How high is a safe voltage on a mobile 2500?

[piesang]

Okay I have a mobile 2500 and want to overclock it, how high can I push the vcore so that it won't severely shorten the lifespan of my CPU?

 

[magratton]

I believe most thing that 1.75v is safe. Some even say 1.8v. Above that and you are starting to lower your life expectancy. Putting this into context @ 1.65v - 1.675 I have overclocked my mobile 2500 to 2400Mhz w/200x12@1.675v in bios.

 

[BlueWeasel]

It all depends on the heatsink and fan that you're using to cool the overclocked chip. If it's the stock AMD cooler, then I agree with magratton - 1.70 or 1.75v would be as high as I would go (maybe less if the temps get too high). But if you've got a high performance HS and fan, then you could go up to 1.80v, maybe 1.85v max.

 

[zettler]

What kind of temps do you all consider:

1. average
2. high
3. "fugedaboutit"

In our Lan at home, we are fortunate to have a Barton 2600+, Barton (unlocked) 2500+, a mobile 2500+, a mobile 2400+ and a highly sought after 1700+ (JIUBC?). All of these are OCable from what I have read, and I have placed either a Thermalright/Thermaltake HS with top notch fans.

While the 1700 would get in the 40C range, the others seem to be running anywhere from 98F to 115F - AND I haven't really tried to OC them past say 2.2.

In three of the PC's, I am using the EP8RDA+ MB (Rev. 1.1 and 2.0), in the other, a new ABIT NF7-S (Rev. 2). All have good to better RAM - mostly Kingston PC2700 to HyperX PC3500 - with some Crucial thrown in. I try to stay with ANTEC PS's but just picked up that Thermalright 420W from NewEgg for $38.

I run into OS issues more than anything - spyware/adware, etc., BUT I am wanting to make sure my son has the best he can (that I can afford) for gaming, and that my daughter when she leaves home for college, will also have something very dependable.

My son has the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, she has a ATI AIW Radeon 8500, and the other two have modded ATI Radeon 9500 Pro's to 9700 Pro's. I guess I am overboard, as there are only the three of us and I haven't even discussed the backup-backup with the 1700+ and a MSI GeF3 Ti500 PC that I have to move to a refurbed NF7...

Anyway, I deal in specifics when it comes to PCs, as best I can, and since I am dealing with the above, I would love to hear what you all think about temps - for the Barton 2500, the two Mobiles, and then the Thoughbread 1700???

Thank you.

 

[JeffCY]

I'd say average is anywhere from 40C-50C, high is over 50C, and after about 60C you can "fugedaboutit". I remember someone saying that after about 55C the life of your CPU starts to decrease exponentially but I don't know if that's fact or myth.

 

[imported_Flux]

I converted your temps:
98F -> 36.7C
115F -> 46.1C

Your others CPUs still seem to be fine for overclocking further.
I try to stay below 50C, but it is safe to go higher.

To keep things in perspective:
The lowest warning temp I've seen on a motherboard is 60C.
The lowest shutdown temp on motherboards that I've seen is 75C.
Most motherboards give you a choice between 85C and 95C as your shutdown temp.
If I remember correctly, AMD says 95C is the maximum operating temp.
Many graphics cards hit temps well in excess of 70C in 3D operations.
In fact, I'd wager yours do.

I don't know if it really does reduce the CPU life as temp gets higher, but even conservative people usually upgrade within five years.
A friend of mine has been running his Athlon thunderbird at 68C (77C in gaming) for several years and it is still kicking.
I think your motherboard or another component will probably die before your CPU.

Heat does, however, counter stable overclockablility.
In otherwords, a CPU needs to be cool to run out of spec with stability.

memtest86 is a good tool for overclocking.
Burn to CD or floppy and boot to it.
It runs before you hit windows so you can avoid destroying windows when trying ot overclock.
Once it passes the standard test (1-7) runs a couple of times, run Prime95 in windows for an extended period of time. (some people run 24 hours)
If it both tests pass then your processor should be stable regardless of heat.

Take a look around for testing other components.
Looping 3DMARKS + Prime95 is a favorite of some.

 

[AWhackWhiteBoy]

processor temp doesn't matter so long as its under 90C. if your overclocking, its a general rule of thumb to keep the bartons below 50C because beyond that they start to get unstable when out of spec.

as soon as mine hits 50C socket temp,on the dot, prime95 fails.