AMD Athlon X2 Overclocking Thread

No_Style · Aug 19, 2005, 12:49 PM

Well I've seen at least two folks around here with these X2's

So what are you guys running them at?

At the moment I'm dual Priming @ 2.5 GHz (10 x 250 MHz) with 1.39 V (1.425 V set in BIOS) Hopefully it passes without an error this time. My first core flunked at 1.38 V (1.4 V in BIOS).

Temps are sexy as well. It flutters to about 47 C on load!

Tips? Comments? Records? Post please

Oh yes, I guess I should tell you what the vital parts are:

DFI NF4 Ultra-D
AMD X2 3800+
OCZ EL PC4000 Gold Rev. 2

No_Style · Aug 20, 2005, 04:33 AM

Update: Could not get it stable with 1.39 V (1.425 V in BIOS) System locked

Trying again with 1.41 V (1.45 V in BIOS) Averaging 49C on load.

Sandok · Aug 20, 2005, 09:19 AM

good luck No_Style!

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 05:48 PM

Any one know if there is (and if so, where I can get it) software for overclocking cpu from windows (Due to video card problems, I can't get into my bios easly... if at all... lol)

Necrosis · Aug 20, 2005, 05:50 PM

Eehh I don't trust those type of programs, and never really seen one work well. This is the major reason I don't OC my video cards, k well normally don't. BTW I'm not OC'ing my 4400 yet, and not sure if I even will. I'm quite happy with the performance at stock. Of course that can change...

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 06:01 PM

My radeon 9800 pro runs great overclocked a large amount (my problem seeing the bios i've had sense way before i started ocing... has to do with my card and monitor not liking each other... its weird.)

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 06:09 PM

Nother quick question, any one know where I can get software to monitor my systems vcore voltage/temp and dimm voltage/temp in windows? Because my bios (which I'm using a dif video card right now to get into) only shows %.

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 06:26 PM

Found one wcpuid, preaty cool prog - anyway, uping dimm and vcore just allows for more stable overclockign right? dosent actully have a direct corelation with your speeds? also my mobo dosent have software for uping actulle bus speeds any one know how I might go about doing that?

No_Style · Aug 20, 2005, 08:29 PM

Clockgen is the program people at XS use in Windows. I was content with the X2 3800+'s stock, but since I'm using a 7800 GT, I wanted faster single threaded performance.

Good news, looks like I'm sitting at 2.5 GHz stable!

Necrosis · Aug 20, 2005, 08:31 PM

You need to update your specs dude. So how is the 78GT? I've been thinking about picking up one of the GTX's but I haven't convinced myself yet.

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 08:35 PM

Whats a good program for monitoring CPU and case temp in windows? I can't seem to find a free one... (I feel like an overclocking newb... my old pc's mobo's bios had all the features you'd ever need for this...)

Necrosis · Aug 20, 2005, 08:48 PM

Speedfan & Mother Board Monitor (No longer being updated)

MiDri · Aug 20, 2005, 09:07 PM

Sweet, tweakin my FSB and DIMM voltage I've goten my AquaMark3 score from 30kish to 36kish

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 02:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

You need to update your specs dude. So how is the 78GT? I've been thinking about picking up one of the GTX's but I haven't convinced myself yet.

Yeah I need to update, but in about a week's time I'm getting MORE goodies.

My bro is basically getting exact same rig as me except he'll be getting a SLI mobo. In the future, I can just pass on the 78GT to him along with the exact same RAM I have and he'll be running dual 78GTs and 2 GB of RAM. At the moment though, we'll be content with what we have.

Going to be picking up 2 x 36 GB Raptors as well. (Yes, the 74 GB are faster, but one day these 2 will combine in a RAID array and they'll be plenty fast then).

How is the 78GT? Let's see, I upgraded from a 9800 PRO so it's perceived to be ridiculously fast for me. I can run the F.E.A.R. with everything maxed (except shadows) out at 1280 x 960 and have run smooth as butter for the most part. If you can wait, wait. I couldn't wait since I had buyers for my old rigs and I wanted a kick ass PCI-E video card. NVIDIA delivered the goods. I see that you have an X800XL already which fine for now. Wait for the R520 and see what ATI has in store. I'm very skeptical about it, but you never know.

