[kevs3d]

Hi,

I've been experimenting overclocking my X2 4400+ chip over the last week or so. It's been going pretty well (especially with help from the great forum article on here). But i'm concerned about heat and voltages that I need to keep both cores stable and happy. I'm using 2 instances of Prime95 (affinity set to each core separately) to decide whether the overclock is "stable" - although to be honest even though Prime95 may report "hardware errors" i'm not seeing issues with any other app but...

I'm using the ThermalRight XP-90C cooler (nice) and a Zalman 92mm fan (52cfm at 32db or similar).

So, the default settings for my 4400+ is:
11x multiplier, 1.35v, FSB 200Mhz, HTT multiplier x5
This was giving temps in the 30's when idle and 40's under load.

I upped to these settings first:
11x multiplier, 1.475v, FSB 220Mhz, HTT multiplier x4

I first tried 1.45v but Prime95 would report issues with the second core after about an hour or two of processing generally, so i guess the second core needs a little more voltage to stay stable!
This was giving temps in the 40's when idle and low 50's under load.

My next attempt was:
11x multiplier, 1.600v, FSB 240Mhz, HTT multiplier x4
It's crazy fast (equiv to a X2 5000+ if it existed!) but only stable at that high voltage! Also the temps were pushing 60C under load!

So my question is - is the 60C temp safe for this core (it's an Abit AV8 board - does that report temps close to correct as well...?) so is the 1.600v a good idea?

I'd rather not use a louder fan, at max load it's quite loud enough for me.

Is there a different way I can overclock to give similar perf but lower temps/voltage - e.g. use a different multiplier? I'm assuming it's the raising of the voltage that adds most to the heat output...

Thanks,

Kevin
--
http://www.kevs3d.co.uk

[rajanm1]

this chip aint cheap so if i was you i would not put more than about 1.55V through the core and keep if lower than about 55'C. you should get about 2.7GHZ though o/ced. (but thats just me)

[CyboRob]

I think 60c and 1.6v are pushing it a bit. I am running mine at 1.5v and 53-57c depending on the house temps.

[JenBell]

running the 4800, I would not let the temps go over the 60c mark generally under load. I am waiting for winter to kick in before I attempt to OC the cpu more. Vcore is at 1.58 (1.6v in bios). Unless u have really good WCing system I would not go higher.

Sucka can advise u better...PM him if need help....

[Bugeyes]

did you bother to check what your max stable OC was without increasing Vcore, and some more info on system spec's might help.

[kevs3d]

Originally Posted by Bugeyes

did you bother to check what your max stable OC was without increasing Vcore, and some more info on system spec's might help.

It would barely overclock at all without increasing the core voltage - wouldn't even post at higher fsb! The voltages I quote are what I needed to keep both cores stable in Prime95 - my first core appears much more stable than the second which needs noticably higher voltage to behave correctly.

Kev

[ozziegn]

1.60V is pushing it for that chip. I personally wouldnt go over 1.55V at max.

but like Jen said above, Sucka is the man you need to talk to. he knows these AMD systems inside out.

[brakezone]

It sounds pretty good but I honestly would keep the OC down a little until you can improve the cooling.

[Bugeyes]

60C /1.60 is coocking, will it do permanent damage to the cpu.... will it do the cpu any good? your call


I think your OC is hampered with the rest of your system, not your temp/voltage. PSU, mobo, memory and timmings play a significant role in a stable OC, thats why I ask for the rest of your spec's I would suggest a limit of 1.50v for air cooling but I am rather conservative and choose not to electrically/thermally abuse my expensive bits.

[kevs3d]

Originally Posted by Bugeyes

60C /1.60 is coocking, will it do permanent damage to the cpu.... will it do the cpu any good? your call

I think your OC is hampered with the rest of your system, not your temp/voltage. PSU, mobo, memory and timmings play a significant role in a stable OC, thats why I ask for the rest of your spec's I would suggest a limit of 1.50v for air cooling but I am rather conservative and choose not to electrically/thermally abuse my expensive bits.

I agree! I am concerned with those high voltages and temps so i've clocked it down to 11x 220FSB, 1.475v for now.

