Overclocking Duron 800 on A7V

[Nomad]

Hello all,

I am new to the board and new to overclocking in general.... Here is my first experience and some questions to boot:

1) Bought Duron 800 and Asus A7V motherboard
2) Connected L1 bridges..installed everything
3) Set to jumper mode...
4) Tried to overclock at 1 gig.... won't boot
5) Tried to overlcock at 950... wouldn't boot
6) Upped the voltage... finally got to boot at 1.85v however was unstable and wouldn't launch windows
7) Dropped down to 900 and everything is very stable. Did several burn ins with Sisoft Sandra and everything is still fine. Played some Quake III for a while and everything was still fine.... checked temp since I have it at 1.85v and it was at 46C.

Questions:
1) Is that voltage too high?
2) Is that temp too high?
3) Many others that I have talked to have their 800's at 1 gig.... why can't I get mine there?
4) Is there anything I can do to get it to 1 gig?

Thanks so much for your help!

Nomad

[Hoot]

-snip-
Questions:
1) Is that voltage too high?

No, it is common to have to up the core voltage to OC.

2) Is that temp too high?

In my opinion, yes. It will effect how high you need to go with the voltage to successfully OC. Higher voltage means higher temps, bad spiral.

3) Many others that I have talked to have their 800's at 1 gig.... why can't I get mine there?


4) Is there anything I can do to get it to 1 gig?

What HSF are you using? How is your case temp? Take the HSF off and examine where it contacts the core. Does it have a pad between it and the core. If yes, remove the pad and replace with a good heat transfer grease. Try again and see what temp improvement ensues. If it is already using heat transfer grease, consider a bigger HSF or higher volume fan at least. Try to provide adequate case air circulation to keep it near room temp.
That's a starting place. Most of this is covered in HSF tips and general OC tips all over the Web.

Hoot

[Nomad]

>>What HSF are you using? <<

GlobalWin FOP32

>>How is your case temp? <<

I don't have a case temp monitor... but with the case closed the CPU temp is 48C and motherboard is 40C

>>Does it have a pad between it and the core. If yes, remove the pad and replace with a good heat transfer grease.<<

I removed the pad from the bottom of the GlobalWin before I installed it. I used fingernail polish remover to get the excess off both the heatsink and the cpu. I replaced it with Artic Fox silver thermal paste. (I believe that is the name of it).

>>Try to provide adequate case air circulation to keep it near room temp.<<

It does make a huge difference with the case open... CPU runs at around 42 or 43C with case open. My case didn't come with a case fan. I bought one of those ones that fits into the PCI slot and pumps air out of the back of the case. Before I installed that fan... I left my computer going overnight with the case closed and the CPU NOT overclocked and when I work the next morning the temp was at 56C.... I ran out and bought a fan that day!!!

The bottom line is that 900 it is rock solid stable with voltage at 1.85. It locks up crazy at 950. It won't boot at 1000. I don't think I can up the voltage any more with the A7V motherboard jumpers. It appears to be maxed out.... Is this a power problem, is my chip just one of those that says "I'm not going faster than 900 and there is nothing you can do about it!"?

I would love to get 1 gig.... but I have run out of ideas.

Thanks for the help though! Any other ideas?

Nomad

[Hoot]

>quote]Nomad (Mar 02, 2001 12:22 p.m.):

>>What HSF are you using? <<
GlobalWin FOP32

Good Start

>>How is your case temp? <<

>I don't have a case temp monitor... but with the case closed the CPU temp is 48C and motherboard is 40C

Motherboard temp is what I meant by case temp. 40C is awful high. The fact that the FOP-32 is holding the CPU at only 8 degrees above the motherboard temp is a good testimonial to the FOP-32 and your grease job.

>>Does it have a pad between it and the core. If yes, remove the pad and replace with a good heat transfer grease.<<

I removed the pad from the bottom of the GlobalWin before I installed it. I used fingernail polish remover to get the excess off both the heatsink and the cpu. I replaced it with Artic Fox silver thermal paste. (I believe that is the name of it).

Good move

>>Try to provide adequate case air circulation to >keep it near room temp.<<

It does make a huge difference with the case open... CPU runs at around 42 or 43C with case open. My case didn't come with a case fan. I bought one of those ones that fits into the PCI slot and pumps air out of the back of the case. Before I installed that fan... I left my computer going overnight with the case closed and the CPU NOT overclocked and when I work the next morning the temp was at 56C.... I ran out and bought a fan that day!!!

I'm assuming your room temp is a lot lower than 40C. You got to get that internal temp down a lot more than it presently is at. My case has two ancillary fan knock-outs and I put fans in both of them. At my place, the air is cool, running around 20C. Inside my case, the temp is only 22C. Hence, my HSF has an easy time getting rid of the heat it wicks away from the core. It doesn't make a difference at lower voltages/speeds, but at the top end, it is critical. If you can get those core temps down to around 35C I'd bet you can hit 950 and possibly 1000.

Hoot

[Nomad]

Whoops!

