Overclocking an AMD 1900 XP

[StevenHickerson]

Hello guys I have two systems set up currently and trying to look to get a little more out of them without spending a whole lot if any money.

Right now my main computer is a P4 1.7 Ghz, 768 Mb of PC800 RDRAM (Yuck I know, I didnt build this one it was a gift from parents they got it from dell), Geforce 4 Ti 4600, SB Audigy 2

My AMD is an Anthlon 1900 XP (1.6 Ghz), 512 Mb of PC2100 DDR, Geforce 2, Onboard 6 Channel Sound. (Between using an Asus A7V333 Mobo)

What I'm thinking about doing, if I can figure out how is overclocking the AMD (I'm guessing I can probably get it up near 1.9 Ghz overclocked) and switching my geforce 4 and audigy to the amd. Thinking that will probably give me a maybe noticeable upgrade without spending any money at all. The parts I'm worried about is the less memory (but would the faster memory speed make up for this any?).

The main question is how do I go about overclocking the CPU.. I played around in the bios settings with the Core Voltage and, CPU Frequency and Multiplier but I kept getting hangs and having to go back in as safemode and it tells me my frequency and multiplier do not match. So I'm obviously doing something wrong hehe.

What I may do if I'm not satisfied with this as an upgrade is Upgrade the CPU and memory itself in the AMD. I could put a 2600 XP and 1 GB of PC2700 in it for less than 300 dollars. But dont really want to do that if I dont have to. That would be the limits of my board though (Well I could go up to 3Gb of PC2700 but 2700 is the fastest, and the 2600 would be the 266 FSB version not the 333).

Thanks for any advice / help

[IntelSucks]

Easy way:

ClockGen


Just read the page before you go downloading it. You have to make sure that you get the right one, depending on MOBO.

Be careful, and dont get to extreme with this just because it lets you.

[StevenHickerson]

While that program looks neat, they dont support my Mobo apparently. And how the heck does overclocking software work? Lol.. that page was talking about setting it up to start when windows started and apply saved settings. Thats not what I really want, I want it set in my bios so that when I turn my computer on, the chip is overclocked.

I could see the program like this coming in handy if I really wanted to push the system only while running a particular application but I guess I just dont really like the sound of a software overclock during windows startup.

[dglienna]

look in the board documentation. they state what speeds can be used, and how to set each state for a specific processor. Just keep changing up until the PC won't boot, then back down one.

Overclockers.com should prolly be able to help.

I had a Celeron 300 running at 550 years ago.

[Halsafar]

I don't know about overclocking now..seeing I haven't overclocked anything cept my old 333mhz Celeron...I don't even know what board it has.

But find the jumpers on your board and play wth them...There might be a nice chart for you, even the ability to change fan settings.

Some mobo allow bios to clock the PC.

But one question?
Why the **** do you need to overclock a 1.7ghz
That is fast enough buddy.

[Halsafar]

I had a Celeron 300 running at 550 years ago.

I have a Celeron 333
I overclocked it to 500 and the system hung

There is no bios switch on my damn mobo...not one that I could find or system tech's could find. I left the battery out for 24hours, and it still didn't discharge I guess...
So when I did that I had to manually flash and reinstall my bios. That fixed it.

[StevenHickerson]

Heheh Hals, well I'd be overclocking the 1.6 not the 1.7... and 1.7 is slooowwwwww

I'm a computer extremist I guess you could say, I like to push my systems to their limits and I've gotten to a point where my systems just can't keep up with what I want to do. Gaming is a big area of this, some of the newer games just dont quite run like I would like.

