Questions about my AGOIAs...

Howdy all,

I've got 2 AMD XP1600+ AGOIA Core CPUs in an MSI K7D Master-L.

I've read on this board that the AGOIAs are amazing overclockers. My questions are about overclocking these chips. First of all, how is it done? Secondly, how much risk is involved and what can I expect to achieve? What can I expect in the way of reliability and temperature?

Raising voltage is bad, correct?

Please help me out to understand, thanks!

They can be overclocked in the motherboard BIOS. Little risk is involved as long as you overclock in small increments, testing for system stability until you reach the limit.

Raising the voltage is ok to a point. It shouldn't go above 1.85-1.9. Raising it up to that level is fine as long as you have adequate cooling, but you should go as far as you can at default voltage, and when your system becomes unstable try raising the voltage a little above default.

Make sure you have adequate cooling before doing this.

As far as I know Dual CPU mobo's don't go to a very high FSB, so I think you should consider unlocking, that's #1.
second, yes the AGOIA's are pretty amazing and many, even most can get to 1750-1800 at defaul voltage! so unlocking is a great idea. yes, as the CPU speed rises so is the temp. I can see in your sig you state an idle temps. Idle temps mean nothing in the world of OC. we and also you gotta know you load temps, when both CPUs are being 100% in use, stressed, like w/ Folding at home. the safest temps are below 50c. over that might not be terrible, just might cause either some unstabilities or might shorten the chips life. but i think there's nothing to worry about that, coz they will get too old b4 they die, and will be worth noting. so what am I saying? first check your LOAD temps with F@H, go to the F@H section and read about dual cpu folding, it differs from a single CPU. and record your load temps, then you'll know if you're even safe to start overclocking. next read about unlocking the CPUs. once you're unlocked, you can start pumping up the FSB till it reaches its limit, either the mobo's limit or the RAM limit (if it becomes unstable). After that start upping the multi till you hit a stability issue, back down x0.5 and test for stability again. do so till you reach a stable working computer.
If you see you're still far away from 50C, like about 42-43, you can bump up the voltage a tad, and then up the multi again, and see where it settles. Just remember to be always under 55C, because of both stability aspects and the life shortening, when the chip is overclocked it becomes more sensitive to higher temprature.

Good luck

Thanks for the tips guys.

I'd like to stay as far away from unlocking as possible, having previously destroying 1 cpu and mobo.

Are there ways to get around unlocking?

If you're running dual 1600s, I don't think you meed the extra speed given by an overclock. Just raise the fsb as high as you can without unlocking and your system speed will be twice the overkill it is now