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Socket A: Pal. Same as T-bred, but only up to 2100 speeds. T-bred Athlon XP 1500 1.33ghz Athlon XP 1600 1.4ghz Athlon XP 1700 1.47ghz Athlon XP 1800 1.53ghz Athlon XP 1900 1.6ghz Athlon XP 2000 1.67ghz Athlon XP 2100 1.73ghz Athlon XP 2200 1.8ghz Athlon XP 2400 2ghz Athlon XP 2600 2.12ghz Athlon XP 2600 (333mhz FSB) 2.08ghz Athlon XP 2700 2.167ghz Athlon XP 2800 2.25ghz
Barton Athlon XP 2500 1.83ghz Athlon XP 2600 1.9ghz Athlon XP 2800 2.08ghz Athlon XP 3000 2.167ghz Athlon XP 3000 (400mhz FSB) 2.1ghz Athlon XP 3200 2.2ghz Athlon XP 3400 2.4ghz (limited quantity)
Athlon 64 has on die memory controller meaning lower memory latencies. This along with a large L2 and high IPC allow this chip to compete well with the Pentium 4.
This chip scores well on a number of games and seems to be the gamer?s choice for a processor. AMD has just recently released 90nm Athlon 64s which seem to be overclocking well, even though they are early chips. AMD launched its 90nm processors on socket 939 with clock speeds of 1.8ghz, 2.0ghz, and 2.2ghz for model ratings of 3000, 3200, and 3500, respectively. These chips should be priced about the same as Socket 754 chips with those model ratings. Their performance should be similar to already released 130nm Athlon 64 (socket 754).
AMD's Hammer core series was their do or die day. If it didn't work, AMD would have been looking at debt and even losing the company. In case you hadn't figured it out, the Hammer was one of AMD's biggest success stories. Opterons are AMD's server chips they have 1mb of L2, use socket 940, and use ECC/registered RAM. Each chip has its own access to RAM, which means they get a good performance boost in dual, quad, and 8 way servers.
The Opterons are very powerful chips that are able to run just as fast, if not faster, than Intel's Xeon chips. But you must remember that the program that is being run will determine which one is faster. If an application is optimized for SSE3 and HT than it stands a higher chance of beating out the Opteron since it does not have these functions.
Athlon XP was AMD's line of CPUs launched to compete with Intel?s Pentium 4. They did very well against Williamette Pentium 4s and Northwood, but AMD couldn't release fast enough chips to compete with Intel's high end chips. Worse, AMD's first shot at 130nm process, T-bred A, was not very good for overclocking and didn't have a good chance at scaling very high.
AMD then launched the T-bred B revision. It had another layer of metal added to allow for higher clock speeds. These chips, when used with extreme cooling, have hit over 3GHz. AMD's highest clocked CPU on this platform was the Athlon XP 2800+ with a default clock speed of 2.25GHz. These chips were made to perform well, even with less cache than their rival, the Pentium 4.
They were good overclockers and ran fairly cool. Too bad their days are over for higher clocked chips.
Cores: T-bred and Palomino: SSE, MMX, 3D Now! And 3D Now!+ with 256K of L2 Barton: SSE, MMX, 3D Now! And 3D Now!+ with 512K of L2 Newcastle: SSE, SSE2, MMX, 3D Now! And 3D Now!+ with 512K of L2 Clawhammer: SSE, SSE2, MMX, 3D Now! And 3D Now!+ with 1mb of L2
AMD: AMD first helped INTEL make their early chips like the 086, 186, 286, but they stopped making 386 because they were too similar to 486s. Then AMD just made ?clone? chips. They earned the reputation of having cheaper, less reliable chips. AMD later released the K5 core processors to compete with the original Pentiums and it ended up failing behind the Pentium 2. In response, AMD released the K6 processor.
It performed well when compared to its competition. Then came AMD's ?big day? the K7 core. It was made to kill the Pentium 3. It did so, forcing Intel to play catch up. AMD was able to release a 1GHz chip before Intel. They were also able to release chips afterward with higher clock rates. Intel was in a very bad spot, so they released the Williamette Pentium 4. It was built using the 180nm process with 256K of level 2 cache.
