New System to play with...

[ddr400design]

:partytime I have just done some serious shopping as my PC was a couple of years old. This time I went for power with the view of over clocking the ba***rd.

I want people to be a part of this project as I have never seriously overclocked my PC so what to set the FSB and the core to would be fantastic. (When you put the AMD on to the MOBO do you have to set it up in BIOS or will it just work? if you do what do i have to change?

My spec is below:

- Crucial Ballistix PC-4000 BL12864Z503 1GB DDR (MY-043-CR)
- Abit AN8 SLi Fatal1ty nForce4 SLi (Socket 939) PCI-Express Motherboard (MB-070-AB)
- AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ (Socket 939) - Retail (ADA3800BVBOX) (CP-134-AM)
- Hiper HPU-4B580 Type R 580W Modular ATX2.2 PSU - Blue (CA-006-HP)
- Seagate Barracuda 7200.8 NCQ 200GB ST3200826AS SATA 8MB Cache - OEM (HD-019-SE)
- Akasa Serial ATA 45cm Blue EL Data Cable (CB-014-AK)
- Thermaltake Case
- XFX GeForce PCX6600 GT Extreme Gamers Edition 128MB DDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (PVT43GNDD7) (GX-046-XF)
- Akasa Rounded Ultra ATA133/100/66 IDE Cable (0.45m) - Blue (CB-041-GE)
- Gigabyte G-Power Silent Blue Light (Socket A/754/939/478/775) Cooler (GH-PDU21-SC) (HS-005-GI)


Ta

Rob

[Slamdog]

firstly... welcome to the forum...

ok, depending on the bios, take the fsb up in small steps. overclocking is not a finite art, various stuff responds differently. dont touch the core until you cant get any more out of just the fsb increase.

i would also suggest getting the best possible cooler for the chip that you can, the standard one is gonna be pretty pants compared to aftermarket ones

[ddr400design]

Thanks for replying, how do you rate the kit i purchased, I am hoping its all going to be fast as stuff changes so damn quick with PC's

shoul di drop the Multiplier down as far as i can before increasing the FSB then when it becomes unstabel start to increase the multiplier then start to increase the FSB again and how hot is too hot for stndars temp inside the box especially on the components.

Im building the pc my self so none of the parts are stock, the cooler i have got is:

Gigabyte G-Power Silent Blue Light (Socket A/754/939/478/775) Cooler (GH-PDU21-SC) (HS-005-GI)
From the ground up, G-Power Coolers are designed for efficiently transferring heat away from the CPU. The base of the cooler has a polished nickel electroplating around a solid copper foot allowing for superior contact with the CPU. The quad heat pipes use sintered power wick technology to enable the cooling fluid inside them to flow back to the heat source after condensation - even if it has to travel upwards. This means that the cooler can be mounted in virtually any position to accommodate a range of case designs, making the G-Power Cooler a case modders dream! Typical of all GIGABYTE coolers, the G-Power models use large fans that generate strong air currents through the cooling fins even at low revolutions with near silent operation. Air-flow from the fan effectively cools other components around the CPU, reducing the chance of capacitor failure for gamers and overclockers who push their rigs to the limit.

- Universal 4-in-1 design fits all mainstream platforms
- Omni-directional cooler design with new advanced sintered powder wicks
- Advanced sintered powder wicks structure, enhances heat dissipation
- Quad-Way Airflow Design - Fully compliant with MOSFET thermal functions
- Solid pure copper base with nickel-plating finish
- Quad high-performance heatpipes
- High-density fin placement maximizes heat dissipation area
- Tooless 4-in-1 bracket enables easy installation of G-power series.
- Raised heat pipes avoid interference with neighboring components
- Attractive packaging
- Airflow 32.5~42.5 CFM
- Noise 21.3~24.5 dBA
- Weight: 430g
- Dimension 110 x 110 x 109mm

will this be enough to do the job, I thought about Water cooling dfor about two min until i look at the pricing!!!

[ddr400design]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Gigabyte_GpowerSilent.jpg

[Slamdog]

you are asking the wrong person regarding 939 amd stuff... i'm an intel man mainly and i dont have anything newer than an xp2800+ in the amd range!

the stuff you have certainly sounds good. some of the other guys will be able to help out more with the overclock. I just follow the basics of overclocking....

