4800+ to 2.6ghz - what do I need?

[Kaido]

Edit: Changed parts to Opteron 170 + 2gb G.Skill DDR500. Read through thread for more info.

4800+ to 2.6ghz - what do I need?

I have the dough saved up to get a 4800+, which I want to OC from 2.4ghz to 2.6ghz, just a low overclock. I'm interested in cool temps, quietness, and long-term stability. Here are the components I will be using:

4800+ retail (2x1mb l2 @ 2.4ghz X2)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro HSF
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard
2gb (2x1gb) Corsair ValueSelect ddr400 ram
OCZ 520w Powerstream PSU

Questions:

1. The Corsair ValueSelect probably isn't the best choice for overclocking; what should I get?

2. I haven't overclocked anything since my 1.4ghz tbird; can someone give me a basic walkthrough of how to get it up to a 2.6ghz stable OC?

3. I was planning on getting the Actic HSF for the low-noise, but I've hard the stock HSF that comes with the proc works pretty well. Since I'm only doing a 200mhz OC, should I stick with the stock HSF?

 

[Cheesetogo]

Do a search for "quick and dirty" and you'll find an excellent overclocking guide. Corsair VS should be fine for you. You may want to consider buying a less expensive processor, as many that cost half the price of yours are usually able to OC to 2.6.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
Do a search for "quick and dirty" and you'll find an excellent overclocking guide. Corsair VS should be fine for you. You may want to consider buying a less expensive processor, as many that cost half the price of yours are usually able to OC to 2.6.

Found it, thanks! It'd be nice to go cheaper, but I don't want a loud HSF in my case (I work on my computer roughly 12 hours a day, quiet = nice!).

 

[Cheesetogo]

You don't really need to get a loud hsf to overclock the lower processors, as they won't really produce that much more heat than the 4800 at 2.6. I'd suggest buying a scythe ninja and a nexus silent fan.

 

[apesoccer]

1. 220fsb to reach 2.6 or so...ok Well, the ocz plat 2 3 2 3200 stuff should be able to reach 220 without too much trouble. I've heard however that that isn't the same stuff that's being sold as what i got...My occz plat 2 3 2 2x1024 3200 stuff is running 3 3 3 250fsb 1:1. You could pick up some ocz gold 2x1024 4000 stuff for about the same price. Corsair and Mushkin also make stuff that will hit 220 without any trouble. There's some 3500 gigaram stuff for 220 or so...I'd go with the ocz over that tho...The ocz is going for $140 or so with rebates...

2. 2.6 stable...ok...This is dependant on several things...but...here are a couple of pointers. First you need to figure out what the HTT multiplier is. And move it to 4x from 5x...This could be represented by a multiplier (2x,3x,4x,5x), 200 400 600 800 1000, or 400 800 1200 1600 2000...or something else entirely...If you don't figure this out, you won't be able to push the system past about 210 (on a 5x multi). The 4x multi is good up to 250fsb, then 3x is good to about 330 or so. Rule of thumb is to keep the HTT at or below 1000(200fsb*5x; 250*4; 330*3). Next up, voltage...You might be able to push to 220 without touching anything voltage wise...Which would be great. But if you do have to...Don't push your 4800 past 1.5v (stock is 1.3/1.4) without better cooling. You'll want to be checking it anyway to make sure it doesn't get hotter then 55c with both core's maxed...If it's pushing 60c, you have to get better cooling, or you risk burning your cpu. Test the temp in regular working conditions, ie don't put it in a window, because you want to be testing worst case scenario. I'd recommend using two folding@home instances (where you install each in to a different folder [text based version/no-nonsense version] and do the adv options where you choose which cpu to use), or doing something similar with prime95 (running for 2-4hrs). Find the max voltage the ram can use (without voiding the warrenty), and put that in from the get-go. My ocz runs 250 @ 2.8v and without voiding the warrenty. You can get a slightly higher oc if you turn off AMD cool and quiet, which is a bios option in most mobo's. However you should be ok to leave it on (you also have to have the driver installed to make this work...). What else...Testing: to test for a good oc, you'll want to run two instances of Prime for 24hrs. An ez way to chk that doesn't take nearly as long, is to run a 32m SuperPi instance. Which is a free download from several places. Even better, you could run some high end game for several hours (like hl2, eq2, bf2 etc...). Games make full use of a cpu core, memory and gpu/s, and creates more heat (throughout the case) then most programs do. The best way is Prime for 24hrs though...Games may test overall stability, but prime tests your cpu and memory alone. You'll probably need to change the timings on the ram as well, but that will be dependant on what ram you get, so i can't give you any help here yet.

