Overclocking AMD Duron 850MHz Socket A/462

[Guest]

I have an Asus A7V-E mobo with an AMD Duron 850MHz socket A-462. After looking through the forum, i've found information on how to overclock (i gotta say it's pretty kool stuff). I currently have the CPU at 909MHZ, from the stock 850MHz, with no problems, crashes, etc... What i want to know is, how do i know when i've taken it too far? I know overclocking is risky (cpu /mobo damage), so i dont want to take it to the point where either happen. Another thing, If anyone c an recommend a really good cooling fan/heatsink for my application, because i ahve noticed that the temp of the CPU has risen. Thanx.

[Chiefish]

Yes the most important things to keep a close eye on is the temps and the voltages youre feeding the cpu. I cant recommend a good cooler for it because it has been so long since i was running a socket a proccessor, but just look around the web and see whats available, im sure tons of stuff. When upping the size of the cooler pay close attention to to the dimensions of them because sometimes they wont fit in youre case well if at all without blocking ram or other stuff in there. You will know when youve pushed it too far because youll get lockups or BSODs or just random reboots. As long as you dont up the voltages too much and keep it cool youll be ok for the most part, remember to use common sense.

[Wizzard1]

Get a cooler rated for an AthlonXP Cant go wrong!!


When you see temps at 60C under load, you draw the line.... Bout the only thing ya have to know!

Just keep bumpin FSB up, and when that fails, bump Vcore up a tad, then keep bumpin FSB

Also, make sure you have DDR400 ram, minimally.

[Guest]

I now have it running at 935MHz/ 37C* (from stock 850MHz). It's the most that the BIOS on this Asus A7V-E lets me do. My cpu (AMD Duron Socket A/462) is locked, i can only use the BIOS to raise the CPU frequency( which ranges from 90-110MHz), or the DRAM frequency (which is 110MHz or 146MHz). So right now i have it as CPU frequency: 110MHz, and DRAM frequency: 110MHz. No crashes, stops, etc... The manual for this Asus mobo says the if the cpu is not locked, the multiplier can be changed through switches on the mobo it self. But again, my cpu is locked. Anybody knows how to unlock this king of processor.

[Fred Jodry]

