How to overclock AMD K6-III 400???

[The Coolest]

I have an AMD K6-III 400MHz. The highest speed I could get it w/o changing any settings in voltage is 415MHz, any one could suggest a way to get a little bit more out of this old CPU?

[FRANK]

There seems to be a renewed interest in the older K6 CPU's this week.

On to your question. you need to follow the generally accepted methods of overclocking to expect any kind of success. Cooling and increased voltage being the biggest issues when overclocking these CPU's.

Here's a reply I posted to a similar question earlier this week. I'm sure others will follow with their suggestions;

>As a matter of fact there is a way to overclock those K6's to beyond the apparent maximum of your motherboard. At the end of the developement of the K6's, AMD revamped the processor to recognize the 2X multiplier as 6X on the later, faster CPU's. I've been successful doing this on a K6III+ 450 that I got to 616MHz.

Just make sure that you follow the generally accepted methods of overclocking to help insure success. A socket A hsf will fit the K6 line of CPU's, provided that you have adequate clearence.I've had good results with the Global Win FOP32. You will also probably have to increase the Vcore, I've gone to 2.7 with "regular" K6III's and 2.4 with the K6III+. If you can get a little more out of the FSB, go for it. I've gotten as high as 112MHz, again with a K6III+.

As mentioned in the above post, watch for the point of diminishing return on your investment, with the current price situation, that wouldn't be hard to do. Keep in mind that you will have a slower FSB than current as well as no support for the newer ATA 100 hard drives (nor ATA66 in most cases), slower memory, maybe no AGP etc.

Granted my experience has been primarily with the K6III's, I've read of similar results from people with the K6-2's.

Regardless of how high of a clockspeed you reach with the aging socket 7 platform, you will not, nor can you expect to achieve performance approaching the later socket A, nor Intel's socket 370 platforms. I know, I've been there.

I hope this helps

Good Luck.<

Keep an eye on your spending on this aging platform. It is real easy to spend more upgrading than what you can build a new system based on the newer socket A platform which will give you a viable upgrade path for the future.

[eobard]

I agree with what he said. Especially the part about renewed interest in K6's. I can't enter the AMD cpu area without tripping over posts about K6II's and III's. What's the deal?

[sequoia464]

Although the K6III+ will give you a bit of room on the overclock the K6III will not. You will have to goose the voltage. If you hit 450 with it you will have done good. Good luck with it.

[Bender]

I always wanted to take the cap off a K6- and try a very inexpensive air cooled peltier setup. Someone online was selling 70 watt pelts for $9.99. Allong with a decent heatsink it would make a killer combo. It seems like the K6-2 and 3 processors hardly overclock but once and a while you see a 150+ mhz overclock. I think this has to do with luck and how much time is spend reserching the topic. Anyone know how much heat a k6-3 generates at 2.7v and 600 mhz? A 70 watt pelt should be more than enough.

[eobard]

Any recollection as to just who was selling this pelt?? Maybe I'll get a good shot at 800mhz before winter.

[Bender]

Check out CoolerStar.com (http://www.coolerstar.com/peltierchip.html) for the cheep 72 watt 40x40 mm pelt. I might pick one up for my Geforce.

[The Coolest]

I just tried to set the clock speed to 428 (95x4.5) at 2.5Vcore (0.1V above recommended) and it worked the comp started!!!
Then I tried to set it to 450 (100x4.5): no go :( . I didn't try to raise the voltage no more (still don't want to waste the ~40-50 bucks on the CPU) but now I know that if I increase the voltage some more I'll get the 450 with ease!

Thanks to all of you who helped & suggested me on this thing

[eobard]

I made a graph cross referencing fsb X core multiple vs voltage. I tested many different combos with my setup and along the way I came to a personal limit of 2.7v. Based on 2.6 and 2.7 I was unwilling to add any more heat. I can't make any guarantees for your setup but I don't have a problem with 2.6 or 2.7 myself. You might want to try those voltages but tread lightly if you do.