Stability question

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Grond
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Stability question

Post by Grond »

I fired up my old BP6 while I'm waiting for an Athlon Mobile to replace my dead cpu and noticed I'm having the same problem I've always had, computer locks up with the sound stuttering when playing games. I've got 2 400's that I got from Allstarshop running at 550. My vcore is set at 2.2 but runs between 2.14 and 2.19. VTT is reasonably stable with a minimum of 1.46 and max of 1.54 but usually stays pretty close to 1.5. My temps are 40C and 41C + or - 2 degress. This has gone on through many different operating systems and components so I'm guessing my chips just have trouble with 550. However its never crashed when running benchmarks, just during games. Anybody got any ideas? Should I try more voltage? I tried that briefly once but it didn't seem to help.
hugoc
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Post by hugoc »

What other peripherals are you using in the computer? Creative sound drivers have terrible SMP support and often just won't work in a dual-CPU rig. This might be causing problems.

What's the make/model and output of your PSU? Your voltages are not fluctuating by more than 5%, but you never know. A good brand-name PSU can often solve inexplicable power problems.

If you run the CPUs at 400, do the lockups and stuttering sound still happen? If they do, it's unlikely that you are pushing your CPUs too hard. In that case a voltage increase would do nothing. You should use just enough voltage to get your system stable and no more, because it generates excess heat.

Does the problem happen with all games or just a few? Which titles?
BP6, RU BIOS, 2*Celeron 366@550 1.9v
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Grond
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Post by Grond »

I've used all different components with no success. Since the sound was stuttering I replaced the sound card first. I was using the Creative and found all kinds of bad things out about them inculding the SMP problem. I'm using a Santa Cruz now. Only oher components in it right now are a GeForce 3 and Kingston NIC. My psu is a Sparkle 375 which was the best you could get at the time. All my voltages seem to stay pretty steady so I don't think thats it. I haven't tested it extensively at 400 but when I did I never got lock ups. Its not easily reproducible but seems to happen most often when the action gets heavy. It's happened in Diablo2, Starcraft and Kohan. I did some checking and my model is supposedly the 2nd most overclockable and its around week 40 so they should be pretty good unless they were remarked, but the price difference was so neglible back then I don't think that would be the case. I have FEP32 heatsinks and my case has 2 120mm fans and 1 92mm so I could probably safely use more voltage but I'm avoiding it unless I get some definite feedback that it may work. It looks like the vast majority of people using air cooling stay at 2.2 or lower. The problem is if I go below 92mhz bus the PCI divider changes to 1/2 so I wouldn't feel comfortable with anything over 80 which drops me down to 480.
BCN
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Post by BCN »

have you tried 91FSB - for me there is only a cheap NIC whihc does not work on that 45.5Mhz PCI :)
Dual C366@550MHz 1.90V :) (History)
yet single PIII-S 512Kb L2 cache at 1400MHz@700MHz
BP6 (not modded yet)
256MB PC133 C2
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Plus P4 system
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

Voltage: i recomend NOT increasing it. In fact try drop it to 1.95 and see if stability gets worse. When a menocino celeron needs more voltage it usually is at its limit and you probably are at the break point meaning voltage is not the problem.

think about the ram on the board. maybe you have a bad stick or have a pc-66 running at 92-CL2 or something.

What is your system temp in relation to the cpus? My BP6 had bad caps on the chipset and when replaced the system temp dropped 20degrees.

Good luck,
David
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

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Grond
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Post by Grond »

Is there a way to set FSB independent of CPU?
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

Grond wrote:Is there a way to set FSB independent of CPU?
no :(
celeron 400s have a multiplier of 6. 6X92=552mhz. Your 1st post said the 400s were running at 550.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

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Dave Rave
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Post by Dave Rave »

6.0 x 92 = 552
Holodeck2
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Post by Holodeck2 »

are your heatsinks seated right and thermal compounded? does it pass CPU burn?
yea, back from the dead

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Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

The Celerons might just not go to 550. I have tried at least three different sets of Celerons on different BP6s and none of them was perfectly stable at 550. At least one of them would go to 600 Mhz and all would do 550 Mhz in a single CPU configuration. But not in SMP mode.

