X2 4400 Overclock question

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EmbraceThePenguin

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 31, 2004
Messages
185
Ok, I said I would not overclock because of the dangers to the hardware, and here I am trying it out :-P.

I have an AMD X2 4400 with the Thermalright SI-120 and a big ass fan on top. Stock settings, I sit at around 32 to 34c idle and under load about 38c to 40c.

Now, I have been reading about overclocking the htt and dropping the cpu ratio to get more "Throughput" from the system. So, what I did was went from the stock 200htt and 11x to 300htt and 8x on the core. That got me to 2.4gig from 2.2gig. I also dropped the memory back to 133 and that kept the raitio to 200mhz like stock. I also bumped up the CPU voltage by +.075 but left the memory and chipset voltage stock.

I have tested with several games like Doom3 and Quake4 and time demoed and played them and all seems ok at this point...

I guess my question is this. Seeing that I am keeping mostly stock speeds for the memory and only a 200mhz jump on the CPU and a small bump in CPU voltage, will I have to worry about anything failing in my system like memory going bad or the CPU frying?

I haven't overclocked much after the 300 celery days; haven't really felt like I had too. I just thought I would see what all the hype is about. Quite frankly, I really don't see much difference in the 200mhz overclock. However, I must say that Linux is a bit snappier in KDE (Window Manager).

Anyway, just looking for some warm and fuzzies on the hardware ;)

Thanks!!!

Joe
 
your ram you shouldnt worry about...you are underclocking it in the bios and raising its fsb back up to stock speeds (why you went with such a low multiplyer and a high fsb is beyond me) More voltage will damage hardware in the long run if you dont cool it correctly.
 
Andross182 said:
your ram you shouldnt worry about...you are underclocking it in the bios and raising its fsb back up to stock speeds (why you went with such a low multiplyer and a high fsb is beyond me) More voltage will damage hardware in the long run if you dont cool it correctly.
Click to expand...
Well, I read that if the FSB (Or htt) is higher than stock, you will yeild greater performance. So, in order to get such a high htt setting, I had to lower the CPU mult.

Joe
 
No, higher memory speeds will higher performance, but you'll want to be using a 1:1 divider for that. Leaving your memory at 200MHz, and setting your HTT to 300MHz offers no performance gains. 11*218 with a 1:1 memory divider would be faster than that setup.
 
DarkBahamut said:
No, higher memory speeds will higher performance, but you'll want to be using a 1:1 divider for that. Leaving your memory at 200MHz, and setting your HTT to 300MHz offers no performance gains. 11*218 with a 1:1 memory divider would be faster than that setup.
Click to expand...
Well, according to the information in this thread:
http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=795444

to overclock your system you have to take several things into account. FSB(or HTT), Memory ratio, and CPU multiplier.

The document describes the most efficient way to over clock is to raise the FSB(HTT). He also goes on to say that lowering the CPU multi. will allow for higher FSB(HTT) clock settings and that one might have to lower the FSB:RAM Ratio to achieve higher FSB levels and maintain stability.

When I keep my FSB:RAM at 1:1 with HTT set to 300mhz, the system doesn't even boot. So, I lowered it to maintain stability.

I have tested this with a few benchmarks and I do, in fact, see much better performance with my adjustments; having tested yours as well. I believe this is due to such a high HTT setting, the system bus and communication with CPU, Chip Set, and Ram are just blazing fast at 300mhz HTT; albeit the stock mem settings.

I will play with raising the memory timing a little to see if I can get some better performance also.




I just didn't want to over cook the hard ware any more than I needed to :)

Thanks!!!

Joe
 
Take advantage of the 11x multiplier. Use a lower HTT and run your RAM 1:1. Try 220x11. :)
 
Bona Fide said:
Take advantage of the 11x multiplier. Use a lower HTT and run your RAM 1:1. Try 220x11. :)
Click to expand...
Interestingly enough, what I did was left the multi at 11 and set the HTT to 230 and now I am running at 2531.565. I had to bump my cpu voltage to +.1, and lower my HT to 4x instead of 5x and I just finished playnig Doom3 and Quake4 for about an hour. Seems stable enough now.

I did, however, have to put an external fan blowing on the motherboard and such, but thats not that big of a deal.

Well see how this goes for the time being.

Thanks!!!

Joe
 
Well, wouldn't you know it. After over an hour of Doom3 and Quake4, the system crashed on X-Plane. Then, after a reboot, Doom3 and Quake4 were not stable either.

Oh well, stability is what I really look for in computers, I suppose if I want a faster processor, I will buy one... Even though the X2 4400 is way fast enough for my tastes.

Even when I was benchmarking my machine after each overclock, I was not really seeing much of a performance difference; a couple of FPS here and there. Sometimes desktop performance would seem snappier, but that was probably a placebo effect; it really is just as fast at stock settings as with a mere 200-300mhz increase.


I'll wait till the 4800's drop in price :-D

Joe
 
The reason you want higher HTT/FSB speeds is to communicate faster between the CPU and the rest of your system (specifically your ram). What is the good of having your cpu at 300mhz when your ram is running at 200mhz? Granted the memory controller helps to eliminate most of the performance hit, but there is still some significant loss.

Also, your instability might have been heat related, as you say it came out of nowhere. Check your temps when you get the instability, chances are they are high.

And of course your system won't be able to boot with a 1:1 fsb of 300mhz, that would be ddr600 which is rather expensive these days :)
 
just for the record.....here is my 4400+ settings and clock speed....

2615.5MHz 11x237
1.536 Vcore (was prime stable at 1.4 but would lock up with BF2)
memory is running at 186.8x2 so DDR373.4 :D
if you are willing try supplying the CPU with more juice, i bet it would be stable then...
 
Andross182 said:
just for the record.....here is my 4400+ settings and clock speed....

2615.5MHz 11x237
1.536 Vcore (was prime stable at 1.4 but would lock up with BF2)
memory is running at 186.8x2 so DDR373.4 :D
if you are willing try supplying the CPU with more juice, i bet it would be stable then...
Click to expand...
Hmmm... Let me get those settings a shot.

Thanks!!!
 
Andross182 said:
just for the record.....here is my 4400+ settings and clock speed....

2615.5MHz 11x237
1.536 Vcore (was prime stable at 1.4 but would lock up with BF2)
memory is running at 186.8x2 so DDR373.4 :D
if you are willing try supplying the CPU with more juice, i bet it would be stable then...
Click to expand...

Your killing your multitasking performance with that memory speed though. Hell, the X2's have been shown to make use of DDR480 under heavy multitasking. Running at anything below DDR400 on an X2 is a bad move if your looking for performance.
 
DarkBahamut said:
Your killing your multitasking performance with that memory speed though. Hell, the X2's have been shown to make use of DDR480 under heavy multitasking. Running at anything below DDR400 on an X2 is a bad move if your looking for performance.
Click to expand...

just as a test....here are my new settings
10.5x250 nets me 2.625GHz
and it keeps my ram at 201.9x2 = 403.8

is it bad to use the inbetween multipliers???
 
DarkBahamut said:
Your killing your multitasking performance with that memory speed though. Hell, the X2's have been shown to make use of DDR480 under heavy multitasking. Running at anything below DDR400 on an X2 is a bad move if your looking for performance.
Click to expand...

Got a link to the benches? I'd like some hard info on it...interesting.
 
well Eclipse, what do you think of using the "inbetween" timings on an Sli deluxe Mobo? 10.5 etc...
 
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