AthlonXP 2600+ Barton Overclocking Problems

[enduro]

Not necessarily. Memtest will check for errors, but it sucks when it comes to stability testing. The only reason I use Memtest is to make sure I'm not going to corrupt Windows by booting up, and then I run 3DMark01 to test it out.

 

[sheenster38]

I've got 3dMark03 installed on the comp from before when I was testing my gpu. Last time I ran 3dMark's diagnostic, I got like 800+ marks... which is pretty horrible in my opinion. How do you run a stability test on 3dMark? Is it just the CPU tests?

 

[Dragonprince]

Since you have a Barton 2600 and not a mobile chip (why did you buy it? if I may ask) your multiplier locked I assume. With that being the case you will have to get the chip to run a 200 FSB to get any decent performance out of it. You will need a good power supply, 300w wont cut it (400w and up is best). You'll need cooling to handle about 1.8-1.9v on the core depending on your particluar chip. If the chips new Id return it and exchange for a mobile 2600....

 

[enduro]

The cooling is necessary, but the psu is not. I had a locked 2600 barton desktop as my first cpu because I didn't realize that the mobiles were different. I used the psu that came with my case, a "350W" el cheapo psu. It got me up to a 233 fsb, which wasn't too bad. For me, having the SP97 was better than having a better psu, because heat still would have limited me. I'd recommend a better heatsink first, and then a Fortron 530W afterwards. Although you can buy a mobile cpu for the same price, so it comes down to quite a few decisions.

 

[jbloudg20]

My desktop Barton 2600( I bought desktop because I wasnt too much into ocing at the time. Now I REALLY regret the decision. Oh well) is at 200 FSB, but at 1.925 vcore. It wont run at anything lower than that.

I would however, look at your CPu temps. is the 50C load or idle temp? Im assuming its load, and even that I woudl owrry about when you are at stcok voltage.

I hit 46C right now load with 1.925 volts.

I would seriously look at your rails. Take a multimeter and measure the voltage on the yelow and red lines. MBM's voltages wont cut it, use hardware and measure it. Let us know what the voltages (rails) are.

 

[enduro]

Yeah, you could check the rails out if you want, that might be a good idea. My old cheap psu had pretty good rails really, given that it cost me 5 bucks. It was always .05V or so off, and that was it.

 

[sheenster38]

Well, right now, I'm running everything at stock speed. I'm just trying to figure out what's making my computer shut off randomly. I know that it's not a cpu or gpu problem and it seems more like a ram problem. I underclocked my cpu at 155x11.5 last night and ran prime95 to ensure that it wasn't cpu overheating. Amazingly, my comp last the entire night, but it did run into an error during the stress test about 7-8 hours in. I still haven't gotten the multimeter from my friend yet, so I'll check the voltages when I do get it.

I may be interested in upgrading my comp early next year or maybe within the next month, if there are some good deals near thanksgiving. I don't want to spend an excessive amount of money or anything. What do you guys suggest?

I think I'm going to be keeping my nf7-s v2 and maybe upgrading the 2600+. What's a better cpu to overclock? And when I bought my slk-900a, many people informed me that it was an extremely good hsf for almost any cpu, overclocked or not. I was also lookin into buying a new gfx card, to replace my old gf3 ti200.

 

[enduro]

Well, how much money will you have by Christmas or so? You could either upgrade your current setup with a new cpu, psu, and hs. Or you could go A64, get a Winchester cpu, a NF3 Ultra board, a psu, and a new hs ( you could sell your current setup for a bit of cash). This really depends on how much money you'll have though. Also, if you find out that the psu was the problem in your system, just upgrade it and the hs and you'll be fine for a bit.

 

[sheenster38]

I'm guessing my budget is gonna be less than $1000, maybe like $700-800? I doubt I'm going to buy an A64, maybe just upgrade my 2600+ to something a bit higher. Any good cpu's that can overclock well?

I doubt I'll be getting an nf3 board either, as long as my current mobo can suffice.

My hs isn't good enough? I was under the impression that the slk-900a was top of the line, at least when I bought it.

 

[enduro]

$1000 bucks!!!. My entire computer cost that. You could buy yourself a nice setup with that kind of money. A64 would take up a bit of that though.
1) Winchester 3000+, 190 bucks approx.
2) Socket 939 board, 130 bucks
3) New ram: 2*256 or BT D43 or DTD5 chips, 150
4) New psu: Fortron 530W or PCP&C if you want to throw down the cash: 75 bucks for Fortron.
5) Thermalright A64 hs, 40 bucks.
6) Optional new vid card. 180 bucks.

So that would bring it to 760 on up, probably 800 after shipping. You can sell your current system to someone (that's what I'm going to do), and have the money go to your new system. You could also skip the vidcard, so you could bring the cost down to around 500 bucks assuming that you can sell your motherboard and cpu for a fair price.

 

[sheenster38]

Haha, I don't think that I'd have $1000, I said under $1000... I'll probably have around $7-800 including the stuff I sell. Sorry for not clarifying that before

I'll check up on the stuff you just suggested and see if I can afford it all.

 

[enduro]

I'd wait until at least Christmas though. That's when the cpu prices will be going down,a nd the nforce4 boards will be released. Although, if you can find a Nforce3 Ultra, it will be the same thing, but with an AGP slot, saving you from buying a new vidcard. What vidcard are you running btw?

 

[sheenster38]

Geforce3 Ti200... really crappy compared to the ones out now. I got it during a thanskgiving sale at bb a couple years back. I was thinking about getting an ati radeon? Not sure if I wanna spend all that much money on the 9800 though.

 

[enduro]

Yeah you do . I had a Radeon 9200 for a while ( about 5 months) and it could barely run UT or Neverwinter Nights. Bought the 9800 Pro off of someone in the classifieds who wanted to upgrade to something else. Nothing wrong with it, and it has been working perfectly. The speed and graphic quality are incredible. You have no idea what you're missing until you actually get a nice card. I was like you before. I saw the price tag, and didn't want to shell out the case because they couldn't be that nice right? I was completely wrong. If nothing else, once you get your computer up and running, I'd pick up a vidcard first. It was probably one of the best upgrades to my system since the mobile 2600. For it's price and performance, the 9800 Pro is the best card that you can buy, period.

 

[sheenster38]

Hmm, I'm probably just going to upgrade my cpu to a higher AXP processor. What's the difference between the aXP normal and mobile? Any difference overclocking-wise? I know someone posted here asking why I got the desktop version as opposed to the mobile. So, I'll probably be sticking with my nf7-s v2 for now.

Is the thermalright slk-900a adequate for overclocking? I might buy ram from a more reliable company like corsair's xms series or something. I'm also trying to see if I can find a cheap 9800pro anywhere. Newegg shows it at $224 at the minimum. I wanna try and buy a new case for my comp, something roomier than the one I'm using now. Maybe buy some rounded IEDE cables for better airflow. (assuming I don't get my 2nd hdd from my bro so I can put it on RAID)

Is the Fortron reliable? I haven't heard much about that company, but then again, I haven't really read about anything in a while. I don't wanna invest $75 in a psu that's gonna crap out on me a couple months later or something.

I'll go look around for reviews or something.

 

[sheenster38]

Btw, what's "BT D43 or DTD5 chips"?

 

[Ruiner]

Your ram is probably fine...it passed memtest didnt it? Start with a PSU before you chuck stuff....a fortron is fine. Spending money on basically the same old platform (socket A) is a waste...find out what your problem is first or you may hit the same wall again.

The 9800p is a great card...save your money and get the cheaper 128MB version....the extra vram is not a big deal with that card. If you game, a more current vid card will be a worthwhile investment over your old GF3.

People reccomend mobile cpus because the multipliers are unlocked and they OC a bit better.

Your HSF is fine...it's at the top of the ratings on overclockers, although not with your fan.

RAID is a huge waste. Forget about it.

 

[sheenster38]

I'm pretty sure it's not a ram problem. Nor is it a cpu problem because the temp has never gone over 55deg under load. My graphics card does overheat a bit, but the side of my case is open and my comp shuts off during prime95 (which doesnt test graphics cards at all). The only other options I can think of are... hdd overheating or psu problems. I'm pretty sure it's not the psu, but I'm going to check the voltages manually tomorrow. I don't think the hdd is overheating either, but I've never actually checked. The fan on my southbridge, however, sometimes fails to spin. I have to push it manually to start it up sometimes and it doesn't seem to go all that fast (I can see the blades and it's not really a blur). But, the southbridge doesnt feel warm to the touch at all. I'm really out of ideas right now.

For the past couple months, I've had a huge commercial fan next to the case and the comp has never shut off while the fan has been running, which leads me to believe that it's a heat issue. Your thoughts?


I'm definitely going to be investing in a new vid card, so I'll be researching more about that. I talked to my bro a couple mins ago and he said it'd be a waste to upgrade to a AXP 3000+, so I'll be sticking with my 2600+. Not sure if it'd be better if I changed to a mobile 2600+? What's a good fan for the slk-900a? Right now I'm using a panaflo 120mm because of the sound issue.

 

[Ruiner]

That fan is on the northbridge, and if it's failing (a common issue) you may have found your problem. The heat sinks on northbridges with fans are dinky so when the fans fail they are useless. Pick up a large passive sink ( http://heatsinkfactory.com/cgi-bin/HFAstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=VC-002 ) like this one and you can lose the fan.

The southbridge (on your board it's probalby the chip that says 'nf7' on it) does get pretty hot on these boards, which can cause audio artifacts when gaming....putting a small sink on the southbridge can help that, but may cost you a PCI slot or two.

What kind of case cooling do you have?
What brand of PSU is it?

At this point it is most definitely a heat issue, but probably case/board (or maybe psu) heat. Your cpu itself is probably ok, but ducting cold air to it would be a good idea. http://www.overclockers.com/tips586/ What model panaflo is that?

 

[sheenster38]

Oh yeah, northbridge, was reading the map of the board wrong... Should I get just a sink for the northbridge? I was thinking maybe one of those gpu hsf's. I've got the Vantec Iceberq 4 on my gpu right now and it seems to fit exactly with the fan on the northbridge.

I'll check on the southbridge chip under load later and see if it gets too hot. I'm only using the AGP and 1 PCI slot, so it should there shouldnt be a space problem.

For case cooling right now, I've got a 120mm fan on the slk-900a, an 80mm fan at the front of the case, and a 80mm in the psu (which probably doesnt help all that much). The side of my case is also open because it was getting hot over the summer. The 120mm panaflo on the hs is model FBA09A12M (sorta like http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=35-180-014&depa=0 but it's the 120mm version) I think I posted the model of the psu above, but here it is again... it's the Antec 300w SL300S. It was the psu that came with the case when I bought it.

About the air ducts, I'm not so sure I wanna rip a circle, or rather a mutilated circle, in the side of my case unless it's gonna look nice. I'll see if anyone of my friends have that weird circular drill bit that cuts perfect holes.

I just measured the voltages outputted by the psu and it showed 5.09V and 12.09V. I'm not sure if those are acceptable voltages for the psu.