Overclocking AMD Athlon 64 x2 5600+ on an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe = DON'T BOTHER!

[DarKStar]

First i'd like to say that I am very happy with the board so far it runs rock solid. I've been able to OC my past Athlon processors on past motherboards, now what I find weird is the fact I can'T get ANY overclock from my Athlon 64 x2 5600+ on my ASUS M2n-SLI Deluxe - the max I can go is 206 FSB x 14 = 2884 - Whoppee :D can't even do 2.9 stable - Now it's not my RAM, because I have 4GB Corsair DHX, dual chanel kit DDR2 800 4-4-4-12 - I can OC that MF on another system past 1000 ! So it's not RAM. Surely this is SUPPOSED to be a good board for OCing, I can'T understand this - if I even attempt to set the FSB to 208/209 I will get blue screens, tons of errors, and 210, well it doesn'T boot at all LOL And the funny part is that it's not heat either because I'm not even using the CPU and the temps are far from its specs, so what am I missing here, is this board a piece of crap for overclocking ?
It's a Windsor F3 mind you, I'd expect this MF to OC at least to 2.9 stable FFS :D

[Oversized Rooster]

Try flashing the mobo BIOS to the latest version and try OCing again. This is not really an OCing board, but frankly I think a 100MHz OC should be possible on ANY board.

[DarKStar]

Originally Posted by Oversized Rooster

Try flashing the mobo BIOS to the latest version and try OCing again. This is not really an OCing board, but frankly I think a 100MHz OC should be possible on ANY board.

I'm using a recent BIOS - the 1 newer one after that only adds new CPU support, so I'm not taking a chance to flash it - Considering some of these boards go dead after flashing them so playing it safe :)

[geokilla]

Upp the vdimm, vcore. Check for system stability at stock settings. Lower the RAM divider till you're done overclocking. Oh, and don't forget to lower that HT multiplier. Always keep the HT bus below 1000 Mhz.

[DarKStar]

Originally Posted by geokilla

Upp the vdimm, vcore. Check for system stability at stock settings.

Done - that is the first thing I do when installing - I have 2 identical systems and both were run through burin for RAM, disk, gfx and CPU, and stability is rock solid at stock settings. The ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe is defiantely an overclocking board, there are tons of OC features in the BIOS that I you don't see on other boards. A thought occured to me, perhaps the fact my CPU is a 90nm, 2MB L2, maybe the Brisbane G2 62nm are easier to OC, who knows. I expected to at least get my 5600 to 3.0/3.1. Guess not ;)

Lower the RAM divider till you're done overclocking. Oh, and don't forget to lower that HT multiplier. Always keep the HT bus below 1000 Mhz.

Yeah that's been done too :)

[Killswitch]

Is "Cool 'n' Quiet" disabled in bios? If not you should definitely try overclocking with that OFF.

[DarKStar]

Originally Posted by Killswitch

Is "Cool 'n' Quiet" disabled in bios? If not you should definitely try overclocking with that OFF.

First thing I did - mind you I don't see why it would make a difference - I ALWAYS leaving Coo'n'quiet on in the bios - I control the on/off in windows, most of the time it's on - when using office applications, surfing, etc. C&C should not have any effect on OCing since the CPU adjusts itself based on the load - it goes from its base voltage down to the C&C values and back up again when it needs it. Overclocking attempts was done WITH and WITHOUT CC enabled, and it made no difference - I remember I could OC my old CPU from 2.0 to 2.4. Anyways I'm happy with the stock speeds I guess, maybe the Brisbanes overclock better.

[Killswitch]

Well shit! lol I didn't know that. When I first started reading about OC'ing (a few years ago) I read allot about disabling CnQ it because it supposedly caused problems. But I just did a Google search and I see now that it was all a myth.......... I'VE BEEN LIED TOO! haha

I gonna turn mine on right now. lol

[DarKStar]

Well I've been using it since my first CPU that supported this feature which was an AThlon 64 and never had any problems - in windows XP you can turn it on and off from the POWER control panel, MINIMUM POWER MANAGEMENT mode sets C&C on, and ALWAYS ON, sets it off. But be careful - use a tool to monitor your CPU like EVEREST or other, to make sure your vcore, clock & FSB go down - apparently, the neweest AMD driver has problems and C&C doesn't turn on and will work best with windows' driver.

I haven't seen any side effects of leaving it on during intense applications from what I gather your speed will go back up when your CPU is being used.

In fact if you have a stock cooler it is recommended by AMD to leave it on ;)

[b1lk1]

Originally Posted by geokilla

Oh, and don't forget to lower that HT multiplier. Always keep the HT bus below 1000 Mhz.

AM2 CPU's and boards can stay quite stable up to and over 1400MHz on the HT. Only S939 needed to stay under 1000MHz.