Additionally, don't install the nforce ide drivers...Or the nforce firewall, both are known to create problems, regardless of oc'ing or not. I've no doubt i've left something out...feel free to respond (so long as i get an email response through the system, i'll respond).

3. I'd try the stock cooling first...then i'd recommend the xp90 or xp120, with a 92mm or 120mm fan respectively, if it turns out to be too hot. Probably you'll be fine with stock. The 90 will give you about 5-7c, the 120 will give you 7-9c, or there-abouts. The case you use makes easily as big a difference or larger.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: Cheesetogo
Do a search for "quick and dirty" and you'll find an excellent overclocking guide. Corsair VS should be fine for you. You may want to consider buying a less expensive processor, as many that cost half the price of yours are usually able to OC to 2.6.

Found it, thanks! It'd be nice to go cheaper, but I don't want a loud HSF in my case (I work on my computer roughly 12 hours a day, quiet = nice!).

The stock heatsink is actualy quite good, I have my 4200+ @2.618ghz on the stock heatsink, and it's not loud, load temps aren't bad at all either @51c.

 

[TrevorRC]

Originally posted by: Kaido
I have the dough saved up to get a 4800+, which I want to OC from 2.4ghz to 2.6ghz, just a low overclock. I'm interested in cool temps, quietness, and long-term stability. Here are the components I will be using:

4800+ retail (2x1mb l2 @ 2.4ghz X2)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro HSF
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard
2gb (2x1gb) Corsair ValueSelect ddr400 ram
OCZ 520w Powerstream PSU

Questions:

1. The Corsair ValueSelect probably isn't the best choice for overclocking; what should I get?

2. I haven't overclocked anything since my 1.4ghz tbird; can someone give me a basic walkthrough of how to get it up to a 2.6ghz stable OC?

3. I was planning on getting the Actic HSF for the low-noise, but I've hard the stock HSF that comes with the proc works pretty well. Since I'm only doing a 200mhz OC, should I stick with the stock HSF?

An X2 3800+ [Mine, specifically] can do 2.6 on the stock cooler quite easily. UNDERVOLTED.

(2.5 @ 1.28v. No joke.)
I'd reccomend you save the money from the 4800+ purchase, grab a 3800+ [Thereby using having less Cache, less heat.], get a Scythe Ninja OR a Zalman Reserator [SP?]; (100% silent liquid cooling system.)

For a graphics card, get an ATi/NV Silencer card. Super-quiet.

Motherboard, buy an Evercool cooler. Most stock ones are loud.

Powerstream... meh.
google Sytrin Nextherm.
460W PSU, tons of amperage on the 12V rails, unless you're running SLi it'll serve you well.

And it'll be cheaper.
And more dependable.

Overclocking nowadays is MUCH easier than back then--and requires MUCH less voltage.

Most CPUs from AMD are made on a single process, so they just bin them--and downbinning is a common occurrence. (Hence the great overclockers.)

The above will cost you 1/4 as much, and will be much more dependable.

Though I'd mention you might want to swap it out for a DFi motherboard. [Ultra-D]
--Trevor

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: TrevorRC

Originally posted by: Kaido
I have the dough saved up to get a 4800+, which I want to OC from 2.4ghz to 2.6ghz, just a low overclock. I'm interested in cool temps, quietness, and long-term stability. Here are the components I will be using:

4800+ retail (2x1mb l2 @ 2.4ghz X2)
Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro HSF
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard
2gb (2x1gb) Corsair ValueSelect ddr400 ram
OCZ 520w Powerstream PSU

Questions:

1. The Corsair ValueSelect probably isn't the best choice for overclocking; what should I get?

2. I haven't overclocked anything since my 1.4ghz tbird; can someone give me a basic walkthrough of how to get it up to a 2.6ghz stable OC?

3. I was planning on getting the Actic HSF for the low-noise, but I've hard the stock HSF that comes with the proc works pretty well. Since I'm only doing a 200mhz OC, should I stick with the stock HSF?

An X2 3800+ [Mine, specifically] can do 2.6 on the stock cooler quite easily. UNDERVOLTED.

