First overclock with a XP 2800+...

[Sam1230]

I've never overclocked anything before and I was planning on overclocking my Athlon XP 2800. My current proc. temp. fluctuates between 45-50 degrees. All I'm really looking to do is to get up to 400Mhz FSB from the 333Mhz stock and run stable. Is this hard for a chip such as mine to do? Could someone explain exactly what I would do to the multipliers?

Also, I have a Radeon 9700 Pro. How high does a typical 9700 Pro overclock?

 

[phpdog]

Hi ,

first off i take it you know how to enter your BIOS ?
as soon as PC starts tap "delete" key.

Your looking to raise your FSB from 166 to 200.
and lower the Multiplier from (i think its 12.5) so from 12.5 to 11.

that should give you a overall 11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz 3200+

you should really do this gradually in steps like first drop the multiplier to 11 and up the FSB to say 180
11 x 180 @ 1980 MHz
then
11 x 190 @ 2090 MHz
then
11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz

and make sure you set your RAM to 100% or 1:1 so your at DDR 400 .

if it does 11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz easy and passes benchmark testing then try and up the FSB a little bit at a time until it gets unstable and then drop it .

Baically find your breaking point then touch off the gas a little , and your good to go.

if you have any problems also try adding a little voltage that solves it most of the time

but i wouldnt go above 1.8 ... thats me personally ... it will put your temp up way high.

EDIT :

please let me know what motherboard your on , and what vCore , vDimm and RAM settings your running if you can

 

[Sam1230]

Thanks, that helps quite a bit.

Okay, here's the rest of the specs. you asked for. I'm running on an Asus A7N8X DLX with a VCore of 1.68 and VDimm is set to 2.6V if I remember correctly. My ram is 2 modules of 512MB Corsair PC3200C2 with timings of 2-3-3-6.

 

[phpdog]

Hi ,

first things first your RAM will help you a lot with overclocking that chip ... good chioce in RAM .

Good motherboard for OC as we'll you should be able to tweak everything you need to get that chip to 200FSB 3200+ speeds and beyond.

Raise your RAM vDimm to 2.7 if you can or near .

I'd try 11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz @ 1.7vCore 2.7vDimm 3200+
and take it from there i.e 11 x 205 @ 2255 @ 1.7vCore or 1.725vCore IF NEEDED.

btw have you tried anything yet ?

let me know what results you get and how far youve pushed your chip , what settings your happy with and going to stick with

Good luck

 

[tweakmaster420]

hey man whats up.. i have the same mobo as you and a 3000+ 400fsb chip and im trying to oc mine.. i know my stuff but i was just wonderin. i got mine to 210 fsb 11x @2310mhz i have corsair pc3200 LLPT ver.1.2 @2-3-2-6 cas 2 and i have probs putting the fsb to 215 for some reason.. vdimm is @ 2.80v. wonderin if i have to put cas to 2.5 to do this? i havent tried yet. what would you do with this 3000 chip on this board. just curious for some ideas. later...

 

[phpdog]

Hi ,

Nice setup .. btw put your RAM to 2.5 for sure I can never get my RAM as tight as that over 200 FSB and i have the exact same RAM as you ... btw ... i see your sig that your vCore is at 1.7v ... if thats what your running at just now id try RAM @ 6 - 3 - 3 - 2.5 and a vCore of 1.725v or 1.750v ...

EDIT :
yeah ... how you finding that Lan Party NF2 ? i think these boards are great ... currently im @ 218 x 10 @ 2180 MHz

6 - 2 - 3 - 2.5 35º/37º Idle and 40º/4º5 at Load .... these boards are pure quality Ive not seen hardly anyone else in here with the same board as me to compare to .. but sounds if yours isnt treating you too bad ... later

 

[Jeff7181]

I'd recommend lowering the multiplier to 10, reboot and enter the bios, set FSB to 200 and reboot... I've found that my A7N8X does like to run at odd FSB's... runs fine at 166 and 200 and 233, but it doesn't like it anywhere in the 180's or 190's or between 210 and 220. My RAM likes that even less.

 

[dBo]

Sweet! Just the info I was looking for.

PHPdog, or anyone else who knows, ... given my setup below, can I go ahead and follow the guidelines above?

What kind of RAM setting should I be looking at using?

All I want to do is run my CPU FSB speed at the max it can handle and at the same time get the most out of my RAM.

Nothing too crazy .. just want the hardware to do what it can do.

The mobo can handle up to 400mhz FSB and DDR400
The CPU can handle 333FSB
The RAM is supposed to run @ DDR433

All my BIOS setting are stock right now ..

 

[phpdog]

Hi ,

dBo : Thats a nice setup you've got there

If i had that setup id be trying to run it something around this :-

RAM @ vDimm 2.7v 6 - 2 - 3 - 2 or slack off to 6 - 3 - 3 - 2.5 ... but with Corsair 3500 you should do we'll .

CPU @ :-

Starting from 200 and working up as far as it will stay stable , starting from default vCore and adding vCore as needed.You'd proberly end up with a vCore of somewhere in the region of 1.7v/1.75v

11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz [ 3200+ ]
11 x 205 @ 2255 MHz [ 3200+ ]
11 x 210 @ 2310 MHz [3200+ ]

Your temps will inevitably go up , mabye in the region of 40º/42º mabye more ?

This is what id be trying with that setup ... hope this helps ... good luck :beer:


EDIT :

btw as jeff7181 was saying if you can get away with a Multiplier of say 10 try 10 x 210 then 10 x 215 then 10 x 220 if you can .

The lower the Multiplier / Higher FSB = better as long as all your other components can handle it

 

[dBo]

Thank PHPdog! You've helped a ton!

Ive been playing with the numbers and as soon as I find a stable one I'll let you know!

A couple of more questions ...

What is a "safe" idle CPU temp reading in the BIOS? How about a "Safe" CPU temp while running Prime95?

Do I need to break the CPU in and stress test it at stock settings before I overclock it?

Giving the system more vCore or Vdimm is basically giving it more "juice" to run at higher speeds?

What is the difference between 3/3, 4/4, 5/5.6/6? I know they all equal to 1 .. but why so many settings?

 

[high]

Bah don't worry about that breaking in stuff, it's just a myth. First day I got my board proc, before I even installed XP, put it to 11x200 and has been there ever since. I did this because if it didn't do 11x200 on stock voltage I was taking it back.

 

[dBo]

sounds good!

 

[phpdog]

dBo : there isnt really a safe idle temp , all i would say is as long as you keep your temps under 60º to keep your CPU safe, but i like to keep my max load under Prime95 no more than 55º

Your idle temps should be anywhere from 35º/45º is reasonable. the lower the better . when i leave my PC for like an hour without touching it ,my temps drop to as low as 30º/31º and thats with a vCore of 1.75v

Oh as for the 3/3, 4/4, 5/5.6/6 i dont have those settings on my motherboard , i think there the RAM timings/dividers or something , you'd need to ask someone with the same motherboard as you

And you dont need to stress test the CPU before OC'ing and adding vCore is adding more juice/voltage to your CPU Core and adding vDimm is adding more juice/voltage to your RAM ...

good luck and have fun :beer:

 

[dBo]

11 x 200 @ 2200 MHz [ 3200+ ]
11 x 205 @ 2255 MHz [ 3200+ ]
11 x 210 @ 2310 MHz [3200+ ]

What do the numbers in brackets mean? [3200+] ?

 

[phpdog]

Hi ,

The [ 3200+ ] is the AMD chip version , like if you buy an Athlon 1700+ chip and overclock it to a Athlon 2400+ .

thats the chip you will get with those setting speeds Athlon 3200+