Memory Speed drops when overclocking

[catweaker]

I have not overclocked a pc in a few years, so the new mobo's have opened up some new questions that I have not experienced on older computers when overclocking.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

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I recently purchased the following hardware:<o:p></o:p>

• Asus A8N32 SLI Deluxe motherboard<o:p></o:p>
• AMD Opteron 165 (1.8 GHz stock)<o:p></o:p>
• 2x1GB Corsair XMS PC3200<o:p></o:p>
• Asus EN7600GX Silent 256 MB VRAM<o:p></o:p>
• ZALMAN CNPS7000B-AlCu CPU cooler<o:p></o:p>
• WD 320 GB SATA 3.0 Hard Drive<o:p></o:p>
• Antec LifeStyle SONATA II case w/ 450w P/S<o:p></o:p>

This processor and Motherboard are awesome overclockers, I got the Opteron 165 overclocked from 1800 MHz to 2610 MHz with stock voltage and the CPU temp was running at about 48c. I ran many OC tests and never got any instability problems. My only problem is that when I overclock that high, my memory clock speed drops down to 266 MHz instead of 400 MHz and when I try to manually set the memory to run at 400 MHz, I can only get my CPU to overclock to about 1980 MHz.<o:p></o:p>

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The Opteron 165 lets me only use up to a 9X multiplier, so I have to get the FSB up to 290 to reach 2610 MHz. If I take my FSB down to about 245, I can get my memory to run at 333 MHz<o:p></o:p>

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Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Memory Speed drops when overclocking

Google CPU-Z, download and open the cpuz.exe file and click on the memory tab to find what your actual memory speed is.

When you overclock your CPU your memory overclocks along with it. When your memory reaches a certain point it does not want to overclock any further. With most motherboards you have to set a RAM divider as soon as you reach this point, if you dont you will have stability issues with your RAM. It seems your motherboard is doing it on its own to prevent damage to the RAM. Or possably just to make it easier on the end user, you.

[catweaker]

Re: Memory Speed drops when overclocking

Here is the CPU-Z specs. Do you see anything that I sould change such as memory timing, or should I try to bump up the memory voltage a little?

<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#f0f0f0 border=1><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CPU(s)</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL><SMALL> </SMALL></SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Number of CPUs</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2</SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#f0f0f0 border=1><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CPU#1</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>APIC ID = 0</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Name</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>AMD Opteron 165 (UP)</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Code Name</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Toledo</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Specification</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 165</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Family / Model / Stepping</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>F 3 2</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Extended Family / Model</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>F 23</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Brand ID</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>44</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Package</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Socket 939</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Core Stepping</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>JH9-E6</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Technology</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>90 nm</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Supported Instructions Sets</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CPU Clock Speed</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2610.0 MHz</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Clock multiplier</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>x 9.0</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>HTT Bus Frequency</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>290.0 MHz</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L1 Data Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L1 Instruction Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>1024 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Speed</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2610.0 MHz (Full)</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Location</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>On Chip</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Data Prefetch Logic</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>yes</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Bus Width</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>128 bits</SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#f0f0f0 border=1><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CPU#2</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>APIC ID = 1</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Name</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>AMD Opteron 165 (UP)</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Code Name</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Toledo</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Specification</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Dual Core AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 165</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Family / Model / Stepping</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>F 3 2</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Extended Family / Model</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>F 23</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Brand ID</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>44</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Package</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Socket 939</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Core Stepping</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>JH9-E6</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Technology</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>90 nm</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Supported Instructions Sets</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, x86-64</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CPU Clock Speed</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2610.0 MHz</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Clock multiplier</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>x 9.0</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>HTT Bus Frequency</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>290.0 MHz</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L1 Data Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L1 Instruction Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Cache</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>1024 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Speed</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2610.0 MHz (Full)</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Location</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>On Chip</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Data Prefetch Logic</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>yes</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>L2 Bus Width</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>128 bits</SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="100%"><SMALL></SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="100%"><SMALL></SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD><TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=3 width="100%" bgColor=#f0f0f0 border=1><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Memory</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL><SMALL> </SMALL></SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>DRAM Type</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>DDR-SDRAM</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>DRAM Size</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2048 MBytes</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>DRAM Frequency</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>186.4 MHz</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>FSB:DRAM</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>CPU/14</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>CAS# Latency</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2.5 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>RAS# to CAS#</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>3 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>RAS# Precharge</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>3 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Cycle Time (TRAS)</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>8 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Bank Cycle Time (TRC)</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>15 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>DRAM Idle Timer</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>16 clocks</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Command Rate</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2T</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL># of memory modules</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>2</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Module 0</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Corsair DDR PC3200 - 1024 MBytes</SMALL></TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD width="40%"><SMALL>Module 1</SMALL></TD><TD><SMALL>Corsair DDR PC3200 - 1024 MBytes</SMALL></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

[Munkul]

Re: Memory Speed drops when overclocking

your ram semms to be running close to its default 200mhz, which is okay for that cpu clock speed. i have the same memory and it runs fine at 240mhz, albeit with relaxed timings, but it wont pass memtest near the very end.

[catweaker]

Re: Memory Speed drops when overclocking

Thanks for the reply, Would you be happy with the above specs, or would you change something? My temps are as follows:

Motherboard: 109 F
Processor: 123 F

Do you think that it would be better to back down the FSB some to lower the temps? I am very happy about the 810 MHz increase that I got out of this dual core processor that many thought would be too hot even at stock clock speeds, at stock speeds, my CPU temp is only 3 F over the Mobo temp. Way to go AMD.

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: Memory Speed drops when overclocking

The CPU is a tad warm, though it's nothing to worry about. And I doubt the motherboard temp is really that high, unless it's a chipset.