Overclocking (Main Thread)

driftingnomad68 said:The board is a 3M 8k3a kt333

I don't think the CPU is unlocked, though...

For the cooling setup, I've got a Thermaltake Volcano 7 heatsink paired with a Spire WhisperRock fan...

Temps seem to be sitting right around 48-52 (maybe 48-55) at the moment

I mean, that cooler probably won't hold much of an overclock, honestly. And since that motherboard doesn't have any PCI/AGP locking, I'm not really sure how high you'll actually be able to push it. I guess you should just try making small adjustments and maybe be ready to clear the CMOS whenever things get a bit unstable. 😉

driftingnomad68 said:😁

Maybe I should just hook it up to a 12V battery and let it wash itself, haha 😁

Just grab a Peltier, some massive liquid cooling, and you're basically set.

When you're overclocking, the motherboard is easily your most important asset.
(Think ABIT or ASUS...)👍 It’s all about having that granular control—being able to bump up the PCI, AGP, RAM, and CPU speeds independently while keeping a tight grip on the voltage.
And man, you just need to get lucky with the silicon.
I started out with a standard P4 2,4 running at 533, and I could squeeze about a 10% boost out of it before things got shaky.
But then I picked up a P4 2,66 from an IBM machine—one of those factory builds—and this thing is absolutely flying! I'm hitting over 3.2 GHz—that's a 20% jump!—and I haven't even added any extra cooling, just running the stock Intel heatsink.😉

Look,
some people swear you need a top-tier cooler no matter how much you spend.
Others would rather drop a fortune on a killer line of unlocked processors.
And then there are those who’d just rather grab a Starbucks latte (we all know who I'm talking about)

So, I just saw this latest update from OCZ... figured some of you guys might actually care about this one, so here you go if you're interested.
Link

SETRA Samoborček said:Question: I've got an AMD Athlon XP 2600+ (1918 MHz) overclocked to 2700+ (2000 MHz). Should I mess with the core voltage, and what’s the payoff?

For a bump that small? Definitely not. But why stop there? You really should be pushing it to 2300MHz, which would put you at a 3400+ PR rating.

My AMD Athlon 2500 (1826) runs at 3200 (2200) perfectly stable without even touching the voltage. If I push it up to 3400 (2300), I crank the voltage to Max (around 1.85 if I recall correctly) and it still holds steady. That's just how the Barton works. You have to overclock it hard, otherwise it gets offended.😁

rustyrider40 said:Got some news from OCZ. If you're into this stuff, here you go.
Link

Man, since when do you speak Italian??

OCZ is selling the DDR Booster as a "voltage detection diagnostic tool" <- LOL yeah, right. Pull the other one.

brightgull15 said:Man, why are you speaking Italian all of a sudden??

Naturally. Every single day...

OCZ markets the DDR Booster as a "diagnostic tool for voltage detection"

Yeah, I'm laughing my head off at that one too. Huge LOL...

Why LOL?
It’s a brilliant little "toy," and it's only about six months old.😁

James Roberts87 said:Why LOL?
It’s actually a genius little "toy," and honestly, it’s been around for like six months now...😁

LOL, because OCZ is out here marketing this thing as some high-end diagnostic tool for measuring voltage...

William Kim13 said:For such a negligible difference? Absolutely not. But why stop there? You really ought to push it up to 2300MHz, or what would be roughly a 3400+ PR rating.

My AMD Athlon 2500 (1826) runs at 3200 (2200) without me even touching the voltage, and it stays perfectly stable. If I crank it up to 3400 (2300), I bump the voltage to Max—around 1.85, if my memory serves me right—and it still holds steady. That’s the beauty of an AMD Athlon; you have to push it hard, otherwise, it just gets offended.😁

I am running an AMD Athlon 2500+ myself and I'm looking to overclock because, while playing Riddick, I finally realized I could use some more raw horsepower🙂. My only concern is the temperature; I've been putting it to work encoding MP3s lately, and with the case closed, it climbs to about 65 degrees Max (it's been running like this for a year without any issues, just without the overclock). I'm using a Cooler Master Hyper 212; it looks like aluminum since it's gray, and while it's physically quite large, it's only spinning at 2600 rpm. Do you think I can hit 2.2 GHz with this same cooler? If CMOS dissipation—and presumably temperature, since I've forgotten the formulas😁—scales linearly with frequency, then at 2.2 GHz, I'd be looking at a scorching 79 degrees! Maybe it hits 70 or so if I leave the case open. Do I need to invest in a better cooler to reliably hit 2.2 GHz? What are you guys seeing on your end?

Oh, by the way, the motherboard is an ASUS Motherboard.

