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Trying to overclock a AMD K6-2 500 Mhz

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Rinnt

New Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2002
Hello,

This is my first post! :)

I would like to run Warcraft on an older computer I have with the following specs:

CPU: AMD K6-2 500Mhz
Mobo: DFI P5BV3+ Rev.B+
RAM: 256 MB
VID: AGP 16Mb Diamond Viper V550
NIC: PCI Dlink 10/100
Sound: Possibly ISA Sound Blaster (though sound isn't critical)

The processor was seen as a 400Mhz because I initially thought that was as high as it could go. This was because in my mobo manual the highest clock speed listed is 400 Mhz. However, I recently discovered some DIP switches that allow my to change the Frequency Ratio anywhere from 1.5x to 5.5x - currently I have it set to 4.5x for 450 Mhz. After browsing the CPU database it appears that the average overclocked speed for a 500 Mhz cpu is 550 Mhz. My question:

Is it safe to oc the 500 Mhz cpu to 550 Mhz, w/out frying the board? I will have no additional cooling other then normal heat sink and fan. If not, could I at least go to 500 Mhz in your opinion?

Lastly, if anyone else has any suggestions on how to improve the system performance I would greatly appreciate it! Perhaps I should look into system board over clocking? Some minor optimization I have done is making a perm swap file on the outer tracks and putting the RAM timing at max...

Thanks in advance!!
 
Welcome to the forum! :D

Many older boards has a 112MHz FSB setting. If you got it on your board you can try 4.5x112MHz=504 and 5x112MHz=560. With 112MHz FSB and 5x multiplier you will get about 12% increase in overall performance. Just upping your multiplier to 5.5 gives you nearly nothing bacause the CPU have no internal level 2 cache.

(Using the 2x multiplier on your mobo will give you 6x on the CPU.)
 
Ok thanks, I'll try bumping it up to a 5x multiplier.... it was on 4x running at 400 Mhz, but when I put it to 4.5x it put it at 450 Mhz... so maybe the bus is 100?

I guess my main concern is permanent damage. I dont' want to blow up the cpu. I do have temp monitoring in my BIOS set to go off if it goes above 150F...

Do I have anything to worry about perm damage? I thought I read somewhere that it was quite rare, but I want to make sure...
 
I highest and greatest luck that I've ever had with the K6-2 was bringing mine from 500MHz to 550MHz (5.5x100) . At 550MHz, I needed 2.8V to get my K6-2 100% stable. Anything above 550Mhz was bogus, hence I have only fried one CPU in my life and that was a K6-2 500 which i had overclocked to 600MHz and used 3.2V to get there. Only moments after boot, a large poping sound following by stars and sribbles all over the PC monitor. An end result, a toasted K6-2.

No worries, no worries, I simply took the CPU back to the store and for $20, they gave me a new one! This was back over two years ago!


OC-Master
 
I think what you should do is get a cheapo socket A heatsink, it will do you good. I couldn't get my K6-3 over 415 (400 was stock). but as I put a big heatsink I could up the vcore w/o concern of the chip overheating or burning up, and was able to reach speeds of 450. it also did 475 but with 3volts on the core, which is too much, so I just did a few benchmarks and brought it back to 450. I don't think you have a reason to worry about, just get a better heatsink, it wouldn't cost you more than $10 and up the speed to 500 (if your chip is rated at that) and don't worry about it. just don't let it go too high on the temp, over 55C is getting pretty dangerous for such old chips with MAX core temp of 70 or 75.. Cut a long story short if you have good enough cooling, which the cheapest Socket A heatsink will do you have nothing to worry about the chip blowing up or something.
 
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