Overclocking (Main Thread)

Yeah, that makes sense since you're rocking the Hardcore series, which I'm guessing uses those Micron D5 TSOP chips... It’s actually pretty interesting that Kingmax doesn't explicitly guarantee their RAM will hit its rated speeds—which a ton of online benchmarks have already proven to be true. But look, the Kingmax SuperRam 433 with the Micron B chip (whether it's TSOP or BGA) rarely ever pushes past 433 MHz. On the off chance a specific stick does go higher, it almost never holds a 1T setting. That’s really the core distinction between the SuperRam and the Hardcore series. Because of that, I’m taking **boldhound8**'s claim that his SuperRam outperforms the Hardcore line with a massive grain of salt.

I mean, what exactly qualifies as a "good score" in 3DMark03 these days?

I mean, if we're talking about scoring roughly 10k on 3DMark 03, current cards are hitting around $500 or maybe closer to 4500 on 3DMark 05

SETRA Samoborček said:My scores are pretty underwhelming, but honestly, that's just because of my GPU. I don't even want to put those numbers down—it would be too embarrassing. 😁

🙂

So I picked up a Zalman 9500 and started overclocking my processor (3500++). Running at Winchester 2850MHz, temps aren't even hitting 50 degrees—and that’s after 29 hours of Prime95. Honestly, Zalman absolutely crushes Thermaltake and everyone else out there!!!!!

9900 on 3DMark 03 versus 4200 on 05—how good is that supposed to be? Ha. Pathetic.

My Venice 3200+ is currently clocked at 2750MHz, and even while running Prime95, the temperature won't climb past 42 degrees Celsius. I'm using a Thermalright XP120 paired with a Papst fan to keep things cool. 😁

No, 123 is actually pretty impressive. My only real worry is summer—I’m honestly not sure my rig can handle the heat. Why? Because I’ve got this Thermaltake case with 9 Xaser 5 coolers (picked it up over in Germany). When I turned the heater on in my room this winter and it hit around 77-86 degrees, things started climbing. Once I cranked the fans up to max, the CPU temp dropped to 56—is that actually a good number?

Thinking about picking up a new motherboard, CPU, and RAM. My gut says DFI is the way to go—now I just need to figure out which memory to pair with it (obviously needs to be overclockable). As for the CPU, I'm torn on whether to swap it out or if my current setup still holds up. I'm looking at risking 5k for this whole endeavor.

I’ve got two 120mm Papst fans in my case—one in the front pulling in cool air and one in the back pushing out the heat. I keep them both running at 7V, which keeps them steady at about 800RPM. 😉

My motherboard is an ASUS A8N-E, and I’ve got a Thermalright NB1 heatsink on the chipset paired with a 45x45x10 Sunon magnetic levitation fan. I run that little guy at 5V, and honestly, it cools perfectly.

If you ask me, you should go with that motherboard. Why? Because the component layout is fantastic, giving you total freedom to mount heatsinks on the chipset or the CPU exactly how you want. As for memory, grab some OCZ with TCCD chips, and since you clearly have the extra cash to burn, just get a dual-core processor while you're at it. 😉

I'm running an ASUS A8N-E right now, but six months in, the cooler just gave up on me. Honestly, I've lost all faith in ASUS—don't ask me why, but they've really dropped the ball on their board quality lately, so I just want to swap the whole thing out.

If you’re going with DFI, grab some VX memory featuring either bh-5 or utt chips...
Just crank the voltage up to at least 3.4V and you can push them as hard as you want.

I'll probably just grab the x2CPU AMD Athlon64 X2 4200 + (64-bit, integrated memory controller, 1M L2 on-chip cache, 2200 MHz, Manchester dual core), Socket 939, BOX $1200
What do you think—should I go for the beefier AMD Athlon64 X2 4400 + (64-bit, integrated memory controller, 2M L2 on-chip cache, 2200 MHz, Toledo dual core), Socket 939, BOX $1533? If I do, I won't have anything left for the motherboard or RAM
. But hey, at least I've got two damn cores. Hahahaha

I see some veteran overclockers in here, so I’d appreciate anyone who can weigh in on this:

I'm putting together a new build and I'm stuck on the CPU choice.
Options:

CPU AMD Athlon64 BOX 3500+, 90nm, Sck939 - Venice, 512KB L2 cache (69w)
and
CPU AMD Athlon64 BOX 3700+, 90nm, Sck939 - San Diego, 1MB L2 cache (87w)

Which one handles overclocking better? Also, is that extra 512KB of cache on the 3700+ actually worth the premium? $67 I need to know the price gap between the 3500+ and the 3700+, keeping in mind the 3700+ runs a lot hotter.
PS: I'm sticking with stock coolers for now, but if I decide to start pushing clocks in about a year, I'll probably grab a Zalman.

The rest of the specs are:

MB Epox 9NPA+ Ultra, s939, nForce4 Ultra, SATA, GLAN, FW
2x DDR 512MB PC3200 (400MHz), CL2, SuperTalent
HDD Maxtor 6V250F0, S-ATA300, 250 GB/16MB/7200rpm
Gigabyte GF 6800GS, 256MB, TV out, DVI
PSU: Chieftec power supply 400W, ATX 2.0, 2×12V, Active PFC, AFC, 12cm FAN
Monitor Samsung LCD SM730BF 17", DVI

Looks like I'll be picking this up at Best Buy.

darkmarlin3 said:I see some veteran overclockers hanging out here, so I’d love for someone to weigh in on this:

I'm getting ready to build a new rig, and I'm stuck on which CPU to grab.
The options:

CPU AMD Athlon64 BOX 3500+, 90nm, Sck939 - Venice, 512KB L2 cache (69w)
and
CPU AMD Athlon64 BOX 3700+, 90nm, Sck939 - San Diego, 1MB L2 cache (87w)

Which one is better for OC? And is that extra 512KB cache on the 3700+ actually worth paying $67, considering how much hotter the 3700+ runs compared to the 3500+
? PS: I'm sticking with stock coolers for now, but once I actually dive into overclocking in a year or so, I'll probably slap a Zalman on there.

BTW, the rest of the build is:

MB Epox 9NPA+ Ultra, s939, nForce4 Ultra, SATA, GLAN, FW
2x DDR 512MB PC3200 (400MHz), CL2, SuperTalent
HDD Maxtor 6V250F0, S-ATA300, 250 GB/16MB/7200rpm
Gigabyte GF 6800GS, 256MB, TV out, DVI
PSU: Chieftec power supply 400W, ATX 2.0, 2×12V, Active PFC, AFC, 12cm FAN
Monitor Samsung LCD SM730BF 17", DVI

Likely picking it up at Micro Center.

If you want OC potential, the 3000+ is king. Between those two? Honestly, I have no clue. I've messed with the 3500+ and it's decent enough, even if you can't push the clocks that far...
I bet it's the exact same story with the 3700+.

I pushed my Winchester 3500+ up to 2800MHz—is that not enough?

That Winchester setup works well for you, especially since they aren't really built for overclocking.
The thing is, they don't use DSL (dual stress liner) technology, so they tend to run incredibly hot when you start pushing the clock speeds.

Mine didn't even crack 133°F while I was running NFS and Fear.

What voltage are we talking about? And what kind of cooling are you running on the CPU?

voltage is sitting at 1.55v on the Zalman 9500LED—got Q-Fan enabled