Which A64 is the OC king?

[Staz]

I know, this has probably been hashed out a zillion times, but my lazy arse doesn't want to go search a million posts, so I am asking it again.

I have a XP-M 2500+ overclocked to 2400MHz, but I want more speed, but don't have a ton of money to spend. Thus I want to get one of the lower priced A64 chips and overclock it. Before I do that, I need to know which one is known for it's overclocking potentional. Also, I am leading towards the 939-pin A64's so I can later upgrade and I want dual channel memory.

 

[mwmorph]

3000+ for value
3200+ for the 10x multiplier
much easier oon a good mb to hit 2.7 on a 3200+ than a 3000+

 

[SunSamurai]

a million posts? there are no less than 3 active threads talking about this right now.

 

[Staz]

Are A64's clocked locked?

 

[mwmorph]

yes. the fx series arent though.

 

[Jaimie]

Originally posted by: Staz
Are A64's clocked locked?

Only the multipliers. HTT (equvilent of FSB) is unlocked, however, so you can overclock all you want.

 

[ts3433]

Originally posted by: Staz
Are A64's clocked locked?

Full-on clock-locking would be prohibitively expensive to implement, from what I've heard, so I wouldn't plan on seeing it in chips anytime soon. Multipliers are locked upwards of stock, though, on all but the FX chips.

The Winchester 3000+ and 3200+ are the best values on the market right now. They'll overclock well even on the stock cooler and often stock voltage.

 

[Staz]

So if the Winchester's run on the 200 FSB, the only way to OC them is to bump your FSB, meaning you would need to overclock the rest of your system also? I am sure most motherboards have an AGP lock, but not all memory overclocks that easilly. Is this what everone who overclocks is doing, just bumping their FSB?

And please explain what HTT is in more detail.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Staz
So if the Winchester's run on the 200 FSB, the only way to OC them is to bump your FSB, meaning you would need to overclock the rest of your system also? I am sure most motherboards have an AGP lock, but not all memory overclocks that easilly. Is this what everone who overclocks is doing, just bumping their FSB?

And please explain what HTT is in more detail.

HTT (HyperTransport Tunnel) is the "FSB." Athlon 64s don't really have a true FSB because of the on-die memory controller. The CPU speed is calculated from the HTT speed times the CPU multiplier. You can just raise the HTT speed like the FSB on older systems but when you hit a wall you can either lower the HTT multiplier or use a memory divider and keep on going. I got my 3000+ up to 2.5GHz (315HTTx8) on an Epox 9NDA3+. Also, I should mention that the lower multipliers ARE available on Athlon 64s but not higher ones.

 

[Staz]

Originally posted by: MDE

Originally posted by: Staz
So if the Winchester's run on the 200 FSB, the only way to OC them is to bump your FSB, meaning you would need to overclock the rest of your system also? I am sure most motherboards have an AGP lock, but not all memory overclocks that easilly. Is this what everone who overclocks is doing, just bumping their FSB?

And please explain what HTT is in more detail.

HTT (HyperTransport Tunnel) is the "FSB." Athlon 64s don't really have a true FSB because of the on-die memory controller. The CPU speed is calculated from the HTT speed times the CPU multiplier. You can just raise the HTT speed like the FSB on older systems but when you hit a wall you can either lower the HTT multiplier or use a memory divider and keep on going. I got my 3000+ up to 2.5GHz (315HTTx8) on an Epox 9NDA3+. Also, I should mention that the lower multipliers ARE available on Athlon 64s but not higher ones.

If I understand this correctly, I could lock the rest of my system, meaning memory, AGP, and PCI bus speeds, and just raise the HTT, which would only effect my CPU? Or does raising the HTT effect other systems as well?

 

[Shimmishim]

you should read the overclocking guide (sticky in this forum) .... it'll answer a lot of your questions

 

[Staz]

Originally posted by: Shimmishim
you should read the overclocking guide (sticky in this forum) .... it'll answer a lot of your questions

I do know how to overclock as my XP-M 2500+ is currently running at 2400MHz(12x200) at 1.6v. However, what I don't know is the difference between the FSB and HTT and if adjusting the HTT has the same effect as adjusting the FSB.

 

[KoolDrew]

If you are looking for something cheap to OC the 3200+ is great. I would choose it over the 3000+ just for the 10x multiplier.

 

[Staz]

Originally posted by: KoolDrew
If you are looking for something cheap to OC the 3200+ is great. I would choose it over the 3000+ just for the 10x multiplier.

Looks like the 3200+ is a good $40-$50 more than the 3000+. Is it worth the extra money for the 10x multi?

 

[imported_Bleh]

If you want to oc more easy then yes the extra $50 for the 3200+ is worth it. 260 mhz fsb needed to hit 2600mhz as opposed to approx 289 fsb for the 3000+ the only mobo that can achieve this high fsb time after time is the MSI K8N. All other Nforce 3 boards can easily get up to 260 mhz.

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Bleh
If you want to oc more easy then yes the extra $50 for the 3200+ is worth it. 260 mhz fsb needed to hit 2600mhz as opposed to approx 289 fsb for the 3000+ the only mobo that can achieve this high fsb time after time is the MSI K8N. All other Nforce 3 boards can easily get up to 260 mhz.

The Epox boards seem to be hitting very high HTT speeds as well. Mine is at 315 and Nick1985 has his at 300.