The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

I'm just curious, but why do any of us experienced even stress or focus on these little features? From what I read here and other sites, most noobz don't even bother to do full diagnostis before requesting RMA anyways. Most could be resolved at home if patient.

Even the beep codes (most reliable) on workstation mobos are just basic guidence. Not real 100% reports. They can at best nerrow down to a group of itemsto troubleshoot.

But for the fun features, ABIT uses a mobo mounted LED pannel but is on mobo so if not using window door case, you still need to open it. Again, moe of a "bling bling" for the gamers in the Fatality market. MSI had a blinking LED drop in pannel you could mount in I/O perrifial slot but you had to get back there and still decode basic codes.

Even when breaking in a new overclock w/ many crashes I never had to use it in relation to overclock.

 

So, I bought a CPU, a AMD Athlon XP 2800+ about a year and 2 months ago. Lately, Ive really been getting into computers and fixing them and messing with them.

My computer, ever since I bought it, has had temperature problems. the average right now is about 65-57 degrees. I burnt out 2 power sources and got them replaced and set a shut down temp at 70 C. however, whenever I play video games unless the temp in my room is freezing, my comp will automatically shut down after 10 minutes or so.

I downloaded CPU-Z and it tells me that my core

multiplier is 16.0X and Im running at 2130 MHz.

where I live, it is fraud to sell a comp thats been overclocked. and my PC is a custom built from a small computer store.

is my computer overclocked? how can I find out?


Heres the rest of the info, from CPU-z

 

The 2800+ Mobile is correct at 2.13Ghz. I think you just have a cooling issue. Is it a laptop or a desktop PC? If a desktop you can easily and cheaply upgrade the Heatsink and add additional fans. If it's a laptop, it may be worthwhile considering an aftermarket Laptop cooler.

 

CPUGeek,
Just out of curiosity, do you know what kind of CPU Cooler you have. I've seen a lot of socket A ones that are little more than an aluminum heat sink with a fan on top of it. If that's the case, look into an Arctic or a Zalman. The XP's do run rather hot but I would expect more about 47 to 50C than what you are getting. Have you ever cleaned the dust out of it? That can be a major problem if the dust isn't blown out of it once in a while.

How about case fans? Lots of older computers around where the only case fan is the one in the power supply.

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Try downloading Hmonitor, Everest or Speedfan. These programs will tell you the temperature of your CPU when it's running. However, since it automatically shuts down we know you have a temperature issue. Check for dust first, before considering uprated cooling. If the problem hasn't always existed, it's either that or fan failure that's caused the issue.

Additional note: Linking the FSB and memory speeds causes the PC not to boot at 3Ghz, I'm not decreasing my OC for the sake of it, so I'll leave it unlinked methinks.

 

Thes are very overclockible and even more so on a good descktop mobo. Just like the Pentium M on ASUS P4C800 was w/ S429 adapter. I had a 2500+ XP-M on a DFI LanParty nForce2

You should spring for a solid copper sink. The biggest effective one to fit is gonna be the classic Zolman CNPS7000 (any version) Copper/aluminum blend is OK too and cheap today under $30 US. There may be bigger but I have not messed w/ this rig for 3 yrs+

In fat, if on a descktop and running hot, it may be running at descktop vcore. M's were bin-picked to be top notch Barton cores and thus can and needed to run few points lower vcore to be energy efficiant in notebooks. Stock or higher vcore is fine, but need to keep it cool. These M and Barton were the nick-named "the little heaters" of the PC world. I have been involved in many LAN partys where 1 or 3 AMD Barton's could heat a 10x12 room in mins and shut and cause even an Intel to throttle down and Hibernate (Barton had no safty shut down so BIOS setting was so important.)

Let me know if this helps. I used to OC these and they were fune to compete w/ Intel Northwoods.