It sported a much lower IPC so it could gain high clock rates than the Pentium 3. However, when it was released with clock rates of 1.4GHz it was pummeled by AMD?s code-named Thunderbird Athlons. Intel later released the Tualatin Pentium 3, which was built using the 130nm process and sported clock speeds as high as 1.4GHz and had 512K of level 2 cache.
Meanwhile, AMD launched the first version of the Athlon XP, code named Palomino. These chips again outperformed the Williamette Pentium 4s and the Pentium 3s of the day. Then Intel launched the Northwood, which was a large success for Intel.
It was a Williamette with twice the level 2 cache, and it was built using the 130nm process, so it ran cooler and had a higher overclocking potential. AMD kept up with the Palomino core until the 2100+ (1.73GHz) model rating. Then they deputed with the Thoroughbred A core, with speeds up to 2200+ (1.8GHz). With Intel launching models with higher clock rates than AMD?s, AMD was forced to come up with a solution. At first, they were going to make an early release of the Barton core.
They thought that the extra cache would help them until they could release their Hammer cored CPUs. Then a solution was found: add another layer of metal. This new core was called the Thoroughbred B. This was a great success for AMD. It was about the same in performance to the Pentium 4s up to 2.8GHz.
Then they launched the Barton core processor. It wasn't especially ground-breaking, but it was an improvement over the Thoroughbred B core. Barton was basically a Thoroughbred B core with twice the level 2 cache. It was just enough to get AMD through until the Hammer core was ready.
It wasn't a huge success, mainly because the model numbers were off, but it still was a nice core with nice overclocks. It ran on the 333MHz frontside bus and two (3000+ and 3200+) were used the 400 MHz FSB. The 3200+ was closer to a 2.8-3GHz Pentium 4 in performance than a 3.2GHz. The 3000+ was closer to a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 than a 3GHz Pentium 4.
After all this AMD decided to launch the Hammer core, in the form of the Opteron first, and later in the Athlon 64 form. Socket 754 was the home of single channel Athlon 64 processors. They went up to 3700+ in model ratings and 2.4GHz in clock speed. These chips were very powerful and put AMD back on the map. 3700+ chips are about the same as a 3.6 GHz Prescott or near 3.4 GHz Pentium 4 EE (Extreme Edition).
AMD also released the Athlon 64 FX series processors to compete with the P4EE. They did well, but they cost about $850 USD. Nice chips with large price tags, but the multiplier was left unlocked, as it was aimed at an enthusiast audience. The highest clocked FX chip (the Athlon 64 FX-55) at this point in time runs at 2.6GHz. AMD's next step up in clock speed should be the FX-57 at (possibly) 2.8 GHz with 1MB of level 2 cache.
It may be manufactured using the 90nm process, or it may use the older, and more proven, 130nm process. That won't happen until mid 2005 at the earliest. AMD's socket 939 3000+ and 3200+ 90nm chips run just as cool as the ?old? Newcastle core 130nm processors, although AMD reports the 3500+ (2.2GHz) to have a higher TDP than the 3000+/3200+. It should be interesting to see how long it will take AMD to release higher clocked chips on the 90nm process (as in 2.4, 2.6 and 2.8GHz).
The 90nm die shrink has helped AMD in two main ways: 1.) It has reduced the core size by about 50%, reducing cost of production; 2.) It allows for higher clock rates. There may be slight issues with these chips, but by now, BIOS updates have been released to correct the problems.
AMD has already demonstrated dual core Opterons and they seem to run fairly cool considering they are essentially two CPUs stuck onto one PCB. AMD said that they had single core Opterons at 45W. These chips will probably find their home in 1U and blade servers. Dual core Opterons are only around 95W, which is better than a single core Prescott Pentium 4. The Opteron was AMD's first x86-64 processor, but it was intended for use as a server processor. AMD didn't release the Athlon 64 until later.
