Opteron 165 Overclocking

The H20-220 is a great setup and definitely is a superior setup to mine. The H20-120, however, does and amazing job and is under $180. Since you're cooling just the CPU I would recommend you take a look at that one. It is very compact and easy to install.

Hang the rad off the back end for better cooling and more room inside. Joe got the same kit and he loves it. I have both chipsets in my loop and get CPU temps of 42c in a 75f room after three hours of Orthos with the CPU at 2910MHz, 1.38v. I would suspect that with just the CPU in the loop you'll get 3c-4c lower. I did install a 220 radiator but if your cooling just the CPU it isn't necessary.

Take a look at these guys. Their prices are the best for this stuff and they ship quicker than the Egg in most cases. I use them a lot.
http://www.xoxide.com/swiftech-h2o-120-premium.html

My reasoning for purchasing the H20-220 is forward thinking actually.
I am hoping to upgrade proof myself a bit. With the heat output of newer
CPU's growing higher all the time, and the thought of maybe eventually
expanding with more blocks, and cooling the entire rig (vid and chipsets)
with it I was hoping the bigger rad would keep me in good shape for a long time. No?

And I appreciate the link to Xoxide, but the Egg is actually cheaper on the 220 kit.
And I'm not in any hurry for shipping as it will be at least 10 days or so b4 I can even begin my endeavor.
Got a full load with a new build and several repairs/re-installs for next weekend.

So is the bigger rad really worth the extra $60? I dont wanna skimp now and find myself needing a bigger one later?
Keep in mind it gets much warmer where I live then you, and stays that way the better part of the year.

QUOTE (WannaGoFast @ November 11, 2006 02:47 pm)

With the morning sun comes back all the harsh realities of real life

I set things back to 2.8, as 2.9 was just to hot, and it wouldnt run Orthos for very long at any voltages.
This chip is excellent, and I'm sure it has 3GHz in it, but it's gonna take some better cooling.
Gonna back it down to 2.7 300x9 with ram 1-1 and see how far I can go up on the ram from there.
Im guessing somewhere between 2.75 and 2.8 with the ram running 1-1 will be my max for now on air.
(depends on how far over 300 the ram will go

)

I reviewed my cart at the Egg and realize that there is just no way I can justify spending $600 on PC gear right now.
Thats how much it would cost by the time I get everything I would want to make this a sweet and nice looking build.
There's to many other more important things I need to do around here to worry about how my case looks.

Pitched out everything but the water cooling kit for the moment, and am now planning a more reasonable
approach by cleaning up and painting my existing case black and water cooling in it for my first trip into it.
Its a full tower old school Antec, and is really a very nice case. Just to many years of nicotene built up on.
(I used to be a heavy smoker and always had one going in the ashtray in here.
My much less frequent smoke breaks now take place outside on the back porch.)
A good scrubbing and a couple coats of nice satin black inside and out will get me by for some time to come.

@Merc the ram is only a 1GB kit as I dont do anything here that even begins to use 2GB.
Team Group TCCD DDR 600 is the company that makes it, and I purchased it at Computer Giants
I would have posted a direct link for you but their website seems to be having issues this morning.
That's the first time I ever dealt with them and although their communication of tracking numbers left a
lot to be desired, everything else went smooth. There are only 2 retailers in the US to buy from.
Tank Guys being the other.

So far I'm pretty pleased with how this is going.....and will continue once better cooling is in place.

What voltage are you using to reach 2.8? I have to use 1.4375v to do 2.7 with temps hitting 58 so I am back down to 2.6. I wish I had the 8 phase power that the A8NSLI has. I know that has a lot to do with the lower voltages you guys are using.

Dan

At 2.8 I'm currently using 1.2+.20 for a total of 1.4v (1.39v in windows under a load)
My temps are hovering right around Core#1 52c and Core#2 50c under Load.

Load = 2 instances of prime95 running torture -*test*-('") with affinity set to core0 and core1 respectivly.

Thats the lowest vcore I can use and still run prime at 2.8 for any length of time.
Still not bad for a brand new cpu on air cooling in my book.
Cant wait til it breaks in and I get water coolong on it.

@ThePiper
I think your issues have more to do with your temps then the motherboard.
Mine starts to crap out as well when it hits temps up in the high 50's.
I have to add a lot of voltage to get any further after that happens.

I think Merc is having a great deal more succes due to keeping the
load temps down with his watercooling setup. Lets him run a lower Vcore.
Which in turn keeps his temps even further down. You see where this is going im sure.

wanna, with these cpu's getting hotter all the time i would say go with as big a radiator as you can fit in. a triple with three fans is 1/3 more surface area to cool. i live in the desert and my ambients aprroach 100 at times. even running stock my temps got scary. i redid the as5 on the heatpipe and watercooled with a triple rad. now my temps are great even when oced. i set the middle fan to run full bore and the other 2 through a controller so i can adjust them as i need. it's worked out great.

The biger the radiator the more cooling surface you have to work with. The H20-220 is not just a bigger radiator, though, it is almost an entirely different system. It uses bigger tubing which means a more powerful pump so you have more coolant running through the system at higher flow rates/pressure. It is definitely a better setup than the H20-120.

Of course, like all cooling solutions there are downsides. It is louder than the smaller 120 and takes up more room in the case. It also draws more power. There are always tradeoffs.

