OC issue

[JHZR2]

Setting up my desktop for the distributed computing. It has as I recall, an Athlon 64 dual core processor. OE speed is 2.3 ghz. Was playing with it by software OC (gigabyte motherboard so I'm running gigabyte easy tune 5).

Had it up to 2.5 with no voltage change, and it was fine. It was running the computing package. Decided to play without some more and took it to 2.6, which was still in the safe "yellow" zone. Computer froze. Rebooted a few times and when I start the SW, the computer freezes. If I don't start it, the computer is perfect. So it's almost like the SW is enabling the settings that are unstable before the GUI even pops up! Seems stupid since if you set a bad value, you're done with it this way, as you can't get back into the SW. But it's what seems to be going on, given the stability when the program isnt running.

Any ideas how to fix this? I've heard that this easy tune stinks, but it does make it easy to push the values up a bit.

 

[Rand]

uninstall the software and reinstall?

 

[Colt45ws]

That might work.

 

[DemoFly]

Never software overclock.

Also, you might want to think twice about folding on an A64 Dual core. SMP folding it will net about 250ppd consuming 200 or so watts.

For reference, a cheap HD5770 scores 6000PPD with the ATI work units consuming 100 watts. It would actually be cheaper for you to go out and buy a second hand 5770 and fold on it, also producing 24 times more points.

 

[JHZR2]

If I set something permanent it would be through the bios, it was just nice to be able to tweak on the fly. Im not buying something to fiddle with folding software, it was just a good excuse to dust off some unused laptops and computers and get some use out of them.

It just stinks that there is no easily accessible configuration file, and that the SW has to revert to bad settings. Stupid design. Re-installing SW is a hassle.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Heh... at least you're able to overclock some... My two main PCs are proprietary Dell... no easy way to overclock (that I know of).

 

[JHZR2]

I bumped up my vcore by 0.025V and took the 2300 MHz processor to 2600 MHz, and it is stable. Not a huge bump, but it is air cooled and stable as can be. Good enough for me. Maybe Ill play more when I decide upon a new system.

 

[SLCraig]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2
I bumped up my vcore by 0.025V and took the 2300 MHz processor to 2600 MHz, and it is stable. Not a huge bump, but it is air cooled and stable as can be. Good enough for me. Maybe Ill play more when I decide upon a new system.


Not all are good overclockers. Some CPU's were known to barely fluctuate from stock at all. Then there were CPU's like the first Sandy Bridge i5's that people were running at 5GHz, 3.4 or so stock.

My Opteron 170 would run stable at 2.6, from a stock clock of 2.0. I considered that pretty good.

 

[JHZR2]

I have been running at 2600 MHz, took the FSB from 200 to 227 Mhz and have left the multiplier as an "auto" setting (CPU wants 11.5 natively, bios only lets me set as integers), as then when I let WCG run at 90% CPU time, it takes a drop and dumps some heat. Works great.

My curiosity now is that I have a sensor called IT8172f-j that speedfan picks up, but CPU-Z's HWmonitor app does not. Speedfan picks up a sensor called K8 which seems like the cpu thermistor.

The IT8172f-j may be a thermistor on the motherboard that is below the CPU. My only concern is that the CPU k8 sensor is stable at 68C with the OE cooler, and the computer is working fine. The IT8172 sensor is reading about 10C higher, which bothers me. Nothng in the case is hot/warm to the touch...

 

[PandaBear]

I would not trust an OC speed is stable until running some overnight test without problem. Also once you find a stable speed, adjust it in BIOS rather than in the OS' software. Also I wouldn't worry the accuracy of the temperature reading as they are all calibrated and at various locations. As long as you are not crashing and the temp is not ridiculously out of place (i.e. 90C instead of 60C), it is fine.

Check the CPU stepping or model number online and see what most people are getting. Chances are they are of the same batch / generation and can go to similar speed.

 

[Colt45ws]

From my experience, even as late as the Phenom IIs, AMD processors dont have as much OC overhead as Intel chips. The exception is probably the mobile and energy efficient chips. I have the Athlon-XP Mobile chip in my server at 2.4GHz from 1.8GHz. I consider that a fairly good OC for an A-XP. I almost got 2.5 out of it, but it failed Prime95 after 60 hours. I pulled it back to 2.4GHz and it passed 240 hours of testing.
I remember I bought my Black Edition Athlon 64 X2 way back when with the intention of OCing the snot out of it. That turned out to be 200MHz over stock; Essentially unnoticeable.

Your IT8172 is on the board and is probably picking up heat from the CPU VRM. Which is the area next to the CPU with the Capacitors and coils. Sometimes they can get hot; REALLY HOT. I have two boards discolored/blackened around the MOSFETs due to the heat.

 

[JHZR2]

thanks!