Official M3A32-MVP Deluxe and Phenom Overclocking Guide

[Psychlone]

PCI Frequency is going to need to be capped at 100MHz - anything higher is going to cause instability unless you're pumping loads more voltage through the PCI/PCI-E/HT/NB buses as well as your video card (which I'm sure you don't want to do) - drop it back to 100MHz and leave that one alone - this single setting can account for many fried GPUs.
I can't remember what the actual voltage is, but it I'm sure that nVidia cards require more voltage through the PCI-E bus than ATi cards - you may want to check to see what it should be getting and cap it in the BIOS under Chipset > PCI Express > GPP Slots Power Limit at that voltage. (too late or I'd look it up for you, but it does seem that I've seen it in the 200V range...somewhere. I've never owned an nVidia card, so I have absolutely no experience with it and won't speak of it any more (since I won't talk about things that I simply don't know) - other than to tell you that you've *got* to find that info and put it into effect in your BIOS.)

Another thing, your NB and HT are sharing that same bus (effectively) - you could try to drop down another notch on the HT and just test...it's not going to hurt any and could stand up to the stability you need...and even if you're in the 800-900MHz range in the HT, you're *never* going to saturate the PCI-E bus running at an effective 1600 to 1800MHz, so you're not going to loose any performance...you may loose a couple points in synthetic benchmarks, but you will *not* loose FPS in games or anything that's real-world, so don't stress about not being at 1300MHz - if your card isn't stable because of that, then it's not worth it. As a *LAST* resort, you can try upping the HT and Core/PCI-E PLL voltages - the Core/PCI-E voltage is actually the voltage directly applied to the NorthBridge and the HyperTransport Voltage is the actual voltage applied to the HT bus (which is really more than just the HT) - but, if you go this route, please pay attention to your motherboard temps now, as our passive HS assembly on the M3A32-MVP Deluxe isn't the best at cooling - although you do have good case cooling (which is the first thing to consider when upping NB/HT/PCI-E voltages) - it can get hotter than Hell in just a couple seconds when it's in use...anything in the mid to upper 40*C range and it's time to slap on that stupid little fan that came with the board - I really don't want to do it myself, but I would if I had to.

(damn...I just wish I knew what the PCI-E voltage should be for nVidia cards so I could just tell you...)

Aside from that, you've done *excellent* work. I love it when someone just takes the ball and runs with it rather than fumbling constantly with the concept of running!!

You certainly know enough now to be able to help others with the same thing. See? It really is easy once you know the concepts!

Psychlone

[Airbus Pilot]

correct me if I'm wrong but isn't "> PCI Express > GPP Slots Power Limit" a wattage as opposed to a voltage? Currently that setting is at 25w if memory serves me correctly

[Airbus Pilot]

Although I have ran memtest86+ at startup and it checks out ok with my OC'd settings, is it possible it could still be a RAM issue?! Reason I ask is that sometimes I notice some pops in the sound (which seems to point at a ram issue) and on one crash I got a blue screen (ram again no?). Having said that, my ram sticks, currently running at 1170 vs 1066, is still on stock voltage of 2.2v. Maybe I should beef this one up a couple notches and try again............

[Psychlone]

Your RAM probably doesn't need any more juice - pretty sure they're D9 sticks taking that kind of abuse at stock voltage! - I wouldn't go there, besides, you say that they pass memtest86+ at overclocked settings, so they're stable for sure.

The pop you're hearing is probably an IRQ conflict and nothing to do with your RAM - what soundcard are you using? If you don't have your soundcard in the bottom-most PCI slot on the motherboard, try that - that will usually fix IRQ conflicts with most cards - another thing you can do is INCREASE your PCI Latency in the BIOS to 96 or 128...allowing the PCI card to hold the bus for a bit longer.