P.S - I put down SLI since it didn't make sense for me at the time, but if you have 2 systems, SLI opens up a great upgrade path without wasting hardware

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MiDri

Whats a good program for monitoring CPU and case temp in windows? I can't seem to find a free one... (I feel like an overclocking newb... my old pc's mobo's bios had all the features you'd ever need for this...)

I'm using MBM5 (With a pre-made script which can be found at DFI-Street) with my DFI NF4 since nTune is underdeveloped.

Customgamer1 · Aug 21, 2005, 02:33 AM

Well No Style what core do you think is the best for the AMD Duel cores? I saw a few on newegg but I really don't know the difference if there is any?? Could someone please help me out? My Cousin is going to be getting a new rig and I want to help him out!

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 02:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Customgamer1

Well No Style what core do you think is the best for the AMD Duel cores? I saw a few on newegg but I really don't know the difference if there is any?? Could someone please help me out? My Cousin is going to be getting a new rig and I want to help him out!

Overclocking? The X2 3800+ Manchester (2 x 512K L2 Cache) cores are proving to be great clockers. I'm hitting 2.0 GHz -> 2.5 GHz with relative ease. With a bit more of a push I can go for 2.7 GHz or so. Over at XS forums, one dude has his 4400+ Toledo (2 x 1 MB L2 Cache) core from 2.2 GHz to 3.0 GHz with Stock Cooling. Although, his voltage is at 1.7 V which I don't recommend using. I believe the 4400+ hit around 2.6 GHz with safe voltages.

So to sum up:

Toledo core: X2 4400+
Manchester: X2 3800+

Every other SKU doesn't make sense. If a X2 4000+ comes along based on Toledo, I would recommend that over the X2 4400+.

BTW, there is a small difference in performance between Toledo and Manchester cores at the same clockspeeds, but it's nothing to break out the champagne for. There are also some claims that some of the 4200+ and 4600+ "Manchester" cores are really re-badged Toledo cores who have half their caches disabled due to defects. Just something to think about

Didn't understand what I said? Want graphs and other pictorials? Check out AnandTech's X2 3800+ review for all your needs.

Customgamer1 · Aug 21, 2005, 02:46 AM

ok thanks! I still don't see why you would want to over clock when that thing is already so fast lol. As you can see I have a 3500+ and I have not touched mine because I think its very fast. But I guess for people who are never happy...

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 02:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Customgamer1

ok thanks! I still don't see why you would want to over clock when that thing is already so fast lol. As you can see I have a 3500+ and I have not touched mine because I think its very fast. But I guess for people who are never happy...

For some it's a hobby. For me, I just like knowing that I can reach speeds beyond a 4800+ which costs over $1000 CAD.

I'm big on the bang/buck thing. It's also because I have a 7800GT and I would hate to have it bottlenecked by my CPU.

If you get an X2 3800+, it won't be as fast as your 3500+ at single threaded since it's running 200 MHz slower; you will need an X2 4400+ or X2 4200+ to get the same single threaded performance or do a bit of overclocking.

Customgamer1 · Aug 21, 2005, 03:01 AM

OMG that really sucks. I would have guessed it would have been as fast or faster on single core things... Maybe I should talk to my cousin about that becasue right now nothing uses duel core... so whats the main point right now? Plus he loves games and needs the speed. The only thing thats bad is that the FX are so over priced.. So I guess he might need to re think what he wants.

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 03:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Customgamer1

OMG that really sucks. I would have guessed it would have been as fast or faster on single core things... Maybe I should talk to my cousin about that becasue right now nothing uses duel core... so whats the main point right now? Plus he loves games and needs the speed. The only thing thats bad is that the FX are so over priced.. So I guess he might need to re think what he wants.

The main point of having an X2 is to have a true multi-purpose processor. You can do anything and everything with this processor.

Multi-threaded - You can do more things at once and better than any other desktop processor available today. Not many applications themselves do not utilize the multiple CPUs, but OSes do and if you are tired of waiting for things to finish before you do another intensive task, then X2s are for you. If you ONLY game and ONLY do one thing at a time, save yourself a few hundred dollars and stick with regular AMDs.

64-Bit - Nobody uses extensively yet on the desktop market despite the release of WinXP x64. By the time Vista comes along things will change though.

