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Hi Guys,

After updating the bios in my old Asus A7V8X mobo I found that the multiplier had unlocked and I could overclock my XP2100+.

Now I have it upto X16.5 @ Vcore 1.65 and stable. (Was X13/1.6v)

This gives me the equivalent of an XP3000+ Great !!!!

My question is where to go for advice on pushing it further, the temperature is no where near the limit (48 C) with a bog standard cooler, but it re-booted during the Sandra CPU Multimedia tests when set to X17, ( wouldn't boot until Vcore = 1.7v).
I understand the cpu can take 1.85v but worry about how hot the cpu will get if I boost Vcore any further.

Suggestions ??
 
so by overclocking you wish to reduce the life of your hardware? if you want more performance upgrade or invalidate any warranties up to you imho.
 
Cooling isn't an issue yet, as I said its barely above the temperature it was showing before I started.
I have backed down to X16 because it has rebooted itself again, BUT I heard the immersion heater kick in next door, so it might have been a mains spike; I will get a new filters extension lead in the morning.

What I am looking for is information from anyone with an Asus mobo, who can give me tips on over-clocking v increasing Vcore.
If windows hangs on boot is it a data corruption problem; ie the board not liking the really high multiplier numbers; or is it a case that the cpu is glitching and needs more power ??

Is the reboot a sign that the PSU is not good enough ?


(Another thought,,WHY did I remove the asus-probe software years ago ?? because the PC kept rebooting randomly when I ran it ???).

Even at X16 I have boosted the clock speed by 20%, just below XP3000+ levels; not bad for a free upgrade !!!!
 
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Sorry Timeless, cross posted.

Are you aware that most lower speed cpu's are actually under-clocked high speed ones??

They do not fab lower speed chips they fab for the highest speed possible, mark them according to the market, not everyone wants to pay for the fastest going, but by encapsulatiing the chips, adding circuits that say they are X speed, they can create a range of speeds and prices from the same cpu core.
That means that most lower speed chips in a range can run at much faster speeds without damage; it is only when you push the Vcore voltage up that damage can occur from over heating.

You case more damage to your system turning it on/off every day than modest over-clocking can cause
There are no moving parts, so you cannot physically wear it out from running it faster!!!!!!

The fastest chip available that my mobo can take is the XP3000+ 333FSB which costs £110 when you can find one new, £50+ on Ebay used.
 
lm aware chips are clicked down.. the reason for that is overclockers who try go beyond limits, my personal opinion is mearly only pushing the system within its specified limits, any more than that and you are asking for an even shorter life of the said piece of hardware..

as for turning the system on and off lm aware that also causes hardware damage over time due to spikes in power going through the system at bootup, this is why my system generally doesnt get turned off, you see l run my system as more of a server than a home pc, last reboot was about 3 weeks ago.
 
Sorry, you are wrong on both points.

They underclock most chips so they can charge a premium for the full speed ones, not because overclockers with cook them.
If what you were saying was true then they would really be stupid, cooked processors mean new purchases, which means more money for the chip manufacturer.
And the main damage to any electrical component is THERMAL; the heating up and cooling down associated with switching it on or off; that is why light bulbs usually go when you turn them on, rather than after they have been on for a while.
 
l didnt say the reason was overclockers, however there are reasons they clock them down minorly, the more you push a chip the shorter its lifespan.

as for your thermal theory l agree but with that said suden bursts of current are heading to components any change and spikes can cause problems, most spikes occur when starting up altho thats mainly from the basic switch on.
 
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l guess lm just one of the few who thinks if you wanna faster machine why force slower parts to their limits..
 
lm aware chips are clicked down.. the reason for that is overclockers who try go beyond limits, .

Thats what you said.

I suggest you read up on wafer fab before you say anything else; in the olden days when wafer fabrication was less certain, they would test the chips and mark them according to whatever speed they could get out of them, but as the process improved, the majority of the cpu's would pass all the tests and run at the maximum intended speed; this was no good for the manufacturers because they could not sell them all at one speed, and be able to charge top money for them, so they split them according to expected market share and set a range of speeds into the secondary circuitry inside the cpu housing; and then price accordingly ( and get annoyed when people break the speed lock and clock them back up again).

As for spikes; electronic equipment better not have them, the components run at very low voltages ( see Vcore in my original posting); a spike would totally destroy any number of components.
The main source of spikes is heavy current equipment like washing machines, immersion heaters, high power lighting etc; these affect the PC via interference either in radiowave form or as "noise" on the mains circuit, but it is strictly regulated by law and not usually a problem unless faulty or very near to the PC.

As for my "thermal theory", it is not "my theory" but industry knowledge; ask any trained electrician or electronics engineer.
(Electricians from Lancashire need not apply - none of you are qualified).
 
Does that motherboard only give you access to tweak the vcore? Can you adjust the ram voltage too since most stability problems emanate from memory settings. I use to have a similar chipset myself but can’t recall all the tweaks I made off-hand as it was quite awhile back.

Either way I think you’ve done a pretty good job getting it to 3000+, remember that after that AMD had to re-engineer its chips with the newer BARTON core (designed for 3200+ and some lower 2500/2400+ upwards models) to get the last ounces of performance out of it before introducing their 32/64Bit hybrids. In other words, going higher could be troublesome.