To see any/all IRQ conflicts, if you're using Vista, go to Control Panel > Performance Information and Tools > Advanced Tools > View Advanced System Details in System Information
When the System Information window comes up, open the + sign next to Hardware Resources, then click Conflicts/Sharing and wait a second while it populates the data.
More than likely, your sound card will be sharing an IRQ with the Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller, but it could certainly be another one. Since there's no way to BIOS force any IRQ, especially for Creative cards, the only option you have is to move it to the bottom-most slot (which automagically changes the IRQ it receives)

If you're not using a sound card at all, and are using the onboard Soundmax, it's more than likely going to have an IRQ of 19, which is more than likely shared with the Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller - or worse, one of the Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controllers or one of the IDE Channel, in which case, you can try to RESERVE IRQ14 or IRQ15 in BIOS and see if Windows will stuff it in there, but our BIOS is limited in just what IRQs can be manually forced RESERVED, and it won't do much good (if not be completely unstable) at any other IRQ available.

Good luck on that one - but my bet is on an IRQ conflict and nothing else - your system should have proven completely stable by now, so any hiccup you experience is going to be something that's not related to your overclock.

Psychlone

[Airbus Pilot]

Well, believe it or not, after trying every other setting in the bios, upping some MB voltages, lowering HT and RAM, in the end, after nothing seemed to work, I decided to juice up my ram's voltage and the problem disappeared! And yes even after memtest86+ showed a pass.

strange I know

[Viscarious]

Newest 1202 BIOS up on Asus' website.

[sinister_steve]

Originally Posted by Viscarious

Newest 1202 BIOS up on Asus' website.

Ok I tried some of the settings for my m3a32-mvp deluxe and cf 4850,s and phenom 9850..I just wanted to get my CF working better but it faled to overclock ...and all I did was change gpp to 75 and enable the gen2 option to autonomouse on all 12 of them...someone helps me...I am trying to figure out why im gettting lag in ET quake wars and figured some settings might need to change ...i did everything but change some settings in bios ..even clean install of windows when got new 4850,s and phenom 9850 last month...please helps me thanks./..Steve

[Viscarious]

Originally Posted by sinister_steve

Ok I tried some of the settings for my m3a32-mvp deluxe and cf 4850,s and phenom 9850..I just wanted to get my CF working better but it faled to overclock ...and all I did was change gpp to 75 and enable the gen2 option to autonomouse on all 12 of them...someone helps me...I am trying to figure out why im gettting lag in ET quake wars and figured some settings might need to change ...i did everything but change some settings in bios ..even clean install of windows when got new 4850,s and phenom 9850 last month...please helps me thanks./..Steve

I dont think you need to enable automous switch on all 12 sockets. only 2,3 & 11,12. This is for both blue slots only though. I set the gfx2 to auto as i dont know what it is lol.

Maybe that helps

[sinister_steve]

Originally Posted by Viscarious

I dont think you need to enable automous switch on all 12 sockets. only 2,3 & 11,12. This is for both blue slots only though. I set the gfx2 to auto as i dont know what it is lol.

Maybe that helps

hey thanks that helps...ok so I will set the 2,3 11,12 to autonomouse ..and it didnt change anything when i changed the gfx2 so i changed it back hahaha.oh ya should I set the gpp to 75 still ?..ok will do that tho.oh ya another thing hahaha should I set all the gen2 to enabled since im running CF? DAMN LOTS OF QUESTIONS HAHAH THANKS LOT..Steve.

[Viscarious]

I never found the Gen2 settings so I cant help there but as far as the watt settings in the BIOS, I set the sockets 2,3,11, and 12 to 75 watts and left the one watt setting on the first page to 25. Everything works fine for me here.

[sinister_steve]

Originally Posted by Viscarious

I never found the Gen2 settings so I cant help there but as far as the watt settings in the BIOS, I set the sockets 2,3,11, and 12 to 75 watts and left the one watt setting on the first page to 25. Everything works fine for me here.

Ok thanks ,I will just set the wats in the 2,3,11,12 to auton and 75w...I think the gen2 is supposed to be for crossfire which I have so perhaps I will change them to...Steve

[Bytor]

2,3 & 11, 12 are for the 2 blue slots. I'm running 3 cards in slots 1,2 & 3, which is for that second slot?
I have 2,3,11,12 setup and in GPU-z the second card shows 2.0. Wonder if the 2nd and 4th slots are somehow tied into the 1st and 3rd slots.

3870 in second slot.

[Viscarious]

Tell me how it is set up again? Or take a pic and host it.

Blue
Black
Blue
Black

Thats how it is setup on our boards so how are the cards arranged?

