First time overclock

[Ruroni]

I have an athlon XP 2400+. I THINK I have unlocked the processor (by using conductive grease on the L3 bridge #5). My motherboard is an Abit AT7 MAX2.

When I try to alter the settings with the multipliers, I can't even get 200FSB with 10x multiplier. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or how to tell; this is my first time trying to OC.

The instructions on the Athlon XP Unlocking Kit say that "The 2200+ and later CPU's unlocked by the L3 #5 method will only allow for access to 12.5 and lower multipliers". So I don't know if I did the unlocking wrong or what, because I have successfully Raised the FSB, without changing the multiplier (from it's default of 15), to 152FSB. That gives me a speed of about 2.26GHz.

I have played around with all kinds of BIOS settings, I even tried raising the Voltage for the CPU and DDR as mentioned here. But after I try to reboot, from modifying the settings, my computer doesn't boot. The screen just stays black; I then have to clear the BIOS with the jumpers. I've pretty much tried everything I could think of even UNDER clocking (which I was successful at) but that's not very useful.

I have a Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu to help me keep my CPU cool, and as far as I can tell, the CPU isn't warming up much.

Anyone have any suggestions, comments, or thoughts?

 

[Soulkeeper]

yeah you got a kt400 chipset it wouldn't suprise me if you can't get 400fsb stable
just try getting the fsb as high as you can then raise the clock mult for any cpu overclock beyond that

 

[Ruroni]

Forgot to mention, I am using 2 sticks of 512MB Corsair XMS3500 C2

 

[Soulkeeper]

you've got some good memory
i would run it asyn with the fsb and try to get it to atleast it's rated speed at 2-2-2-6 timings if you can

 

[Twista]

you will never get this 200fsb on that motherboard or any other KT400 via chipset mobo. I have a kt400 also and it kt400 is pretty crappy!


1. it only runs below 200fsb
2.no pci/agp lock
3.200fsb= 40 pci and 80 agp=no booting into youre pc
4. gets better memory score @ 333memory than 400memory
5. i got 200mhz memory also.. and cant get 200 and i only seen one person get 200 on a kt400 and it was crazy luck but he wont have that same hardware @ 200/40 soon ;p.

 

[Ruroni]

Originally posted by: Soulkeeper
you've got some good memory
i would run it asyn with the fsb and try to get it to atleast it's rated speed at 2-2-2-6 timings if you can

What does asyn mean? What is 2-2-2-6 timings ? I have looked at the settings for DRAM Clock and DRAM Timing Selectable. But I don't know too much about it. I don't know how 2-2-2-6 timings translates to what is on my screen.

 

[edmundoab]

async means not 100% with FSB and ram..

 

[pillage2001]

Originally posted by: edmundoab
async means not 100% with FSB and ram..

liar.

 

[Ruroni]

How will I know when I'm pushing the limits?

I managed to get the FSB to work at 155FSB with a multiplier of 15 (couldn't get windows to rmeian stable at 160FSB & any multiplier), that makes my Athlon XP 2400+ run at about 2.32GHz.

In order to get this to work, I set the CPU Voltage to 1.85 and the DDR voltage to 2.85. Everything seemed to be running fine, but I don't know if that's pushing it too much; so I dropped the FSB to 150 and the DDR Voltage to 2.75.

Does anyone have any suggestions, on how to determine what is safe, and what is not? Or is a good rule of thumb that as long as windows doesn't crash or give you any hiccups, then you're not at the limits, yet?

 

[MDE]

You could run any number of demanding applications like Prime95, 3DMark 2001, etc. and see if it crashes\screws up.

 

[edmundoab]

Originally posted by: pillage2001

Originally posted by: edmundoab
async means not 100% with FSB and ram..

liar.

I bullshit alot

 

[Ruroni]

If I can't get my Athlon XP 2400 to run at 166FSB (333), which supposedly my KT400 chipset MoBo (Abit AT7 Max2) is able to run at, does that mean that my CPU just can't reach that FSB or am I doing something wrong?

I can't reach it, no matter what I do with the multipliers. The highest STABLE I can get is 153FSB (and 15x Multiplier) and the CPU clocks about 2.3GHz. Even with a multiplier of 10 the highest STABLE FSB that would let me boot into Windows was 155.

I can also get my CPU to run at 147 FSB and 16x multiplier which gets me a stable 2.36GHz processor.

Which is better: 153FSB and 15x Multiplier @ 2.3GHz or 147 FSB and 16x multiplier @ 2.36GHz ?

 

[bootoo]

People must be sick of reading me say this, but because there is no agp lock you could go to a multiplier of 10 and try a fsb of 166; it's much more stable there than anything in between 138 or so and 166. I couldn't get 140 but do 166x13.5 fine with my kt400 motherboard and an xp2400+. Someone suggested this to me, I ran it thinking uh oh, clear cmos in a minute when it won't boot and - ta da.

Anyway give it a try!

 

[FPSguy]

Originally posted by: Ruroni
If I can't get my Athlon XP 2400 to run at 166FSB (333), which supposedly my KT400 chipset MoBo (Abit AT7 Max2) is able to run at, does that mean that my CPU just can't reach that FSB or am I doing something wrong? I can't reach it, no matter what I do with the multipliers. The highest STABLE I can get is 153FSB (and 15x Multiplier) and the CPU clocks about 2.3GHz. Even with a multiplier of 10 the highest STABLE FSB that would let me boot into Windows was 155. I can also get my CPU to run at 147 FSB and 16x multiplier which gets me a stable 2.36GHz processor. Which is better: 153FSB and 15x Multiplier @ 2.3GHz or 147 FSB and 16x multiplier @ 2.36GHz ?

What settings do you have for the dividers (i.e., the 4th line down on this BIOS screen)? If the dividers are set to 5:2:1, you should be able to hit 166MHz and at least a bit above.

 

[Ruroni]

bootoo
People must be sick of reading me say this, but because there is no agp lock you could go to a multiplier of 10 and try a fsb of 166; it's much more stable there than anything in between 138 or so and 166. I couldn't get 140 but do 166x13.5 fine with my kt400 motherboard and an xp2400+. Someone suggested this to me, I ran it thinking uh oh, clear cmos in a minute when it won't boot and - ta da.

Anyway give it a try!

My CPU or mobo wont reach 166FSB, no matter what I set the multipliers to. I've even tried 9. The highest FSB I can achieve with my CPU and MoBo is 155, and that's pretty unstable.

FPSguy
What settings do you have for the dividers (i.e., the 4th line down on this BIOS screen)? If the dividers are set to 5:2:1, you should be able to hit 166MHz and at least a bit above.

I have tried all the setting for the dividers (5:2:1 & 4:2:1 & 3:2:1), and none of them let me reach 166, no mater what I set the multiplier to.