3200+

my 3200+ Venice runs (not overclicked) idle at 29 C. i use stock cpu/fan
its default is 2000 mhz, i can crack it up to 2200 and then it starts idleing around 44 C and is stable.
if i take it to 2250 mhz windows freaks out and i have to shut it down and take it back to 2200.

so my question is: will is be more stable if i get a better heatsink/fan?


AMD 3200+ Venice core
ABIT AV8 third eye
1 gig corsair value pc 3200, 400 mhz, dual channel
RADEON 9800 pro
200 gig SATA

A better heatsink/fan isn't going to help your situation. You ither need to up the voltage to the CPU or you need to tweak the RAM settings or up the voltage to the RAM.

Yes and no, with a better heatsink you will be able to oc higher, but at this point I don't think that the hsf is your problem unless your hitting something like 60 at load, what happends when you set it at 2250? It could be your ram that is not letting you oc higher.

I've never had a CPU hit $60 under full load before .

Your going to want to change that RAM up if your going to OC...then once you manage to pull that off, get yourself a XP-120 & a high cfm fan and your temps will be very nice. I get 21C idle @ 250x11 1.55vcore with this baby & a panaflo 119cfm fan.

Indeed it is your RAM that is causing your trouble. The thing to understand about overclocking is that your processor and RAM speed are directly related.
Your RAM is rated for PC3200, which is basically just saying that the company tested those modules to be stable at that speed. Your default HTT is 200MHz, which is the speed at which the CPU "talks" to the RAM, and since you're running dual channel, it's actually 200x2. Multiply that by the width of the external data bus (8 bytes) and that gives you 3200. So you can see that by attempting to raise the HTT, even by a tiny increment, you're beginning to stray too far away from the rated speeds. At 225 HTT, you're telling the RAM to run at PC3600 speeds. Though it is possible in some cases to increase that speed a bit beyond by giving it a bit more voltage or loosening up the timings, it's usually not too easy to do with value RAM. In a way, it's kind of ironic, in that people overclock to save money on their CPU but are only able to do so if they spend a bit more on RAM. The best solution for you would be deciding how high of a clock you're aiming for, within reason obviously, and buy your RAM accordingly. Keep in mind, that it is not likely that you will actually need DDR600 because it is unlikely that you will hit 3GHz with a 3200. A more reasonable goal, for your current cooling, would be 2.5-2.6. With something a bit more adequate, like the recommended XP90 or 120, 2.7-2.8GHz, possilbly even 2.9.

Hope this helps.