Questions about OCing AMD

[Soccer1725]

I have an AMD 64 3500+ socket 939, newcastle, I just bought a thermaltake Venus 12 cooler (any comments on the cooler by the way?), ATI AIW 9800 pro (also just ordered the Kingwin heatpipe VGA cooler, any comments on that?), 1 GB Kingston Value RAM DDR400 PC3200, MSI Neo2 Platinum. I am wanting to try the built in overclocking but I'm not sure. With my setup how safe is it. Do I need coolers for my memory or are they fine? Any suggestions would be great!

[Classlessmetal]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

i have same cpu and mobo as you currently running at 2.5ghz, i turned the HT down to 4 x in the bios and increased the fsb, easy to do, temps seem to hover around 40 idle and close to 50 under load

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

With a Thermaltake Venus 12, you should be fine. I have the Volcano 12 (Socket A version of that cooler) and it does an amazing job, though for the most effect you'll have to put up with a lot of noise. You'll want Arctic Silver 5 to go with the Venus 12, rather than the crappy thermal compound that comes with it.

You're memory won't need any cooling, so you're fine there.

[Soccer1725]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

Thanks for the info. I had to RMA my first board and am still waiting for the replacement to come.

[Soccer1725]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

Actually, one more question. This motherboard does have options for automatic overclocking up to like 11% I think. What is different about changing the HT and FBS compared to letting the MB do it for you? Also, what, if any, other ways are there of overclocking?

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

You can do it by software, in addition to the manual and automatic BIOS overclocking. You will get the most level of control if you OC on your own, and you'll be able to get better performance overall based on how your run the RAM.

[Soccer1725]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

OK, that sounds good. But I still am a little iffy on how I do it on my own. Does it still take place in the bios setup or is it better to do it with MSI's Core cell when I get into windows? And then which settings are best to change?

[Yawgm0th]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

BIOS. You'll need to change voltage for the CPU, chipset, RAM. You'll also need to change the Athlon 64's multiplier, and what the BIOS will label as HTT or FSB, as well as the memory frequency. it would be easiest if someone just had a link to a good guide for overclocking Athlon 64s.

[Soccer1725]

Re: Questions about OCing AMD

Ya, I have been trying to find a good guide online but they are all so vague. Guess that's what happens when they don't want to be responsible for problems. Thanks anyway.