Author Topic: Overclock NF7-S and Athlon 2500xp (Read 392 times)

Airscrew · « **on:** February 04, 2005, 10:13:16 AM »

I have never overclocked a system before and I'm thinking about experminting with my system, Abit NF7-S with an Athlon 2500 xp cpu. Software with the Bios will allow me to change settings to overclock.
Can anyone recommend a site that can explain overclocking for this board and cpu and the does and dont's.

I searched Abit's website and found some forums but I cant find anything specific to my board and processor, and most of the information is not complete.

The bios will allow me to change voltage settings, front bus speeds, AGP, cpu clocking, etc. I want to find out how all these settings relate to each other and what settings I should adjust to overclock. Right now I just want to make some small adjustments to get a little more speed and keep it stable. In the long run I think I'm going to get a AMD 3200 xp, just waiting for the prices to get a little cheaper.

I read some already and see that heat is an issue when overclocking. Right now my cpu temp runs between 42c and 48c
I already have ordered a larger heat sink and fan for the cooling and I'm looking for a larger PS because the PS I have now is only 380 watts and I want to upgrade to 500 or 600.

Thanks for taking a look
Airscrew

jonnyb · « **Reply #1 on:** February 04, 2005, 02:49:00 PM »

Here's a review of your board:

http://www.hardocp.com/article.html?art=NDA2LDM=

It has some details including what settings they used to overclock it.

Here's another:

http://www.hexus.net/content/reviews/review.php?dXJsX3Jldmlld19JRD00NjQmdXJsX2hpc3Rvcnk9LTI=

Unfortunately there really is no "Ultimate Guide to Overclocking" that gives you settings for each board. It is pretty much a try and see thing. Just use common sense when trying to overclock and NEVER EVER change things too drastically. In other words, don't say, "Well, I just booted successfully at 172Mhz FSB. Now let's try 212!"

It really is a balancing act, and with some patience, and even a bit of luck, you'll be rewarded with relatively decent speed gains.

Airscrew · « **Reply #2 on:** February 04, 2005, 04:48:10 PM »

Thanks Jonny,

I checked out those links, a little more information than I've seen on others but pretty much the same. they talk about changes they made but not how.

I guess what I'm looking may not exist. Like what happens when I change the voltage, what kind of changes should I make?
How do I know if I went too far, before I blow up my cpu.

schizer · « **Reply #3 on:** February 04, 2005, 06:37:34 PM »

The only limiting factor in that combo would be your memory and your power supply. The ABIT boards will easily hit 200FSB. What type of memory do you have PC3200, PC3500? You do not want to mess with AGP settings, you want those locked as well as the PCI bus (which that motherboard will do by default) Download Prime 95 and Motherboard Monitor, just getting the computer to boot into windows does not mean you have a successful overclock. Running Prime 95 torture test for 24hours without errors is pretty much the definitive test. Start off by simply bumping up the FSB in increments of 5 and then reboot. See what your temps look like (should be under 45 not being stressed). If it cant boot, up the Vcore voltage but do NOT go over 1.8 and also play with the VDimm(memory) voltage and multiplier, messing around with these 4 settings are the easiest way to obtain a successful overclock. The XP2500+ are very good overclockers. I have my Shuttle AN35Ultra running my XP2500 at 2.4Ghz or 12x200 at 1.675 volts Vcore and 2.33 Vdimm I never get over 50C even running stress test.

jonnyb · « **Reply #4 on:** February 05, 2005, 07:02:27 AM »

I understand what you want. Here's a link to a well written article explaining overclocking, clock cycles, voltages, timings, etc. It should give you a good idea of what things mean.

http://www.overclockers.com/tips1050/

That should help answer your questions.

Siaf__csf · « **Reply #5 on:** February 05, 2005, 08:41:18 AM »

The mobile XP's are awesome for overclocking. They are multiplier unlocked and sport a lot of headroom in FSB.

Roscoroo · « **Reply #6 on:** February 05, 2005, 12:50:50 PM »

my 2500+ M barton at 12 x 200 2.4ghz on air at the moment and its running at 41 C gaming at 45C .... its 65-70 deg's F in my house ... but i have a side case fan thats blowing right on the cpu fan,other wise it would be running at 46-48c and it would be gaming a 52-54c which is too much for me ...

for this summer if i want to keep it below 50C i'll have to water cool it ..(i have all the parts but the pump and i just need to finish making a case )) or i'll have to lower it down to 2.2 ghz.

a normal 2500+ barton will run at 2.2 nicely but when overclocking you must have 3 things
1st a very good power supply (not a cheep generic one)
2nd Good quality Ram
3rd good cooling set up

as for overclocking the 2500+ i creap mine up slowly i ussually start at 12x166 ,12.5x166 ,13x166
if the ram is stable here then i step it to
10x200, 10.5x200,11x200 i always let it run at 11x200 max for a few days and monitor temps closely , run a stress test , and beshure its stable and running good ,(this becomes my baseline). its only after All this that i go up past 2.2 ghz (Note most of us wont reccomend that you go past 2.2 but if you do beshure you have the bios set for slow boot so it tests the ram and everything else when it boots up)

Also when overclocking its easy to corrupt the OS / Drivers and reformating becomes common place also ..

I have a pile of burned up ram and blown up power supplys from over clocking, but I havent popped a 2500+ barton yet . (i popped alot of old k-6 amds and a couple of pents though)

So if you gonna overclock beshure you can afford the parts ...

Callisto · « **Reply #7 on:** February 05, 2005, 01:27:16 PM »

How much more performance can one get out of CPU today by overclocking it and still have solid reliable system? Seems to be todays overclocking gains are minimal.

schizer · « **Reply #8 on:** February 06, 2005, 08:54:20 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Callisto
How much more performance can one get out of CPU today by overclocking it and still have solid reliable system? Seems to be todays overclocking gains are minimal.

Well a XP2500+ runs at 1.83Ghz, most overclocks will hit at least 2Ghz-2.4Ghz and a 200mhz FSB vs the default 166FSB

Airscrew · « **Reply #9 on:** February 07, 2005, 01:31:30 PM »

Thanks for all the input guys.
Jonny, I think that last link is exactly what I was looking for, definitely be spending some time reading that and printing it out for reference.

Roscoroo, when I'm ready I might use your settings as a guide, I still have a lot of reading to do first. I'm hoping to avoid water cooling. Right now my setup is in an Antec case, case temp is about 22c and cpu temp runs from 40 to 48c. And that when I'm running Doom3.
The Antec case only has one 120mm opening in the rear of the case, but I installed a card fan in the PCI slot below the video card, and put 80mm fan in the front of the case and its seems to keep things pretty cool.
I bought a new case that has 6 spots for 80mm fans (it also has a side fan, and 1 120mm fan, it may end up noisy but it should run cool.
Before I attempt the overclock I'm going to transfer everything in to the new case, hookup the max number of fans I can get in it, and check my temps. I also got a new heat sink thats larger and uses an 80mm fan.

What manufactures do you recommend for the power supply? Right now I have a 380 but I've been looking at 480 to 600 watt power supplies.

Anyway thanks for you'alls input

jonnyb · « **Reply #10 on:** February 07, 2005, 03:30:22 PM »

I'm glad that link helped. As for power supplies, I like Antec. Their TruPower series is exceptional.