Overclocking my AMD FX53 on MSI K8N Neo2 Plat mobo...

[Merovingiann]

I have ordered an AMD FX53 processor with the MSI K8N Neo2 Plat mobo. I have 2 gigs of DDR3200 400mhz Corsair XMS XLPRO memory. From what I have read, I can raise the multiplier on the AMD FX53. First, is that corect? Are the FX 53's multipliers "unlocked" up and down? I don't want to mess around with the FSB except maybe raising it from 200 to something like 210. Can I raise the FSB to 210 from 200 without changing the voltage or memory timings, latency?

Second, I ordered the FX53 retail box version with fan. My case has two 80m intake fans and two exhaust fans. With the heatsink that comes with the AMD FX53, will I have any overheating issues if I raise the multiplier from 12 to 13.5 or 14? Does anyone know from experience?

Does anyone recommend that I not use the heatsink fan that comes with the AMD FX 53 retail box? Should I order a Thermaltake heatsink?

Fianlly, does anyone know whether the heatsink that comes with the FX53 is copper?

Thanks for your time.

 

[echow87]

a thermalright heatsink with 92mm delta fan would be nice

 

[EazyVG]

FX series are fully unlocked CPUs, as you can increase and decrease the multipliers. MSI board will be perfect mobo for your FX53 processor. I am also waiting for the MSI board to reach me. I already have S939 3500+ processor.

Regarding the memory, in case if you will have to raise voltage, 2.85V will be perfect. There is nothing to worry about it. It is 100% safe. Regarding the latency, I haven't used the specified modules, so I cannot say anything about it.
But I will suggest you to go with faster RAM sticks, which can reach DDR500+ speeds. This way you will be able to overclock in sync mode.
This is for sure better way to go. If you are ready to spend premium on processor, then spend also on good memory. You wont regret.

I do not think that FX processor comes with copper heatsink. Atleast my 3500+ doesn't have it. It is plain Al heatsink.
I have got a watercooling for my S939. If you want to go with air cooling, Thermalright and Zalman are probably the optimum options.
Thermaltake is also not bad. It depends what you want from your cooler, the performance in terms of cooling or in terms of silence. Check the net for reviews on coolers.

 

[Manzelle]

For a HSF combination I would suggest the Thermalright XP-120 and a 120mm Panaflo...and of course some AS5...

 

[althes]

any results yet

 

[Yanagi]

please post results man. I would like to see a 2.7Ghz aircooled Fx-53

 

[JBT]

Originally posted by: Manzelle
For a HSF combination I would suggest the Thermalright XP-120 and a 120mm Panaflo...and of course some AS5...

ditto though I wouldn't touch an MSI board with a 10560 foot pole.

EDIT: Changed pole length from 1 mile to 2 miles.

 

[Ethex]

Where did you pick up that mobo at? I can't find it anywhere and the price of 3500+ keeps goinng up so I'll need to get it ASAP.

 

[althes]

newegg and monarch have the board

 

[UrK0]

Hi all.
I have a system like this. FX53 processor on MSI K8n Neo2 Plat mobo. I'm running with a pair of Geil PC3200 Ultra X, all of them with stock cooling and wo mods.
See it!
Super PI 8M

 

[Bugler]

Originally posted by: Manzelle
For a HSF combination I would suggest the Thermalright XP-120 and a 120mm Panaflo...and of course some AS5...

It is my understanding that the XP-120 will not fit on the MSI neo2 board. However, the XP-90 will
See XP-120compatibility here

And XP-90 compatibility here

 

[RobertR1]

Hey, I have a similar setup except for the RAM in mine is the OCZ PC3200 Platinum at 2-3-2-5 1T. How is your Core Cell in the bios configured? esp. the volatge's. I need a good base to start OC'ing from and since my RAM is different, any idea what settings I should try? I really want to OC. Thanks for the help.

Anyone else if you can help me OC this rig, I'd greatly appreciate it.

 

[matthewfoley]

RobertR1

I've got the same MB, but I've got 3000+ .90nm, and OCZ 3700 Platinum. I can't seem to get past 209 FSB.

AMD 3000+ .90nm
MSI Neo2 Platinum
OCZ 3700 Platinum
TruePower 550

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

I've read of someone with a 2.7 air cooled system who claimed it was stable, but that's close to the limit.
It hit 2.7 on my watercooled system with a Vcore of 1.65. How hot that makes an air cooled system is hard to tell. Most should easily be able to get 2.6 and be happy.

