An overclock for difficulty instead of max speed (K6-2)

[takuma683]

I'm new here, and have a question you might think is out of place since everybody here seems to be overclocking top-end processors and would give that evil stare at someone attempting this with a low-end processor like mine. But my question is: Has someone EVER been successful in overclocking a 500 MHz K6-2 over 1% of its original clock (504 MHz was the max I got out of it). If so, could this person then give me some tips on it? I just need to squeeze some more years out of my K6-2 system since I don't have the cash for a newer one.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Soulkeeper]

i've never overclocked or owned a k6-2
but i'm suprised you could only get 4mhz
that just don't sound right

most everyone in here has or is overclocking old hardware, we all do it
welcome to the forums

do you have good cooling ?

i'm assuming you just upped the fsb 1mhz ?

did you try lowering your mem latencies maybe ?


i got to get some sleep, but good luck on this one

 

[takuma683]

Well, I actually upped the FSB by 12 MHz (100 to 112) and downed the multiplier from 5x to 4.5x to get 504 MHz. (My motherboard doesn't have fine FSB frequency control, supports 66, 75, 83, 95, 100, 112, and 124, but 124 goes too unstable). About cooling... I'm using a P3 cooler on it. My memory is operating in PC-66 mode even though it's PC-100. And still I get only 4 MHz more...

Edit: About cooling, I could get a Thermaltake Volcano 7+ and fit it onto my K6 for overclocking, but I think it's overkill - and wasting the investment too - since the V7+ is even more expensive than a new K6-2 processor...

Edit #2: Ah... I think it's worth to mention that I live in a hot place (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; temperatures here in summer, in which we are now, go over 40 degrees C) and that the K6-2 doesn't take much heating up (according to it's official specs, it blows at 65 degrees C). So then, anybody has any tips also on how to cool this thing down so it takes overclocking?

 

[bunnyfubbles]

Average overclocked speed - 567 Mhz

Seems like you wont get much out of it unless you've got a good chip and watercooling or better (of which some claim nearly 700MHz). You most likely will not see a performance difference, unless you're using low hardware demand apps and/or apps that were developed around the days of 500MHz systems

 

[mindwreck]

you could try to deplate the chip. I can't find the site i used, but its pretty simple. On each of the four corners theres some epoxy like glue that holds the plate down. I used the razor blade and just started carving away. Takes about 15-30 minutes.

oh and are you using thermal paste? that could help

 

[mindwreck]

found a similar site on the removing the plate

 

[sandorski]

Keep the FSB at 100mhz(though higher fsb makes a significant difference for K6-2s)and up the Multiplier to 5.5 or 6(if it will run that high). Try keeping your ram in Sync for maximum performance. Also, upping the voltage as high as 2.4v is safe and can help a lot for overclocking.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: sandorski
Keep the FSB at 100mhz(though higher fsb makes a significant difference for K6-2s)and up the Multiplier to 5.5 or 6(if it will run that high). Try keeping your ram in Sync for maximum performance. Also, upping the voltage as high as 2.4v is safe and can help a lot for overclocking.

Yep, I ran my K6-III 450 at 6x100 for over a year, but I had good cooling (and air-conditioning!).

 

[TGHI]

Pah! You don't need an uber good cooling setup - heat isn't an issue here. I will bet that your problem in this case is your RAM - it doesn't want to run at a higher FSB. If you're using crappy generic RAM (as I once made the mistake of purchasing) then you won't be able to turn up the FSB to a decent level. I am SURE that you can get more performance out of that thing. Have you tried leaving the FSB alone and just turning up the multiplier - it may work, it may not.

To find out if your memory is causing the overclocking problems - download memtestx86 - it'll run a few tests and will tell you if you are getting errors. The key is that you want ZERO errors for top stability. Try and squeeze every last drop out of the thing - if I can get my Duron 600 to 900 on stock cooling, you won't have a problem either. Good luck.


TGHI

 

[takuma683]

Thanks everyone!

I thought of deplating the chip before, but wasn't sure if that was a thing to do (I'm still afraid of crushing the die after I deplate it, especially with my cooler, its mounting clip is too hard)... well, I'll attempt it as the last resort, I guess. About FSB things... I could run most Windows applications stable at 504 (112 x 4.5), but the system won't boot at 550 (100 x 5) so my guess is it's heat. By the way... my motherboard does not support running the RAM over 100 MHz (on 112 and 124 settings it runs at AGP clock, 75 MHz at 112 FSB and 83 MHz at 124 FSB), so I guess it isn't that. Maybe leaving the FSB at 100 would be best too... (however, communication with PCI/AGP/ISA speeds up with higher FSB, specially improves video performance). I think I'll raise the voltage to 2.4 V (didn't try it because of heating) and raise the multiplier first to 6 (don't know if the mobo will accept this configuration though, it does accept x6 multiplier but I'm not sure if it takes it at 100 MHz FSB), then to 5.5 (this I'm sure it takes, the highest clock I could set it to was 560 MHz, but the system wouldn't boot so I set it back to 504).