I would normally just build a new computer at this point (Surpisingly these two systems have lasted me a little over 3 years now, that is a very long time for me hehe). These were both nearly the best thing you could get when I got them, so right now I'm drooling over the P4 3.6s and 3.8s... or even better would be the 3.4 Exteme. But theres one problem right now that I didn't have as much so in the past, money (I had no bills then lol). So the only option for increased perfomance with little or no money is overclocking

Like I said in my first post, if I push my Asus board to its limits I could get an AMD 2600+ (2.1Ghz) and up to 3Gbs of PC 2700. Even if I did that though I would still want to overclock the 2600.. lets face it 1.6 ghz to 2.1 ghz isn't going to be a whole lot of diff, but if I overclocked it to say a 2.8 (the highest I've read of overclocking a 2600 to)... thats a huge jump in speed.

If nothing else reconfiguring my systems and changing stuff up like this will keep me unbored for a day or two

But thanks for the overclockers.com reference dglienna, been over there reading for the past hour or two and have learned a lot hehe. Pretty much understand what I have to do to overclock the anthlon, now to just get off work in 25 minutes and go home and do it

[dglienna]

I don't know about XP, but when I was running W2K on that machine, it died when I changed the speed. Now I have a P4 in it, with the ASUS board. Haven't tried to speed up XP, though.

[IntelSucks]

Originally posted by StevenHickerson
While that program looks neat, they dont support my Mobo apparently. And how the heck does overclocking software work? Lol.. that page was talking about setting it up to start when windows started and apply saved settings. Thats not what I really want, I want it set in my bios so that when I turn my computer on, the chip is overclocked.

I could see the program like this coming in handy if I really wanted to push the system only while running a particular application but I guess I just dont really like the sound of a software overclock during windows startup.

I should have been more clear...use this to test how much you can actually overclock it. But since you cant anyways, my post is pointless. Sry for being helpless.lol...I havent overclocked my athlon xp, and I have not checked in on how to do it. I know how to overclock an athlon. NON xp. And as far as thes p4, I obv dont have any interest in intel *points at username.

[Halsafar]

I've had the same comp for...10 years now, maybe more.
Started out as a P60, 16mb RAM
Upgraded to a P166, 32mb RAM
Completely redone to a Celeron 333 64 MB RAM
The last change I made was get a 128MB ram chip.
Oh and an 8GB harddrive...I do have many HD's, and thousands of CDRW cause you never have enough space as many can agree.

I push this thing to its maximum. Have been for years.
The case is still the same as it first came. Infact my old mobo and processor the P60 was so old, the comp guy wanted it because it still had the Intel Math Error in it. But I kept it, antique wise.

[Edneeis]

What kind of cooling do you have? Also your memory probably wont like the overclock.

The speed of a cpu is figured by two things a multipler and a FSB (front side bus). Some chips have the multipler locked. So your 1900 running at 1.6 is probably 133 (fsb) x 12 (multipler) = 1600 Mhz. Or it could be 100 x 16 = 1600.

You get more noticable improvement from increases to the FSB but this will also overclock all parts of your system (AGP, PCI) unless your mobo supports changes to this ratio. Typically the AGP/PCI speeds are figured from a ratio of the FSB. A good overclocking board will allow you to adjust the AGP speed/ratio (which the PCI is also figured from). Also your memory will run at the speed of your FSB.

The sweet spots are 100, 133, 166 for the FSB. You can try to push your FSB upto 166 if it reaches that high on your mobo. In order for the cpu to remain stable at this higher speed it may need higher VCore. Be warned though that this will definately increase the heat generated by the chip so I hope you have good cooling. Also your 2100 memory is meant to max at 100 so it will probably be the point of failure but you never know.

Another thing you can do is increase the CAS latency of your memory which could create a noticable difference, but don't do that if you are already pushing 2100 to 2700 speeds.

If your natural FSB is 100 then try for 133 (100x16=1600) (133x16=2200).

I currently run my Barton core chip which is naturally 166x11=1800 at 200x11=2200 and it is flawless but I also have water cooling it so it is silent as well.

Good luck.

Here is my rig:
http://www.edneeis.com/rig.asp

[StevenHickerson]

Lol hals if you've changed the mobo and cpu and ram, you havn't had the same computer for 10 years That is what makes the computer, not the case.