Strong single threaded performance when overclocked - 2.5 GHz is nothing to snuff out. It's faster than a regular A64 3800+!

So when you think about it, you really have a Swiss Army knife of processors with an X2

SFOSOK · Aug 21, 2005, 07:34 AM

is a 3500 a good choice for a 7800gtx?

No_Style · Aug 21, 2005, 04:14 PM

Yes, 3500+ (2.2 GHz) and higher is what I would recommend.

Judas · Sep 15, 2005, 08:18 AM

i'm rather quite impressed with the x2 4400+ i've got.... little bugger flys.

Still running into some cases where a program that is saposed to be multi threaded... apaprently only works with intels HT or dual core setup. Which case i've ran into the situation where either one core is pegged and the other sitting there giggling... or both kinda meeting halfway. Imo, i can't complain about the other stuff that works. These suckers are unreasonably speedy considering i previously had a POS 2500+ that was running slower then a 1600+ oldy due to power related problems.

Hell of alot faster then the temporary 3000+ 64 bit 939 i had.

I agree.. if you are into the gaming.. it just doesn't make any sence to make a purchase on these dual core cpu's yet. support is nill yet, and you can use that extra cash to put toward the video card which will make the most impact.

Currently running my x2 stock. at *WOW* 34*C under load. (gotta invest in a furnace now as my previous 2500+ would litterly heat my home durring the winter and if i closed the room door.... boil me alive)

SFOSOK · Sep 15, 2005, 07:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Necrosis

You need to update your specs dude. So how is the 78GT? I've been thinking about picking up one of the GTX's but I haven't convinced myself yet.

I'm getting one with SLI mobo. best way to be future proof, no reason for SLI right now but there will be later. If you want to play F.E.A.R. highest graphix only way I would go.

UnIcOrN · Sep 25, 2005, 08:29 PM

Well i have my X2 3800+ running at 230x10 and my temp is at idle around 39 and under load somewhere around 45 degree Celcius. I lowered the memory to 166Mhz from 200Mhz for i don't have a clue if it is harmfull for the memory running at 230 also.

I'm still using the stock cooler.. Don't know when I put a different cooler on it if it will perform better in the temperature department. Any advices on good coolers for an X2? Only real benchmark that i ran was the CS: Source video test and it went from 79,56 at stock speed to 95,67 at 1600x1200 with AA at 4 and AF at 8.

Must say that I am impressed with it sofar seeing it runs great and absolutley stable.

rescuecheck · Oct 26, 2005, 06:38 PM

Does anyone know the highest overclock achievable by a Toledo X2 +4400 with water cooling?

ViRuS2k · Nov 9, 2005, 12:06 PM

just got mine today. testing testing testing
here is just a weeee preview lol

No_Style · Nov 9, 2005, 10:40 PM

Nice. Hopefully it's Prime95 stable. It looks like it should be.

Scargo · Nov 10, 2005, 01:40 PM

Ordered my X2 4400 yesterday. Unicorn,I can't believe you are using stock cooling...
I am building this rig to replace the OC'd 4000+ on an A8N-E that just can't keep up with the Photoshop work I throw at it.

Here's whats coming:
AMD Athlon X2 4400 / Thermalright XP-90 / ASUS A8N23-SLI Deluxe / OCZ Titanium 1Ghz PC3200 (X4)/ Lian Li PC-7077A Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower /Antec 550w PS /Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive . Adaptec SCSI card and 2-Fujitsu 15K SCSI HD's in Riad 0. Oh, and a measly MSI NX6600-TD256E Lite Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card.

I'm still not sure what fan to put on the cooler. I'm thinking the Vantec 92mm that puts out 58.5 CFM. It has a speed control connection for the board, but I'm guessing I would disable (or not use) that feature. I do have a manual controller I could use...
I'll OC it a tad, so I'll keep you informed. Whatever air lets me comfortably do...

