Overclocking AMD Athlon 3200+

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

Splendid
May 1, 2013
6,333
18
27,965
Hello Everyone,

I was told that using this AMD Athlon 3200+ would give me better gaming performance for an old retro gaming system, than an Intel Pentium D 945.

So now I am trying to squeeze out some extra performance. I can adjust the FSB, but unfortunately I can't lock the RAM or PCI clock speeds down so they also increase. I believe my RAM is the problem currently. I am wondering what timings should I increase to help stabilize DDR RAM at about 450Mhz. Also whats the limit on DDR?
 
Solution
B
Ok try this.

Steps:

1. Drop you memory down to 166mhz (DDR 333)
2. Give your cpu a very slight bump in voltage (say .03v)
3. Increase fsb by mhz at a time until it wont boot any longer
4. Once it doesnt boot drop it back down to when it did boot.
5. Run a Prime95 blend test. IF it Blue screens then give you cpu another slight bump in voltage.

Keep an eye on your temps do not let them get above 60c if they do decrease fsb and voltage a lil bit.


Note: YOU are overclocking at your own risk. I take no responsibility in your actions (just figured I'd say that just in case).
Sort by date Sort by votes
B

Bresser

Reputable
May 1, 2014
78
0
4,660
The Highest I have ever seen DDR3 ram go is 3000mhz effective clock. Essentially the difference from 1600mhz to 3000mhz would be 1-2fps in games. Not really worth it IF I were you I would just alter your Cas Latency and get that as far down as long as you maintain stability.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

Splendid
May 1, 2013
6,333
18
27,965
Yea I know the differences in DDR3 doesn't really work out to much, but this isn't DDR3. This is DDR, which typically has a max speed of 400Mhz.
I'm not so much trying to overclock the RAM as I am trying to overclock the CPU which is multiplier locked, relying on FSB increases to get more speed. The RAM I am just trying to change it's settings to prevent it from causing a crash.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

Splendid
May 1, 2013
6,333
18
27,965
Its okay, thanks for trying though. These things are so old anyone who does know how either forgot a long time ago or has vanished it seems.
I just dropped the RAM down for the time being to 166Mhz instead of 200Mhz cause this motherboard is super weird. At 166Mhz its locked and doesn't change with FSB, and at 200Mhz it does.

Now I am putting heatsinks on my south bridge hoping it will help.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Bresser

Reputable
May 1, 2014
78
0
4,660
I will try to do some research and help you out with your problem. I'd like to help just have no experience with your equipment. But upgrading to DDR2 or DDR3 memory would still see a difference in gaming and modern-day usage. Might not be 40fps but there would be a consider difference.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

Splendid
May 1, 2013
6,333
18
27,965
Thanks I appreciate it.

As for upgrading, I know it seems more practical to use a more modern computer, but I have an i7-3770k with 16GB DDR3 for my main computer. This one isn't meant for playing any modern games though. I wanted something which used Windows Xp and just played older games. It does alright for that, just Fallout 3 has some issues I am trying to get by with a good overclock.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Bresser

Reputable
May 1, 2014
78
0
4,660
Ok try this.

Steps:

1. Drop you memory down to 166mhz (DDR 333)
2. Give your cpu a very slight bump in voltage (say .03v)
3. Increase fsb by mhz at a time until it wont boot any longer
4. Once it doesnt boot drop it back down to when it did boot.
5. Run a Prime95 blend test. IF it Blue screens then give you cpu another slight bump in voltage.

Keep an eye on your temps do not let them get above 60c if they do decrease fsb and voltage a lil bit.


Note: YOU are overclocking at your own risk. I take no responsibility in your actions (just figured I'd say that just in case).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
IInuyasha74

IInuyasha74

Splendid
May 1, 2013
6,333
18
27,965
I'm marking your answer as the best solution cause I really appreciate the effort to try and help.

The problem ended up becoming mute kinda. I knew I could drop the speed to 166 but that has a performance penalty I was trying to avoid by raising timings. Anyways, I set it to 166Mhz (333Mhz DDR) and proceeded with the overclock so I could see how far I could get with the FSB increase.

I was at 220Mhz FSB before dropping the RAM speed, and unfortunately I'm not able to get any higher at all. I don't have voltage control, its a cheap motherboard, but the problem is more my motherboard can't handle it. At 225Mhz the hard drive stopped being detected, so either the South Bridge or North Bridge had partially failed. I put heat syncs on the south bridge to cool it better and that didn't help. So I lowered the FSB a little bit. Tried to install windows with 222Mhz and even then it could see the hard drive but not write to it properly, issues persisted.

In the end I left the FSB at 220Mhz like it was at before, which still gives me a 10% overclock. I set the RAM back up to full speed, and its now running at an effective 440Mhz with just slightly increased timings. So overall its a pretty good overclock already.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom