Need help taking the plunge to OC my CPU

[Vich]

Hey everyone, ever since my computer troubles about a year ago i havent even thought of overclocking anything... (My mobo died, then CPU died, etc).

About a year ago i bought a Athlon XP 2500+.
Here is what CPU-Z said

CPU-Z version 1.21.


CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1

Code Name Barton
Specification AMD Athlon(TM) XP 2500+
Family / Model / Stepping 6 A 0
Extended Family / Model 7 A
Package Socket A
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE
CPU Clock Speed 1833.1 MHz
Clock multiplier x 11.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 166.7 MHz
Bus Speed 333.3 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1833.1 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 64 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC.
Motherboard model A7V333, REV 1.xx
BIOS vendor Award Software, Inc.
BIOS revision ASUS A7V333 ACPI BIOS Revision 1017
BIOS release date 03/25/2003
Chipset VIA KT266/333 rev. 0
Southbridge VIA VT8233A rev. 0
Sensor chip Asus ASB100

AGP Status enabled, rev. 2.0
AGP Data Transfert Rate 4x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 166.7 MHz
FSBRAM 1:1
DRAM Interleave 4-way
CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 6 clocks
# of memory modules 1
Module 0 Micron Technology DDR-SDRAM PC2700 - 512 MBytes



Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Workstation Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)



Thanks,
Richard

 

[L1FE]

CPU-Z gives you basically all your system statistics (such as what hardware you're using and what speed your ram/cpu is running at).

Motherboard Monitor 5 (MBM5) is great to use to see system temps, fan speeds, etc.

 

[Vich]

SO with that system information i did a search ( YES I USED SEARCH BUTTON! ) and found out many people overclock 2500+ to 3200+ now can that be done with my system??

-Rich

 

[Vich]

I installed MBM5 and the case temp is 81/31C degrees , the CPU is 140/61C degrees and the socket is 109/40C degrees... after running seti for a while and then restarting.

Right now i have ran Prime95 through the 3rd set of torture test the one with 560,000 Lucas iterations (48minutes) and the temp right now is 65C for the CPU and 287C for the case and 47C for the socket.

How is that for a stock running setup?

Thanks
-Rich

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Vich
I installed MBM5 and the case temp is 81/31C degrees , the CPU is 140/61C degrees and the socket is 109/40C degrees...

How is that for a stock running setup?

Thanks
-Rich

Extremely hot! My XP2400 runs at 40-41°C, while folding proteins at 100% cpu usage. It runs slightly lower temps while running the Prime95 torture test. That's with aircooling, and a CoolerMaster X-Dream hsf that I picked up for $10 at Fry's. Temps are quite likely how you fried your last cpu, if you were trying to overclock it without an case flow, like you have now.

 

[Vich]

Well the thing is i never tried to overclock it, and i dont know why my temperatures are so hot, i have a top exhaust, 2 front instakes and an exhaust in the back of the computer...

Could it just be my motherboard spouting the wrong information?

 

[L1FE]

The temperatures are a little high, but I wouldn't categorize it as "extremely hot." Some just run hotter than others stock. However, you probably will need a better cooling solution before you start OCing otherwise things might get ugly really fast.

 

[Vich]

I have a vantec aeroflow... http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/heatsinks/vantec/va4-c7040/

and a Lian Li aluminum case with 4 fans

whats going on

It was this way temperature wise with my last cpu and the one before it (same mobo) :disgust:

 

[Sheriff]

How old is your Barton and you could use a Memory Boost as 2700DDR in Micron (Generic?) ain't that great!

 

[Vich]

My barton isnt even a year old yet :frown:

 

[Fern]

Hold up on saying it's hot. His socket temp is only 41c, that OK. It's his diode/core temp that at 61c. I keep hearing there's only about a 10 degree spread between the two?

CPU-Z isn't telling us what your ram is (pc2700, pc3200 etc.) it's only telling us at what speed it's running. If his CPU/ram is set 1:1 even pc3500 is gonna run @333 (appears that is set in synch)

That mobo is a 266/333 ? does it support FSB 200/400?


List ur spec's Richard ,

btw, if u bought that barton last year in Feb, it's unlocked and oughta OC like a mofo. No wait it should suck! I'll give ya $75 for it (jk)

 

[NokiaDude]

My rig is FASTER!!!

CPU(s)
Number of CPUs 1

Code Name Barton
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2500+
Family / Model / Stepping 6 A 0
Extended Family / Model 7 A
Package Socket A
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE
CPU Clock Speed 1830.1 MHz
Clock multiplier x 11.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 166.4 MHz
Bus Speed 332.7 MHz
L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 1830.1 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 64 bits



Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer http://www.abit.com.tw/
Motherboard model AT7-MAX2(VIA KT400-8235), 1.x
BIOS vendor Phoenix Technologies, LTD
BIOS revision 6.00 PG
BIOS release date 04/02/2003
Chipset VIA KT400 (VT8377) rev. 0
Southbridge VIA VT8235 rev. 0
Sensor chip Winbond W83697HF

AGP Status enabled, rev. 2.0
AGP Data Transfert Rate 4x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes



Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 512 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 166.4 MHz
FSBRAM 1:1
DRAM Interleave 4-way
CAS# Latency 2.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 2 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 6 clocks
# of memory modules 1
Module 0 Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC2700 - 512 MBytes



Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Workstation Service Pack 1 (Build 2600)

 

[Vich]

Asus A7V333 latest revision
My memory is PC2700 i believe its Crucial but i cant remember, not sure why cpu-z is saying its Micron Cuz newegg.com doesnt even sell micron and thats who i got it from hehe.

