ECS GF8200a Mobo will not overclock w/ BE AMD 64 X2 5400...

[stedyone]

Greetings,

No matter how many tutorials or guides I view/read I can't seem to overclock my CPU from 2.8 stock to 3.0. I have a new ECS GF8200A and AMD Brisbane 5400 2.8 Ghz 64 X2 black box. I have attempted to adjust the mulitiplier very slightly and the board won't post.

I'm just wondering if anyone has some experience with this exact setup and overclocking it. I have heard that I need to make the HT setting to AUTO from 200 Mhz. When I change this to auto it won't post.

Thanks in advance.

[redwudz]

Not that exact MB, but I have used ECS and Brisbanes. Usually raising the multiplier is a bit too much. Your FSB should already be 200Mhz. You should be able to take it up to maybe 230Mhz without any problems. Make sure your RAM is set correctly or that may be your problem. You can probably lock the RAM down to the stock speed if needed and just OC the CPU. The HT is a different setting, but you shouldn't have to mess with that, though you may have to lower it if it gets too high. Same with the RAM frequency.

DL a copy of CPU-Z and it will tell you what your present settings really are. http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php Here's one of my Brisbanes:



Notice that the CPU speed is a product of the multiplier and the Bus speed. On my setup, for 3GHZ, I would raise the Bus speed to 222Mhz and that would give me 3Ghz. (Just divide 3000 by your multiplier and that will tell you what to set the Bus speed at.) You might also notice the high multiplier value. That tends to limit OCing the multiplier because you may raise the other values too much. Make sure your RAM is up to it and can handle a higher FSB. And make sure the RAM voltage is set correctly. A lot of the performance RAM is made for about 2.1VDC and most MBs set it automatically at 1.8VDC. CPU-Z will tell you all that.

EDIT: I should mention that the CPU will run a fair bit warmer, so hopefully you have decent cooling. The Brisbane I pictured is in a server, so no need to OC it. I also use HW Monitor for checking temps. http://www.cpuid.com/hwmonitor.php

If your system locks and rebooting doesn't help, Unplug the computer and pull the BIOS battery or use the reset jumper. (Then start over. If you are doing a serious OC, you might have to do this quite a few times. ) I would not recommend changing any other voltages than the RAM or you can quickly fry the system. And with the RAM, just set it to the manufacturers suggested voltage.

I run my Phenom II at 3.2Ghz. That's a 400Mhz OC and it still runs fairly cool. But I haven't been able to get it much above that and still have stability. And the temp rises quite a bit over 3.2Ghz. And all I did was raise the FSB and set the RAM at the proper 2.1VDC.

[stedyone]

Another great reply! I'm wondering if you can provide me a step-by-step for my ECS gf8200 mb. The BIOS settings are very confusing and the manual is badly translated from China.

[stedyone]

furthermore, i see my ram is only at 200 mhz 1.8 volts and can run pc6200 (400 mhz). How do i change that?

[redwudz]

I'm guessing you mean DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) RAM. What brand and model of RAM? See what voltage the manufacturer recommends.

Most all RAM in a AMD setup runs at the FSB frequency, 200Mhz by default. But they 'double or quad pump' it, (They trigger the RAM up to four times or more on each FSB timing pulse) yielding a throughput of 800Mhz or more. Different programs read this differently. For the moment, I wouldn't worry about it. That MB can also use DDR 1066 RAM, but only with a Phenom CPU, AFAIK. This can all be a bit confusing.

Is your RAM running in Dual Channel mode? You should see that listed during the boot screen. It does give a little performance boost. But it usually takes a matched set of RAM sticks.

From what I can gather, that CPU has a stock 14X multiplier. If your FSB is at 200Mhz at present, you could raise it to 215Mhz to get to 3Ghz. 230Mhz FSB would get you about 3.2Ghz if the system and RAM can handle that. On the other hand, if you change the multiplier to 15X at 200Mhz, that would also be 3Ghz.

That MB seems a bit limited for OCing. I saw this in the manual:



And this is the only info for setting the FSB:



You might post a screen shot of CPU-Z, the CPU first page and the Memory and SPD page. That would give a lot of info on your RAM and settings.

[stedyone]

You've been a great help redwudz! I'll post screenies tonight after work. The RAM is fatal1ty OCz 2x2: 4GB 1066 ram i snapped them into slots 3 and 4 as the manual stated to do this to maximize dual channel. I have heard that they will only clock to 1066 with a PHenom. I don't have a phenom.

[redwudz]

I've got several different versions of OCZ RAM and it's worked out well for me. It shouldn't cause you any problems. With OCing, you have to be prepared to have a fair amount of BSODs and computer lockups till you find the right settings. But you should be able to adjust just the FSB or the multiplier to get to 3Ghz.

If you are having problems, go just a little bit at a time, monitoring temps closely. If you get a complete lockup, reset the BIOS and start over. You may have to pull the BIOS battery for this. And if you can't get it to go up to 3GHZ, check your RAM settings, your HT settings and make sure your PCI speeds are correct. When you OC, most of them will also raise, but the PCI should stay set at the stock settings. You will also be OCing your NB and SB chips, so the motherboard and how it handles the settings is important. Have fun.