[Totem]

Id stick with just upping the fsb atm, your gunna want to see the temps you get at the faster seeds, that way you wont run into any problems too early. Once you get to the max fsb you can drop the multiplier and push the fsb even higher. Thats they way i thought it was done anyway, buut ive only o/c a 2.5ghz p4 to 3.1 on cheap stuff and default cooling. Sure others will chip in. post lots of pics and benchmarks.

[ddr400design]

:zx11pisse AHHHHH NUTS my Mboard and case are out of stock thats just jammed up the whole shipment!!!! sigh now I have to wait even longer. I'll make sure i get the Cam out and take pics of all the pretty bits and what it all looks like running. then ill bmark it and hopefully have a little smile. The problem is by the time it gets here it will all be out of date!

a 3800+ has a clcok speed of 2gig does it not? what kind of speed do you think it is possible to drag out of it?:dom:

[ddr400design]

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/AMD_X2_small.jpg
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Ballistix240-pinDIMM.jpg
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/XFX_6600GTSLi.jpg
http://www2.abit.com.tw/upload/products/fatal1ty-an8-sli_top_500.jpg
http://www2.abit.com.tw/upload/products/fatal1ty-an8-sli_panel_500.jpg
http://www2.abit.com.tw/upload/products/guru-panel_300.jpg
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/akasabluesata.jpg
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ATA-Blue.jpg
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/Hiper_Blue.jpg

[Grolschie]

Hi DDR400, welcome aboard mate, look s like a nice set up there :)

[ddr400design]

thanks for all your welcomes, I hope it is a nice setup, ive just has an email telling me that my mobo and case will be in stock in a few days then next day to me. but everything else is coming with it so im still waiting!!

[Jimmyboy]

heh, in regards to a heatsink, im still using the standard amd cooler with my 3200+ winchester, i can get an extra 500mhz out of the thing and its still sufficiently cooled

nice rig u got going on there :) though if your into serious gaming id suggest adding another gfx (sli) or get something a bit more monsterous :D

also when u put ur cpu into the mobo, if its anything like my asus (hopefully not im fed up with the thing) the fsb will be right but the multi might be right down, not sure what the standard multi settin would be on a 3800+ though 11.5 maybe ??


fancy swapping ur duel core 3800+ for my 3200+ winchester:p:

[ddr400design]

Sadley Not jimmy, thanks for the input with the CPU, i know its a really spuddy question but my one has been sitting humming away for so long Iv'e forgotten what upgrading it feels like.

what makes my new one even better is ive managed to blag the money for the parts out of work selling them my old P4 2.0 yay! for the grand some of 900 odd quid (I just realised my KB is american and i dont have a pound sign, I feel dirty Up the Brits!! (BTW my new KB is the new, dare i say it but, microsoft one with the finger print reader so i dont have to log on any more and no guessing my password and gettin into my box"!

[ddr400design]

oh and im getting my pannies together for another SLI gfx card. in the bics i have seen when they are running together they seem to need a bridge board across the two, does anyone know if you need one of these and how much one is gonna cost.

[ddr400design]

just answered my own question about the bridge the ANi Sli comes with an SLi switch built in Happy days

[Arok]

I'm in about the same boat as you. Just ordered a bunch of parts for a new pc, and they aren't here yet. At the end of the week they should arrive.

abit AN8 sli
athlon 64 3700 San Diego
leadtek 7800GT extreme myvivo
Tt Beetle 4 in 1 cooler (no clue why they say 4n1, but it looks cool)


I'm just gonna use all my old shit, psu, case, DVD+-RW, 1GB(2x512) pc3200, and my HDD for now. I'll eventually get a nice SATA2 HDD, another 7800GT and a bigger psu. Probably more and better ram. I doubt what I've got will OC well.

[ddr400design]

Cool Arok keep me posted on your build and get some pics on this thread, (Twiddles thumbs still waiting for lovely new bits!) Ahhhh FFS the An8 SLi come with an Sli switch that you flip a board that looks like ram over to tell it you have two gfx cards but you still need the bridge. where do i get one (Does it come with the cards?)

[mr-white]

the bridge for the cards should be in your motherboard box

MW

[ddr400design]

Thanks muchly, as soon as the bits arive ill get my camera out.

[ddr400design]

Update: The Parts Are Shipping Today And Will Arrive Tommorow Yyyeeeesssss!!!

[mr-white]

thats a long wait for parts....

MW

[ddr400design]

Yes Mr White it has been a long time, The PC has been buzzing along quite happily now but i wanted to get my set up just right before i posted the finished product. It seems like everyone has left this froum since i was last here???

