Athlon 64 Overclocking Discussion ( post here with questions/advice)

conzy

Ok, Alot of people have been asking about overclocking lately, and I have been getting a lot of PMs, So I thought I would make a thread where people can ask questions and just get general advice about overclocking.

Overclocking Guides and articles on forums.amd.com

Overclocking turboguide

So, Let the questions begin:D

patch

Thanks for this thread Conzy (I PM'd earlier to ask for any advice)
I'm going to have a look through those links and get back to this thread then.

I've an Opteron 144 (one of the early ones),
Zalman cooler (cant remember which model. Huge though )
A8N-SLI deluxe motherboard,
OCZ platinum Revision 2 ram,
Fortron 400w PSU,
XFX Geforce 7800gt xxx edition

awhir

good 1 cozzy pm 1 of the mods to sticky.even tho there only on in a blue moon.

conzy

Ill wait another while, if its popular im sure it will be stickied:)

Drapper

great links !

also thanks for all the help man !! :-)


but Bios is not saving when power is fully switched off :-(

awhir

try a new batrey.

Drapper

did that :-(

christophicus

I think this thread should deffinatly be stickied i know when i get my system in the new year (hopefully) i would rally appreciate an overclocking thread.If it is sticked i think it will grow and provide a good place for overclocking newbs to come and read through to get the basics.

Psycopat

I have an AMD 64 3500+ in a HP laptop, would i be able to overclock it? Would i get a large speed increase? Is it hard? Is it dangerous?
Other specs:
1 gb RAM
128 MB radeon X200

Thanks

Cuddlesworth

Drapper wrote:

great links !

also thanks for all the help man !! :-)


but Bios is not saving when power is fully switched off :-(

I know this seems obvious but is your c-mos jumper turned to on?

conzy

Thats what I thought too, but he checked and its not....

@Psycopat, You can overclock it with clockgen if it supports you chipset.

But overclocking a laptop isnt dangerous as it will shutdown if it gets to hot.

But you cant adjust voltage so heat shouldnt be a major problem......

Just remember if you manage to overclock it power consumption will increase and battery life will shorten

P.s Come to think of it there is no Ram divider options in clockgen so you will be limited by what speed the ram can do.

A 200mhz overclock may be possible, but I dont think its worth the possibe instability.

Psycopat

Thanks for that conzy, i dont think ill risk it because it already gets quite hot

Anti

im still having problems overlcoking my 3500. ive even bought some super fast 4800ddr and its not helping, ive added a seasonic 600w psu and to no avail. ive upped the vcore to 1.55/1.6 upped the dram, put a divider between ram/fsb 1:1. but 2.6 is the max i can get. do you think this is the cpu limit ? as its only hitting 39C under full load in prime95 and continious 3dmark loops. should i consider watercooling ? any help at all is welcome

conzy

2.6ghz is probably the chips limit, its a good overclock for a venice....

L31mr0d

This thread helped me out a lot starting to seriously overclock my system, thanks to conzy and worth a look as it will more than likely apply to most AMD 64's.

A bit of help with overclocking

Also here are my results, worth checking if you have a similar build and want to know what to expect.

Overclocking log

Also here is a handy url to work out what is the best balance to get the most out of your system if you already know the limits of your hardware.

Athlon 64 Optimizer

conzy

Hows the Cmos Drapper?

Drapper

conzymaher wrote:

Hows the Cmos Drapper?

mobo was faulty, IT direct replacing it as we speak !

Fair Play to them excellent service by Gary and ~Reece

Kintarō Hattori

Hey Conzy,

Any idea what kind of overclock I could expect from an Athlon X2 3800 with water cooling? The motherboard is an Abit AN8 32X and the memory is 1GB (512MB x 2) of Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PRO.

Thanks,
Liam

zerodown

Hey i recently overclocked my new machine. Its currently running stock cooling. I came across a few major flaws with a few motherboards. My specs:

AMD64 4000 san diego 2.4ghz
Gigabyte K8n9mf Pci express,sata
2x1 gb cosair twinx C2 ram
Nvidia Geforce 6600 256mb
450 Watt PSU

As standard its configured :
2412mhz
5x Ht Multiplyer
12x Cpu Multiplyer
200mhz HTT Bus (x Ht Multi)
Full load temp 45c

So some minor tweaking i was able to get 2.6 ghz easily:
2589mhz
4x Ht Multiplyer
12x Cpu Multiplyer
214mhz Htt Bus
Full load temp 49c

Note: When i pushed the fsb passed 214 the system would not boot. I used a ram divider of 5:6 so there was no way my ram is holding it back. I then noticed the Sata disk had disappered from bios.