(2.5 @ 1.28v. No joke.)
I'd reccomend you save the money from the 4800+ purchase, grab a 3800+ [Thereby using having less Cache, less heat.], get a Scythe Ninja OR a Zalman Reserator [SP?]; (100% silent liquid cooling system.)

For a graphics card, get an ATi/NV Silencer card. Super-quiet.

Motherboard, buy an Evercool cooler. Most stock ones are loud.

Powerstream... meh.
google Sytrin Nextherm.
460W PSU, tons of amperage on the 12V rails, unless you're running SLi it'll serve you well.

And it'll be cheaper.
And more dependable.

Overclocking nowadays is MUCH easier than back then--and requires MUCH less voltage.

Most CPUs from AMD are made on a single process, so they just bin them--and downbinning is a common occurrence. (Hence the great overclockers.)

The above will cost you 1/4 as much, and will be much more dependable.

Though I'd mention you might want to swap it out for a DFi motherboard. [Ultra-D]
--Trevor

Great, thanks for the tips! As far as the motherboard goes, I need a motherboard with at least 4 PCI slots because I want to put in a raided ramdisk setup in there when the sata II cards come out.

 

[Kaido]

I'm looking into the Opteron 170s now. If I'm going to OC I might as well get the good chip Is Corsair XMS good ram for OCing?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16820145574

 

[Witchfire]

Good call on the Opteron. All else being equal (cache size and clock speed) the Optys are better quality processors, as they're tested to work in 24/7/365 server environments. The Corsair XMS should be fine for OCing. Whatever memory you get, do a little research on your motherboard, and see if anyone has been having issues with certain kinds of RAM with it. I've run into that problem twice now with different motherboards. There may be noting wrong with either the board or the RAM, but they may not play nice together.

If you know you'll be overclocking, you might look into getting something like this...

G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Kit

A few bucks more than the Corsair XMS, but you're already guaranteed a 250FSB capability with decent latencies. I had good luck with mine.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: Witchfire
Good call on the Opteron. All else being equal (cache size and clock speed) the Optys are better quality processors, as they're tested to work in 24/7/365 server environments. The Corsair XMS should be fine for OCing. Whatever memory you get, do a little research on your motherboard, and see if anyone has been having issues with certain kinds of RAM with it. I've run into that problem twice now with different motherboards. There may be noting wrong with either the board or the RAM, but they may not play nice together.

If you know you'll be overclocking, you might look into getting something like this...

G.SKILL Extreme Series 2GB (2 x 1GB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM Unbuffered DDR 500 (PC 4000) Dual Channel Kit

A few bucks more than the Corsair XMS, but you're already guaranteed a 250FSB capability with decent latencies. I had good luck with mine.

Yeah, I just got that ram recommend to me over at the Xtreme forums. I'll add it to the list!

 

[JSFLY]

If you already bought the corsair value ram, I'd stick with it. You can always use dividers on cheap ram when overclocking.

If you havent bought them yet, I'd recommend the G.skill 500s. Lame name but Great ram.

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: JSFLY
If you already bought the corsair value ram, I'd stick with it. You can always use dividers on cheap ram when overclocking.

If you havent bought them yet, I'd recommend the G.skill 500s. Lame name but Great ram.

I haven't bought it. Price difference is only about $17. Only problem so far is that I don't know if the 170 is support on the MSI motherboard. It's labeled as "under testing" on MSI's website, although the 165, 175, and 180 are all OK:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/..._cpu_support_detail.php?UID=637&kind=1

 

[JSFLY]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: JSFLY
If you already bought the corsair value ram, I'd stick with it. You can always use dividers on cheap ram when overclocking.

If you havent bought them yet, I'd recommend the G.skill 500s. Lame name but Great ram.

I haven't bought it. Price difference is only about $17. Only problem so far is that I don't know if the 170 is support on the MSI motherboard. It's labeled as "under testing" on MSI's website, although the 165, 175, and 180 are all OK:

http://www.msi.com.tw/program/products/..._cpu_support_detail.php?UID=637&kind=1

Try emailing them

 

[Witchfire]

It should support it just fine. They can't 'officially' support the Optys, as they're not supposed to be consumer class hardware. Anything that will support an X2 or FX will support an Opteron 1xx.

 

[JSFLY]

Originally posted by: Witchfire
It should support it just fine. They can't 'officially' support the Optys, as they're not supposed to be consumer class hardware. Anything that will support an X2 or FX will support an Opteron 1xx.

