Overclocked 939 life and other stuff...

[ghkj21]

Ok I know I'm working on an out-dated system but I find I have more fun with computers that are a few years old because parts can be "found" cheaper and theres more people on forums like this one that have done it before.
So I got an A8N-sli and a athlon 64 x2 4800+ (2.4 ghz) today I pushed it past the 2.8 range but It felt like I was reaching its limit. V-core changes weren't helping its stability as much the memory clock had already been lowerd to 333mhz and back up to 415mhz with a higher FSB and lower multiplier...(did this after the memory was refusing to post over 450)

anyway I rolled back to 2.71 to try and be a little more conservative(If you can call 13% oc conservative?) and that setting ran prime 95 for 8 hrs yesterday. I'll have a FX-60 to play with soon (2.6ghz and a wide multiplier range) and I think I'll be keeping the 4800 as a spare...

temps on all these clocks have stayed below 60c (actually under 57c if you don't count the 2.77 2.79 & 2.81 stress tests)

How much will this kind of pushing shorten my cpu life?
If I can break the old 3.0 line with the FX-60 I will prolly keep this system for a few years before toying with the next platform. But if Its gonna wear it out in 18 months then I may start looking to "find" AM2 toys before then.

also whats everybody think about a windows XP 64? any drawbacks?
It'd be nice to take advantage of all 4gb ram as well as other perks I may discover along the way. I have drivers for all of it I just wanna make sure its not got any issues with older games or other things I might not know about....

I'm open for all angles as long as you don't tell me to buy a new system

 

[FALC0N]

A socket 939 winchester core X2 4800. Once upon a time, that was the fastest processor in the world!! Think about it. It was the I7 980X of 2005!!! Just 5 years ago.

That is actually a pretty good OC for that chip. Its faster than any stock 939 chip. Votage will matter more for life than the OC itself. Have you bumped the voltage and where is it set?

The downsides of XP 64 are about the same as Vista 64 or 7 64 these days. It has a bad rep from the days when drivers were rare, but with Vista 64 and 7 64 has come XP 64 drivers. My experience with it has been great. Its really fast and stable too.

EDIT: X2 4800 was Toledo core, not winchester.

 

[saaiello]

Good Luck finding XP 64 drivers. Windows XP 64bit was just a test bed for 64 bit operating systems and never really caught on due to the fact when it came out alot of systems didn't have 64bit capabilities yet. That all changed with vista I would suggest putting Win 7 on it you will have no problems running it on that system.

 

[ghkj21]

A socket 939 winchester core X2 4800. Once upon a time, that was the fastest processor in the world!! Think about it. It was the I7 980X of 2005!!! Just 5 years ago.

That is actually a pretty good OC for that chip. Its faster than any stock 939 chip. Votage will matter more for life than the OC itself. Have you bumped the voltage and where is it set?

The downsides of XP 64 are about the same as Vista 64 or 7 64 these days. It has a bad rep from the days when drivers were rare, but with Vista 64 and 7 64 has come XP 64 drivers. My experience with it has been great. Its really fast and stable too.

good to hear that xp64 has bee great for you.

@ 2.71 GHz my v-core is 1.4 (1.3-1.35 stock) when I turned it down to 1.385 it still passed prime for 6 hours but WOW would have errors if I ran prime, IE8 at the same time.
The FX-60(dual core), introduced at the end of the 939 era, is going to be a little bit faster and with the free multiplier it will be easier to keep the memory in its happy range.

Good Luck finding XP 64 drivers. Windows XP 64bit was just a test bed for 64 bit operating systems and never really caught on due to the fact when it came out alot of systems didn't have 64bit capabilities yet. That all changed with vista I would suggest putting Win 7 on it you will have no problems running it on that system.

I already said I have 64 drivers. exept for the video cards, nvidia made 64 support didn't they?
But there are not windows 7 drivers available for my board or would it run legacy drivers?

 

[FALC0N]

Good Luck finding XP 64 drivers. Windows XP 64bit was just a test bed for 64 bit operating systems and never really caught on due to the fact when it came out alot of systems didn't have 64bit capabilities yet. That all changed with vista I would suggest putting Win 7 on it you will have no problems running it on that system.

Not exactly a test bed. It just never really caught on because nobody was running into 4 gb limits back then.

And drivers are not much of a problem. Thats a reputation left over from the old days. XP 64 drivers have grown right along with vista and 7 64 bit drivers. They're all over the place now.

 

[FALC0N]

@ 2.71 GHz my v-core is 1.4 (1.3-1.35 stock) when I turned it down to 1.385 it still passed prime for 6 hours but WOW would have errors if I ran prime, IE8 at the same time.
The FX-60(dual core), introduced at the end of the 939 era, is going to be a little bit faster and with the free multiplier it will be easier to keep the memory in its happy range.

Its should be using about 140 watts. To answer your earlier question about lifespan, you should be fine. That board and cpu should be able to handle those power levels with no trouble.

And I have to correct my earlier post. It is a Toledo core, not winchester.

