OCing a 1600+

[Greatgatsby26]

So I bought a 1600+ from new egg. Put it in a msi kt4vl mobo with 2100 crucial ram, thermalright sk7. I have never overclocked anything before and amd isnt really interested in giving a OC manual with the chip . What parameters in the bios do i have to change? Lets just say I kicked the FSB up tot 166 and the ram up to 333... and that didn't fair well. infact i had to jumper the damn thing to get back into the bios. I suppose i should mention i have a 420 watt powersupply. What are the steps i need to do? Oh good they finally shut off their car alarm. Bah. Anyways I would appreciate any help i can get.

Gatsby

 

[halkebul]

overclocking guide

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

well teh ram there would be single biggest limiting factor
pc2100=133mhz which it is already running at

now since its brand name stuff, it should probably go higher, but how much is unknown....

 

[Greatgatsby26]

at the risk of sounding like an ignorant asshole... they are talking about oc'ing pentium 133's... has nothing changed since 1857, i mean are there more current guides?

 

[deadseasquirrel]

i was in the same situation about 2 weeks ago. some good info in this thread: beginner's overclocking

deadseasquirrel

 

[halkebul]

The same basic priciples still apply. PC2100 may well prevent you from reaching full overclocking potentional.

 

[isaacmacdonald]

true enough. the one real advantage to the xp1600 is that you can drop in some pc2700 and you'll have a nice 350mhz overclock(jumping to 166 sync fsb). If your ram is crap then you really need to unlock the multiplier on the processor (which is actually relatively easy), and change it to something like 11.5 or 12 x 133.

One thing to note about an fsb overclock is that just because you get nice ram (lets say 400mhz), doesn't guarantee your motherboard will be stable at 166-200mhz synced fsb (sync between cpu and ram). If there's no active cooling on your northbridge, there's a good chance it's going to run into problems when you go past 150mhz.

 

[Greatgatsby26]

thanks for the link dss. i realize that my ram is only 2100 but i have read that crucial ram oc's pretty well to 333... or "like a fiend" as my friend likes to say. my north bridge is passive. would i really benefit that much from active cooling on such a small heatsink if i've already got a ton of airflow in my case? dammit i should just buy an apple, they already oc them 25% before they sell them ;-) . i appreciate the help guys

 

[BornStar]

I was kind of helping him with the overclock. It would start to POST and then just stop. I don't think that it was heat issue but I'm not positive about that. I haven't found a way to adjust the ratio to 1/5. Is the MB smart enough to do that on it's own? There must be some provision for that considering that it's a KT400. Any insight would really help guys. We're both lost.

 

[Assimilator1]

My Crucial PC2100 RAM overclocks to 152MHz @ CAS2 ,will go higher at CAS3

 

[Greatgatsby26]

this particular question refers to my 1600 running at normal clocking.

i dont know if this goes in here or in cooling/cases, but since i have a thread already i might as well not open another one. What is a good idle temp for a 1600+? I've got it in one of those beastly chieftecs with two outflowing 80mm's, 1 80 intake, and an 80 on the heatsink (thermalright sk7). Now my friend tells me he's getting his running at 42 degrees idle on a crappier heat sink. pc alert 4 which came with my mobo tells me i run at about 52 degrees. I got it to about 54 playing unreal (i dont care if you think cs is better, UT is god.) Is 52 normal? Am i just incompetent with AS? It was runninng in high 50s until i reapplied the AS thinner. I dont know. Nothing like spending hundreds of dollars cause you hate your dell so you can learn a new art

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

im pretty sure the 1/5 divider still kicks in automatically at 166fsb, so unless you can get to there you are really stressing pci devices (video card too, but they can usualy take the extra mhz)

as for temperature, that is pretty high...unless your voltage is already at 1.85 or so
try taking off the side of the case for a bit and see if the temperature drops (it should from my experience...)

and dont think that since your friend is getting cooler temps with crappier heatsink that you dont know what you are doing, dont give him the benefit of the doubt the room temperature plays a pretty big part in this

if my room temp is 20c and my cpu is 50c but your room temp is 30c and cpu temp is 50c, your room/cpu ratio is better

so keep in mind that room temp affects it
along with other devices you have in computer (hd can create quite a bit of heat)

 

[Greatgatsby26]

thanks for the insightful post! my vcore is at 1.78 if that's what you are talking about. it is kinda warm in my apt. should be getting cold here pretty soon .. opened a window