Overclocked AMD 4000+

[just1tree]

So i just bought this AMD 4000+ San Diego Core proc, to extend the life of my 939 system that i built just before the PCI Express standard took over. I've got an MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum and DDR 500 to allow for a higher FSB overclock. I was able to get the CPU clocked to 2596 (11*236) on stock voltage without problems or excessive heat, and even loaded up Oblivion, Doom 3 etc without any problems. Seemed pretty stable, until I tried running a defrag on my Windows drive which is a SATA RAID 0 btw 2 Western digital 80 gb drives. So now i'm wondering if this is the CPU that's the problem or maybe the RAID is sensitive to overclocks. Or maybe defrag is the problem. I was wanting to get some input if anyone feels inclined.

I should note that the CPU cooler is a Thermaltake Polo 735, which performs pretty decently in the cooling department. And the CPU is the 90nm core, which runs at 1.35V.

[Darthtanion]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

If you are running WinXP, I don't generally use defrag. While it isn't the "cleanest" system, WinXP does a pretty fair job of working well even if you have a good many fragmented files.

With regards to the hard drives being sensitive to overclocking, the answer has always been a resounding yes. Your board is new enough, however, where you should be able to go into the BIOS and lock the channels to a default speed. Used to be that the SATA channel worked in conjunction with the PCI channel so that if you locked PCI to default it would do the same for the SATA, but you might want to research that and verify if this is the case with your board.

[just1tree]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

I'm pretty sure that the AGP and PCI channels were locked, but not completely certain so i'll have to double check that. Only reason I was going to defrag it was I just loaded a ton of games that I hadn't yet installed and just wanted to clean things up. I set the proc back to it's factory settings to get that to finish running. I'll go back and try to test the overclock etc with prime95 for the cpu overclock, but is there a File transfer or drive stability test you could recommend?

[just1tree]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

Ok, so i took your input about the SATA ports and did a search on the net about SATA ports being affected by overclocking and found that the K8N Neo2 (not sure about the platinum which i have) only has SATA 3 & 4 locked. Go figure i have my raid on 1 & 2. Is it possible to swap them from 3-4 to 1-2 without having to rebuild the raid? Because if not that means i have to reload windows etc.

[casecutter]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

They should swap over. What to do is mark the SATA bcables as to what port and drive they were originally part of and if it does not work, you can switch them back. I am 99.99% sure I did the exact same thing with my NEO2.

[just1tree]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

Ok, so casecutter was right I was able to move 1-3 and 2-4 and nvraid just picked it up without a problem. And I have now been able to overclock the cpu from 2.4 stock to 2.8 stable at 233*12 with 1.45v.

But the revelation that my sata 3&4 not being locked makes me ask the question, if i connect any sata drive to that port will I be able to use it? Is there potential for the data to get corrupted at the 233 fsb?

On a side note, the Neo 2 doesn't have a 1:1 memory option, and the bios still shows DDR400 because the max i can set the memory speed to is 200 mhz, despite being able to increase the FSB for the CPU. Is the memory running at the 233 fsb i.e. ddr 466?

thanks for the help guys.

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

Memory and CPU clock are set by the same. Both speeds are determined by a divider.

So if you have you RAM set to 333MHz or the divider set to 5:6, running the CPU clock at 233 would get the RAM at about 195. Setting the RAM speeds (e.g. it allows 400/200, 333/166, 266/133) only means that it will run at that speed with the base clock at 200. If the clock is increased, the RAM speed will increase accordingly.

[Kheldar]

Re: Overclocked AMD 4000+

If you are running WinXP, I don't generally use defrag. While it isn't the "cleanest" system, WinXP does a pretty fair job of working well even if you have a good many fragmented files.

generally nowadays it doesn't make much difference to the speed of your computer, but some people believe it reduces wear and tear on your HD