OCing the 3800+ x2 to 2.4Ghz and some Qs
 

I own an AMD Athlon X2 3800+, and so far I have managed to overclock it to 2.3Ghz, but my real goal has been 2.4Ghz.

I just can't seem to be able to do it! My motherboard is the Abit Fatal1ty AN8 SLI and the rest of my specs (CPU and RAM) are here (default):



My BIOS setup is the following (default):




While running at 2.3Ghz I had the following setting:

230Mhz x 10 = 2300Mhz
CPU Voltage: 1.375
DDR SDRAM Voltage: 2.65
DDR 433 (default timmings)

Whenever I increase to 240Mhz on the cpu clock it wont work (as in the mobo will signal and autoamtically reset the settings when I boot)

The max multiplier factor is 10, and it can be changed in intervals of .5

I also have a few questions.

What does DDR VTT Voltage stand for, and what is the PCIE Clock (PCI Express yeah, but can I benefit from increasing it and what happens if I do?)

Any help/info about such topics would be greatly apreciated.

Read reading this first.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=gethowto&howtoID=58

I was a bit pissed at the fact that you just gave me the link to the tutorial which I "browsed" through last time and overclocked that way. But now I am so glad that you did. I had missed a few very important key aspects that I had overlooked.

By the end of the day I was somewhere to the point of almost getting it to run at 2.4Ghz.

This is what I had:

I found I could run HTT at 280Mhz max
and my RAM all the way up to DDR 500 (default timmings of 3.0-3-4-8) or DDR 433 at 2.5-3-3-7

I had just set these settings and was about to test them:

HTT - 253Mhz
Multiplier - 9.5
HT - 4x
CPU Voltage - 1.375v
DDR SDRAM Voltage - 2.70v
RAM - DDR 400 (syncing it with HTT) 3-3-4-8 (default)

... That is until "something" happend and my hard drive corrupted and now I can't boot into Windows (running off of Linux Live CD)

Now that certain "something" was caused either by my overclocking or the fact that the mini refrigerator's compressor clicked off that was hooked into the power block as my Computer (when it did click off you could hear a staticy noise and the screen jerked for a second and my keyboard's LEDs jerked as well and I had to replug my keyboard to get it working again).

Anybody has any suggestions (both Hard Drive wise and OC wise?) :D

Well, I got windows working again and all, and let me tell you, I'm back to stage one.

I guess 2.3Ghz is the max for me. There is just no possible combination that worked (most of em BSOD during windows boot and the one or two that made it crashed into BSOD instantly after logon)

Oh well, at least I learned alot more than I knew before hand :o

up your cpu voltage, try different Sata connectors,....

Why would using different Sata connectors help? Your saying the current ones may be at fault?

What's a safe voltage level for the A64 X2 3800+? Default is 1.35v. Should I use 1.4v instead?

I'd rather go for 1.45v, just check your temps.

Well that sure did it. That and lower the ram to DDR 333.

I craped my pants with glee when the system ran stabel at 240x10@1.45, DDR333@2.8 (2.5-3-3-7).

What I didn't expect is that I could pump this baby up all the way to 2.5Ghz by 250x10@1.5v, DDR333@2.9v (2.5-3-3-7)

Yep, 2.5Ghz. Before I overclocked my CPU idled at 44C and 53C under load. Now it idles at 47C and 58C under load. Is that still a pretty safe range (My room temp while testing was at 26C. But in the morning and early afternoon it can rise up to 30C, which will really determine the heat)? Also, is 1.5v a bit high for the processor? When I read around different forums I found 1.45v-1.5v to be a pretty safe amount among most clockers. Same for the 2.9v for the RAM.

58C is still "cool" yes

Hmmz, i'm playing with my setup too atm, same x2 3800+, utt CH5 chips and asus a8n.

Never oc'd an A64 before so i'm going with very little steps, learning some of the new settings etc..

One thing seems to be VERY wrong:





2.5-4-4-5 @ 2t? And thats at 333mhz!

I used to run this ram @ 245-2-3-2-5 1:1 on my old p4 setup!