Power supply with OC question

CletusTheDwarf

Senior member
Apr 5, 2004
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Ok, so I have my Athlon Mobile 2400 stable at 2.2ghz with 1.675V. But if I go up to 2.25ghz, it won't boot. I have to get it up to 1.725V to boot, but it's not stable. I unplugged my 2 optical drives, and my second hard drive, set it at 2.25ghz, and 1.7v, and it boots fine and runs stable. So obviously there is a problem with my PS. Right now it's just what came in the case, a 350W Turbolink PS. I have the chip, mobo, modem, agp graphics, 4 case fans, 2 hard drives, 2 otpical drives, and a floppy. I think that 350W is enough, i just need a more stable supply. So I think i'm going to get an Antec 350W smart power supply. That should be enough and solve the problem, right?
 

charloscarlies

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2004
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To be safe I would go with atleast a True 430. But yes it does sound like your PSU is limiting your OC. You should be getting quite a bit higher than 2.2 ghz.
 

CletusTheDwarf

Senior member
Apr 5, 2004
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getting a 430 was a little more than i was hoping to spend, do you think i'd still be limited by an antec 350?
 

jhurst

Senior member
Mar 29, 2004
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I had an Antec 350 running an OC'ed P4 system with 4 IDE devices and a plethera of 90mm case fans.....absolutely no problems.....voltages stayed strong even at load....was very impressed....decided to upgrade though.....didn't cost me anything was the reason i upgraded....not lack of performance.
 

CletusTheDwarf

Senior member
Apr 5, 2004
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So is it safe to assume that if I get a better PS, like an Antec, then I would be able to push the chip higher? Without increasing the voltage much more? I was hoping to get to 2.4 or at least 2.3 on no more than 1.725V. What are some reasonable expectations?
 

Soulkeeper

Diamond Member
Nov 23, 2001
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what are your voltage rails reading under full load ??
what are the lowest readings you see when watching them for a few minutes ?
if they dip too low that could confirm a psu problem

i've used 300watts 350watt 400watt 430 480 550 and a bunch of older ones
i like my 550 but the 480 could prob still handle a 4ghz P4 overclock with a big hungry vid card :)
the 430 can handle most any overclock that people do
the 400 watt would be the minimum i would recommend this year
350 watt or lower might work but for higher vcore's and vdimms could cost ya, even tho you have a better chance of it working if it is made by a quality company

antec makes some pretty good psu's almost as good as the pc power and cooling ones at much less cost to you
enermax works i suppose but i prefer antec lately
another reason i got my 550 was because it was the truecontrol series and i could adjust the psu rails and fan speed from a drive bay, you might wanna look for this feature if you plan on pushing things down the road (although i do still wish mine would go higher)

good luck :)
 

CletusTheDwarf

Senior member
Apr 5, 2004
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At idle I have 3.3@3.28, 5@4.75, 12@12.4, -5@-5.8, -12@-12.5
under full load: 3.3@3.3, 5@4.68, 12@12.5, -5@ -5.9, -12@-12.69

also how much of an overclock should I expect to be able to reach on my Mobile 2400 at 1.7V?
 

Soulkeeper

Diamond Member
Nov 23, 2001
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Originally posted by: CletusTheDwarf
At idle I have 3.3@3.28, 5@4.75, 12@12.4, -5@-5.8, -12@-12.5
under full load: 3.3@3.3, 5@4.68, 12@12.5, -5@ -5.9, -12@-12.69

also how much of an overclock should I expect to be able to reach on my Mobile 2400 at 1.7V?

yeah those rails are definately stressed
the rise on the 12v rail is typical of how some psu's handle being overloaded on the 5v rail
lots of 300 and 350 watt psu's will have a whole lotta 12v amps but not enough 5v or 3v
look for that when you buy also

1.7v should be more than enough to push that mobile cpu
1.65 should be enough for a good safe overclock of atleast 2.2ghz+
i would keep it under 1.74v or so that's when things get iffy in my opinion

good luck
 

Soulkeeper

Diamond Member
Nov 23, 2001
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dunno
maybe 2.2ghz maybe 2.8ghz
most likely 2.3-2.5ghz imo

i havn't bought a mobile athlon yet
but i did fry a few athlons using over 1.7xv and up
did once get a desktop 2400+ to 2.53ghz using high voltage which ended up killin it
it's pretty much luck of the drawl for how far your chip will oc
lately the steppings on the athlon's have been pretty close in performance

what stepping you got ?
 

Whitedog

Diamond Member
Dec 22, 1999
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Originally posted by: CletusTheDwarf
but how high should i expect that 1.7v to get me to?

I just built 2 systems with mobile XPs. The cases I bought came with 300w powermans, I was totally unable to run the chips at 200mhz bus. It wouldn't run stable over 2.2ghz either at any multx/fsb combo...

I bought 2 Antec "SMART POWER" 450 Watt PS's and it solved ALL my problems. They were only $59 each. And IMO are very sufficient power supplies for the XP-m's

My systems run at 12x200 now (2.4ghz) at 1.7vcore rock stable. I could easily go higher, but that's good enough for me.

$59 will get you a sufficient PS.