Overclocking Question

[DigitalBoy]

I've read some of the info posted throughout the website, but I'm new to the overclocking scene. I've got an Athlon 850, Socket A, ASUS AliMagic or something like that motherboard, with PC133 Ram, and i just rigged up a nice air cooler that keeps the cpu at about 110 degrees, while at 850, and about 122 degrees, at 1030 mhz. Thats the absolute highest i can seem to overclock, because if i go any higher, when i reboot, it locks up, then tells me i have a mismatched frequency. when i DO overclock, however, my system is constantly freezing up, and locking, and glitching, and its VERY unstable. I dont know much about overclocking at all. can someone offer some assistance? someone said something about voltage, and ram frequency? any info? please?

Thanks in advance.

 

[NASsoccer]

110 degrees. can i ask what cooler you are using first of all. with high temps like that at default it is going to be hard to go any father, which is possibly the probs when you overclock. What other cooling do you have for your case?

 

[DigitalBoy]

got a Volcano or something like that, heat sink with fan, and a desktop fan next to teh case (the side panel is off). the desktop fan makes the cpu fan run about 800 rpm faster, and about 10 degrees cooler, than just the heat sink fan by itself.

any other info needed? any assistance is GREATLY appreciated.


thanks

 

[NASsoccer]

got a Volcano or something like that, heat sink with fan, and a desktop fan next to teh case (the side panel is off). the desktop fan makes the cpu fan run about 800 rpm faster, and about 10 degrees cooler, than just the heat sink fan by itself.

any other info needed? any assistance is GREATLY appreciated.


thanks

still on the cooling thought, what kind of thermal compound did you use on it. What came with the HSF? IMO, you will have to get those temps down if you want to overclock.

 

[Joker76]

the cpu at about 110 degrees, while at 850, and about 122 degrees, at 1030 mhz. Thats the absolute highest i can seem to overclock, because if i go any higher, when i reboot, it locks up, then tells me i have a mismatched frequency. when i DO overclock, however, my system is constantly freezing up, and locking, and glitching, and its VERY unstable.

Ok, first of all 110 F (aprox. 43 C) and 122 F (aprox. 50 C) aren't all that hot. I've had CPU's running stable at higher temps with no problems. But when your OC'ing, cooling is very important. I would suggest getting yourself a coule of extra case fans and probably a better HSF, but you current setup sounds like it's doing good enough not to fry your CPU. Probably too hot to run a stable OC though ...

Also, if I were you, I'd take a little more time to research your products. By saying stuff like

ASUS AliMagic or something like that motherboard

you kinda scare me a little. Take the time to go to the Asus website and check out all the info on your motherboard. Make sure the bios you are running is up to date and there are no major bugs wiuth the version you have. Research the chipset as well. Find out how well it OC's, etc.

Increasing the core voltage may help you OC a little, but this will contribute to higher temps than you have now. So, you may want to hold off on that until you can get some better cooling. The best advice I can give is to take it slow. Increase the FSB a little at a time, run some benchmarks and utilities to make sure everything is stable. Then try for higher speeds. And get yourself some better cooling. Then we can talk about increasing voltages and multipliers, and other fun stuff.

P.S. WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

 

[futura2001]

Just had a similar problem...
Check your cache speed. I think you have your cache at 2/5. I may very well be mistaken though. If it is at 2/5 then your cache is running at 340 mhz. On an athlon, the cache is built to run at a speed of 350 mhz. That means your overclocking only has 10 mhz to work with on the cache, or 25 cpu mhz. If you use Mathlon to set your cache to 1/3 you will be able to overclock to a theoretical 1050 mhz. The cache though does go higher than 350 and still run stable, your cache is running at a very unhealthy 420 mhz if the cache divider is 2/5 and it is no wonder it is unstable. You can probably run it stable at around 370-390 mhz, so if that were the only factor, you would have a 1141 mhz chip. Unfortunately it does not work that perfectly so you can expect about 1 to 1.1 ghz out of it...
Futura

 

[theflyingrat]

Just had a similar problem...
Check your cache speed. I think you have your cache at 2/5. I may very well be mistaken though. If it is at 2/5 then your cache is running at 340 mhz. On an athlon, the cache is built to run at a speed of 350 mhz. That means your overclocking only has 10 mhz to work with on the cache, or 25 cpu mhz. If you use Mathlon to set your cache to 1/3 you will be able to overclock to a theoretical 1050 mhz. The cache though does go higher than 350 and still run stable, your cache is running at a very unhealthy 420 mhz if the cache divider is 2/5 and it is no wonder it is unstable. You can probably run it stable at around 370-390 mhz, so if that were the only factor, you would have a 1141 mhz chip. Unfortunately it does not work that perfectly so you can expect about 1 to 1.1 ghz out of it...
Futura

Nope. You're thinking about an "Athlon Classic", the older generation of Slot-cartridge Athlons (500MHz-1GHz.) He has an ALi chipset board, so he has to have a socket-A Athlon, and therefore, is a Thunderbird CPU. Thunderbird L1 and L2 cache ALWAYS runs at the same speed as the CPU clock (in this case 850MHz stock, 1030 overclocked.)

Now, for the real problem....most older Aluminum-interconnect Athlon Thunderbirds (700MHz-1GHz) will just not go much further than 1 GHz. It's an architectural limitation; that's why they switched to copper interconnect manufacturing...aluminum just wouldn't go much further. I used to have an Athlon 800, and 1030 is exactly where that CPU would get before beginning to die. Sure, you could get to MAYBE 1100, if you're very very lucky and have L-N2 cooling, and about 2.2 volts. There's a diminishing return on old Thunderbirds below 1GHz; if you want more speed, you need a LOT more cooling and a LOT more voltage. Check the CPU database for yourself; 998 is the average reported overclock for the Athlon 850; yours is already above average, and it will take an act of the Almighty to make it go noticeably further.