Can I overclock it???

[m25]

I finally got my Athlon64 3000+ and it looks like it is a bit cooler than it should be; it makes just 25°C idle and after 20 min rendering it doesn't go beyond 30°C.
I only got the cooler that came with the box and was asking myself if I could SAFELY clock it @ 2GHZ with just that cooler?

 

[guyinyourattic37]

Yes

EDIT: (WOOT 100th POST)

 

[Heyyou27]

Hell yes.

 

[buci]

i know people that have overclocked Athlon64 3000+ to 2.6Ghz using stock cooling....so....yes

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

I finally got my Athlon64 3000+ and it looks like it is a bit cooler than it should be; it makes just 25°C idle and after 20 min rendering it doesn't go beyond 30°C.
I only got the cooler that came with the box and was asking myself if I could SAFELY clock it @ 2GHZ with just that cooler?

Absolutely not. Any attempt to do so would tear a hole in the space-time continuum, thereby allowing our alien masters to regain their dictatorial hold over our inconsequential civilization.

 

[tiger131]

I would definitely go for it. You should definitely read some beginners guide to overclocking - there are some half decent ones on overclockers.com. Otherwise, I know there are some int he overclockers forum. Read up before you start, and if you don't know what a certain option in the bios does, don't touch it or look it up. Be careful on ramping up voltages (I wouldn't recommend playing with voltages until you are comfortable and know approx. what a proc can take). Otherwise, hell yeah, do it. Oh, there should be a divider for the memory too, and lock the PCI-X bus and pci bus so you don't overclock those as well. If you have valueram and you just bump up the HTT you're going to be very limited by your memory... ahh just read a guide. Good luck - post your results when you're done.

 

[MU_Engineer]

I'm not all that experienced with overclocking, but I do know a few things that will ensure a system's stability:

1. Keep the HTT bus speed near 1GHz, and certainly below 1100 MHz. So if you up the LDT bus to 220 MHz with the stock 5x HTT:LDT multiplier, you'll get a 1100 MHz HTT bus speed. Drop the HTT mult. to 4x and give yourself an 880 MHz HTT bus speed. It doesn't affect performance one bit and leads to better stability.

2. Unless you have RAM that's either rated above DDR 400 or has tight timings at DDR 400 (something like 2-2-2), don't overclock the memory bus more than, oh, 15-20% or you'll cause the system to be unstable. If you want a high LDT bus to OC your chip with, select the "DDR 333" setting on your board and then OC from there. That simply sets in a 200:166 memory divider and will let you get an LDT of 241 with the RAM running at its rated 200 MHz DDR 400 speeds.

3. If your RAM is rated at DDR 433 or better, you might need to loosen up the timings and command rate to get it to be stable when overclocked. Memtest86+ is your friend to test memory stability. If it can complete a half a dozen cycles with no errors, you're more than golden.

4. Don't increase the Vcore. If you don't overvolt the CPU, you are far, far, less likely to roach it by going too far. Keep it at the stock 1.35V and watch the temps. If the temps are fine, you really can't cause very much if any damage by overclocking*

5. Don't let the full-load temps get beyond the mid-50s and you'll be fine.

*Or so I am told. It certainly sounds reasonable as higher Vcore can lead to electromigration of metal ions, and that should not happen at its rated Vcore, even if the LDT bus and clock speeds are bumped up. But anyway, be careful and smart and you should do fine.

 

[nigelf]

just try it. And btw there can never be a too cold processor.

this is a great article on overclocking the A64

 

[hella-d]

Yes Mine Is Overclocked (Everything Is Including My 7800GT) And Even After 4Hrs Of F.E.A.R @ 1600x1024 w4xAA, 16xAF, And Soft Shadows On And All The Details Set To Max Its Sits At About 112F (See System Specs Below)

 

[MrCommunistGen]

I don't want to burst your bubble, but its possible that those temp readings aren't righ. What kind of motherboard do you have, and how are you reading the temps? I'd check the temps in BIOS just to make sure. I'm pretty sure the temp sensor doesn't read right on my ECS mobo, my AthlonX2 3800 (stock cooler) idles at about 30C and it only goes up to 33C when both cores are at full load... at least according to every program I have tried in windows. I remember checking the temps in BIOS and, at least at whatever kind of load you have in BIOS, the temps were decently higher as I recall.
That aside, Venice core Athlon64s overclock pretty well and you're probably pretty safe with even a moderate overclock. A friend of mine who knows very little about computers has had his 3000 overclocked to about 2.3GHz on stock cooling for as long as he's had it... over a year now I think (wow has it been that long?)

