overclocking athlon 2100+

[themightygeckoe]

This is the first time that I have tried overclocking. I have an athlon 2100+ running on an expox 8rda+ with 512mb 3200 DDR. To overclock, all I did was change the FSB from 133 to 166 boosting my cpu to 2171 mhz or athlon 2700 equivalent. I have the memory running at 200 mhz. My system is running solid with no problems.

THe question that I have, what is the life of my processor, MB, Ram by doing this and do I need to change any of my voltages which I just left at the defaul?

 

[jdogg707]

As long as your system is stable and you have a good cooling solution on your CPU, then don't worry about the voltages. Feeding more voltage to the CPU, etc. is what is going to shorten the life because you are not only taking the speed out of spec, but the power that it runs on which will decrease the life faster than anything else. I say as long as you have cood cooling on the chip and it's stable, then it should last as long as it would normally, maybe a little bit less, but nothing major. As far as memory and board go, your 3200 is running within spec, so nothing big there, and since most major memory companies back there memory with lifetime warranties, you should be good. The board is also within spec., so you should also be fine there.

 

[stevejst]

THe question that I have, what is the life of my processor, MB, Ram by doing this and do I need to change any of my voltages which I just left at the defaul?

It depends on cooling first and foremost. Since 8RDAs all have passive cooling on the NB I would expect your motherboard to go first unless you have a bunch of fans in the case.

 

[FFactory0x]

here let me give ya give ya a little tut i made to help ya oc to max performance and stability. Here it goes.
You need to set AGP & PCI lock to on or AGP=66mhz and pci=33mhz before doing the following.

Put your multiplier on a low setting and up the fsb in increments of 5mhz. After each increase of the fsb run stress tests such as 3dmark, prime 95. When your computer does not complete these stress tests increase the ddr voltage by 0.1v. Re-test. If the tests complete keep going in 5mhz increasements. When you get to a unstable fsb again increase the ddr volts by o.1v. (I wouldnt recommend going over 2.7v) You will reach a point when the tests fail even at 2.7v this means you have overclocked the fsb too much so lower the fsb to the highest setting in which the test completed.

You now know the fsb limit of your setup.

Now increase the multiplier in increments of 0.5. After each increment run the stress tests mentioned above. Eventually you will get to a multiplier which is unstable. Try increasing the vcore voltage by 0.025v and re-test. If the pc is still unstable increase the vcore again by 0.025v. (Keep an eye on the temperatures). re-test. If the tests still fail i would not recommend incresing your vcore any higher although lots of people do (just my personal preference). So put your multiplier on the highest stable setting.

You know have the highest overclock possible for your setup.

Lots of people do not like to run there system right on the edge. I would advise to lower the fsb by 5mhz after finding the maximum stavle system overclock. Just to be on the safe side.

An example: (Completely made up!)

Athlon XP1800+
Stock = 1533mHz
FSB = 133mhz
Multiplier = 11.5

1. Lower multiplier to 10. CPU now at 1330mhz.
2. Increase the FSB by 5mhz. CPU now at 138*10=1380
3. Keep increasing by 5mhz and testing inbetween each increase.
4. FSB at 178mhz = unstable. (CPU= 178*10=1780mhz)
5.increase ddr voltage to 2.6v
6.can increase fsb to 184mhz before becoming unstable. (CPU= 184*10=1840mhz)
7.increase ddr voltage to 2.7v. This did not inmprove overclocka ability. Lower ddr back to 2.6v (to reduce heat) and reduce fsb by 5mhz. So max stable fsb for system is 179mhz.
8.increase multiplier to 10.5 (CPU = 179*10.5=1879.5mhz)
9.keep increaseing multiplier by 0.5v untill unstable. Pc unstable at a multiplier of 12.
10. increase vcore voltage by 0.025v. CPU stable with a multiplier of 12. (CPU= 12*179=2148Mhz)
11. Cannot increase multiplier without causing stability issues so increase the vcore by anither 0.025v.
12. can stabily run at 12.5 multiplier. (CPU= 12.5*179=2238Mhz)
13. Cannot increaes Multiplier any further. Temperatures are too high to increase vcore.

Max Stable Overclock = 12.5*179=2238mHz
Default = 1533mHz
An Overclock of 705Mhz

 

[irabufan]

isn't it slower if you run 200mhz memory bus considering your fsb is only 166mhz?

 

[edmundoab]

yeah, so you should run the memory in sync 100% with the FSB to acheive optimum performance

 

[FFactory0x]

yea, 100% sync is good. Only use less than 100% say example 50% or 125% if you reach a wall and want to find out if your memory or cpu is holding you back.

On the life expectancy. Adding more voltage as stated abouve will decrease life without good cooling but still rather than lasting say 15 years it will last in the most extreme cases, 4-5 years. By then though you will prolly have upgraded since in 4-5 years there will be something like 4-5x that speed

 

[FFactory0x]

up