You are presently running a Duron with 110MHz, each,
CPU at memory bus, and memory unhooked from CPU
bus. Do this. Get the right amount of (a pair best?, who
knows.)-BEST CL2 not CL3 PC133 SDRams and replace
any mems cruder than them in the memory slots. Now
DROP the CPU base, above, from 110 MHz back to 100
MHz. Raise the unhooked (host) frequency fully to 133 MHz
and log a try. If you have a board that goes higher than
133 MHz on the unhooked frequency, keep raising and
logging, even if you have to, for instance, disable the
hard drives ide or ides in the bios and toss a scsi, USB,
firewire, or sata HD card into one of your precious couple
of pci slots, or merely toss a fast 133 ide harddrive(s)
on the ide if the old one generates errors or a freeze.
A Duron likely does it`s tuned fastest operating with a
terrible, mere, 64 MB of utter total Ram in the memory
slots if the L1 and L2 cache are managed to the memory
through the interface chip in the same way most non-
mobile Pentium 2`s, 3`s, and 4`s are, even though
your board might, like my Microstar, take up to 1 GB
of Ram in it`s SDRam slots or up to 2GB in it`s DDR`s
if it were a DDR model, practically regardless of CPU
if you don`t mind making the cache thinning make
the board run "as slow as a 286", which certainly does
n`t seem to be your goal, here. (-or are you making a
slow, parts box server)? If you accidently freeze, "post
black", or corrupt the board, pencil the unusable limit
into your log and reset the bios with the computer
unplugged by moving the jumper next to the bios-and-
clock battery from normal to (open) to short to (open)
to normal, to reset, to slow defaults to retry. You would
then unfortunately have to pick through all the "needs
adjusting" adjustments in the bios again. Fortunately,
the mainboards that support the AMD Durons and
Athlons usually spare you from manual adjustment of
the memory "CL" adjustment, basically because the
VIA or SIS interface chips usually here, sledgehammer
thin clockpulses and best adjusted breezeway "sampling"
(Essentially an incorrect term.) through the memory,
CPU, and "everything else", and drop in some automatic
compromises, in some cases.
Let me drop in a digression to what works for me when
the typical mainboard on hand has Intel, ALi, or similar
interface chips, the processor is not a Duron or an
Athlon, that is to say, it`s usually an AMD K6-2, Cyrix
M-II, P2, P3, or P4. :
There are "RAS", "CAS" ("CL"), adjustments, and other
memory adjustments. Also an occasional display card
adjustment on the card, on the board, or in the bios.
You`ll see adjustments for slow 8 versus fast 6,
slow 7 versus fast 5, slow 3 versus fast 2, and slow
1 versus fast 0 (zero); in the bios, or occasionally on
jumpers. If it`s your lucky day, then you`ll find out
that you have excellent working memory and you`ll
adjust (usually simply all) RASCASCL adjustments
from 3 to 2, and log a try. Then you`ll adjust (usually
simply all) set to 7 adjustments to set to 5, and log a
try, usually with the same yeah or nay answer as
the first getting penciled into your log. 1 versus 0?
My experience is that setting a default`s 1 to a 0 is
"instant black death" except for the rare lucky video
card, general, slower versus equal, versus faster bus
speed adjustment. Stay with the default. I undigress.
Try adjusting the different frequency ratios between
video card and pci and cpu and host and andandand,
and pencil it into your log. Minor annoying but helpful
defining adjustments.
Since my guess is that the Duron has to be hitched to
64 MB for best speed, it`s very important to try setting
the fox and hunter memory- to- (usually, AGP) video
card memory swap from 343908734398756 (facetious,
usually, 128) MB to say, 8 MB to keep from starving
the operating system and program(s) out of the rest
of the paltry memory, almost, not quite regarless of if
your video card is 64 MB, 32 MB, 128 MB, 16 MB, etc.
Obviously, many mainboards have an (incorrectly
showing) override if they are say, apparently trying to
swap 256 MB of memory when there are 128 MB of
memory in the slots and a 1 MB or 512 MB video
card in it`s slot, in other words, if it`s out of bounds,
anything goes, if it`s in bounds, adjust it to best.
Simple enough to say, most of you staring at the
computer boob right now, are trying to speed up your
computer to play games or handle other fast graphics
(and speed robbing complicated sound cards) instead
of almost any other use. Although the adjustments
above usually have seen distressing limits, they are
probably better than the even worse, throw- it-
against- the- wall adjustments you encountered when
you first fired up the board as "stock", as well as the
"press in a half gig of Ram" results you got when you
followed, that just said, advise out of the mouth of
a spent- a- million game gourmand as he get out the
words at the same time as he jams too many peanut
candy bars in his mouth at the same time.
Obviously, getting a lightning game out of the Duron
and the board needs a trick from up your sleeve. If
you posess a brain smarter than your computer, you
can toss an operating system that needs terribly
little memory and uses it well, like, DOS, Windows 3.1,
nine to fifteen- floppy Windows 95, Corel Linux, or, or,
maybe using Winlynx 3.0 as a shell or Microsoft Works
2.10 as windows, and then adapt all the drivers your
board (and game) needs. Getting your machine to inhale
this stew is usually a complete choker.
Let`s look at some less desperate measures.
1. Increase (double) the Ram straight to 128 MB. Probably
theoretically slower than peak memory, but better than
some alternatives.
2. A friend gives you an Athlon 1000, 1050, 1100, 1150,
or 1200. The peak memory`s now 256 MB, the rest of
the adjustments are practically all the same, the
frequency multiplier is sensibly low and efficient and
you toss your Duron into a spare board and unload
excessive programs away from your fast board to your
spare to speed the fast board up. Also since, LORD
KNOWS, you shouldn`t antivirus your fast board,
rather, you can antivirus them on the spare board
then sneakernet them to your fast one and others,
here`s a tip the teacup excuse to do just that.
3. On the other hand, somewhat oppositely, you can
drop your Duron into a super DDR memory main
board and see better results than most people say
you`ll get. You`ll probably have to use one or two
really puny DDR`s for success however, you might
not need a mere 64 MB total memory if the interface
chip hangs (term, manages) good tricks onto the
DDRs` extra pins and speed.
4. Installing an operating system: I find that Linux in
particular, installs on a computer faster with an 8 to
24 times CD Rom or a 2 times DVD Rom than with
faster ones or poor ones. The "fast boys" jobs are
ever pausing their data output to adjust their motor
speed up and down according to the (bits style and
file types) that the read head has sequenced on top
of at the time, or they make too many mistakes.
5. Video card: Approximately speaking, a 1 times
or 2 times pci card of 1 to 4 MB, a 2 times or 4 times
AGP card of 4 to 16 MB, or a fancy card with 32 MB
or more, only if it`s hitched to a who- knows- what
fast slot in a mainboard that essentially flings Ford
Coil Sparks into the air if you don`t cover empty
slots with teflon tape, usually does it for me. Do
experiment a little, don`t experiment a lot. Usually,
I`m publishing or creating not gaming (Lucky stiff!)
so a Matrox 6 or 8 MB pci card or Jaton 2 MB pci
card in my Pentium 4 or 256 MB RDRam Pentium
3 board does endless things right.
6. It`s only a computer! as above, excess programs
go into ANOTHER computer, and then it`s time to
turn off the now- untimely appliance, kiss your kid
on the his (/her) head while the cat licks your hand,
and listen to Marion`s Attic on the Radio. Time to do
something else and spend time with the kid.
Print or save this post, I don`t write them every day.
Fred Jodry k a 2 p y q @ y a h o o . c o m

[thomsonicus]

i got my Duron 700 Spitfire running stable at 968mhz on a K7S5A with a modified honey-x bios and a vmod @ 1.85V (1.88V actual) and a Titan ttc-cu5tb running at 6000rpm (loud as hell but stable).
above 1000mhz the system would crash after a couple of minutes of SuperPI
the funny thing is that the processor died at 933mhz when on a MSI KT4V...