Noob overclocking question: What settings do I adjust first?

[hansolox1]

Hi All,

Thanks for taking the time to help an overclocking noob.

Anyways, I have a Biostar M7NCD Pro motherboard with an Athlon XP 2400+ processor. My memory is Kingston HyperX 184 Pin 512MB DDR PC3000. My heatsink fan combo is a Thermaltake Volcano 9.

I am not sure where to begin when overclocking this setup. I have seen many posts that refer to adjusting memory timings, changing multipliers, and changing bus speed settings. Will someone kindly point me in the direction that I need to go to get started in overclocking this system? Maybe some initial settings and then increments I can attempt?

Thanks for your patience and help

 

[rogue1979]

Leave the memory timings on default to start with. The 2400+ runs at a multiplier of 15 on a fsb speed of 133MHz. This results in a 2000MHz cpu speed. The thoroughbred B cores (which is what you have) overclock to 2100-2400MHz, with 2200MHz being the average these days. So you don't have a lot of overclocking headroom as far as cpu speed. But you can make your system much faster by increasing the fsb speed of the motherboard.

I would make a big jump and try lowering the multiplier to 13X and raising the fsb to 166MHz for 2160MHz. Most 2400+ cpus will reach this speed. This can be done in the bios, but first copy down all the settings because if your computer won't boot you will have to clear the cmos with the jumper on the motherboard and try again (check the manual for instructions). You can raise the core voltage safely by using .025-.05 increments to 1.775v if needed to boot successfully. Use you hardware monitor program that comes on the motherboard CD to watch the cpu temperature, stay below 50-55C at all times. Load up a program like Prime95 to check for stability (use google to download). If you boot successfully and run Prime95 for a few hours without erroring out, try multi-tasking or gaming for a long time. If any instabilities show up, try raising the core voltage a notch (provided you have not exceeded 1.775v or 55C under load) or backing down the fsb speed.

The beauty of the nForce2 chipset is the agp/pci frequency lock and the support of a 200MHz fsb speeds. Ultimately you want to reach 200MHz fsb speeds (400MHz DDR), but first you have to have RAM that will run that fast and you might have to do a mod on your cpu or motherboard to allow multipliers of 12.5X or lower. There is no way you gonna hit 13 x 200 on air cooling. Keep the memory ratio at 1/1 or 100%, and worry about tightening the memory settings after you have some experience overclocking the cpu first.

I will try to keep an eye on this thread, so post any more questions you have and good luck!

Welcome to Anandtech Forums

 

[hansolox1]

Thanks for the help Rogue!

Here is what I have done so far (before reading your response):

I actually started with my old MSI KT4 Ultra board because it was already in the case and I wanted to practice overclocking right now. I first updated the bios and motherboard drivers using MSI's Live Update 3 program (Very slick). I then bumped up the FSB to 140 MHZ. The computer was working fine just surfing the net but froze when I was installing new catalyst drivers.

I then noticed that MSI has a utility called Fuzzy Logic 4 that will test various front side bus and voltage settings automatically, recording settings that worked. It continues this process until windows crashes (by design), and saves the highest setting that worked. When the computer restarts from the crash, you can click the turbo button in Fuzzy Logic 4 and it will overclock your CPU right from windows. It determined that about 140 FSB (cant remember the exact number) was as high as it could go. However, whether I set it in the bios or from the Fuzzy Logic 4 program, windows xp will be stable for awhile and then eventually crash. I then bumped up the cpu voltage to 1.7 and am now typing this from the overclocked computer. My current overclock is 15 x 140 at 1.7 vcore.

My cpu temperature never seems to go above 40 C but I am assuming that my motherboard is not reporting the correct temperature. Is it most likely locking up because my CPU is overheating? Is there another reason why windows would lockup such as memory timings or the FSB being too high?

I am going to go and find prime95 and see if my computer locks when running it. I am also going to try and lower the multiplier and increase the FSB.

Thanks for the help!

 

[hansolox1]

I just installed prime95 and am running it now. When I choose status from the test menu, it says "you have no work queued". However, my cpu utilization is at 99% so I am assuming it is stressing my system. Is this the correct way to stress a system using prime95?

