OC'ing for beginner?2500 barton.

JackKelly

Sorry to be posting such a repeditive topic but I'm a total noob to OC'ing and i want to get my barton 2500 AMD up to the 3200 speeds iv heard possible.Can anyone point me in the right direction? My MB is Asus a7xn8. 512 DDR RAM. Any websites would be great or any pointers. I presume i need a better fan than the stock one.?i did a search and it was a bit over my head, can anyone give me the basics?or links!

OfflerCrocGod

Firstly your MB is a A7N8X I'd say, so next thing you need to tell us is what type of RAM you have PC3200/400Mhz RAM is the type you need to get 3200+ speeds anything lower then that getting 3200+ speeds would be unlikely. If you do have PC3200 RAM just go into BIOS and change the FSB speed from 166 to 200Mhz - that's it you now have a 3200+:D.

JackKelly

crap, its that easy!? im pretty sure my RAM is 3200 but i will have to check.
what happened to unlocking it, and multiplyers and all that?!

Giblet

Well to get to 3200 speeds, the best way is to have it at 200x11, which means you don't have to touch the multipliers, so it's won't matter if they are locked.

If you can't get 3200 this way, you can try upping the multiplier, if you can't it's locked.

Some Bartons ain't locked though, like mine for example.

Woden

well there in only one way to get to 3200+ and that is 200*11 though there is other ways to get to 2.2ghz.

if it is a new barton chip i reckon it will be locked however you can still up the fsb which is what you wanna be doing anyway if you can manage it.

check out this very good guide here for amd overclocking

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138583

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JackKelly

nice one, thanks for the information

JackKelly

?? i went up to 200 X 11 but it got really unstable, e.g. i couldn't boot up. Why is this? should i mess with the voltage or anything? im 99% sure my ram is 3200 so i dunno wats wrong. I think my Barton is unlocked? All the Multiplyers are availible.

Woden

yeah you may need to up your vcore to get it stable or you ram voltage (though you shouldn't need to increase you ram voltage if it is 3200). try a vcore of 1.75 and see if that helps watch your temps though keep em under 50c if ya can. if all the multi's are available it is unlocked

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JackKelly

ok. so what causes instability? I uped it to 1.75 with 200 FSB but things started to cut out and the temps were up to 61C. I made sure that the RAM was 3200 (which it is). So i defo need a new fan. But what else is the problem. Im getting blue screens of death.

OfflerCrocGod

It could just mean that your CPU is just not up to it, not ALL 2500+s are OCable 2 3200+ just the vast majority - it may be that you were unlucky and got a non OCable one. According to your MB web page you may need a BIOS upgrade to actually use 400Mhz FSB, try that.

Woden

you also need better cooling tbh 61c is too high imo and higher voltage through the ram may help also, follow that guide above especially if you have a unlocked barton

JackKelly

yeah i checked that out.

i increased the RAM Volt. to 2.7 instead of 2.6 which stabilized it a good bit.My vcore is at 1.775. My FSB only goes to 200 but the multiplyers are all unlocked. Its now running at 3200 speeds. Its at about 50C though, without a load. So i will need to get a new fan.

I am able to change all the RAM timings but i dont really know what to change them too!
How will overclocking a 2500 to a 3200 effect my speed?Is there a big difference?Also the lifetime.Is there a lot of stress on the CPU now?

Woden

try lower you vcore and see if you can still get stability. test stability with prime95 can keep an eye on your temp. and get yourself a coolermaster fan called the aero 7, or aero lite or somthing like that. you'll see the one its on www.komplett.ie for about €22