The Unofficial guide for overclocking the AMD64 line.

[JC316]

Since there have been so many cases of people asking HOW to overclock the Athlon 64's, I figured I would post a step by step guide.


1. Go into your PC's bios. This is accomplished by restarting your computer and when prompted to enter setup hitting either F1 or DEL. It varies on your computer as to which key to hit.

2. Enter Advanced Chipset features, it's on the BIOS menu. (Note, some bioses require you to press crtl F1 to display the advanced features)

3. Find HTT Speed and lower it to either 4x or 800MHZ for 939/AM2 and Socket 754 users need to lower it to 600MHZ. Stock with be 1000MHZ for 939/AM2 and 800MHZ for 754. Make sure you keep it under 1000mhz, for 939/am2 and under 1600mhz for 754.

4. Lower the RAM speed to 166MHZ for DDR 400, or 133MHZ for DDR 333. Stock will be 200MHZ for DDR 400 and 166MHZ for DDR 333. For DDR2, lower it to 667 for DDR 800, or 533 for 667 (Depending on your RAM and how far you want to OC, you might be able to leave this alone. More explantion below)

5. Increase your CPU FSB slowly, 5MHZ at a time, until it either A, it won't boot, or B you are happy. If you're happy, skip to step 7. If you crash continue to step 6.

6. Increase CPU voltage by one notch and try again. Never go over 1.55V with stock cooling. For X2 users, never go over 1.45V

7. Always keep your temperatures below 50*C at FULL load. For X2 users never go over 45*C at full load.

8. Stress test with prime 95 and memtest to ensure stability.


NEVER PANIC if something goes wrong. If it refuses to post and you get nothing but a black screen, reset the Cmos. You can do this by remving the Cmos battery, or by using the clear CMOS jumper. Always have the computer OFF when removing the CMOS battery or jumper.

RAM explained. You can probably leave your RAM at 200MHZ so long as you drop the command rate to 2T and you only OC the CPU FSB by 10-20MHZ. If you go higher than that, you need to lower it to 166MHZ.

You can find Prime 95 here:
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Prime95_d4363.html
And Memtest here:
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html

Here is a pic of my AM2 bios, just to give you an idea of what you are looking at. Not all bioses look like this, but the terms are usually the same.



If you wish to find out other people's settings, please go here: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=36777 to see their results and add your own.
I hope you find this usefull and if anyone want to contribute, please feel free to do so. Overclocking is always a risk, don't blame me if you screw up your computer

[cdawall]

3 and 4 are wrong
3. 1000mhz 5x and 80mhz 4x for 754
4. 200mhz for ddr 400 166mhz ddr333

[JC316]

You need to lower it to 166/133 and lower it to 4X 800MHZ/600MHZ. How is that wrong? Stock it is supposed to be what you said.

[cdawall]

Originally Posted by JC316

You need to lower it to 166/133 and lower it to 4X 800MHZ/600MHZ. How is that wrong? Stock it is supposed to be what you said.

ok you need to put the stock speed and what to set them as

[JC316]

Done. Thanks for the tip.

[JC316]

Man, I just found a guide on fleabay that has these exact same instructions that goes for $12.50 a pop. You can find the same information here for free.

[xvi]

Always have the computer OFF when removing the CMOS battery or jumper.

You might want to add that you should turn off the power supply switch or remove the power cable first. For some added safety, after the power is off/unplugged, you can press the power button on the front of your computer to drain the capacitors.

Good guide!

[2THPIC]

does this work for a Sempron socket A, or will it explode? lol

[xvi]

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

does this work for a Sempron socket A, or will it explode? lol

Yes, but the numbers will be different. You'll have different voltages, different FSB, etc. The rest should be the same.

The main idea behind overclocking is just being able to push up your FSB (and/or multiplier).
Don't mess with the multiplier on your Sempy, though. AMD has that locked.

[2THPIC]

Originally Posted by xvi

Yes, but the numbers will be different. You'll have different voltages, different FSB, etc. The rest should be the same.

The main idea behind overclocking is just being able to push up your FSB (and/or multiplier).
Don't mess with the multiplier on your Sempy, though. AMD has that locked.

ok, i'm a virgen overclocker. so what is FSB?
does that make my cpu run faster?

[2THPIC]

do i need the following programs?

ScienceMark 2 Final
AMD NBENCH
3DMARK06
SuperPI
Sandra

[xvi]

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

do i need the following programs?

ScienceMark 2 Final
AMD NBENCH
3DMARK06
SuperPI
Sandra

Overclockers use those programs to test how fast their computers are after they're done overclocking.

Usually, you'll run those programs once before you overclock, and once after. It's nice to know that your overclocking efforts have made a difference.

I'm still writing that "small" guide. I think I might just make it in a new thread (and hope it gets stickied). A lot of people might be able to benefit from it and I don't want to spam this thread. I'll send you a link when I finish writing it.

[JC316]

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

does this work for a Sempron socket A, or will it explode? lol

Yes it does work the same, but with some slight differences. Ignore the part about HTT, since there wont be any. The voltages stock will be around 1.6V since it's 130nm and they will run hotter. I woudln't go over 60*C at full load with a socket A. The rest will be the same.

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

ok, i'm a virgen overclocker. so what is FSB?
does that make my cpu run faster?

Yes, that makes your CPU and everything else run faster. It is tied to everything on a socket A, including the AGP and PCI ports. When you enter the bios it should say CPU FSB.

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

do i need the following programs?

ScienceMark 2 Final
AMD NBENCH
3DMARK06
SuperPI
Sandra

Like XVI said, those are used for testing your OC. They aren't really for stability.

