Total n00b questions:

Sonreir · Feb 3, 2003

Hey,

I'm ready to start my first overclocking project, but need some help.

I've got an AMD 1.4Gz chip and I want to bring it up to around 2.0.
I'm going liquid cooled and got most of the parts needed already.
I've seen in bios where I can change my FSB and multiplier, but I need to know where to check my voltage. Is there a limit I should stay under?

Most of what I read just seems to indicate that heat is the enemy. If I can deal with the heat, should I worry about voltage?

Any assistance would be great.

Thanks,
Sonny

JimmyG · Feb 3, 2003

It would help a lot if you posted your equipment information. What mobo, video card, ram, hard drives, operating system, etc. BTW, if that 1.4G AMD is a Thunderbird, it will be very tough to get to 2G.

Sonreir · Feb 3, 2003

My mobo is a Soyo K7V Dragon. Vid card is GeForce 2 MX 400 32MB.

I'm currently running WinXP pro.

The 1.4 is an Athlon.

Only one HDD, 40 gig. Maxtor I believe. 7200 RPM.

I've also got 384 MB of DDRRAM.

sirtoby · Feb 3, 2003

First of all, that CPU is probably a Thunderbird, which is just a model name for the Athlon.

Just as Thoroughbred and Palominos are also Athlon (although they are Athlon XP of course). Same thing with Thunderbird.

First thing you'll need to do is to unlock the chip, which is fairly easy with a thunderbird. You can just do the "pencil trick" to unlock it. (Search for pencil trick at google and you'll get some page with it).

Depends on how fast your ddr ram is if you can make a FSB o/c.

Trent · Feb 3, 2003

You wont be able to get that chip to 2ghz, very few without extreme cooling ever made it above 1.7 or 1.8, if you really want to overclock get a XP1700+ for $50, or a 2100+ for $95

untweaked1 · Feb 3, 2003

all 1.4ghz althons are already unlocked.

but your best bet is what ^ said. by a cheap xp1600
and good memory and overclock

I had excellent cooling and the most I could get from my tbird
was 1.53 stable (prime95)

good luck

pip · Feb 3, 2003

voltages should be under soyo combo feature

Sonreir · Feb 3, 2003

Trent said:
You wont be able to get that chip to 2ghz, very few without extreme cooling ever made it above 1.7 or 1.8, if you really want to overclock get a XP1700+ for $50, or a 2100+ for $95

By extreme cooling, do you mean the liquid-cooled route I am taking or other things such as peltiers and refigerant cooled?

radu386 · Feb 3, 2003

>By extreme cooling, do you mean the liquid-cooled route I am taking or other things such as peltiers and refigerant cooled?

Huh, on a 1.4 Tbird? Extreme in that case means _LN2_. LN2 is liquid nitrogen. I dunno if even a Prometeia will get that to 2GHZ. You'd have to push the FSB ridiculously high (worry about the northbridge/PCI and AGP speeds/drive corruption), or crank the multiplier. The pencil trick shouldn't really be needed on that particular chip, but if you work it out, the highest multiplier you'd really be using is 15, and to bring the multiplier down to less than 13, you'd be running around 160fsb. Your other components may not like that. I agree with untweaked, who suggested a cheap XP. You'd have a lot better luck with that.

ChillPhatCat · Feb 3, 2003

I think the biggest concerns are the following:

Is your chip an Athlon XP 1600+ or just a 1.4GHz Athlon?

What motherboard do you have... many are picky and you may not have the capability to even hit 2Ghz

RAM... what kind and what speed... you'll very likely need PC2700+ DDR to get to 2GHz...

If the chip will go to 2 GHz then the prometia will probably suffice... stepping is what will hold you back... not heat... heat will be significant, but the chip has to get to speed first to overheat... and the heat created ought to be manageable with a prometia.

If any of the following are lacking you'll need to upgrade... 2 GHz is possible with a 1600+ but highly unlikely with the T-bird...

clash · Feb 4, 2003

Your looking for too much too soon. Take it slow, shooting for a 600 MHz OC right outta the gate isn't a realistic goal. See, my Sig... Thats the best i can do with my setup.

stompah · Feb 4, 2003

The 1.4g Athlons werent the best overclockers since they were the top speed of their architecture. You may need liquid just to hit 1600MHz!

Get the $50 Newegg special and you are very likely to hit 2GHz with water.

Goodluck

Sonreir · Feb 4, 2003

Thanks guys. Guess I'll shoot for 1.6 and see how that goes. How do I tell whether my CPU is the 1600+ XP or just the regular Athlon? MY documentation doesn't seem to mention it anywhere...

Also, how does the core voltage play into all this? I know that when you change the FSB or the multiplier, the V goes up as well, but what is a safe level for the core voltage? Anything I should shoot for there?

The RAM I have is PC2100 DDR. Anything limited by this?

Finally, the full model # of my mobo is SY-K7V Dragon and it's made by Soyo. It' seems to support overclocking to a good extent; as that was one of it's selling points.

clash · Feb 4, 2003

How do I tell whether my CPU is the 1600+ XP

I may be wrong, but don't it say on the chip?

I know that when you change the FSB or the multiplier, the V goes up as well,

Well, that depends.... On your MB. I had to manually up my voltage to get it stable. I don't rely on enything thats "auto".

Total n00b questions:

Sonreir

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JimmyG

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Sonreir

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sirtoby

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Trent

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untweaked1

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pip

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Sonreir

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radu386

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ChillPhatCat

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clash

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stompah

Deep Pain Senior Member

Sonreir

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clash

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