Making sure i am doing this right? Overclocking X2 4200

[Face2Face]

I overclocked my X2 4200 939 socket to 2.75GHZ (from 2.2GHZ)
I changed the HT mult to 4 (from 5)
Set my DDR400 to 333MHZ
CPU mult to 11
ramped up the HT (FSB) to 250
But i did not change any of my voltages (CPU/MB/RAM)or mem timings!
I have an Asus A8N-SLI Premium and kept the voltages at auto for cpu and Mem
In Ntune it says CPU voltage is 1.5500 V in the monitorView
HT Link @1000MHZ Memory @ 415MHZ i am using 2.5 Cas Corsair (value stuff)
I am running Super PI @ 8m and my temp is staying @ 47-48 c same with 3d Mark06
So what do you think? am i doing this right? it seems stable. any opinons people?

 

[Mondoman]

If it's Orthos (PRIME95) "blend" stable for a number of hours, you're doing fine.

 

[Ratman6161]

Originally posted by: Greenhell6
I overclocked my X2 4200 939 socket to 2.75GHZ (from 2.2GHZ)
I changed the HT mult to 4 (from 5)
Set my DDR400 to 333MHZ
CPU mult to 11
ramped up the HT (FSB) to 250
But i did not change any of my voltages (CPU/MB/RAM)or mem timings!
I have an Asus A8N-SLI Premium and kept the voltages at auto for cpu and Mem
In Ntune it says CPU voltage is 1.5500 V in the monitorView
HT Link @1000MHZ Memory @ 415MHZ i am using 2.5 Cas Corsair (value stuff)
I am running Super PI @ 8m and my temp is staying @ 47-48 c same with 3d Mark06
So what do you think? am i doing this right? it seems stable. any opinons people?

The spec voltage on the CPU is 1.35. If it really is running at 1.55 then that is dangerously high. It pretty unlikely you would get that cpu to that speed without some extra voltage (I have machines with S939 4200's and 4400's so I know what I'm talking about here) which supports the idea that your voltage really is not running at default or Auto.

I'd really recommend going back and checking and looking in the health and status section of the bios to see what voltage it things its running at.

 

[Face2Face]

I did a real stress test, ORTHOS and it failed after 4 min. And i played crysis and it locked up!! the temps dont seem to be a problem. i am assuming my problem is voltages for the cpu and mem or mem timings!! Help the VCORE in bios says 1.36v

 

[MadScientist]

Zebo's Quick and Dirty A64 OC Guide

 

[Face2Face]

I set the CPU voltage to 1.420 v and the ddr to 2.7 v and no problems after running orthos for an hour! my temps for the cpu are @ 57-58 c with the cpu @ 100%

 

[Martimus]

That's better than I could get my CPU without making it too hot for my comfort.

 

[vexingv]

does such an overclock actually provide tangible/noticeable performance improvement? waiting to upgrade to nehalem or maybe a macbook pro next year, i have the same processor and have contemplated overclocking solely to improve performance in TF2, which seems to be very CPU-bound and/or not properly optimized for AMD dual core cpus. i don't do any serious encoding and actually only use this pc occasionally to play games as i've been using my powerbook primarily. however, i'm not sure it's worth the trouble of testing and any possible instability issues.

 

[Martimus]

We have almost identical setups, even using the same MB and CPU cooler. TF2 runs flawlessly on my setup, and you seem to have a better video card than I so I am surprized that you have that complaint. What resolution are you running at?

 

[Face2Face]

I am glad that i overclocked my CPU, it seems to make an improvment in games. General computer use, no difference. I can play COD4 maxed @ 1440x900.Crysis runs a lot better! i am just trying to prolong me building a new system. Want to get as much as i can out of it.

 

[vexingv]

Martimus, i did notice that too. and for what it's worth, i think both of us are CPU bound and not GPU bound. as 24-30 fps is "smooth" to the human eye, do you actually have the fps displayed as you play TF2?

i use my native lcd resolution of 1280x1024. i previously had a 7600gt and upgraded to the 8800gt in december, but saw practically no performance improvement in TF2 (well, now i can actually turn on all of the eye candy). keeping the game resolution constant @ 1280x1024, i've compared running TF2 with the lowest graphical settings (low textures, no AF, no AA, no HDR) with the settings i normally use (all High, 2xAA, 16xAF, HDR), but the framerate still dips into the 20's and 30's during battles. at spawn and walking around maps my framerate ranges from 50-70 fps. i would just like a consistent framerate that doesn't bottom out at 20-30 fps, but a more acceptable one like 40-50 fps. there's a huge on-going thread at Valve/Steam's TF2 forums about other users experiencing these framerate drops. it's been attributed to poor cpu optimization in the game's code and the fact that both/multiple cpu cores are not utilized. of course, having a nice intel c2d seems to compensate for these shortcomings.

if indeed you do run TF2 with no dramatic framerate drops, then that 500 mhz OC must be a contributing factor. if it wasn't for my high latency RAM (3-4-4-8 by SPD) and "bargain" ECS mobo, perhaps i would consider OC-ing to prolong the enjoyable lifespan of this system.

 

[Martimus]

Originally posted by: vexingv
Martimus, i did notice that too. and for what it's worth, i think both of us are CPU bound and not GPU bound. as 24-30 fps is "smooth" to the human eye, do you actually have the fps displayed as you play TF2?

i use my native lcd resolution of 1280x1024. i previously had a 7600gt and upgraded to the 8800gt in december, but saw practically no performance improvement in TF2 (well, now i can actually turn on all of the eye candy). keeping the game resolution constant @ 1280x1024, i've compared running TF2 with the lowest graphical settings (low textures, no AF, no AA, no HDR) with the settings i normally use (all High, 2xAA, 16xAF, HDR), but the framerate still dips into the 20's and 30's during battles. at spawn and walking around maps my framerate ranges from 50-70 fps. i would just like a consistent framerate that doesn't bottom out at 20-30 fps, but a more acceptable one like 40-50 fps. there's a huge on-going thread at Valve/Steam's TF2 forums about other users experiencing these framerate drops. it's been attributed to poor cpu optimization in the game's code and the fact that both/multiple cpu cores are not utilized. of course, having a nice intel c2d seems to compensate for these shortcomings.

if indeed you do run TF2 with no dramatic framerate drops, then that 500 mhz OC must be a contributing factor. if it wasn't for my high latency RAM (3-4-4-8 by SPD) and "bargain" ECS mobo, perhaps i would consider OC-ing to prolong the enjoyable lifespan of this system.

I can tell you that the 500MHz increase took away nearly all my issues with Oblivion, but I never tried playing TF2 at stock speeds, so I am not sure if that was the issue. This is the Overclock guide that I used to get that 500MHz. increase. It ran fine through the winter, but it got too hot lately so I lowered it stock recently. I will run that benchmark for you and let you know my frame rates.