But anyway I've finished with my tests.. disappointed to say the least. I had forgotten that the 1900 is actually a 1.2 ghz chip (100 FSB CPU), and I already had it overclocked to 133 FSB making it a 1600 Mhz at standard 12.0x multiplier. Had done that with automatic settings in the bios. After playing with it for a few hours now the best I can without spending money is a wopping 1680 Mhz. Pfft.

I'll prob take it back down to 1600 though because my PCI Bus is up near 36 with the FSB set at 140 to get this, need to keep the pci bus as near to 33 as possible. I actually lost 18 points on the 3dMark03b test with the extra 80 mhz.

If I get some DDR 333 memory I might can get it up to 1990 Mhz because then I would be able to put the CPU up to 166 FSB without causing errors with the Memory to cpu ratio. And actually for that matter could prob etch on over the 2ghz mark cause I could prob actually get up to 170 or 175 without loosing stability. (175 would be 2.1 Ghz).

Like I said rather disapointing... guess I'll just have to save up a few hundred buck so I can get a new mobo memory and cpu all at once to get a descent increase. I dont even think I could get much more than 2.3 or 2.4 out of the 2600+ (266 FSB) because of the memory limitations. Even if I ran the memory at 4:5 ratio, the best FSB I'm gonna get is 208 (off of DDR 333 Memory) assuming I can't go past 12.0 multiplier thats 2.5ghz. Now if I can bump it to 12.5 or 13 multi that would be a nice 2600 or 2704 respectively. But that would still involve replacing the CPU and memory at the same time..with a new board being only another 100 to 150 bucks for a descent one.. may as well wait a couple weeks to get the extra money and get something that I can upgrade again later down the road.

[StevenHickerson]

You posted while I was typing that out Ednee, lol pretty much just confirmed what you said would probably happen

The cooling is somewhat a pain too.. if I did manage to get the CPU to 166 fsb with the DDR 333 I think it would get to hot. Right now if I put the side of the case on the thing gets up to around 67 C... this is after I cleaned all the dust out lol before I cleaned the dust out it was hitting 75 to 80c without the side on. If I leave the side off It runs around 55 C now. I need to get another 80mm fan to put in the front of the case to see if I can't create a air flow through the case when I have the cover on, right now I got an 80MM at the back and of course the cpu fan itself.

Not gonna waste a lot of money on the cooling though since the effort in overclocking wouldn't really be worth it on this CPU. Figure if nothing else I'll get the 2600 mobile, I've read reports of it running around 35 C with a stock amd fan (and no over clocking).

[StevenHickerson]

I did realize one error in my math after posting last night. Figured I'd post just in case anyone was following this thread and learning something off of it hehe

Like I said rather disapointing... guess I'll just have to save up a few hundred buck so I can get a new mobo memory and cpu all at once to get a descent increase. I dont even think I could get much more than 2.3 or 2.4 out of the 2600+ (266 FSB) because of the memory limitations. Even if I ran the memory at 4:5 ratio, the best FSB I'm gonna get is 208 (off of DDR 333 Memory) assuming I can't go past 12.0 multiplier thats 2.5ghz. Now if I can bump it to 12.5 or 13 multi that would be a nice 2600 or 2704 respectively. But that would still involve replacing the CPU and memory at the same time..with a new board being only another 100 to 150 bucks for a descent one.. may as well wait a couple weeks to get the extra money and get something that I can upgrade again later down the road.

My error is assuming the 2600 chip would still be running at a 12x Multiplier. Thats just wrong it would actually be on a 16.0x because the rated spec is 2.1~ ghz ... 266 FSB.. So 133 X 16 = ~2.128. Meaning if I moved this chip up to 166 FSB which is totally doable with DDR 333 (Up to 166 Bus) I'd be running 2656. And possibly could even push that to up to 2800 by running up to 175 FSB (this may be to high for PCI issues would have to test).

