Athlon II X2 240 Overclocking

Hi guys, :)

I currently have my Athlon II X2 240 running at 3.5GHz from the stock 2.8GHz. The multiplier max is 14, so my bus speed is set at 250. I'd like to go higher but keep it stable and cool. My motherboard is a ASRock A780GM-LE/128MB (780G/SB710, AM2+, DDR2) and still using the stock heatsink. RAM is 4GB of Team Elite DDR2-800. ACC is disabled in the BIOS (don't need it). I have a couple of questions though:

1. What's the safest HT Link freq. for my motherboard and CPU? I currently have it locked at 8x, which is the stock 2,000 MHz. NB frequency is also set at 2,000MHz.

2. I currently have my RAM locked at 3:5, with timings at 5-5-5-15-23-2T running on 1.8v. With my above CPU/HT, it's effectively at 416MHz (833MHz). Is there a way to even it out at 400MHz without sacrificing CPU clocks? Would getting DDR2-1066 RAM help even though the Athlon II is rated for DDR2-800?

3. Has anyone here in XS been able to unlock this processor to a Opteron 1300 ES aside from this post?

Thanks in advance. :D

I have a 240 and Gigabyte 785G coming in tomorrow. I'll test it out, maybe even on water

you had SB710 mobo with ACC, why not try yourself if your X2 240 can be unlocked to opteron 1300?
simply just enable ACC-->auto

the safest HT Link freq vary from one systems to another. but I can say that 250mhz HT Link is safe for 24/7 with stock cooling. just keep an eye for the temps though

and why you would run your RAM to 800mhz, if you got it @833mhz? I dont see a reason to do that.
for RAM freq, HT Links plays a role here, play with HT Link to get your desired RAM freq
Although Athlon II is rated for 800mhz, you can overclocked it to higher speed if your cpu/mobo/RAM can handle those speed

@WSP

Yeah, I tried ACC but it doesn't do anything for me, unfortunately.

2,500MHz HT Link is what you mean?

I'd like to try and run my RAM at their proper rated modules for now, so 400MHz or near would be preferrable for now.

HT Link = 250mhz (fsb/bus speed).HT frequency = 2500mhz, if HT Link multiplier = 10x

Yeah, I forgot Intel's FSB is AMD's HT Link frequency. I'm so used to CPU-Z now, hehe.

I'm still running 3.5GHz @ 1.3625v, NB at 2,000MHz (8x) @ 1.1250v. I forgot Athlon II X2 chips have a problem with Cool'n'Quiet (I have one of an older batch since I thought it may help turning it into an Opteron) so I disabled it and now it's slightly more stable.

I have another question though... does turning on ACC disable the temperature sensor on the CPU? Core Temp reports zero degrees and AMD Overdrive reports -256C when I have ACC on in any way.

Originally, ACC was introduced to help OCing Phenom II. I dont know how's the effect on Athlon II though.
maybe ruining the internal sensor is the one of many effect.

AFAIK the ACC was designed for the original phenom?!?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WSP

HT Link = 250mhz (fsb/bus speed).HT frequency = 2500mhz, if HT Link multiplier = 10x

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I think you're confusing the HTT with the HT Link. From what I remember of my Athlon duals, the FSB was called the HTT, which defaults at 200MHz. The HT Link had a multiplier that was x5 back then, and nowadays is either x9 or x10 depending on which CPU you're talking about.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TheGreenFoX

AFAIK the ACC was designed for the original phenom?!?

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yep...my bad. was meant to type Phenom I, but in the end my hands keeps me from typing Phenom I :p

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ELItheICEman

I think you're confusing the HTT with the HT Link. From what I remember of my Athlon duals, the FSB was called the HTT, which defaults at 200MHz. The HT Link had a multiplier that was x5 back then, and nowadays is either x9 or x10 depending on which CPU you're talking about.

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:up:

that is correct ;)

HT Ref clock = 200Mhz, HT Link = 2,000Mhz

Well I got my Gigabyte 785G mATX and Athlon II X2 240.

Running 3.8ghz 1.488v, stable, Max HT speed seems to be around 284

ACC does nothing, still stays Athlon II x2

Thanks for the info, Peen. Does that board use DDR2 or DDR3? What's your current RAM speed?

