting technologies. However, it is high time to added that notorious fly to this ointment. We have already mentioned in one of our previous reviews, that the first BIOS versions from MSI usually suffer the whole bunch of problems. This time was also no exception. The BIOS versions we checked with this board, namely BIOS v.1.0 and 1.1B do not make the board stable enough to work with the higher FSB frequencies, so that the entire overclocking potential of this solution as well as the dynamic overclocking functions cannot be used at all. Therefore, I wouldn’t recommend getting MSI K8T Neo board now, but would better wait for the new, debugged BIOS versions to come out first.
 
At 210mhz FSB, Windows loads fine on my setup (in sig), but once I start gaming problems start to appear. It usually takes 2-5 minutes until I'm booted out of game with a window pop-up that says a file is corrupted or unable to read X file.

Everything seems to work fine at 209mhz.. I'm still trying to break it back into 210+mhz with some different settings.
 
I take it from this post that the A64 processors have really crappy motherboards on offer?

Which chipset in near future can better this since I am looking for an AMD upgrade!
 
Originally posted by KickAssCop
I take it from this post that the A64 processors have really crappy motherboards on offer?

Which chipset in near future can better this since I am looking for an AMD upgrade!
Click to expand...

If u call 255 FSB or 30K on 3dmark2001se build 330 "crappy" then yea, its crappy.

Both have been done.

A64 mobo tops the ORB at Futuremark.

Two different reviewers have clocked the Albatron board in my sig (due to arrive the 11th according to fedex tracking) at great FSB. One got 245 & another 255.

They're not for noob overclockers though, avoid them unless you're an AVID overclocker.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=921&cid=6&pg=44

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1479&page=5
 
Hot damn, and somehow they managed to keep their system 100% flawless stable at 240+ fsb??

That can't be right.. my setup fails at least 1 operation, or at least pops up 1 error, during stress testing at 210+ fsb 1:1.


My definition of passing a stress test:
i.) 1+ hour of operation in a real game (SpellForce can find problems real quick).
ii.) Complete all tests in 3DMark01, 2003. & PCMark2002, 2004 flawlessly.
iii.) Complete all Sandra benchmarks flawlessly.
iv.) Complete SuperPi flawlessly.
 
Originally posted by Unit-0
Hot damn, and somehow they managed to keep their system 100% flawless stable at 240+ fsb??

That can't be right.. my setup fails at least 1 operation, or at least pops up 1 error, during stress testing at 210+ fsb 1:1.


My definition of passing a stress test:
i.) 1+ hour of operation in a real game (SpellForce can find problems real quick).
ii.) Complete all tests in 3DMark01, 2003. & PCMark2002, 2004 flawlessly.
iii.) Complete all Sandra benchmarks flawlessly.
iv.) Complete SuperPi flawlessly.
Click to expand...

Every setup varies....Also people tweak differently....article never mentions timings though.

Id rather run 220-225 fsb at 4-2-2- cas2 then 240 fsb at 6-3-3- cas 2.5
 
Originally posted by ZigZagZeppelin
If u call 255 FSB or 30K on 3dmark2001se build 330 "crappy" then yea, its crappy.

Both have been done.

A64 mobo tops the ORB at Futuremark.

Two different reviewers have clocked the Albatron board in my sig (due to arrive the 11th according to fedex tracking) at great FSB. One got 245 & another 255.

They're not for noob overclockers though, avoid them unless you're an AVID overclocker.

http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?id=921&cid=6&pg=44

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1479&page=5
Click to expand...

This reviewer wasn't so lucky:
http://www.techreport.com/reviews/2004q1/albatron-k8x800proii/index.x?pg=1

Proving that there are always risks associated with overclocking, I fried the K8X800 Pro II trying to run my Athlon 64 3200+ on a 215MHz front-side bus. The processor runs comfortably with a 215MHz bus on a Chaintech Zenith ZNF3-150, and it would at least boot at that speed on an Abit KV8-MAX3, but 215MHz and 1.8V toasted the K8X800 Pro II.
Click to expand...
 
Well my A64 3000 doesnt stack up as well to my FX chip but running on my SHUTTLE AN50R mobo i can hit 240FSb take screenshots but it aint stable but it is rock solid at 230FSB for playing games and apps, but for some reason it cant run a 3dmark at 230FSB with my G4 4600 card in there, but it will with a ATI 9800Pro XT, still cant figure that one out,Vcore is at 1.6 running on the Stock Heatsink and fans, Heres my first 3dnmark run at 220FSB all stock on my A64 3000 http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=7507069
Im also using 1 stick of 512 meg Corsair XMS 3200
 
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