AMD's model numbering: AMD first launched the Athlon 64 on socket 754 with model of 3200+ (2GHz, 1MB L2 cache; later 2.2GHz, 512KB L2 cache). After, the 3000+ (2GHz, 512KB L2 cache) and 3400+ (2.2GHz, 1MB L2 cache; later 2.4GHz, 512KB L2 cache) were introduced. Then came the 2800+ (1.8GHz, 512KB L2 cache), then the 3700+ (2.4GHz, 1MB L2 cache).
The 3200+-3700+ were first made as Clawhammer chips, meaning they had 1mb of L2 cache. AMD knew how large and expensive these chips were, so they made the cheaper Newcastle core that has only 512K of L2 cache. To offset this, AMD increased their respective clock speeds by 200MHz so their model numbers wouldn't be affected.
AMD only clocked these chips up to 2.4GHz so a 3700+ on the Newcastle core was never made. Now the main chips with 1MB L2 are the desktop replacement (DTR) chips, intended for use in notebook computers. AMD also launched socket 939 chips for desktops. Their 3000+, 3200+, 3500+, 3800+, and 4000+ chips were clocked at 1.8GHz (512KB L2 cache), 2.0GHz (512 L2 cache), 2.2GHz (512 L2 cache), 2.4GHz (512 L2 cache) and 2.4ghz (1MB L2 cache), respectively.
These model numbers are slightly askew compared to their Pentium 4 rivals. The 3500+ is closer to a 3400+ rating, the 3800+ is closer to a 3600+ rating and the 4000+ is closer to a 3800+ rating. Later AMD launched the 3000+ and 3200+. These chips, though, are manufactured using the 90nm process. AMD also has since released the 3500+ on the 90nm process. The 90nm process has decreased the die size by a large amount, allowing AMD to make more chips on the same wafer.
Yields are still unknown, but AMD says they are having good luck with it. Whether they are telling the truth or not, the overclocks on these chips have been nice for a very early chip. 2.5GHz using simple air cooling is common with the 3200+ chips. New BIOSes need to be made since raising the voltage on these chips is a little different than the Newcastle and Clawhammer chips. When one sets the voltage in the BIOS to 1.5V, the chip actually gets 1.4V. This means that whatever you set the voltage to, the CPU receives 0.1V less.
OVERCLOCKING: the art of running CPUs (and other hardware) faster than its rated specification, in order to obtain an increase in system performance
The main the propose of this article is teach you about the art of overclocking the Athlon XP and Athlon 64 processors. Before we can continue, there are some things you need to know:
AXP and the A64: Front Side Bus (FSB) x multiplier (multi) = core clock or frequency This is the formula you use to determine the speed at which your processor will function.
Vcore: This is the amount of voltage given to the processor. By adding voltage, you may stabilize your overclock, or enable you to overclock your CPU further. In general, increasing voltage can increase your overclock, but you must make sure your chip is running cool. A load temp of about 50?C or less is preferable.
RAM timings (latencies): When is comes to RAM they have different timings. They are normally written like this: 2-2-2-10 or whatever the timings are. Tighter timings (lower numbers) normally mean better performance, but there are exceptions.
Say you?re running your RAM at 250MHz. You probably won't be able to do 250MHz at 2-2-2-10 timings, so you ?loosen? them or make the numbers higher, say, for example 2.5-3-3-11. Even thought you?re running with your RAM at higher timings, it will still outperform the RAM @ 200MHz with 2-2-2-10 timings for most applications.
Let?s say that your Athlon XP won't go to a 200MHz FSB, but you?re running your RAM 1/1 with a FSB of 191MHz, which means the RAM is also running at 191MHz. Make sure you try and keep the timings tighter than at a higher FSB. Why? Because at lower speeds, loose timings cause a larger performance hit than at higher speeds. So if your RAM is rated for 2-3-2-6 @ DDR400 (200MHz in the BIOS), then don't start running it at 2.5-3-3-10 at 191MHz; keep the timings tight.
Remember, some 2-3-3-6 rated RAM can do 2-2-3-6 with a more voltage. In my opinion, the rated timings are just a suggestion or something to base your buying decision on, but not necessarily the tightest timings the RAM can run. This is very apparent on TCCD-based RAM. I've seen some people with insanely high 1/1 speeds with tight timings with TCCD RAM. Look around the XtremeSystems.org Extreme Overclocking area...
