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Overclocking 101

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This is a general question for overclockers. I am new into overclocking and I would like some information from the generous people out there. Here are my questions:

1. What do the different types of RAM specifications mean? For example, 2-2-2-2/5

2. When one overclocks their FSB, does the CPU take the heat load, or is it the motherboard?

3. How does one overclock his or her RAM? What are the side effects?

4. Do the VIA boards with the P4X266A have dividers? If not, are there any good P4 DDR boards with dividers?

5. Does the TH7-II lock the RAM as well?

6. What are the benefits for only overclocking the FSB and not the peripherals?

Thanks

"Heat is a form of energy, thus the Law of Conservation of Energy holds!" - James Prescott Joule

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Man, I've been answering these questions a lot lately.

1. Let's replace that with a-b-c-d/e. A is CAS (Column Access Strobe) latency, C is RAS (Row Access Strobe) latency, B is CAS-to-RAS latency. D/E I'm not sure about, possibly the read/write turnaround. For all, lower is better. BTW, those aren't RAM specifications, those are timings that you can set in the BIOS.

2. Both, mostly the CPU. Some people have had better results after cooling the clock generator on the motherboard.

3. By raising the speeds in the BIOS. Side effects are random errors when you've gone too high.

4. Depends on the board, not the chipset. Most should have dividers.

5. No, but it has RDRAM dividers.

6. First, there are no benefits to overclocking the peripherials. Second, when you do overclock them, it can cause errors with your system.

Quarter Pounder Inside

Reply to FatBurger

Quote :

6. First, there are no benefits to overclocking the peripherials. Second, when you do overclock them, it can cause errors with your system.

Im not so sure about that burger, I mean when you overclock the agp bus the videocard performs faster, even when you keep the core/mem speeds the same, maybe it isnt a big boost, but I cant imagine overclocking the pci bus does not have a positive performance benifit(assuming stability is a given.)

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

Reply to Matisaro

Video card maybe. I can't imagine anything else would gain performance, though.

Sound card - no chance
NIC - possible, but the PCI bus is fast enough to not be the bottleneck, I would think
TV Tuner - no chance
USB/Firewire card - possible, same as NIC

What else am I missing...

Quarter Pounder Inside

Reply to FatBurger

true enough.
even though the agp bandwidth isnt the bottleneck, its till nice to have.

wonder if the same applies to the max IDE data transfer? i.e. 33mhz = 128mb/sec or so...
so 38mhz
(but not in my case, elevated PCI speeds = cremated IDE controller)

The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD.

Reply to lhgpoobaa

Actually the hdd is one of the things im sure wouldnt benifit, the limit is the physical speed/data density of the platters, overclocking the fsb wont speed the disk spinning.....but maybe overvolting the motor....hmmmm.

::evil look::

Fatty, I think that nics would see a benifit, faster fsb=less latency for one, and gigabit adapters are bottlenecked by the pci bus I believe.

Tv inputes? Arent some of them limited by pci bus, and frames are lost on a slowdown.(i dont do digitial video so im not sure).

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

Reply to Matisaro

PCI = 33MHz x 32bits (excluding 64bit PCI slots) = 1056Mb/s, just enough for gigabit networking.

TV tuners, or video editing cards? I don't have must personal experience with either, but I've seen TV tuners working fine on normal 32bit PCI slots.

Quarter Pounder Inside

Reply to FatBurger

yeah... well i was thinkin in extreme conditions it might help.
i.e.
burst data, 4 drives in RAID 0 etc etc

The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD.

Reply to lhgpoobaa

Quote :

PCI = 33MHz x 32bits (excluding 64bit PCI slots) = 1056Mb/s, just enough for gigabit networking.

Assuming thats the only thing using the pci channel.

(pretty sure they all share the same bandwidth, may be wrong)

"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
No Overclock+stock hsf=GOOD!

Reply to Matisaro

That's per slot, I'm pretty sure. 1056Mb/s shared by 6 slots would be pathetic.

And how would you calculate the bandwidth sharing for 32bit and 64bit slots?

Quarter Pounder Inside

Reply to FatBurger

It is a PCI BUS so yes the bandwidth is shared among them as that is the definition of a bus. A port on the other hand gets all available bandwidth but there will only be one slot (if applicable).

