Overclocking AMD Athlon 64 x2 4800+

[Syliss]

In my attempts to overclock my Athlon 64 x2 4800+, every time I try, it does boot into Windows (and Ubuntu) without fail, but it has NEVER registered any change in the frequency in the System Info. It still shows it at the stock 2.4Ghz, even though I bumped up the frequency to 210 instead of 200, and the voltage to 1.4 over the stock 1.35. Any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong, or why it's doing this? I'm running the stock cooler, but temps have always been in-check.

 

[rescuetoaster]

First question, are you certain you are saving the bios changes?

Second - does it boot normally, or does it appear to take slightly longer? If it is attempting to boot with the FSB at 210 and it fails, it may knock the settings back to default and then reboot without you noticing much.

Are you lowering the speed of your ram to accommodate the new FSB?

 

[trents]

Good questions, toaster.

 

[Syliss]

Good questions, toaster.

I am indeed pressing F10 to save a quit the BIOS, and it does boot into windows properly, no issues, and it takes the same amount of time. However, on Reboot, it did say "Skip over clock of 210" or something like that.. why is that?

 

[Dr. McCoy]

I am indeed pressing F10 to save a quit the BIOS, and it does boot into windows properly, no issues, and it takes the same amount of time. However, on Reboot, it did say "Skip over clock of 210" or something like that.. why is that?

Something isn't "Right" about your settings and when it does that (Skipping), it's using defaut settings instead.

Another possible problem could be the CMOS battery is weak causing it to not apply the settings you set for it when you try to save them and reboot - A weak CMOS battery can and will cause weird behaviour. Couldn't hurt to at least check it to see if it's getting weak. Normally it's not a prob for it to be a little below 3.3v's but if it's below 3.0V's, definitely replace it.

 

[RGone]

Something isn't "Right" about your settings and when it does that (Skipping), it's using defaut settings instead.

Another possible problem could be the CMOS battery is weak causing it to not apply the settings you set for it when you try to save them and reboot - A weak CMOS battery can and will cause weird behaviour. Couldn't hurt to at least check it to see if it's getting weak. Normally it's not a prob for it to be a little below 3.3v's but if it's below 3.0V's, definitely replace it.

Which is what 'rescuetoaster' said in post #2. Booting at default because of some problem with the overclock.
RGone...

 

[trents]

Syliss, take some digital pics of the overclocking sections of your bios and then attach them with a post. How to do this:

Click on Go Advanced at the bottom of any new post window. When the advanced post window appears, click on the little paperclip tool at the top. This will load the file browser/up-link tool and the rest will be obvious. You can attach up to three pics per post but you can go back later and add more if necessary.

Your problem could be caused by the memory frequency exceeding it's limits when you increase the FSB, even by 10 mhz. Try lowering the memory frequency. For instance, if it's DDR2 800 ram, lower the frequency to DDR2 666 in bios and see if that doesn't get you stable again.

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Something isn't "Right" about your settings and when it does that (Skipping), it's using defaut settings instead.

Another possible problem could be the CMOS battery is weak causing it to not apply the settings you set for it when you try to save them and reboot - A weak CMOS battery can and will cause weird behaviour. Couldn't hurt to at least check it to see if it's getting weak. Normally it's not a prob for it to be a little below 3.3v's but if it's below 3.0V's, definitely replace it.

The CR2032 CMOS batter should NEVER hit 3.3V, it is 3V brand new.

Anyway, I've seen batteries that were down to 2.5-2.6V and still saved the bios settings and retained them normally.

 

[Syliss]

Okay, I'll post the digital pics of it. I didn't notice a change in RAM speed, and believe me, I was looking for a change. The CMOS battery is actually fairly new, so it does save settings (except when OC'ing" :/) Dunno what's wrong. Then again, that's why I came here.

 

[Dr. McCoy]

The CR2032 CMOS batter should NEVER hit 3.3V, it is 3V brand new.

Anyway, I've seen batteries that were down to 2.5-2.6V and still saved the bios settings and retained them normally.

My bad - I always thought for some reason CMOS batteries were at 3.3v's when new.

Learned/was reminded of something and thanks for that.

 

[trents]

Okay, I'll post the digital pics of it. I didn't notice a change in RAM speed, and believe me, I was looking for a change. The CMOS battery is actually fairly new, so it does save settings (except when OC'ing" :/) Dunno what's wrong. Then again, that's why I came here.

It would also be helpful if you would install CPU-z and post plcs of thse three tabs: CPU, Memory and SPD.

 

[trents]

Okay, I'll post the digital pics of it. I didn't notice a change in RAM speed, and believe me, I was looking for a change. The CMOS battery is actually fairly new, so it does save settings (except when OC'ing" :/) Dunno what's wrong. Then again, that's why I came here.

Any time you make and adjustment to the FSB frequency these other bus frequencies will also reflect that change because they are tuned to the FSB:

1. RAM
2. HT Link
3. CPUNB

 

[Syliss]

Okay, I'll post some pics real soon.

 

[Syliss]

This is with everything set at default.

 

[trents]

Oh, wow! Your rated memory frequency is only DDR 400. So this a socket 939 motherboard. I'm glad you posted the CPU-z pics. I was assuming you were working with a socket AM2 or AM2+ board and DDR2 ram. I should point out that CPU-z will report memory speed at half of what you expect to see because it is not reporting the DDR (Double Data Rate) value but the underlying basic memory bus speed.

So it looks like you have already backed off on the memory speed from DDR2 400 to DDR2 333. If there is and adjustment, it would be good to back off on the HT Link also in order to create some headroom for overclocking. In that generation of CPU architecture the CPUNB and the HT Link could not be separated so we won't worry about the CPUNB. Whatever the HT Link is will also be the CPUNB frequency.

To save us all a lot of time and frustration, I would ask that you take some pics of the overclocking sections of the bios and post back with them attached. We need to see what you see.

 

[Syliss]

Oh, wow! Your rated memory frequency is only DDR 400. So this a socket 939 motherboard. I'm glad you posted the CPU-z pics. I was assuming you were working with a socket AM2 or AM2+ board and DDR2 ram. I should point out that CPU-z will report memory speed at half of what you expect to see because it is not reporting the DDR (Double Data Rate) value but the underlying basic memory bus speed.

So it looks like you have already backed off on the memory speed from DDR2 400 to DDR2 333. If there is and adjustment, it would be good to back off on the HT Link also in order to create some headroom for overclocking. In that generation of CPU architecture the CPUNB and the HT Link could not be separated so we won't worry about the CPUNB. Whatever the HT Link is will also be the CPUNB frequency.

To save us all a lot of time and frustration, I would ask that you take some pics of the overclocking sections of the bios and post back with them attached. We need to see what you see.

Right. I'll do that when I try it next.

 

[Syliss]

Hey guys, sorry to have you go to all the trouble of helping me. I am, however, ordering a new CPU, Motherboard, and RAM. I'm getting an AMD Fx-4350, a Gigabyte GA-970A-UD3, and 8GB of Kingston HyperX RAM. Thanks for all your help. (I highly doubt I'll need to overclock the new one, as it's 4.2Ghz stock)

 

[trents]

Those parts sound like a smart purchase and should work well with each other.

 

[Syliss]

Those parts sound like a smart purchase and should work well with each other.

Thanks! The best part is, it was super cheap. All that for only $270! The motherboard was even 25 dollars off. I feel like it'll be such a monumental upgrade from my current setup.

 

[Mandrake4565]

(I highly doubt I'll need to overclock the new one, as it's 4.2Ghz stock)

order an aftermarket cpu cooler, because you will. Nice purchase, let us know how it is.