Techvision srilanka

The Condensed Athlon64 Overclocking Guide

First and foremost, I am not responsible for any damages done to your equipment by following this guide. By reading this guide, you assume all liability for your actions, and understand that overclocking can decrease the lifespan of equipment, can void the warrenty on your computer's components, and could potentionally destroy components. Now, that aside....

I've noticed a recent spike in new forum members, all asking the same question: "How do I overclock my Athlon64?" Now, there is already a sticky that explains this, but the problem anymore is people have forgotten how to read, or just don't have time (myself being more on the time-restricted side). Going from overclocking anything to an Athlon64 is a bit of a jump, so I'm going to try to streamline the process as much as possible. This guide assumes you know at least a little bit about OCing to get the job done. But, if you're new to overclocking, this is still a good start.

Step #1:
Find out how fast your memory can go

Most people don't realise this, but this is the key to your overclocking success. In order to find this, you will have to slow down your CPU, so we are completly sure your CPU isn't what's causing any problems. To do this, drop your multiplier down 2 spots from wherever it is stock. Some might argue you only need to drop your multiplier down one spot, which will more than likely work just as well, but 2 spots assures the CPU is not being pushed too far. Also, if you can set your PCI/AGP in the bios, set 33/66, respectively. With an MSI board, go ahead and set the AGP to 67 to activate the lock. Find your HTT multiplier (should have options from 2x up to 5x (socket 754 only has up to 4x max I believe)), and make sure it's at 4x. Also, disable Cool 'N Quiet if it's enabled....for some reason, it causes strange abnormalities when overclocking. Keep the FSB in the bios @ 200MHz and boot into windows.

With MSI, you can use CoreCell's auto overclock feature and let it raise the memory speed until windows locks up (open up corecell, press the left red arrow so a menu pops up, click on FSB, then press auto and let it go). Make sure you are loading your machine while doing so, as it gives you a better idea. If you do not have an MSI board, use whatever comes with your motherboard that can do about the same function. If you are unaware if you have that, go ahead and get ClockGen. Find which one matches your chipset, and download. Tell it to get the values, and simply slide the memory bar over 5MHz at a time until you get a lockup (each 5MHz, make sure to apply the new clocks). Reboot your computer on lock-up, and download Memtest86. Download the newest version and either burn it to CD if you don't have a floppy drive, or copy it to a floppy (get the "Pre-Compiled Memtest86 installable from Windows and DOS"). Reboot again, and go into the bios.

Take the last memory speed before it crashed (say it crashed at 230MHz, but ran fine at 225MHz in clockgen, then use 225...MSI CoreCell or something similar would give you a more specific #, such as 227 for example would run fine, but 228 crashed) and set that # (or a little lower if you're unsure) into your BIOS for FSB. Leave the mutliplier alone. Now, reboot and insert either the CD or floppy and memtest should boot. Let it run one pass (all tests, takes about 20 mins or so for one pass), and see if you get any errors. Errors would be BIG UGLY RED LINES across the bottom. If you get any, or it locks up for any reason, reboot, and lower your FSB in the bios by one or two MHz. If you get through the first pass with no errors, feel free to add 1 MHz incriments and repeat the test until you find errors or issues like lockups. You have officially found the ceiling of your memory when you have no errors.

Step #2:
Find out how fast your processor can go

Now comes the fun part. Reboot back into the bios, set your multilplier back up to where it should be, and put your FSB at 205FSB. Reboot, and see if everything works fine (gaming is a great way to find this out). If after about 20 mins it's completely stable, go for it again, adding more FSB (try 5MHz at a time) until you get a BSOD on windows load, it locks up, or you reach the ceiling of your memory. Check your motherboard on how to clear your BIOS settings so you can boot your computer back up (usually a jumper you have to move) in the event your computer refuses to start. Also, keep a close eye on your CPU temps. Alot of people dog motherboards' built-in sensors, but they are better than nothing. Don't let your load temps go over 60C. If they do, drop your MHz in the FSB down until it goes lower. Once you find a speed that doesn't exceed 60C in temp under load (try using rthdribl so you get your videocard warmed up too), reboot your computer back to memtest, and let it run overnight. If you have no errors, then you're done! Pretty simple, eh? [Wink] Also remember, load your graphics card while trying to find your temps. I recommend rthdribl (google it). Your videocard warms up, and therefore your case warms up, so therefore once again, your CPU temps go up higher. On the stock cooler I would load at 55C with SuperPI or something to that nature, but rthdribl would load me up to 59C....noticable difference. And that's about it. Just remember, the lower the CPU is rated at (3000+ versus 3500+), the more headroom it has for overclocking (as in you can ADD more MHz, not get more....the 3200+ runs @ 2.0GHz stock, while the 3500+ runs 2.2GHz...they both can probably hit 2.4GHz no problem, but that's 400MHz headroom on the 3200+ and only 200MHz on the 3500+, see the difference?). Also remember, overclocking is different for EACH piece of hardware, so NO RESULTS ARE GUARENTEED.