906mhz 5-5-5-15-2t

Was just cheap $26 ram.

Will try to hit 4ghz later as the board ALMOST does 286mhz HT (14x286=4ghz)

btw I don't know much about AMD OC'ing but what voltage do I need to raise to get higher HT speed?

NB VID seemed to help, but NB voltage did nothing. 286 is the number I want to hit stable hehe

I have my NB voltage set to 1.1250v, so it's undervolted from the stock 1.1750v on this ASRock board. I think you may need to loosen your RAM timings. DDR2 or DDR3? (906MHz x 2??)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cheeseball

I have my NB voltage set to 1.1250v, so it's undervolted from the stock 1.1750v on this ASRock board. I think you may need to loosen your RAM timings. DDR2 or DDR3? (906MHz x 2??)

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DDR2 but I have tried to even run my ram with lower multi (like 700mhz) and with low CPU multi.

I always OC to find max FSB or HT speed first then it's alot easier to tell whats crashing. In this case its def the board but no clue why I can't get it to budge to 286mhz HT

Hmm... that might be the FSB/HT wall of the board? Then again, it's Gigabyte so there shouldn't be an apparently wall before 350 or so...

Sorry for the double post...

I am able to run 3.6GHz (250 x 14 = 3,640MHz) now at 433MHz (866MHz) DRAM, 5-5-5-15-23-2T. CPU VID has been shot up to 1.3750v, and DRAM voltage is at 1.85v (+0.05 from stock). Northbridge voltage is now at 1.1375v from the last value of 1.1250v (just covering my tracks).

I'm going to OCCT and Linpack test it in just a bit. Hopefully it's stable. Still on the stock Athlon II X2 heatsink as well...

I can't seem to downclock my NB frequency even though the bios allows me too it stays at 2720mhz

You don't have a choice between x1 to x10 for the NB frequencies?

I tried OCCT at 3.6GHz DDR2-866 and it BSOD with an unexpected hardware failure. I'm guessing it might be the RAM being stressed out too much.

I'm back at 3.5GHz, OCCT and Linpack stable.

Ahhh ya, but I gotta set that and also HT link speed at same time. Got it down to about 2.1ghz'ish but still errors out at 286mhz even with 1.3v NB

Guess I will have to settle with around 3.95ghz

Is that DDR2-8500 (1,066MHz) or DDR2-6400 (800MHz) you're using? At 3.5GHz, my system is OCCT stable (still running as I type this!!), but once I knock it up +10 with the FSB to 260, it bottoms out even with the stock 1.425 voltage. :( I'm thinking it might be my RAM not being to take it. I'll try to loosen/lower the RAM freq.

Ya I'm using 800mhz ram running at 900mhz 5-5-5-15-2t 1.9v

I can boot up till 4ghz but not stable it just errors out

What's the make/model of your RAM?

BTW, I'd like to verify this, regardless if I own a Phenom/Athlon II/Phenom II, would I get good results if I keep the HT Link to around 2,000MHz and increase the NB Frequency to around 2,600MHz?

its this stuff. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

Well I got a really good air cooler and so I hope its ok to go over 1.5v on the cpu :)

I know this will piss off some Intel i7 guy but, this little Athlon II @ 3.8ghz is faster in some games that I play (Final Fantasy XI) then my 4.4ghz i7. Same videocards and drivers too.

Once my i7 motherboard comes back from RMA I will do some testing! Seems like the min frame rate is way higher which seems odd!

It's probably the way the Athlon II handles the memory. FFXI, being an MMORPG, likes a lot of fast memory.

BTW, if anyone can answer my question, would I get good results if I keep the HT Link to around 2,000MHz and increase the NB Frequency to around 2,600MHz?

Why would you want to do that? I tried it for stability anyways and made no difference. BTW my i7 has much faster memory (DDR3 + Triple channel + 12GB) :)

Think maybe it's a driver issue will find out in a day now im very curious

my Athlon II is stable at 272x14 for 3.8ghz 1.488v My NB and HT link is 2720mhz

Is it set to 1.488v exactly in the BIOS, or 1.475v?

