Overclocking AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4400+ Processor Brisbane 65 nm

[Petkevicius]

Hello, I am interested in overclocking my CPU. However, I do not know the deadline, so I don't want to experiment too much. I could not find the exact information for exactly mine CPU. That's why I am posting this. Please notice that I am not a pro in O'C and I apologize for my poor English as well.

So, I downloaded some monitoring software: CPU-Z and Core Temp. By default, my CPU settings at BIOS where loaded to AUTO and that is 200 MHz, 11.5 Ratio, 1.3 V (2.3 GHz). Also, Cool'n'Quiet was enabled by default. What I did already is this: 236 Mhz, 1.325 V, CnQ disabled (2.71 GHz). I did not change the clock ratio, because it is max by default (11.5). I lifted up voltage by a minimum. If I would not, I would get a 'blue screen' from Windows. Now I can monitor this information from CPU-Z and Core-Temp: voltage is changing in range 1.344-1.38, the temperature at idle is 38,47 (core #0,#1), max temp. 58,64 (I use 'MicroTask CPUHog' application to load my CPU).
I noticed that I will be able to increase MHz without blue screen error if I will increase voltage. So I would like to know, may I increase voltage a little bit more? Is that safe? What is the max safe temperature for my CPU? On the other hand, I don't want to significantly reduce my CPU lifetime.
My PC specs:
Gigabyte GA-M57SLI-S4 motherboard (socket AM2)
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4400+ Brisbane 65 nm
Ge-Force 8800GTS 640 mb 320 bit
DDR2 667 MHz RAM: 2x1GB + 1x2GB
Windows 7 Pro 64-Bit

Your responces would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards, Paulius P.

 

[saint19]

Hi newcomer and welcome to the Tom's hardware forum.

See answer here

Safe voltage: 1.5V or less
Safe temp:63C-70C or less.

Start to OC in little steps.

 

[fencer55]

I had the AMD X2 4200+, the same speed chip as the 4400+ but with a smaller L2 cache. Since these chips have a locked multiplier, you have to increase the front side bus speed to overclock the chip. I had poor luck with that due to my cheap memory sticks. At that time, adjusting the memory timings was recommended and really tight timings (5-5-5-12) were recommended. Also, better cpu cooling is recommended over the stock cooler. My chip would get quite warm even at a modest 10% overclock. Good luck!

 

[Petkevicius]

saint19, thank You very much for advices. I paid attention to your recomendations and finally reached the stability (it seems so, I have to run PC few more days to make sure). I adjusted the settings to 230 MHz, 11.5, 1.325 V (2.65 GHz). Monitoring programs is telling me that CPU voltage is 1.344-1.376, temperature on load is 68,70. I was able to increase the CPU speed more, but the temperature while gaming reached 74 on the second core, so I just decided to reduce performance A LITTLE to feel MUCH SAFER

fencer55, as I understand, the multiplier in my BIOS is not locked. It's just locked on AUTO (by default) what means 11.5 (according to CPU-Z monitoring program). I can reduce multiplier as much as I wish, but there is no room above 11.5. I am not sure what is that FSB speed, but I guess it's that what is called 'CPU Frequency (MHz)' at my BIOS. So this is the setting that I increased. I had to increase CPU voltage as well, other way my system crashed at startup or even hour after running OS.

 

[saint19]

Hi again, good news for you. Run some stability test like prime95 for 1 or 2 hours.

FSB: Front South Bridge.

Cheers, and if you have another question just do it.

 

[Petkevicius]

Hi again, good news for you. Run some stability test like prime95 for 1 or 2 hours.

FSB: Front South Bridge.

Cheers, and if you have another question just do it.

