KT7A Overclocking

[firestorm225]

I need to know how to overclock my 1ghz T-Bird with a FOP-32-1 and arctic silver on my KT7A that I will be getting. Im also getting Crucial 256mb CL2 ram. From what I understand, on the KT133 KT7, to overclock all you have to do is unlock your processor and then raise the multiplier, but from what I've seen its a different process for the KT7A, where you have to lower the multiplier and up the FSB or something. Can somebody tell me step by step what I need to do or show me a guide which tells you how to o'c with KT133A mobos?

Also, If I planed not to overclock or unlock my processor, would I have to lower the FSB to 100? And is rasing your FSB and lowering your multiplier faster than having a 100FSB and rasing your multiplier?

 

[firestorm225]

bump

 

[Felonious]

I'm looking for the same information dude, Good luck.

 

[firestorm225]

Can someone please help?

 

[firestorm225]

ttt

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

You'll need to read this.

Good luck!

 

[firestorm225]

Ya, I know how to overclock the KT133 chipsets, but I'm wondering about the KT133A's. Like I read that its better to set the multiplier to 7.5x133 rather than 10x100, and then slowly raise the FSB or something.

 

[W4KE]

Yep, Tom can help you out better than we can .

Id really reccomend that article if you are new to overclocking.

But, if you still have a few questions, feel free to post, Im sure someone will be more than willing to help

 

[whalen]

With the KT133A Chipsets, the chipset can handle faster FSB speeds. This is why you see people lowering their multipliers and upping the FSB. Since you can get a greater performance gain from higher bus speeds, it makes sense to push the bus as high as possible.

Here is what I'd do to overclock your 1Ghz Tbird

1) Unlock the Chip w/ pencil or defogger kit before installing.
2) Setup system @ default clock speed
3) Once you know your system is stable, start overclocking
4) You can lower the multiplier to about 8, and put the bus speed to 133. All KT133a's should at least be able to handle 133. At this speed, your chip is only o/c'd by about 50 mhz.
5) Gradually increase the FSB and lower the multiplier to keep your chip around 1GHz. When the system becomes unstable, turn down the FSB a few MHz and start to increase the multiplier. (increasing voltage as necessary)

You should probably get around 1.1-1.3 from a 1.0GHz. Hope this helps, and if you have any questions or corrections, don't hesitate....

 

[firestorm225]

Thanks Whalen! I'll be trying that out.

 

[ErikaeanLogic]

firestorm225: well, there's this article, too. You've basically got the right idea; frontside bus increase broadens memory bandwidth which yields higher performance than multiplier overclocks will. My Duron650@975 with a 150MHz fsb(300MHz DDR) kicks the crap out of the same processor at 1050 with a 100MHz fsb! For example, the 1050(100x10.5) Sandra memory bench is around 425/455(ALU/FPU). At 975(150x6.5), the same bench yields 535/608! That's a heck of alot of performance gain! As I first said, you have the right idea of mixing multiplier and fsb settings to find that sweet spot of performance/stability. Good luck!

 

[firestorm225]

Do I have to set up some kind of AGP or PCI divider because I'm running at a higher FSB? And also, just for interest, what is the average "sweet spot" that people hit on 1ghz T-birds?

 

[grendelkhan]

No need to change the AGP divider, the board will do this all on its lonesome as soon as you jump to 133. I haven't touched squat in that area and my system is running just fine and dandy now, a little hot, but I'm getting that same GlobalWin cooler for a better overclock. I'm running pretty stable at 8@133 (1066), but I've had to turn down a couple of the settings in the BIOS for stability.

FWIW, the board will not come with the latest drivers for the HPT370 (if you're getting the RAID version), and you will want to try loading up with the newest ones first. I ran into problems and had a lot of lockups until I gave up on a stripe set and stuck with straight up drives on the HPT-370 channels.

Overall, it's a great board and hopefully you will be happy together!

 

[firestorm225]

Okay, thanks for all the replies.

 

[Balael]

grendelkhan,

which settings did you turn off in the bios for the kt7a that made you more stable? I'm just curious as to how far my chip will go and still boot into windows, i've got a duron 600 at 1050 with 7 x 150, stable as anything, but just wanna see how high it can go. Thanks.

balael

 

[firestorm225]

O ya, one last quick question. It seems that mos people have the FSB at 133 and the multiplier at different settings. Is that because 133 is the most stable?

 

[MCS]

Its probably because most people dont know how stable their RAM is above PC-133, or want to run at say 133 CAS 2 rather than 140 CAS 3.

 

[grendelkhan]

Balael:

I left "Fast CPU Decodes" at disabled, I tried enabling it, but got nothing but lockups. I thought I had something else tweaked but I checked and I was wrong.

 

[firestorm225]

MCS, what do you mean that people want to run at 133 CAS 2 rather than 140 CAS 3? Does the CAS value go up when you raise the FSB?

 

[MCS]

No, but in 99% of cases (I say that to cover myself) your memory will run at a higher FSB at CAS 3 than it will at CAS 2.

For example, Crucial rate their PC-133 memory as 133 CAS 2 or 143 CAS 3.

I can personally run my stick of Crucial at 150 CAS 2, but if I tried it and it didn't work, the first thing I'd try before lowering it from 150 is to lower the CAS latency to 3.

Does that clear it up?

 

[firestorm225]

Ok, I got it, thanks.

 

[firestorm225]

Double post.

 

[MCS]

You should be able to run at 150 if you want to. I have the same board and an unlocked 1.2, with Crucial memory. Its excellent stuff and from what I have seen so far the board is vert stable.

 

[firestorm225]

So for example, its possible to go up to 1.2ghz by doing 8x150? And if its possible, wont the PCI and AGP cards run at speeds too high?

 

[Felonious]

MCS, My setup is just like yours. I have it set at 10x130 = 1300 and it runs really nice! (3D Mark at 8000)

Other settings I tried with higher fsb (140) was a little tougher on agp and heat and 10x133 won't even boot.

This is pretty cool like it is but this is my first time overclocking and I wouldn't mind hearing what your settings and temps are like.