 

[DreamInBlue]

Im pretty sure the KT4 does not have a PCI or AGP lock so when you turn up your FSB on it, it also turns up the frequency on your AGP and PCI slots so your video card and anything that are in the PCI slots are also being overclocked which can make your system become unstable rather quicky. I would wait untill you have the nforce2 board installed to up the FSB. You should probably get it up to a 175fsb with a 12.5x multiplier (2187mhz) pretty easy. I recommend staying as low as you can with the cpu voltage because the higher you raise the voltage the less life your cpu will have. You should definitely download prime95 and use it to test your stability, after I use Prime95 I usually also use 3dmark2001se to make sure its stable.

 

[hansolox1]

OK, I am going to remove the MSI motherboard and install the Biostar board.

 

[myocardia]

I have an XP2400 that will run 2.4Ghz, but I don't recommend that you overclock the way these guys are telling you to. Try this, it works very well for me. Go into the bios, and up your voltage on the cpu to around 1.7 (for a mild overclock), but no higher than 1.8 volts. Then change your multiplier lower (I use 12). Then change the fsb to around 175, or a little lower. Oh, and you might want to up the voltage a bit to the chipset (I have mine .1 over default). BTW, 175x12 will give you 2100Mhz when Windows boots. Then, once Windows has loaded you will be able to do anything that you want to do safely with your computer. When you are ready to overclock, Clockgen is a free Windows-based overclocking utility that works way, way better than doing it through the bios. It allows you to change the fsb anytime, even while an application is running! By OCing through Windows, if you try to go too high, and your chip or your memory can't handle it, Windows will lock up, and all you have to do is push the reset button, wait for Scandisk to run, and when Windows boots, everything is right back to where you started.

Well, that's my opinion, and like people around here say from time to time, they are like arses-- everyone has one.

 

[hansolox1]

I'll checkout clockgen. Sounds like it functions similar to MSI's Fuzzy Logic 4 utility.

When I put the Biostar board in, the thermaltake fan would not fit because there are capacitors on the motherboard that get in the way. Anyone know of any HSF combos that have the form factor that is the size of the cpu socket that will work well for overclocking?

 

[myocardia]

Actually, Thermaltake now has a Volcano 10, which is just a couple of bucks more, yet is supposed to cool as well, and it's about half the size of the Volcano 9.

 

[rogue1979]

I am using the TR2-M2 on both my faster AMD systems. Cool, quiet and cheap.

 

[hansolox1]

I went to Best Buy today and got a 20 dollar antec hsf. At least it fits the mb. I'm doing the Windows Updates and driver updates now...I'll try oc in about an hour.

 

[hansolox1]

I just installed clockgen and used it to overclock the fsb to 166. My bios only lets me go down to 13x multiplier. I also bumped my vcore to 1.7V. Cpu-z is reporting a core speed of 2164 MHZ at 166.6 x 13. I am going to run prime95 for a few hours and see what happens. Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[rogue1979]

Just raising the fsb to 166MHz from 133MHz will give your system a nice boost. The extra 164MHz will help too. If the Prime95 test goes well, than try raising the fsb some more. Make sure and check your cpu temps at load. If you are staying below 50C, I would go ahead and bump the voltage to 1.725 or 1.750 volts and go for 2200-2300MHz.

The next step is to read up on the pin mod that will allow access to 12.5X multipliers and below. For instance if you find out the cpu tops out at 2200MHz or so, lowering the multiplier to 11 and running a 200MHz fsb will give you a much faster 2200MHz. Just make sure you lower the multiplier to make the cpu run a couple of hundred MHz lower while testing the maximum fsb speed your ram will allow. When you figure out your highest fsb speed, bump up the multiplier again to get the best combination of max cpu speed and max fsb.

The next step after that will be to use Sandra and 3DMark to tighten up the memory timings. Sometimes lowering the fsb a few megaherz to run stricter memory timings will result in a faster system. I usually use 3DMark and a couple of games to test this, I prefer to tune my system for maximum gaming performance. Try 11-3-3-cas 2.5 to start with, reasonable performance settings that are still slightly relaxed to allow a high fsb speed. If your ram is holding back the fsb speeds, much tighter timings than this will force you to lower the fsb speeds quite a bit. Of course really strict timings are the best for maximum performance, but not if you have to lower the fsb too much.

 

[hansolox1]

Thanks rogue, I'm learning so much in this thread!

