K6-III Overclocking & General Questions

[RPM_Computing]

Hello, I recently upgraded from a K6-2 450 to a K6-III 400 @ 475 stable. I am not sure if the K6-III is a + series chip or not? The processor shows K6-III 400 withought any + symbol which I am not even sure if the + series display or not, but when I use Sandra it shows AMD K6 3D+. I know some of you may think this is not an upgrade because of the reduced MHZ but performance has increased by about %20 overall which I am impressed with.

Also I was wondering how to take a screenshot and where to find the picture when I have taken one. This may enable you to further assist me as well as teach me how to do it :)

I am able to run the chip at 496 but can not get it to run stable, anyone know of any household solutions to use as thermal paste? I am working on a dental floss budget, otherwise I would get some arctic silver 2. The heatsink is laped and that does seem to help a bit, I am debating on laping the CPU as well but am not sure if this will really help? The case is open for better air flow and I have created an improved cooling system, all I need is to geet it to run a coupple degrees lower and it will run fine. Works well with the window open blowing that nice crisp air into the box but I start freezing to the point of becoming slow and jittery to the point of the overclock not being worth it lol!

Are there any RAM/BIOS settings that could make the system stable at 496 or is definately heat? The motherboard is a FIC VA-503+, I know some of you have had bad experiences with this board so don't bother ranting I need help not discouragement.

Any help is appreciated.

[minoukat]

it's hard to hit big OCs with K6-2/3, the best are +. The problem is that K6-2+/3+ were made for laptops, as they use less power and produce less heat. Where did you get this CPU ? and on the heat spreader, that's on the cpu core, what does it say ? K6-3 or 3+ ? I'm not sure about this, but try downloading Sisoft Sandra, and try looking to see if it says anything about your CPU, if it's a + or not, and download WCPUID, they usually say what model, type, FSB, mutliplier, speed, ram, ...

I would say your OC is excellent ! I had trouble getting mine stable 25MHz over it's default speed !

What's your vcore and temps ? Watch out, cuz somebody burt his K6-2 not too long ago because it was too hot.

What FSB are you at ? and what type and speed of memory do you have ? that could be your bottleneck

[RPM_Computing]

Sorry for not being more detailed with the description.

The v-core is set at 2.8v default marked on the chip is 2.4v, RAM is PC-100, Multiplyer is set to 5x95 475mhz. I am able to run my K6-2 with 124 fsb as well as the K6-III but the K6-III chip is producing much more heat from the jump to (4x124) 496 from 475. RAM and chip run stable with 124 mhz fsb but the increase in fsb does not seem to improve the performance on the K6-III nearly as much as the K-2. I can run the K6-III at 448 mhz with the 124 fsb but performance rating is much better with the higher mhz post rather than higher fsb.

I know by increasing the fsb, performance is supose to increase as well but that does not seem to be the case with this K6-III unit. I have SiSoft installed and it shows AMD K6 3D+ Processor, does this mean that the cpu is a mobile processor?

[minoukat]

sorry to tell you that, but it's a regular chip, not a "+". The mobile series use a vcore of 2.0v. about your voltage, 2.8 is a bit high for safe comfort, as it's passing a bit too much voltage through that little guy. Although, if you have good cooling, and your system is stable, then I don't see any big problem with that vcore. Just watch your temps, as if they get too high, it could get dangerous.

Pretty rare to see PC100 hit 124MHz ! mine was hitting about 112, not more. try borrowing from anyone some PC133 memory, to see if it does any difference. And what front-side bus settings do you have ? what's the highest, lowest, ...

[RPM_Computing]

FSB Settings available for the board are 50, 55, 60, 66, 68, 83, 95, 100, 112, 124.

Do you know how to take a screenshot by any chance?

[minoukat]

FSB : try playing around with them, till you get a good OC and good scores

Screenshot : what do you mean ? If you're talking about screenshots of the desktop, it's easy : press ALT + Print Screen (Prt Scrn), then paste the picture in a photo editor, like MS Paint. Save as and you have your pic :D. if it's not that kind of shot, please explain more ...

[RPM_Computing]

Thats the screenshot I'm talking about! Thanks, but where does the picture save to? Do I need a Graphics program in order to use this feature? When I press ctrl and alt I hear the HD as if it were saving the pic but do not know where or if it works?? Thanks in advance. On setup of the OS I did not include MS Paint or Imaging, do you think this may be the problem?

