Barton 2500+ OC'd darn well (IMHO)

[ResTeAZy]

Okay, so I decided it was time to upgrade from my 600 MHz Athlon Classic with a FIC SD-11 mobo

I bought:

Enermax CSX305LS Silver Tower Case 350W P.S..
Enermax UC-8FAB 8cm Case Cooling Fan.
Asus A7N8X nForce2 SPP/MCP DDR266/333 USB 2.0 AGP8X Audio .
AMD Athlon XP "Barton" 2500+ (333MHz FSB, 1.86 GHz CPU).
Coolermaster CP5-6J31C CPU Fan.
512MB Corsair PC3200 DDR400 CMX512-3200C2.
80GB 7200RPM 8MB Cache WD800JB.
Cooler Master 18" FDD Transparent Round Cable.
QVS 35" Dual IDE Yellow Round Cable.

I then proceeded to disable onboard sound, stick in my trusty ol' SB Live!, my Ti4200 128, and an extra case fan to blow air out the top...and overclocked away.

Keep in mind, these overclocking results were with an OEM Barton 2500+ on VERY STANDARD cooling (totally UNimpressive OEM installed Coolermaster heatsink with a pretty weak-ass fan):

FSB: 179.25 MHz
Multiplier: 12.0
RAM: Synched w/FSB with 4-2-2-2 timing (I could probably try to push this more)
Core Voltage: 1.66V
CPU Temps: 42C normal operation, 48C under max load
Mobo Temps: 32C normal, 35 under max load

Yes, a 2500+ overclocked to 2151.0 MHz without even TRYING... When I did try to push the FSB higher, I'd get reboots.

A massive copper heatsink with shim and a bigger fan is on the way... Anybody have any recommendations on what I should try from here? I'd like to see that FSB a little higher than 179 MHz...but I can't seem to rid myself of the reboots yet. Maybe the new copper heatsink/fan combo will make the difference? Or maybe I'm being a wimp about CPU Core Voltage?

Any advice would be cool...

 

[mechBgon]

My helpful tip: do NOT use the shim. If it's the slightest bit too thick you will not get proper contact between the CPU and heatsink, and they're not necessary either. Thanks for the OC report, good luck with the tweaks!

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I haven't been keeping up with the AMD scene the way I should but can't you lower the mulitplier with the Barton on that board in the bios?

 

[TerryMathews]

Originally posted by: ResTeAZy

Asus A7N8X nForce2 SPP/MCP DDR266/333 USB 2.0 AGP8X Audio .
I then proceeded to disable onboard sound, stick in my trusty ol' SB Live!, my Ti4200 128, and an extra case fan to blow air out the top...and overclocked away.

Why???? nForce > SBLive

 

[ResTeAZy]

Okay, I'll give it some more juice when I get my better cooling equipment--and then repost the OC'd results. I've been trying to find the balance between FSB overclock and multiplier overclock. From what I've read it's a tough call between dropping the multiplier by .5 and lowering the FSB 1 or 2 MHz. Dropping the FSB only means a 12 MHz drop in overall CPU clock speed. Dropping the multiplier means lowing the overall CPU clock by at *least* 90 Mhz...

It's a trade-off. Plus, after messing with the multiplier and dropping it down quite a bit...I still get reboots above 180 MHz FSB. Did I get unlucky with my mobo? Or is it possible that the Barton isn't happy about the faster FSB?

Also, what about the Corsair PC3200 DDR? Should I clock the memory higher and lower the CAS timing?


(As for the SB Live over nForce audio...I can't tell the difference except I like having some EAX support since games are using it a bit)

All replies are much appreciated--thanks!