a64 overclocking; a few straightforward questions

[slon]

hello there, i am new to the amd64 platform, and i hav a few questions :D
1st off, when overclocking on the a64 3500+, ive seen mostly overclocks of up to 2.5ghz +/-, and it doesnt seem like alot, but then again u can overclock the RAM and stuff. i was wondering, using some high performance RAM (say OCZ3700EB?) juz roughly how much of a boost in performance will u get in real world conditions? -using whichever method to get the max amount of speed possible-

is the performance gains from overclocking high enough to warrant the purchase of high performance rams?

also, when the CPU maxes out, usually the multiplier is lowered so that it is possible to 'push' the RAM higher. i was wondering, since Cool n' quiet adjusts the multipliers to lower the CPU speeds, how will changing the multi.s affect it?

thanks

[glorfy]

Overclocked to 2.5 with my 3500+ gives me a very nice boost - equivalent to FX53levels -
£550 performance for £240. If you are still looking for a processor the new 90nm seem
a good bet - 2.5 0n air from the 3000+ You will continue to see performance gains as
you speed up the RAM Others will be better able to tell you what to expect.
The good thing with the OCZ stuff, is that as well as performance you will get top
notch support, and as such I cannot recommend it highly enough.

As to Cool n' quiet. If you are looking to O/C - don't use it. It's there to scale
back when the system isn't stressed - you obviously want to stress yours! Personal
example - O/Ced to 2.520 with 'C n Q' = Vcore 1.7. Without 'C n Q' thats doable
on 1.5 - 1.55 Vcore. Ouch!
Hope this helps!

[Rukee]

<a3500 @ 2.6GHz at 1.4v.



I run out of ram speed at about 265fsb with OCZ PC3500EBs...someone told me another power supply would get me another 10MHz...but I`m scratchin my head on that one.

[Jeff7181]

One thing to keep in mind that I ran into... SATA drives. If you plan on using the SATA controller built into the motherboard's chipset, don't plan on overclocking. When you overclock the bus, you overclock the SATA controller, and SATA hard drives don't like that. I got 3 MHz before my drives crapped out.
If you have SATA drives, make sure you get a motherboard with a SATA controller on the PCI bus since the nForce3 250 can lock the PCI bus speed so your SATA controller won't be out of spec.

[Rukee]

I have SATA drives in RAID at OC`s over 250fsb.
I dunno what`s up with my board as everyone else seems to be having so many problems trying to OC theirs.

[Jeff7181]

I have SATA drives in RAID at OC`s over 250fsb.
I dunno what`s up with my board as everyone else seems to be having so many problems trying to OC theirs.

But do you have them connected to the chipsets SATA ports? Or are they on something like a Silicon Image controller that's built into the motherboard?

[Peanya]

is the performance gains from overclocking high enough to warrant the purchase of high performance rams?
Well if you look at the difference in price between premium memory vs regular memory and compare it to the difference between a 3500 and FX53, then yes! Any way you look at it, the 3500 is fast enough for any game out there. But some of us want the fastest we can get. Now if you're doing a lot of video editing, or any type of media encoding, then the performance differense becomes more than bragging rights.

[Rukee]

But do you have them connected to the chipsets SATA ports? Or are they on something like a Silicon Image controller that's built into the motherboard?
I have them connected to the FastTrack SATA connecters which are the two lowest ones on the MB just above the BIOS chip.

[Diabloabogado]

Where the SATA drives are connected is only relevant on certain motherboards. Some have the SATA on the PCI bus, chipsets like the NF3 250 (and all variations) have two that locked (near the CPU) but the other two are not. On NF3 250 boards, you must completely disable the SATA ports that aren't locked (at least I did and it helped get the HHT above 235).

To answer the question, you do see a good bit of boost, but it seems that most A64 chips, no matter 754 or 939, clawhammer or winchester all seem to have nearly the same OC limit. The newcastle's seem to get to around 2.6 to 2.7, clawhammers around 2.5 and I'm not sure yet what the winchester's do.

[Jeff7181]

Where the SATA drives are connected is only relevant on certain motherboards. Some have the SATA on the PCI bus, chipsets like the NF3 250 (and all variations) have two that locked (near the CPU) but the other two are not. On NF3 250 boards, you must completely disable the SATA ports that aren't locked (at least I did and it helped get the HHT above 235).

To answer the question, you do see a good bit of boost, but it seems that most A64 chips, no matter 754 or 939, clawhammer or winchester all seem to have nearly the same OC limit. The newcastle's seem to get to around 2.6 to 2.7, clawhammers around 2.5 and I'm not sure yet what the winchester's do.

Are you absolutely sure? Sure enough to bet money on it? Cause my VNF3-250 has 2 ports, RIGHT next to the CPU, and with SATA drives connected it won't go past 203 MHz.

[Rukee]

now that I think about it, two of the 4 SATA RAID array connectors are dissabled in the BIOS on my board too.

[ErikaeanLogic]

Are you absolutely sure? Sure enough to bet money on it? Cause my VNF3-250 has 2 ports, RIGHT next to the CPU, and with SATA drives connected it won't go past 203 MHz.

my VNF-250 is running a Clawhammer 3400+ at 218fsb, Prime95-able for 24+ hours. are you suggesting that if I remove the SATA bus on this motherboard from the o/c equation that I would get a substantial increase in overclockability? I seriously doubt it. . .but if you've verified this on your board (7/29 bios) then I'll try it. I'd miss my Raptor, though! ;)

[Jeff7181]

my VNF-250 is running a Clawhammer 3400+ at 218fsb, Prime95-able for 24+ hours. are you suggesting that if I remove the SATA bus on this motherboard from the o/c equation that I would get a substantial increase in overclockability? I seriously doubt it. . .but if you've verified this on your board (7/29 bios) then I'll try it. I'd miss my Raptor, though! ;)

Well I couldn't get more than a 5 MHz overclock on mine with both my Raptor and 7k250 connected. With just an older PATA WD drive I got to about 240 before I ran out of room.

[Jeff7181]

I have them connected to the FastTrack SATA connecters which are the two lowest ones on the MB just above the BIOS chip.

See those sit on the PCI bus... the two that are up by the AGP slot are the two provided by the nForce3 chipset, and get overclocked when you overclocked the HTT bus.