Problem trying to overclock an Athlon XP-M (mobile) 2800+

[joanquro]

I've just bought in eBay an Athlon XP-M (mobile) 2800+ CPU. The seller, who is very reputated, says it's UNLOCKED and it can work at 2600 MHz (real), setting FSB at 200 and multiplier at 13, Vcore at 1.90 volts. Lower speeds are also possible. My mainboard is an Asus A7N8X DELUXE rev 1.04. Memory is Corsair XMS DDR400 CAS2. In the past, I had an Athlon XP 2400+ with FSB at 204 MHz and multiplier at 11 without problems at all. After, I sold my XP 2400+ and bought an Athlon XP 3000+. This processor was LOCKED (I wasn't aware of this when I bought it), so I had lower my FSB to 184 MHz, because I couldn't change the multiplier. Now, with this new processor, my motherboard can't enable multipliers over 10.5, so I can't take advantage of the high overclockability of this processor. The current setup is 200x10.5 = 2100 MHz, far from the expected speeds. How can I enable higher multipliers?. I've read about a pinmod that can enable this multipliers in this motherboard. Is this posible?. I have also tried to change the FSB on the fly, in Windows, but the PC simply freezes, the program that does this doesn't work on nforce2 boards. I have also tried with other bios, and to no avail. Is there a solution for this problem?

Thanks.

 

[jay_l_a]

If the motherboard won't allow you to select multipliers over 10.5 I'd say your only option is a new motherboard.

 

[customisbetter]

Can't you adjust the fsb in the bios?
And if its freezing at higher speeds, it might need a voltage bump.
good luck!

 

[joanquro]

I can adjust the FSB, but max is 200-204. In fact, I'm writing this message with a setup of 200x10.5 = 2100 MHz. With a max multiplier of 10.5, I'm not squeezing the possibilities of this processor. I need to set the multiplier to 12.5-13 to get the most out of it.

Thanks.

 

[Reynod]

That mobo supports higher multipliers - probably needs a flash.

What does the bootup window identify the processor as?

And CPUZ ?

Wonder if you got scammed and the cpu only goes to 10.5?

That would make it a 10.5 X 133 / 166 / 200 ... running it at 2.1Ghz @ 200FSB would appear to make it a 3000+ Barton (they also came out with a 333FSB too.

2800+ (FSB333) 13.5 X 166 2.25Ghz T-Bred AXDA2800DKV3D 256K cache
2800+ (FSB266) 16 X 133 2.133Ghz Barton AXDA2800DKV4C / AXMA2800FKT4C / AXMA3000FKT4C / AXMJ2800FHQ4C (1.55 Volts) 512k cache
2800+ (FSB333) 12.5 X 166 2.083Ghz Barton AXDA2800DKV4D 512k cache

1.65 volts for the others.

There were it seems a few rare 2800+ chips with weird numbers tho.

I listed the desktop and mobile ones I could find.

Keep us posted.

Crank the FSB up ... looks like your only choice - 220 isn't hard is you loosen the ram timings (you might be able to increase the ram voltage a bit too) and up the cpu core.

 

[joanquro]

The processor OPN is AXMJ2800FHQ4C, one of the list you have supplied. It's a mobile Athlon XP. Now the voltage is set at 1.750, my mobo has a mininum voltage of 1.650, and identifies correctly this processor as mobile Athlon XP. It's working flawlessly (except the multiplier issue, of course). The guy who has sold me this processor doesn't seem to be a scammer, here's the link of the item in eBay. He's got about 1000 positive points, no negative ones.

http://cgi.ebay.es/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&item=200264436088

He has an excellent feedback from his buyers.

Regarding the FSB, I think I will not be able to go further than 204-210, I already had problems in the past trying this, but, of course, in the past I was able to change multipliers without problems. But I can try cranking it up and increase the ram voltage as you suggest. The pin-mod is supposed to enable higher multipliers in mobo's than can't enable them:

http://www.ocinside.de/go_e.html?http://www.ocinside.de/html/workshop/pinmod/amd_pinmod.html

One more thing: I am also going to try the pin-mod to see if it works, but it's weird that a mobo that can unlock Athlon's can not unlock a mobile Athlon that is supposed to be factory unlocked.

Sure, I'll keep you posted.

Thanks a lot.