To RobertR1, make sure your memory is stable at those timings. I had to set mine to 2336. Use Memtest.org and Prime95 to check. Then install Clockgen and set up icons to change the multiplier. That way, if you crash, you can reboot and it all comes back, because Clockgen doesn't save the bios.

 

[RobertR1]

Thanks for the replies guys. After plenty of reading up, I returned the OCZ Plat. RAM and got the OCZ Platinum Revision 2 RAM with 2-2-2-5 timings. This new RAM is much happier when overclocked. I now have a XP 90 on order along with a Panaflo 92mm fan and already have Arctic Silver 5 ready to go. This coupled with my a new ATI Silencer 4 for my x800xt PE should make for a cool system. I also got a OCZ Powerstream 520w for my PSU for that extra help.

With stock cooling, I was able to run at:
HTT = 3x
FSB = 280
Multiplies = 9x
RAM Voltage = 2.85
RAM Timings = 2.5-4-4-10
Aggressive Timings = Disabled
Spread Spectrum = Disabled
ATI/Nvidia Booster = Disabled
AGP Frequency = 67


It was very stable but ran a little hot into the upper 50's. Also, Counter Strike:Source doesn't seem to like oc'd systems for some reason and would occasionally crash to the desktop with "memory at 00x000239 (etc.) could not be read." This is weird because all the benchmarks, Doom3 and FarCry ran perfect. After reading the Steam forums, this is a common issue with CS:S.

I still don't know what I should change my CPU Voltage and AGP voltage setting to? Any idea on those 2 fields? any other tips?

 

[RobertR1]

Originally posted by: matthewfoley
RobertR1

I've got the same MB, but I've got 3000+ .90nm, and OCZ 3700 Platinum. I can't seem to get past 209 FSB.

AMD 3000+ .90nm
MSI Neo2 Platinum
OCZ 3700 Platinum
TruePower 550

Lower the multiplier and then Raise the FSB, also lower your HTT in the Bios. Check anandtech.com reviews on your CPU and try out their OC timings.

 

[Dough1397]

pardon me for interrupting but what is htt? hyper transport technology? if so then how do you lower it and could you briefly describe it? i've never understood what i've read about it on other sites.... :/

 

[charloscarlies]

Originally posted by: RobertR1
Thanks for the replies guys. After plenty of reading up, I returned the OCZ Plat. RAM and got the OCZ Platinum Revision 2 RAM with 2-2-2-5 timings. This new RAM is much happier when overclocked. I now have a XP 90 on order along with a Panaflo 92mm fan and already have Arctic Silver 5 ready to go. This coupled with my a new ATI Silencer 4 for my x800xt PE should make for a cool system. I also got a OCZ Powerstream 520w for my PSU for that extra help.

With stock cooling, I was able to run at:
HTT = 3x
FSB = 280
Multiplies = 9x
RAM Voltage = 2.85
RAM Timings = 2.5-4-4-10
Aggressive Timings = Disabled
Spread Spectrum = Disabled
ATI/Nvidia Booster = Disabled
AGP Frequency = 67


It was very stable but ran a little hot into the upper 50's. Also, Counter Strike:Source doesn't seem to like oc'd systems for some reason and would occasionally crash to the desktop with "memory at 00x000239 (etc.) could not be read." This is weird because all the benchmarks, Doom3 and FarCry ran perfect. After reading the Steam forums, this is a common issue with CS:S.

I still don't know what I should change my CPU Voltage and AGP voltage setting to? Any idea on those 2 fields? any other tips?

If CS:Source is crashing something most likely is not stable in your setup. Certain benchmarks just don't stress every component enough or for a long enough period of time to show errors. Have you run Prime or memtest? That OCZ is great ram, but if you're running 280 1:1...I would guess that's your problem. You are reaching the limits of the ram. Could try dropping the CAS latency to 3 and see if that helps.

 

[RobertR1]

Well the only reason I'm trying to ignore Source is due the horde of memory errors other people (even non oc'd) at steampowered.com/forums I was able to play FarCry for 4hrs and Doom3 for 3hours without a glitch. Also, ran Prime95 for a few hours with no errors. Haven't tried the memtest but will give it a shot. Valve also released a "memory leak fix" tonight so once the XP90 and Fan arrive, I'll OC it again and see if it stabilizes.

Any info the of the voltage questions I had asked? Not too sure about the voltage settings.....

Thanks again,
Robert.

