AMD Athlon 64 X2 Overclocking Results

[ProviaFan]

My room is rather hot during the summer, but I ran out of steam at around 2.6GHz (it was probably user error and environmental factors rather than the chip's inability, but who knows?). I'm at 2.5GHz now (238*10.5) and 1.472 VCore, and will continue testing with two Prime95's for an extended period, as well as doing some non-critical general usage. I'm trying to loosely follow Zebo's guide, but some of the terms of A64 overclocking are still new to me, coming from the (much simpler IMHO) world of AXP overclocking.

[Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 0517]

 

[ScottFern]

Well I flashed my bios to 510-3 and everything looks good, so I will post my OC on my 4800+ tomorrow.

 

[imported_g33k]

jpeyton, I'm curoius on why you used a 9X cpu multiplier. Doesnt RAM like a lower htt, hence a higher multi? Or did your cpu seem to clock higher with it set at 9X?

 

[Duvie]

Crap I didn't even notice that but I thought that the X2 was not going to have an adjustable multiplier at all...DFI's have this???

 

[Sithtiger]

Geez, I can't wait until I get mine. I preordered mine from Tiger Direct on June 8th and they just got them in yesterday. I hope it will ship out on Friday and hopefully I'll get it next week. I had to get a temp PCI-E vid card which is a crappy Radeon X300 SE. Not quite as good as my Radeon 9800 Pro but this is just to tide me over until I know which card will be better.

I'm looking at the Radeon X900 XT or the GeForce 7800 GT. Anyway I hope I can O/C my 4400+ to at least that of a 4800 if not more. I've got a MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum (non-SLI) mobo. I have 1GB (2x512MB) of the Corsair ValueRAM so I don't think I can O/C as much as people with the high performance ram but again, I want to be able to get to a 4800.

Does anyone have a Neo4 Platinum mobo and a 4400? I'm gonna have to update the BIOS obviously and I just wanted to know if it's gonna post with the 4400 before I can update the BIOS? I don't have a spare s-939 A64 so I'm hoping it will at least recognize one core so I can update it.

If anyone has value memory like Corsair's or Kingston, post your results on overclocking with that and simple air cooling too. I'll just be using the stock heatsink and fan though, but the stock HSF looks pretty good for stock!

 

[freethrowtommy]

Yeah i see that multiplier thing too. Are the X2s unlocked?

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: g33k
jpeyton, I'm curoius on why you used a 9X cpu multiplier. Doesnt RAM like a lower htt, hence a higher multi? Or did your cpu seem to clock higher with it set at 9X?

Duvie, yes the X2 is just like any other Athlon 64 CPU, the multiplier is unlocked downward.

I used the 9X multiplier so I could set my FSB and RAM speed at 300MHz, thus gaining more memory bandwidth vs. a lower multiplier.

 

[imported_g33k]

I think you meant vs a higher mulitplier. Yes, it makes sense since you have tccd.

 

[Markfw]

Well, I now have 2 X2's(I just got the one jpeyton had for sale), but going out boating. Will update with the other OC and other results tonight !!!

 

[rise]

Provifan, why the 1/2 multi?

 

[ScottFern]

HELP HELP HELP!

Ok, I just installed my X2 4800+ and I am using the 510-3 Bios and the only changes I made in the bios were the Mem SPD 200 X 12 and the HTT = 5x. I thought I could run 2.5-3-3-6 mem timings safely.

However, after the first boot into windows it asked me to restart and now when it restarts it goes to windows loading screen but then resets itself? I think this has something to do with the bios? I might need to try a different version..

One thing I noticed is that the first time I turned on the PC the bios detected 1 CPU, 2 Physical and after that first boot up that notice never came up which told me maybe the bios went to a backup or something because I never say that message ever again?

Bottom line, I need a stable bios for my rig which is listed in my sig.

 

[ProviaFan]

Originally posted by: rise4310
Provifan, why the 1/2 multi?

It made things come out evenly...

Actually, I found out several things that caused my overclock to be so crappy (2.5GHz didn't pan out, sorry for not updating sooner). Unfortunately, the folks at ASUS don't care about having a working HT multiplier on the A8N-E in the latest BIOS (the older one works, but doesn't support dual core), so I'm stuck at 5x HT all the freakin time, which means SATA corruption city if I do much of any overclocking at all. I did discover, however, how to set memory dividers (it's not entirely obvious, but I figured it out thanks to a tip from someone here). That was probably also a reason that I couldn't overclock worth anything.

I was / am kind of pissed over the whole ordeal (should have went DFI, it would have worked, but their "support" forum turned me off - oh well), but at the moment my 4400+ is plenty fast enough without O/C, and if ASUS ever fixes their crappy BIOS, I'll be sure to update you all with my overclocking success (or hopefully not lack thereof).

 

[Capt Caveman]

To all of the current X2 owners, I found this at xtremesystems that you may want to read:

X2 Thermal Throttling Bug

Don't want anyone hurting their little babies.

 

[imported_DaveA]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
To all of the current X2 owners, I found this at xtremesystems that you may want to read:

X2 Thermal Throttling Bug

Don't want anyone hurting their little babies.

looks like if you have a high end motherboard such as the dfi you should be fine...

