Sempron 2800 overclocking s754 <Update> 300 reached!

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r3si7l3

Junior Member
Oct 19, 2005
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my sempron oc'ed very good as well

I just got mine so im still experimenting

runnign at 1.96 ghz on a 735 htt speed, but thast at 3x



I have a biostar board, what do youguys think I coudl get it up to? I wanna hit 2.2 atleast..
 

spazo

Senior member
Apr 5, 2004
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Originally posted by: SNiPeRX
Just reached 300fsb.

vcore 1.7
memory at 198mhz
v.2.5

temp at a cool 29C on stock hsf.

I changed the HTL to 3x and was able to push this thing all the way to 300.

Starting speed. 1.6 and I am now at 2.4. Not bad, I am rather impressed with these semprons. My barton couldnt even overclock at all, let alone get this high up. Is my settings of HTL Multi to 3x going to slow down my performance???

Thanks

3dmarks stock 3700
3dmarks O/C 4229

Is that not bad of an increase.

s754 Sempron 2800+ @ 2.4gig
512 PC3200 OCZ
WD 160gig 7200
BBA 9600 Pro 460/320 (stock 400/300)

My x800xt pe will be in today and I will test it out later.

Let me know what you guys think.


Is there any way you can compare your sempron with the athlon64 you have in your sig? I'm curious to see how much difference in performance there is with the lack of cache on the sempron.
 

charloscarlies

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2004
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Originally posted by: SNiPeRX

vcore 1.7
memory at 198mhz
v.2.5

That vcore is too high for the stock HSF. Temps may be fine....but you can still kill the processor with voltage. I wouldn't go over 1.55 on stock cooling or maybe 1.6 at the absolute max. I am surprised you need that much voltage actually...most Semprons will hit 2.4 or so with 1.55 or less. You sure it needs that much?

 

mindwreck

Golden Member
May 25, 2003
1,585
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agreed, 1.7v is really high for that speed. Mine runs at its current speed at 1.55v.
 

hurtstotalktoyou

Platinum Member
Mar 24, 2005
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Originally posted by: mindwreck
agreed, 1.7v is really high for that speed. Mine runs at its current speed at 1.55v.

You have water cooling; we do not.

I was able to get it to 2.4 GHz at only 1.62-1.63v. If my board had better controls, I could probably get it to a slightly lower voltage, but it fails Prime95 at 1.55v.

As for the guy's question about 3x, with a 300 MHz bus that's 900 MHz HTT, which is 100 MHz faster than the stock 800.

And as for how it stacks up to a real A64, let's put it this way: The Athlon 64 3300+ runs at 2.4 GHz and features the same 256 KB L2 as the Sempron 2800+. However, the A64 is a 130nm "Newcastle" while the Sempron is a 90nm "Palermo." Moreover, the A64 lacks SSE3, and only runs at HTT800 (the OC'd Sempron runs at HTT900). So, an overclocked $76 Sempron 64 2800+ beats, if only slightly, a stock Athlon 64 3300+. However, it falls short of the A64 3400+ (2.4 GHz, 512 KB L2). You could say it is about an Athlon 64 3350+. Sort of.
 

Bingy

Junior Member
Oct 19, 2005
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This article will answer everything you need to know.

Not only does it go in depth into the performance of AMD cpu's related to cache size, but it details how you can easily go about overclocking a sempron.

If you have a good motherboard (for socket 754 nforce 3 250gb is the only way to go folks, best board is DFI lanparty UT by far) all you have to do is bump the voltage to 1.55v and most semprons should be able to do 280mhz+ on the clock generator. Just mind your ram speeds and LDT. Another thing is the agp/pci locks and sata clock generator, which is why you want nforce 3 250gb, as those clocks are not synchronous with the cpu clock generator, thereby not stopping you from overclocking as much as you want.

As for cache, semprons come in 128k and 256k, but looking at benchmarks all the way up to 1024k, cache doesn't make much difference on an AMD cpu when they are all running at the same clock speed. If you want a super fast machine for cheap, Semprons are definately the answer. A cheap sempron 2800 can hit 2.4ghz out of the box.