Ok I have the PC specked in other posts along wiht my nice new 37" HD LCD Screen i use as a monitor! ohhh yes I have wasited so long for my setup to be complete and now it is. images below, let me know if you think the wait was worth it????

Rob:crz_9:
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00069.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0046.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0042.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0041.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0034.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0033.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0030.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0029.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0028.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSCF0027.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00081.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00080.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00078.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00075.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00074.jpg
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00072.JPG
http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/DSC00071.JPG

[mr-white]

looks awesome and expensive, just need to get some cable ties in that case ;)

MW

[shelley]

I don't see what all the fuss is about, beige looks cool if you squint!!!!:p: J/K I's likin' that, looks very cool :D

*spots Marvin!* OOOOOOHHHHH you have a Marvin!!!!

*cuddles her Marvin tightly*

:crz_9:

[ddr400design]

Tell me about it!!! Its the case its too tall I have tried to make them look nice and its driving me nuts. And I'm loathed to get rid of my thermal take case as it cost loads and I love it!

Glad you like it, it took me long enough to get all the bits!

Im going to staert a new thread called Get your Rigs out for the lads, I know there was one already of peoples set ups but it would be nice to see fresh images of how they are today, what do you all think?

[ddr400design]

[QUOTE=shelley;36504]I don't see what all the fuss is about, beige looks cool if you squint!!!!:p: J/K I's likin' that, looks very cool :D

Yuhh I know its not good, I havent painted since i moved in! been spending all my cash on this poxy rig! thats why I sit in the dark like a real geek anyway!!!

[mr-white]

mines here (http://www.terminalcomputers.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=3064&page=2) in my upgrade thread, the cable tieing is too great but those cases are a bitch as it rotates the mobo upside down

MW

[Slamdog]

i will make sure i have piccies of all mine before i destroy them and condense them into one rig....

[ddr400design]

Mr White - Niiiccee setup! That is one tidy install, If you look closey at my images you will notice the slapdash upsidedown/dangling HDD at the bottom! Not as dedicated as you (Its not my good one its a spare so dont panic!)

My CPU runs at about 32 degreees in this weather, whats the norm? and how hot is too hot, i still havend treid overclocking yet.

Slam - I want to see them before they die! I have moved my other two lumps of poo to a different room now i have a tidy office for about 2 days lol!

[mr-white]

ddr400design do you have the amd cpu driver installed ? it drops the core speed, voltage and temps when its under less stress. my x2 4200 2.2 @ 2.6 is running at 27'c because its dropped my core to 1200mhz @ 1.1v

most cpus can take a bashing with temps, around 30 is good. ive seen opterons running in there 70's and xeons in there 80s

MW

[ddr400design]

Not sure if i do?

I do have the Abit Guru thingy that lets you overclock and ajust fan speeds live which is quite cool all you do is click a button and it overclocks, i tried fiddling about with my own timings but got it very wrong.

I have not overclcoked before even though I have workd in IT for as long as I can remember, just never really got round to working it all out!

If you know any goot timings for me to try with my CPu then that would be great see image:

http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/guru.jpg

And those temps sound horrible!!!

[ddr400design]

Just clicked it on turbo the fans are actually more silent running in this mode and im geting a littel more poke out of the CPU.

http://www.ddr400design.co.uk/myoffice/guru2.jpg

[mr-white]

try this (http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/utilities/amdcpusetup.exe)

overclocking isnt quite as easy as that, your overclock depends on the cooling and the hardware. some CPUs overclock better than others depending on the stepping.

you need to find the best mix of adjusting the FSB, multiplier and the hyper transport and with each tweak you'll need to run stress tests to determine if its stable.

MW

[ddr400design]

I donwloaded it and went to run it, and it told me I would have to remove all my existing AMD stuff to put it on, I must admit I lost my bottle at the thought of fu**ing it completely. I have spent years trying to get a system as stable as i have and I dont know what this software will do or if it will improve things, I dont even know what it wants to remove!!

[Arok]

MW, what is the program you've linked there? I can't install it as I am on win2k. If you give me the name of the program maybe I can find a version that will work for me.

I've mentioned this problem before, my cpu gets up to damn near 60c under load with a huge thermalright xp120. I'm curious what others are getting as far as temps on their socket 939's. Right now I'm running mine at stock speeds to keep temps down even though it's stable at a significant OC. BTW mine is a san diego 3700. I'd really like to know what temps the dual cores do because I want one and they are getting pretty cheap.