The instability was only noticeable when I extracted very large .zips, which occasionally produced errors. At 523 Mhz everything was fine. 550 Mhz was no-go, not even with 2,3V VCore, a fan on the northbridge and vapochill cooling.

OK, I was kidding about the vapochill...
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

Wolfram wrote:The Celerons might just not go to 550. I have tried at least three different sets of Celerons on different BP6s and none of them was perfectly stable at 550. At least one of them would go to 600 Mhz and all would do 550 Mhz in a single CPU configuration. But not in SMP mode.

The instability was only noticeable when I extracted very large .zips, which occasionally produced errors. At 523 Mhz everything was fine. 550 Mhz was no-go, not even with 2,3V VCore, a fan on the northbridge and vapochill cooling.

OK, I was kidding about the vapochill...
vapochill cooling...is that where you use the ac compressor and evaborator from a ford f150? it only works if you are using the f12 freon.
hahaha

what voltage could u use on the 523mhz? i bet 1.9 was stable. seems like these cellys go wacky just past the speed you need to increase the voltage. i have a single 366 reported by mbm at 506mhz. stable at 1.9v. if i go past that it wont boot to the os even at 2.2v.
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

davd_bob wrote:what voltage could u use on the 523mhz? i bet 1.9 was stable. seems like these cellys go wacky just past the speed you need to increase the voltage. i have a single 366 reported by mbm at 506mhz. stable at 1.9v. if i go past that it wont boot to the os even at 2.2v.
You´re right, the celerons seem to be very picky about the voltage. My current combo is stable at 1,95 to 2,0V. Less stable at 1,9V or 2,05 or beyond. Was different for my other celeron sets, the first I ever had needed 2,05V für 2x523Mhz, IIRC. But in general, overvolting doesn´t seem to do much for these cpus. If you consider how much faster ie Athlon XPs can run if you increase the voltage.
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

iv never oc'ed an athlon.
qot a question. i bought about 2 years ago i think an athlon xp1700. retail. how can i tell if it is palamino or thouroughbred(sp)?
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

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Wolfram
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Post by Wolfram »

The Palomino has a larger die, more like a square. And they have different labels: The Palomino is labeled "AX1700xxxx" while the Thoroughbred is labeled like "AXDA 1700". The color of the oackage (green or brown) does not matter.

Pictures:

Palomino:
Image

Thoroughbred:
Image


More info.
BP6, RU BIOS, XP SP3, ACPI, 2x366@523(1,95V), Pentalpha HS + 1x 12cm fan @5V, 768MB, Powercolor Geforce 3, RTL8139D NIC, Terratec EWS64L, Samsung M40 80GB (2,5''), LiteOn CDRW
Holodeck2
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Post by Holodeck2 »

Thoroughbred are easier to OC expecially the B version
I'm running one right now and it's pimp. easy to OC but heat is a problem

vaporchill is a prebuilt system they got it all installed for you, just drop in a system and you're good to go. it uses 134a refreg not R12 (banned in the states)
vaporchill -ghetto version is the one where you rip it out of an old car, freezer, fridge... etc.
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Grond
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Post by Grond »

Don't hard drives have problems if you get too far from a 33 mhz bus?
BCN
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Post by BCN »

depends on the hard and on the controller - I have been on 45.5MHz on maxtors and promise ata133TX2 - no problems at all.

there will be NIC which which will give away first... :)
Dual C366@550MHz 1.90V :) (History)
yet single PIII-S 512Kb L2 cache at 1400MHz@700MHz
BP6 (not modded yet)
256MB PC133 C2
GF4Ti4200-8x
Maxtor 2x60Gb - all on promise ATA133
Lite-On LTR 40125S@48125W!!!
Plus P4 system
davd_bob
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Post by davd_bob »

Wolfram,
thanks for the pics.
I have VIA KT-133 chipset that someone said is not compatable with t'bred
I will look at the actual chip today to confirm though.
thanks
david
There are *almost* no bad BP6s. There are mostly bad caps.

No BP6s remaining
Athlon 2800
Sempron 2000
ViaCPU laptop with Vista.(Works great after bumping ram to 2Gig)
P-III 850@100
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