Trying to overclock my AMD Athlon XP 3200+

Ok, I have a Hp PAvilion a520n. My bios doesnt have any settings for overclocking or anything of that such. No memory settings or anything. I tried to update it, i've got another thread on that already. But anyways, I downloaded Nvidia nTune. Then i found Nvidia System Utility. So now i have Nvidia System utility. I had it overclocked to 2.5Ghz. Stock its 2.20Ghz.
Heres a screen shot, unclocked. It clocks the buss speeds, im thinking memory speeds to. I just bought a GIG of Corsair valuselect Memory PC2700. I was told i could of got PC3200 or something of the sort. But i didnt. Anyways, heres the Screen shot.. Its actually undercloked. But when i use It sometimes my whole pc freezes..

 

HPs ( or any other "name brand" PCs ) dont overclock well if at all .....And the key to using any FSB changing software w/o hard locks is to make small moves... Did you read the OCing guide sticky ??

 

Yes, 2500mzh will never work without increase in voltage and then you cant even be sure. I had one 3200, did 2400 but with 1.775v. Needed expensive Thermalright sink with 92mm fan to cool it down. 2400mhz was really about max. on this one, 1.8 or more didnt give much. May be yours is better but it will need more voltage.

http://hasw.net/ shows how software oc is possible on NF2 but motherboard must be compatible.

Your HP has Asus motherboard http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&lang=en&lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&docname=c00067795 and more here http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...roduct=404643&docname=c00072236#c00072236_doc dont know if tool will work, probably not. Asus have nothing to do with this model, not supported. How HP keep costs down, often use crippled motherboards. Also less support problems if customers cant tinker, heh. Not a good situation for customers really - just look at the many bios-fixes NF2 motherboards have gotten - I bet you get 1 or 2 max. HP have a forum for Pavilions, may be some help there http://forums1.itrc.hp.com/service/forums/bizsupport/categoryhome.do?categoryId=405

Solution: Build yourself Until then settle for what you can get out of cpu by using fsb slider. Memory should run at 166fsb and allready be fixed by ratio/divider thingy. So if 210fsb or 2310mhz works for cpu, ram will be at 175fsb or so. Should work and give at least some more speed. Test oc with programs known to be good at that then you know for sure if it is stable. Get Evererst Home Edition - will show details. More than bios does.

You should have gotten PC3200 ram, does not cost much more and is standard today - research and ask first, buy later A little loss not being able to keep up with cpu but dont upgrade or spend more money on this machine. If it feels too slow it will probably be due to video card anyway. Your PC2700 can be recycled on newer motherboard like NF4.

 

Ok, Its overclocked i guess.. No change in Temps tho..

 

We will see how that works Memory at 182fsb. Unless some HP geek have developed a tool or bios unlocking real oc-options this is what you have to play with.

Forgot about Speedfan, click "Clock" tab and you see it might work as Ntune. You cant find model but it should use same clock generator as simular Asus.

Temp wont go up that much with same voltage, more mhz does heat up a bit but nothing major. If cpu really is stable you have very good Barton 3200.

 

What would overclocking the AGP bus do? Also, the speedfan crashes my pc.
Also, whats those three settings on the Right do?

 

Overclocking AGP bus dont give much if anything. At some point it will crash or make computer unstable. Some video cards, mostly ATI Ive heard, is sensitive to even small changes. Be glad it can be locked on NF2.

Speedfan not working is too bad. Can see sensors are not right but may be clock generator worked - you have nTune.

The 3 settings are ram-timings. Now you are running 2.5-3-3-7 and can change last 3. TRAS not so sensitive, may be 8 or 9 will increase bandwidth slightly. At 200fsb may be 11 would be best. Small benefits I think. TRCD is a good one and 2 will be noticable faster, well in benchmarks Also the one which probably wont work. Need higher quality ram for this but only one way to find out. If it is really out of the question you do risk blowing up registry files cause memory becomes corrupted instantly - then XP pukes. Really best to test outside Windows, in memtest86. May be there is hope, an improved memtest86 you can get here http://www.memtest.org/ I dont know if it works on NF2 but "Added on-fly timings change on some chipsets" means you can test 2.5-2-2-7 safely! TRP dont do much for performance. If on the fly timings works in memtest86 you can test different TRAS values - the one giving highest bandwidth you should use. So TRCD, TRAS, TRP in order of output value. The more technical explanation of what this is you can google or look up in some memory forum.

 

WOAH. This cant be good!

 

I dont really know ntune. Try Everest HOME edition, also compares your score with other computers.

 

I only have Everest ULTRA edition

 

Only better, Ultra have more features not less. Might be a good idea to check cpu stability with some stress test. Prime95 or simular.

 

I have my 3200+ XP at 2410. I think it could do more tho with better cooling and better ram. I use a CoolerMaster HCC-001, and Arctic Silver 5. Air cooling. My cpu fan I put on this heatsink does bout 7000 rpm. My m/b is the old A7N8X Del. FSB @ 400.

 

Some Athlon 3200+'s are LOCKED.. Some arent. Meaning some can change the multiplier, some cant. Anyways, Increasing the FSB is not the best way to go... I fried 3 batches of ram trying to OC the FSB with my Athlon 2800+.. 3 RMA's sent back... Now this batch im keeping in my A64 system and i just OC with the mulitplier.