Edit: Don't forget the luxury of being able to run super fast ram if you desire :)
 

hurtstotalktoyou

Platinum Member
Mar 24, 2005
2,055
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That Xbit article compares the following configs...

2.52GHz/256KB/HTT840
2.40GHz/512KB/HTT800
1.80GHz/512KB/HTT800
1.80GHz/256KB/HTT800

It shows the 2.56GHz beating the 2.40GHz in almost every benchmark, despite half the L2, but unfortunately this comparison isn't too helpful. The Sempron 3100+ (1.8GHz/256KB) vs. the Athlon 64 2800+ (1.8GHz/512KB), on the other hand, shows almost no performance difference between the two, quite a useful insight. The questions remain, though: Does the 256KB L2 make as little of a difference at 2.4 GHz as it does at 1.8 GHz? Would a 128KB L2 keep up, too? How does it compare to the Opteron 144 with 1MB L2? Or a Venice at 2.7 GHz?
 

DAPUNISHER

Super Moderator CPU Forum Mod and Elite Member
Super Moderator
Aug 22, 2001
32,015
32,474
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Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
Would a 128KB L2 keep up, too? How does it compare to the Opteron 144 with 1MB L2? Or a Venice at 2.7 GHz?
Xbit throws a E core@2.68ghz in against a 2.4ghz venice here
 

charloscarlies

Golden Member
Feb 12, 2004
1,288
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Originally posted by: hurtstotalktoyou
Originally posted by: mindwreck
agreed, 1.7v is really high for that speed. Mine runs at its current speed at 1.55v.

You have water cooling; we do not.

I was able to get it to 2.4 GHz at only 1.62-1.63v. If my board had better controls, I could probably get it to a slightly lower voltage, but it fails Prime95 at 1.55v.

Only 1.62-1.63? Most people consider that to be pushing the limit when talking about air cooling for the K8...let alone the retail cooler. 1.7 is just flat out too much vcore.

 

Avalon

Diamond Member
Jul 16, 2001
7,571
178
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I used to own a DFI NF3 and Sempron 2800+ that I got up to 2.72ghz @ 1.6v
I loved that chip, and regret getting rid of it.
 

Bull Dog

Golden Member
Aug 29, 2005
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Originally posted by: sangyup81
You're gonna stop at 2 gigs? I got mine up to 2.4 (300mhzx8)

Well I can hit 2524mhz max with my 2500+ Semp64 (360x7) Needs ~1.58v to stay stable.
At 2400mhz (342x7) I only need ~1.48v to stay stable. I could go higher but the chipset's IDE controller dies after 360HTT :(

I'm using DFI's infinity nForce4-4x mobo
 

deadseasquirrel

Golden Member
Nov 20, 2001
1,736
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I'm considering grabbing one of these Sempron's for my son's build. He currently has an AthlonXP @ 2.2ghz with a 5900u, and, honestly, it's been good enough for him, but our 3rd system is a 1.4ghz Tualatin with a ti4200 that is showing its age badly. I'd like to move that AXP to 3rd place and build a sub-$500 system using the Sempron and DFI Infinity nf4x.

Would I have any problems with this build--

Foxconn TPS544-S350 plus 350W PSU.......$82......link
DFI nF4X Infinity ATX AMD Motherboard....$77......link
OCZ PC-3200 2x512MB Premier...............$95......link
AMD Sempron 64 3000+ Socket 754.........$89......link
XFX Geforce 6600GT 128MB PCI-E............$134.....link
TOSHIBA Black IDE DVD-ROM..................$24.......link
Total.... $501 (all other parts would be frankensteined from the other 2 systems)

I'd like to get it down a little more. Would it be possible to move down to a 2500+ Sempron and OC it with that setup? That could shave off $30 or so. And I could shave another $10 off the memory and go with Patriot or something.

Any ideas?
 