Hey, I downloaded Prime95 and I must admit that this test is a real deal - both of CPU cores are loaded at 100% (according to 'Core Temp' application) every second. However, I noticed that temperatures got higher than 70C even after 10 minutes running Prime95. So what did I do. I loaded defaults at BIOS and then started the test again. After 2 hours of running it, Core Temp shows me that highest temperature was 73C (66 on the other core). So its seems it's better not to overclock this CPU? However, I thought that I could try to overclock it as much, that the temperatures would not go beyond 73 at my USUAL USAGE. I mean I and my family members never gonna load the CPU at 100% for more than 2 minutes. What do you think, saint19?

P.S. I enabled the 'warning beep' at BIOS when the CPU reaches 70C. It never beeped, though 'Core Temp' showed me over 70C several times.

 

[saint19]

Hi again, I think that the problem is the airflow of your case. What case do you have? and how much fans this have?

 

[Petkevicius]

Hi again, I think that the problem is the airflow of your case. What case do you have? and how much fans this have?

Hi again, I think that the problem is the airflow of your case. What case do you have? and how much fans this have?

How do I know my case model no.? Well, actually this case is in a piece of furniture with not much room left from the sides, but open back. I also do not know the specific information about the fans. It's all stock. I gues it's main supply unit fan, processor fan and the video card fan.

Would you mind to take a look at this: http://www.mightymicro.com/A64X2FF2-20-07.pdf

 

[saint19]

Ok, I assume that you have an ATX case with only 1 fan in the back side. So, you need a better airflow, a case with 2 or 3 fans.

In the link says that the safe voltage is diferent from that i said up, so:

Voltage: 1.35V or less
Temp: 72C or less

 

[Petkevicius]

Ok, I assume that you have an ATX case with only 1 fan in the back side. So, you need a better airflow, a case with 2 or 3 fans.

In the link says that the safe voltage is diferent from that i said up, so:

Voltage: 1.35V or less
Temp: 72C or less

saint19, there is kind of plastic pipe which is screwed to the inside of the box. This pipe is exactly at the place, where the processor is, no doubt there is a fan on the processor. However, as I said, my case is in the piece of furniture, so the side, where the pipe is screwed, is blocked with this furniture. I believe the temperatures would be lower if I would take the case out from this furniture that this side would not be blocked from fresh air. I will try this ant let you know.

Anyway, what do you think about that overclocking I mentioned before? I could try to overclock it as much, that the temperatures would not go beyond 72 at my USUAL USAGE. If I would not pay attention to 2 hours Prime95 test?

 

[saint19]

Well, the OC that you do is goo for the processor, remember that isn't a BE and is a 65nm processor. You can try OC a little more, but always keeping a look in the temps.

 

[Petkevicius]

OK, I took out the case from the furniture, loaded BIOS to defaults (2.3 GHz) and ran Prime95 for 30 minutes. In last 15 minutes, the temperature never went over 60,67 (cores #0,#1). That means this retarted wooden furniture where I kept my case was giving me additional 6C! It seems now it's all clear to me. I am gonna pay attention to your advices and let you know if any questions will come out. Thanks!

 

[saint19]

Any time, that's why we are here.

 

[Petkevicius]

Well, I am coming back to this thread. I faced some kind of problem recently and I guess it was caused by ocerclocked CPU. So, one morning I turn on the power and I hear a long beep (longer than usual), OS does not start and I can see the message which recommends me to load default BIOS settings. However, after few attempts (no change at BIOS), the computer starts. The strange thing is that this case is not coming out anymore. I mean I faced it only one time. Should I get worried about it?

 

[samsarmi]

Well it seems you've already started on it that way, so i dunno about that at this point... The Athlon X2 4400+ Brisbane is a 65W TDP proc with an nominal operating voltage range of 1.200V ~ 1.250V and it's maximum operating temperature is 72Cs. You should have first proceeded by burning in the processor at Stock Clock [2.2Ghz] and at lowest possible operating voltages. Any 65W TDP Brisbane Athlon X2 at all {even a 5000+ etc} should be able to operate at even just 1.1000V at 100% CPU Load w/o blue screening IF properly burned-in at that voltage. Lesser voltage such as 1.075V may cause blue-screening already despite the {unquestionable} stability of your PSU.

