overcloking duron processors

[sullungboy]

I am planning to build a system, my first system and overclock it. I am planning to get a duron, cheaper and great quality for the price. i considered celeron at first then decided to go with duron.

to overclock, is the pencil the only way to overclock durons? I'm real sorry for being such a newbie but I really want it go pretty fast. I am getting a 650, can I get it running at 1ghz with alpha hsf? Experts, please guide me. I'm new, please explain what I can do. If there's a site with details on how to overclock doing the pencil trick or some other method, let me know. Thanks.

[oc jason]

yes-you should have to at least unlock the chip by connecting the L1 bridges, thats if its not unlocked form the factory. But doing that, depending on your BIOS you can do a couple things like either up th FSB(front side bus) or change the clock multiplier. The best way to do it is up the FSB till the computer will not boot/post then take it down 1 notch-so its stable then up the clock multiplier by0.5 till it again will not post then take it down by 0.5 so its once again stable-you might have to up the voltage by0.5 or so but not too much-casue im not too familiar with voltage mods-that should get u to your higest oc speed-not including cooling

[SickBoy]

My Duron is OC'ed to 950 (rated 700) and it was super easy. just pencil the L1's and make sure you have adequate cooling (I recommend FOP32/38 or Alpha PAL6035 or PEP66). Make sure you have a good PSU - mine is 250W and is kinda fritzy, it does weird things every now and then. Duron is the new OC champ, it took that spot away from the CeleMine, and since it outperforms Celeron (and sometimes P3), it's the price/performance leader.

Sickboy

[proze]

sickboy and liquidfusion are right on the money.. the duron's are great overclockers and yield good performance. yes, you'll have to unlock it... we have a short guide here (http://www.wildandyc.co.uk) on doing that. as for a mobo, i'd recommend the abit kt7a-raid or the asus a7v133, in that order... and get a nice alpha hsf!

have fun, and good luck! :)

[sullungboy]

The guide was super helpful considering that I'm a newbie! And the other guys, your information helps. So I am planning to get ABIT motherboard that comes with the duron processor. Do you guys know which specific motherboards allow change of clock multiplier from the BIOS? With a decent alpha HSF, do you think I can get a 650 to a gigahrtz maybe? Tell me all the possible HSF I can do, and tell me how much it would cost. I really want the best performance I can for 500. I know I'm being greedy but please help a poor newbie :] Thanks.

[jughead]

Well Sullungboy, if you haven't bought a board yet, check out www.markonecomputers.com. Last week I ordered the abit kt7a-raid and 750 duron cpu, and a chrome orb fan. The duron turned out to be a spitfire from Germany. They placed it on the board for me, and I had gotten the c.o.d. order just three days after ordering. Cost was $274.70 inc. c.o.d.. I'm
running right now at 1.01 gig (950x106fsb). You sure can't go wrong with a deal like that. ...Also check with www.reselleratings.com if you have any questions about the company.

[proze]

both the abit kt7a and asus a7v133 support bios control of the fsb, vcore and multiplier as far as i know. as for the hsf... check out www.2cooltek.com (http://www.2cooltek.com) for alphas and globalwins. they're a good, reliable firm and they don't rip you off with shipping. i'd really recommend the alpha pep66t with the 38cfm fan, or the alpha pal6035 or globalwin fop38. with one of those hsfs, you should get to a gig and have nice temps.

[sullungboy]

Does the ABIT kt7a motherboard some with a thing where you can check the temperature in Windows? I know some motherboards have that option and I need to knwo if the ABIT kt7a motherboard has that. So what are the ones I need to get? I need both heatsink and CPU fan right? I'll go check some out today.

[jmr89gt]

The abit kt7a comes with VIA Hardware monitor for getting temp readings in Windows, but you can download others like Motherboard Monitor if you want.

[sullungboy]

I have a question about abit kt7a and abit kt7a raid. The raid motherboard is good only if you're going to use RAID drivers for your hard drives right? Because I'm going to buy the regular kt7a and I want to make sure I'm buying the right motherboard considering that I am going to have only one hard drive.

[FBRopz]

Durons are GREAT for overclocking... 1Ghz out of a 650 is very possible... With an alpha fan? you may wanna take a different route. It just depends on what you will push with... Are you going to push your Multipliers or your FSB? If you're pushing the FSBs more than the Multipliers you have a great chance of making it. I'd be cautious if you plan to go straight with Multipliers. Some of these guys have pushed Durons to the max on here. Then again I know plenty of those who have fried them after a simple 200Mhz overclock.

