1st OC attempt Temp question?

Ok, first time ever trying to OC a machine:

AMD Barton 2500+
Abit NF7-S rev 2.0
2x 512MB Buffallo PC3700
Zalman NB HS on SB
Stock Abit HSF on NB
Aerocoolmaster copper HS + TT SF2 (at 4687rpm)


I'm at 11.5x210 (which is where I think I'll stop). But folding (ie. full/100% CPU usage) MBM5 reports:

Temps: 35/52
Vcore: 1.84 (set to 1.875)
VDimm: 2.77 (set to 2.7)
+3.3:3.33, +5:5.05, +12:11.80, -12:-12.11, -5:5.24

Temps are ~ 30/45 at idol.

The guides say to keep temps to <= 50C. So is this to hot? Even if stable currently I suppose when summer returns I'd have to drop the OC anyway right? If so I'm thinking about running dropping the OC some so my system is 'mostly stable year round.'

Would a burn in with memtest help? (if so run for how long 12-48hrs, all week? I can't check temps while memtest runs which makes me a little nervous but at the same config should be slightly less than in winXP because there's less load right?)

Thanks in advance

Ok, update. Temps hit 53 and that's just to scary for this newbie. Backed down to:

11x210 Vcore-1.65 and temps at load ~43C, 2.5-4-4-8. I think that's a lot safer so I'm going to just go with it. Running Sandra Burnin Wizard (7hrs) then P95 overnight. I've had the memory at 2-2-2-6 VDimm-2.7 stable, so will tighten memory once that looks look/stable.

above 50 is high, but not enough to get so worried about. Meltdown temp is 85., so i consider anything below 60 a usable margin. Your case seems pretty cool, so maybe you can get better cooling for your CPU and you case will still be able to get rid of the extra hot air. I don't know that cooler you have so i can't tell how good it is. i have an XP2400 running at 180x12.5 = 2250, and it is 52 on load.

emilio

Hmm, now I'm going back and forth on this. 11.5x210 took a lot of voltage to run stable (1.875V), but 11x210 is running pretty stable at 1.65V, and the temps at load are ~43.

11.5x210 @ 1.875V also had all my fans (7case + TT SF2) running at full speed which is pretty loud 11x210 @ 1.65V allows me to run the TT SF2 down to ~4000rpm which is ok on the ears.

This is my first OC ever. When I started the goal was 11x200 (ie. Barton 3200+ specs on a 2500+ CPU). Then I got greedy, looking at others posts.

I think I'll call it at 11x210. I had to go to work but left Sandra running on infinite loops before I left. If that looks good (and all other stress tests come back ok) then that'll be it for now.

To everyone THANKS AGAIN for all the help/support of this project. Without this group I would be at a total lost for how to OC this system. I'll make a seperate 'first report' post once the numbers are all done (those posts really helped me so...).

The temperature number can be off by +- 5C and also there are variations between chips, so I would not take the temperature reading as absolute.

Have you tested your system using Prime95 for hours. If it is stable, then they are very nice overclocking.

1.65 V, 11 x 210 = 2310 MHz
1.875 V, 11.5 x 210 = 2415 MHz

I usually look at how the stable MHz vs voltage, and MHz vs temperature to determine whether the overclocking is topping out, since just using the number of 50 C or 55 C or 60 C cannot tell the whole story.


From the above two settings: Vcore increased by 1.875 - 1.65 = 0.225 V, you got 105 MHz more. So it is 105 MHz / 225 mV or 47 MHz / 100 mV.

The number I use to determine stable overclock break-even for Tbred B/Barton is 30 MHz / 100 mV. So if your above settings are stable, I would say there is still some more overclocking left in the CPU (if you choose to pick the extra MHz up, not much, maybe 50 MHz more but at a higher Vcore than 1.875 V !!).

To choose which one, is a matter of tradeoff between fan noise and MHz, and life expectancy of the CPU (in terms of years). The performance difference of 100-150 MHz is not much, especially at the expense of 0.2 V higher Vcore and fan noise may not be justified for 24/7 usage.


For more details:

General rules on voltage and temperature for CPU overclocking(page 16)

How to determine "highest" voltage and temperature for CPU overclocking(page 16)