However, what's done is done- so i do suggest doing everything all over again step-by-step. First download a copy of Prime95 Software for purposes of processor burn-in. Then set the CPU Voltage to 1.100V thru your mainboard's BIOS- if indeed it can be adjusted to that voltage level [am personally unfamiliar with that model of Gigabyte board]. Then properly burn-in the processor w/ Prime95 on "In-Place FFTs" for max heat etc. whilst using your computer Windows 7 [use as you would regularly] for about an hour, keeping close watch of CPU Temps at 100% CPU Load. Just in case your Athlon X2 4400+ actually blue screens while burining it in, just raise the CPU Voltage by an additional increment of 0.025V or just 25mV {25 millivolts}- until it does not blue screen during burn-in.

Once you have properly burned in the processor {ie. it did not blue screen} at a specific CPU Voltage, that particular voltage rating should serve as your nominal operating voltage at it's Stock Clock of 2.2Ghz and should baseline any Overclocked Voltage on this nominal operating voltage. Raising clocks DOES NOT automatically require increasing that nominal operating voltage UNLESS your computer blue screens at that voltage while burning it in at the raised or Overclocked Processor Speed. Bytheway, just burn it in for 20 to 30mins on the OC'd ratings- after all the processor has already been previously burned in properly, and we'd just be checking for system stability at this point. If on the other hand IT DOES blue screen on while OC'd, just raise the CPU Voltage again by mere increments of 0.025Vs UNTIL you have a stable OC'd system. With a Brisbane, it's better to leave the multiplier at x11 w/c is the Stock Multiplier Setting while raising the FSB by additional increments of 5Mhz and test the system for stability; if the system proves stable at your inputted CPU Voltage, then you can test for stability at that very same CPU Voltage Setting but with an additional 5Mhz on the FSB.

Following this step-by-step method of OCing and Stability Testing, you should be able to reach a Stable Overclock with approximately the following settings below:

Overclocked Processor Speed: 2.53Ghz
FSB: 230Mhz
CPU Multiplier: x11
CPU Voltage: 1.325V approx or LESS
CPU Temp at 100% CPU Load: approx 45C at around 30C Room Temperature

Note that these settings amount to just a 15% Overclock. I would say any OC beyond that or taking it any higher levels than that will now require experience in "experimentation" of any variations of any or other of these settings above. Also please do note that results like that are with the use of the X2 4400+'s AMD Stock HSF - using a AMD Phenom X4 955BE's Stock HSF [w/ 4 copper heatpipes + copper base] will give CPU Temps of just about 40Cs at Room Temps of 30Cs more-or-less.

 

[staxontoplyon]

Having to 'burn in' a cpu for overclocking is a myth, nor do I see any reason to run it undervolted like that. My brisbane 4400 gets 1700-1800 cpumark score, that's as good as some phenom x3 and phenom 2 x2s! I'm running @ 2970 Mhz, I could go higher but don't want to overvolt, this is with 1.325 volts which I think is default, but perhaps it is .25 over stock which isn't going to stress it that bad. Accomplishing this requires a overclocking of the FSB and to compensate for that a lowering of both the HT multiplier and max mem clock. A good safe overclock is a 250 fsb with 4x HT and memory limited to 1 step below spec, i.e. my ddr2 800 set to 667, also I use cpuid to check the spd of the memory and set the latencies according to the speed it is running, you know the 5-5-5-15-20 thing, cas delays and such. To achieve my overclock I have the HT set to 3x and the max mem clock at ddr2 555, this runs it at 333 Mhz when it should go 400 but for whatever reason it won't boot unless underclocked a bit this way. It is far better to have your cpu running at top speed than your memory, or HT link for that matter. But if your cooling isn't so good the 250 Fsb and 4x HT link is a great option, no need to mess with voltages and temps should be pretty mellow. This old pos still can hang with some demanding games, not bad for something I paid 60 bucks for 6 years ago.