First time overclock, assist appreciated.

[DontLaugh]

Hey everyone, this is my first time overclocking a machine, so I thought i'd come here and see if you guys have any suggestions to improve the build.

Not sure what info you'll need, so I collated a little bit together, if you need any more, just ask.

MOBO: AliveF6G-VSTA
Chipset: MCP61
Revision: A2

Graphics card: NVIDIA Geforce 6150SE nforce 430

CPU: AMD Athlon 64 x2 4200+ Brisbane AM2 socket @2200MHZ
Multiplier locked to [email protected]
Stock CPU speed: 200MHZ
PCIE speed: 100MHZ
Current speed: 2861.6MHZ
CPU speed: 260.2MHZ
PCIE speed: 130MHZ

Orthos and HWmonitor give temperatures between 55-61C at 100% CPU load. I'm waiting on 4x4gb sticks of ddr2 before I can do full bench marks.

 

[EarthDog]

Is this a dell/he or something? If so, you won't be overclocking through the bios but have to find your pll# and overclock via clockgen or setfsb.

 

[DontLaugh]

Nope, low budget retcon, with some spare parts I had laying around. Original computer was an ASUS, but the internals are cobbled together.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Cores 2
Threads 2
Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+
Code Name Brisbane
Package Socket AM2 (940)
Technology 65nm
Specification AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4200+
Family F
Extended Family F
Model B
Extended Model 6B
Stepping 2
Revision BH-G2
Instructions MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD 64, NX, VMX
Virtualization Supported, Disabled
Hyperthreading Not supported
Fan Speed 3125 RPM
Bus Speed 260.2 MHz
Rated Bus Speed 1040.6 MHz
Stock Core Speed 2200 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 200 MHz
Average Temperature 32 °C
Caches
L1 Data Cache Size 2 x 64 KBytes
L1 Instructions Cache Size 2 x 64 KBytes
L2 Unified Cache Size 2 x 512 KBytes

 

[DontLaugh]

Update:

Had to reduce FSB due to too much heat.
Down to 250mhz @ 2757.8MHZ
Fan Speed 3068 RPM
Bus Speed 250.7 MHz
Rated Bus Speed 1002.8 MHz
Stock Core Speed 2200 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 200 MHz
Average Temperature 33 °C

 

[Mr.Scott]

Is this a dell/he or something? If so, you won't be overclocking through the bios but have to find your pll# and overclock via clockgen or setfsb.

I'm familiar with that board. Think I have one here somewhere. It's an Asrock made hybrid.
It has overclocking options, but limited. Mostly vcore and vdimm is limited.

@ OP- you'll need better cooling to do better than you are now. Most all Brisbanes run fairly cool to start with, and most top out in the 3.0-3.2 range.

 

[DontLaugh]

Thank you, Mr Scott.
In terms of cooling, i've got a 3068-3125rpm Stock AMD cpu fan, and a fan controlled atx12v psu. Both fans are one length blades, fixed position. The cpu cooling fan has a four pin connection to CPU fan1@Sockets C27&C28.

Do you have any suggestions for a better cooling system, for a budget. I'm looking to get a stable board at about 3.4ghz, before I switch to a bigger phenom fx, or go intel.

Also; I'm planning on putting 16gb of ddr2 240pin in through 4x4gb cards. Do you have any reccomendations about what CPU speed would pair well with that?

 

[Mandrake4565]

Thank you, Mr Scott.
In terms of cooling, i've got a 3068-3125rpm Stock AMD cpu fan, and a fan controlled atx12v psu. Both fans are one length blades, fixed position. The cpu cooling fan has a four pin connection to CPU fan1@Sockets C27&C28.

Do you have any suggestions for a better cooling system, for a budget. I'm looking to get a stable board at about 3.4ghz, before I switch to a bigger phenom fx, or go intel.

Cooler master Hyper 212 is arguably one of the best budget Air heatsinks you can get. If you go used, you can usually pick up really good heatsinks on Ebay for around $25.00 shipped. In the past I've grabbed a couple of Prolimatech Megahalems and True Ultra 120's for about that. Both of which are better heatsinks then the Cm 212. That said 3.4 Ghz is a pretty lofty goal. You'd need a really really good chip 4200+ and cooling to run 3.4 as a daily Oc.

 

[DontLaugh]

Thanks for the last post, Mandrake. I'm looking at;
HR-02
MUX120 Black

Any thoughts as to which would be more efficient?

 

[Mr.Scott]

3.4 is unrealistic for Brisbane. I can hit 3.4 on the chiller on only a few of mine, and I have a box full. On air 3.2 24/7 stable will be a good feat.
Watch the vcore too. Brisbanes have a habit of self destructing more often when over 1.45v.

 

[DontLaugh]

3.4 is unrealistic for Brisbane. I can hit 3.4 on the chiller on only a few of mine, and I have a box full. On air 3.2 24/7 stable will be a good feat.
Watch the vcore too. Brisbanes have a habit of self destructing more often when over 1.45v.

Hey man, shoot for the stars, settle on the moon.

On air 3.2 24/7 stable will be a good feat.
Watch the vcore too. Brisbanes have a habit of self destructing more often when over

I'm probably going to hold at 3.2ghz and see if I can push for any more stability. But i've got it back up to 3.0ghz and it's at 1.35v
I added a four pin cooling fan @3500rpm to chassis fan1 and positioned it two inches over the primary cpu fan, with a bit of steel meccano.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Hey man, shoot for the stars, settle on the moon.

This is Overclockers DontLaugh I do agree with this philosophy as do many of us. I think both Scotty and I where just trying to give you realistic expectations for a daily overclock. If you're just looking to push the chip as far as it will go, then go for it. Bottom line is keep the chip as cool as you can get it.

 

[DontLaugh]

Yeah, I agree with you both on the 3.2ghz stable, but I'm just seeing how far I can push this chip till it burns out, as the brisbanes just a spare I had left over.

Once i've got the funds, i'll be switching up to a bigger phenom quadcore fx, or switching mobos entirely, and going for a ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0 AMD 970 (Socket AM3+) DDR3 ATX Motherboard.

With that though, i'll probably need quite a bit of help with watercooling.

 

[Mandrake4565]

Well if pushing is your intention then heat is your enemy. Do whatever you can to get the temps down on the processor and Power Phase section of the motherboard. If you live in a Northern climate then winter is an overclockers friend.

 

[DontLaugh]

Aye, north england. I've actually got a 12000rpm semi-industrial fan on my wall, which I use to pipe air through into the main cooling vent of the computer, straight from outside. Gets rather cold in that room, especially in winter.

I'm up to 3.2 with a 35-40c average, but under full load it can hit up to 58-62c, what would you recommend for that?

 

[Mandrake4565]

Aye, north england. I've actually got a 12000rpm semi-industrial fan on my wall, which I use to pipe air through into the main cooling vent of the computer, straight from outside. Gets rather cold in that room, especially in winter.

I'm up to 3.2 with a 35-40c average, but under full load it can hit up to 58-62c, what would you recommend for that?

Well under full load you're about as high temp wise as you want to go safely. Only suggestion if yo haven't done so already is get a better heatsink.