A minor overclock

[rashal]

I'm planning to buy a new computer very soon, and after thinking about it for a long while on and off, I desided to go for the AMD option + overclocking.

This is my future setup:

CPU: AMD athlon 64bit 3000+ (s939)
Graphics card: GeForce 6600GT (PCI-E, 128mb GDDR3) by XFX
Memory: 2 x 512mb Crossair value (2.5 CL, 400mhz)
HD: Maxtor 80Gb (or 120, havent desided yet) SATA (8mb)
Motherboard: Epox EP-9NPAJ

And that's about it. I went for the epox motherboard because everywhere I checked it said that epox motherboards are the most stable when it comes to overclocking.

If I'm not mistaken, the cpu I'm gonna buy will run at fairly low tempetures, and that will allow me to overclock it a bit (or maybe it not as tiny an overclock as I think it is?). I'm planning to overclock it to around 2.4Ghz (the defult for this one is 1.8Ghz), after reading that the CPU can take it without to much trouble (even with the standard CPU fan issued with every CPU). Of cource I'll always prefer stability and lifespawn.

As reference:

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD05MzM=

I think that a good strong CPU fan will keep the tempetures way in the safe zone even if I'll overclock it to 2.4Ghz (feel free to correct me at any point)...

So I have a few of questions:

1) I've read a bit about overclocking but I'm still not sure, so in order not to fry my future PC I'll ask: there is no problem with overclocking the cpu only, right? Or do I have to overclock my RAM (for example) to fit the new overclocked CPU?

2) Assuming I overclock the CPU only, the parts I've mentioned above in a not overclocked status wont bottleneck the potential preformance of the CPU, right (seems like they wont)?

3) Again assuming that I overclock the CPU only, will it cause other parts that are not overclocked to generate more heat?

4) Is the lifespawn and stability of the CPU affected by it's tempetures only? Or are there other elements that effect it (elements which are related to overclocking)? If for example I overclock a CPU from 1Ghz to 3Ghz while keeping it running at 30C, will it shorten it's lifespawn or stability?

Thanks for your time

 

[nealric]

No, dont go epox.
Epox may have been the best overclockers years ago- but you dont hear too much about them these days.

the DFI lanparty series is the best overclocker for socket 939 hands down- not even much debate on that one.

I have had bad experiences with corsair value- I built a computer for someone with that ram and couldnt get it to even run 200mhz like it was rated. With ram so cheap, why not get the good stuff?

Your answers:
1. With socket 939 you can overclock just the cpu by setting a ram devider. (i.e. if you set the front side bus to 300mhz, you can set the ram at 2/3 and run it at 200mhz)
2. Well, sure it there are always bottlenecks, but you will see gains from overclocking the cpu- the strongest component in that system will probably be cpu however.
3. The motherboard mosfets might if you overvolt the cpu for overclocking, but nothing substantial.
4. Heat and volts are the only thing that really affect lifespan. With the venice core chip (make sure you get one thats vence and NOT winchester), heat should not be an issue. For voltage to be an issue, you would have to get into the dimminishing returns range on voltage. Even if you overclock to the limit, your cpu will probably be obsolete looongg before it dies.

My 3000+ venice is happily humming along at 2.8ghz on the stock cooler. Of course your milage may vary and getting high overclocks requires a good bit of tweaking (you cant just up the front side bus and hope for the best if you want the max oc). 2.4 ghz should be reachable no problems at all. 2.7 is not at all unrealistic.

 

[rashal]

Ok, so i desided to go for:

DFI LanParty UT nF4 D - insted of the epox and
Geil ultra-x PC3200 1GBDC kit - insted of the value corsairs :\

Thanks for your help, and even though I still dont understand the answer to number 1 (what's a ram devider? :\), I'm sure that after doing some reading I'll figure stuff out...

 

[rashal]

Ok this is the way I'm planning to overclock:

FSB at 260mhz, ram at 210mhz, with a ratio of cource 21/26.