It's set to 1.5v but it's always 1.488 under load and idle. Guessing 3.9ghz would be 1.55v and 4ghz would be 1.6v. Chip stays very cool

For fun since it's going to be an HTPC I run it 2.8ghz 1.088v stable, along with the IGP it works really good

Oh ya it does atleast 4ghz

http://i32.tinypic.com/ilx5zt.png

You bumped it up to 1.55v or 1.6v? Still the stock HSF?

1.55v and I have never used dinky little stock HSF, been using a Sunbeam core contact freezer from my old Q9550 system.

ok got my i7 rig back. I lied, it's much faster in that game then this new Athlon. Was having vid card driver issues before I guess

that's a 60 bucks of cpu vs. >300 bucks cpu. well, what do you expect? :D

but still, AII & PII are doing their jobs better that similarly priced Intel stuff (except superpi lol)

Cheeseball in case you were wondering on my OC with stock cooler I tried it out. Seem to max out stock volts at 3.61ghz @ 1.392v and 3.5ghz 1.344v

This is with the stock little dinky cooler. OC's about the same with lower volts with stock cooler and Sunbeam-tech cooler till about 3.8ghz. Was 4hrs primestable 3.8ghz 1.488v but with stock one it crashes instantly

I see. So if I switch this stock HSF with my OCZ Vendetta, I should be able to hit higher clocks, correct?

BTW, I found out that the Athlon II series can really only handle up to DDR2-800/DDR3-1066 (which is in the specifications). I just got a pair of G.Skill Tridents that run stock at DDR2-1066 (1066MHz) @ 5-5-5-15-48-25, 1.8v, EPP. (Sexy coolers, BTW.)

Using the stock CPU speed of 2.8GHz, I tried forcing the RAM to run at 1066MHz instead of 800MHz (which I guess the CPU forces the BIOS to set it to), and the system will not POST at all. It's only when I overclock the CPU that I can get the RAM higher than 800MHz, but obviously it'll still be running slower than it's rated timings. I guess I may have to move on to a Phenom II which natively supports DDR2-1066.

Sorry for the double-post again.

I forced my RAM to run at DDR2-800 @ 866MHz with 1.8v, then the BIOS automatically set the timings to 5-5-5-13-20-2T. It shouldn't be stressful at all considering that it's underclocked from stock 1066MHz. However, now I'm able to run at 3.6GHz at stock voltage. HT Link is forced to 2,080MHz with HT Frequency at 2,600MHz, automatically set by the BIOS.

EDIT: :banana::banana::banana::banana:, I spoke too soon. 3.6GHz isn't stable for me. I just tried playing GTA4, and 15 minutes in the game I got a BSOD about my second processor not being able to send a signal in a certain interval. Back to 3.5GHz again.

Prime it for a bit first. 3.6ghz stock voltage and cooler? Try setting looser timings and upping the volts a bit to get 1066mhz ram and work your way down a bit

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Cheeseball

I see. So if I switch this stock HSF with my OCZ Vendetta, I should be able to hit higher clocks, correct?

BTW, I found out that the Athlon II series can really only handle up to DDR2-800/DDR3-1066 (which is in the specifications). I just got a pair of G.Skill Tridents that run stock at DDR2-1066 (1066MHz) @ 5-5-5-15-48-25, 1.8v, EPP. (Sexy coolers, BTW.)

Using the stock CPU speed of 2.8GHz, I tried forcing the RAM to run at 1066MHz instead of 800MHz (which I guess the CPU forces the BIOS to set it to), and the system will not POST at all. It's only when I overclock the CPU that I can get the RAM higher than 800MHz, but obviously it'll still be running slower than it's rated timings. I guess I may have to move on to a Phenom II which natively supports DDR2-1066.

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you said you set the HT Link to 2600mhz? I believe that is not HT freq,but NB freq instead.

are you set the base clock to 260mhz? you might want to lower the HT freq/HT Link a little bit (2000-2200mhz i believe is safe), also, dont force to raise NB freq too much. yes it helps memory performance, but you want to set the OC for the cpu first, right? set the NB freq a little tad above 2000mhz

if you believe your cpu is the limiting factor in raising memory speed, try with higher CPU-NB and NB voltage. 1.4v CPU-NB and 1.2-1.25v NB is considered safe

Yeah, that's what I meant. I set NB Frequency to 2,600MHz and HT Link to around 2,080MHz. Base clock is 260MHz x 14 multiplier = 2.640GHz. I haven't upped my NB voltage above 1.175 (which is default for this board) in fear that I might blow the NB. I'll try it out later though.