 

[ghkj21]

Its should be using about 140 watts. To answer your earlier question about lifespan, you should be fine. That board and cpu should be able to handle those power levels with no trouble.

And I have to correct my earlier post. It is a Toledo core, not winchester.

Thats good to know, I may push it farther with the FX-60... I won't know till I have it but it may take up to 1.5v (also 1.3-1.35 stock) if I'm going all the way to 3.0
and thats just over 15% OC if I do that with the FX Still safe?
I think I read on here somewhere that above 1.5v is hard on the x2 4800+ does the same applie to the FX wich has the same stock range and thermal design?

 

[ghkj21]

Ironically an stock Athlon II X2 250 performs better than a FX-60@3.0...

I'm sure it does but thats a socket AM3 I'll toy arround with that platform in a few years lol.

 

[jitpublisher]

A couple of tips from an x-Socket 939 lover. I used to have a 3800+ a 3800X2, and a 4600X2, all at one time or another on a DFI 3200 CFX DR/G motherboard with crossfired ATI 1950pro's, was a powerful gamer in it's day.
Keep your memory divider set so you are not overclocking the memory.
You should be able to hit 2.8 without much problem at all. Past that, you may have to lower the Hypertransport bus multiplier from 5 to 4. Some boards seemed to be very solid and the Hypertransport bus would go a long ways, others not so much.
Don't be afraid to turn the voltage up a little on these either, just be sure they stay cool.

 

[ghkj21]

Memory divder is limited on my A8N-sli.
The memory clock options are 266, 333 and 400.
When my cpu OC brought my final mem clock somewhere near 450 I set my Memory clock to 333 and clocked cpu further with a lower multiplier @ 2.71 GHz the final mem clock is now 415.

 

[FALC0N]

Ironically an stock Athlon II X2 250 performs better than a FX-60@3.0...

This isn't entirely about performance. This is more intrinsic value.

 

[ghkj21]

Funny the stock FX-60 running @ 2.6 seemed to run smoother and average higer fames than the 2x 4800+ did OC'd @ 2.71

The FX-60 averages about 5c hotter under load and I keep getting errors in Prim95 when I speed it up. still workin on it tho.

 

[ghkj21]

Ok been pushing the FX-60 a little. Right now I'm keeping it @ 2.81 GHZ because its stable and the heat is under control. when I get my new fans and stuff I might go back to pushing it more but here's what I been running into;

beyond a certain point my dram frequency will start dropping off in CPU-z.
I had CPU @ 2.84 via 210 clock and 13.5 multiplier
I had CPU @ 2.91 via 201 clock and 14.5 multiplier
in both cases CPU-z reported my dram frequcy as something like 193 or 194
I also couldn't run prime for more than a minute without crashing. @ 2.91 I tried all kinds of voltage settings for ram and cpu, HT multi down as far as 3, even more relaxed DRAM timings like (ex 2.5-3-3-6 instead of 2-3-2-5) Nothing brought the dram frequency up or added stabiltiy. (g-skill perfromance memory)

maybe my base model a8n-sli isn't stable enough...
oh well, 2.8 is still pretty good for my needs maybe I try more when my other hardware shows up.

 

[misry]

Now you know why 3.0 was such a big deal. I didn't break it till my 720 and then it was just a matter of tweaking the multi. Kind of anticlimactic. No worries about XP-64. Ran it from Service Pack Goose-egg till I went to 7 late last year.

 

[ghkj21]

the other day I repaced my 92mm core contact fan with twin scythe 92mm fans(running a fan splitter so they always sync the same speed). @ the same noise output (low) they move just as much air as the sunbeam fan did on medium. I also replaced the stock Mosfett Sink with one of those copper rod ones and made a horrifying descovery:
3 of the MOSFETT chips were not in contact with the heatsink(they sit just slighly lower) which had thermal pasted instead of the moldable heat pad that it should have had (PO error!? or ignorance) the thermal paste that was on the 3 middle chips was brown from heat and once cleaned the chip bodies looked a little melty(I hope the damage is only cosmetic and they will continue perform normal now that they are cooled).....
With all chips in full contact with the new heatsink pad suddenly my onboard land is running 110% smoother and(nolonger need a backup lan card) my new attempt at overclocking has found me stable today @ 2.90GHz

3.0 just might be possible for me afterall. I'm a let 2.9 run for a week or so before I start trying for the 3.0.

HT multi=5
FSB=207 no divder
CPU multi=14
Vcore= 1.4625
DDR 2-3-2-5 @ 1.8v

 

[ghkj21]

..... With all chips in full contact with the new heatsink pad suddenly my onboard land is running 110% smoother and(nolonger need a backup lan card) my new attempt at overclocking has found me stable today @ 2.90GHz...

nope onboard lan croaked again oh well.

HT multi=5
FSB=207 no divder

That puts my HT bus @ 1035.
I know PPL have used x4 when the FSB is near 250 so it stays @ or below 1000 but how far above 1000 do you think this board can handle?