When running prime95 at 166 x 13, my CPU goes between 60 C and 68 C. The CPU idles at about 40 C.

I have not used any heatsink grease and I am using an Antec HSF. This HSF combo is about the size of the CPU socket. I had to use this because there is a capacitor near the socket that stops me from using a large heatsink. Is there a better HSF combo I can get that will fit my motherboard? I am going to try a Volcano 10 and see if it fits.

If I use heatsink grease, how much will the temperature decrease? What heatsink grease is the best? A few years ago Arctic Silver was the best. I saw some Antec heatsink grease at best buy today. Will it work as good as Arctic Silver? What is the best heatsink grease to get?

 

[rogue1979]

Your temps are getting too hot! The new heatsink fan you have fits, but it is not cooling good enough. The TR2-M2 is a 70mm unit with a TMD fan, and will probably fit. I think nexfan.com has one for about $14.

Your overclocking is going well so far, but take a word of advice and get the cpu temps under control.

Artic Silver is still very good.

Another thing to check is case airflow. If the heatsink is operating in a warm enviroment, it won't be nearly as effective, even if it has top notch cooling.

 

[hansolox1]

I got my Volcano 10+ today. It is an all copper heatsink with a 4800 RPM fan. I took the fan off of my antec heatsink and put it on top of the existing fan so now I have two. I used the screws from the volcano 9 hsf to hold the two together. The length of the screws are such that they leave about an eigth of an inch between each fan. I first ran Prime95 with the cpu set to 15 x 133 and my cpu got up to about 55 C.

I then set my multiplier at 13 and the fsb at 166. I got a "hardware failure detected error" after a few minutes of Prime95 so I bumped up the voltage to 1.7. I am currently using it at that speed for web browsing and for typing this message.

When running idle, my temp is between 38 and 40 at the current settings. I am going to run Prime95 now and see what happens.

 

[hansolox1]

Success!!!!

I ran Prime95 for an hour and a half with no errors. 13 x 166 at 1.7V. The temperature settled to 39 - 40 C when running prime95. I am assuming that the inital high temperatures was the stock heatsink compound bonding to the cpu core.

Thanks to everyone for helping me out!

 

[hansolox1]

well, it looks like i was premature in my conclusion. The temp is still about 56 C when running Prime95. I have not used any thermal compound except for the stock layer that comes on the heatsink. I am going to get some Arctic Silver and see what happens.

 

[NesuD]

Don't Stack fans like that. It actually impedes proper airflow. There is only a finite amount of area for the air to pass through so adding another fan stacked ontop of the existing fan doesn't really help and in most cases will actually impede the efficiency of the original fan. If you feel that you need more airflow get a higher cfm fan rather than stacking a couple of lower CFM fans together.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: hansolox1
I got my Volcano 10+ today. It is an all copper heatsink with a 4800 RPM fan. I took the fan off of my antec heatsink and put it on top of the existing fan so now I have two. I used the screws from the volcano 9 hsf to hold the two together. The length of the screws are such that they leave about an eigth of an inch between each fan. I first ran Prime95 with the cpu set to 15 x 133 and my cpu got up to about 55 C.

I then set my multiplier at 13 and the fsb at 166. I got a "hardware failure detected error" after a few minutes of Prime95 so I bumped up the voltage to 1.7. I am currently using it at that speed for web browsing and for typing this message.

When running idle, my temp is between 38 and 40 at the current settings. I am going to run Prime95 now and see what happens.

Hans, why aren't you using the heatsink that you just received in the mail? Heatsinks make much more difference than fans ever do. Why don't you try putting the Volcano 10 heatsink on, with it's original heatsink?? BTW, you aren't going to be able to hit extremely high overclocks with that Volcano. If you want an awesome OC, you're gonna have to invest in a Thermalright SLK-900a, and a high-flow fan.

edit: Newegg has SLK-900a's for $35. They don't come with a fan, though. If you want extreme cooling, get a Vantec 92mm Tornado. Newegg sells those for $10, and they move as much air as my 120mm fans do!

 

[hansolox1]

I am using the Volcano 10+ heatsink with its fan and the fan from the antec. I don't know if the double fans really makes a difference.

I ordered a Thermalright SLK-900a and Vantec 92mm Tornado and some Arctic Silver. Hopefully, this will solve the temperature problems.