CPU-NB? Do you mean the CPU VID (core voltage)?

how about the performance between x2 240 vs 7750 kuma at default speed?
which one is better?
sorry if oot

240 is waaayyy much better than any scrapped Agena, which is X2 7750 and X2 7850 ;)

and overclocking Kuma proves more difficult than regor. I've tried both and my kuma maxec out @3.3ghz,regardless any voltage, and this regor 240 do 3.6ghz easily on stock voltage (1.425v with crappy Jetway PA78VM5 board lol)

Cheeseball...what I meant CPU-NB is voltage for IMC. CPU VID is the base voltage, different thatn CPU vcore. if you raise only CPU VID, your CPU vcore will raised too. same case with CPU-NB VID ;)

Hate to bump this old thread :p: but if any of you guys are still around could you do some memory benching with Everest on the NB/IMC speed with your Athlon IIs?

I'd like to do a comparison and see if the performance gains are similar (on a percentage basis) as to the Phenoms - from stock to 'as high as you dare' - LOL.

Anyone else run a bench like this for a comparison with the Phenom?

Great clocks, btw :up:

here is a screen shot after a quick OC for many weeks ago.. I need to work more with this cpu before x2 is out from gigabyte mobo :p

to get 32m stable I need lower 50mhz for cpu and 100mhz for nb.I can get ddr 1600 working at 32m but need figure out dividing of cpu, nb and mem :rofl:

I have old 720be benchmark maybe I simulate identical mhz for x2 to compare athl 2 x2 to ph 2 x3:P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AbortRetryFail?

Hate to bump this old thread :p: but if any of you guys are still around could you do some memory benching with Everest on the NB/IMC speed with your Athlon IIs?

I'd like to do a comparison and see if the performance gains are similar (on a percentage basis) as to the Phenoms - from stock to 'as high as you dare' - LOL.

Anyone else run a bench like this for a comparison with the Phenom?

Great clocks, btw :up:

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what nb, cpu? everything at stock?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Tomasis

what nb, cpu? everything at stock?

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Thanks --- that looks impressive. :clap:

With the NB/IMC at 3000MHz you got a Read of 12090 Mb/s - 35.1ns. That OCZ Reaper is looking very nice.

If the CPU remains static at 3.9GHz can you run the numbers with a NB at 2000MHz for comparison?

I'm just guessing but if the 'Phenom NB scaling' holds in comparison to the Athlon IIs, your read might drop to 10,500 Mb/s and you latency rise to 41+ ns.

Thanks again ---

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AbortRetryFail?

If the CPU remains static at 3.9GHz can you run the numbers with a NB at 2000MHz for comparison?

I'm just guessing but if the 'Phenom NB scaling' holds in comparison to the Athlon IIs, your read might drop to 10,500 Mb/s and you latency rise to 41+ ns.

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thanks.. you guessed almost right :yepp: but latency surprised me when I tested on W7 beta 32bit. The first screen is from xp sp3 32bit. Almost 2ns difference.

I checked old screens of phenom 2 720be .. at cpu 3,75 nb 2,8 ddr2 1260 5-5-5 I got about 10300mb and 42ns.

here are screens for you but at nb 2100

That is a bit surprising on the latency --- but at least it is in a good way! Maybe the L3 on the Phenoms is a bit of the bottleneck, there?

So the NB/IMC scaling 'performance improvements' essentially hold for the Athlon IIs when bumping up clocks --- that is good to know.

I imagine you would see the same scaling (3-4% improvement for each 10% increase in clock speed) with your 720BE --- even with the DDR2.

Same with the DDR3 - which looks to add a nice little overall bump of its own over DDR2.

Thanks for this --- I was talking to some folks about the NB scaling but didn't really have any numbers on the Athlon IIs for comparison.