 

I have a similiar Barton XP-M 2800+. It's stock 2133mhz. That's the 266fsb model. Mine (slightly overclocked @ 2282) is running w/ no real load @ 44C w/ case @ 25C. I think my max is about 54C and I'm only using a Volcano 8. Try removing the cpu-fan and seeing if there's a layer of dust & hair and stuff between the HS-Fan and the HS itself.





And MBM just flashed a case temp of 57C... LOL! I think that capacitor is going out pretty fast here.

 

Forgot to add this info:

I had heat issues @ first too. Then I took some alcohol and removed the old waxy thermal compound from the CPU & heatsink. Then I used a plastic sandwich bag to apply a very thin layer of Arctic Silver Ceramique to both the CPU and heatsink. I refitted the heatsink after twisting it several times to remove little air bubbles, secured it, and blam. I dropped the CPU temp by 13C with about 15-20mins of work.

Good luck and happy cooling!

 

Funny, my Barton 3000+ Desktop had thermal shutdown protection - just as well or I would have fried it!

 

Since this is the overclocking thread, I happened to go over all my drivers except the bios just to make sure that everything was up to date. I'll leave the bios (F10) alone since I'm having no problems with the computer. I have to say that I am very impressed with both GigaByte and nVidia as all of the drivers that came on the CDs were the absolute latest. That has to be a first for me. Usually when you go on line, the chipset, bios and the video drivers are usually out of date. I didn't even check the video driver version that I had installed from the CD and downloaded the latest revision of Forceware. When I went to put it in the mVidia Forceware folder, I was shocked to see that it was already there.

My only real gripe is that I can't raise the FSB more and use a lower multiplier. If I was running an E6300 or higher, it wouldn't be a problem because it starts with a higher FSB to begin with. I understand this is a problem related to the 800MHz FSB of the E4300 and there's not much you can do about it. I'm very happy with what my $129 processor can do.

Just for S's & G's I ran all the Super Pi 1.5 tests and I think I have good reason not to be unhappy.



Not too bad at all when compared to an E6600 OC'd to 3.60 on water (Mort81's). Current price for an E4300 is less than half that of the E6600 so you know I'm smiling!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

Who would EVER buy an X6800?

 

Russ,

no water cooling on mine my friend (zalman cnps9500led). you still have no reason to be unhappy. your super PI scores aren't too far off mine.

 

Mort81,

I must have "Water on the Brain"!LOL!! It's Ken that has the water cooling. I'm still not unhappy. I read a couple of hundred reviews in various places on the net and I only found about a dozen that run as fast as mine does. I also found a number of "claims" for 3.6 or higher with a x9 multiplier, which is pure BS! Even Intel will tell you that the E4300 won't run a 1600 (400x4) buss. That's why you can run the 6300 faster because of it's 1066 native buss speed. The way the prices keep going down, I may even put an E6600 in the GigaByte and see what it will do!

I can get it up to a hair under 3.4 (3.393), but to be stable I would have to raise the voltage higher than my standards will allow. It's just not worth risking the CPU for the couple of minutes I would save encoding with DVDRB/CCE. Most DVDs are processed in under 45 minutes as it is now. I can usually do the whole job in about an hour. Beats the hell out of the 3 hours or so it used to take with the Dell! ROFL!

I give you and Ken full credit for my switch to the DS3. It's been a very happy choice for me! See what happens when you get people thinking!!LOL!!

Best Regards.
Russ

 

I'm not convinced the 6300 can go further, since starting from a 1066mhz bus means it loses a chunky 33% potential on the 4300. Put a 4300 to 2.4Ghz, and then it effectively becomes stock with the others! I just wish like you I had gone the DS3 route. I can't put my PC into standby because it won't boot hot, you need to press the reset button first. Another completely inexplicable issue. I suffer no stability issues at all, yet getting past POST is an arduous procedure. On some occasions if the PC hasn't cooled down fully after shutting it down, it may take a dozen reset presses before it will POST. Crashproof BIOS my ass, probably since I haven't changed any settings, the sudden lack of POST would catch it out. I was only intending the 4300 to be a temporary upgrade, but it's the motherboard that I may swap!
There are BIOS revisions by the hundredweight that might solve the isue, but then there are many more that make the situation worse, BIOS flashes are risky enough without considering they may not work anyway! My ironically now faulty A8N board worked fine off the first BIOS, why shouldn't this one? Admittedly I only overclocked that 9% versus 67%, but the resulting issues were perfectly predictable, and it was dead easy to find the most stable frequency. With the P5N-E that isn't possible, because it changes by day!

