MSI, Athlon 64 Overclocking, and Half Multipliers: I Was Wrong

About six weeks ago, I wrote and published two articles focusing on Athlon 64 overclocking, RAM testing, and the MSI K8N Neo2 (located here and here). Collectively, these two pieces detailed the unusual instability I encountered above stock RAM speeds, the persistence of that instability across multiple brands and types of RAM, and the software disagreements I encountered when I ‘asked’ various programs what CPU multiplier was being used or what HTT link speed was set. When ordered to use a half-multiplier, CPUID would report it properly (12.5x, 11.5x, 10.5x, etc). Both Everest and MSI’s own CoreCell utility, however, reported a whole multiplier—12x when 12.5x was used, 11x if 11.5x was used, etc. At the same time, both programs reported that the HTT clock was raised in order to “fake” a half multiplier setting. This, in turn, raised the memory clock and (we theorized) accounted for our RAM instability.