Considering upgrading to X2....

[ac0403]

I am planning on upgrading from my AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (Venice) to the AMD X2 4600+. However I have heard that I could save some money by buying the AMD X2 3800+ and OC'ing the clock speeds to 2.4ghz, which makes it a X2 4600+. I do have adequte cooling (Thermalright XP90 w/ AS5), however I have never really OC'ed before. How hard would it be to bump the X2 3800+ to X2 4600+ speeds? I currently have 2x512mb (PC3200) of Corsair XMS RAM and plan on getting another pair to make it 4x512mb (PC3200). Would having 4x sticks of memory hinder me from doing this OC?

BTW, I have a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard...and sorry if this was discussed multiple times already, I couldn't really find anything that answered all my questions.

 

[Regs]

2.4 is a simple to reach with the Venice. You would run a 5 to 3 divider on the ram which is likely something you might of never heard before. However its fairly simple depending on the motherboard or BIOS. You would need to lock the RAM speed at 200 MHz while the CPU runs at 240 x 10 (2.4GHz). You over clock the FSB or clock multiplyer to 240 of course to get 2.4Ghz.

You would need to go into two places in the BIOS. Over clocking settings or Advanced Bios Features and RAM settings.

 

[ac0403]

Would the directions you just gave me apply to the X2 3800+ too? Because I plan on upgrading to a dual core processor from the 3500+ Venice.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: ac0403
Would the directions you just gave me apply to the X2 3800+ too? Because I plan on upgrading to a dual core processor from the 3500+ Venice.

Yes, the directions are the same.

With the X2 3800+, hitting 2.4Ghz is pretty much a guarantee. Most can do with a minimal or no bump in voltage from the stock.

 

[JBDan]

I get 2.4 on my X2-3800+ @ default V. Stable as ever. Easily reaches 2.6 w/ a small vcore bump. For ~$150 its an excellent upgrade from a single core venice imo.

 

[ac0403]

Alright, I'm going to buy the 3800+ instead of the 4600+ and save myself some money. I might be pinging you guys again when I get the processor for OC'ing help.

 

[ac0403]

Well guys....I decided to buy the AMD X2 4400+ instead of the 3800+ like I planned. I still plan on OC'ing though, and I want to get the 4400+ to 4800+ speeds...hopefully it'll be just as easy with this chip.

 

[cmrmrc]

2.2 to 2.4 is very easy...try getting it to 2.6 or maybe even 2.7 but that would require alot more voltage

 

[ac0403]

Originally posted by: cmrmrc
2.2 to 2.4 is very easy...try getting it to 2.6 or maybe even 2.7 but that would require alot more voltage

Do you think I could get to 2.6 with the memory I have? 4x512mb Corsair XMS (PC3200)...

 

[myocardia]

You don't want to attempt overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM. You won't be able to use Cool n Quiet, and just having the 4 sticks will lessen your ability of overclocking very far at all, it seems.

 

[OVerLoRDI]

I hit 2.5ghz on my x2 3800 with a small voltage bump and a zalman cooler, but in reality if you wanted a real upgrade you might consider just saving up a little money and switching to a conroe platform. But hell for 150 the 3800 is one fine deal

 

[ac0403]

Originally posted by: myocardia
You don't want to attempt overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM. You won't be able to use Cool n Quiet, and just having the 4 sticks will lessen your ability of overclocking very far at all, it seems.

What ram do you suggest I get then? All I want to do is a mild OC to 2.4...maybe 2.6 tops.

 

[corsa]

See how it runs b4 upgrading RAM, you may find u dont need to add more once u see the benifits of having x2 cores. It just depends on what games/applications u run at the end of the day.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: myocardia
You don't want to attempt overclocking with 4 sticks of RAM. You won't be able to use Cool n Quiet, and just having the 4 sticks will lessen your ability of overclocking very far at all, it seems.

He should be fine if he doesn't mind running 2t and running a divider.

 

[gobucks]

yeah, that thing about 4 sticks clocking down to 333MHz was only present with winchester and older chips. venice and all dual cores have fixed it. if you have single sided modules, you can even use a 1T command rate, but if you have dual sided ones obviously you'll have to settle for 2T.

also, what kind of corsair XMS ram do you have, i.e. what are the latencies? if you have cas 2 or 2.5 memory, you might be able to OC it to 500MHz, which would mean you wouldn't have to run a divider to hit like 2.75GHz. but if you do have to run a divider, do it, since the performance penalty is not all that severe.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: gobucks
yeah, that thing about 4 sticks clocking down to 333MHz was only present with winchester and older chips. venice and all dual cores have fixed it. if you have single sided modules, you can even use a 1T command rate, but if you have dual sided ones obviously you'll have to settle for 2T.

Every single person I've ever seen trying to overclock with 4 sticks of RAM gave up, and either stuck with 2x512MB, or sold their original RAM, and went with 2x1GB. Just having the 4 sticks is very hard on the memory controller, but it's possible to do. Trying to overclock with 4 sticks just doesn't hardly work, since overclocking stresses the memory controller, also.

edit: The above is only concerning AMD's processors. Four sticks of RAM with an Intel chip is not a big deal, since they don't have on-die memory controllers.

 

[Regs]

Why not get two sticks at 1 GB?

 

[ac0403]

Well I cancelled my order for the AMD X2 4400+ and the additional gig of ram. I decided that I could not afford the 4400+ right now (still have to buy books for school) so I went back to the 3800+. I'll just stick with the 2x 512mb of Corsair XMS ram (timings are 2-3-3-6) for now and maybe upgrade to 2x1gig later. Now to get my cpu up to 2.4ghz...hopefully it's as easy as you guys say it is.