Thunderbird Overclocking . . . I've seen some weird **** in my day . . .

[Oni]

I have a week 5, 2001 AXHA Athlon running on an A7V133 mobo. I've been getting some strange **** lately. I unlocked it about a week ago, and decided that I could push it to 1200. I did this successfully @ 1.60 Vcore (12*100). And it stayed like that until I went to bed that night (I decided that I couldn't risk running it all night at that speed w/ a pos hsf (Volcano II), so I knocked it back down to 1050 (10.5*100 @ 1.50 Vcore). It ran great like that. The next day, I decided to take it back up, and try some more agressive cooling, but lo and behold, it just wouldn't go. It would post, and lock up after finding my hd. So I ended up overclocking it to 1150 (11.5*100 @ 1.55 Vcore). It stayed like that for about 3 days. Then, I read something about unlocking the L7 bridge for extra Vcore. So I peeled off a little sticker (I think that the place where I bought my chip put it on there) and I penciled in the line. I put it back in my system, and booted up w/ the settings I had been running for the last several days. It wouldn't even post. I got nothing with any setting I tried, even the default voltage and dip settings (Its actually a 1000Mhz). Still nothing. Panicing, I pulled the chip out (gently!) and rubbed off the line I had made on the unconnected L7 bridge w/ a gum eraser and a little bit of alcohol. I placed it back into the system and booted. Nothing. I reset the dip switches to JumperFree, and cleared my CMOS settings. It posted and booted Win2000 @ 1000 (10*100 @ 1.50 Vcore). I was elated! So I went back to BIOS and set the multiplier to 10.5. Posted at 1050 @ 1.55 Vcore and went into Windows stable. I went back again and tried 11. Wouldn't post at all. No beep, nothing! Not even at 1.85 Vcore (the highest the board will go). So I spent the next hour fighting w/ it, trying to get it back to the setting that I had it at. I've had no luck at all getting it back there. I'm currently running my once glorious processor that could attain 1200 @ 1.60 Vcore at a wimpy 1050 @ 1.55 Vcore. I'm a little bit leery about fooling around with the FSB, because I don't know much about how it will affect my processor. Does anybody have any suggestions as to what could be wrong? I know that its not overheating, because I've checked the Motherboard Monitor and its at about 45c. I'm completely confused.

[Thelemac]

Did you unlock it with a pencil? 'Cause if you did, that might be your problem. You could easily OC it with your FSB as that merely ups the speed of your processor by increasing the data flow rate of the rest of the system. You really only need to worry about the other components in your system when you start doing that (mainly RAM, IMO). Really, though, if one of your other components is not liking the new FSB, the entire system will just crash, and you can set the FSB down a notch, and you'll be all set.

[Oni]

I did use a pencil to unlock it, but when I had it out, I removed those lines and re-did them. Just in case, y'know? What do you think a safe FSB would be? around 110 -115? I'm running my Ram @ cas 2, if that is any help. I think that puts it around 142mhz. The thing is, I've been able to clock it fine w/o touching the FSB, and now it tells me to F*** off if I take it over 10.5.

[Thelemac]

Well, I, too, had unlocked my processor with a pencil. After about three days, it stopped working. I cleaned and reapplied to no avail.

As for FSB clocking, I would suggest taking it one increment at a time, and when your PC futzes on you, take it down a notch and call it good.

Oh, and running the RAM as CAS2 really just decreases the latency of it, it doesn't make it run any faster. To make it go faster, you increase the bus.

[Oni]

What would you suggest in place of a pencil? I know I can get Winshield Defogger paint at Canadian Tire, but what about a conductive ink pen? would that work alright maybe?

[Tachyon]

Oni (Apr 06, 2001 10:29 p.m.):
What would you suggest in place of a pencil? I know I can get Winshield Defogger paint at Canadian Tire, but what about a conductive ink pen? would that work alright maybe?

I've seen CPU's that got finicky if pushed too hard. Increasing the FSB will only help your overall performance. Lower multiplier/higher FSB is always better.

I always use conductive ink but to buy the pen for one application might not be cost effective.

Terry

[Rob Cork]

Oni, what sort of temps are you seeing? This doesn't sounds like a problem that could be caused by temps, but I've always assumed that the graphite on the bridges won't like higher temps as it'll be more likely to oxidise to CO2, and there isn't a whole lot there. I reckon that's probably why some people experience unstability when using the pencil, as the carbon vanishes. I'm sure using the conductive pen or defogger kit will help greatly, that's the first thing I'd check before looking elsewhere for the problem. Once you've redone the bridges let us know how it's going.

[trimai]

Oni, use the defogger kit from Canadian Tires. I used it about a couple of weeks ago to unlock my 1 Ghz (200 FSB). I worked great and I have absolutely no problem. There are several types of defogger kits at the stores. Choose the type with the brownish liquid bottle and a little paint brush. Good Luck.

[Oni]

My temperature in Windows2000 through Motherboard Monitor are about 49 - 50c idle, about 55 - 57c under load, so thats alright. A little warm, but alright. I'll probably end up picking up the Defogger Kit later today or tomorrow. What I've done in the meantime, is set my FSB to 108. Its stable there, so I'll probably leave it for a little while, until I can get the defogger kit. Thanks a lot for the help guys!

[Thelemac]

Those temps sound a bit high if you're planning on ocing further. You might want to consider some better cooling before you try it.

[Oni]

Thelemac (Apr 07, 2001 06:56 p.m.):
Those temps sound a bit high if you're planning on ocing further. You might want to consider some better cooling before you try it.

Oh, definately. I plan on either getting a Thermaltake Super Orb, or a GW FOP38. And If I'm really stuck, I'll try to replace my stock fan w/ a Delta 38 and some Arctic Silver 2.