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1. Concerning dividers:

Some of the common dividers have ratios such as: 2:1, 3:1, and 4:1. But what if your FSB isn't a multiple of 33mhz? For example, if the FSB was overclocked to 112Mhz the divider would reduce the PCI bus to 28Mhz (112/4). How can the dividers help? I would imagine that it would reduce the system performance because it will significantly decrease the PCI bus.

2. Does overclocking the RAM have any correlation with overclocking the FSB? In other words, if one overclocks his or her FSB will he or she be required to overclock the RAM?

3. How does voltage help to overclock the CPU? How is this done?

4. What is PSU?

"Heat is a form of energy, thus the Law of Conservation of Energy holds!" - James Prescott Joule

Reply to Anonymous

1. Its ram timing, lower is better/faster

2. both, more heat from CPU

3. changing the timing more agressive (lower numbers) some motherboards have options to increase ram voltages for higher clock speed stability.

4. The i845D chipset is currently the best DDR overclocking chipset. I drop kicked the P4X266A back into oblivion since I was able to test it at overclocking. It was a very poor overclocker with no vcore voltage adjustments. Avoid SiS645 and P4X266A if your planning on overclocking.

5. On the TH7-II you can lock the RAM/AGP/PCI at 33/66/400, this is the only board I have found to do this. TH7-II is the best overclocker board available, next best is the P4B266

6. keeping your AGP/PCI in spec increases machine stability obviously. but a balance of both is best. Once you breached 134FSB your in the sweet spot, people are breaking 166FSB with the 1.6Ghz northwoods on the Gigabyte 8IRXP mobo.

<A HREF="http://gamershq.madonion.com/compare2k1.shtml?2535438" target="_new">1.6Ghz NW @ 2.83Ghz</A> on a Gigabyte 8IRXP (i845D DDR266) running at a sickening 177FSB.... Thats a 77% overclock from the $158 P4

Reply to FUGGER

1. some devices cannot operate too far above 33Mhz PCI and fail, the dividers give you the option to reduce PCI while still hitting higer speed and retain stability of the devices on the PCI bus.

2. When you overclock the FSB on most motherboards your also increasing the speed of the ram.

3. you can increase vcore in the bios usualy if the motherboard supports it. lets say your CPU can hit 115FSB with stability with vcore at stock but doesnt post at 116FSB. chances are you can reach higher FSB by increasing the vcore voltage. This is not true if your RAM fails at this point (then you will be trying less agressive ram timing or buying better ram). some motherboards support over volting the ram (P4B266 has this option).

4. Power Supply Unit, higher watt is better. 350+ is decent

Reply to FUGGER

schweet overclock.
ive also seen a report of someone who managed to get a full 100% overclock (3.2 outta a 1.6 Northie)

what temps are u running at (idle & full load)?

The lack of thermal protection on Athlon's is cunning way to stop morons from using AMD.

Reply to lhgpoobaa

1. Where did you get the CPU?
2. Does the stock speed effect the magnitude of the overclock of the FSB? For example, is there a difference in the FSB OC between a NW 1.6 and NW 2.2?
3. How much does the voltage increase help the OC?
4. If a MB doesn't have vcore can you still increase the voltage?

"Heat is a form of energy, thus the Law of Conservation of Energy holds!" - James Prescott Joule

Reply to Anonymous

www.pricewatch.com but before you buy, check out the vendor at www.resellerratings.com

The 1.6 and 1.8 are "backfill" processors to fill that void in production and they must have 512k cache to be a northwood. these are choice chips with the lower multiplier at 16 and 18. the 1.6 has the most potential and least expensive, I wouldnt be supprised to see 200FSB and a 1.6NW soon posted. I belive the current 1.7 wilmette is also a backfill 2.0 wilmette. Ive seen 1.7's hit 140 fsb and higher.

voltage helps allot, to hit 2.6Ghz I am setting vcore @ 1.65v, the default vcore is 1.5v

You can mod the motherboard to reach higher vcore settings, there are several web sites that feature such mods of video cards and motherboards cores and ram.

Here is a pre northwood review on the <A HREF="http://www.hothardware.com/hh_files/Motherboards/th7ii-raid.htm" target="_new">TH7-II motherboard</A>, it talks about dividers and stuff.

Reply to FUGGER

Fugger:I'd like to know who has a 8xirp that is stable when vcore is increased (over 125 fsb). I own one and it sucks, luckily my 1.6a will do 133fsb at default voltage.

Reply to Anonymous

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