Once again, thanks.

 

[sandorski]

I'd be too nervous to remove the plate, you'd need to be careful not to crush the core.

 

[takuma683]

Do those copper shims used in Athlon XP processors fit deplated K6's? If so, would that help me not to crush my CPU while installing the heatsink?

Thanks in advance!

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: takuma683
Do those copper shims used in Athlon XP processors fit deplated K6's? If so, would that help me not to crush my CPU while installing the heatsink?

Thanks in advance!

I'm not sure, the core size and height is likely different between them. If you get a good SocketA heatsink(only concern would be space on mobo around cpu socket), it should cool better than core to heatsink contact, aka, I doubt cooling straight from the core is going to help that much.

 

[buckmasterson]

Originally posted by: mindwreck
found a similar site on the removing the plate

Huh. I have 3 of these in my desk and an old Gigabyte socket 7 board. Has anyone ever tried tying the bridges together as was done in some of the athlons? I wonder if there is a map for them. This lends to the possibility of some real smokey-smelly fun!!!

 

[TStep]

I have had similar overclocking experiences with K6-2s with an FIC Va-503+. The FIC had the ability to operate at 112mhz, but not 124mhz. Voltage adjustments from 2.0 thru 3.2. Used a good oversized heatsink from a PIII and SDRAM that was true at 133mhz as tested on a Iwill PL133 mobo.

AMD K6-2 300 - 300 was it. Not voltage. not heat, just would not go any higher.

AMD K6-2 350 - 366 was it. Could not make the jump to 380 (4x95) but would go 366 (5.5x66)

AMD k6-2 400 - 504 was beautiful. The only real overclocker I ever had. Made 504 (4.5x112). Toyed with 522, but it couldn't remain stable for long periods.

AMD K6-2 500 - 504 was it. Made 504 at (4.5x112). Could not make the jump to 522 (5.5x95)

It seems as though most K6-2 were pushed out of AMD fabs and marked at or near their limits. My experience was only 25% had any headroom.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: buckmasterson

Originally posted by: mindwreck
found a similar site on the removing the plate

Huh. I have 3 of these in my desk and an old Gigabyte socket 7 board. Has anyone ever tried tying the bridges together as was done in some of the athlons? I wonder if there is a map for them. This lends to the possibility of some real smokey-smelly fun!!!

There is no need to playing with the bridges. The k6s were not locked in any way.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: TStep
I have had similar overclocking experiences with K6-2s with an FIC Va-503+. The FIC had the ability to operate at 112mhz, but not 124mhz. Voltage adjustments from 2.0 thru 3.2. Used a good oversized heatsink from a PIII and SDRAM that was true at 133mhz as tested on a Iwill PL133 mobo.

AMD K6-2 300 - 300 was it. Not voltage. not heat, just would not go any higher.

AMD K6-2 350 - 366 was it. Could not make the jump to 380 (4x95) but would go 366 (5.5x66)

AMD k6-2 400 - 504 was beautiful. The only real overclocker I ever had. Made 504 (4.5x112). Toyed with 522, but it couldn't remain stable for long periods.

AMD K6-2 500 - 504 was it. Made 504 at (4.5x112). Could not make the jump to 522 (5.5x95)

It seems as though most K6-2 were pushed out of AMD fabs and marked at or near their limits. My experience was only 25% had any headroom.

My experience was a little different

k6-2 300 - 380(4x95), 350(3.5x100) was faster though. 396(6x66) was almost stable(occassional lockups)

k6-2 500 - 550(5.5x100)

Most Super7 motherboards had a limit around 112mhz fsb, a few were able to get higher, but not many. The k6-2/3 were never great overclockers, but some later 300's did manage 450 and the k6-2+/3+ were decent, often reaching over 600.

 

[11427]

takuma683
Just curious,.... does your MB have dip switches?
I have a K6-2 500 oc'd to 550 just by changing one dip switch,... then again I have no ability to make bios changes. Just thinking you may need to have a look at your MB manual and make sure its not a simple dip switch or jumper holding you back.

 

[jswjimmy]

i overclocked my frends k6-2 475mhz to 500mhz no problem its been running for over a year now.