Aug 19, 2005, 12:49 PM	#1
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	AMD Athlon X2 Overclocking Thread Well I've seen at least two folks around here with these X2's So what are you guys running them at? At the moment I'm dual Priming @ 2.5 GHz (10 x 250 MHz) with 1.39 V (1.425 V set in BIOS) Hopefully it passes without an error this time. My first core flunked at 1.38 V (1.4 V in BIOS). Temps are sexy as well. It flutters to about 47 C on load! Tips? Comments? Records? Post please Oh yes, I guess I should tell you what the vital parts are: DFI NF4 Ultra-D AMD X2 3800+ OCZ EL PC4000 Gold Rev. 2 __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Aug 20, 2005, 04:33 AM	Thread Starter #2
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Update: Could not get it stable with 1.39 V (1.425 V in BIOS) System locked Trying again with 1.41 V (1.45 V in BIOS) Averaging 49C on load. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Aug 20, 2005, 05:48 PM	#4
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	Any one know if there is (and if so, where I can get it) software for overclocking cpu from windows (Due to video card problems, I can't get into my bios easly... if at all... lol) __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 20, 2005, 06:01 PM	#6
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	My radeon 9800 pro runs great overclocked a large amount (my problem seeing the bios i've had sense way before i started ocing... has to do with my card and monitor not liking each other... its weird.) __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 20, 2005, 06:09 PM	#7
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	Nother quick question, any one know where I can get software to monitor my systems vcore voltage/temp and dimm voltage/temp in windows? Because my bios (which I'm using a dif video card right now to get into) only shows %. __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 20, 2005, 09:19 AM	#3
Sandok DriverHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jul 2004 Posts: 9,472 Rep Power: 0	good luck No_Style!

Aug 20, 2005, 05:50 PM	#5
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Eehh I don't trust those type of programs, and never really seen one work well. This is the major reason I don't OC my video cards, k well normally don't. BTW I'm not OC'ing my 4400 yet, and not sure if I even will. I'm quite happy with the performance at stock. Of course that can change...

Aug 20, 2005, 06:26 PM	#8
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	Found one wcpuid, preaty cool prog - anyway, uping dimm and vcore just allows for more stable overclockign right? dosent actully have a direct corelation with your speeds? also my mobo dosent have software for uping actulle bus speeds any one know how I might go about doing that? __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 20, 2005, 08:29 PM	Thread Starter #9
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Clockgen is the program people at XS use in Windows. I was content with the X2 3800+'s stock, but since I'm using a 7800 GT, I wanted faster single threaded performance. Good news, looks like I'm sitting at 2.5 GHz stable! __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Aug 20, 2005, 08:31 PM	#10
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	You need to update your specs dude. So how is the 78GT? I've been thinking about picking up one of the GTX's but I haven't convinced myself yet.

Aug 20, 2005, 08:35 PM	#11
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	Whats a good program for monitoring CPU and case temp in windows? I can't seem to find a free one... (I feel like an overclocking newb... my old pc's mobo's bios had all the features you'd ever need for this...) __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 20, 2005, 08:48 PM	#12
Necrosis HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: May 2002 Location: Ohio Posts: 8,838 Rep Power: 131 System Specs	Speedfan & Mother Board Monitor (No longer being updated)

Aug 20, 2005, 09:07 PM	#13
MiDri DriverHeaven Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 930 Rep Power: 0	Sweet, tweakin my FSB and DIMM voltage I've goten my AquaMark3 score from 30kish to 36kish __________________ [COLOR=Red] [COLOR=black]He is so happy, I just don't have the heart to tell him...[/COLOR][/COLOR]

Aug 21, 2005, 02:33 AM	#16
Customgamer1 Fell off the tech wagon Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,273 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	Well No Style what core do you think is the best for the AMD Duel cores? I saw a few on newegg but I really don't know the difference if there is any?? Could someone please help me out? My Cousin is going to be getting a new rig and I want to help him out! __________________ Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Aug 21, 2005, 02:46 AM	#18
Customgamer1 Fell off the tech wagon Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,273 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	ok thanks! I still don't see why you would want to over clock when that thing is already so fast lol. As you can see I have a 3500+ and I have not touched mine because I think its very fast. But I guess for people who are never happy... __________________ Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Aug 21, 2005, 03:01 AM	#20
Customgamer1 Fell off the tech wagon Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 2,273 Rep Power: 74 System Specs	OMG that really sucks. I would have guessed it would have been as fast or faster on single core things... Maybe I should talk to my cousin about that becasue right now nothing uses duel core... so whats the main point right now? Plus he loves games and needs the speed. The only thing thats bad is that the FX are so over priced.. So I guess he might need to re think what he wants. __________________ Asus Laptop: 2.5 Intel Core 2 Duo, 4gigs DDR 2, Windows 7 64bit! Windows 7 > OSX!

