Overclocking my 3500 Winchester

[deadman_uk]

ive never overclocked before but today I went into my BIOS and raised the FSB/HTT from 200mhz to 210mhz. The temperature is cool at 37 idle even after this minor overclock.

BEFORE

AFTER

I am using the fan and heatsink that came with the processor and I dont want to buy a better one.

My question is, how far can i raise the FSB/HTT before i need to worry about temperatures and stability problems? (remember i want to keep my standard hsf, i just want to grab a few hundred mhz extra, I may as well, its free )

 

[Herulach]

Turn it up, run prime95 for a few hours while keeping an eye on temperatures using something like motherboard monitor, then if your temps stay ok, (dont go over above ~50 ish) turn it up a bit, repeat until either the temps get too high or prime95 starts throwing errors, then back it down a couple of notches.

Its a good idea to run something like rthdribl as well, so you get a good idea of your temps even with the gpu dumping all the heat into the case too.

 

[deadman_uk]

hmm I just read most of this http://www.elitebastards.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=6387 and got to the part about ram..

Problems can occur, though, when you want to raise your FSB to speeds over 200MHz. Since the RAM is only rated to run at speeds up to 200MHz, raising your FSB higher than 200MHz can cause your system to crash.

I have DDR400 ram which runs at 200MHz, i increased my HTT of my cpu to 210mhz, according to this guide, this is a bad thing for the ram.

Is this true?

 

[mentok1982]

If your ram can handle it, don't worry about it.

If you really want to overclock buy some PC4000 DDR or higher like mine!

 

[deadman_uk]

thats the thing, i dont know if my ram can handle it, i have no idea.

I dont want to buy new ram just to gain a few percent in performance. If i can overclock for free i will, otherwise ill leave it.

 

[RawsonDR]

You'd have to give us more details about your RAM, like what timings they are running (this is what you might recognize in the format of 2.5-3-3-7 or so)

But here's the deal. If you are raising your memory's speed then you can compensate by loosing up your timings - that is, make them higher. For instance memory that runs 200mhz 2-2-2-5 might run 250mhz 2.5-3-3-7. Thats just one example.

But another option you have is to run a divider on your memory. Go into your memory options in Corecell and where it says "200mhz" change it to "166mhz." this means that if your processor is running at 200mhz your memory will run at about 166mhz. Likewise, if your processor were running at 250mhz your memory would run at about 166/200 * 250 = 207.5 mhz. You all ready know your memory can run that since its running at 210 now.

edit: its likely that your processor won't run 250x11 without some work, so if you do decide to raise your HTT to 250 you would likely change your multiplier to 10 instead of 11. This gives you 2.5ghz. Overclocking is largely a practice in compensation.

 

[deadman_uk]

Im not sure if im going to do this now, but that is a good explanation, i do understand.

thanks!

 

[TheGamerZ]

Your FSB/HTT speeds don't decide heat output, your voltage does.

 

[revenant]

got my winnie 3500 up at 2410 now... it's doing very well...

dram= 2-3-3-6 @ 2.7 volts
cpu= 1.44 volts
HT=4x
NF4=1.55 volts

 

[deadman_uk]

How far can i overclock on stock cooling before I need to change ram settings and mulitplier or voltage?

 

[Herulach]

AS far as multiplier goes, you shouldnt need to.
Ram timings when it stops posting, same goes for voltage. You need to watch your temps though if youre going to up the voltage with the stock cooler. Basically, you need to read this sticky, should explain everything you need to know, but particularly take note of post #5 which is specific to overclocking A64s

 

[Warriorprophet]

I wouldn't go over 1.65v as a general rule with stock cooling. But as long as your load temps are below 55C don't get too worried.

I'm on all stock cooling and you can see my results below.

If you get over 240fsb remember to drop your HTT multiplier to 3x.

Peace,
Gabe

 

[deadman_uk]

Like I said I dont want to change any setting other than the HTT as thats the only experience I have.

Can i go to 230mhz and not have to change any other setting? of course ill check the temperatures all the time.

 

[Herulach]

Assuming your ram can do it you will be fine. If it turns out your ram cant do it, set up a divider, theyrre a bit random, but it will be something like max memory overclock, set it to 166 to run at a 5:4 ratio, its basically what speed the ram would run at if the fsb was at stock.

 

[deadman_uk]

Herulach I dont understand, your using all these phrases I dont understand. a Ratio of 5:4... no idea what that is.

Are you basically saying what this guy said?

But another option you have is to run a divider on your memory. Go into your memory options in Corecell and where it says "200mhz" change it to "166mhz." this means that if your processor is running at 200mhz your memory will run at about 166mhz. Likewise, if your processor were running at 250mhz your memory would run at about 166/200 * 250 = 207.5 mhz. You all ready know your memory can run that since its running at 210 now.

edit: its likely that your processor won't run 250x11 without some work, so if you do decide to raise your HTT to 250 you would likely change your multiplier to 10 instead of 11. This gives you 2.5ghz. Overclocking is largely a practice in compensation.

The reason I havent done what this guy said is because I am confused. He used this example if I was going to 250mhz, but im not, i want to go around 230.

Can someone just tell me what exact settings to change and ill do it.

 

[lawrence131]

No one can tell you exactly what settings to use without knowing exactly what RAM modules, CPU stepping, etc. And even with the exact details we can only give you estimates as there is variability within even identical parts by brand, model, stepping, etc.

If you are using cheap RAM, it will not handle HTT of 230 at stock timings since that will basically be running at DDR 460 on cheap RAM and full timings. If this is the case you have to set a memory divider in your BIOS to run at 166/200 X 230 which is called a 5/6 divider, or 180/200X230 which is a 9/10 divider which some advanced BIOS' have.

Running your Winnie at 230 HTT MAY also require increasing your CPU voltage by 10% or so. Wanting to overclock without wanting to know what a divider is, the definition of memory timings, effects of voltage and temperature is counter-intuitive. You either learn these things and overclock or you leave your computer at default settings or MINIMAL overclock settings that require no knowledge or adjustments.

 

[Herulach]

Basically im saying the same thing yes. A divider lets the ram run at a lower speed than the fsb.

Usually when you increase the fsb it sets the ram to run at the same speed, but ram doesnt always like this, unless youve got very good ram (think OCZ, G.Skill, Ballistix), so you need to set up a divider. A 5:4 ratio means that for every 5mhz of fsb speed youll only be running at 4 mhz of ram speed. So, with a FSb of 230 your ram will be running somewhere in the region of 184, which is a bit less than optimal, but not too much so youll see a reduction in performance.

What it comes down to is basically experimentation, read that sticky, try out some of the ideas, these no need to be too scared of breaking things, dont go mental with voltages (i.e not more than +0.1 or so on stock cooling) and the worst thing that will happen is youll have to reset your bios.

If you dont want to bother faffing with anything like this i recommend going over to the nvidia website and getting nTune (rather confusingly its in the drivers section, even though its not a driver). If you install and run that you can configure it to essentially automatically overclock your pc for you. Just choose expert mode, check teh restart on reboot and BEst performance boxes, then hit start, it takes a good couple of hours. Dont worry about it locking up, just restart your pc and it will continue and just not push that setting too far. All the machines ive run it on seem to get ~10% performance increase, a bit more with an nvidia graphics card, cos it overclocks that too.