 

of course they will say that but its not always the case. i dont think for a minute that everyone they make will hit it but im sure a fair few of them do.

mine will sit at 410x8 (1600fsb) all day and has booted 440x6 (1760fsb) with my ram at 820 and 880 respectfuly. i have posted links to them hitting over 4ghz on air in the past. just because you have not been as lucky as some others have with your cpu is not a good enough reason to state their claims as bullsh*t.

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=181882
they wont do a 1600 fsb?

 

marsey99,

I only have the second best stepping and I haven't seen or heard of any with that stepping getting past 377MHz which is just a tick below 3.4! I understand that the newest stepping won't OC worth a hoot! I would guess you either have the B1 stepping or got a very well binned L!

With mine, anything above 377MHZ and it gives a black screen. I tried it in increments of 1 all the way to 444MHz and all you get is no post and a lot of complaining from the speaker on the MB. I'm going to get a chance to find out as I am building an E6420/GA-965P-DS3 for a customer as fast as the parts can get here. I've tried all the multipliers with no success. I even tried the D-940 in it and had no difficulties getting past 400MHz.

The way this baby runs, I'll leave well enough alone before I hurt something. I know I can give it more voltage and get it to 3.4, but I'm not willing to exceed 1.40v for anything! My numbers are good, temps are excellent and I'm more than happy with my DVDRB/CCE times. To be honest, it's given me more than I expected knowing from the go that I didn't have the original B1 stepping. At least it's not the latest one! LOL!!

Happy Computering,
theone

 

L2 mine, FPO# Q641A286

i cant really complain about my results as i have found my max @ 3.3ghz but im not 100% sure that its my cpus limit, as although some reviews have shown my mobo to hit 2100fsb other reviews of store bought samples have said they too have only been able to hit 3.3/3.4ghz.


i think alot of it comes down to the batch as with every revision there has been good batches and bad ones. i think every one who has bought a c2d has expected to get the same oc as those who have been lucky with their batch and then when a bad batch hits the shelves and sombody cant hit 3.6ghz its the end of the world and they all no longer oc.

 

i took this same mentality to the quad-cores! LOL, i can't hit 3.6ghz on my Q6600 so i've given up!, seems 3.4ghz stable is the best i can do at this point w/ my given choice of components (eVGA 680i A1 revision w/ P28 BIOS) guess i'll have to wait for a newer bios in the future~ or get a better CHIP! hehe

docTY

 

given a good enough price, I WOULD just to mess with the unlocked multi~ but realistically speaking, it will be a cold day in hell before an X6800 drops to below let's say, the $300 USD range, (which happens to be MY personal spending limit for a dual-core processor at this point, quad cores is a diff. story) available to the everyday consumer market~

i've paid a LOT more for AMD x2's (4400+ @ $460) when they first came out and even $350 for my opty 185 early last year. prices have since plummeted, but i have no regrets on the AMD front, it was good tech. at the time and i wanted it badly enough to fork over the green (no pun intended)

docTY

 

Wow, great deal on that 4400. I dropped closer to $600.00 for mine and after the let down of my Intel D results for the money spent. It was the newer 89w rev so it was worth it as for now, my AMD was finally the cooler running OD'd rig in the room. I was open to new ideas. This was my long time come back to AMD after several years. I ran this 4400 at various OC's over the past 18 months and is still serving strong today daily at 2.85/1142HT @ 1:1 DDR571