[Bytor]

They are in the top 3 PCI-e slots.

1st slot Blue
2nd slot Black
3rd slot Blue

[Bytor]

Here's one for ya..

Why are the top 2 at 8x and the 3rd at 16x?

Psychlone and I had alot of PM's over this one.

[Viscarious]

Im so envious of your setup lol.

I'm going to go check it out in my BIOS and get back with results, I'll edit this post with the results.

Alright. There is an option in BIOS under the PCI Express section called 'Primary video adapter' or something similar. What is yours set to? This should tell you why and which card is getting all the focus, which in your case is the 3rd bottom card. Which DVI connection are you using too? This may also contribute to which card getting the 16x slot. I think maybe you have your monitor plugged into that bottom card and it could need the 16x. Not sure tho.

And when you are in your BIOS, look through each of the ports. The ones that are being used will have additional options to select. IE, which mode you want to use and how high. (1x,4x,8x,16x, auto)

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by Bytor

Here's one for ya..

Why are the top 2 at 8x and the 3rd at 16x?

Psychlone and I had alot of PM's over this one.

Set the 3 rd slot to 16x and the 2nd to 8x then the rest to 1x like it says in the manual.

[Bytor]

I dont see the option or anything that says "Primary video Adaptor". All the slots are set to auto (1x,4x,8x,16x, auto).

I have changed them around to:

1st slot 16x
2nd slot 8x
3rd slot 8x

But it wont boot this way..

[Bytor]

Originally Posted by H82LUZ73

Set the 3 rd slot to 16x and the 2nd to 8x then the rest to 1x like it says in the manual.

The 3rd slot is at 16x already. the 1st and 2nd are at 8x

[Viscarious]

Sorry, Bytor, hit F4 when you get into BIOS. That will show some hidden features.

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by Airbus Pilot

correct me if I'm wrong but isn't "> PCI Express > GPP Slots Power Limit" a wattage as opposed to a voltage? Currently that setting is at 25w if memory serves me correctly

PCIE 2.0 needs 75 watts

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by Bytor

The 3rd slot is at 16x already. the 1st and 2nd are at 8x

The first and 3 rd should be at x16 then the 2nd at x8 or x16 ,I would say try taking out the card in the second slot and see if the 2 blue ones go to x16.
Reading the manual when 3 cards are in it will go to
PCIE 1 8x
2 8x
3 16x Strange to me but it is normal.

[Bytor]

Ok here are the options once I hit F4.

PCIE GFX0-GFX2-GPP-PCI
PCIE GFX2-GFX0-GPP-PCI
PCIE GPP-GFX0-GFX2-PCI
PCI-PCIEGFX0-GFX2-GPP

Is this setup in bios as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd in that order?

I'm thinking that the 2nd slot is married to the 1st slot and the 4th to the 3rd. So if you have a card in both the 1st and 2nd slots they back down to 8x and since there is no card in the 4th slot the 3rd is at full speed 16x. Thats just a thought

[Bytor]

Originally Posted by H82LUZ73

The first and 3 rd should be at x16 then the 2nd at x8 or x16 ,I would say try taking out the card in the second slot and see if the 2 blue ones go to x16.
Reading the manual when 3 cards are in it will go to
PCIE 1 8x
2 8x
3 16x Strange to me but it is normal.

I'm thinking thats the way it is also and there is nothing I can do to change it.

The monitor is plugged into the top card

[H82LUZ73]

Originally Posted by Bytor

Ok here are the options once I hit F4.

PCIE GFX0-GFX2-GPP-PCI
PCIE GFX2-GFX0-GPP-PCI
PCIE GPP-GFX0-GFX2-PCI
PCI-PCIEGFX0-GFX2-GPP

Is this setup in bios as the 1st, 2nd, 3rd in that order?

I'm thinking that the 2nd slot is married to the 1st slot and the 4th to the 3rd. So if you have a card in both the 1st and 2nd slots they back down to 8x and since there is no card in the 4th slot the 3rd is at full speed 16x. Thats just a thought

Yep that is what i read in the manual page 4-24 ,They share the bandwidth.

By the way Bytor that is one sweet setup you have.