So I think thats gonna be my path.. get some DDR 333 Memory, the 2600 Mobile CPU and Clock it to an easy 166 to 175. Then later I'll get me a newer motherboard that supports 266 FSB up to some of the newer stuff (basically make my chip and memory be the lower end stuff that the board can handle). That way at some point in the future I can get over the 3ghz mark with another new cpu and memory

One other question I do have for the overclocking wizzes out there, the mobile chip is supposingly fully unlocked. Does this mean I may be able to up the multiplier on it to get even more over clocking? I'm pretty sure my 1900 is top locked on the multiplier at 12 because if I try to go to 12.5 it wont boot. But if I could put the multiplier on a 2600 chip up more then I might could even break 3.0Ghz with it lol. Not sure exactly how the multiplier works yet, so dunno if its possible to get a multiplier that high or not.

[Halsafar]

To me its the same comp.
New mobo and new processor + ram is nothing if I have to use the same cards and hd and cd-rom...I've had to look at the same case for 12++ years...I'm sick and tired of it.

The schools around here have better comps than me...man back when I went to elementary school, they still ran v86, or macs...
Oregon Trail!!!!!!
I say this because I visited my old elementary school today with my girlfriend, it was fun...Nice Dell comps everywhere.

The highschools have always had better comps than me, as they should.

[Edneeis]

I would read reviews of mobile chips and see how much others are overclocking them. Generally speaking you'll probably want to move your multiplier down and fsb up to maximize performance and stability but I think your biggest issue will be heat.

It's too bad you aren't in CA I have most of a water cooling kit that I could kick down or sell cheap. For serious OC'in water is the way to go otherwise it just gets so loud with all the fans it takes to keep a heavily overclocked cpu cool.

Also watch out because a mobo that supports 266Mhz FSB actually is a double pumped 133 Mhz. You would need one that supports 333Mhz to run at 166 and 400Mhz to run at 200Mhz.

[StevenHickerson]

Originally posted by Edneeis
I would read reviews of mobile chips and see how much others are overclocking them. Generally speaking you'll probably want to move your multiplier down and fsb up to maximize performance and stability but I think your biggest issue will be heat.

It's too bad you aren't in CA I have most of a water cooling kit that I could kick down or sell cheap. For serious OC'in water is the way to go otherwise it just gets so loud with all the fans it takes to keep a heavily overclocked cpu cool.

Also watch out because a mobo that supports 266Mhz FSB actually is a double pumped 133 Mhz. You would need one that supports 333Mhz to run at 166 and 400Mhz to run at 200Mhz.

Hehe already done that have a 2600+ XP Mobile on the way as I type this.. should be here Monday (stupid site wouldn't let me pay the extra for saturday shipping )

Also have 1 gig of PC 3200 Dual Channel DDR on the way with it.. so overclocking the 2600 a good bit shouldn't be hindered by the memory.

Depending on the stepping of the 2600 I get I should be able to overclock it to ~2.4 up to ~2.6 on just air cooling, with water I've read 2.7 and 2.8 is possible.

But for now on my mboard I'm gonna be maxed at a small over clock prob up to 166 FSB instead of the stock 133. Might can get it to 200 but thats iffy. Next week I plan to get an Asus A7V880 board and a new case, with the new board though I'll really be able to open the chip up, then I might consider getting some kind of water cooling.

As for the 266 Mhz board thing, my board supports up to 266 FSB but I can still mod the FSB up to like 208 or something like that in the bios overclocking features. (Thats actually 416 FSB when it double pumps through the cpu). But my memory cap is 2700 so the 3200 that I ordered will scale down and only run 333 (166 FSB) so thats prob going to be where I hit my cap on this board.

Like I say, end of next week I'll order the new board and case and that should hold me over for a while. The nice thing about the new board is I'll be able to expand it further (maybe not CPU wise because the 2600 over clocked is faster than the 3200s stock and I heard the dont over clock much). But I'll be able to put serial ata on it and more memory Oh yeah and ATI 9800 XTs or a nVidia 6800 GT ... wonder which one of those would make me go ohhhh ahhh more hehe