-mcg

 

[uber_g]

I finally got my Athlon64 3000+ and it looks like it is a bit cooler than it should be; it makes just 25°C idle and after 20 min rendering it doesn't go beyond 30°C.
I only got the cooler that came with the box and was asking myself if I could SAFELY clock it @ 2GHZ with just that cooler?

Absolutely not. Any attempt to do so would tear a hole in the space-time continuum, thereby allowing our alien masters to regain their dictatorial hold over our inconsequential civilization.


WTF 8O

 

[hella-d]

Well According To The BIOS, My Software (NVidia Monitor) Is Only About 5F Off, My Motherboard Is A Chaintech Zenith VE Nforce4 Ultra, My CPU(s) Are Revision B, Core Stepping JH-E6 Venice, But Im Also Running A Kingwin All-Copper, Silver-Slug Core HS, With A 3500RPM 92mm FAN + The 4x 80mm 3000RPM Blue-LED Case Fans That Reside In My Xoxide Clear Acrylic Tower.

 

[m25]

Thanks to all of you guys! I know it is curious but it really idled @ 25°C and now @ 2GHz it does it @ 26°C (I checked the bios and asus probe values of my new A8V-MX)! I've seen the values for other 3000+s but these are definitely the lowest.
Fully loaded (40 min render) now it only reaches 34°C but think I need a chasis cooler because when I put the covers on, it toped at 38°C.
It made me gain 11% on my renderings. This thing seems to ne a mighty overclocker!

 

[SidVicious]

A very important thing when you OC is to find the limitations of your RAM first, then the max HTT your mobo will run at then figure out how far you're willing to take your CPU to, given enough cooling and voltage, 2.6 to 2.8GHz on a Venice core (especially if it was manufactured in 2006) is not unheard of.

I suggest that you use Prime95 Torture Test in order to detect any instabilities. If possible, do all your tweaks through the BIOS, OCing apps tend to be unreliable.

 

[m25]

I set the HT at 4X, FSB 230MHz, RAM @ 183MHz (CPU @ 2075MHz) and after rendering for ~50 min th temps oscillated between 38 and 39°C (without chasis cooling; it got down to 35 with the cover removed).
I dont think the temps. are wrong, the sensors are too rensponsive :?:

 

[angry_ducky]

I finally got my Athlon64 3000+ and it looks like it is a bit cooler than it should be; it makes just 25°C idle and after 20 min rendering it doesn't go beyond 30°C.
I only got the cooler that came with the box and was asking myself if I could SAFELY clock it @ 2GHZ with just that cooler?

Absolutely not. Any attempt to do so would tear a hole in the space-time continuum, thereby allowing our alien masters to regain their dictatorial hold over our inconsequential civilization.Oy vey; that doesn't sound good. Leave the thing at stock speed, and be happy.

 

[scorch]

I'm with ducky, leave it stock and avert an alien takeover, that is some funny Sh*t. Havent laughed that hard in a while.

 

[TSIllusion]

wow, tats kinda dangerous... i say, stick with your cooler..

oh wait... take OFF your cooler... underclock it by 600mhz, then i think ur in the safe zone!

 

[kwalker]

I finally got my Athlon64 3000+ and it looks like it is a bit cooler than it should be; it makes just 25°C idle and after 20 min rendering it doesn't go beyond 30°C.
I only got the cooler that came with the box and was asking myself if I could SAFELY clock it @ 2GHZ with just that cooler?

Absolutely not. Any attempt to do so would tear a hole in the space-time continuum, thereby allowing our alien masters to regain their dictatorial hold over our inconsequential civilization.

dammit I hate that when that happens

 

[sdrawkcaBgoD]

It's a b!tch.

 

[kwalker]

I better back er down.
out of tin foil for the brain scans

 

[m25]

Laugh, but it's the first time I am overclocking and need a platform that is still stable after 12 hours of rendering!

 

[kwalker]

were laughing with you :lol:
you have a good cpu .
oc the crap out of it.
it wont break.
just watch those temps.
stock cooling will do.

 

[namralaks]

time to call those star trek guys then eh

 

[killz86]

Hell yes you can over clock that.