If you want to test stability after a OC, try Prime 95 or other stress tests. You can find it here, along with some other OC and benchmark programs. A very good site for OCing: http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/

[stedyone]

redwudz, below are my screenies of CPU-ID:

clickable thumbnails, (not sized right for forum posting):

[redwudz]

I use MS Paint for .JPGs. If you do a screen cap use ALT/PrtSc and it will just select the active window. Make sure to reduce the white background area to smaller than your graphic. (Drag the bottom corner up to the left. That way you won't get the white border.) This guide may also be useful: https://forum.videohelp.com/topic271697.html Our forum also shrinks oversize graphics, usually 800 X 600 is a good size choice.

It looks like your RAM is OK for 1.8VDC, which is usually default. So probably no change needed there.

Your CPU speed is shown as 1Ghz, and your multiplier is shown as 5X, so I assume you have 'Cool and Quiet' or similar power saving program running that is ramping down your CPU speed at idle. Try encoding or some other CPU intensive operation and run CPUZ and check it then. It should be 2800Mhz. If not, you have a problem in your BIOS with your CPU setting. I would turn off any motherboard power saving program.

If you are OCing, I would also turn off any MS power saving program, at least for now. There is one setting in Control Panel>Power Options in XP:



EDIT: You can RClick on any graphic on this forum and look in 'Properties' to see the actual size of them. You PB graphics are 160 X 139 pixels. Mine is about 400 X 400 pixels.

EDIT: I DL'd a newer version of CPUZ and my Brisbane is also a black box addition. I had forgotten.

Anyway, I raised the FSB to 215Mhz and it booted and runs fine. CPU temp about 22C at idle. My RAM is DDR2 800 and I couldn't raise the voltage to 2.1 with my MB, so it's performing OK, but could be better. You can see the EPP timings in the third JPG and that's where it should be. Notice that the RAM frequency has also went up, along with the HT. As long as the RAM can handle the frequency increase, no problems.

I tried running the FSB to 230Mhz, but it wouldn't boot, so I gave up. With a different MB that would let me raise the RAM voltage and drop down the RAM frequency and maybe the HT frequency, it would probably run at 3.3Ghz or possibly higher. But I don't need it for that. It's going to be used for a graphics editor I will install two more GB of DDR2 800 RAM, though.







BTW, in CPUZ, if you got to 'About' and select a text dump, you will get all the CPUZ data in text form, along with temps and other useful information.

[stedyone]

red, here is a screenie of my cpu tab before i attempt my overclock mod. Wish me luck! All I'm asking for is 3.0 Ghz!

[stedyone]

I can't get this crappy ECS board to overclock to save my life! It's begging me for an RMA to Newegg! I noticed the AMI BIOS is from 1985-2007, that's kind of old wouldn't you say? As soon as I change the HT setting from the stock 200 Mhz, it won't post! The HT setting will post on either 'Auto' or '200'. Nothing else. I'm going to go out with a bang though and flash the bios. If that doesn't work, it's RMA ville for this ECS board.

[redwudz]

That ECS board appears to be a bit limited in OC capabilities. The info I posted was from a Gigabyte GM-MA69GM-S2H, which is a fairly old MB. For about $56US, you could get a GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2 from NewEgg that should perform a bit better than the MA69. Before I buy a MB, I download the manual from the manufacturer and study that to see what capabilities it has.

But your OC problems may be the MB or the RAM or one of the other settings. Hard to tell.

[stedyone]

Well, it died on the operating table! I dl'd the AMI bios update from the ECS website. It even stated that it was to address the OC menu lock or something. This made me believe and provided me false hope. It seemed like bios flash was successful until it stuck in a BSOD loop with Vista ultimate x64. Now it wants me to insert the vista disk for a repair! I've had it with the ECS crap! It's getting boxed up and may go out tomorrow.

[stedyone]

redwudz, can you recommend a much better mobo for me in the price range of $80 USD or so? I'd like to overclock the 2.8 Brisbane to 3.0 on air cooled fan. I'll take a look tonight and see what I come up with. I appreciate all your help with this.

[stedyone]

red, I ended up taking your advice and reviewed the manual for the Gigabyte MA770-UD3 Mobo. It has everything I need and I am much more confident that I can oc the cpu to 3.0 Ghz.

[redwudz]

Sorry I missed the last post. You should be fine with the Gigabyte MB. The ECS is a good board for a economy system if you don't need to do anything special, like OCing. I haven't tried to push my Brisbane much beyond 3Ghz, but it can with good cooling and decent RAM. 3.2Ghz or 3.3Ghz should be fairly obtainable without straining it too much.

Let me know how it worked out.

[stedyone]

Well, it turns out that the Gigabyte MA770-UD3 board is a go! Very good board and very easy to overclock. Thanks for everything redwudz!

[redwudz]

Looks good.