I have tried just about all of the oc'ing possibilities with this mobo cpu combo and have found 5x95 to be the most stable along with the highest performance withought any additional cooling. I am located in front of a window and these cool ttemps make for good overclocking, so I am going to make a tunnel for some cool air to the system withought fluding the rest of the room with the air.

496 4x124 does work with sufficient cooling being the key, but the increased fsb does not have the affect it should.

[minoukat]

It saves the pics or whatever you (CTRL + C) in Clipboard Viewer. To view those pics, you need a graphics program like MS Paint. I'm not sure, but I think if you go in add/remove programs, and windows components, you can reinstall Paint or Imaging. When your in the program, just Paste the image or text or whatever there, and you have it !

[RPM_Computing]

Well I added Paint and Imaging and still can not find the pic's? Thanks for all of your help anyway, I'll search around to see if I can find what the problem is.

[minoukat]

Are you pressing ALT + Print Screen ? Don't put the "+" by the way ! And just once you did Alt Print screen, just paste it in Paint directly, don't bother searching for Clipboard. Anyway, I didn't find Clipboard Viewer in WinXP or in WinME. I know where it was in Win3.1, but I think they just hid it in Win9x.

[RPM_Computing]

I am pressing Alt + Print but still nothing happens, not pressing the +. I did a scan with Norton Utilities just to make sure everything is working properly and all seems well. Not a big deal but still a pain in the but.

Thanks for all of your time and help!

[minoukat]

what do you mean nothing happens ? There's nothing supposed to happen ! Once you press Alt - Print Screen, just go in Paint and paste. your pic should be there

[WarriorII]

Hi, I also run a K6III400 @450 on a Soyo mobo.
Go to Ace Hardware, and buy a small "Hobby sized" piece of copper plate. (0.25" thick)-appx $4.50.
Cut the edges smooth and place a equal sized piece under your heat sink. Only use one piece, because you'll be using the same stock heat sink clip to hold things in place. You will now have a copper cold plate, lol, for extra heat disapation.
It helps.:cool:

[RPM_Computing]

Damn I feel like a fool! I did not think you could just paste it into the program. I thought it saved to a dir or something of the sort.

Thank you very much for your patience :)

The attatchment shows my cpu stats, they are from an AMD Cpu ID prog I just downloaded. It shows that there is 256k of L2 cache on the chip, does that mean it is a mobile processor?

Thanks for the copper plate idea, btw.

[eobard]

If you still have the die cap (aluminum heat spreader) on the cpu then lapping it should help and won't cause a problem if you do it properly. If you've removed it then the core should already be smooth enough. I used to suggest to people that they remove the cap, others suggested it to me saying they got better results without it. I know I got better results without it on my cpu. FRANK took that advice from me once, he now owns a nice, shiny keychain. I don't really recommend removing the cap anymore, not until you've tried other things first. I suggest you put a socket A heat sink on to take the extra temps the 2.8v is putting out. If the memory isn't stable then try 133 speed ram. What's your i/o voltage? You might want to up it a bit (3.5v-3.6v tops) to see if that adds stability to your memory. Lowering the FSB just to up the multiple is very counter productive. My system runs at a higher clock rate, but gives a lower level of productivity with a setting of 100X6.0 than it does with 112X5.0. Raising the fsb to 112 on my system took an hour off my SETI crunch times (about 5%) even though the total system speed is now 7% slower. If you use the copper plate trick remember to put some thermal compound between it and the sink, as well as between it and the cpu.

Hope some of that was useful to you. Now I gotta go see what my cat's whining about.

[RPM_Computing]

Here is my system Info, thanks to minoukat I can finally post it! :)

[RPM_Computing]

SiSoft Banchmark Result

[FRANK]

If all of your information is correct, I can assure you that you do not have a "+" series CPU, their default voltage is 2.0 and would never survive 2.8v. Also, with the "+" sreies CPU's being intended for the mobile market FIC doesn't "officially" support it on their desktop motherboards. Unofficially, they do provide a solution, to use a "+" series CPU on the VA503+ motherboard requires the use of a little known BETA BIOS "JE4330" although it is hard to locate, it can be found on FIC's website. Without this BIOS update, my board didn't recgognize the CPU correctly. Also with this BIOS update, standard CPU's are supported and work well.