I gave you the wrong heatsink model...
It is actually a GlobalWin FOP38 not 32. Very loud fan, but very good cooling.

There are a couple things I am going to do when I get home today. I have had the vents closed on that room of the house (long story) for a long time. As a result the room stays at LEAST 5 degrees hotter than the rest of the house if not hotter now. I am going to open those vents wide open tonight when I get home.

Secondly... I'm going to open the case and put it low on the floor (right now it is on top of the desk.) That should cool it by at least a few degrees between those couple of things.

Other than that... I'm not sure how I would cool it further... especially beyond opening the case. Perhaps laying the case on its side so that the heat can rise out of it??? I'm grasping at straws here...

Nomad

[Hoot]

At this point it gets a little dicey. Hardcore OCers get out the hole saw and start blowing holes in the case to allow adding fans in strategic places. If you're not into the case modification scene, the consider a different case. I bought an Enlight 7237 which comes with a 300W PSU, two case fan knockouts and a fan already in one of them. It's a mid-tower. Plenty of room inside though. I've been plenty happy with mine. I believe the cost was $41.00 plus $11.00 shipping. Still cheaper than what I could buy it for locally. The Computer stores in the Twin cities have some kind of price fixing scheme going.

Hoot

[Nomad]

I noticed your sig line says you have a 600 Duron @ 1000 and 1.8v.

Why do you suppose my 800 requires 1.85v at 900mhz when your 600 only requires 1.8v @ 1000?
Is that heat related too? Sorry for the newbie questions...but the more q's I ask the easier this whole thing will go next time! Thanks for all your help!!!!

[Nomad]

<disreguard> posted twice by accident

[Spliffstarr]

I pretty much have the same type of setup except i use a 700mhz duron and i am running it stably at 959mhz and the temp is 48 degrees too, but i have a super orb fan and also a table fan blowing in air onto the cpu and video card. Considering that you are using a 800mhz i am suprised you can't hit one gig, it might be though that the heat withine your case might be what is holding u back..

[Hoot]

As I said, my case temp is only 2 degrees above my room temp, which currently is 20C. With a case temp, board temp, call it what you want, of 22C, my core is running right now at only 32C. Cooler than your skin to touch. Some may argue, but I believe it allows me to achieve higher speed with less voltage. A lot depends also, upon the luck of the draw, in terms of the CPU. There is enough anecdotal evidence to say, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that not all CPUs are created equal. Just going on what others have written, I have seen more reports of 600 Mhz Durons achieving 1000 Mhz or more, than 700s, 750s, 800s, etc. In my honest opinion, I think it may be as simple as screening at the factory. 600 Mhz is the slowest Durons made. This takes only one test pass. They either pass or fail. If they fail, they go to reclamation and if they pass, put them in the box. For other speeds, the testing involves multiple passes and hence more time. Time=Money in mass production.
A 750 Duron, got that certification because it passed 600, 650, 700 and failed 800. I could be dead wrong about the certification process. It is just a hunch I have.
The fact remains that the cooler a semiconductor junction is kept at, the faster it will run and at less voltage, in the case of CPUs. Below is a graphic of my particular 600 Mhz Duron, which i might mention, I have not been able to ever get above 1000 Mhz using only multiplier manipulation and passive cooling.

[YardPig]

You should not have a problem with getting that 800 to over a gig. I run mine stable at 1035 with max voltage on an A7V. I used a 9.5 multipler and a 109FSB. This makes the generic pc133 cas 3 ram I have run at 145.33. The system is rock stable. The only way I was able to get the ram to run that high (and have the system post) was by upping the VIO voltage to the max. It will run stable at even a higher multipler/less fsb, but the system is much faster with my settings.
To give you an idea on temps with a chrome orb, 24C, 52C idle. Yeah, I know, thats high, but under load it does not get much more. I believe with a better HSF(and cooling the clock gen), I could get 1100+ out of this chip.

Good luck

A7V Bios 1006
Duron 700 @ 978
Duron 800 @ 1035
Radeon 64M DDR

[Nomad]

Hmmm...

Well... I have tried almost everything. I can't get the temp down any further... and the voltage has to be at max in order to get the thing to run @ 900.

Could adjusting the FSB help me get it closer to 1 gig? To this point I have not tried adjusting the FSB any. It is still at 100 with my multiplier at 9.

Is there any danger or concerns I should be aware of in messing with the fsb? Will the symptoms be the same if it fails? (ie ... won't boot or lockups).

Thanks again for the input...

Nomad

[YardPig]

Well....with installing a 486 HSF on the clock generator and putting a 486 fan on the via chipset, I saw a healthy increase in my settings. The limiting factor here is my chrome orb, which must be changed soon before I go insane.

Duron 800 @ 1054.17
111x9.5
133 Cas 3 @ 147.96

If I could just get the temps down, I'm sure I could break 1100
I also have not installed any thermal compound between the via chip and the HS. That too could be a limiter...

It almost makes me want to try my 700 Duron again and see if I can get more than 978.......That clock generator was burning hot before....