Not saying this to stress you, but you seem very anxious to make this happen. You really need to take this slow... Overclock it at 700 at first, then 750 and so on... Let it burn in a bit, make sure your're stable. Keep an eye on those temps... ESPECIALLY if you plan to get to 1Ghz(here you may want to consider water cooling with a 650)

What type of Mobo are you going with, and what will you set your volts at? Post it next time and I'm sure out of all the Guru's in this forum you'll make it to 1Ghz. I started here a while back and they got me there.

Best advice with the Durons... Burn it slow, move to your goal slowly, keep an eye on those temps. From my own personal experience 107 *F is Yellow Zone and 110 *F is Red Zone. Keep away from here if you can.

Good luck!

[proze]

yeah.. you only need the raid option if you're planning on running two or more hdds in a raid configuration. i'm not sure how much more expensive it is, but if it isn't much, then maybe it's worth it for future upgrades... just do make sure that you get the kt7A and not the older kt7.

[sullungboy]

Thanks for your replies. I don't even know how to do anything yet besides putting a computer together and installing heatsink/fans. I also know how to connect the L1 bridges on the CPU to unlock it. Do you change clock multiplier or fsb, both in BIOS? Is it possible to do both? I have an ABIT kt7a in mind right now. I still have to decide on heatsink. How much does water cooling cost?

[sleddog]

FBRopz (Feb 17, 2001 07:51 p.m.):
From my own personal experience 107 *F is Yellow Zone and 110 *F is Red Zone.


110F is 43C, not hot for a Duron. If you have trouble there then your OS is unstable (or your temperature reading is being reported lower than it actually is). Try upping the voltage 0.05v or backing off a notch on your overclock.

[FBRopz]

Sleddog,

I believe you're right! I did a few benchmarks and test runs on my OS (Win98) looks like I had alot of action going on when I thought I was idle. Swap file was HUGE when idle. I also caught a few Power Management issues. Thanks for the help! I'm crusing at around 97 *F!

[FBRopz]

sullungboy (Feb 18, 2001 01:14 a.m.):
Thanks for your replies. I don't even know how to do anything yet besides putting a computer together and installing heatsink/fans. I also know how to connect the L1 bridges on the CPU to unlock it. Do you change clock multiplier or fsb, both in BIOS? Is it possible to do both? I have an ABIT kt7a in mind right now. I still have to decide on heatsink. How much does water cooling cost?

Water cooling is not really intended for the begenning overclocker... Many things to consider when waterclooling... the main rule of thumb is "Water and electricity don't mis". Even the slightest hint of condensation can make for a bad day. Also, consider the possibility that there is a leak. You may wanna get more exp before taking on water cooling, start with fan cooling and experiment with WC.
As far as the FSB and the Multipliers in the BIOS. If you have the K7T Pro 2-A you can alter both options in the BIOS... Matter of a fact you can push the FSB without unlocking those L1 Bridges.
When in BIOS go take a look at the "Frequency/Voltage Control" menu, this BIOS refers the FSB to "Clock by slight adjust" Default should be set to 100, customize from 100 to 130 (i think)...
The "CPU clock ratio" option is your Multi, however, mine did not work until I unlocked the L1, I could alter the settings to 8, 8.5, 9 and so on but couldn't get the overclock until I penciled the bridges. I've heard some say that the K7T will automatically unlock the bridges for you... this may be true, but not by my experience.

Now, if you plan to alter the voltage, you will HAVE to download the new overclockers BIOS for the mobo. Below is a link for ya. hope all goes well, happy o/c

http://www.msi.com.tw/support/bios/mainboard/6xxx/k7tpro2/wk7tpro2v10b14.exe

(NOTE) This BIOS update for the MSI K7T Pro 2-A (VIA KT133 Chipset Based only

[proze]

sullungboy (Feb 18, 2001 01:14 a.m.):
Thanks for your replies. I don't even know how to do anything yet besides putting a computer together and installing heatsink/fans. I also know how to connect the L1 bridges on the CPU to unlock it. Do you change clock multiplier or fsb, both in BIOS? Is it possible to do both? I have an ABIT kt7a in mind right now. I still have to decide on heatsink. How much does water cooling cost?

yup, you can do both in bios.
i tend to agree with the gent above.. rather go with a heatsink for your first oc. watercooling is completely safe, but requires some skill in case-modding, etc, to get everything inside your case. if you're willing to take the time and put in the effort, then it's worth it. it is more expensive than a good hsf though. well over double. read the articles on the frontpage about watercooling to get more info.

[Sniper]

NOTE:

The Alpha Pep66 fit beautifully on my KT7A-R.