n00b - Athlon 64 3200+

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Hey guy, i'm a n00b to anything to do with overclocking, but I have a craving to try it out!
I have an AMD Athlon 64 3200+ chip, 2Gb RAM, & a K8 Triton nForce 4 Ultra mobo...
Everytime i raise the CPU level a little bit, i poo my pants lol
I've managed to get up 205.00 Frequency...
What is the highest frequency I can expect to get out of my chip?
I also have a big ol' 120mm Akasa Amber Case Fan at the back of my case as well, if that helps...?
:)
 
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I only have the factory cooler at the moment, but i'm planning to get a Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro CPU Cooler within the next few weeks.
What can i expect from the chip with the factory cooler, and with new cooler as well?
Thanks people :)
 
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Yeah, i've managed to get up to 2.35Ghz, but when i crank it up to 2.4 it becomes unstable and things start to go wrong... such as Cubase not working properlly, WMP not playing media files etc.
Is there any way to surpass this?
 
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add volts to the CPU vcore.

I had that mobo btw and it can be a tricky one, but I managed to get my CPU from 1.8ghz to 3.0ghz on it (albeit with water cooling).

invest in a freezer 64, they are well decent for the cash.
 
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gr1mey said:
add volts to the CPU vcore.

I had that mobo btw and it can be a tricky one, but I managed to get my CPU from 1.8ghz to 3.0ghz on it (albeit with water cooling).

invest in a freezer 64, they are well decent for the cash.

woah 3.0Ghz would be fantastic, but i don't have water cooling, and to be honest, i don't have the money for it!!

with the freezer 64, though, do you reckon i could get up to 2.6-2.8Ghz... maybe?
 
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completely depends on the Stepping of your CPU - I had a 3200+ and struggled to get over 2.2ghz lol.

2.6ghz is often achieved on air with those chips though.
 
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great, thanks for the help bro :)

one final question, how many volts would u recommend me increasing the vcore voltage by? It's currently running at 1.6V
 
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id stop there, 1.5 is a general cut off point for air, maybe 1.6

have you changed all other setting in bios are you just cracnking the fsb ?
 
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you need to monitor your temperatures really before starting to over-volt the CPU, OK you should be fine just putting 0.05v on, but I'd reccomend temp monitoring and better cooling first.

edit:

If I remember for that BIOS you wanna put the memory on a 2/1 divider, set the PCIe clock to 101, then start upping the FSB.

can u post photos of the M.I.T tweaker screen in BIOS? is that possible?

oh and make sure you know how to reset the CMOS, its very important!!
 
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put you memory on a 166 divider first then up the fsb until you cannot boot to windows then add voltage little by little until your temps are too high then test for 24 hous.
 
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i can't post pics of the BIOS settings, but here's a pic of the EasyTune5 app that i'm using...
1177erk.jpg

the temp is sitting idle at 27 degrees
 
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really, you should download a program such as Prime95, and use the torture tests on that to make sure the CPU is running stable, it will also use 100% of the CPU's resources so you cant get a good reading of what your FULL load temps are.

TBH I dont like the idea of windows based overclocking, you do much better to understand it from the BIOS - Im pretty sure on 1.6v you could get higher if you have your RAM on a divider.

I'll try and take some photos later on of the settings you need to be looking at on the GA-K8NF-9 BIOS.
 
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using the Prime95 program my temps go up frighteningly high - up to 40 degrees, as soon as it hit 45 i stopped it, cos i got scared :( lol
is this normal?

edit:

i ran the app again, it's now on Test 3, and the temperature seems to be idle at 44 degrees... i'll be getting my getting my Freezer 64 soon though :)
 
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Hey there, I have the exact same mobo and cpu as you Drifta, I've got it running at 2.4ghz, with 241fsb and my ram is on a divider. Are you using the F8 bios? It's got some extra little bits in it from the version shipped with the board.

I'd definitely read the guide at the top of the Overclocking page, I did, and it helped me tons. I did manage to run my 3200+ at 2.5ghz (250 fsb), but it just wasn't stable after that, and my ram didn't like the fsb so high without slow it down lower than DDR400 on the divider.

btw I'd definitely follow the advice and stick to the bios for overclocking, easytune wasn't particularly helpful when I was setting up my rig, you just can't see everything you need to, and I didn't trust it's volt or temp readings either.

And on a lighter note, which bit of Kent are you from? I'm a Kent boy myself.
 
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yes Temps should go up when using prime95, thats the idea, running the CPU at 100% to check for stability and load temperatures. under 50'c is ok...

I have pics of the MIT section of the gigabyte BIOS, and I can help you overclock, but I strongly suggest you sort out better than stock cooling before going any further.
 
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jimbojones666 said:
Hey there, I have the exact same mobo and cpu as you Drifta, I've got it running at 2.4ghz, with 241fsb and my ram is on a divider. Are you using the F8 bios? It's got some extra little bits in it from the version shipped with the board.

I'd definitely read the guide at the top of the Overclocking page, I did, and it helped me tons. I did manage to run my 3200+ at 2.5ghz (250 fsb), but it just wasn't stable after that, and my ram didn't like the fsb so high without slow it down lower than DDR400 on the divider.

btw I'd definitely follow the advice and stick to the bios for overclocking, easytune wasn't particularly helpful when I was setting up my rig, you just can't see everything you need to, and I didn't trust it's volt or temp readings either.

And on a lighter note, which bit of Kent are you from? I'm a Kent boy myself.

Yep, i'm using the BIOS for overclocking, just using easytune to monitor the temps whilst running the Prime95 app.

I'm from Bexleyheath, in Kent :D

@ Gr1mey, thanks for helping bro, i'm new to all this... :)

I did read the sticky guide at the top, but all the information just bewildered me :confused:

EDIT:

i will be ordering my new cooling tonight, from OCUK, so should have it sometime this week! :D
add me to MSN/AIM if you have either of them :)
 
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