ItsAlive

Golden Member
Oct 7, 2005
1,147
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I have my 3100+ runnin on a Gigabyte K8NS Pro at 2.5Ghz, 3x HTT, 313FSB, multi set to 8x, with 1.55v and it only hits 36C after hours of prime95. On stock cooling fan.
 

dogmir

Senior member
Dec 14, 2000
361
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i had no problem getting my 2800+ to 300 fsb on stock voltage....i did this for 5 other rigs i built for people...mine is now at 2.712ghz on 1.6v and 339fsb....30c idle and 36c on stock hsf...i can easily hit 33sec on a 1m superpi run....i am happy....at stock i got 57 secs...
 

cbolt67

Member
Aug 9, 2005
79
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I have my 2800+ @ 2.640GHz @ 1.6v and 330fsb.....29c idle......38c with 100% load with stock hsf. This was as high as I could get and run Prime95 stable for 24 hours.
 

skillyho

Golden Member
Nov 6, 2005
1,337
0
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Hi guys, I'm new to the forums so be easy on me.

I just put together my first machine about a week ago, with some decent value parts to have a low-end gaming rig. I'm currently running a Palmero Core Sempron 2800+, with an ECS nFORCE4-A754 mobo, Sapphire X550 w/256MB mem, 1GB of Geil Value ram.

My first concern is that my idle and load temps are too high at stock clock frequencies, being 38 and 50 degrees respectively. I'm starting to beleive I didnt properly seat the HSF on the CPU and maybe it isn't getting the best contact as a result of me moving it after I initally applied the thermal grease. I may just take it out and use some AS5 sometime down the road if I can get this one problem fixed first.

I am currently running at 1.78GHz with a FSB of 224MHz. I dont have a divider here so the RAM is also running at 224Mhz. I cannot get my computer to boot when I raise the FSB to anything over 224 (my mobo goes up to 250). The HTT is at 4x, and I am unsure about it's purpose so I haven't messed with it. I've read countless posts on getting to 2.4GHz and above on the stock voltage, but I dont know If my RAM is holding me back, or my motherboard itself. I've tried lowering the RAM to 166Mhz but it still doesn't boot on anything higher. (My RAM timings are 2.5-4-4-8 at 200MHz)

Anyone have any words of wisdom for me? I'm a newbie but I can follow instructions well.

Thanks in advance for all the help.
 

ItsAlive

Golden Member
Oct 7, 2005
1,147
9
81
Bskip22,

First off are you runnin any case fans to cool the ambient temp inside your PC?? I run 2 case fans 1x80mm and 1x90mm and it does the trick. Also switching to AS5 should help considerably......and a poorly seated heatsink can cause high temps, so if you decide to switch thermal pastes id make sure to seat it properly and use a thin layer of paste spread evenly with a toothpick or similar utensil as more is not necessarily better in this case it can be detrimental to the heat transfer. As far as your overclocking goes id be sure to get adequate cooling b4 you try overclocking because you will prolly have to add voltage in small increments to get stability and that will increase temps. I would suggest as far as overclocking goes to get better ram as i have found that Value Series ram is not necessarily going to be good for overclocking and one batch of ram may produce inconsistant results compared to other batches of the same ram. It could be that your Processor is just flawed and is overheating due to problems in manufacturing so if returning the processor is an option i would try goin that route if at all possible. Once you get the temps down 25-30C idle then the overclocking begins. I would suggest getting the latest bios for your motherboard its always the first step for a good O'C. This will allow all the options in your bios to be accessable for adjusting. Your HTT settings are essentially your frontside bus speed, HTTxFrontside bus should be less than 1000 so if you get your FSB to 250 you should drop the HTT to 3x or it will not boot up. Your ram speed seems a lil high since you dont have a divider it will limit your overclock, but with the newest bios you might get the divider unlocked to allow adjustments. My current settings are HTTx3, FSB 313MHZ, Divider 133mhz, and i had to raise Vcore voltage to 1.55v and VDimm voltage to 2.8v to get stable. Hope this helps.....
 

ItsAlive

Golden Member
Oct 7, 2005
1,147
9
81
Also when runnin 2x512mb ram cards you might need to run at a 2T command rate by pressing Control+F1 at the bios page to access advanced chipset features of your motherboard.......then select 2T command rate instead of 1T or auto settings.