I wouldn’t worry about the warranty, that chip is well out of it by now =).
 
I can change the RAM voltage, but there is no indication of what the "Auto" setting is giving them, the board is supplied with 3.3v but the "RAM" options only range from about 2.5v - 2.85v, I didn't want to set it too low and have the PC refuse to boot at all, or start too high and fry the chips.
What voltage do you suggest I start at???

I can also alter the AGP voltage; basically, the Bios update has unlocked everything, before I had limited overclock abilities; the last bios up-date is listed as a "Beta", but it was issued in 2005!!!

By upping the FSB by a few steps I have recovered the speed lost by backing down the multiplier from X17 to X16, and it is now stable at just below XP3200+ levels according to SANDRA.

A better cooler is needed before I try to push the cpu any further, the book says Athlon working temp range is as high as 80 C and I have read recommendation's that say to keep it below 60 C, currently mine is chugging along at 48 - 50 C.
 
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i have just finished fitting a Zantec cooler ( thank you Butler !!), and an Antec Earthworks PSU.

Oh wow, unless the HD's are spinning up/down for windows starting or closing I cannot hear anything coming from the case !!!

The CPU temp is down to 38 C so I am now going to play with the cpu multipliers again.

BTW Has anyone seen the news about Johnson & Johnson suing the American Red Cross over use of the Red Cross symbol ???

Boycott anyone??
 
Wasn't the HD's it was a DVD I had left in, After taking it out the PC is so quiet I can hear the servo whine as the HD moves the heads !!!

I have pushed up the multiplier to x17 and FSB to 135, it wont reliably run higher than that, even when I raise the Vcore to 1.75v.

Next I played with the RAM; I must admit to making a cock-up when I bought RAM for this PC, I used an old stick from my last PC and bought a new one to make 512M, trouble is they are not the same !! the old one is PC2100 and the other PC2700, so my RAM speed isn't as good as it should be; I always thought they were both PC2700 until I got them out and checked.
Still, by playing with latency and clk speeds I have got both of them performing at near PC2700 levels while still running them at 135/270Mhz.

Having settled at a PR of 3328Mhz ( a smidgen higher than an XP3200+ according to SANDRA),from the cpu I am now playing with overclocking my elderly Radeon 9200 card; it was 250/180Mhz; so far it is stable without extra cooling at 304/204.
Right now I am thinking about how I can use the old cpu fan to cool it and overclock further !!

If you don't hear from me for a while you will know I've over done it and melted the graphics card ( well, it was only £50 3 years ago !!).
 
The old 9200 wont go any higher, if fact I backed it down slightly to 300/200 because of artefacts appearing; thinking about raising the AGP voltage but I cannot find much information about it.
I have been reading up and increased the Vcore of the cpu to 1.8volts and the Vram to 2.85volts; with these settings I still cannot get X18 multiplier but I have raised the FSB to 138.
SANDRA now says I have a cpu speed of 2.34 Ghz and a PR of 3402Mhz; half way between and Athlon FX-51 and FX-53.
The RAM is holding me back, so I will be off to the next computer fair to buy some better sticks.
cpu temperature is still only 45C during SANDRA's tests and AMD states it has an operating range of 0-90C; I am going to run some games to see how much higher it will go when I am pushing it.

I can highly recommend the Antec Earthwatts PSU, hardly a whisper from it.
 
New RAM fitted, but it will not run @400Mhz, tried everything and finally emailed Crucial about it.

Still while trying everything I could think of I discovered that my XP2100 would now accept being booted as an XP2700 ( FSB 166), I now have the FSB to 170Mhz but the multiplier lowered to X14, giving me a PR of 3451 according to SANDRA and a PCMark04 of 3264.
For some strange reason this lets the cpu run at a much lower temperature than before; from 45C it has dropped to 33c for the same Vcore !!!

I suspect it was the old, slow RAM stopping this from working before now as the RAM has to run at or above the FSB of the cpu.

I have also bitten the bullet and ordered a PowerColor X1950Pro card to replace my ancient 9200; after looking around and seeing them on sale at £125 - £150 I stumbled across a site selling them for £98 + £6 shipping; ripped their arm off ordering it !!!!

I didnt want the cheaper Sapphire card because it is supposed to be very noisy and I didnt want to undo all the quietening mods I have fitted in the last week, the PowerColor has a "silent" cooling system fitted as standard.

I''l update this thread when I get it fitted.
 
The page wont load Butler, but never mind, the PowerColor has IceQ Silent cooler fitted as standard.
The Zalman is great btw, thanks for that.
 
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Grrr !! The X1950 puts out so much heat the mobo AND cpu are over heating and shutting down !!! I have taken the side panel off until I can get an extra case fan at the comp fair on monday.
Cpu went from 32 to 52 C and mobo from 30 to 48C !!! as soon as I put the side back on.

Even worse the output from the X1950 fan blows straight onto the Hard drives, so they are feeling a little warmer than I would like as well.

As Muttley would say " Dratun, Fratun, ......."
 
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