RAM Dividers: This can be confusing. Normally your RAM and FSB run at the same speed or in a 1/1 ratio. But, if your FSB is too high, sometimes your RAM will not be able to work at that same high speed. This is the purpose of the divider: it allows you?re RAM to run at a lower speed than the FSB, so you can still overclock your processor. ? divider has the RAM running at ? the speed of the FSB. Therefore a FSB of 200 MHz with a ? divider means the RAM will run at 166 MHz.
RAM voltage: When overclocking your RAM, you probably will at some point have to increase the voltage. Normally motherboards come with about a 2.7-2.8V as the maximum RAM voltage.
RAM chips: Different types of RAM use different types of RAM chips. For example, Samsung TCCD and Winbond BH-5 are well-known chips. The main difference between them is: TCCD likes lower voltages to overclock well, but has higher latencies and BH-5 like?s higher voltages, but can have tighter latencies. 2.7-2.8v is the about the limit of TCCD chips; any higher and they may begin to clock lower. BH-5 likes voltage and doesn?t really start coming into its own until 3.2V+. When overclocking RAM, make sure it has good cooling.
RAM Problems: Sometimes while you?re overclocking, your CPU will be stable, but your RAM won't be. You may be giving your CPU more voltage and cursing out the processor, when really it is the RAM that is causing the problem. At this point, you need to: A.) Raise RAM voltage; if you can't, B.) Loosen RAM timings.
If this is not helping then you may very well have reached the limit of your processor, but read on to the topic and you'll find out. Then again, you may have a super chip.....
AGP Voltage: Again sometimes that overclock just isn't getting anywhere, and you tried adding more volts to the RAM and the processor. Now its time to try to add some more volts to the AGP card. This should be found in the same area as the CPU/RAM voltage adjustments. Now just up it a little to, say, 1.6V. Normally boards won't let you take it too high, but just in case, only take to 1.7v or so at maximum.
Case: There are many, many, different types of cases. Some are made of aluminum others of steel. Those are the two main materials used in cases. Also some cases have windows. Both are fine, but aluminum cases are sometimes higher quality in comparison. But the main thing here is: VENTILATION!
Make sure your case has fans in it. Make sure some blow in and some blow out to keep the airflow moving. I'm not saying go out and buy a fan that?s louder than the sawed off tail pipe on your ?89 Chevy, just something that moves some air.
Power Supply Unit (PSU): The PSU is a very important piece of equipment in the computer. It has to be able to kick out enough power for all of your components. It also needs to keep its ?rails? stable. Rails are the voltages that it puts out. +12V, +5V, +3.3V are the three you need to be aware of.
Make sure they?re always within spec. That means make sure there close to what ever they should be. The 12V rail should be anything from 11.9-12.1 and up, etc. If your PSU goes over spec, don't worry, that should help out with the overclock. 12V rail helps power fans; 3.3V rail powers the RAM and AGP card, and 5V powers PCI and AGP cards, among other things. Strong rails are VERY important.
CPU Heatsink: This is used to keep the processor cool. It is one of the most important parts of a computer. Without it, your computer isn't going to be running. When you overclock you should consider investing in a nice copper or aluminum/copper heatsink. There are other methods of keeping the processor cool, like phase change (refrigeration), and water cooling, but you shouldn't jump headfirst into overclocking with a cooling system like that unless you're getting a good deal on it....
It seems the basics have been covered about hardware. Now let?s move on to a more warranty voiding hobby, overclocking! With the latest Athlon XPs, all the multipliers are locked, at least on desktop chips. The mobile AXP chips have unlocked multipliers. Yes, all of ?em! The A64, on the other had, only has the multipliers equal to or less than stock unlocked. (That is, except for the FX series of processors, but they're over $800 USD so I may not talk much about them much.)
SECTION 1: Athlon XP overclocking
I figured I'd start with the oldest processor up there and that?s the Athlon XP. Just a little history first (I like lecturing about history...) The first Athlon XP had unlocked multipliers. It was great! You could drop the multiplier and get a high FSB, which can be move important than sheer clock speed. A 100MHz FSB with a 2GHz clock will not beat a 1.9GHz processor with a 200MHz FSB.
