AMD 5200+ Limitations?

VulcanX

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May 6, 2008
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Hey guys im new at Toms Hardware forums but keep up to date on their news on the articles etc and want to extend my thanks for it, you guys are doing a wicked good job on the UK and US side of things and completely impress me with any articles or reviews.
But to cut to the real issue, i have a 5200+ Windsor 2 x 1Mb L2 cache, im pretty jacked up when it comes to understanding what happens and why, but i want to know why you drop the multiplier down and increase the frequency?
Besides that fact, im running an Asus M2N SLI DLX, 2 Gb DDR2 800 XMS2 Corsair RAM, and 8600 GTS XFX 256Mb card, my temps are crazy low, motherboard is at 26, CPU is at 30-32 idle ( celcius ), and GPU is high at 44, thats my only real concern, even my hdd(400 Gig Seagate Barracuda) Sata2 is at 30, even when its been running, my temps are all decent to overclock, but i wana know what capabilities my pc has, and i need it to beat a C2D of a friend, i need help to beat it bad! plz, i know i got better hardware esp board and ram, just need assistance to get there, who can point me in the directions i wana go, or give me links even how to overlock for NEWBS or summin,everyone has to start sumwhere and im trying to start off here
Thanks again for any help
 

p4killer

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Sep 21, 2008
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LAWL well the reason for drooping the multi is to allow to use higher FSB freq's which will allow you to either run your memory at higher speeds using a 1:1 divider still or give you some play with gettig each of your main components to your goal speeds.

for example lets say your target cpu speed is 2.7ghz or 2700mhz

lets also say that your cpu is a non black edition which means that the multi is upper locked-- or you can lower the multi but not raise the multi.

for this example lets say ur using and old school 3800+ with a defualt multi of 10x which is also its max multi (the default is ussually the highest you can have)

the cpu defaults at 2.0ghz or 2000mhz
which means since multi is 10x the stock FSB is 200 mhz
your memory's defualt setting will be 1:1-- ie.. w/e the FSB is which is 200mhz resalting in DDR400 speed.

So in order to reach 2.7ghz (2700mhz) you have to raise the FBS

Ill give two examples to conclude my reply

You could either go 270FBS x 10x Multi = 2700 MHz
if the memory stays at 1:1 it too will run at 270 mhz thusly resulting is DDR540.

If your memory cannot reach this speed this is where a divider comes into play to make things play nice.

the default ratio is 1:1 which is widely regarded as the best option if available. what you'd have to do is lower tht ratio the next step down in this type of system is usually 183/200 (memory spd/FBS) which gives you 247mhz resulting in DDR494... you would continue to decrease this ratio untill a suitable speed could be acheived and stable.

option 2: lowering the multi requires you to raise the FBS to reach the same 2.7ghz ie:. lower the multi to x9 which means youd need 300mhz FBS to reach your target 2700mhz.

you could lower you multi in order to push the FSB up some and still use a memory duvider to run your memory at stable speeds.

ie:. you decide to lower the multi to 9 and raise the FBS to 300mhz => but like above your looking for DDR500 or so. Your memory cant run 1:1 which would be 300mhz or DDR600 => so youd have to run a divider of 166/200 on the 300mhz FBS to give you memory speeds at 249mhz or DDR498 which is within your limits thus allowing you to run at 2.7ghz CPU 300FBS and DDR 500 or so.

example 3 and probably the best choice if the situation fits your components

lower the multi to 9x allowing you to push the FBS up to 300mhz and the best option is to keep a 1:1 ratio resulting in 300mhz ram speed or DDR600

-- ok with the scenarios and concepts out of the way lets get to your problem--

first off- your temps are fine actually dang good for your proc but what really matters is your load temps-- if they stay below higher 40's C then you have room to play.. im assuming your using stock air cooling which will give some room to play but not alot and a simple $20 cooler will certainly give you alot more room to play:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125

used it myself, and for tht price and air cooling it powns :p

neway your proc is at 2.6 stock idk the multi off top but your going to see your limits at or around 3.0ghz each system is different and results are not guaranteed its and older 5200+ i think but 3.0 should be in your range nething above will require some careful tweaking... on stock cooling however.. im not sure.. 2.6ghz is near the upper range for tht cooler but like i said if your temps are low at load you may be fine.

your memory is def a good bran tho for sure and you should be able to squeeze some room out of those chips for sure but youll have to test and make sure. usually ddr2 800 sticks arent uncommon to reach 1066 but its not for sure. you lower your multi to push the FBS higher mainly and allows for highers memory speeds as well by increasing the FBS..

you may have to raise the cpu voltage to reach desirable speeds please be very cautious when doing so as this could damage your proc a higher voltage or vcore will also raise your temps.. you can ahve load temps as high as 60C but really 55C should be your limit.. and if your on stock cooling dont raise the voltage btu by only 1 or 2 levels MAX like 1.425v max on stock

also keep in mind your mobo and as you raise the FBS your HT speed goes up. its stock at 2000mhz most mobos really dont like going over tht limit at all. so your HT multi is 1-5x(FBS) you may have to lower it depending on your FBS to be at or under 2000 mhz .. having a low HT doesnt effect much tho in my experience so having to settle for 1500 or 1200 or w/e HT isnt really taking a big hit. umm as far as your memory's latency settings, if you unsure of what your doing its best to leave them-- lower them will boost your performance, but can easilly lead to instabilty by just put them at w/e so id say leave to auto i dont have experience with those modules so i cant reccomend any timings for you.

just try things out and see how she goes, def know where your bios reset button is on your mobo in case your o/c settings are too higher and your comp wont boot.. and if things do boot up fine run it through a benmark or too sevral times or game for like an hour to see if things are stable... of course thts being lazy i mean youd really wanna have it run like prime 95 for 24 hours to ensure absolute stability

but Super Pi is my fave and an 8m run usually means ur good and a 32m run usually proves tht ur for sure good

any wierd anything or your temps go a lil high back it down a lil till you can be sure you are good to go and make sure to test your new o/c's

also be aware tht o/c while not nearly as dangerous as it once was can potentially kill your hardware.. and o/c'in by any margin potentially lowers the life span of your system.. but all in all you should be good this is only a big worry with extreme o/c's

as far as beating a C2D well its not impossible but itll be hard and the rest of hardware plays a big role unless you two have the same GFX card and similar mobo speeds C2D sad to say is just a much better proc in most ways but good luck

and as for o/c on your gpu-- dont bother-- max out o/c gives you like +5% FPS not worth it really but then again 8600's like to o/c or so i hear but neway even at best you get +10% not nothign to fry your card over thts for sure-- if you must try umm ATi Tool is pretty good and will find the GFX card max speeds for you.. just take the max and back it down 3-5% and you should be ok...


WOW neway sry for the long post-- i tried to help ya some hope it helps-- if i made ne mistakes, well im not the best or id be on tom's front page competing in france or something lol :p

GL M8, P4Killer
 

wilyry

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Oct 20, 2008
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I guess that's why I stick with stock clock speeds. All this overclocking work doesn't seem worth the 6% performance increase. Not to mention the chance of frying components in the process.