My first overclock attempt leaves me in question

Nive11enNive11en Europe
edited February 2004 in Hardware
Well today I tried overclocking my AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (Palomino).
The available multipliers in BIOS are "12.5/13", "14", "15", and a whole bunch below 12.0. The frequency I can set to whatever I want.

Usually multiplier is set to auto which means 12.5 (results in 12.5x133=1667mhz retail for an Athlon XP 2000+). I set it to a setting called "12.5/13.0" and it still used 12.5.
Now the only thing available after that is 14.0. I'm pretty scared of such a setting since it would result in 14x133mhz=1862mhz, so 195mhz more than retail.
I figured I'd try 14x120=1680, and then slowly try 14x121, 14x122, 14x123, x124, x125, x126, until 14x133. But 14x120 didn't work, my computer rebooted, a black screen only showed. Had to clear the CMOS jumper, put BIOS back to original settings, everything worked.

What kind of settings should I try, maybe something even completely different? Or maybe go for it and do 14x133, and hope nothing goes wrong.

My mobo is based on VIA KT333 chipset which means a VIA Apollo KT266x chipset. And this means that the max FSB is 266 supported by my mobo (another question, I updated my BIOS, because of that you think I could get up to 333mhz?). Should I try setting the FSB higher to overclock, 12.5x135, 140, so on?

I have updated my BIOS to the newest version and now it even supports AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton. So theoretically I should be able to OC my 2000+ since the mobo supports such a more powerful cpu.

Please give me some tips :)

Comments

  • NebulousNebulous New York, The Empire State
    edited February 2004
    Palomino's are locked chips, especially the 2000+. You'll have to unlock it manually to be able to get the lower multiplyers and overclock it. Doesn't matter if the board has the options in bios. If the chip is locked you'll get that famous black screen.

    You'll have to use an unlocking kit like this or use a conductive ink pen. You can try overclocking the cpu by raising the FSB only. You'll have to raise the voltage to the cpu ( Vcore) and voltage to the ram (vdimm).
  • Nive11enNive11en Europe
    edited February 2004
    So that means that any multiplier I will try will always result in a black screen? (Before I thought that if a CPU is locked, you can't select its FSB or multiplier in the BIOS, but since I can in my BIOS I thought mine was unlocked..)

    Now, overclocking only by FSB, will it be safe if I do it by very small intervals? What should I make sure of so that nothing will go wrong?

    Also, I am planning to buy 512 DDRAM from a good company like Twinmos or Kingston.
  • NebulousNebulous New York, The Empire State
    edited February 2004
    Trust me, nothing will happen other than a BSOD and you'll have to clear cmos. If you try to change the multiplyer, you will get a black screen. That's the indication the cpu is locked and will not allow the changing of multiplyers.

    Try upping the FSB by 3's and raise the Vdimm a notch. Now remember when you raise the FSB this will automatically raise the clock speed on the cpu. You might have to raise the vcore as well. Keep your eyes on the cpu temps.

    Good luck and have fun ;)
  • Nive11enNive11en Europe
    edited February 2004
    And how do I know the standard Vdimm and Vcore voltage? These are set to AUTO, when I press up, changes to a voltage. I know the standard Vcore of Palomino 2000+ is on the AMD site. But I have no idea what the regular Vdimm of my RAM is.
  • NebulousNebulous New York, The Empire State
    edited February 2004
    Hmmm, I just noticed you have "no-name" brand ram. I don't think that ram is gonna give much .For generic ram i figure it's default vdimm is 2.5v.

    Don't get your hopes up with the ram. Be happy if you get a 25% increase.
  • NeoFXNeoFX Utah, US of A
    edited February 2004
    I learned about Generic ram the hard way... By using it ... until now :) I love my Corsair and let me tell you name-brand is really worth it.
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