Memory Timings (mainly for TCCD memory)

I'm not an expert on timings, so please correct me if I messed anything up...still learning alot into this, so vision-impared leading the blind on this one.

This is mainly for those of you who bought this magical "TCCD" memory that overclocks really well. Perhaps you've tried overclocking it before to less than ideal overclocks (what the hell, 205MHz? this is CRAP). The thing with TCCD is, it SPD's to 200MHz @ 2-2-2-5. Confused yet? Hold on, I'm going to try and explain. SPD is what the company who made your memory (Corsair, Kingston, OCZ, etc.) says it should run at running default speed. TCCD chips are fast, so they can run the lowest timings A64's chipsets let you specifiy, which is 2-2-2-5 (more on those #'s in a second). Now, each of those numbers stands for clock cycles (like same clock's your adding to in order to OVERclock, which make up your GHz on your CPU). Basically, you can't just reach into the memory whenever you want, you have to wait until it's ready for you, and that's where timings come into play. Now, the lower the #'s, the more demanding you are on the memory, so you lose the ability to overclock. The timings USUALLY stand for CAS-CAS to RAS-RAS-tRAS (sometimes there's in a different order, but the biggest # is always tRAS, while the lowest is always CAS). Now, I've read and understand what they mean, but trust me, it's REALLY confusing. Just get used to their names, since you'll hear people talking about them....read into them if you're curious.

So now you realise (or I hope anyway) that TCCD doesn't come out of the box, ready to overclock. Now you need to loosen the timings...but all those #'s, all those possibilities to change stuff, how's one to choose?!?!? I'll try to help. Here's the order I PERSONALLY have come up with that, once you bring the # up, has the most impact on bringing up your overclock, assuming the order is CAS-CAS to RAS-RAS-tRAS

4-2-3-1

Where #1 is the first you'd loosen up, then #2, then #3, then #4, and you may have to loosen say 2 and 3 2x before you loosen #4 once. Confusing yes, so I'll give you a cheat-sheet that works for my memory, and should work for most TCCD.

PC3200 (400MHz) 2-2-2-5-1T 2.6-2.7v
PC3500 (436MHz) 2-3-3-6-1T 2.6-2.7v
PC3700 (466MHz) 2-3-3-6-1T 2.7-2.8v
PC4000 (500MHz) 2.5-3-3-7-1T 2.75-2.85v
PC4200 (533MHz) 3-4-4-8-1T 2.85-2.95v

I recommend for a first-time overclocker, to go with the 2nd to last one, 2.5-3-3-7. To change these timings, go under DRAM settings in your BIOS wherever that is (it's the top-most option on MSI board's in the Cell Menu). Alot of people will tell you to give memory more voltage to help overclocks with TCCD and non-TCCD, but I personally think this is from a BH5-era mentality....My memory personally gets less stable with more power, and seems very happy @ 2.7v, including 500MHz where it says I should have at least 2.75v.

Memory Dividers

Sometimes, when on a budget, you get memory that can't exactly overclock the best. In this event, you can set a divider so the memory runs slower than the FSB you set. You can tell the CPU you're running the FSB as 240MHz, but your memory only runs at 200MHz. In order to set a divider, go into your BIOS, and you can specify for memory's speed. The options should be:

100MHz
133MHz
166MHz
200MHz
Auto

You may not always see 100MHz, but at least the other 4 should be there. By default, it'll more than likely be on Auto. Now you may be thinking "Wait a minute, my memory is 400MHz!" Well these are the actual clocks of your memory, and since it's DDR (Double Data Rate) It's 2x the speed listed here, a.k.a. 200MHz. By default, it should be set at Auto. Don't worry about the 200MHz settings, auto does that by itself. You'll be using 100, 133, and 166 for dividers. The dividers give you the following results...