Isnt it weird tho that they support 165s and 175s but not 170s? Maybe they are just in the process of testing.

 

[Kaido]

Well, I shot them off an email this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. I'm also wondering if they support the ddr500 g.skill ram, haven't found anything yet. If anyone else has a motherboard suggestion, I'd be interested. It needs to overclock well, have onboard audio, one pci express slot, and four pci ports.

 

[Witchfire]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Well, I shot them off an email this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. I'm also wondering if they support the ddr500 g.skill ram, haven't found anything yet. If anyone else has a motherboard suggestion, I'd be interested. It needs to overclock well, have onboard audio, one pci express slot, and four pci ports.

I can say this...

1) I DO NOT suggest the ABIT AT8. I had two of these, and both ended up RMAed and then returned for refund. There are just WAY too many problems with them.

2) The eVGA nF41 SLi board is OK. However, it is easily one of the most tempermental boards when it comes to memory. The G.SKILL extreme PC4000 will NOT work with it at all. However, the PC3200 variant of the same memory will. eVGA has a forum that covers all the known memory issues that are known so far. The overclockability and stability was not bad at all, but the board does not have any support for most monitoring program, such as MBM5. Speedfan has limited functionality, but it's just that... very limited.

3) I'm currently using an ASUS A8R32-MVP, and I can't say enough good things about it. It's a little spendy, but you get what you pay for. If you plan on going with an ATI graphics solution, this is the one to get. Even if you plan to go with nVidia, if you never plan on using SLI, this is still a good choice.

EDIT: for spelling

 

[JSFLY]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Well, I shot them off an email this afternoon. We'll see how it goes. I'm also wondering if they support the ddr500 g.skill ram, haven't found anything yet. If anyone else has a motherboard suggestion, I'd be interested. It needs to overclock well, have onboard audio, one pci express slot, and four pci ports.

my recommendation -> DFI lanparty ultra-D $120? on newegg mod to sli and your good to go. Great OCing mobo. My friends got a Asus A8N and he only has 4 different ram dividers while I have like 8(or something I forgot).

Edit: Nevermind not enough PCI slots.

 

[Kaido]

Well, it's looking like I need a new motherboard. I need the following:

* Support for an Opteron 170
* Good for overclocking
* Support for ddr500
* Decent onboard audio
* 1 PCI Express port
* 4 PCI slots minimum

Recommendations? I've been hunting through Newegg for awhile and the MSI board is the best I can come up with...

 

[Kaido]

Here's an updated goodies list:

Case:
Antec SLK3000-B
120mm DustProof fans x 2
OCZ 520w Powerstream PSU

Processor:
Opteron 170
Thermaltake Big Typhoon HSF
Arctic Silver 5

Internal goodies:
G.Skill 2gb ddr500 kit
Raptor 150
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum motherboard
eVGA 7900gt @ 500/1500mhz
Win XP Pro SP2 OEM

I found someone who was successfully using an opty 170 on the MSI board, so I think I'm going to go for it.

 

[JSFLY]

Cool

Post back after your build is done!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: JSFLY
Cool

Post back after your build is done!

Yup. Not ordering anything until I have a thorough understanding of OCing tho. Upon further research I found my knowledge extremely lacking Been doing lots of reading today. I might go with a 165 too...I'd be happy with 2.6, although I'd really like 2.8 or even 3.0.

I just hope the MSI board can handle things OK. I don't think I'll be able to get above 2.8ghz or so on it based on what users at Xtreme Forums said. Plus the MSI board has the 170 labeled as "untested", although users have got it working successfully.

 

[Painman]

I had a Neo4 and ran it with a few different A64s - I found it to be very hit-or-miss. It got along with 2 different Winchesters OK, but wouldn't POST over 240 or so HTT with a San Diego or a Venice. Yup, I was using up-to-date BIOS with the last two.

I find the DFI Ultra-D and G.SKILL "HZ" 2x1GB kit to be a good match, I've had no troubles, though I haven't pushed the RAM hard - I always keep it around stock DDR500 speed, but I can get it to do it on only 2.5 VDimm.

Edit: DFI also has WAY better voltage regulation than MSI, which fluctuates quite a bit - VCore on my DFI is like a rock.

 

[Kaido]

Okay...I think I'm going to go with the Ultra-D. I have no idea if or when Gigabyte will release and SATA II version of their ramdisk, soo....why wait?