[ddr400design]

Arok - I run an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ and it sits happy at 30c in a 32c room??? Its also very fast, two cores certainly make a differance, like if your working/gaming and have some bigdowloads happing in th bg it takes the load right off. GET ONE, GET ONE NOW! overclockers.co.uk ahve got some good deals at the moment. "AMD X2 3800 @ £89.95 +VAT" I paid £204.00 + Vat at OC.co.uk for the same chip not long ago! Gutted.

[Slamdog]

arok will make you feel really gutted... he is in the states and the chips are cheaper there....

[ddr400design]

NNNNOOOOOOOO!!!! I also just had a look round for another Geforce PCX6600 and they dont do them anymore, how the hell am i suppost to do SLI on the cheap now!! i found on on egahy but im sure the price will go nuts because idiots will overpay.

[pumpman]

just realised youve got same mobo and cpu as i have in one of my rigs. The first x2 3800 i had was running at 2.4 would run at 2.5 but it was a hot little bugger even with 1.45v through it ,picked another one up recently (it was rude not too at the price they are now ) and its sitting happy as larry at 2.6 with the stock heatsink , ive got pc4400 mem as well but it doesnt like running at 260 so i set it to run at 333 in the bios which is about 217
ive got 1.45 going to the cpu , mb ratio set to 3 oh and the ram at 1T with 2.7volts

[ddr400design]

Pumpman, pllleeeasseee tell me what setting i should put mine to to overclcok to a stable but fast speed. Its one thing i never really got the hang of, and im always to nervous about cooking somthing i can afford to replace.

Thanks mate oh and when you say hot how hot?

[mr-white]

arok - amd power monitor here (http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9706,00.html)

MW

[Arok]

Arok - I run an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3800+ and it sits happy at 30c in a 32c room??? Its also very fast, two cores certainly make a differance, like if your working/gaming and have some bigdowloads happing in th bg it takes the load right off. GET ONE, GET ONE NOW! overclockers.co.uk ahve got some good deals at the moment. "AMD X2 3800 @ £89.95 +VAT" I paid £204.00 + Vat at OC.co.uk for the same chip not long ago! Gutted.


Mine sits just fine, about 36c. But under load is where the problem lies. Get prime95, go to options and run the torture test, then tell me what your temps get to. Also, AFAIK, you can use any nvidia sli card to run with your 6600.

Prime95 (http://mersenne.org/gimps/p95v2414.exe)

this is a great program for checking stability. You should start to OC in very small increments from stock speeds and run prime95 for a while. Then bump up the speed, run it some more, repeat the process. Watch your heat and if the test fails you've gone too far. I say like 20 min, but many do it for like 20 hours. I guess they need to be real sure.


Thanks MW, downloading now.

/EDIT/ scratch that MW, it's only for those with XP. It won't let me install. Oh well. The abit uguru is pretty good.

[pumpman]

when follding on it 100%cpu usage on the one clocked to 2.4 it would hit 65 on air

the board is very forgiving because if you push it too much it will just restart at the previous settings
try this and keep and eye on the temps using the uguru software
set cpu freq to 240
set vcore to 1.45
ach ill take some piccies of the sections itll be easier
but note not all cpus clock the same as the two i have prove

[pumpman]

first off hit the delete button on keyboard when booting up
youll see this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures001.jpg

select uguru utilty and press enter

then youll see this
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures003.jpg

where it says cpu frequency change to user define and enter a value say 240
note you might want to work slowly up to this with say 220 first them 230 it will depend if it boots
if it doesnt boot you may need to select user define in the volts section a bit further down the page and change the cpu volts up a bit from say 1.35 to 1.4
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures002.jpg

then press esc and youll want to select this option next
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures002.jpg

youll then see this set yours to 3 as i have done here
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures005.jpg

then select this option

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures006.jpg

youll then see this change it to 333 or even 266 dependant on the speed of your current memory

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures007.jpg

and a bit further down the page this allows me to run at 1T command rate using this setting
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures008.jpg

then hit esc again
and select this option

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures010.jpg

and hopefully it will boot
youll want to test it out for stabilty

if all else fails and you want to go back select this option at next boot

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v330/pumpman/BiosPictures011.jpg

give me a shout if you need more help as the above is a rough guide and you can do more tweeking on your memory etc but this gives you an idea

please back up any important stuff you may have on your hard drive just in case , ive never had any problems using data but its better to be dafe than sorry

[Arok]

So, with my mem up to 250, and my multiplier down to 10.0 from 10.5, I am caclculating pi to 1m in 34 seconds. I'm now running prime95 to see how stable this is. I'm confident that everything should be stable especially because I have DDR500 and the only bad thing is that at these speeds under load I'm steadily at 60c. I'm gonna have a smoke, let this run for a while and then see how much better my 3d06 scores get.