[xvi]

Originally Posted by 2THPIC

ok, i'm a virgen overclocker. so what is FSB?
does that make my cpu run faster?

There are HUGE guides on the basics of overclocking is, but I'll try to give you a brief (scratch that, very brief) overview.

Okay.. Nevermind. I wrote it all in a new thread. It can be found here.

That's an example of something I tried to keep brief.

[Grings]

Thats an odd clock speed there 2thpic, i imagine your fsb should be 166 but is underclocked slightly, at a 12.5 multiplier (stock at these should be 2083mhz)
If your nforce 2 is an ultra400 model it SHOULD do a 400fsb (some dont, despite the name)
however to reach this clock you need to disable apic in the bios, when i done this on mine i had to reinstall windows, if youre willing to do this, or apic is already disabled then lower your multiplier to 10x (leave the voltage for now) set your ram and fsb to 400 and run some benchmarks/stability tests. If its stable then try upping the multiplier one notch at a time, after 11x you may need to up the voltage but again one notch at a time, go easy too and keep an eye on your temperatures and dont go for all out clock speed, i found that at 2000mhz (200fsb 10x multi) nearly a 10 percent improvement due to the faster ram speed,despite being at a (slightly) lower clock speed. From what ive seen in clocking forums etc 2200 is often reached on those semprons. another thing to bear in mind is that nforce 2s memory controller work best when the ram and fsb are at the same speed
You may find that your chip goes quite a bit higher (ive got an athlon xp-m barton that gets to 2.7) but as with any overclocking, small steps at a time, and dont go over 2200 unless youve got a good cooler on there, and if youre running your ddr 400 at 333, make sure you change its spd timings to what they should be at 400 (cpu-z or everest can show you these)
id also suggest googling to find other guides on overclocking nforce 2 as i may have missed some bits (its late here, im tired)

[zekrahminator]

If you want to take a quick look at the general options you have for OCing before you reboot and apply them, the A64 OC calculator might be a big help .

[JC316]

Cool calculator Zek. Thats very good for setting you goals and calculating what it will take before actually doing it.

[Nitro-Max]

Ok i have a athlon 64 4000 san diego which im able to overclock in windows to 3ghz with the software that came with my Foxconn winfast 6100k8ma mobo. But when i try in the bios the cpu fsb resets to 226mhz from 250mhz is there anyway round this or is it the motherboards Bios limit?

cpu @250 oc = 3Ghz
multiplyer = 12
memory @ 166mhz = 400mhz normal operation
HTT 4x @1000mhz = Normal operation
voltage 1.376v
idle temp = 32
load temp =42
100% stable

[JC316]

Originally Posted by Nitro-Max

Ok i have a athlon 64 4000 san diego which im able to overclock in windows to 3ghz with the software that came with my Foxconn winfast 6100k8ma mobo. But when i try in the bios the cpu fsb resets to 226mhz from 250mhz is there anyway round this or is it the motherboards Bios limit?

cpu @250 oc = 3Ghz
multiplyer = 12
memory @ 166mhz = 400mhz normal operation
HTT 4x @1000mhz = Normal operation
voltage 1.376v
idle temp = 32
load temp =42
100% stable

No, the bios can go to 450. The reason it's resting when you go into the BIOS is because it's only temporary in windows, if you OC from the bios, it should stick. I can OC my board from the Nforce software too, but it only works for that time, once I restart, it defaults back to the BIOS setting.

[Nitro-Max]

Originally Posted by JC316

No, the bios can go to 450. The reason it's resting when you go into the BIOS is because it's only temporary in windows, if you OC from the bios, it should stick. I can OC my board from the Nforce software too, but it only works for that time, once I restart, it defaults back to the BIOS setting.

well i have tried resetting with cmos and doing a fresh oc and still resets and yes it does say it has a max of 400 or 450 mhz i think so i dont know why it wont but thanks for the reply

[JC316]

Thats odd, I wonder if it has some kind of motherboard protection that won't let you OC that high.

My ECS won't post at 2.9GHZ and it resets to default when I use the bios, but I can use Ntune to get it to 2.9. but it's not stable.

[Nitro-Max]

yes it does give me a warning saying my cpu clock is set to high i just click continue and same again and again wont let me go past this.but in windows it overclocks fine its just a pain having to set it everytime i bootup.

[JC316]

Originally Posted by Nitro-Max

yes it does give me a warning saying my cpu clock is set to high i just click continue and same again and again wont let me go past this.but in windows it overclocks fine its just a pain having to set it everytime i bootup.

That has got to be your problem, CPU protection is kicking in.

[boecke]

Not bad mate, I'm going to give it a go on my AMD Athlon64 3700+ San Diego.
Apparently the San Diego Core is the same core used on the FX line of processors, well the early ones anyway.. I should be able to push it to around 2.6ghz with stock maybe.

I definately need a Heatsink though, I'm looking at the ASUS line.. What do you guys think is good from ASUS.. or is there any other manufacturer out there that you guys like.

Cheers,
boecke

[JC316]

Originally Posted by boecke

Not bad mate, I'm going to give it a go on my AMD Athlon64 3700+ San Diego.
Apparently the San Diego Core is the same core used on the FX line of processors, well the early ones anyway.. I should be able to push it to around 2.6ghz with stock maybe.

I definately need a Heatsink though, I'm looking at the ASUS line.. What do you guys think is good from ASUS.. or is there any other manufacturer out there that you guys like.

Cheers,
boecke

The Arctic Freezer pro 64 is a great cooler. It's probably the best when it comes to price/performance. I am VERY happy with mine. I can run 2.8GHZ and never go over 43*C.

That Sandy will go high, Tatty One has a 4000+ Sandy that he runs at 3.1-3.25GHZ.