The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

ahh i got someone to buy my xp2000 so am planning on getting a xp2500 once they buy it...an am planning on getting this meomry "GeIL 512MB Kit DDR400 PC3200 Dual Channel" wht u guys think of that memory?

 

4w4k3 nice clock! What are you using to keep you'r cpu cool & you'r ddr got to be heatting up to?

 

I need help, please! I can't seem to get any results from overclocking my CPU. I've got an Asus A7N8X-X motherboard, and I've played around with the BIOS, but it doesn't impact the benchmark results I get from 3DMark 2001 or 2003.

Specifically, I've been playing with the CPU multiplier. The default is 10.5x, to get 2100 mhz. I've kicked it up to 12.5x or even 14.0x, but nothing happens. Any ideas on what's wrong?

 

hey check for jumpers on the mother board. it might have your multiplier locked ! what kind of cpu are you trying to clock

 

Try upping the fsb speed instead of the multiplier. You will notice very little in the way of 3d mark scores improving unless you are overclocking everything (ram, cpu, and video card). If I just raise my fsb, my 3d mark scores don't improve a whole lot. If I up the fsb and overclock the gpu+ram on my video card then I can get up to 3000 to 4000 more points on 2001.

 

OK, I will read up on it but I am having a hard time finding a google response that gives me a basic tutorial on OC. First, can I OC this set-up and which memory should I use?

I have a Tyan Thunder i7505
Dual Xeon 4, 3.06Ghz CPU's that rate at 3060MHz / 4 x 133, multiplier 23/1x
Supports 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB unbuffered DDR200/266 modules' memory.
I have two 1024 2100's (133MHz)
I have (not installed) two 1024 2700's (333MHz)
Lot's more, it is a pretty beafy PC that I use as my workstation. I have 6 rackmount servers also and want to learn how to OC so I can tweak any one of them but I do not know what I am doing. I put the the system specs on web if any one wants to see in order to give me advice or not at http://www.uberfly.net/TyanUserManual.pdf

Any Help is appreciated
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]If it ain't broke then mess with it until it is[/small]

 

Thanks for the advice. I think the problem might be that my CPU is locked. It's an AMD 3000+ XP, and I bought it a few months ago. I've been searching around and it seems that the consensus is that newer AMD CPU's are locked.

On the FSB front, 200Mhx is the max my mobo will recognize, so I can't seem to kick it up any higher. I'm not sure I have any options left, other than to overclock the graphics card...
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]ASUS A7N8X-X, XP3000+
Crucial 1024MB, PC3200
Thermaltake 420W
AOpen FX5900XT 128MB[/small]

 

That is strange, overclockers nz got the same board up to 228mhz fsb here:
http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=03boardnforce20asus0000a7n8xx000505
edit: I also found this article that shows your max fsb setting to be 250mhz with the proper jumper configuration. You need to check your manual and find your CPU_Select jumper.
http://www.lostcircuits.com/motherboard/asus_a7n8x-x/3.shtml
edit: by the way burlives the fx5900xt is supposed to be a monster overclocker. A little research on the net and you should be able to find a goal to shoot for.
_X_X_X_X_X_[small]P4 2.8c @ 3.2
Abit IC7-G
2x80 gb seagates barracudas
ATI AIW 9600 soft mod by w1zzard
2 x 256 pc 3200 Kingston valueram(hynix chips)[/small]

 

Smather sorry to ignore you there mate. I really don't know about dual cpu boards other than they are not aimed at the enthusiast market. So even though I haven't researched your board I would say that the options to overclock would be vey limited if at all. If your board will support the pc2700 memory I would install it. If you want to overclock build a cheaper system with older components and light er up with no worries.

 

Askyew - thanks a ton for your help. Those links were very helpful. One of the links you sent had a screenshot of the possible FSB settings, and the menu looked much different than what I had seen. So I knew if I played around in the BIOS enough, I'd get there.

Turns out my mobo can go up to 300 mhz, if you know how to use it. My problem wasn't a matter of setting the right jumper cables, it was just a BIOS setting issue. I blame partly myself and partly the poor instruction manual (which made no mention of FSB settings higher than 200mhz!).

Thanks again.

 

Thanks, I will buy a mother board to play with if anyone has suggestions on which one(s). I have all of the other parts so I can build a new PC rather quickly.

 

BurlIves, I am confused:
I belive the XP3200+ is the only Athlon that runs 200/400FSB.
Your XP3000+ runs 166FSB, does it not?
There is no XP3000+ chip available that runs 10.5 x 200 = 2100MHz (not in Canada, at least).
A stock XP3000+ Barton runs 13 x 166 = 2167MHz.
My XP2500+ Barton runs 11 x 166 = 1833MHz.
When switched to 200FSB, it comes up XP3200+ as I, Praetor, agent-k, and countless others know very well
Can you confirm your info using CPU-Z?

Here is some further info:
http://www.active-hardware.com/english/reviews/processor/athlon-xp3000.htm

L8R

 

It's definitely 200/400 FSB. Here's a link to where I bought it from (newegg) where they list some of the specs:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=19-103-394&depa=0

When I get home tonight, I'll send you a link to this definitive writeup someone did that explains all the differences between the AMD chips. That also shows the XP3000 is 200 FSB.