 

[joanquro]

Sorry, I forgot to tell you about CPU-Z. This is what the program says (the most important lines):

-------------------------
CPU-Z version 1.48
-------------------------

Processors Map
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 1

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0


Processors Information
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 (ID = 0)
Number of cores 1 (max 1)
Number of threads 1 (max 1)
Name AMD Athlon XP-M
Codename Barton
Specification Unknown CPU Typ
Package Socket A (462)
CPUID 6.A.0
Extended CPUID 7.A
Core Stepping
Technology 0.13 um
Core Speed 2104.9 MHz (10.5 x 200.5 MHz)
Rated Bus speed 400.9 MHz
Instructions sets MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE
L1 Data cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 512 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes
max FID 16.0x
max VID 1.550 V
Features
K7 Thermal sensor yes


And this is what CPUID says:

[ WCPUID Version 3.3 (c) 1996-2004 By H.Oda! ]

Processor #1 : Mobile AMD Athlon XP-M(Model A) / 42712666
Platform : Socket A (Socket 462)
Vendor String : AuthenticAMD
CPU Type : Original OEM Processor (0)
Family : 6 (7)
Model : 10 (10)
Stepping ID : 0 (0)
Brand ID : - (-)
APIC : ----
HT Log.CPU Cnt : ----
Name String : Unknown CPU Typ

Internal Clock : 2104.76 MHz
System Bus : 400.91 MHz DDR
System Clock : 200.45 MHz
Multiplier : 10.5

L1 I-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 D-Cache : 64K Byte
L1 T-Cache : ----
L1 Cache : ----
L2 Cache : 512K Byte
L2 Speed : 2104.76 MHz (Full)

MMX Unit : Supported
SSE Unit : Supported
SSE2 Unit : Not Supported
SSE3 Unit : Not Supported
MMX2 Unit : Supported
3DNow! Unit : Supported
3DNow!+ Unit : Supported

Host Bridge : 10DE:01E0.A2 [NVIDIA nForce2]
South Bridge : 10DE:01EB.A2 [NVIDIA nForce2 MCP]
VGA Device : 1002:4E44.00 [ATI RADEON 9700 PRO]
Memory Size : 1536M Byte
Memory Clock : ----

Regards.

 

[Reynod]

Bios ver 1013 was the last for the A7n8X-E

Sounds like the cpu is what it says it is so no complaints about the seller from E-Bay - he looks very good in fact !!

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A7N8X-E%20Deluxe

Manual

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/socka/nforce2/a7n8x-e/e1876_a7n8x-e_deluxe.pdf

CPU FSB jumper set to short 1-2.


Get into the Advanced chipset section of the bios on bootup.

Select 200 forthe CPU EXT Freq

Take the CPU Freq Multiple setting off Auto and select what you want - try 11 or so for a start (this is what you want to change ?? I assume is locked?)

Change User Performance to user defined
Change CPU interface to Aggressive

Hope this helps.

Check your bios is the latest first.

 

[joanquro]

My mobo is not an A7N7X-E Deluxe, it's an A7N8X Deluxe, one of the first nforce2 boards, I bought it in december 2002. A7N8X-E is a newer mobo, so this bios 1013 is not for my mobo. The last bios for my mobo is 1009 beta, you can see it here:

http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=A7N8X%20Deluxe

Anyway, I'll flash it again and I'll see what happens.

Thanks.

 

[joanquro]

Success!!. I have tried the pin-mod, posted above, shorting two pins in the socket using a wire (the famous wire-trick). Now I have available all of the higher multipliers!!. I'm writing this message with the processor at 2500 MHz (real, 200 x 12.5). Awesome. The Sisoft Sandra calculates a PR Rating of 3709 MHz!!. And I think I still have room for improvement, because memory is at the mininum voltage (1.6), and I could to overclockit too. Temperature iddle is now 43ºC and Vcore is 1.750 Volts.

Thanks to all of you, and I a get improvements, I'll let you know.

Regards.

 

[Reynod]

Awesome !!

Sorry bout the mistake ... tired eyes.

 

[MU_Engineer]

My mobo is not an A7N7X-E Deluxe, it's an A7N8X Deluxe, one of the first nforce2 boards, I bought it in december 2002. A7N8X-E is a newer mobo, so this bios 1013 is not for my mobo.

Thanks.

The A7N8X-E is about a year or so newer than the A7N8X and has some extra goodies like a Sil SATA-150 controller. I have an A7N8X-E and a Duron 1600 Applebred that a buddy gave me in my HTPC.

 

[joanquro]

Yes, but the Asus A7N8X Deluxe also has 2 built-in Sil SATA 150 controllers.

Thanks.

 

[Reynod]

I just got the - E bit wrong.