AMD Athlon 64bit 3400+ Clawhammer "CO" @ 2.420

[GetOffDez]

My 3400+ has been running fine for an day now. It's running at 2.4GHz and there hasn't been any crash yet. The voltage is at 1.5 and I'm using an "ZALMAN CNPS7000A-Cu Pure Copper". Anyway, the reason I post this is because the other day I was told that I couldn't even reach 2.3GHz but I did and I think it's stable. I'll run prime95 when I go to sleep to see if there's any error.

MSI "K8N Neo Platinum" nForce3 250
AMD Athlon 64 3400+ (ClawHammer)
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB
OCZ 1GB(512MBx2) DDR PC-3700 EB
ENERMAX Noisetaker 600W PSU
ZALMAN CNPS7000A-Cu Pure Copper

BTW, what do you guys think? Is it even worth ocing that much? Thanks in advance.

 

[charloscarlies]

Is it worth it? Yes especially if it's stable at stock voltage.

I have a feeling it isn't completely stable though...run prime and let us know.

 

[GetOffDez]

I hope it's stable. I've been playing game all day and my computer has been fine. Also, it's running at 41c and 46c max. But what if it reach 50c. Would that still be safe? Thanks in advance.

 

[LifeStealer]

Up to 70c is considered "safe"

Your mobo might be reporting the temp incorrectly however.

 

[GetOffDez]

I'm reading the temp with Everest.

 

[Mik3y]

wow, that's a great overclock!

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: Mik3y
wow, that's a great overclock!

If that's stable I agree....not too shabby at all.

 

[Dave n Daytona Beach]

Excellent OC, you may very well be able to get stable up to 2.5-2.6GHz, just keep your CPU temp under 50C at load. A64's are much more temp sensitive than P4's.

 

[kamranziadar]

Umm it is not a big Overclock you can go upto 2.5

 

[BW86]

Originally posted by: kamranziadar
Umm it is not a big Overclock you can go upto 2.5

yes it is, especially for a CO. They usually dont oc good.

EDIT: Run prime and get back to use if its stable

 

[BlvdKing]

I have a CG 3400+ clawhammer that won't reach 2.4 GHz. Sometimes the stepping doesn't matter.

 

[GetOffDez]

Aight, I ran Prime95 and I got and error with in 6 min. I ran it one more time and I got an error with in 11 min. So I figure it wasn't stable and it's probably isn't good for for my CPU. So am I right? I played video game with it for and day, bench mark it with 3DMark, 01, 03, and 05. Also, it only reach 50c at max. But still it got error when running Prime95.

So I set it to 11x210 @ 2.3GHz with 1.55 voltage and ran Prime95 for 8+hours without any errors. I then set it to 10x230 @ 2.3GHz but my computer wouldn't boot up. Does any one know why? Do I need to bump up the vdimm? Voltage? I had to restart the CMOS. BTW, I'm new to this OCing thing. Anyway, I'm running it at 10x220 right now. My temps are 39c-44c.

So what do you guys think? Should I leave it at 11x220? Just because I ran games and had no problems with it, good temps. Or should just stop before I fry my cpu. Also, one last question. Is 10x220 better than 11x200? Thanks in advance.

 

[ponyo]

If it doesn't pass Prime, it isn't stable IMO. I would go with 11x210 since you said it passed Prime for 8+ hours.

 

[GetOffDez]

Originally posted by: Naustica
If it doesn't pass Prime, it isn't stable IMO. I would go with 11x210 since you said it passed Prime for 8+ hours.

11x210 is nice but I tought that the lower mutiplier the better? I'm not sure, anyway, how can I get 10x230? Thanks

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: GetOffDez

Originally posted by: Naustica
If it doesn't pass Prime, it isn't stable IMO. I would go with 11x210 since you said it passed Prime for 8+ hours.

11x210 is nice but I tought that the lower mutiplier the better? I'm not sure, anyway, how can I get 10x230? Thanks

The extra 10 mhz HTT won't make hardly any difference at all. If 11 x 220 is stable I'd just stick with that.

 

[Concillian]

First rule out the motherboard by trying to run 8x250 with memory set to 133. Definitely not your CPU or RAM then.
If that works, check the memory next by running 8x230, 8x240, 8x250 Priming every step of the way. That OCZ EB likes voltage, but it gets warm too. I'd give it 2.8-2.9 volts, that's still under warantee at that voltage. Prime will generally error out very quick if the memory is the issue. Often like 5 minutes. Run blend test. I'd SuperPi first, as that will catch anything that's way too far. The EB shouldn't have an issue up to 250 at all.

If that doesn't help you it's probably a memory controller issue with higher HTT speeds. Been known to happen...

Uhh, just to be sure, you are locking your AGP/PCI speed right? I mean many boards will have an auto setting, which you do not want to set. Instead set it to 67 MHz / 33MHz however it's setting controls it in BIOS.

