Typical overclock of A64 3000+ (Winchester)?

[AussieBastard]

Hi all,

Yes I'm a nub so please be gentle with me.

I was messing around with overclocking my rig yesterday, which consists of the following:

* Gigabyte K8NS Ultra 939 (latest BIOS, flashed yesterday)
* Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester core, 1.8GHz stock)
* 2 x 512MB Geil PC3200 DDR sticks (dual channel)

I just wanted to get a feel for the typical overclocking expectations of this setup. I know for a fact that this particular breed of RAM doesn't like to go too far over 200MHz (craps out at about 220), so I had to use a RAM divider. I lowered the HT multiplier from 5x to 4x, increased the core voltage to 1.5v, and I've managed to get the CPU clock up to 267MHz, which equates to a CPU speed of roughly 2.4GHz, and with the RAM divider lowered, the RAM sits at about 398MHz DDR.

I ran Prime95 torture test for a few hours and it passed all tests successfully. Idle temp of the CPU is about 32 degrees Celsius, and under maximum load it went up to about 50 degrees Celsius. I'm using the stock AMD heatsink and fan.

So... it would appear to be a successful overclock? Nice to have an increase of 600MHz, I think that's the most I've ever seen from a CPU overclock. Is this typical of this particular CPU and am I shortening it's lifespan significantly by running it at this speed? I guess what I'm asking is if it's safe for me to leave at this level.

Thanks,

AB

 

[orangat]

Overvolting is simply unsafe despite whatever reasonable temps you can maintain.

 

[AussieBastard]

Ok, thanks for the reply... can you point me towards some examples or cases where someone has fried their CPU by overvolting 0.1v?

 

[BlueWeasel]

Originally posted by: AussieBastard
Ok, thanks for the reply... can you point me towards some examples or cases where someone has fried their CPU by overvolting 0.1v?

He probably can't. With only a 0.1v+ bump and temperatures at 50C or less during the summer, I wouldn't worry at all.

 

[Regs]

I get around 2.4- 2.5 with stock cooling and voltage. 5/3 divider I get 32c idel and around 43c load.

My PC3200 is holding me back from a 2.6 though.

 

[furballi]

Decent, safe overclock. The additional voltage may reduce the CPU life to 6 or 7 years.

Use Cool n Quiet if you want to extend the CPU life up to 10 years. Most of the time (low to medium load), the CPU is operating at 1.2 to 1.3VDC. That's below the nominal 1.4V at 1.8GHz. Remember that all CPUs have a nominal working voltage of plus/minus 10%.