I've had very good success with a several K6III's on a VA503+ motherboard, the best being a K6III+ 450@616. I achieved this with the following setup; VA503+ motherboard with "JE4330" BETA BIOS update, Global Win FOP32 HSF (lapped and polished), two case fans one intake at the front, one exhaust in the rear. I don't recall exactly but I believe I had the Vcore at 2.4v, PC133 RAM.

I believe that removing the cap on the CPU may yield a bit more out of these chips, eobard has been successful in this regard. If you are careful and take your time, it is really a piece of cake. Ironically after removing the cap on my K6III+, my machine would not boot, the CPU was gone, as was the PSU. I believe the PSU took the CPU out. Oh well, I needed an new 400W for one of my T-BIRD systems anyway.

Presently I have a K6-2 on that board and haven't had much time to play with it, new Epox 8KHA+ demanding my attention lately (166FSB!) My best attempt to date with the K6-2 has been 450@500 maintaining stability. This system is happily crunching one WU/day for SETI. When I get bored this winter I will probably try for more.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the later CPU's recognize the 2X multiplier as 6X, this may be of no use to you, but it does give you a bit more flexibility in setting this board up.

The best advise I can give is to watch the heat, use a good socket A hsf and use a quality thermal compound.


Good Luck!

[RPM_Computing]

Thanks for the informative post Frank. I downloaded the JE4330 Bios from the FIC website a few days ago and installed it. It seems to be working fine. I am happy to see you got your chip so high, minoucat may be correct that my RAM is bottlenecking my progress. I'll have to save up some coine and get myself some PC-133 RAM and some thermal paste. I am currently using a Coppermine HSF lapped and polished with 3 small fans, seems to be working well but I would prefer a GlobalWin FOP32 if I could afford it, i've been hearing about it quite often with positive feedback.

I have a K6-2 450 as well and the most I can get out of it is 496 stable (4x124). Anything higher than that gets pretty shaky, but mabey with the new future cooling system I will be able to squeeze a few more mhz out ot it.

Hopefully I can sell a coupple of these other systems and get some new parts soon!

[RPM_Computing]

Here are the results at 496 mhz (4x124). In order for the system to run at this withought any additional modifications I have the window open with a cool breeze on the system opened. Notice how little the performance increases eventhough the fsb is now at 124.

[RPM_Computing]

Processor Information

[Tebore]

I was wondering how you got such a high PR.
For ram try to get to run at CL 2 it will be slightly faster but might not be as stable.

[RPM_Computing]

The higher PR is due to the processor having 256K L2 cache built on to the cpu. If I am not mistaken AMD added some extra features with the K6-III in addition to the cache but don't take my word for that. I'll post the cpu chart from AMD's CPU ID.

My RAM is currently running at CL2 and there are no apparent drawbacks as of yet, but thanks for the tip. Been running this chip at 496 since this morning and no glitching, crashing or blue screens yet!

[RPM_Computing]

Picked up some thermal grease this morning and all I can say is that is what was missing! 496 mhz running stable, Heatsink is now cool to the touch-mildly warm withought any additional cooling from the elements (cold weather). 504 boots into windows but get's errors eg: Blue screens or Explorer Error. Mabey I'll give 500 a try? But for some odd reason the chip/board does not like the default fsb setting of 100 even at factory default settings of 2.4v 4x100, anyone else have this problem? Hoping to have this system running around 560 by the end of the month depending on the expence of further modifications if any will be required.

I will probably continue posting my results on this thread in order to keep track and to minimise any additional threads that are not necessary. I know this is old stuff for a lot of you out there but for some of us it's as if it just came out yesterday! lol, anyway thanks to all for helping me out, and good luck with your own endeavours!

Untill the next update, this is RPM over and out!

[RPM_Computing]

I am at 504!

[RPM_Computing]

CPU Stats

[zappazootus]

Just this past week I got a k6-2+ 450 onto a FIC 503+ board. I downloaded the JE4333 bios in lew of the JE4330 because it has the needed features of the JE4330 to run the "+" series CPU's, and also capacity for larger harddrives. I got a med size thermaltake with the cpu and a tube of thermal grease. I popped it up to 550 (5.5x100) with 2.1v (2.0v core) and it has been running perfectly ducky. I think I will pop it up to 6x100 to see how she will go this week. I have been trying to find a utility to monitor chip temperature and fan speed. Is this inherent to my BIOS alone or can someone steer me to a good download?