Odd Multiplier Problem

[conquistadorst]

I had just gotten a new 2500+ barton from newegg. Was a little dissapointed with OCing, only way to make the fsb run at 200MHz was to set the core voltage to 1.8, it's a bit high for my taste but it now detects as a 3200+ which is good, and probably worth it. Plus the temps never go above 42C.

So I decided to play around with the clock multiplier, I was hoping to get the fsb to run at 218, with a multiplier of maybe 10.5 or 10, but it wouldn't boot, and I wasn't going to touch the voltage anymore. So I decided that wasn't going to work, so just for the heck of it I raised the multiplier to 11.5x just to see if it would boot... and miracously it did. I was eager to see that my cpu running at 2.3GHz but I was dissapointed when CPU-Z told me taht I was still at 2.2 at a mult of 11x. I tried changing it from 11.5, 12, 12.5, and back again. It never actually changes. This would explain why my computer wouldn't boot when multiplier was set at 10x218, because it was trying to boot under 2.4GHz. Very interesting, I don't know what to make of it. Anyone have an idea what's going on here? Only thing I haven't tried is resetting the cmos.

Specs:
Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
(2x256) Mushkin DDR3500 Black I
Central Brain Identifier shows it as a AXDA3200DKV4E, announced in May 14, 2003 - if that means anything

 

[Coyote]

New Bartons (and other AMD cpus for that matter) are now locked (the multiplier is locked). This started approx week 39. So if you just got the cpu from newegg it's locked. (I got mine a couple months ago from them and it was locked too.)

XP 2000+
MSI KT3 ULTRA-2 KT333
Maxtor 60GB ATA 133 7200RPM
512MB PC2700
9600 Pro
Win98SE

 

[conquistadorst]

Hm, I thought with the nForce2 chipset it didn't matter? Heard it was "plug and play" so to speak... I guess I heard wrong and people were just working with unlocked CPUs?

 

[andyb]

Are you sure about the multipler being locked after week 39? i recently just bought my 3000xp+ barton from Komplett and its unlocked.

My system:
AMD Athlon 3000xp+ @ 2,308mhz 14x166.
Radeon Hercules 9800pro 128mb @ 412/365.
WD 120gb 7,200rpm 8mb cache.
512mb twinmos pc3200 @ 2,2,2,6.
ASUS a7v8x-x Mobo.

 

[conquistadorst]

So I take it that it won't make a difference with an nForce2 board then will it? That does suck... I really was counting on getting my fsb to run at 218, bah.

 

[conquistadorst]

I know it's commonly believed that anything above 1.8v for an AthlonXP cpu is supposed to be terrible. Can anyone tell me why? Or just perhaps what risks are involved? I was thinking that maybe I can push it farther, but would probably run something like 1.85v or 1.9v. Any thoughts?

 

[TheRod]

Maybe they don't bother locking XP3000+ and XP3200+ bacause they makes a good margin on them. XP2500+/XP2800+ are the most "overclocked" CPU around... I think AMD targeted the enthouiasts like us. Because we know that most XP2500+ can run at 3200+ without any problem. AMD want us to buy 2800+/3000+/3200+



--
Would you buy a GPS enabled soap bar?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by TheRod on 01/20/04 04:31 PM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[B_Man]

I can only say that I have seen the warning of not to exceed 1.85v for Athlon's.I will say that one of these warnings is/was posted on AMD's web site in a couple of differant places.I didn't bother to read as to why,but guess that it is probably the limit at wich the core gets fried.

 

[conquistadorst]

Hm that is interesting, I'll have to look for it whenever I have some more time. I think it may be one of those "increases the risk of" situations. I know have another computer running with an athlonXP 1600+ @~2v lol. Why? Two reasons actually, the motherbaord (asus a7v8x) has an over voltage jumper which I fogot about resetting when I first put it back together (used to use it to OC my old 1700+ which I recently sold to a friend). But this only sets a minimum voltage of 1.75 which should be fine right? Appraently not so. The second reason why it's so high is that either the motherboard or psu is responsible for giving my voltage than it's supposed to, an extra 0.2v+ actually. It's my backup PC, runs on dual boot with linux and winXP, let my mom use it, or friends during lan parties... so I'm really not worried about it. I do find it interesting though that it has never had any problems of any sort, not even heat. It surprisingly runs at a cool temp of 29/32C for idle/load. Don't know why, it just is.