Overclocking Escapades: socket AM2 Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor

[Tech Tweaker]

Well, after my Phenom X3 8750 triple-core being really disappointing and not wanting to run on my AM2 board while overclocked I figured I would move on to the next AM2 CPU in the stack.

Okay, let's see what this old Athlon 64 4600+ Dual core Windsor can do!

Athlon 64 X2 4600+ Windsor overclock settings
2.4GHz (200x12) (stock): 1.25V (1.2V)
2.5GHz (208x12): 1.30V (1.25V)
2.6GHz (217x12): 1.34V (1.30V)
2.7GHz (225x12): 1.41V (1.3625V)
2.8GHz (233x12): 1.49V (1.45V)
2.9GHz (242x12): 1.59-1.6V (1.55V) *not fully stable, temps too high to apply higher voltage

Temperatures are pretty impressive (albeit impossible), Core 0 is at 16-19°C at idle, and Core 1 is at 22-26°C at idle. Max load temp was 34°C I believe. That's stock temps. Ambient temp is 24°C.

 

[kyij]

Are you sure the sensor is working correctly in that, as 16C is only 60F and that seems pretty cool - But hey, we all like to set our AC different

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Are you sure the sensor is working correctly in that, as 16C is only 60F and that seems pretty cool - But hey, we all like to set our AC different

No, I'm not sure.

I already assumed the sensors were borked.

 

[OptyTrooper]

Yeah those are very low temps. Windsors tend to run hot. That being said you might get 3.0 out of it @ 1.45-1.5v

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Well, 2.8GHz was the maximum stable speed I could achieve. Took 1.49V.

Going to 2.9GHz really increased the temperature drastically, I was seeing 54°C on one core, and 52°C on the other. As opposed to 2.8GHz where I saw ~48°C max.

Couldn't get 2.9GHz fully stable, it just required too much voltage and the temps were too high to risk increasing the voltage any more. I was at 1.6V and it still wasn't fully stable, think it would have needed somewhere around 1.65-1.7V to stabilize the cores. I was at the board's max voltage anyway, so I couldn't do much more.