If you've got an old AXP lying around it could very well have all its multis unlocked, so all the power to ya! But for you guys who don't, here we go! The KTxxx boards (except for the KT880) did not have PCI/AGP bus locked. This meant that as the FSB was raised, the PCI and AGP buses would rise as well, causing instability, and even hard drive corruption. This also means that if the board was the divider of 4 then 150/4 should equal your PCI bus speed. Take that times 2 to get your AGP bus speed.
So you'd have a PCI bus speed of 37.5MHz (stock is 33MHz) and the AGP bus would be at 75MHz. It varies from board to board, but frequencies high above the stock speed on these buses will not work. So then you have to use a different divider of 5. 166/5=33MHz 150/5=30MHz. This way you no longer have to worry about your overclock being unstable because of an out-of-control PCI bus speed.
So to start off this overclocking adventure, restart your computer and when it says something like ?Press F2/Delete/Whatever to enter BIOS/Setup?, do it. Now you're will be at a screen that probably says something about your hard drive or something. Keep going through the tabs until you find stuff that says things like: ?CPU Multiplier?, ?External CPU bus? (that?s FSB), ?RAM Speed?, etc.
Once you find that you should be in the right spot. Remember start out slow and keep going slow, don't do something crazy like a 200MHz FSB on a 133MHz FSB processor. It probably won?t work. I'll be using an Athlon XP 2700+ in my examples for different things. It has a stock FSB of 166MHz and a multiplier of 13 meaning it?s got a clock speed of 2.167GHz, or 2167MHz. First of all, you?ll need to take your FSB up about 4 or 5 MHz, just to test it out and see what happens. Chances are you won't need to worry about upping the CPU voltage, but maybe your RAM will give you a fit, so you may have to up the voltage to it. How?
Okay, something like ?Chip Setup? or ?RAM setup? will need to be found, or it might be right in front of you in the same section as your CPU settings. Adjust your RAM voltage up a bit. Say 2.7V. 2.8V is the maximum safe voltage for any kind DDR RAM, so keep that in mind. Keep taking your overclock up bit by bit. And Remember each time you up it, run a program called ?Prime 95? to test stability. Run the ?Torture test? and Prime will give error messages if it finds your computer to be unstable. You can download it at: http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm.
You should run it for about 8 hours or so to make sure things are mostly stable. After you find your final overclock you may want to let it run longer; probably about 12 hours to ensure stability. Also, running 3DMark 2001SE will stress your CPU. Go to their website (http://www.futuremark.com/) and get the 3DMark programs and run them. Let them loop overnight and this will further test stability. If you can't get these programs, be like me: force yourself to play Far Cry and other games for a while. I know it?s hard, but sometimes you?ve got to do it.
Another thing you can do to improve stability is to increase the AGP voltage. 1.6V is the maximum safe voltage, but 1.7V probably won?t kill anything, either. It should be on this tab or near it.
Eventually, once you get to a certain point, you?re probably going to have to up the Vcore (CPU voltage). Raising it in the smallest increment your BIOS allows is the safest bet. If you don't get anywhere with more voltage, then your RAM may be holding you back. Again, go find your RAM control menu and look around. You should see some numbers going down: 2 3 3 10
Those would be your RAM timings. Try loosening them to something like 2.5 3 3 10 If that doesn't work loosen them even more. If you?re still not getting anywhere, then there is a chance you've hit a wall with your chip or possibly your motherboard. Just keep playing with the settings and try to make it work. Loosen your timings and such. Don?t raise voltages too much or you risk overheating (if you have inadequate cooling), or long-term damage.
DISCLAIMER If your chip stops working or your RAM dies it is NOT my fault. This is all done at your own risk. This does void your warranty, so if anything dies, the manufacturer will not cover it, nor should they be expected to!
Moving on...Remember if your chip has unlocked multipliers and your board can do...lets say a 200MHz FSB and so can your RAM. Then I would recommend doing this: 200x11.5=2.3GHz. Something like that will give you a nice performance boost if all you can do is about 2.3GHz.