I've got my Zalman 7000B ALCU. When I run it at 3200, it stays around 46 degrees in a closed case if the room is sitting at about 65-68. Crank it up to 3400 at 1.85V, and I'm looking at 56-59 degrees. RPMs range from 1800 up to 2400. It’s not just about the speed, though—it’s about airflow and passive cooling. The reality is that a larger fan can spin slower (and stay quieter) while moving the same amount of air as a smaller fan screaming at high speeds. Just buy a Zalman. That’s basically $100it. Besides, I saw someone selling one on here for about $25 👍

Look, I know this sub is for overclockers, not people trying to slow things down, but I had to brag a little. I throttled my AMD Athlon down to 450MHz at 1.56V😁 and ditched the Zalman cooler entirely. Now it’s just running on a passive heatsink at 58 degrees with zero fan noise. My room is dead silent. Honestly, when you're downloading stuff all night, even a quiet fan can get on your nerves. Besides, 450 MHz is plenty if you're just messing around on IRC.😎

Yeah, I'm selling it to you..

Keith Barnes53 said:Yeah, I'm selling it..

Look, I just dropped a massive chunk of change on Metallica tickets😁 so my budget is pretty much shot right now...
But getting back to the point, you guys are all insisting that a solid cooler is the most critical factor for a stable overclock? And that mine isn't exactly cutting it?

If that's the case, once I've got some breathing room in my bank account, I'll reach out to see if you're still looking to offload it.😉

restlesslynx said:Yeah, but basically, you guys are saying a solid cooler is the most important thing for a stable overclock? And mine isn't exactly cutting it?

First off, you need a decent CPU that can actually handle being clocked. You've got that. Second, the motherboard. You've got that too. Third, relatively high-quality RAM. I have no idea if you actually have that. You need at least mid-range stuff—for US standards, think Corsair or maybe even Kingston if it’s the good stuff.

But obviously, for any of that to actually work, you need a decent cooler. All the conditions have to be met. It's like shoving a 500-horsepower engine into a car when you don't even have tires on the wheels... you get me?😉

I didn't even overclock my rig. Everest was showing 3200 MHz (16x200), but then one day I just bumped the memory from Standard to Max instead of keeping it on Aggressive mode. So, what happened? Now Everest is reading 3216 MHz (16*201).
Funny how that works...

Hey,

So, I recently picked up a Mobile Athlon and decided to have a little bit of fun tinkering with the settings...
I've bumped the FSB up to 240MHz, which provides just enough headroom to keep my memory running at 83% of its 400MHz rating (using some Kingmax sticks... they aren't the fastest, but they're reliable enough for my tastes)

The picture really says it all... I'm hitting 2.9GHz... and that's just using standard air cooling... while sitting at a modest 1.75V...

My only real gripe is that under Max load, the temperature climbs to about 58°C. It's a bit bothersome because I'm quite used to seeing temps stay under 49°C, but I'm hopeful that switching over to a liquid cooling setup down the road will fix that issue...

Here are the screenshots...



The Benchmarks show that it performs right in the same ballpark as an AMD Athlon 64 in almost everything, except for when it comes to memory performance 😁 😁

Tommy said:Hey,

So I recently picked up a Mobile Barton and decided to mess around with it a bit...
I cranked the FSB up to 240MHz, which is plenty since my RAM is running at 83% of a 400MHz bus (using some Kingmax sticks... slow as hell, but they get the job done)

The picture pretty much speaks for itself... 2.9GHz... and that's just on air cooling... at only 1.75V...

The only headache is that under full load it hits about 58°C, which bugs the hell out of me because I'm used to topping out at 49... but hopefully switching to water cooling will fix that...

Here's the screenshot...



The benchmarkov show it's basically right in the same ballpark as an A64 3400 in everything except memory performance😁 😁

Absolute beast of a desktop rig; killer setup:

Looks like you actually managed to snag a really sweet series here...

With my 2500M, I managed to hit 243x11.5 = roughly 2700MHz, and it won't go any higher even at 2.0V

p.s. Stop spamming the formula section😁 I'm actually missing your posts

Gerald Turner48 said:That looks like a solid setup on your desktop; nice gear:

It seems like you're getting into quite a premium series...

Personally, I managed to push my 2500 MHz setup up to about 2700 MHz by running at 243x11.5, but I hit a wall there even with 2.0V applied.

P.S. Why aren't you posting over on the Formula 1 forums?😁 I actually find myself missing your insights.

I just got back a week ago... I was away on some professional training here in the USA, so I'm only just now getting back online...

I'm currently getting some posts ready for Formula 1😁