update bios?

tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
edited April 2006 in Hardware
Hey I got the thermaltake xp-90 heatsink from a friend, and my temps dropped an insane amount so I decided to do some hefty overclocking of my amd 64 3200+. For some reason I can't get it to run stable past 2.4ghz, and mines stock at 2.2 so that seems like its off. If i put it past 2.4 it just goes through a boot loop of continuous restarting. Something happened in the process of overclocking and my bios was messed up, so i popped in my mobo's driver cd which had the oldest bios on it, so it flashed it and now i have the oldest bios there is for my motherboard (asus k8v se deulxe). Normally I go by the rule if it ain't broken, dont fix it, which is true in my case right now. Im not having any bios problems, but im wondering if I were to update it to the newest one do you think that could help with the overclocking somehow? I know i should update the bios but im not having any problems at all with it. The reason why im probably getting such poor overclocking results is because i have a crappy psu. I was going to buy a new one a little while ago, but I decided to save that money towards a new laptop.

also would you trust the program that came with my mobo for flashing the bios in windows, or should I just use a floppy?

Comments

  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    Ok well i did a little bit of tweaking with my ram and my cpu is running stable at 2.5.
  • lemonlimelemonlime Canada Member
    edited April 2006
    Hey tmh88, be sure to reduce your HTT multiplier (sometimes called LDT multiplier), as that can make a world of difference.

    Once you get up to about 230MHz reference frequency, you should drop the LDT multiplier to 4X. Once up to about 280, you should reduce it to 3X.

    Just a note: I'm not sure how well that board 'locks' the PCI/AGP bus, so hopefully that won't hold you back too much. Be sure you have your data backed up in case your SATA goes wonky.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    thats the thing, i had a bunch of people to tell me to drop the LDT multiplier but i cant find it anywhere in my bios. Could it be called something other than the HTT multiplier, or LDT multiplier? I have an asus k8v se deluxe, and I know i should update my bios but im afraid I'm going to mess something up. I dont have a floppy drive installed because it died on me, so I'd have to use the windows ultility.

    I went into my bios and I didnt see it. could it be called ddr latency or something?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    also would you trust the program that came with my mobo for flashing the bios in windows, or should I just use a floppy?
    Asus's and MSI's work flawlessly. Last time I used Abit's was over a year ago, and it worked just fine.

    Ensure that you close all applications and programs, and that your power supply is (wall & computer) is steady. Don't touch the mouse or keyboard when it starts to flash. There should be an option to backup your current BIOS. Do it. There should also be an option to flash from a file. That is preferred, as there is less chance of the flash being interrupted.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    yea also one more thing, should I keep my ram set to pc 3200 in my bios (4:1), rather than the 1:1. I have a gig of pc3200 crucial ram, so Im assuming it should be at 4:1, but as i was describing earlier i can only get my cpu stable at 2.5ghz when its set to 1:1. Should I just bump it down or what?
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Whenever you are working up a an overclock, you should isolate the components and test them one at a time, otherwise you will never know what causes limitations for the particular system. I would start with CPU at stock voltages, bumping up the FSB (HTT) until the system is not stable. Keep the voltages all at stock and the memory as close to stock speed as you can. When HTT boosts make the system unstable, then boost voltages - first for the CPU vCore and then for the northbridge. Boost those voltages as necessary. You eventually will hit a thermal or HTT/frequency wall. At that point, you will know the potential or "headroom" of the CPU. At that point, back everything except voltages down to default. Set the memory-HTT ratio to 1:1 and start boosting the CPU again. When you hit your first instability, raise the memory voltage. Of course, there are all the memory timings to play with too. But anyway, when your system won't go any farther, you will know you've found the memory's speed wall.

    Concerning the CPU: if it's "unlocked" you then can lower the multiplier to try for even higher HTT settings.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    one more thing, I cant find that utlility on Asus's website for my motherboardm the k8v se deluxe. It lists a ton of motheroards, but not mine. i guess its just not supported or something
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Here's the download page for Asus files for your motherboard...and yup, guess Asus Update isn't available for your board.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    what about the memory. Should I keep it at 2:1 or 1:1?
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    Leo, thanks so much for the OC'ing tips. I got my cpu to run stable at 2.5ghz with a core voltage of 1.525. This is good enough for me, thanks so much. Now to use ATI tool and tweak my video card
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Let it sit at that OC. Relax, and then attack it after a week or two. Figure out a game plan before you begin again. Do you understand now what I was talking about, keeping the DRAM close to default speed while working up the CPU? As soon as you've got that part down, then work on a strategy for the DRAM overclock.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    so in a week or so your suggesting to drop the ram to 1:1 and try bumping up the fsb?

    also how high at most would you say to set the vcore of my cpu? I dont want to fry it.
  • LeonardoLeonardo Wake up and smell the glaciers Eagle River, Alaska Icrontian
    edited April 2006
    Yes, in a week or so, drop the FSB/HTT back down to stock, set the DRAM to 1:1 and see how far you can go. Oh yeah, before you start, write down your current BIOS settings so you can take it back if the want to.

    You will hit your CPU's limit, either a thermal limit or HTT, before you endanger it with too much voltage. Maybe I missed it above - what CPU heatsink are you using?

    Concerning voltage: you will get to a point where you notch up the vCore, to no effect; notch it up again at the same clock, still no effect. Usualy when you get to the point where two incremental vCore boosts don't take you higher, you've hit the FSB (HTT) wall. When that happens, then it's time for watercooling, if you're into that. I'm not.
  • tmh88tmh88 Pittsburgh / Athens, OH
    edited April 2006
    I have the thermaltake xp-90 heatsink
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