I am so out of the loop I should be shot ... (overclicking A64 question)

[Techno]

Hi,

I have two PC's that are Athlon XP-M (2500+ @ 2.4Ghz). I think I'm gonna go with a Opteron 170 + SLI for both PC's.... I haven't kept up with the times at all so how do Opterons overclock? Are they just FSB or can I up the Multiplyer? I have 4GB (4 x 1GB sticks) PC3200 that I plan on keeping for one system and then getting another 4GB for the other....

Thanks!
Techno

 

[Furen]

You have to up the HTT clock (the equivalent FSB), lower your hypertransport multiplier (leaving it at auto works on some motherboards) and adjust the DRAM speed as needed.

 

[Concillian]

Originally posted by: Techno
I haven't kept up with the times at all so how do Opterons overclock? Are they just FSB or can I up the Multiplyer? I have 4GB (4 x 1GB sticks) PC3200 that I plan on keeping for one system and then getting another 4GB for the other....

You cannot raise the multiplier, so overclocking is primarily bus speed only.

Most good boards max bus speed in the 300 MHz range (give or take). Lesser boards will generally still do in the 270 range.

The On-die memory controller has effectively made memory speed is independent of the bus speed, so you don't need extraordinary memory if you're pumping the bus speed way up, using dividers doesn't hurt memory performance vs. a 1:1 speed (which enables much higher CPU speeds with mediocre memory). This allows you to come pretty close to optimizing your memory performance and CPU performance completely independently, which is about the same result as having control of the multiplier did with the AXP.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I imagine overclicking is probably impossible for processors. Maybe yo could do it for a harddrive?