100MHz = 1:2 (memory runs 1/2 the speed you set the FSB as, so 400Mhz FSB = 200MHz memory)
133MHz = 2:3 (memory runs 2/3rd the speed you set the FSB as, so 300MHz FSB = 200MHz memory)
166MHz = 5:6 (memory runs 5/6th the speed you set the FSB as, so 240MHz FSB = 200MHz memory)

So, if your memory's ceiling is limiting your overclock, and you can use a divider to get the CPU running faster...the only problem is, this doesn't always give better performance, because the CPU can't access the memory at all times, so sometimes it has to wait on the memory. The speeds I listed with the dividers are NOT the speeds you have to or should run, they just show you how high you have to go to reach the memory's stock setting. You can use any FSB with any divider...but use the smallest divider possible if you must use one (like 5:6). Also, you can loosen memory timings to enhance your memory's ceiling.

Check Overclock Stabability

Now you (hopefully) have an overclock that runs inside Windows no problem. Well, because it runs in windows, that means everything is working correctly, right? WRONG. Windows allows for errors (games too) without crashing, but remember that your CPU is just a big calculator, and with wrong math coming out, alot of the stuff you do will come out borked. Stuff like Folding will give inaccurate results, and not help anyone. Also, encoding things will give strange results. Install and run Prime95. Click 'Options', then 'Torture Test...'. Click the button that says Small FFT's (checks ur CPU only, since that's what you overclocked and memtest checks ur memory anyway). Press start, and pray [Big Grin] If you get an error mentioning rounding to .5 or .4 and should have been the other, than your memory is "probably" too high, and you need to slow it down. If you get a message that's like "was expecting 89248932480932480324 but got 8329483284290348093248" (NOTE THOSE ARE NOT REAL #'S, JUST MADE THEM UP [Wink] ), then your CPU "probably" needs more voltage. Note that adding more voltage on stock cooling I DO NOT recommend personally. Adding voltage brings ur tempature up noticeably, even if you are still running the same MHz on ur CPU. For a new-comer, I recommend just lowering your overclock until you get no errors for 12 Hours of Prime95 (just set it before you go to sleep).

Adjusting Voltages

I DO NOT RECOMMEND EXTRA VOLTAGE ON STOCK COOLING

Okay, alot of people have asked about this, so it's going in. When you run your CPU past spec, it requires more power to do the job you tell it. You can adjust voltages in Windows using a 3rd party program like clockgen or CoreCenter, or in the BIOS. I recommend adjusting inside windows, then finalizing in the BIOS. The main thing to keep in mind is, adding voltages substancially brings up your CPU's temp. Now, say you've found an overclock that runs in Windows, but won't Prime....this is where voltage will (more than likely) fix the problem. Try bumping the CPU .05v up from the stock voltage, and try running Prime95's Small FFT test again. Fail again? Try another .05v. As long as your CPU stays below 60C you should be alright...also, I wouldn't recommend going .1v over stock voltage on stock cooling (mainly for winnie users since they run cooler and use less voltage) if you're really feeling lucky. On water-cooling, or really good air cooling, .25v is the absolute highest I'd go. Also be aware, that you want to check your CPU's actual voltage it's getting, since some board's voltage (like mine) droop once you really start taxing it. 1.8v for me = 1.73v true used voltage. 1.75v = 1.7v, and so on...just be careful with voltages, you really start tossing dice once you start messing with those. Also, some memory likes higher voltages to get better overclocks....some becomes less stable. This is more of a "trial and error" kind of thing, and I personally don't see any problems with running memory @ 2.85v, but my memory personally gets unstable....most memory you'll have will SPD @ 2.6v, maybe 2.7...try a .1v bump and see if it helps. If not, it's pretty likely no matter what else you try you probably won't get any better results, voltage wise.





And that's about it. Any questions/problems, feel free to reply. [Wink] I don't mind answering questions, I'll do my best to help. Also, instead of using HTT, I just say FSB because essentially it runs almost the same, and makes it 10x less menacing and 10x more simple for those new to overclocking....especially since the BIOS refers to HTT as FSB. If you want more past this, read read read read read....there are tons of articles and stickies worth looking into, but this one should help the overclocking spirit in you.

Big thanks to cornelious0_0 for helping me with overclocking and giving me the spirit to start (even though he wasn't directly trying to make me, but was glad to help whenever I asked a question), who's now out of the overclocking game (for now). Also, HeavyH20, James Earl Ray, and all the guys around here who make my setup feel slow.