Help Overclocking my AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+

[GCCBrian]

Hello, i'm new to overclocking, and was referred here by a friend for some help on this matter..

I don't want to go out and buy a new CPU, but I want to overclock it not to the extreme, but enough for it to stay cool, and also get up to the 2.8ghz-3.2ghz.

Any idea's on how much I should OC, and maybe a software too?

Mobo:
Manufacturer MICRO-STAR INTERANTIONAL CO.,LTD
Model MS-7376
Version 1.0
Chipset Vendor AMD
Chipset Model 790FX
Chipset Revision 00
Southbridge Vendor ATI
Southbridge Model SB600
Southbridge Revision 00
- platinum edition

This is what i get from speccy:
Processor:


Cores 2
Threads 2
Name AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+
Code Name Windsor
Package Socket AM2 (940)
Technology 90nm
Specification AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 5000+
Family F
Extended Family F
Model 3
Extended Model 43
Stepping 2
Revision JH-F2
Instructions MMX (+), 3DNow! (+), SSE, SSE2, SSE3, AMD 64
Bus Speed 200.0 MHz
Rated Bus Speed 1000.1 MHz
Stock Core Speed 2600 MHz
Stock Bus Speed 200 MHz
Average Temperature 36-44 °C

Vid card: 512MB GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+ (EVGA) 64 °C
HDD: 147GB 10k RPM Western Digital WDC WD1500AHFD-00RAR5 ATA Device (SATA)

I got a 650watt Power supply

 

[T_T]

You should invest in an aftermarket CPU cooler. Check out www.newegg.com or www.frozencpu.com for coolers. As for the OC process itself, start by disabling the Cool n' Quiet feature in your BIOS.

While still in your BIOS, find your way to the CPU clock settings. From here, you'll want to increase your FSB by 5, then save and exit. See if you can get into Windows. If you can, then go back into your BIOS and increase the FSB by 5 again. Do this until you cannot load Windows.

When you're unable to load Windows, get back into the BIOS and drop the FSB by 1, and then try loading Windows again. Do this until you can get into Windows. From this point, you'll have to start doing some advanced OC configurations, if you want to go higher.

Remember, without an aftermarket cooler (of good quality), you may not be able to OC very far, or very well. Once you've reached a point where you're comfortable, you must test for stability in Windows. To do this, download, install, and run Prime95. This software is free, and it will test your CPU at above normal loads; typically a larger workload than you could put on the CPU yourself. Allow Prime95 to run for several hours. If at any time Prime95 finds failures, it should create an entry in a file called "Stress.txt", which should be located in the directory that you installed Prime95.

Now, to give you an idea of what kind of settings you're looking at, consider this:
your CPU has a base clock of 200 MHz. Your CPU multiplier is 13 at stock value. So, this gives you 2600 MHz at stock value. To reach your low-end goal of 2.8 GHz, you'd have to increase your FSB to ~215. 215 MHz x 13 = 2795 MHz. To achieve your high-end goal, you'd have to increase your FSB to ~246. 246 MHz x 13 = 3198 MHz. Remember, though, increase your FSB in increments of 5 to find out how far you can go, as going straight to either 215 or 246 (or somewhere in between) may cause permanent damage, if you don't properly adjust other settings.

Lastly, just so you know, the advanced OC configurations involve adjusting voltages and the Northbridge. Changing these settings w/o knowing what you're doing will cause instability, and may cause permanent damage. Increasing voltages too high will destroy your CPU, as speed + voltage = heat, and too much heat will fry your CPU; which is why an aftermarket cooler is always recommended for an OC job.

 

[GCCBrian]

What should the RPM's be on the CPU cooler for OC'ing? Also if i don't want to do the advanced OC'ing and just doing the FSB, do I need to change anything with the voltages, or just get the CPU cooler and i'm good to go?

 

[T_T]

What should the RPM's be on the CPU cooler for OC'ing? Also if i don't want to do the advanced OC'ing and just doing the FSB, do I need to change anything with the voltages, or just get the CPU cooler and i'm good to go?

Well, that all depend on just how far you want to increase the FSB. Keep in mind that even your low end goal may need a bump up in voltage to increase stability. The only way to know is to overclock slowly (+5 to the FSB each time) and attempting to boot into Windows.

As far as an aftermarket cooler goes, it is alway recommended to have one because overclocking creates more heat. Besides, once you conquer the basics, you may find yourself wanting to go further. The RPM's aren't all that is important, but for the sake of discussion, my cooler has 800 ~ 2150 ± 10% RPM. The rest of the specs are:

Outline Dimension: 124 x 107 x 156 mm
Fan Dimension: 120 x 120 x 25 mm
Rated Voltage: 12V DC
Rated Current: 0.32 A
Power Consumption: 3.84 W
Rated Speed: 800 ~ 2150 ± 10% RPM
Airflow: 33.20 ~ 78.41 CFM
Static Pressure: 0.02 ~ 0.11 Inch H2O
Noise Level: < 17.2 ~ < 39 dBA
Bearing Type: Z-axis Bearing
Life Time: 60,000 Hours

And this cooler is working just fine. There are; however, more popular brands/models. To name a few:

1. Noctua nh-d14
2. Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus
3. Mugen Scythe 2

I use www.frozencpu.com to view the specs of fans/coolers.

 

[GCCBrian]

I couldn't increase the FSB for some reason, it showed the number, I would highlight over it, and I couldn't move it up or down. Was i clicking the wrong buttons? Also my fan speed is 4-5,000 rpm.. as it said in BIOS. is that fine for a CPU cooler

 

[T_T]

The FSB is typically adjusted in one of two ways:

1. Pressing the "+" or "-" key; or
2. Typing in the value

Unfortunately your mobo manual isn't much help, either.

 

[GCCBrian]

I could only get it from 200 to 220. So what improvement have I made?

 

[T_T]

220*13=2860. So, now that you've reached your low-end goal, test your system for stability by using Prime95. You can download Prime95 for free here . Run Prime95 on all three tests, one at a time of course. If your system crashes, check the "Stress.txt" file, which can be found in the directory path Prime95 was installed.

 

[firefoxx04]

It should be noted that when you change the fsb youl also be overclocking the speed of your memory and Hyper transport layer.

This is okay as long as your RAM is up to the task..

when i was overclocking my athlon 5000, i had to get around my memory because it was low end ram that didnt like to overclock.

my ram was ddr2 rated at 800mhz. (this really means it runs at 400mhz!, just cut the speed in half)

when i ran cpuz, it told me my ram was running at 375mhz.. this gave me a little room to play with but i soon found out that the ram reached a speed of over 400mhz when i overclocked the cpu. to get around this, i set the ram speed in the bios from 800 to something lower (500 or something, its hard to remember)

also, i could get my athlon 5000 stable at 2.8ghz with no voltage adjustments but it seemed like when ever i tried to hit 3ghz i would get issues. I never touched the voltage due to me being on the stock cooler. watch the temps as well. The temp sensor can be faulty on these cpus so be careful!

the hyper transport layer also overclocks with the RAM. Be sure to lower that value as well. I had issues when i went over 1000mhz on the HT so i set it to 800 and after my overclock was done it eneded up being at 950mhz or so.

i hope that makes sense, im kinda tired!

 

[JaymesD0ve]

I know this thread might be a lil old but did anyone get this processor OC'd at 3 Ghz? or more