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Upgrade? Overclock?

M

MrHood22

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Aug 21, 2007
Messages
4,312
I made the same post in AMD CPUs but I didn't get much help so i'll try here.

Hi. I have an AMD Athlon64 San Deigo 3700+ that comes in at 2.2ghz

I'm VERY new to overclocking and i've overclocked it to 2.51.

Temps:

Stress test: 10 minutes - 49c
Idle - 40c

I should probably do the stress test longer shouldn't I? I stoped at 10 minutes because at about 8 mins it stopped going up and stayed at 49.

My voltages are

12v - 11.98
5v - 4.865
3v - 3.269
Vcore - 1.504

Comp Specs:

Mobo: Asus A8N5X

Processor:
AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+, MMX, 3DNow, Overclocked: 2.5GHz

Memory:
2048MB RAM

Hard Drive:
160 GB + 250 gig = 410

Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT

Monitor:
19" Samsung Syncmaster 930B

Sound Card:
Sound Blaster Audigy

Speakers/Headphones:
14w CA /Logitech Precision Gaming Headphones

Keyboard:
Merc Gaming Keyboard

Mouse:
Logitech G5 (2000 dpi)

Operating System:
Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2 (2600.xpsp_sp2_gdr.070227-2254)

I have 3 questions.

1) I'd like to upgrade a little bit so I can stay strong in the future games like Quake Wars and Call of Duty 4. The problem is that I go to college in less then a year so I cant just drop $500 on this. I have a Socket 939 board and so my options are slim unless I get a new board then i'd need new Ram. I have PC 3200 (Kingston, 2 x 1 gig) ram I think. I can run the quake wars demo fine but COD4 worries me and it gets a little rough on Command and Conquer 3 but in Counter-Strike: Source and Battlefield 2 I run on high settings. I just need something that will give me a little push.

Would this be the best I can get for 939 and could I overclock this to about 3.0ghz? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819103002

If not where else could I look because newegg only has like 10.

2) You saw my voltages, I have a 420w PSU that came with this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811144026

I'd imagine I need a new one, if so which should I get? Where is a good place to shop for parts? I got all of my parts from newegg

3) How far can I push my CPU while still being stable? All i've been overclocking was the CPU frequency which I have a 228 i think and then all of my voltages are on auto. I also have something else at 105mhz, I can't remember what it is. I have my Ram running at 400mhz (or w/e default is).
 
Update: I've overclocked a little bit through the BIOS but when I go for a stress test (on 2 different programs) they stop because it says it's unstable. I've overclocked it to 2.5ghz (instead of 2.2).

I've also just bought this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817182032

Will that help? It's a good step up from my stock 420w.


Would I be better off getting a 4200+ (dual, 2.2ghz, 939) and an 8600gt? I don't want to drop alot of money on this, this very well may be my last upgrade on this rig until I break down and build a new one in a year or so. Depends how tight I am on money in my first year of college next year.
 
the only things i would do is switch to an x2 3800 and oc it like hell, then try to get a 8800gts 320. you can get them for around 280 or so if you look.
 
Well I get my new PSU today. I think i'm going to try to OC my 3700 harder because my last PSU was weak and I noticed the voltages were below. I'm not sure i'd even upgrade my card. I'd probably just get that 4200 and then if by the time COD4 comes out it doens't work then i'll upgrade it but I don't really want to upgrade it if I don't need to.

How good would that 4200 be on OCing and is it possible a PSU bottlenecked my OC of my 3700?
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103052

Is this the one you meant? The one you posted was AM2, I need 939.

Btw, did the price just drop on the 4200? I could have sworn it was $87 earlier today.


I'm also not that good of an OCer. I just did my first OC yesterday on my 3700 and it's to unstable to complete the "OCCT" stability test/stress test. I OCed it to 2.5 instead of 2.2.

For me would it be better to just get the 4200 + some $30 heatsink?
 
doh, my bad. missed the part you needed 939. i do not know how well the 939 oc's. but for sure the am2 does.

as for price, it prolly did drop, they do that all the time.

depending on how much you want/have to spend, you could do like i just did and go this rout.

am2 3800 65$(there are 2 versions of this, one ocs super good, the other not so good. the one in my previous link in the super good.)
gigabyte mobo 88$
radeon 1950xt 167$
2gb gskill ram 84$ (cause im sick in the head i actually got 4gb)

system runs beatifully.

and you dont have to really update the video card either.

i went with this until the amd quads come out then im gonna grab one of them and an 8800 gts(unless something better comes out)
 
Well I want something that will avoid buying a new mobo which will make me buy more ram and basically it won't even be an upgrade on the Ram. I'll have to spend $100+ just to get the same amount of ram I had before.

I was thinking that 4200 since I won't OC it at all and it seems cheap. Could I use my 3700+ Fan if i'm NOT going to OC?


Also, is there anything like "ATI Tools" but it's for my 7600GT KO? I had an x850xt and ATI Tools was a life saver for it because the fan wasn't on the majority of the time.
 
The best thing you can do is go dual core. Also, I would recommend spending the least amount possible on this old system because anything else is wasting money. Getting a 3800X2 would be the best, used even better so you can save more money. If you want a little more, try getting a used dual core opteron. Then just follow a guide like eclipse's: http://www.hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=888001 (starts at post #2)

For your video card, get Rivatuner, it's a great little program that can do pretty much anything and everything.
 
THANK YOU K6!!!!!!!!!!!! lol. Everyone (on and off the forums) is telling me to get all this shit which racks up to like $375. I just want something that will give this life for a little longer then i'll build a new one.

I don't really want to get used either because you never know what they did to it. Who knows if they've OCed it hard and it only has a few months of life left in it.

How do I go about finding my temp and making sure my fan is on in riva tuner?

And is anyone semi-familar with ASUS PC Probe? Sometimes it says one of my fans (CPU, PSU, or chasis) is under threshold and i'm not sure if that is something I really have to worry about because my CPU gets to 49c when I game and 40 when I idle.
 
Hmmm... I'm trying to remember my Clawhammer, forget the settings. I did a quick google search on your motherboard and found this review: http://www.digital-daily.com/motherboard/nforce4-asus/ , let me know if I got the wrong board, but memory index value I believe is what you want. In the photo on that review, it's set to 333MHz (DDR = twice the speed so its actually 166MHz). nForce 4 ran at 200MHz external clock, so 166/200 = 5/6 divider. When you're going for a CPU overclock, you want to change that to something really low like 266 or 200MHz (ex. 200MHz is actually 100MHz, 100/200 = 1:2, your RAM will run at half the speed of your bus) so when you get to 250MHz, you RAM isn't anywhere near its specs, so you know it isn't causing any problems. Please, someone who knows more about A64's correct me if I'm wrong Voltage always helps on CPUs if you can't get it higher. Basically though, you want to do that divide and conquer method, get the RAM out of the way, raise your voltages, and try to go higher. Keep your temps under 55C for 24/7 use.

For Rivatuner, go to the upper customize button (for your card) and go to the hardware monitor button. There you'll find the core temp, and you can customize it by right clicking on it and hitting setup (put a temp icon in the system tray, whatever).
 
Hmm ok. I'll try that very soon. I have all the voltages set to auto. Does that mean I don't have to deal with changing them because if it requires more it will just be given more?
 
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