Solution: I checked the sata disk and realised i had being overclocking that with the Ht Fsb. Hense it locked at 214mhz and just about blew up the disk.

So what you need to do is, if using sata disks put them on ports 3+4 not 1+2 as the first two are unlocked and you destroy your disk completly

awhir

eo980 wrote:

Hey Conzy,

Any idea what kind of overclock I could expect from an Athlon X2 3800 with water cooling? The motherboard is an Abit AN8 32X and the memory is 1GB (512MB x 2) of Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PRO.

Thanks,
Liam

would say you would would do well overclocking with that gear.

conzy

eo980 wrote:

Hey Conzy,

Any idea what kind of overclock I could expect from an Athlon X2 3800 with water cooling? The motherboard is an Abit AN8 32X and the memory is 1GB (512MB x 2) of Corsair TWINX1024-3200C2PRO.

Thanks,
Liam

You should get at least FX-60 speeds, maybe 2.7ghz......

Im not sure how your ram will overclock, Corsair model numbers confuse me

IRC you have a Passive Zalman reserator Water cooler?

What are load temps like at stock?

@zerodown, What board do you have? Does it have a via chipset? I am nearly 100% sure that all Nforce4 ultra/sli boards have locked Sata ports.

Because if the PCI frequency is set to 33.33mhz in the bios the SATA ports should stay locked......

Kintarō Hattori

Yeah I have a Reserator, I haven't checked what the temps are yet, must do that. The board has the nForce 4 Sli chipset. You lost me with the talk of locked SATA ports, excuse my ignorance, but what does that have to do with anything???

awhir

are they easy to install how much are the reseraotrs.

Drapper

awhir wrote:

are they easy to install how much are the reseraotrs.

look on peats website www.peats.com

http://www.peats.com/cgi-bin/shop/db.cgi?view=1&id=8804&type=6&sid=1381073x0

elivsvonchiaing

Just got a new basic system AMD XP 3000+ and was thinking of overclocking it and read in the first link; "WARNING OVERCLOCKING WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY".

Can they really tell the difference between bad/sub-optimal thermal linkage with heat-sink and genuine over-clocking?

Anyone know if they are serious about this or if 3/yr guarantee on processor is just honoured if it doesn't look like its been in an over-degreaser ad?

zerodown

conzymaher wrote:

@zerodown, What board do you have? Does it have a via chipset? I am nearly 100% sure that all Nforce4 ultra/sli boards have locked Sata ports.

Because if the PCI frequency is set to 33.33mhz in the bios the SATA ports should stay locked......

I have a Gigabyte GA-K8NMF-9 F9 ,Yes as far as i can see pci is locked at 100mhz and the newest driver was to fix that issue with unlocked ports?

What would be the problem with passing 214? Also why does the sata disk disable?

Kintarō Hattori

awhir wrote:

are they easy to install how much are the reseraotrs.

The Reserator is pretty easy to install, you just have to approach it with a bit of common sense and you'll be alright. My machine is so quiet now it's fantastic. Which is good as we listen to alot of music with it.

philologos

I have and AMD 64 3700+ PC on a ASRock 939NF4G-SATA2 with 1024MB of RAM, I get 2.2Ghz out of it but I would like to have a bit more could anyone tell me about how I should go about doing it

Drapper

Jakkass wrote:

I have and AMD 64 3700+ PC on a ASRock 939NF4G-SATA2 with 1024MB of RAM, I get 2.2Ghz out of it but I would like to have a bit more could anyone tell me about how I should go about doing it

read the first post of this thread ! Cozzy provided liks!

whats your Board? are you using water cooling or air? and whats your current temps?

philologos

i'm using fans, and AsRock 939NF4G-SATA2 is the motherboard, I have no clue of current temperature

Drapper

GEt Motherboard Monitor and check your teps before you do antthing !!

conzy

elivsvonchiaing wrote:

Just got a new basic system AMD XP 3000+ and was thinking of overclocking it and read in the first link; "WARNING OVERCLOCKING WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY".