These are the full specs of my system so you know:

A64 X2 4400+ CPU
Thermalright XP90-C cooler + Zalman 92mm fan
Abit AV8 3rdEye Motherboard (latest BIOS version 22)
1GB Crucial Ballistix Dual-Channel DDR500 memory. rated speeds 8/3/3/2.0 at DDR400 200Mhz and 10/4/4/2.5 at DDR500 250Mhz.
PSU Hiper 470W

So completely stable overclocking has given me this setup
CPU: 11x multipler, 1.475v, FSB220Mhz, locked PCI/AGP at 33/66
Changed HTT multipler down to x4.
Changed memory to 5/2/2/2.5 (i found these settings to be stable with that memory even at 240Mhz FSB with my old Pentium4 setup)

The high temps and voltage were experienced when I used these settings:
CPU: 11x multipler, 1.600v, FSB240Mhz, locked PCI/AGP at 33/66
Changed HTT multipler down to x4.
Changed memory to 5/2/2/2.5

These voltages appear to be needed to keep the second core stable, the first core is happy at 1.5v at FSB240...

Rest of the setup is a couple of IDE drivers, SATA drive. 2x optical drives. A GeForce6800GT overclocked to 425Mhz GPU and 1100Mhz RAM. The case is a large aluminium Thermaltake box with 7x silent 80mm fans pulling air in the front/sides and pushing air out the back/top of the case (system temp never above 35C)

Note that I've been using Intel for the last 2 systems I built (they were just better for Lightwave 3D rendering until the A64's supporting SSE3 and then X2's came out!) so i may well have missed something subtle with my first attempt to overclock the A64... i'm open to suggestions!

Thanks for your help.

Cheers,

Kev

[LoneWolf121188]

470W might be a little low...what do the rails look like under load? You may just be at your max. 60C is definetly high though, as is 1.6vcore.

You could try lapping the IHS and/or HSF.

[Weltall]

you guys get higher temps at load with both cores pumping away? I only had the chance to mess with my 1 of the 2 cores on my 4400 x2 and with the xp 120 my temps were only 43C load and 33C not loaded at 1.550 V.

[kevs3d]

Originally Posted by Weltall

you guys get higher temps at load with both cores pumping away? I only had the chance to mess with my 1 of the 2 cores on my 4400 x2 and with the xp 120 my temps were only 43C load and 33C not loaded at 1.550 V.

Yes i've found having both cores at 100% makes a big differences to the core temps -as you would expect since only half the silicon is doing anything otherwise

Also the second core does not seem to be of the same quality (?) as the first and needs higher voltages to perform stable under Prime95...

Cheers,

Kev

[kevs3d]

Originally Posted by LoneWolf121188

470W might be a little low...what do the rails look like under load? You may just be at your max. 60C is definetly high though, as is 1.6vcore.

You could try lapping the IHS and/or HSF.

Interesting, as i thought the same thing and ordered a new 580W unit with two separate 12v rails. My current unit is 18A max and the new one is 18A + 16A on the two rails. Unfortunately the new supply arrived a few days back and was "dead on arrival" so i've sent it back and i'm waiting for a new one!

Cheers,

Kev

[tommcd64]

Try setting the ht multi to 3x. I have an x2 3800 with 1.5v I am oc'd at 2.6GHz right now with load temps of 48C on air.

[Weltall]

Originally Posted by kevs3d

Yes i've found having both cores at 100% makes a big differences to the core temps -as you would expect since only half the silicon is doing anything otherwise

Also the second core does not seem to be of the same quality (?) as the first and needs higher voltages to perform stable under Prime95...

Cheers,

Kev

You know what I should correct that statement cause on the asus board even at 1.550 volts its actually like 1.440 Volts,

But I have been experimenting with both cores and you are right,


with only 1 core running my max temp is about 55C at 1.550V with both cores running with Prime 95 running for about an hr now my temps are 62C,, this is air cooled P180 case, xp120 HSF.


so far so good though at 2700 mhz it seems stable, Ill let it run for about 6 hrs and then quit before I say its stable 100%,

At idle I get 38C at 1.550 Volts also.


I did good cable management too ,, May be time for some water I guess.