It wont create lags too bad, right? The ratio thing seemed strange for the since the first time I saw it. I have two questions about this configuration (I'll list the parts again):

CPU: AMD athlon 64bit 3000+ (s939 venice core)
Graphics card: GeForce 6600GT (PCI-E, 128mb GDDR3) by XFX
Memory: Geil ultra-x PC3200 1GBDC kit (400Mhz, CL2, 2x 512Mb)
HD: Maxtor 80Gb (or 120, havent desided yet) SATA (8mb)
Motherboard: DFI LanParty UT nF4 D

1) With the overclock I'm planning (FSB at 260, ram at 210, ratio 21/26), will the ratio effect the preformance so bad that the system would actually work better without overclocking at all (in terms of preformance only, stability not included)?

2) Do I have to tweek other stuff after I overclock the FSB (except RAM)? voltage to PCI-E for example?

 

[Sshadow]

Why don't you just, go down on the multiple, and increase FSB in a 1:1 ratio, more speed on the memory and the cpu isn't o/c:ed. You are getting good memory, why not use them.

//Christian

 

[rashal]

So you mean something like multiple to 7x insted of the regular 9x, set the FSB to 257MHz, and RAM to 257Mhz also?

But... er... Wont it fry my RAM? And will it give me more preformance boost than the o/c I planned (FSB at 260, ram at 210, ratio 21/26)?

My brain feels broken. I think I'm missing out on something... Big.

 

[Sshadow]

If you increase the FSB in 1:1 (CPU:RAM) So yes. I have never heard of the 21/26 ratio, 2:3 3:4 and 4:5 i have heard of but not 21/26.

You will get more boost with the ram getting more bandwidth.
1:1 Cpu = 1799Mhz and the ram at 514 (257) if you are going dualchannel, and the multipel at 7. Test your way upto the highest point, and step down a notch, or loosen the timings.

Or am i getting lost in this jungle now. I can't remember how to convert the 2:3, 3:4 ratios anymore.

//Christian

 

[rashal]

Ok... I've been getting the hang of all theory stuff, but I'm struggling to find some practical testing.

After reading some stuff in this forum, I'm kinda paranoid about overclocking the memory to 257Mhz (which is, correct me if I'm wrong, rather extreme)... I read that it causes stability issues all over the place...

When you pay a high price for making mistakes, you better learn from other people who already made them (and since I'm realy paranoid about frying stuff)... So right now I'm thinking about three options:

1) Setting the FSB and memory to 265Mhz, without playing with the multiply (which will be set to 9x).

2) Setting FSB to 265Mhz, setting memory clock to 212Mhz, mem ratio to 4:5 of cource.

3) Setting multiply to 7x, crancking FSB and memory to 257Mhz.

Questions:

1) Did anyone try all 3 of these? What works best?
2) This is important for me- Will setting memory to work at 257Mhz and 265Mhz cause serious stability issues?
3) This is also important- Does setting a mem ration (of 4:5) seriously limits preformance?

Just to make things clear, I dont mind o/cing the CPU at all, and if I'm gonna crank the RAM to 265Mhz, I might as well get a CPU preformance incerese.

Sorry for beeing such a pain in the ***, but I'm just struggling to find practical answers to my questions (or am I missing the practicality because I'm such a noob when it comes to all of the o/c business?)...

 

[nealric]

Why don't you just, go down on the multiple, and increase FSB in a 1:1 ratio, more speed on the memory and the cpu isn't o/c:ed. You are getting good memory, why not use them.

//Christian

: :

Athlon64s are locked you cant change the multiplier.
However, they run just fine asynchronous (ram at different speed from front side bus, almost everyone who is ocing an a64 to the limit runs asynchronous.

Here is a quick checklist:

Set Ldt multiplier to 3x
Use %vdt to adjust voltage (not the voltage selector),
Set the ram divisor to 1/2 (to start)
Then start raising fsb in increments of 10 until you hit 2.5ghz or so, each time making sure it boots to windows, then switch to 5mhz or so after that. If it wont get into windows, back down. Once you get the max point it will boot to windows, back down 10mhz on the fsb and do stability testing.

 

[rashal]

Yay that's great! So I guess I'll go with the 265Mhz FSB and the 212Mhz memory clock...

Thanks

 

[Sshadow]

A64 are multiple locked downwards? I guess i haven't looked on to many A64's then. The once i have looked on where, 3500+ Venice and 3700+ San Diego core. They both could lower the multiple. I think i learned something new again.

//Christian

 

[nealric]

A64 are multiple locked downwards?

They arent locked down i guess, but unless you have ram that will do 350mhz (doubt any such ram exists) there is no reason why why you would want to go down.