Not sure if the mobo supports 200/400 how do i find out?

Yes the barton i got was in the summer of '03, not february my mistake... is it still unlocked?

WindowsXP is my O/S

Thanks

-Richard

 

[L1FE]

It should still be unlocked I believe...of course you can just do a simple test by lowering your fsb down a lot and then increasing your multiplier. If your system does not post even with lower/similar mhz (say 150 fsb x 11 = 1650mhz) then your processor is most likely locked.

 

[Vich]

Now someone brought upt he fact of to much thermal paste... Could having to much thermal paste really radically affect my temperature so much ??

Thanks
-Rich

 

[L1FE]

Yeah, if you have too much thermal paste, that's almost as bad as having too much I believe. You're supposed to only have a paper thin layer on.

 

[Vich]

Ok so ill clean the thermal grease off the heatsink with alcohol pads i got, but what if there is to much all over the processor what do i do then?


Thanks

-Rich

 

[NokiaDude]

Originally posted by: Vich
Ok so ill clean the thermal grease off the heatsink with alcohol pads i got, but what if there is to much all over the processor what do i do then?


Thanks

-Rich

Take some saran wrap and wrap it tightly, so it has no wrinkles on the tip of your finger. Lightly "paint" the CPU core and move your finger to a new spot after cover the CPU core with thermal grease. Then repeat until you can barely see the color of the CPU core.

It should look like this!

 

[Vich]

How do i remove the thermal grease if its all over the outside of the processor?

 

[NokiaDude]

Cotton swabs and isopropyl alcohol.

 

[mato7742]

you possibly may have the thermal flow backwards... i put it on backwards when i first got it without thinking, and my temps were like 60 or so. i took it off, switched it around, and my temp dropped to 140. quite a difference - in my opinion, you don't want to o/c that barton at all with temps so high. definitely put some arctic silver 5 on there, and possibly get some pc3200 for a truly stable over clock.

 

[mato7742]

sorry, aeroflow***

 

[Vich]

Well the aeroflow came already attached to the heatsink.

Its running under load right now between 57-62 depending upon the SISandra test thats running.


-Rich

 

[Vich]

Yeah, it's all in the calibration. It's like this: early-generation boards used a little temperature sensor in the middle of the CPU socket, so it was measuring the air temperature beneath the CPU. Not exactly an exact method of determining core temperature! And these typically read around 45C or so. This temperature sensor is what people mean when they use the term "socket thermistor."

Then came the AthlonXP, which had an actual real live temperature sensor right in its core. One company, EPoX, bravely made a mobo that actually reported this true, on-core temperature reading directly to the user. These were the EPoX 8KHA family boards. People saw the real, non-candy-coated, non-estimated temperatures (which were mid-60C area) and simply freaked out. EPoX got hammered with an avalanche of returned boards because people thought the boards were bad, when in fact the boards were simply truthful. AthlonXPs really do operate in the 60-70C area.

The A7V333 was the other board that at first was thought to read the true on-core temp sensor, but my tests proved that it really used a socket thermistor that was calibrated high enough to give semi-realistic readings... but without the moment-to-moment real-time response of an on-core reading... as you can see from my testing. It ramps slooooooowly over the course of a couple of minutes when the CPU loads and unloads. Later, Motherboard Monitor 5 figured out how to get at the thermistor on the A7V333.

We still have an A7V333-RAID at my workplace. It has Q-Fan enabled and the mobo will ramp the fan down to 65% speed unless the CPU manages to make it past 60C, in which case it'll start to notch the fan up a step at a time until 60C is reached again. So I'd say 60C is 100% ok

By the way, my A7V333 died when I knocked a tiny tiny surface-mounted resistor off of it, while clipping down a heatsink with a wide 3-lug clip. Here is the place to be careful of: photo. Also, your PCI bus will perform way better if you disable the USB 2.0 controller, so keep that in mind if you have any PCI hard-disk controllers or other high-traffic PCI devices. Hope that helps

this is by mechBgon he helped me out alot, thanks! :beer:

 

[Fern]

Hey Vich

Use MBM5 to measure temps and vcore.

I still think your temps are ok (depending on ambient/room temp).

If your gonna remove that cpu, check the stepping codes on it and post. You should write em down on your your little warrantry pamplet for future reference anyway. With stepping codes in hand, you can check data bases on the web to see what others have achieved with similar chips. I got one of the very first locked chips (oh yeah). In fact when I ordered it they were unlocked, the day after I receievd it reports statrted filtering in on OC forums. I think I posted that bit of lovely news here first. Bought mine in October I think. So your's is prolly unlocked.

You want the thinist possible layer of paste, it's only suppose to fill in microscopic grooves and valleys on the cpu surface and HS surface to eliminate micro air bubbles.

CPU Z shows you have a Via chipset supporting 266/333, so i don't know if ur mobo "officially" supports 400. Check their website. Sometimes a bios flash is available to get support for 400.

PC2700 isn't great news, generally you want pc3200 at least. RUN MEMTEST86 ! after FSB adjustments to sort out whether your getting stuck at ram or cpu, no need to randomly overvolt evrything in an attempt to reach FSB 200. If your ram passes memtest, go on to Prime95 to check cpu. Using an organized approach is uber important IMHO.