Red Nineteen Project Log 36 - 16th August 2006 I know, I know! It's nearly a month since I last posted an update, but I did promise that I would post details of overclocking and benchmarking - so here they are... I have been away for two weeks of the past month and I have finally got around to putting together the benchmarking and overclocking that I have done. Firstly, I installed XP and the usual gubbins, then once that was all running smoothly, I started to get-to-grips with overclocking. I have only had two attempts in the past - the first with my AMD AthlonXP 2000, which hit 2100, but wasn't stable - the second on Pink PC's Celeron - from 2.6 to 3.2GHz, but it ran too hot to make the overclock worth it. Foxconn's 590SLi motherboard supports SLi Memory - and the Corsair modules I purchased (DDR2-800 C4) allow for it. For the first few overclocks it proved to be useful but not great. I found it easier to adjust the settings myself, or let the BIOS automatically handle them. In all, I had 33 attempts at overclocking, trying to find the maximum the rig could handle and then a safe spot for daily use. Instead of writing up all 33 attempts I'll summarise it quickly - it hits 2.8GHz but wouldn't POST. 2.7GHz it would post but wouldn't boot into Windows. 2.6GHz initially was unstable, but with a few adjustments to voltages it proved to be the best overclock: [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.6GHz.gif[/img] Prior to this, it looked like 2.5GHz was the max I could reach: [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.5GHz.gif[/img] ^ Testing stability using Prime95. At 2.6GHz, the BIOS was setup with a 260 HTT x 10 multiplier; 5-5-5-18 memory timings and 1040 clock (520 x 2). The voltages were 1.45v for the CPU and 2.1v for the memory. As for temperatures, before overclocking it was idling at about 27'c. After overclocking it idles at around 28'c and loads at about 33'c - hardly pushing the cooling to the max! I guess it shows that the two 120mm intake fans are doing their job, along with the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64. Fan speeds are at about 50%, barely audible too. Now I have my max overclock, I went for benchmarking to see how much of a difference it makes... starting with stock speeds of 2.0GHz, I benchmarked using 3D Marks 2001-2006, along with SuperPI. [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.0GHz-2001se.gif[/img] ^ 2.0GHz, 3DMark 2001se - 25665 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.0GHz-2003.gif[/img] ^ 2.0GHz, 3DMark 2003 - 14773 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.0GHz-2005.gif[/img] ^ 2.0GHz, 3DMark 2005 - 6946 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.0GHz-2006.gif[/img] ^ 2.0GHz, 3DMark 2006 - 3744 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.0GHz-2006.gif[/img] ^ 2.0GHz, SuperPI 1m - 41.235 Then the overclocked benchmarks: [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.6GHz-2001se.gif[/img] ^ 2.6GHz, 3DMark 2001se - 30667 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.6GHz-2003.gif[/img] ^ 2.6GHz, 3DMark 2003 - 15704 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.6GHz-2005.gif[/img] ^ 2.6GHz, 3DMark 2005 - 7024 [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/2.6GHz-2006.gif[/img] ^ 2.6GHz, 3DMark 2006 - 3892 Of course, these don't really make much sense unless I compare them: [img]http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/Results.gif[/img] As you can see, in SuperPI @ 2.6GHz it was almost 10 seconds quicker than stock speeds - a 23% increase in speed. Many say that 3DMark isn't a great way to benchmark, but it shows a good comparison between the two speeds. 2001se showed almost a 20% increase in speed. Though as I went through the more recent versions, the increase became less and less. I suppose 3DMark 2006 is limited more by the GPU than CPU. One final screenshot to throw in the mix [url=http://dump.slickhouse.com/lazlow/pc/blue/36/Dual_Core.gif]here[/url] - to back-up how cool X2 Dual Core chips are. Last night I had AVG doing a full Virus scan and was able to surf the 'net and download a few things at the same time. On my laptop and the PinkPC, the virus scan freezes up everything else, making it run at a snail's pace. To summarise, although AMD dropped the prices of the AM2 chips soon after I purchased my 4000 X2, the overclock has brought it inline with an AM2 5000 X2 - 2.6GHz, though it has a 2 x 512kb L2 Cache. I was hoping for 2.8GHz to match an FX-62, but I'm stuck as to how I get any more MHz out of it all - if someone knows how to setup a memory divider in the Foxconn BIOS, then say! As I reckon it's the memory holding back a higher overclock - though I may be wrong. Compared to Core2, my system lags behind, but I'm yet to find anything that pushes this to its limits. All games run fine on highest settings at 1280x1024 (Acer-F19 native res), which is good to know. Any comments? Any ideas how I can squeeze out a further 200MHz?