On another note, now that I know how to kick up the FSB past 200 on my mobo, it's slow going. So far, I'm stable at 210, but not 220. Going to have to really starting picking through this thread to see the kinds of things I can do to increase stability...

 

There you go: so it is.
Never seen one before - my wholesaler doesn't list it!
To increase stability, run it @ 200
To weasle a bit more performance, and throw off your PCI and AGP timing, OC.
That (and the fullspeed L2) is why you can reach 210 but not 220MHz...
At 220 your AGP will run 73.333 instead of 66.
Also PC3500 memory would help, but your PC3200 will probably OC, if left to its SPD settings.
Have you increased CPU voltage beyond 1.65v?
If you are stable @ 210/420DDR, be happy I guess.
(Hey, 200 is a wicked OC for us!)
Regards

 

I'm surprised to hear you so complacent on my results. You are the OC gods, right? The way I figure it, you guys are able to kick up FSBs from 166 to 200 (20% increase), so why can't I? That would mean 240 FSB. But I have to settle for 210 (5% increase). You gotta understand, I want to see that gore SPARKLE in doom 3!

So I'll press forward on tweaking a bit further. I tried kicking up CPU voltage from 1.65 to 1.7, but I couldn't post (so picky!). Tried shortening the memory timings as well, but to the same effect.

I've left the memory speed at its SPD settings which I assume means the BIOS will keep it synched to the CPU speed, so I don't think I can improve there. But I wonder if the memory is just more sensitive to the O/C than the CPU. Combine that with the fact that my CPU is locked on the multiplier (so my only O/C option is to increase FSB) and that explains why I can't get the same overall speed (FSB * multiplier) increase as you guys, when measured on a % increase basis.

 

Here's that link to the AMD CPU guide:

http://www.overclock.net/showthread.php?t=172

As I mentioned before, it's an extremely thorough summary of the various AMD CPUs and their capabilities.

 

BurlIves, when you say you tried to shorten the mem timings did you lower them? To relax the mem timings you need higher numbers to help with the overclock. My pc3200 will do 230fsb at spd (which means the mems rated timings) 3-3-3-8 but over that I have to relax the timings to 3-4-4-8. Have you tried to raise the mems voltage? The mem voltage is a great tool in getting stable overclocks but I personally relax the timings first. After you achieve the overclock even if you boot into windows you still may have instability issues. I always run mem test to check the memory after a succesful overclock, if it fails I relax the timings. If it fails after relaxing the timings, then I raise the mem voltage .5v at a time until I get no errors. Then stess test with looping sis sandra and watch the temps. Always watch the temps closely when overclocking and if you don't have heat spreaders on your ram then get some. Here is a good place to get bench/stability tools:
http://www.benchmarkhq.ru/english.html?/b_e.html

 

Smather are you an intel or amd kinda guy? What type of overclocks are you looking for? How much money ya got? I love my IC7 but it is getting dated and kind of pricey still at 134usd at newegg. It has gone as far as 270mhz fsb with the ram at 5/4 but it wasn't prime stable(with the vcore @ stock voltage) and the heat kinda scared me. There are alot of people that have gotten it stable at 300fsb with water cooling. I am currently running 230fsb 24/7 stock air cooling with good case ventilation. There is also the 865 springdale intel chipset bords that go for under 100usd that are the sister of the 875 canterwood boards. The latest northwood processor is the MO stepping which is supposed to give great overclocks but my old D1 does just fine. The P4 2.8C runs about 180usd at newegg but the big overclocking 2.4c runs about 145usd. I recommend the northwood "C" core because it has less heat issues than the prescott "E" core. If you are into amd you can find the older mobile xp processors to be a real bargain shown here:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=property&DEPA=1
Be sure and check out the reviews to see what boards other people are using with it.The reason I like the mobile is that the lower wattage allows more overclock with less heat= more stability. Plus they are socketA so budget boards are common. I know that the mobile will work with the Abit nf7-s boards but the dividers are kind of hit or miss, or so I have read, but it could be user error(The intel 865/875 has good agp/pci locks until around 300mhz fsb). Just remember that if you go budget with these boards that they are very old and dated but they are cheap. If you have a manufacturer in mind then go here and reaserch the boards with socketA/462 processors:
http://www.hardocp.com/reviews.html?cat=MiwsLCws
The Hardocp sight is how I decided on my board and they were right on.

 

Thanks for the suggestions, askyew. I kicked the FSB to 220, increased the memory timings to 3-4-4-9, and kicked up the mem voltage from 1.6 to 1.7, but I've still got stability problems in windows.

I went to that website you referenced and downloaded some monitoring programs (thanks for the link), so maybe that will help.

 

BurlIves I kind of stopped short on the stability steps that I use, must be gettin old and not as sharp. I use the burn in in sis sandra looping at least 30 times because usually it will help with the new overclock stability and maybe help to higher overclocks. After a good burn in I use prime to test the stability. Let prime run for at least 24hrs and look for errors.