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: ScottFern
HELP HELP HELP!

Ok, I just installed my X2 4800+ and I am using the 510-3 Bios and the only changes I made in the bios were the Mem SPD 200 X 12 and the HTT = 5x. I thought I could run 2.5-3-3-6 mem timings safely.

However, after the first boot into windows it asked me to restart and now when it restarts it goes to windows loading screen but then resets itself? I think this has something to do with the bios? I might need to try a different version..

One thing I noticed is that the first time I turned on the PC the bios detected 1 CPU, 2 Physical and after that first boot up that notice never came up which told me maybe the bios went to a backup or something because I never say that message ever again?

Bottom line, I need a stable bios for my rig which is listed in my sig.

Scott, I used the 510-3 BIOS without a problem with the same motherboard you have. In fact, we should also have very similar TCCD based memory.

I would try loading the optimized defaults through the BIOS and doing your BIOS tweaks one at a time, so you can tell which one is goofing up Windows.

 

[ScottFern]

Yes I fixed it by loading the default settings, however my vcore is at 1.27v is this right??

 

[Duvie]

vcore can be anywhere from 1.35-1.4v so if the board undervolts liek the MSI it could be....

 

[ProviaFan]

My vcore reports 1.296V, which seems to be slightly undervolted (?). Can I trust the monitoring application, or should I go by what is in the BIOS (or, is the ASUS A8N series known to undervolt also)?

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Capt Caveman
To all of the current X2 owners, I found this at xtremesystems that you may want to read:

X2 Thermal Throttling Bug

Don't want anyone hurting their little babies.

Lets not start a paranoid effect here....

they have been out for a week plus now (more so in other countries) and not one report of it yet and that is with some ppl doing some insane overclocking...

Reaons?? overclockers generally shut off thermal throttling and CnQ and monitor their temps...bottom line not likely an issue for most of us..also overclockers and enthusiast (mor inclined to buy one) tend to buy the more premium mobos and/or are coming from OC'd venice, winchesters or clawhammers...boards are already more set up for power regulation...


Sidenote....That artcile is full of dummies and more importantly a bunch of FUD about TDP and actual power (cpu only) consumption...A guy states 100+ watts at stock settings....Actual test at lost circuit (4800+ 2.4ghz) says 78 with max high of 86 with other case and heat factors....

 

[jdogg707]

Mine is showing up at 1.296V as well, nice and cool though at stock. I can't wait to get my 7800GTX to play with as well, I am pretty sure I will have the most beast SN25P!

 

[Markfw]

Well, I figured out a couple of things today. The X2 doesn;t like PC2100 memory on a divider (on a cheap motherboard) and it doesn;t like a 350 watt Antec psu. This is my second one .....Anyway stay tuned...

 

[Sithtiger]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
Well, I figured out a couple of things today. The X2 doesn;t like PC2100 memory on a divider (on a cheap motherboard) and it doesn;t like a 350 watt Antec psu. This is my second one .....Anyway stay tuned...

Funny you should say that, mine didn't like having water thrown on it while running, but I do have some good news! I just saved a bunch of money on car insurance by switching to Geico!

Seriously though, I'm kind of surprised that it would even run with PC2100 memory. I'll just be happy when I finally get mine; which will hopefully be no later than Wednesday.

 

[Sithtiger]

Actually, I found out several things that caused my overclock to be so crappy (2.5GHz didn't pan out, sorry for not updating sooner). Unfortunately, the folks at ASUS don't care about having a working HT multiplier on the A8N-E in the latest BIOS (the older one works, but doesn't support dual core), so I'm stuck at 5x HT all the freakin time, which means SATA corruption city if I do much of any overclocking at all. I did discover, however, how to set memory dividers (it's not entirely obvious, but I figured it out thanks to a tip from someone here). That was probably also a reason that I couldn't overclock worth anything.

I was / am kind of pissed over the whole ordeal (should have went DFI, it would have worked, but their "support" forum turned me off - oh well), but at the moment my 4400+ is plenty fast enough without O/C, and if ASUS ever fixes their crappy BIOS, I'll be sure to update you all with my overclocking success (or hopefully not lack thereof).[/quote]

I'm going to be upgrading one of my hard drives and I was thinking about going with a SATA HD, but I've been hearing SATA is very sensitive to overclocking. I plan on overclocking my 4400 moderately but if SATA devices keep me from doing it, I'm wondering if I should just stick to good 'ol IDE for now. Is there that much difference between SATA drives that have NCQ and IDE drives that don't? I would think O/Cing would make more of an impact than not being able to but having a SATA drive that sports NCQ!

 

[fatty4ksu]

Heh, my X2 is running on aan antec 350



I refuse to OC untill I get my daddy PSU.

 

[imported_Otter]

Any good overclocking board should allow you to lock the SATA frequency. I think Nvidia's SATA is on the PCIE bus, so the PCIE lock should also lock the standard SATA ports. If the board has an additional SATA chip, check to be sure it also has a SATA frequency lock.