OK I want to preface this by saying I am OCing this processor and mobo as practice for my next mobo/cpu. I'm going to be getting a newer mobo/cpu in the coming weeks that I want to OC so I want to practice on this old Barton 2500+ that I don't care about in case I screw something up.
The system is running
Asus A7N8X v2.0 (not the deluxe version, not the E version, just plain jane)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (stock 1.8ghz, 166mhzx11multi).
2GB Corsair Valueselect (1x 1gb @ 8-3-3-3.0t and 2x512 @ 8-3-3-2.5t) Running in DDR - those timings are the stock timings
Stock Vcore and Vdimm
I've read through many overclocking guides including the one on this site.
I've done the manipulating of the FSB by lowering the multi way down and then raising the FSB - Highest I was able to post was at 225mhz w/ 8.0 multi. I was able to post at 215fsb w/ 10.0 multi but it was unstable (24h prime 95 test failed within minutes). Finally discovered 200fsb x 10multi was stable in prime 95 24 hours.
OK so I've got my 1.8ghz processor running at 2.0ghz without changing anything other than the multiplier and the FSB. So where do I go from here? I start raising the voltage right? How do I know how high to raise the voltage? I've done some reading and it seems like 1.80-1.85 VCore is a safe maximum though I've seen people talk about running more than 1.90.
My question is this - the overclocking guides say to start raising Vcore in the smallest increments possibe. So for me that would have me going from the stock 1.65 to 1.675.... what do I do then? do I raise the Vcore and then also try to raise my FSB or multi? And then run a 24 hour stress test? that can't be right because it'd take me like 3 weeks of torture testing to get up to the maximum accepted Vcore.
Do I raise the voltage all they way to 1.85 or whatever and then raise the FSB/multi and see how high I can get before it won't post? Then back it down a few notches and THEN run a 24 hour test to see if it's stable?
How big of an increment do I go in voltage before testing system stability?
BTW I am running stock cooling - I'm not going to buy a cooler for a Socket A when I'm changing CPU/mobo in a couple weeks.
The system is running
Asus A7N8X v2.0 (not the deluxe version, not the E version, just plain jane)
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ Barton (stock 1.8ghz, 166mhzx11multi).
2GB Corsair Valueselect (1x 1gb @ 8-3-3-3.0t and 2x512 @ 8-3-3-2.5t) Running in DDR - those timings are the stock timings
Stock Vcore and Vdimm
I've read through many overclocking guides including the one on this site.
I've done the manipulating of the FSB by lowering the multi way down and then raising the FSB - Highest I was able to post was at 225mhz w/ 8.0 multi. I was able to post at 215fsb w/ 10.0 multi but it was unstable (24h prime 95 test failed within minutes). Finally discovered 200fsb x 10multi was stable in prime 95 24 hours.
OK so I've got my 1.8ghz processor running at 2.0ghz without changing anything other than the multiplier and the FSB. So where do I go from here? I start raising the voltage right? How do I know how high to raise the voltage? I've done some reading and it seems like 1.80-1.85 VCore is a safe maximum though I've seen people talk about running more than 1.90.
My question is this - the overclocking guides say to start raising Vcore in the smallest increments possibe. So for me that would have me going from the stock 1.65 to 1.675.... what do I do then? do I raise the Vcore and then also try to raise my FSB or multi? And then run a 24 hour stress test? that can't be right because it'd take me like 3 weeks of torture testing to get up to the maximum accepted Vcore.
Do I raise the voltage all they way to 1.85 or whatever and then raise the FSB/multi and see how high I can get before it won't post? Then back it down a few notches and THEN run a 24 hour test to see if it's stable?
How big of an increment do I go in voltage before testing system stability?
BTW I am running stock cooling - I'm not going to buy a cooler for a Socket A when I'm changing CPU/mobo in a couple weeks.