My first overclock: how'm I doin'?

[absinthe]

So, 3 years ago I put together this system with overclocking in mind. In fact, I read thread after thread here at Anandtech about how supremely overclockable was the Athlon XP 1600+ on an Epox 8k5a2 mobo. I've read many guides over the years, but I guess I was always "chicken" to fool with voltage settings and I'd be lucky if my machine would even boot all the way to Windows with any overclock.

Now I'm getting ready to upgrade to an Athlon X2 system, and I guess the fact that this Athlon XP 1600+ seems such a dinosaur has given me the courage to play with it some.

So, in addition to cranking the FSB up from 133 to 166, all I was turn the core voltage up one setting (from 1.75 to 1.8 I believe). Windows booted fine at 1.74 gHz. Cool

Unfortunately, Prime95 fails almost immediately and video-encoding jobs self-abort before completion. This remains true after bumping the vcore to 1.85, and I think I went to 1.9 v. At 1.85 volts, my CPU temp read 54.5 to 55º; at 1.9 volts it goes up to 58º.

My RAM is PC2700 (768 MB Crucial), so I'm thinking 166 mHz shouldn't be a problem and therefore I shouldn't need to raise the vdimm, right?

So are my temps and voltages not yet in the "red zone?" Is it just a matter of adding more vcore to get the machine to run smoothly?

BTW, the box has a Thermalright AX-7 HS and Sunon fan, and there's Arctic Silver 3 on the chip.

-abs

 

[imported_Kensai]

 

[Duvie]

For sake of argument when ocing you need to isolate...so right now I would run a 133divider for the ram to run at pc2100 and try to rule it out as an issue...

I think 58c is not bad for that chip so heat MAY NOT be an issue.....I would also try to run maybe just 1 stick of the ram as well to see if populating multiple spots of the dimms is holding you back...i likely would also bump the vdimm up to 2.6-2.7v just in case the board undervolts a bit....timings should be conservatve as well..perhaps set them to auto or spd timings.....

 

[Pabster]

AthlonXP's run hot. Very hot. 58C is nothing to be alarmed about (core is spec'd to 90C).

 

[absinthe]

Now am I mistaken or are the multipliers locked on these XP chips? (seems like I recall something about a "pencil" trick to unlock). I can't seem to change the multiplier. No matter what I set it to, it boots up with a multi of 10.5.

All I can seem to do is change the FSB to 166, yielding a speed of about 1.74 gHz. I've got the core up to 1.85 v and vdimm up to 2.7 v, but Prime95 still fails almost immediately.

I've got a solid fund for my new system but was going to kick in $300 or so of it for an upgrade to this system and pass it along as the new "family PC." But if I can get the current setup stable at 1.74 gHz, them there's more dough for my X2 system . A 1.74 Athlon PC oughta last the wife and kids another 2 to 3 years ...

-abs

 

[hurtstotalktoyou]

Are you locking your AGP/PCI bus? In order to properly overclock the Athlon, you can't just raise the system bus; you need to raise the FSB while locking the system bus at 133 MHz.

 

[Mogadon]

The multiplier is locked, you can unlock it, read here to find out the details.

Can you only set the FSB to 133 or 166? or can you set an FSB of 160 or otherwise? If you can then you could drop the FSB incrementally until your system becomes stable. Like Duvie said though, to find the limit of the CPU set a RAM divider if the option is available.

I've seen people running with a vcore of 2.05 with these chips and as you're going to replace it you can do that too to try and make it stable.

Any temperature below 80C under load is fine, though I probably wouldn't recommend it being that high if you were going to be running the system for a few more years.

As you want to pass the system on, keep the temperatures anything around 70'ish load and the vcore under 2.0v.

My system hits 70'ish under load and the vcore is at 1.85, i would and have had it stable at higher vcores and higher speeds but my HSF can get seriously loud so i prefer not to.

 

[jswjimmy]

do you know if its a athlon xp palomino, thoroughbred a, or thoroughbred b?

over 60c will shorten the cpus life... over 70 unstable... 80 to 90 death

 

[nick1985]

Originally posted by: Pabster
AthlonXP's run hot. Very hot. 58C is nothing to be alarmed about (core is spec'd to 90C).

the OLD athlon XP's did. the palimino core. the thoroughbred and the bartons run cool.

 

[absinthe]

@jswkimmy: It's a Palomino, an AGOIA stepping if I recall.

@hurtstotalktoyou: My board definitely has an AGP/PCI lock, but darned if I can find a setting for it in the BIOS. I've been assuming it's just always on.

@Mogadon: I can set the FSB to any value up to 255. Though for some reason, values other than 133 and 166 seem to do odd things to the AGP/PCI bus. As I type this, I'm running at FSB 140 x 10.5, and CPU-Z reports my memory as running at 178 mhz.

Thanks for all the tips thus far on safe temps/voltages. I'm still trying to get some stability. Oh, and I don't think this board has a RAM divider.

-abs

 

[Matt2]

Unfortunately, the 1600+ Palomino system I built my mom about 3 years ago OCs like crap.

The 1600+ Palomino didnt strike me as an overclockers chip one bit.

 

[absinthe]

Sorry, but I do now recall that the board doesn't have a lock, it has a 1/4 and 1/2 dividers which change to 1/5 PCI and 2/5 AGP at 166 mhz. My best bet would be, I think, to get stability at 166 FSB.

I hope that my RAM is not an issue. I have two sticks of Crucial (a 256 and a 512) PC2700.

-abs

 

[absinthe]

Well, the RAM timings simply have 4 settings: normal, fast, fastest, and turbo. If I bump it up to "fast," I get RAM timings of 2.5-3-6-3.

I also bumped the vcore on up to 2.0, and with that I was able to run Prime95 for 1 hr. and 5 min. (which is about an hour and 3 minutes longer than I had been able to before). I'm wondering if the RAM timings made any difference (there are no RAM clock settings, only SPD and 166, so I've set it to 166). So now I'm going to back the voltage down and see if this semi-stability holds.

I think I might also open it up today and blow out the fan. I might try removing 1 RAM stick, as Duvie suggested.

Thinking of trying to connect the L1 bridges while I've got the machine open. You don't really need a "kit" for that, do you? I swear people used to do it with a pencil and a magnifying glass.

-abs

 

[absinthe]

As an update, I opened up the machine and cleaned it out. I ran Prime95 at 1.9 vcore for over 12 hours with very low temps, but this was with the side panel off and the machine sitting on the open floor. After putting the panel back on and putting the computer back inside the desk hutch, it quickly fails Prime95 at vcore of 1.9, 1.95, and even 2.

So a temperature issue, then? Do you think if I installed a case fan it would keep it cool enough to be stable? Right now there's just the CPU/HSF.

-abs