Overclocking AMD 1800+ XP

[Sarcyn]

In waiting for my new gpu cooling I decided to try OCing my CPU once more.
I have RedStorm overclocking on my mobo, and it basically increases your fsb until the system crash, then set it down a few for stability.
I have good cooling capable of cooling an amd 3000+, and my idle it as 40C/104 F.

I used the tool and after reboots, it set the fsb to 150 which gave me about 200 MHz more!
Wow, that was nice I thought, but after doing some testing I realized it wasn't stable at all. Kept rebooting and crashing. So, right now I'm sitting with 133 again and asking myself why I can't overclock my CPU with any success? Should I try doing it the old fashion way, or maybe get another tool for overclocking and how can I improve stability?

I dunno, but it seems my comp just generally sucks. Nothing works :mad:

[grazzhoppa]

changing the fsb affects 2 primary things: cpu and ram. If you have PC2100/ddr266 and if you run your fsb and cpu clock at a 1:1 ratio, you will not be able to change your fsb to 150. If you want to get that 150 fsb, make sure you have ram rated higher than that. ddr333/pc2700 will get you a 166 fsb.

Your sig says 1GB 133/133/166....which I can only guess that means you have 3 sticks with 2 being 133 and 1 being 166. Take out the 2 sticks of 133 and see if the system is stable at 150 fsb with only the 166 stick running. If it's stable, then you'll need to replace those 133 sticks with ones rated at 166 or higher. If the system is not stable with only the 166 stick in, then your motherboard might not have a pci or agp lock that prevents the fsb increase to affect the pci and agp speeds. If you know that your mobo has that, then try increasing the cpu voltage slightly. If the system is still not stable, then your motherboard can't handle 150 fsb, and you can't overclock it.

[Sarcyn]

How do I increase the cpu voltage? Its in BIOS right?
Whats the exact word I gotta look for?

Also,

I have a 300W power supply, and could getting a 350 or 400W power supply maybe increase the oc'able potential of my system?

[Sarcyn]

Hey!

I found a pair of these:
Crucial PC2100 DDR-DIMM 512MB CL2.5. Non-parity, 2.5V, 64Meg x 64

for a good price. Would that give a chance to reach those 150 fbs?

thanks for posting all :p

[gR3iF]

:D u can change multiplier gives u more fsb

[grazzhoppa]

Yes, the cpu voltage changer is in the bios. It can also be called core voltage. Your motherboard might not have a setting to change it though, not all motherboards do.

300 watts is probably fine for your system, even for overclocking.

No, pc2100 will not give you a chance to reach a 150 fsb. Why?...becauce pc2100 = DDR266 = 133mhz. To get a 150mhz fsb, you need ram rated for 150mhz or higher. That leaves you with 2 options - 166mhz/pc2700/ddr333 ram or 200mhz/pc3200/ddr400 ram.

Here's some ram that is rated at 200mhz. Even though it's overkill, its pretty cheap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820146299 - $82 shipped.
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=80098-21 - $80+shipping

Yea, if your motherboard has a setting that allows you to change the cpu multiplier you can increase that. The multiplier only affects the cpu speed. I think all athlon 1800+ have the multiplier unlocked.

[DanTheBanjoman]

If you change the FSB check if you have an AGP/PCI lock as well, if not your AGP/PCI speeds will be increased as well, some hardware doesn't like that too well.
Changing the FSB is more effective than changing the multiplier though. Though without chaning any hardware you can always increase the multiplier. By chaning the muliplier you can verify if the memory is indeed the bottleneck.

[gR3iF]

hm no
example i had an 2000+ it can run with multi 9.5 on fsb 200 or with same speed at higher multi@ 166 fsb the 200 way was faster

[DanTheBanjoman]

Like I said, changing the FSB is more effective.

[gR3iF]

yeah but higher fsb is better when u can change your multiplier too but fsb 200 does not have to be faster when u have ram with cl3 at fsb 200 and cl2 at 166 then 166 should be faster while same endspeeds

[DanTheBanjoman]

I'm not sure how big the difference is on AMD system, they seem toc are more about latencies than Intel systems though. On Intel the 200 cl3 would be better.

[gR3iF]

:D amd lives trough latencys intel trough high clocks so :D:D:D:D
on intel higher fsb wayne about latencys on amd lower latencys are better

thats why amd go away from ddr2 ram its not good for amd systems

[DanTheBanjoman]

Yes but if cas 2 makes up for 200 < 166, I'm not sure.

[gR3iF]

we maybe never know socket a is death and so the 166fsb cpus died :D