My pathetic overclock....

I have a AMD Athlon XP 3000+ ... runs at bout 50C under normal conditiions. I can overclock the FSB to all of 4MHz faster than it normally runs. I've tried ovevolting the CPU, the ram, the cpu and the ram, I tried running async (well that was a dumb idea....). None of them last Prime95 for more than about 10 minutes.

Maybe its just too hot?

 

50c uder normal condition? meaning what? Idling or 100% folding?

 

yeh idling that seems above average.

 

damn that sucks, and I was thinking about getting one of those.

 

Don't worry that is not normal for that chip.

 

4 MHz over 333 fsb (166) ????? is it a barton ?? ALL bartons will run a 400FSB or better. Maybe lossen the mem timings a bit? 50c = 122F My chip gets unstable over ~133 F ( 56.1C )... What mem do you have and what are its defalt speed and timings ? My bet is its the mem holding you back.....

 

I bet that too!

Memory is crap. Crucial stuff, but its rated 333, so I'm overclocking that too.

O master over the overclockage, what would you reccomend I do to make the memory timings less agressive? Even after reading the "holy grail of RAM" I still don't quite get memory timings.

The reason I say this is I was messing around last night, decided to have a go at running the ram async and it went horribly wrong machine wouldn't boot, just got a load of long beeps (which I looked up and it means absolutley nothing... ).

 

Oh and when I said "under normal conditions, I meant running stock.

 

CAS / ras to cas delay / precharg time / and cycle time
..3............... 4.......................... 3.................... 11.......... (in my case).....
what are your timings at now ? A cycle time of 11 is best for AMD CPUs donno why exactly but it is ....

 

Definitely could be the ram but that 50c Idle temp is really bad too.
Under load I'm suprised the pc doesn't restart on you.
I would reseat the cpu cooler with some AS5 and keep you ambient temps as low as possible.If your house is very warm and the pc is in a bad location,that could be the culprit.

 

What core voltage are you running ???? Lowering it will help temps but could hurt stability.....Bartons will run a 400FSB at stock voltage BTW I have never seen uping the CPU core V help to get a higher FSB speed ( when the core speed stays the same )

 

VCore is at 1.65.
Upping the VCore helps stability at higher overclocks, which means theoretically you could go faster.

Idles are fine, I'm 100% stable at 55C. I do have an airflow problem in the case but that is in the process of being fixed, for the time being its off with the side and open withh the window

 

HAH. I've decided to ignore Prime95. I'm going for jv's CPU Stability test instead.

I can boot 180FSB with 2-3-3-11, with VCore on 1.75 and DRam on 2.65 Now I'm going to try tighten up the timings.

The only negetive side effect has been the floppy drive has gone nutz on me for some reason. Hmm...

 

Your board has a pci lock right? I wonder why its doing that.Maybe double check to see if its set to the correct frequency.

 

This should help explain mem speeds and timings ......

 

Many disregard one fact, modified system BUS would and does effect all attached components connected directly into a slot or via cables.

 

That is the case on older mobos but not realy any more the AN7 and my mobo (the DFI infinity) are designed for better overclocking ( the 2 best socket A OCers IMHO ) Thay both have PCI locks that lock all externel frequencies ( from the FSB ) to stock speeds.......

 

Right, if PCI-lock feature is present then that should not be the cause. However the side effects to overall mobo functions and peripherals connected via cables could still be effected, imo.

 

Yes if the northbridge and/or the southbridge are runing unstable then things can get "weard" .... floppy drive not working, one drive not spinning up, lights not coming on, one PCI slot not working , videocard/AGP not working and onboard sound and/or network card not working.... iv seen all of these caused by a FSB OC......But his mobo is rated at 400FSB and hes only running 360 ....

 

Right on

I found out, my floppy drive is fine, but the stability tester has a "periphrial test" which makes the floppy drive attempt to read/write even if a floppy isn't present.

I did some stability testing with F@H. I was doing a WU at 100% and after a few hours (at least 4 or 5) the core crashed. So, I've had to knock it down a few MHz. I'm running 170MHz just fine as we speak with slightly tighter memory timings.

I'm hoping to get a blowhole fan installed quite soon, within a few days hopefully, which should help my diabolical airflow situation.