OT: Need help from experienced overclockers!

[IndyJaws]

If anyone here has a lot of experience overclocking, especially with Athlon XP processors (bonus points if you've unlocked one! ), please let me know. I got my new stuff (check out link in sig now), and am chomping at the bit to start!

Here's a thread I posted in another forum:

Ok, I'll admit I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to oc'ing, seeing that the last oc I did was on a C466...

Here's what I have - XP2000+, A7V333-R, (2) 512MB Mushkin PC2100, Antec SX1040B w/ 400 W PSU, Alpha PAL8045 w/ Panaflo fan, 4 additional Enermax 80mm case fans. Plenty of cooling there, and it appears that only the RAM would be holding me back (but I don't want to replace it).

I just got a wild hair and decided to pick up one of the High Speed PC XP unlocking kits (for $12, it was worth the peace of mind knowing that if I screw up, it can be wiped off and done over again) while buying a shim (I'm not going to crush this core! ).

My question is: What would be the best course of action, given my slower RAM? Should I lower the multiplier and boost the FSB? Should I connect the L10(?) bridges as well to give me a higher multiplier and try it that way? Should I not bother unlocking and sell the kit to a friend? All the components arrived today, and they're screaming to me to put them together!

Thanks in advance!

Indy

 

[Migroo]

First thing, test it out. There are thousands of ways you can overclock.

You can do the FSB without much effort, so go ahead and bump that up to 140, or if you want to be careful, then 138, and see how it runs. Should have no troubles at 140.

After that, I'd go up in 3 mhz steps, until it isnt stable, then back down to the last succesful one, and incriment in 1 mhz steps.

As far as unlocking is concerned, its up to you.

To be honest, I have a 1700+ and while it is nice to overclock (I do occasionally) there isnt much point. You cannot feel the difference whilst using the machine, and the difference may only be 10 mins per WU whilst running SETI. Up to you though, but the first step is the 140 FSB. If you feel the chip/mobo/ram combo is good for OCing then go ahead with the unlock

 

[RustyNale]

Hell yes, oc the *other I'd assemble your new toy first, boot it up to make sure it's stable for warranty's sake, update to the latest bios, then pull the cpu off and use the unlocking kit on it. Make sure you put the correct amount of heat paste on it, then fire it up and head into bios. Do your basic bios setup, leaving ram and cpu setting alone. Reboot. Then go back in and head for your cpu settings. Leave the fsb alone for the moment, you just want to play with the multiplier. I'd crank it up one notch at a time till it bsod's or hangs or acts flakey in any way, then back it off till it's stable again (seti is a good benchmark for this). Make note of what multiplier this happened at. This lets you know how high a multiplier you can go to.

Go back into bios and set the multiplier back to stock and start bumping your fsb up, I'd go in jumps of 5mhz at a time till it once again "coughs". Then go back to the last "good" fsb and increase by 1mhz till it becomes unstable. This will give you your upper limits in both fsb and multiplier. Then it's a matter of setting the multiplier and fsb at the same time and--you guessed it, boot it up and run some benchmarks for stability. Once you've gotten it to the point where it's running stable, then go back into your bios and head for your dram settings. Start by increasing the memory setting from normal to fast or turbo, then reboot and test for stability. If alls well, head back to bios and go for there you can enable 4 way interleaving, set the ram to cas2, and/or adjust the fsb (100, 133, or auto). Right now, mine is running on auto (which is giving me a 113 fsb on my ram) while the rest of my system is running at 153fsb.

Course, your mobo might not have some of these same options, or may have slightly different ones. Usually, if your comp doesn't like what you've done, holding down on the INSERT key while hitting reset will reset your bios back to default levels. Good luck dude r

 

[Poof]

I'm typing this on an OC'd XP 1900+ (1.6GHz@1.7GHz, 142FSB). Haven't bothered unlocking it at this point as I'm getting 3hr15min 0.417AR WUs and summer is rapidly approaching (heat issue, despite this thing running caseless with an Alpha PAL). Aside from seeing how fast you can go, it might depend on which DC project you choose to run. If SETI, it responds best to a higher FSB (where everything, particularly the RAM, is OC'd). Most everything else will do just fine with a higher multiplier.

 

[Evadman]

Pretty much everything that needed to be said has been said. If you have specific questions, please post them. I have been overclocking since I got my amd k6-2 300. Most rigs I have I have overclocked.

Unlocking the XP is a pain. I have actually done it. ( my 10/100 refused to work at 134 mhz ) if you can, boost the fsb. Every 1 mhz bus increase will give you 12mhz cpu increase.

 

[IndyJaws]

Thanks everyone for all your input!

One final question - would it be a good idea to go ahead and increase Vcore to 1.85 when bumping up the FSB? I see that many people are using that value with success.

Edit: Also, what benchmarks/stress tests (besides Seti) do you recommend using? Mad Onion, Sandra, etc?

 

[m2kewl]

Indy, yeah - everything already has been said and you already have some good benchmarking apps listed. The two most important for me are CPU Burn (tests temps) and Prime95 (tests errors before/after OC).

Good luck - hope you can add few more WU to your farm!

 

[panhead49]

only bump up the vcore voltage after you thing you've "hit the wall" on fsb o/cing........may want to kick up the mem voltage too at that time.....

run prime 95 while running seti ......its a good test......have fun.......for sure unlock that thing ....and lower the mulitiplier so you can run an insane fsb...(150-170)....really get that chip crankin

 

[RustyNale]

<< Thanks everyone for all your input! One final question - would it be a good idea to go ahead and increase Vcore to 1.85 when bumping up the FSB? I see that many people are using that value with success. Edit: Also, what benchmarks/stress tests (besides Seti) do you recommend using? Mad Onion, Sandra, etc? >>



Sorry, missed that part Increasing your vcore and your vdimm voltages can and will help with stability. How much you need to raise it is up to your oc and your system. Try raising it .10 until you achieve stability at the speed you want. I'm currently running my vcore at 1.85 and my vdimm at 1.55 (1600@1900). Sandra is a good stress test as is mad onion. I left seti running in the background and ran sandra and/or mad onion at the same time. If it ran all the way through, I figured it was stable (course, running seti all night afterwards is a good test, and gets you going on your wu's )