Can they really tell the difference between bad/sub-optimal thermal linkage with heat-sink and genuine over-clocking?

Anyone know if they are serious about this or if 3/yr guarantee on processor is just honoured if it doesn't look like its been in an over-degreaser ad?

Do you have an Athlon XP or an Athlon 64 3000?

Anyway, I dont know if AMD are bothered to check every CPU that comes back.....

elivsvonchiaing

conzymaher wrote:

Do you have an Athlon XP or an Athlon 64 3000?

Anyway, I dont know if AMD are bothered to check every CPU that comes back.....

Its an Athlon 64 3000. I reckon its fine for now... Will age it at least a couple of weeks before I give it a run for my money

B00MSTICK

3000+ venices overclock very nicely

conzy

Yup, You could get 2.6ghz +

You are almost guaranteed a 400mhz+ overclock

Psycopat

What could i expect to overclock an amd 64 3700+ 2.2ghz to?

Drapper

Psycopat wrote:

What could i expect to overclock an amd 64 3700+ 2.2ghz to?

I think the lads will need to know :-

1. Mobo you got
2. RAM and timings
3. Cooling you got

then I think they can give you a few tips.

Psycopat

cheers drapper

mobo = http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=308957

ram = http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309843

case = http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=309319

psu = http://komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?sku=311011

cheap n cheerfull i know.......

awhir

ok cozzy going to overclocking soon and wanted some advice.i was reading lots of guides and am abit confuesd :CONFUESED .the guides recommend at first to find the max of your ram and then cpu but when i was in the dfi bios it really confused me all the settings.i was trying to look for the htt to raise my ram past 250 but could not find could you please help me out on trying to guide my self tru the dfi bios because it so confusing lol.tnx hope you can help.

conzy

@ Psycopat, Your ram wont overclock much, and the PSU may be a little on the weak side....

What amparage does it have on the 12v rail(s)?

The 3700 is a great overclocker as it uses the same san diego core as the opterons.........

Mine is currently at 3ghz @1.47vcore. And it could probably do 3.2ghz:eek:

@ Awhir, most of the settings are self explanatory, also have a gawk here

awhir

i did printed the whole guide out before lol its just some boards have diffrent namings for diffrent things and im confused :SAD

conzy

He he, you'll work it out:D

Im on my lappy now and I couldnt be arsed checking what The HTT is called in my Bios:D

Im pretty sure its just called HTT

L31mr0d

Psycopat wrote:

What could i expect to overclock an amd 64 3700+ 2.2ghz to?

Myself i'm getting 2.8Ghz outta my +3700 and i think conzy is up to 3Ghz on air, if you read around a few reviews this chip does pretty well with overclocking, and usually won't have heat issues with a moderate overclock.

I posted some links on the first page of this thread about overclocking my system and the help i got. You system specs look similar (same make of mobo, same amount of ram) so you might try just following the changes i made and benching your system from there

awhir

ok trying to find my max cpu speed now have it on 1.5v is that all right and its doing super pi and hitting 54c.

po0k

1.5 is fine, anything above 1.55Vcore is starting to push the envelope.

awhir

ok my cpu is to hot its at 48c when not doing anything and im only at 1.425v.will try to reapleay some thermal paste.

awhir

ok put new paste on the cpu and hope that will work will i let it settle or push the cpu to its limits now ??

Drapper

what speed are you getting ?
use CPUZ to see the chages ! http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

awhir

have it im on 2.5 at the mo but will hopefully get it to 2.6 or 2.7

the temps are much better after i reinstalled the paste im at 46c at full load now and before it would be 56-57c

Drapper

awhir wrote:

have it im on 2.5 at the mo but will hopefully get it to 2.6 or 2.7

the temps are much better after i reinstalled the paste im at 46c at full load now and before it would be 56-57c

good stuff and your ram timings? what does CPU Z say?

/edit whe you say full load you mean with games running ? etc etc? what are your idle temps??

as the lads say keep it under 1.5v

awhir

ya im just trying to get the max cpu speed at the moment takes a good while.

will do ram next