A64 Overclocking Weirdness

[jdt]

Detailed specs available if you think it'd help, but here's the basic scenario:

Bump clock up to 210 FSB, everything is fine and hunky dory.
Bump clock up to 215 FSB, system boots fine, runs fine for anywhere from 10 to 90 minutes, and then, in order:
1. I start getting echoing crackle noises output from sound. Sounds like static and pops, but with EAS effects applied.
2. Keyboard and mouse become unresponsive. [almost instantly after #1]
3. Video output ceases. Monitor blanks, no signal [within 2 seconds of #1]
4. Hard drive activity light pegs solid and stays that way.

And that's all she wrote, no change until reset button is pressed. When it reboots, it will be back to stock (200x9) clock, even though BIOS still says 215 (saving it will put it back into effect, and repeat the above cycle).

I replaced my old sound card (SB Live! Value) with the new one X-mas 2005, no change in the problem. Didn't change it to fix the problem, so no big surprise there, just wanted a better card lol.

I replaced my PSU (junk that came with case) with the new one last week, no change in the problem. It was a good excuse to ditch the junk PSU, what can I say.

Dynamic overclocking is disabled, but I've gotten it higher using that (221 FSB) but with much the same results. 212 seems to be my absolute limit for stability.

It's running hotter than it should be (40degC) but is stable on that temp regardless of clock. Using a pretty hefty cooler, just bad airflow. A new case is on my list of things to do soon as well.

My RAM is absolute trash (was on a very tight budget when I built this system), and that's my next suspect. Should I be worried about dropping memory timings down already at 215? Or is this problem indicative of something else? I've OC'd before and never had such a weird problem as this so any input is appreciated.

[gvblake22]

First, have you lowered your LDT multi to 4x. If so, continue reading this post; if not, then stop right here and try changing your LDT multi to 4x and then give 215mhz a try.

It looks like you have PC-3700 RAM, so you should *technically* be able to run it up to 233mhz. Regardless, you could try putting your RAM on a divider and see if that makes any difference. You could also try running your RAM in different DIMM slots.

The crackling sound issues makes me wonder if your chipset is overheating; have you checked that?

Finally, I notice you have the Neo4-F with the plain vanilla NForce4 chipset and I'm not sure how well those overclock. It shouldn't be any different than the nForce4 Ultra or something, but you never know, any board can be a lemon. So you could also try lowering your CPU multi to 8x and put your RAM on a divider and start upping the HTT speed to see if it still craps out at 215mhz. If so, then I would point the finger at your motherboard.

[Capper]

chipset overheating or damaged

OR! for some reason the lock's on the pci-e/pci are not working....

[Capper]

Originally Posted by BB mods's

OR! for some reason the lock's on the pci-e/pci are not working....

Another possibility. I had the A8V when s939 first came out, and the pci locks did not work on the initial release baords

Fast Tip! Use clock gen to monitor your pci clock's