Need help overclocking Athlon 64 X2 4400+

[imported_Necros]

My Athlon 64 X2 4400+ just shipped to me along with an Asus A8N-SLI and I would like to overclock the processor without putting too much stress on the rest of my system. I haven't overclocked a system since I took my Pentium 3 600E to 800mhz so I'm going to need a little guidance as to how I can get my 4400+ closer to 4800+ speeds without compromising the life of the system too much.

What has changed since the old days of overclocking? What heatsink / fan combo should I use on the CPU? Will that combo be friendly with a SLI video card setup? Is it necessary to do extra cooling on the northbridge? Will I be fine with four sticks of Corsair XMS 3200+ 3-3-2 memory?

The biggest question - can I match the 4800+ speed effectively without spending more than $60-80 on cooling solutions and can I expect atleast a couple years of life out of it if I do push it to those speeds. Let me know!

 

[Diogenes2]

Originally posted by: Necros
My Athlon 64 X2 4400+ just shipped to me along with an Asus A8N-SLI and I would like to overclock the processor without putting too much stress on the rest of my system. I haven't overclocked a system since I took my Pentium 3 600E to 800mhz so I'm going to need a little guidance as to how I can get my 4400+ closer to 4800+ speeds without compromising the life of the system too much.

What has changed since the old days of overclocking? What heatsink / fan combo should I use on the CPU? Will that combo be friendly with a SLI video card setup? Is it necessary to do extra cooling on the northbridge? Will I be fine with four sticks of Corsair XMS 3200+ 3-3-2 memory?

The biggest question - can I match the 4800+ speed effectively without spending more than $60-80 on cooling solutions and can I expect atleast a couple years of life out of it if I do push it to those speeds. Let me know!

Overclocking shouldn't be any different than any other A64. The more you raise vcore, the more you lower the life expectancy.

The memory type and northbridge cooling have no effect on the life of the processor..

 

[Markfw]

I would leave the vcore stock until you are sure you can;t get a good OC without it. A $600 chip is not to be wasted... XP90 is a great hsf, xp120 if you can fit it in your board. Panaflo for the 92mm fan on the xp90. If you get the high speed one on a sonata case (one that has build in low voltage fan connectors) thats great, ot use the mid speed fan. Should get 2.4 on stock easy, but you tell us. Who did you get it from ?

 

[jpeyton]

XP90C should be the highest compatibility/performance cooler you can buy for that CPU.

You can probably get a nice overclock without raising VCore at all, provided you have good cooling.

 

[imported_Necros]

Thanks for the advice. CPU is coming from a gaming system builder as part of an upgrade I arranged with them. So you think I can get it stable at 2.4ghz with just the standard heatsink / fan? At that speed it should benchmark pretty much the same as a 4800+ right?

I'm looking at the XP90 and XP90C solutions. I read something about the new Asus boards having some cooling solution on the bottom of the motherboard that requires longer screws. Is this going to be an issue for me if I buy this heatsink? Also, if I order the "retail" XP90 from Jab-Tech (http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/product.php?productid=2474, will that fan be sufficient and reliable?

Thanks again guys. Like I said, it's been years since I've done any overclocking.

Edit :: Should I buy some Arctic-Silver too? Someone said something about this solution not needing any thermal grease / paste.

 

[Markfw]

I just got an XP90 from SVC.com for $24.99 and used the paste that came with it. My 1.8 is running at 2.4 at 1.475v (winchester) and max temp went down from 56c (thermantake silent boost k8) to 48c. The stock is fine, but your temps may be a little high, and its a little noisier than the XP90 with a panaflo. And yes at 2.4 it should be actually a little faster than a 4800 (higher bus speed), but not that you woud notice. Since you are the first, its hard to say where it will clock.

 

[Duvie]

I am almost certain you should be able to get 2.4ghz...If you are lucky 2.6ghz is in the future for you as well...

Keep us informed....

 

[imported_Starman]

Originally posted by: Necros
My Athlon 64 X2 4400+ just shipped to me

Where did you order from?!

 

[BlingBlingArsch]

Why overclock and risk ur warranty? X2 plus SLI not strong enough? gl

 

[HDTVMan]

Originally posted by: Starman

Originally posted by: Necros
My Athlon 64 X2 4400+ just shipped to me

Where did you order from?!

Ditto?

Also I think AMDzone did a quick writeup on overclocking the dual core.

 

[bjc112]

Originally posted by: Duvie
I am almost certain you should be able to get 2.4ghz...If you are lucky 2.6ghz is in the future for you as well...

Keep us informed....

 

[Mrvile]

Arcitc Silver is a MUST, and it's fairly cheap these days. Again, where exactly did you get it? Keep us posted and don't break anything

 

[imported_Starman]

Originally posted by: Necros
CPU is coming from a gaming system builder

So, you don't actually have it :disgust:

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Starman

Originally posted by: Necros
CPU is coming from a gaming system builder

So, you don't actually have it :disgust:

He said it "just shipped" in the first thread........That means they have themor they wouldn't have shipped it...i assume he has a fedex or UPS shipping number...

 

[Merovingian]

Yeah, I'm building a system for fathers day and I would love to include a dual core instead of a venice chip! So give on the site that sells it!

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Welcome to the forums!

I'm very interested in your progress. I was one of the first adopters of NF4 with the Asus A8N-SLI deluxe back in December. And I'm considering upgrading to X2, and will be watching your progress. I've been overclocking this board to its limits for 7+ months with a Winchester and now a San Diego. I will gladly share the in's and out's of this board with you, just PM me or post here with any questions.

Don't worry about overclocking, it's true that overclocking with increased CPU volts theoretically reduces the life of the chip, but we are talking about something that is designed to last decades, but will be technologically old school(cheap) in less than 5yrs so if you cut the life in half who cares? And with the latest CPU drivers released by AMD the "Cool n' Quiet" feature is now working properly. In the last 30 days I have become a huge fan of this feature. It basically allows throttling of your CPU. If you leave the throttling control to windows it sucks. But if you use a utility like RMClock to control the throttling it is wonderful.

Mine with the 3700+ SD boots up with my bios settings at stock vcore, then as soon as the CPU usage drops off it throttles down by dropping the CPU multi and the vcore. In the case of the A8N with the SD the minimum vcore is 1.1v and I prime tested this voltage with a 6x multi @255 =1530mhz(you can set min multi as low as 4x). Then when you start an app it steps up the multi and volts to match the CPU load, for instance if you open internet explorer it steps up multi for just a second or less and drops back off. But if you launch a game or bench mark that pegs the CPU usage, it almost instantaneously steps up to the max multi, in my case 11x @255=2805mhz 1.45v(1.58-1.60 per CPUZ). And stays there as long as the load is on, and as soon as the load drops it throttles back to 1530mhz with 1.1vcore

The advantages to this feature are obvious

1. Extends the life of the CPU because the majority of the time it will be running minimum voltage, and allows you to use the overclocked power only when it is needed.
And the average temps go way down, my idle temps are 34-36c which here in TX in the summer is barely above ambient room temp, and is cooler than it is outside

2. It saves electricity because it not only throttles down the cpu but also all the fans connected to the mobo, which makes it much quieter. In my case I have the CPU fan on the mobo, all my other fans are on a fan controller, and my PS has a minimum fanspeed control, so I just have every thing turned down