Overclocking (Main Thread)

Gerald Turner48 said:

Gerald Turner48, come on, just tell us what motherboard you're actually running? There's no way you've got SATA drives in that rig.

brightgull15 said:Gerald Turner48, come on, tell us which motherboard you're running. I bet you don't even have SATA drives in that rig.

Intel Core i7-based motherboard
with an nForce2 chipset—I actually went ahead and added a custom heatsink to the northbridge because that tiny little stock thing they provide just isn't up to the task... plus, I’ve got coolers on the southbridge and the voltage regulators too...

On top of that, the whole case is basically a wind tunnel...

I'm running one IDE General Electric drive and one SATA General Electric drive (both are 160GB)

By the way, the CPU and board were sourced right here in the US... so perhaps that explains why the overclocking headroom is so decent...

I'm actually considering moving to liquid cooling next, though I haven't quite found the courage to pull the trigger on the installation yet (mostly because I did the build myself at home, so there's no warranty coverage if things go sideways 😁 )

Mind you, the VCore is acting a bit finicky, fluctuating between 1.73 and 1.78... I suspect I might be pushing the power supply right to its absolute limit...

Heh... I've got a PRO2 rev.2 too.

Look, there's one massive downside to that board—even if it really is top-tier hardware.

I gave those engineers a serious piece of my mind—told them they need to implement a three-step voltage adjustment setting, capped at a 10% increase at most. But as it stands? You can't even drop it below the CPU default. Ridiculous.

It’s a disaster... everything else is actually pretty solid—except for those damn R U P A s.
It’s honestly a crime not to have holes in a board like that... You can always mess with the voltage—that's an easy fix—but trying to drill holes through it later? That's where the real headache starts.

Raymond Rodriguez40 said:Heh... well, I actually own a PRO2 rev.2 myself.

It’s a fantastic board, truly top-tier, but there is one absolutely infuriating flaw...

I honestly have nothing but frustration for the engineers who decided to limit the voltage settings to just three increments, capping the increase at a mere 10% over the baseline! You can't even drop it below the CPU's default setting! It's just baffling.

It's quite a shame... everything else performs beautifully, except for those damn R U P A...
For a high-end board like this, it's almost a crime not to have holes provided... adjusting the voltage is easy enough, but having to physically drill holes yourself? That's where they really missed the mark.

Personally, using a mobile processor doesn't bother me much because the motherboard detects the default 1.6V automatically... and going up by 10% to 1.8V provides plenty of headroom for overclocking. If you really need more juice, you can always look into modding the processor itself.

Those missing holes definitely got under my skin too... I actually couldn't get my Zalman cooler to sit right because of them! For a little while, I seriously considered drilling them out myself, but then I started worrying about accidentally piercing something important on the PCB, so I decided to play it safe and gave up on the idea.

If you can overlook that one specific headache, this is easily a five-star motherboard.

Hmm, hmm, hmm.
I’ve pretty much nailed the voltage scaling issue on my Abit (nf2), but I’m hesitant to touch the FSB. Last time I messed with it, my RAID array just completely tanked. Apparently, SATA is way too sensitive to FSB bumps, so my only move left is cranking the multiplier. I managed to hit 13.5X at 200FSB (2.7). Once I pushed to 2.8, I started getting these weird boot errors—classic Windows behavior. If I were still rocking an old IDE drive, I’d probably risk playing with the FSB a bit more. I even picked up those Zalman heatsinks for the voltage regulators; I just haven't grabbed a passive one for the Southbridge yet.

The real issue is that most of the stuff on our market here... they haven't actually passed proper testing, even if they technically work. That's why we run into issues with the FBI and the stability of the whole board... try lowering the FSB and you might be surprised.

For me, it's this super wet memory that Epoxy totally fried (what a joke of a board!)... it runs at 200MHz, but it keeps skipping... however, at 166MHz, it works like a charm. So that's how I'm riding—just pushing everything through without major headaches, even if the test results are slightly weaker.

Did I mention that this Epoxy junk actually fried a guy's 1GB A-DATA stick? (And this was after I sold it to him following a warranty claim where I sent back faulty gear as "fixed")... you can imagine how thrilled he was. Honestly, thank god I didn't offload that Toshiba DVD drive on him too—the one that refuses to read DATA DVDs... he probably would've killed me.

😁 😎

Raymond Rodriguez40 said:The real issue with these motherboards is that most of what hits our local market hasn't actually been properly vetted; they technically function, but they haven't passed rigorous testing. That’s why we run into all those headaches with the FBI and general system stability. Honestly, try lowering the FSB and you might be surprised at the results.

As for me, I've been struggling with this super wet memory that the Epoxy completely fried (what a total disaster of a board!)... it manages to hit 200MHz, but it keeps skipping beats... however, once I dial it back to 166MHz, it runs smooth as silk. So, that's my current situation—I just keep tweaking everything until it works, even if the benchmark scores come in slightly lower than expected.

I don't think I mentioned this, but that Epoxy board actually ended up killing a 1GB A-DATA stick belonging to the guy I sold it to (after I had already processed a warranty claim and sent it back to him claiming it was fine!)... you can imagine his level of enthusiasm... I'm just glad I didn't try to offload that Toshiba DVD drive on him too; that thing refuses to read data DVDs... he probably would have killed me.

😁 😎

It’s pretty much common knowledge that the junk being imported into our markets is mostly sub-par. Because of that, whenever I was visiting the US, I made sure to stock up on as much hardware as I possibly could. The only things I didn't bother picking up were a new power supply or a monitor 😁 😁 because they're just far too heavy to lug around blindly. 😁

Gerald Turner48 said:Look, it’s common knowledge that most of the junk ends up hitting our market. That's why back when I was living in the States, I made sure to grab as much hardware as I possibly could.