If you have the room in your case and the extra $60 then absolutely go for the H20-220. I can barely fit the H20-120 in mine but I do have the bigger radiator and it helped a little. If I get a bigger case in the future I'll probably buy the pump and tubing as well as the mini reservoir and set up the more powerful system. Right now, though, I have more than enough cooling in my system.

Here's where I'm at now after a whole day of flogging Prime95 and Orthos
2798MHz 311x9 1.4v 200/311MHz 8-4-4-3 1t 2.85v. Temps low to mid 50's under load.
Thats it for tonite ....gonna let Orthos run til I go to bed, then off for another cool down.
I'm loving this ram....and it seems to be loving me back.

I haven't pushed the RAM yet but it won't get near your stuff. Not sure where I'l be with my RAM as the dividers are going to leave me in strange places.

I'm over 12 hours now in Orthos Blend at 2910MHz, 1.38v with CPU temps at 42c in a 78f room. Arlie, you have your 12 hours mate.

This chip is for real, just had to do 12 hours on Orthos to prove it to myself as well. 62% overclock and I'm not even close to running out of headroom.

It's like freakin' summer here but the temperature is supposed to drop tonight. Still, the chip only hit 42c so woot for Swiftech and AMD. Nice burn-in though and the thing was rock solid all day. One thing I have noticed is that this chip, like I said, is rock solid. Even with Orthos running the rig ran smoothly. , like it was at stock.

I'll probably do another long run tomorrow to burn-in before raising the voltage any and making a move to 3,000. The temps will be a lot better as well. I guess this chip needs water as Wanna is getting the same results as me till the temps rise. Keep it cool and she runs like hell, too much heat and it stops. The TcaseMax is 59c so I think she'll go great anywhere below 50c. We'll see as I raise the voltage, which I am expecting will be a big jump coming up soon.

Ok, this chip is at 3006MHz (334x9), 1.47v Vcore, 1hr,20m into Orthos blend and running. CPU temp is 43c, 73 ambient air. I'll let Orthos run at least 12 hours, if it can make it. Temps are excellent and Vcore leaves headroom so I'll baseline here and then maybe fall back and stress at 2900 again. Let's hope it keeps running

Thats great Merc

I pretty much held up where I was at 2.8GHz 311x9 with ram at 311MHz 8-4-4-3 1t.
Once I start pushing up past that things just get real hot for minimal gains.
So I'm gonna sit tight here for now and burn on it a bit til I get better cooling.
I keep telling myself to wait a week and let JM -*test*-('") out that TEC Cooler better.
But I have an itchy trigger finger and somthing tells me if I dont see him post
anything negative about it by the end of the day, that UPS will be picking mine up
tommorow so that they can get it here and I can install it before next weekend.

I'm officially throwing in the towel on the 180. Once I pushed past 2700 and started adding volts, it got real squirelly, real fast. No reasonable amount of voltage and no loosening of RAM timings would let it push past 2730, even though temps are well within reasonable ranges (load 40-51) -- it fails Orthos in minutes anywhere above the 2730 point. I have read some reports that the 180s develop OC allergies quickly. I am now a believer in that. Unless someone has a magic bullet I haven't tried, it's back to the FX-60 for me.

Bummer AJ...I was afraid of that.
CCBWE's are known not to be very good overclockers.

Send it back for refund....eat the restock and grab one of these?

Or just go back to flogging the FX60 I guess...It was definately worth trying.

My golden rule is to never let a cpu pass through my hands without a quick -*test*-('") run.
You never know which one might be the golden gem. Regardless of what AMD stamped on it.

It was, indeed, worth a shot. It is destined for the wife's machine at this point. She has not the patience for overclocking and will definitely benefit from dual core for online gaming so that VOIP and text messenging don't bog down the processor running the game. That was the original reason I bought it, but it was fun to see if it might be a gem while I had the time to -*test*-('") it.

For those not overclocking (if you read this), it's a solid processor with performance close to an FX-60 at a much lower price.

Now, let me get out of the way and see where those 165's go!

That sucks Arlie. A 13% overclock is disappointing to say the least but like you said, it is an excellent chip regardless. These Optes really are smooth runners. There are 165s that won't go past 2.4GHZ. It is all in teh stepping. Some silicon bakes better than other silicon I guess.

On the Opte 165, it made it past 12 hours so I'll consider this one official. 334x9, 3006MHz at 1.47v for 12 hours Orthos blend, 44c max CPU temp. 67% overclock is amazing. I have a feeling this one will peak soon and but maybe I'll see 3.1GHz, who knows.

I'm in a tough spot with my RAM, though, as the next divider gives me 270MHz on my 250MHz RAM and I am fairly certain it won't go there. The present divider gives me about 215MHz

Tighten the timings I guess or raise the FSB some more and tighten. If I could get it to run at 270MHZ that would be great.

EDIT: I have read a couple of reviews that has my RAM running solid at 278MHZ, 2.9v (max Vdimm recommended by Corsair). This may actually work out great as I think this chip is capable of come more speed and the 183 divider may be spot on at 278MHZ by the time I'm done. This my be getting even more interesting. I'll set 183 tonight and 2.8v and see what happens. If no good then 2.85 and finally 2.9.