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

I'd suggest you read the OCZ forums for suggested Ram voltage.
In my case, Corsair has a forum, and Ramguy suggests 2.8 for the newer modules. Run Memtest.org and see if it passes at that voltage. The lower the voltage, the lower the heat in your system.
Same thing with the CPU. It's hard to give an exact figure here. The lower you go, the less heat.
But you might crash and may have to reset your Cmos to get your system back. Happened to me. I set my multiplier to 13.5 with the Vcore at the stock 1.55 and couldn't get back into the bios screen. Had to reset everything and start over.
In my case, the Vcore is at 1.725 when I'm at the high end. 1.8 doesn't help much, and the guys over at Madshrimps.be found the same when they pushed their chip to the limit.

 

[benedev]

New to overclocking and new to this forum. I also have a FX53 w/ Neo2. My memory is Corsair DDR550 (XMS4400 3-4-4-8). I've been looking for a reference that explains the parameter relationships and dependencies including recommendations. I find bits and pieces here and there, but I'm afraid I might be putting it together wrong.

Any good references (or recommendations on my oc starting points)?

 

[imported_NoGodForMe]

You are correct, it's all bits and pieces here and there. That's why I documented what I found in my web site here.
http://www.nogodforme.com/MyBabyTera.htm
Scroll to the bottom and you'll see screen shots of my settings on an A8V. I'd say your settings should be close to mine.
The thing I haven't learned how to do is set memory dividers, but I'd rather run at 1:1, so I'm not worried about figuring it out. I've messed with setting the FSB speed high, and then doing it with the multiplier and get stuck at the same speed, so I think my memory is holding me back.

To find my info, I've done searches on the term Overclock AMD and I usually end up getting info on the AMD 64 chips. I wish people would give exact details on how they are OCing, because they assume we know exactly what they are doing.

 

[DaveRun]

I've been working and having problems at OC'ing my FX-53, admittedly (I think) the PQI Turbo 3200 RAM is holding me back, waiting for Balistic RAM to arrive Tuesday. Currently running at 13x205 stable.

Using Bios Rev 1.3,
memory timings - 2.5 4 4 11, 1T 200MHz
VID - 1.5 v
CPU - VID + 5% = 1.607 v
RAM - 2.8 v
HTT - 5
AGP Freqency - 66
AGP voltage - Auto

Agressive Timing (Memory) - Disabled, dynamic overclocking - Disabled, Spread spectrum - Disabled, Cool n Quiet - Disabled. EDIT - 2-WD250 SATA on SATA 1 & 2.

I am having problems getting beyond 204/5 FSB . I've tried backing off to 8x to see how high I could get the FSB at HTT 2 & 5 which didn't seem to have any effect though the voltages could be lowered. Even tried DDR333 & 266 settings to see the effect. 13.5x200 wasn't stable FYI.

I've tried reading all the documentation, FAQs, and web sites linked to from the Forums but I still having no luck.

I have not tried going back to Bios Rev 1.2 yet, that'll probably be the next step.

Any suggestions from the gurus around on what I could try to get the FSB higher?

 

[Alaxan]

I am running just about the same system as these guys here. AMD 64 FX-53, MSI K8Neo2 Platinum and 2GB Corsair XMS TWINX 2048-3200RT. SO far the best I have been able to get has been 205MHz x 12.0 with a 1.65vCore. I brought the vCore as far up as 1.85 stable, but it appeared to have little effect on the performance. I can bring up the FSB to 210MHz and have the processor running up to 2520MHz, but much beyond that and it begins to be a bit unstable on me.

Will try more once I install liquid cooling, but this seems safe enough for now.

 

[eyeballkid]

Originally posted by: RobertR1
Also, Counter Strike:Source doesn't seem to like oc'd systems for some reason and would occasionally crash to the desktop with "memory at 00x000239 (etc.) could not be read." This is weird because all the benchmarks, Doom3 and FarCry ran perfect. After reading the Steam forums, this is a common issue with CS:S.

I experienced these crashes in CS:S after having overclocked my rig. As I knew the system was 20+ hours Prime stable, with zero crashes in Doom 3, Far Cry and Painkiller, I blamed the game and found comfort on the Steam forums.

Later on I made a very thorough search for stability issues by running the S&M Utility, Memtest and SuperPi. When looping the 32M calculation in SuperPi I finally found errors. Adjusting voltage and timings eliminated these. Afterwards I have not experienced a single crash in CS:S.

The reason a lot people, even those without overclocked rigs, are experiencing memory errors in CS:S is due to the sensitive game engine. It appears to find faultering memory as fast as Wolfenstein and a lot of users buy cheap standard memory prone to errors.