how overclockable are the dual core athlons .and what have anyone had with the samer cpu iv got a 3800+X2 and would like to overclock it just a tad. untill im comfident enough to go more. also is there any programs that test the cpu once its been overclocked ir is it just a matter of try a game if it works its fine if it crashes then ease of abit.
well you can always get at least 200mhz performance gain, that said if you want to go any higher then you'll want to invest in a aftermarket cpu cooler. If its a athlon 64 then its pretty much the same as anyother 64 at whatever core clock. So it should be the same overclocking a 3800 as 4200. Well nvidia has a system stability test that comes with their new driver, so that might be worth checkin out
My X2 3800+ reached upto 2.5Ghz stable and my X2 4400+ reached 2.5Ghz. You can see the difference, 3800 can overclock better than 4400. But dont go straight to 2.5 , just do it bit by bit. To test the stability of your OCing download Prime95 or Orthos. Run it for at least 24 hrs.
Overclockers.com has a great OC database that you can look up CPU's with, that include steppings and what cooling was used in achieving that OC.
is it worth running prime95 before i overclock . do i start overclocking the cpu in the bios as iv got a copy of micro mart and it explains how to do it in there. also how much do i go up each time and do i have to run prime95 for 24 hours everytime i increse it a bit, like at 2.1 , 2.2 etc.
just been on that overclockers.com and searched the data base. and found this one 3800+ 2330 1.39 Abit kn8-sli stock 26259 thats the same board and cooler and chip as mine so does that mean i could go do that gradually and it be stable also if i upgraded the cooler to a zalman i could go further. also what does the last set of numbers mean.
i started overclocking this afternoon and managed to get too 2350 and 1.37 stable it only wouldnt boot when i went too 2400 and was at 37c when i went to health check so if i buy a zalman cooler and bin the stock will i be able to go abit further. also when the rig wont boot is that the wall u hit untill you sort out the cooling side to have more voltage. or have i got that wrong. cheers.
Well, if you go slowly, you should run into errors long before you can't boot. Even if you do, some companies have a system implemented to reset the clock speed back to the default values or previous values if you OC to a point the system won't boot. (This is why I love DFI's CMOS Reloaded feature).
Yes actually gigabyte has a similar feature. I was using nvidia's ntune and least to say, for whatever reason it didn't work and my machine was freaking out and there were some options and everything was automatically reset before windows even booted. To gaz when you get to the point where it won't boot, thats when you've puched it past its limits. Go with Big b's advice, go slowly, heat will be a factor if your system is realy unstable or if it only stays on for a couple seconds or so. I would definetly recommend a aftermarket cooler as its almost a must if you haven't already gotten one. That said i don't think you'll be able to get that much of a performance boost with the stock cooler
