The Ultimate Athlon Overclocking CPU!

[Apokalipse]

if you're also upgrading the motherboard, I try and get an Abit AV8 3rd eye, and an Athlon 64 3000+ winchester
the winchester cores are 90nm so use less voltage and run cooler, so they overclock better

otherwise if you really haven't got the money, an Athlon XP mobile is your best option; they are designed to use less power (because they are designed for Laptops) so they run cooler and overclok better

 

[Ace No-Money]

Do I need to upgrade from my cheap 400w PSU so i can have a more dependable overclock or am I fine with that? For some reason CPU-Z says my current Barton is only running with a 1.56 vcore and then sometimes it changes back and forth but it never hits 1.65v! I can't find a place to change this in the bios either. Is this due to a bad PSU, cheap mobo, or what?

 

[Nubius]

400w is enough but you gotta make sure you have a nice strong +12v Rail especially when OC'ing. I'd say try to get one with atleat 18a.

Also yeah the 2400+ XP-M runs off 1.35 vcore and 35w compared to the 2600+'s 1.45 vcore and 45w, BUT the 2600+ seems to still have a better stepping to it and allows for higher OC's with less voltage it seems.

I've got my 2400+ running 2.5GHz at 1.825 Vcore...used to only take 1.875

I believe 4W4K3 can run the same speed with only like 1.75 Vcore
so in this case I believe the 45w 1.45 Vcore would be better...probably not the case with the 2400+'s but the 2600+ should prove to be good.

Also just go to newegg. Ebay sucks for finding 100% good hardware. I just don't trust something like that unless I'm buying from a known good distributor like newegg.

I assume if you can't change Vcore that's simply because your mobo isn't at all designed for OC'ing. It's common for CPU-Z to not show the exact Vcore infact I don't think mine ever has but a .1 drop from what it really is is pretty big.

Check all of your voltages using like SiSoftware Sandra meaning the +12v, +3.3v, and +5v

If the numbers shown are like 11.54v on the +12v Rail then yeah you need a new PSU because that ones either failing or really getting taxed as it is.

 

[Apokalipse]

I would say either get an XP-M which overclocks well due to the low stock volts, or get an Athlon 64 3000+ in socket 939 which should overclock easily to 2.6GHZ

it depends on how much you're willing to spend

 

[Ace No-Money]

alright i'll think about it

 

[lazerman]

If you do go the NF7-S & Mobile XP route, on the driver's intsallation cd it has a program called ABITEQ that will tell you all the temps and voltages of your hardware. I think it is the most accurate.

 

[Ace No-Money]

Do you think I could use the Abit EQ with other boards as well?