Solved athlon black edition stable overclock

mpcrsc562 · Mar 14, 2009

to you "professional" overclockers of amd systems, i have athlon 64x2 5400+ black edition. my question is this: is running prime95 a "true" test of system stability? i ran the program for two hours without a hitch, but my system just doesn't seem to run smooth--no errors, lockups, or bsod's--it just doesn't seem to run smooth... i can't explain it in any other way.

stock speed 2.8ghz
oc'd speed 3.3 ghz
so, i upped my core voltage to 1.5
upped the dram voltage to 2.0
increased the multiplier to 16.5
backed the ht link to 800mhz (leaving @ 1ghz produces bsod or random reboots)
backed the dram timing to ddr2 667 (leaving @ ddr2 800 produces bsod or random reboots)
i have good temp readings (screenshot is idle; however, running prime95, kept stable temp of 49c)

is there any other setting i should be giving consideration to or that i'm missing althogeter?

thanks in advance for any help, info, or advice

marv

stew2 · Mar 14, 2009

I have an intel cpu (see my specs) so this may not be great for amd but this is what i would do.

As your rams rated for 800mhz id raise the fsb to as close to 400 as i could get i get with the multiplier for the cpu as low as it;ll go to get a ratio of 1:1. Ideally your looking for a fsb of 400 with a cpu multiplier of 8 but i dont know if thats possible with your setup.

My fsb is set to 500 so:

Cpu is 500x6=3000mhz
RAM= 500x2=1000mhz
ratio 1:1

Oh and i dont know what voltages amd take but my intel cpu is set to 1.2volts so your 1.5volts seems high.

mpcrsc562 · Mar 14, 2009

about the voltage, my default was, i believe, 1.3. but when i upped the multiplier, leaving the voltage at default produced random reboots and overall unstability. i had looked at a guide in the jan '08 issue of maximum pc and looking at voltage setting for various amd cpu's and of the 4 they overclocked, all of them had voltages set for 1.5.

the same was the case for the dram timings. the default was 1.8v so i upped the voltage to 2.0, because leaving it at 1.8v or 1.9v did the same thing as leaving the cpu voltage at stock

stew2 · Mar 14, 2009

Ok really you need someone with an amd cpu to guide you but till then i'l try to help.

Heres the info il need:

1- Whats the lowest and highest multilier settings for this cpu?
2- Stock ram timings

stew2 · Mar 14, 2009

Till then heres what id do:

1-Go into bios and adjust the voltages to what they should be at stock levels.
2-Loosen ram timings from stock of say 4-4-4-12 to 5-5-5-15
3-Set a low cpu multiplier
4-Set fsb to stock and ratio of cpu to ram as 1:1, so a stock fsb of say 200 will be 400 in the ram
5-Start the pc.

If all is well and the pc starts up your ready to go back into the bios and start increasing the fsb. Go up by 25 each time so if your first try was 200 try 225 this time then 250 and so on.

When you reach a number it will no longer boot at try increasing the voltage to the cpu in small steps. For a cpu with stock voltage of 1.3 id personally never go above 1.45.

Remember your trying to achieve a fsb of around 400 with a cpu multiplier of 8 so if you get close to this lets say 350 for fun. You ram will be slightly underclocked so you can then try and lower the timings and voltage for the ram.

mpcrsc562 · Mar 14, 2009

not to be a smart-ass, but what you're stating to me is like trying to understand klingon-ese--i don't understand.

it has to do with the amd processor vs intel. one, i have an unlocked multiplier and i got to where i need on upping the multiplier, so that's cool. the other thing is that i have no fsb to mess with. when i up the cpu speed for and amd processor, the ram and hyper transport speed increases too. that's why i had to set the ram to ddr2 667 instead of ddr2 800; increasing the clock would make my ram run out of spec--above the 800mhz it's rated at if the cpu speed is increased. as far as the hyper transport link, the default speed is 1ghz, and also as the ram, if i increase the cpu speed, the hyper transport link speed increases above the default 1ghz necessitating the need for me to set it to 800mhz; if i don't then either i'll get blue screens or the computer will randomly crash and reboot.

my concern is if there is anything else i need to tend to, thus, my calling out to anyone who has overclocked an amd system with success. as i stated previously, where everything is set now, core voltage @ 1.5v, dram voltage @ 2v, dram set to ddr2 667, and hyper transport link set to 800mhz, every thing runs and the setup even successfully sustained two hours of prime95--no lockups, crashes, spontaneous reboot, or bsod's. it just doesn't seem to run smooth though and it makes me think that i'm overlooking something.

thanks for your input, though.

stew2 · Mar 14, 2009

No problem. The last time i used amd was when i built my dads pc about 7 years ago (Athlon XP 2400) so things have obviously changed a lot.

One reason your pc will be feeling sluggish is that you have reduced the speed of your ram. As iv said i dont know how amd overclocks but really you want to keep the mhz of your ram as fast as it will go with as low timings as you can get.

Good luck and hopefully someone here can point you in the right direction.

mpcrsc562 · Mar 15, 2009

solved.

black edition procs have unlocked multipliers. i was attributing the instability i was having to the ht link speed. i needed more voltage for the proc.

stressed and now stable.

stew2 · Mar 15, 2009

Glad you got it sorted. But really your going to fry your cpu by giving it more voltage. My processor is undervolted and overclocked as "If you over-volt the chip too much, you can actually physically destroy the silicon lattice of gates within a processor".

Oh and AMD's do have a fsb you can change, try this thread to see what is possible:
athlon x2 black edition, & memory dividers. - Computer Forums

mpcrsc562 · Mar 15, 2009

http://www.brutalcore.co.uk/stuff/Overclocking_Guide.pdf

i do thank you for your help, but as far as i'm concerned, my problem is solved. i understand that too much voltage is not good, but the increase is necessary for the proc to run stable (if i burn it up, then it will be that much quicker that i'll be getting a phenom II). but, just because someone else calls it a front side bus, doesn't mean that's what it is. on an amd proc, there is no front side bus. you have, obviously, the proc's stated speed. then the hyper transport link and the reference clock. the hyper transport link runs at 1ghz (on am2 boards, which mine is). the hyper transport link is a 5 times the reference clock of 200 mhz, thus, 1ghz. the default multiplier on my board is 14x. so 14 times 200mhz (the reference clock) is 2800, or 2.8ghz, the stock speed of the athlon 64x2. to do an overclock, i would increase the reference clock say to 210mhz. so then, my chip would be running at 2940mhz, or 2.9ghz. but since the reference clock increased, the hyper transport link speed increases too, since 5 times 210 is now 1050. if i increase the reference clock too high, the hyper transport link will get unstable and as far as my system goes (cause i've done it), it will crash the system. as i've stated, i have an unlocked multiplier, so my overclock was performed without messing with the reference clock. but since the cpu is running faster internal clock, without the extra voltage, it will not run stable. the photo included is taken from the january 2008 issue of maximum pc, where they performed some overclocks on 4 different amd procs. note the voltages involved. the default on my board is 1.3 volts (as what i'm sure is the default of the procs listed in the picture)

the second pic is further down the page of the same post you gave me the link of. and, the main thing about the increased voltage is increased heat. so even with the overclock and voltage increase, i have consistent 28c temp idle and 48c during load.

stew2 · Mar 15, 2009

"quicker that i'll be getting a phenom II" lol fair enough, seems amd cpu's take a lot more voltage to overclock.

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