/EDIT/ I removed all my uguru utility from windows because it would change settings I had set in the bios like my ram speed. I bought DDR500 so I could run it at 250 FFS, don't put it at 210, stu guru. It woudl also slow my fan down when I have a speed controller knob out the front of my box........and that's bullshit.

oh, just saw the temp hit 62c for a second

[pumpman]

decided to try and nail the memory thing . I have pc4400 corair sticks in this but couldnt get the board to run over a mem speed of over 240 without throwing a wobbly
so i tied it running 1:1 with the cpu @260 which it should do with ease and it runs but super pi fails right away. Done some reading and it appears abit suck spherical objects with regards to various mem and getting it to run at high speeds so the best i can do and that would explain why i left it at 333 for an effective 217 . I looked at some old scrren shots i had with the x2 in a dfi and it was running 240 at default volts . Ive got an opty at 3 gig on the dfi just now i think i may try this cpu in it and see what i can max it at for mem speed.

[ddr400design]

Wow Thank you pumpman, screen shots too! I will try it when i get back from work. Ta

[ddr400design]

What temps are considered safe, is 62 well off the map and will it dramtically shorten the shelf life of my CPU? It is now sitting at 27c standard.

[mr-white]

you could run 50/60s, wouldnt like to go much higher than that although they would probably run 70/80s if you had to

MW

[ddr400design]

thanks mate.

Oh and Pump man i have put some good links in your web question thread.

[mr-white]

the lower you get the CPU temps the more you can push it, heat is the main factor that restricts your overclock

if you want cooling than look at the cooling section on Xtremesystems (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/)

MW

[ddr400design]

I run one of these on my CPU http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/Products/AirCooling/Products_Spec.aspx?ProductID=2123&ProductName=G-Power Along with my aluminuim Thermal tkae case with 7 fans and my Otes fans on my Mobo.

[ddr400design]

OH MY GOD THAT NEARLY KILLED MY BOX, it ran unstable at 240 and after resetting the cmos id rebooted it removed all my HDD and wouldn’t see them again ripped side of case unplugged everything then at the windows splash screen it rebooted every time and disabled the kb after the posting pages!!! After loads more swearing I realised it changes the HDD drive priority in the HDD boot table and managed to get my big disk back on top and now my heart is starting to stabilise.

I now running at 230 with 1.4v and x3 as suggested sitting at 40c on air. I have torture tested it for 14 min and it didn’t error I have benchmarked it in prime95 (See below) are these times any good?

AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 3800+
CPU speed: 2302.89 MHz
CPU features: RDTSC, CMOV, Prefetch, 3DNow!, MMX, SSE, SSE2
L1 cache size: 64 KB
L2 cache size: 512 KB
L1 cache line size: 64 bytes
L2 cache line size: 64 bytes
L1 TLBS: 32
L2 TLBS: 512
Prime95 32-bit version 24.14, RdtscTiming=1
Best time for 512K FFT length: 7.932 ms.
Best time for 640K FFT length: 14.107 ms.
Best time for 768K FFT length: 19.774 ms.
Best time for 896K FFT length: 26.259 ms.
Best time for 1024K FFT length: 30.397 ms.
Best time for 1280K FFT length: 41.984 ms.
Best time for 1536K FFT length: 54.465 ms.
Best time for 1792K FFT length: 68.759 ms.
Best time for 2048K FFT length: 77.990 ms.
Best time for 2560K FFT length: 108.316 ms.
Best time for 3072K FFT length: 135.461 ms.
Best time for 3584K FFT length: 178.576 ms.
Best time for 4096K FFT length: 186.262 ms.
Best time for 58 bit trial factors: 5.174 ms.
Best time for 59 bit trial factors: Unknown
Best time for 60 bit trial factors: 5.182 ms.
Best time for 61 bit trial factors: 5.186 ms.
Best time for 62 bit trial factors: Unknown
Best time for 63 bit trial factors: Unknown
Best time for 64 bit trial factors: 12.049 ms.
Best time for 65 bit trial factors: Unknown
Best time for 66 bit trial factors: 11.979 ms.
Best time for 67 bit trial factors: Unknown

Thanks again for your help pumpman