First Overclock

[Shaft]

I have been working with my new TBird 1ghz and Abit kt7a and have got it running stable at 1.25ghz right now. I have got it to boot into windows at 1305 (9x145) but it freezes up after a few minutes. I want to know how to be able to get this stable. Right now I have my vcore at 1.775 and my i/o at 3.4. I have feeling I will need to raise both of these but I don't want to do any damage by raising those too high. Any suggestions on how to get things stable without risking any serious damage to the chip would be greatly appreciated. Just for reference I am using the Vantec FCE-62540D with the delta black label fan. Thanks for all the help!

[Yomama]

That is indeed a very nice first overclock - congratulations.

Do you have a way to measure your CPU temperature. If not in the links on the mainpage you will find a nice tool called motherboard monitor. Install it, it is worth it.

You can raise the voltage to at least 1.85V, but you should use a good cooler when you do that.

Given that you have reached a good o/c already, I would bring up the voltage briefly, and up the multiplier, while staying at 133MHz or some speed that your system is otherwise stable with. If you see that you get a substantially more speed, then buy a good cooler (I recommend an Alpha PAL) Otherwise be happy with what you got so far.

Yo

[MartinT]

You can definately go 1.85v but you gotta have a good cooler.

[Shaft]

I have a pretty good cooler installed. It is the vantec FCE-62540D. I used artic silver with it also. It uses the delta black label fan that pushes 37cfm I think. I have been monitoring my temeperatures with motherboard monitor and mbprobe. Right now at 1.25ghz it is at about 27 while idle and about 38 while running seti@home. How do those temperatures look and do they give me a little more headroom to try and hit 1.3ghz. Thanks a lot!

Shaft

[Wega!]

Those temp's looks great. U should defiantly go for the 1,3 gig. Just keep your eyes on the temp's, don't go over 55C and best under 50C.
Good luck

[sad_b0i]

dang..those are good temp readings...up the cpu voltage..youll hit 1.3 no prob...

[Shaft]

Well I think the temperature readings I was getting were misleading. I opened up the computer and took the hsf off and took the chip out and I found that the little probe was sitting down too low in the socket. So I bent it up so it touches the back of the cpu when it is in there and I also applied a tiny bit of artic silver to the tip of it to since I have seen that suggested around here quite a bit to get the most accurate readings. Right now my readings are 27 when idle and 45 when running seti@home. I am still running it at 1.25ghz (8.5x147). I tried to run it at 1.305 (9x145) last night (1.825 Vcore and 3.5 I/O) and it ran fine doing little things like surfing the web and listening to mp3s and all that but when I set up sandra burn in wizard and set it to run continuosouly on the first two which are the cpu tests the computer would reboot after about 10 minutes. While doing it the temperatures would max out at about 50. Is the rebooting because of not enough voltage or are there other issues going on? Also now that my temperature readings are a little more accurate and are a little bit higher than I had thought before am I still in good shape or should I back off at this point because they are getting too high! Thanks for everything!

Shaft

[Rob Cork]

50C is getting warm - I expect dropping the temps a bit would get you the stability you need. It ought to be possible with good aircooling to stay near 40C even with 1.85V, but you do need a very good hsf like the globalwin FOP38, or the Alpha PEP66, and great case cooling. If you haven't already try adding an intake and an exhaust fan, maybe more - 120mm would be best, as you can get ~70cfm with very low noise. More voltage would help, but I wouldn't try a volt mod until you get those temps lower.

It's still a damn nice oc though - I certainly wouldn't be disappointed if you can't get it any higher :)

[Shaft]

Well right now I have 1 80mm outake and 1 80mm intake, two 120mm fans on the side of my case which I cut blowholes for that blow air down over all my pci cards and over the cpu and motherboard and a slot cooler which sits next to my video card! How does that look for case cooling? Right now also I am using the new vantec heatsink with the delta black label fan. Thanks again for all the great advice.

BTW, I am not disappointed at all. I think I got a pretty good chip to be able to do 1.25 stable without much prodding. Either way it is a hell of an improvement over the P3 450 I was running just a few weeks ago. Thanks again.

[Rob Cork]

Sounds like great case cooling! I don't know what that hsf's like, but I expect it's a pretty serious one if it uses the loud-ass delta fan. The only thing I can think of that might do better then is maybe one of the hsf I mentioned previously (probably wouldn't see much of an improvement though) or the swiftech MC462. The swiftech is without a doubt the best socket A hsf, but it is damn pricey: http://www.swiftnets.com/mc462.htm

Only other way to get cooler would be watercooling I guess - that's what I use, keeps my duron 600@1000 at 45C max with 2.2V - and that's actually pretty crap, it's a C/W of about 0.3 :(

I think that is the most you will get out of your chip without getting cooler. More voltage would be foolish when you're running 50C at 1.825V. If you do seriously want more speed, then think about investing in the swiftech or watercooling - but like you said (and I agree as I mentioned previously), that's an impressive enough oc as it is, so there's no shame in leaving it there :-)

[Shaft]

Once again thank you for all the help! I just had one last quick question. Right now while running 1.25ghz my temps are about 27 C idle and at about 46 C while running seti@home. Are these temperatures safe enough to keep running at? I don't want to risk any damage. Thanks for all the help!

[proze]

yep.. those temps are fine.

[rugby]

I've never run seti as a temperature gauge, I've always used Distributed.net client and my Duron 650@1055 will hit about 52 degrees C. I think I need a new power supply now, been looking at the enermax 350's with dual fans. I really can't mount any more fans on my case due to my 250watt power supply, I have 1 80mm intake, 1 60mm outtake, Alpha Pal6035 and my power supply. I have a sunon 120mm fan I was going to mount on the side as a blow hole right onto the cpu but when I plugged it in I got the beeps that say my power supply isn't cutting it.

Oh yeah, my point about temps was, before I got the alpha and re-designed the cooling on my case I would hit about 63 degrees C and run just fine, although it would make the room uncomfortably warm. It's winter, I just opened the window.

[Shaft]

I use seti because it runs the cpu at 100% just like prime 95 and a couple other programs use. I also use cpu stability test and sisoft sandra burn in to get an idea of how the temperatures are when they are maxed out. I have an antec 300 w power supply that gets the job done really well and it wasn't too much money.

Shaft

[Yomama]

Shaft (Mar 08, 2001 11:25 a.m.):
Well I think the temperature readings I was getting were misleading. I opened up the computer and took the hsf off and took the chip out and I found that the little probe was sitting down too low in the socket. So I bent it up so it touches the back of the cpu when it is in there and I also applied a tiny bit of artic silver to the tip of it to since I have seen that suggested around here quite a bit to get the most accurate readings. Right now my readings are 27 when idle and 45 when running seti@home. I am still running it at 1.25ghz (8.5x147). I tried to run it at 1.305 (9x145) last night (1.825 Vcore and 3.5 I/O) and it ran fine doing little things like surfing the web and listening to mp3s and all that but when I set up sandra burn in wizard and set it to run continuosouly on the first two which are the cpu tests the computer would reboot after about 10 minutes. While doing it the temperatures would max out at about 50. Is the rebooting because of not enough voltage or are there other issues going on? Also now that my temperature readings are a little more accurate and are a little bit higher than I had thought before am I still in good shape or should I back off at this point because they are getting too high! Thanks for everything!

Shaft

Hey try using 1.85, 1.875, but also 1.80V. These are small steps which may raise the temp 1 or 2 C, but that should be ok to test. Also back off the FSB, and try out for maximum CPU speed at 133 or 100. Once you have established that, bring it back up to a good compromise of CPU and FSB speed.

Yo