Aug 21, 2005, 07:34 AM	#22
SFOSOK 939 Goin Strong Join Date: Jul 2005 Location: Ontario Posts: 7,033 Rep Power: 90 System Specs	is a 3500 a good choice for a 7800gtx? __________________ Warning - Explicit Content Preceeding METAL!!

Aug 21, 2005, 04:14 PM	Thread Starter #23
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Yes, 3500+ (2.2 GHz) and higher is what I would recommend. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Sep 25, 2005, 08:29 PM	#26
UnIcOrN HardwareHeaven Lover Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Netherlands Posts: 239 Rep Power: 0	Well i have my X2 3800+ running at 230x10 and my temp is at idle around 39 and under load somewhere around 45 degree Celcius. I lowered the memory to 166Mhz from 200Mhz for i don't have a clue if it is harmfull for the memory running at 230 also. I'm still using the stock cooler.. Don't know when I put a different cooler on it if it will perform better in the temperature department. Any advices on good coolers for an X2? Only real benchmark that i ran was the CS: Source video test and it went from 79,56 at stock speed to 95,67 at 1600x1200 with AA at 4 and AF at 8. Must say that I am impressed with it sofar seeing it runs great and absolutley stable. __________________ [COLOR=white][COLOR=#000000][/COLOR][/COLOR]

Oct 26, 2005, 06:38 PM	#27
rescuecheck DriverHeaven Newbie Join Date: Jun 2003 Posts: 9 Rep Power: 0	Does anyone know the highest overclock achievable by a Toledo X2 +4400 with water cooling? __________________ Gigabyte GA-K8NXP-SLI AMD X2 4400 @2.63GHz (250x10.5 HT4) Thermaltake waterblock BFG 7800GTX (2) Koolance waterblocks @505/1.35 37GB Raptor 250GB DiamondMax 120GB Seagate SATA drives x2 2GB GeiL Ultra Platinum PC4000 @250 Plextor PX-740A SB XiFi ExtremeMusic Hypersonic Aviator GX7 P4 3.4GHz 1024 PC3200 DDR ATI Radeon Mobility 9700 256mb 60Gb 7200 rpm HDD 4X DVD+RW 17" 1680x1050 display

Nov 9, 2005, 12:06 PM	#28
ViRuS2k HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: Uk Posts: 8,334 Rep Power: 0 System Specs	just got mine today. testing testing testing here is just a weeee preview lol

Nov 9, 2005, 10:40 PM	Thread Starter #29
No_Style Styleless Wonder Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Ottawa, Ontario Posts: 6,034 Rep Power: 0	Nice. Hopefully it's Prime95 stable. It looks like it should be. __________________ "The Best Style Is No Style" Specifications Here

Nov 10, 2005, 01:40 PM	#30
Scargo DriverHeaven Lover Join Date: May 2005 Location: Connecticut Posts: 100 Rep Power: 0	Ordered my X2 4400 yesterday. Unicorn,I can't believe you are using stock cooling... I am building this rig to replace the OC'd 4000+ on an A8N-E that just can't keep up with the Photoshop work I throw at it. Here's whats coming: AMD Athlon X2 4400 / Thermalright XP-90 / ASUS A8N23-SLI Deluxe / OCZ Titanium 1Ghz PC3200 (X4)/ Lian Li PC-7077A Silver Aluminum ATX Full Tower /Antec 550w PS /Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD2500KS 250GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive . Adaptec SCSI card and 2-Fujitsu 15K SCSI HD's in Riad 0. Oh, and a measly MSI NX6600-TD256E Lite Geforce 6600 256MB 128-bit DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card. I'm still not sure what fan to put on the cooler. I'm thinking the Vantec 92mm that puts out 58.5 CFM. It has a speed control connection for the board, but I'm guessing I would disable (or not use) that feature. I do have a manual controller I could use... I'll OC it a tad, so I'll keep you informed. Whatever air lets me comfortably do...