Must be nice. For me, trying to snag 2xKHX3200UL512 (2.2.2.5) -> they might be BH5, was looking at over $330 plus tax for a lifetime warranty. Honestly? A bit steep, so I just went with Super Talent. I wasn't about to settle for Kingston's budget RAM.

brightgull15 said:Bless you. For my part, I was looking at the 2xKHX3200UL512 (2.2.2.5) kit—it might even be BH5—but they were asking over $330 plus tax for the lifetime warranty. That felt a bit excessive for my budget, so I decided to go with Super Talent instead. I really didn't want to settle for some generic Kingston value RAM.

Well, that’s quite a significant amount of money... since I happened to be passing by anyway, I figured, why not?😁

My Barton 2500 is running at 10.5 x 200

Core temp is sitting at 53°C

Latencies are clocked at 7, 2, 2, 2.5

Voltage is at 1850

If there's anything I should tweak, let me know.

Kevin Gonzalez79 said:My Barton 2500 is running at 10.5 x 200

The core temp is sitting at 53°C.

The latencies are 7, 2, 2, 2.5

And the voltage is 1850mV.

Just wondering if there's anything I can tweak.

If you have the budget, I’d suggest picking up a better cooler.😁
Also, see if you can unlock the CPU... that might give you some room to bump up the multiplier.
Beyond that, there isn't much else you can really do. If it's performing that sluggishly even at 1.85V, you aren't exactly looking at a world-class overclocking chip here—and honestly, those Barton cores weren't ever known for being massive overclockers to begin with.

What was the stock frequency on that processor? Was it 166 * 10.5?

By the way, those latency numbers refer to your memory, not the processor itself.

Kevin Gonzalez79 said:my Barton 2500 is running at 10.5 x 200

Core temp is sitting at 53C

latencies are 7, 2, 2, 2.5

and voltage is 1850

if I can tweak anything

maybe try dropping the voltage a bit... if you can

John Palmer4 said:I was messing around with the frequencies and voltage a bit, and now I've got my CPU running at 3.95 GHz with an FBI of 980MHz.

You running a liquid cooler for that?

Just had a quick question for you all.
I noticed there’s a phone listed for sale marked as 2800+, which apparently runs on a
frequency of 2133 MHz. I was wondering if this is actually the same type of processor used in the 2500 model?
If it turns out they are the same, I guess you might be able to overclock this one to an even higher clock speed?

Joshua Kern10 said:Quick question here.
I see there’s a phone listed with a 2800+ rating running on a
2133 MHz frequency. Is this basically the same processor architecture as the 2500 model?
If so, is there any chance I could overclock this thing to get even higher speeds?

That chip is clocked at 2.1 GHz out of the box.

Somewhere in that ballpark... you might squeeze out a tiny bit more 🙂 but don't expect miracles.

Right now I'm just running a standard 2600. I was wondering if upgrading to this would actually be worth the investment?

Mr. Nice Guy said:I’m rocking a "standard" 2600 right now. Is this actually worth picking up?

Not in a million years...

Just save up your cash and jump straight to a 754 or a 939 instead.

John Palmer4 said:Well, I suppose I should contribute a little something "intellectual" to this discussion as well... 😁

I’ve been spending a little bit of my free time tinkering around with some frequency and voltage settings lately. It’s a bit of a hobby of mine, really—just seeing how far I can push things without everything going sideways. As it stands right now, I have managed to get my processor running at 3.95 GHz, with the FSB sitting at 980MHz. It feels quite steady so far!

It simply won't run on 4 gigs of RAM, dammit...

Is that 3.95 GHz figure based on actual, real-world stability testing—like, running non-stop without any hiccups—or is it just the theoretical maximum speed the chip can hit before it hits a wall?

brightgull15 said:Are you running a water-cooling setup on that rig?

It isn't strictly necessary to have that... especially if you're seeing a Prescott running at around 3.4 to 3.6 GHz.
Now, I have to say, that Zalman cooler is absolutely top-tier hardware... provided you don't mind it sounding like a Boeing 747 hitting max thrust during takeoff.

Mr. Nice Guy said:I have just one quick question.
I noticed there’s a mobile device listed for sale with the 2800+ designation that runs on...
Is this frequency at 2133 MHz actually the same processor type as the 2500 model? I was looking through some old specs earlier today while sipping my coffee, and I couldn't quite tell if they were built on the same architecture.
If that were the case, do you think it would be possible to overclock this to a higher clock speed?

Actually, if I recall correctly, I believe there was some analysis done somewhere suggesting that the 2500 mobile has a specific ceiling when it comes to overclocking. That’s precisely why I decided to pick one up for myself. 😁

Mr. Nice Guy said:I currently have a standard 2600 setup. I was wondering, would it actually be worth pulling the trigger on this one?

How does Quote say...

Mr. Nice Guy said:I wouldn't say that's quite the case...

If I were in your shoes, I’d probably suggest saving up a bit more cash first. It might be worth holding off until you can make the jump to either the 754 or 939 platform. It's usually better to do it right the first time rather than rushing into something that won't hold up.

I have to agree with that sentiment... Honestly, I don't see the point in dropping an extra $120 on a mobile processor just to get a marginal bump of maybe 400MHz. For that kind of money, you really won't feel the difference in your day-to-day use. It’s one of those things where the math just doesn't add up for the average user.