Remember to ALWAYS watch your CPU temp. If it starts getting above 50 C, then your chip will have a shorter life span. And again, do not blame me. I'm giving you fair warning. Overclocking can result in loss of chips and boards, and other expensive electronic stuff.
Section 2: Athlon 64 overclocking
Now you get to hear about Athlon 64 (A64) overclocking. It can be a little more difficult to overclock this chip because there are more things than just Vcore, RAM voltage/timings, and such. You can read about this chip?s history in the beginning of this article.
Now you have to worry about a Hyper Transport bus. It?s not as bad as it sounds. You take FSB and multiply it by the Hyper Transport (LDT) multi to find your overall Hyper Transport speed.
Just keep it below 1000MHz and you'll be fine on newer boards. Easier than you thought, wasn't it?
Now time to get into it! The Athlon 64 has an on die memory controller. This means that the processor has a direct link to the RAM, unlike older CPUs, which require separate chips on the motherboard to interface with the RAM. This means that the A64 is very efficient when it comes to RAM. The A64 supports different types of speed grades, but if the RAM runs slower than the FSB, then you have to use a divider. Again this can reduce performance. But it isn't quite as severe with the A64.
Athlon 64 desktop CPUs manufactured on the 130nm process have a default Vcore of 1.5V and the 90nm chips have a default Vcore of 1.4C. Safe voltages are about 1.75V on the 130nm and 1.65V or a little more on the 90nm CPUs. Again you can add a little more volts if 1.) you?re willing to risk an even short life span; 2.) your temps are good (about 50 C or less)
So it?s the same again: FSB x multi = processor clock speed For these examples I'll be talking about a 3400+ on socket 754 and socket 939 will be a 3500+.
Stock on the 3400+ is either: 200x12=2.4GHz (512KB L2 cache version) or 200x11=2.2GHz (1MB L2 cache version)
Stock on the 3500+ is 200x11=2.2GHz
Now why is there more than one stock setting for the 3400+? There is more than one chip with that rating. The first one is a Newcastle core, it has 512KB L2 cache so it is clocked higher than the Clawhammer chip with 1MB L2 to make up for that. This is the thing that may cause some confusion, but you'll get the hang of it.
On these chips, the upward multi is locked, but the lower multis are unlocked, meaning for the 3400+ that you can do 240x10=2.4GHz, but not 185x13=2.4GHz. Same clock speed but with a higher FSB. Again, try to run your RAM 1/1 with the FSB. Always run your RAM 1/1 unless your RAM can't handle such a high speed or you?re trying to find the limit of your chip.
Again, start out slowly. Drop the LDT (Hyper Transport) multi down to 3x. Now start upping your FSB 5MHz or so at a time. When you run Prime 95 and start to get rounding errors, loosen your RAM timings and give the RAM a bit more voltage. Keep going, and when you start to get other errors in Prime, up the Vcore, but don't go crazy with it. A 3400+ NC (Newcastle) may be able to do 2.6GHz or more, but don't count on it.
Never think that just because someone has a 2.7GHz NC that you?ll be able to do the same thing. Sometimes to get a good chip you may have to buy more than one if you?re really serious about it, but even then there are no guarantees. If you?re like me, you take what you get and move on.
Sometimes if you have problems, you may have to raise the AGP voltage. But, again, don't get too out of control with it. Just a 0.1V or 0.2V increase should be all you need. If that doesn't help, it?s probably something else, like RAM.
Remember to always check and see what types of RAM do well on the A64 before running out and buying the RAM. XtremeSystems.org has the info; all you have to do is look at a thread on types of memory, start a thread, or if you want, you could PM someone. I'm jjcom if that helps anyone who forgot.
In case you?re lost, remember to read the AXP OC guide as well. Many things are the same in overclocking, even on completely different CPU types. I have included links and other hints there as well.
Well this is nearing the end. Beware! This is an unfinished project. It will never be done for as long as AMD is alive and kicking, so check back for updates!
Say, mcnbns and many others on the forum have helped me and answered my questions so they have helped contributed to this guide, as well.
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