 

[GetOffDez]

Originally posted by: Concillian
First rule out the motherboard by trying to run 8x250 with memory set to 133. Definitely not your CPU or RAM then.
If that works, check the memory next by running 8x230, 8x240, 8x250 Priming every step of the way. That OCZ EB likes voltage, but it gets warm too. I'd give it 2.8-2.9 volts, that's still under warantee at that voltage. Prime will generally error out very quick if the memory is the issue. Often like 5 minutes. Run blend test. I'd SuperPi first, as that will catch anything that's way too far. The EB shouldn't have an issue up to 250 at all.

If that doesn't help you it's probably a memory controller issue with higher HTT speeds. Been known to happen...

Uhh, just to be sure, you are locking your AGP/PCI speed right? I mean many boards will have an auto setting, which you do not want to set. Instead set it to 67 MHz / 33MHz however it's setting controls it in BIOS.

I'm new to OCing. I just started 3 days ago. Anyway, when you say AGP/PCI lock. What does that do? How can I find that? Thanks

 

[Concillian]

Traditionally the AGP/PCI frequency is tied to another frequency on the board in order to save cost/complexity on the motherboard. The FSB speed on other chips, and the HTT speed on the A64 boards. You can just sync the frequency at some integer divider of another frequency and you're good to go.

However if you start overclocking, you end up inadvertently overclocking the AGP and PCI bus speeds in this case. Most AGP cards can't take much over about 75 MHz (default is 66) and some PCI devices can't take very much over 33 MHz at all. Your IDE controller is on the PCI bus even though it's built into the motherboard.

At 220 MHz HTT, if you're not setting the AGP/PCI to a specific frequency, you could be overclocking the AGP/PCI significantly and not knowing it. 73 / 36 at 230 you could be doing even more and putting them at 77 / 38. There should be an option somewhere in the BIOS (I'm not familir with the MSI BIOS, but I'm pretty sure it has the capability) where you can set the AGP and/or PCI speed to a specific MHz (like 67 MHz AGP speed) Since PCI is always half of AGP, then it will ratio appropriately. Some boards have an 'AUTO' setting that will ratio from The HTT / FSB speed but you can set a specific MHz in there. Other boards always have a speciffic frequency. If yours is set to AUTO, change it to 66 or 67 so you are SURE that the video card and/or hard drives are not limiting you

 

[GetOffDez]

Originally posted by: Concillian
Traditionally the AGP/PCI frequency is tied to another frequency on the board in order to save cost/complexity on the motherboard. The FSB speed on other chips, and the HTT speed on the A64 boards. You can just sync the frequency at some integer divider of another frequency and you're good to go.

However if you start overclocking, you end up inadvertently overclocking the AGP and PCI bus speeds in this case. Most AGP cards can't take much over about 75 MHz (default is 66) and some PCI devices can't take very much over 33 MHz at all. Your IDE controller is on the PCI bus even though it's built into the motherboard.

At 220 MHz HTT, if you're not setting the AGP/PCI to a specific frequency, you could be overclocking the AGP/PCI significantly and not knowing it. 73 / 36 at 230 you could be doing even more and putting them at 77 / 38. There should be an option somewhere in the BIOS (I'm not familir with the MSI BIOS, but I'm pretty sure it has the capability) where you can set the AGP and/or PCI speed to a specific MHz (like 67 MHz AGP speed) Since PCI is always half of AGP, then it will ratio appropriately. Some boards have an 'AUTO' setting that will ratio from The HTT / FSB speed but you can set a specific MHz in there. Other boards always have a speciffic frequency. If yours is set to AUTO, change it to 66 or 67 so you are SURE that the video card and/or hard drives are not limiting you

Ok, this is what I found in my BIOs "Adjust AGP Frequency (66)". It can go up to 100. Also, what's "HT Frequency"? Right now it's at 4x and the max is 5x. Can I set it to 5x and not have to worry about my computer dying? Also, how would I know that my AGP/PCI should be running at a certain speed when I OC. For example, you stated "At 220 MHz HTT, if you're not setting the AGP/PCI to a specific frequency, you could be overclocking the AGP/PCI significantly and not knowing it. 73 / 36 at 230 you could be doing even more and putting them at 77 / 38".

Is there an chart that shows how much Frequency you're suppose to add if you OC? This is very new to me so Please help me if you can. Thanks in advance.

 

[rpv]

GetOffDez

Hi. this is slighlty off topic but I saw in your configuration that you have the 3700EB OCZ. Was wondering which site you got it from. Want to get it but I cant seem to find it..Thanks for the help.

 

[JohnAn2112]

Actually, the MSI K8N board works better with the AGP set to 67 instead of 66. For some reason, it's more stable when OC'ing.

 

[GetOffDez]

Originally posted by: rpv
GetOffDez

Hi. this is slighlty off topic but I saw in your configuration that you have the 3700EB OCZ. Was wondering which site you got it from. Want to get it but I cant seem to find it..Thanks for the help.

I got them from atacom.com

 

[GetOffDez]

Originally posted by: ZePHyRaNTHeS
Actually, the MSI K8N board works better with the AGP set to 67 instead of 66. For some reason, it's more stable when OC'ing.

Are you sure?