 

[dml54]

I have a K6-2 500 in an old Asus Super 7 board. I can set the FSB to 50 - 66 - 75 - 83 - 95 - 100 - 112 - 124 - 133. The hightest multiplier is 5.5. Using 128Mb Micron/Crucial PC133 CL3. Fast for an old box at 124x5=620Mhz but not 100% stable. Used it at 133x4.5=598.5Mhz for about 6 months. Now that I sold the heatsink (from retail XP2000+) I have it at 112x5=560Mhz. I can set voltage from 2.0V to 2.4V and 2.6V to 3.1V. It takes me 2.6V to get it to get it to boot with 133FSB.

 

[dml54]

I have a K6-2 500 in an old Asus Super 7 board. I can set the FSB to 50 - 66 - 75 - 83 - 95 - 100 - 112 - 124 - 133. The hightest multiplier is 5.5. Using 128Mb Micron/Crucial PC133 CL3. Fast for an old box at 124x5=620Mhz but not 100% stable. Used it at 133x4.5=598.5Mhz for about 6 months. Now that I sold the heatsink (from retail XP2000+) I have it at 112x5=560Mhz. I can set voltage from 2.0V to 2.4V and 2.6V to 3.1V. It takes me 2.6V to get it to get it to boot with 133FSB.

 

[maluckey]

I have a k6-2+ 450 mobile in an ASUS P5A-B that would hit a stable 577 Mhz with air cooling. I eventually settled on 112 (110 set at jumper was actually 112mhz) x 5 for just over 560 Mhz FSB, and it's still strong after three years. It's was an easy OC, but initially I had PC-100 RAM and it wouldn't OC at all. I experimeted with higher FSB and was able to run at 122 x 4.5 Mhz FSB, but heat would kill the fun.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: dml54
I have a K6-2 500 in an old Asus Super 7 board. I can set the FSB to 50 - 66 - 75 - 83 - 95 - 100 - 112 - 124 - 133. The hightest multiplier is 5.5. Using 128Mb Micron/Crucial PC133 CL3. Fast for an old box at 124x5=620Mhz but not 100% stable. Used it at 133x4.5=598.5Mhz for about 6 months. Now that I sold the heatsink (from retail XP2000+) I have it at 112x5=560Mhz. I can set voltage from 2.0V to 2.4V and 2.6V to 3.1V. It takes me 2.6V to get it to get it to boot with 133FSB.

FYI: the 2x multiplier is changed to a 6x multiplier on the cpu.

 

[takuma683]

Originally posted by: 11427
takuma683
Just curious,.... does your MB have dip switches?
I have a K6-2 500 oc'd to 550 just by changing one dip switch,... then again I have no ability to make bios changes. Just thinking you may need to have a look at your MB manual and make sure its not a simple dip switch or jumper holding you back.

My mobo's settings are all done via jumper caps. Those are even painful to work with... wish I had a soft-setting mobo.

Well... I fiddled around with those and was able to push it as far as 560 MHz (112 x 5) now, I'm posting using the overclocked system right now... but its stability is leaving something to be desired, some programs just crash without a warning... I'm not sure whether the culprit is the CPU or the memory, I'll run some more stability tests later. I made it by fitting the heatsink onto the CPU again (It might be badly mounted, don't know) and raising the core voltage from 2.2 to 2.4 V. Strange enough, the CPU does feel a bit hotter than when running at nominal clock but not THAT much... (by the way, my mobo does not have a CPU temperature sensor)... thank you guys again! After I get and run memtest86 I'll be back and post about it... once again, thanks!

Edit:By the way... I thought about kicking up the voltage yet a bit more, from 2.4 V to 2.5 V, but I think it might not be safe... is it?

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: takuma683

Originally posted by: 11427
takuma683
Just curious,.... does your MB have dip switches?
I have a K6-2 500 oc'd to 550 just by changing one dip switch,... then again I have no ability to make bios changes. Just thinking you may need to have a look at your MB manual and make sure its not a simple dip switch or jumper holding you back.

My mobo's settings are all done via jumper caps. Those are even painful to work with... wish I had a soft-setting mobo.

Well... I fiddled around with those and was able to push it as far as 560 MHz (112 x 5) now, I'm posting using the overclocked system right now... but its stability is leaving something to be desired, some programs just crash without a warning... I'm not sure whether the culprit is the CPU or the memory, I'll run some more stability tests later. I made it by fitting the heatsink onto the CPU again (It might be badly mounted, don't know) and raising the core voltage from 2.2 to 2.4 V. Strange enough, the CPU does feel a bit hotter than when running at nominal clock but not THAT much... (by the way, my mobo does not have a CPU temperature sensor)... thank you guys again! After I get and run memtest86 I'll be back and post about it... once again, thanks!

Edit:By the way... I thought about kicking up the voltage yet a bit more, from 2.4 V to 2.5 V, but I think it might not be safe... is it?

2.5v should be ok as long as you have decent cooling.