Athalon X2 OC'd. Any tips?

I know this X2 is a little dated, but I'm having fun OC'ing it. Here's my CPU-Z info:



Voltages are:

CPU: 1.45v
RAM: 2.1v
NB: 1.9v

I would like to try and squeeze a bit more out of this system. This system won't boot when the NB/FSB is set to 317mhz. The RAM's timings is at the max My Asus board (M3a32-MVP Deluxe) will allow (everything past those timings are 'Reserved'). The CPU creates errors past 3.35ish Ghz.

This current OC is running at 50-55 degrees C under Prime95. Air cooled with a Spire TherMax Eclipse II (one of the best air coolers according to Frostytech.com).

Any suggestions on where to go from here? Upping voltages maybe?

I had one of those CPUs. You are pretty much at the max with air cooling already from a temp standpoint. That CPU was known to commonly overclock to about 3.2 ghz.

You've got a BE chip there, why not use it? All that extra clock speed is just another possible source of instability. Crank that back down to 200 and set the CPU multiplier to 16X then slowly raise the clock back up and see what happens.

You may be hitting a heat problem, though. My 5000+ didn't like running over 55°C but I have had K8's that would run at 60°C all day long. All CPUs are a little different when it comes to that. BTW - are those core temps or CPU socket temps???

There's also some things that can be done with your RAM but that's best kept on hold until the CPU is cranked as high as it'll go.


PS
Some light reading - and see post #26 if you don't want/need the details.
http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=555058

I actually printed out that post last week and followed it. My results are:

System Clock Max = 317x6 (won't boot past that) I wasn't sure how high I should go with NorthBridge voltage. What do you think?

CPU Max = 3248mhz (203x16.0 1.45v 49&54 core temp in Prime95) BSoD trying to boot Windows at 210x16.0

RAM = 564mhz (DDR 1128) (2:1) @ 6-6-6-16-26 2T

Following your foumulas I ended up with 270x12 = 3240mhz with RAM at 540mhz (6 divider).

I have yet to try to tighten RAM timings or play with clock skewing.

My 5050e is overclocked almost exactly the same as your 5000 black. I could OC my 5050e a little more but it was taking a stupid amount of vCore for a little return.

Now for some reason when I run Everest benchmark tests, the memory performs worse (up to 1000 MB/s)than in my configuration from post #1. Except for latency which sees a 5ns improvement. Same timings but higher mhz.

RAM timings are critical. I've always stuck with DDR2-800CL4 for that reason (but seldom leave it at 400 MHz ). If you can get to 540 MHz at 5-5-5 than that's almost worthwhile. Otherwise, you might be better off with 4-4-4 @ 462 MHz (7 divider) if you can swing it. I haven't played with Patriot RAM much so I'm not sure how much voltage you can safely push through them.

I managed to get the RAM timings to 5-5-5-12 at 540mhz. I tried tweaking the Clock Skew, but my rig wouldn't POST. Looks like this may be the final OC.

Can you make 13x250 or 13x249 work? That would put the RAM at ~460, which will be better IF you can get it to run 4-4-4 ...

I can't get the timings any lower unless I take a big hit in CPU mhz. I have a Phenom II X2 and an Asus mobo on the way. I'm thinking of pumping more volts into this setup to see how much it will take before the whole thing fries.