Best stepping for OC Amd Athlon Xp 2500+

jozi

Have 2 xp2500+ chip here, one in my own pc the other for a friends pc.

He's not into over clocking (mobo wont let him to) at all so i was thinking if the stepping is better on his chip then i might put it into my own pc and let him use mine.

Are there guides any where or tables?

jozi

Col_Loki

Well i know all the stepping code's up until they locked them. Post the two and i will tell you ........ but if its a newer stepping (ie locked or recently bought) then look at the week code and pick the newest one , 0412 v 0419 go with the 0419...........

Older steppings .......

Aqzea > aqxea > aqxda > aqxca > aquca > etc etc , weeks 0339 and above are generally locked.

jozi

Mine isn't locked anyway cause i have it overclocked now.

Not sure if my mobo un-locked it? asus a7n8x-e

jozi

Woden

is it the multiplier that is unlocked or can you just change the FSB. the FSB was never locked just like on an intel chip. however if you can't change the multi then its locked. its not the end of the world though on a 2500+ as generally you plan on upping the FSB anyway to at least 200*11. however it might stop you from getting something like 220*10 which would be better.

data

jozi

The multi is un-locked to

i'm runing it 195*10 any higher is unstable.

jozi

EDIT: chip is at 195*10.5, tried 200*10 and got this far

Woden

ive probably showed ya this before but if i haven't it may help ya achieve a stable overclock

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138583&highlight=overclocking+guide

Col_Loki

WHat cooling are you using?

Chances are your mates chip will perform better. Its always hard to say ohh yea Aqzea will overclock further than aquca, there are exceptions so this is just in general and not set in stone.

If you have decent cooling you should be looking for 2ghz+, with a decent chip 2.2ghz should be fine.........post the code on each chip if u want and i can give a little more info!! PS if your mates chip is new then you wont be able to change the multiplier so FSB is your man.

[edit] Ohh and what memory are you running, sure that isint a problem?

jozi

Found that tread to this morning.

Was messing with the fsb before going to work and got it up to 205.

I never had the agp frequency set to 66, it was auto.
Had to up the vcore (i think) from 1.65 to 1.7 or 1.725 (cant really remember, was up one from 1.65)
I recently got a new more powerfull psu (antec 430 watt) which might have helped?

@ col_loki i'm using a thermalthake volcano 12 and pc3200 ram (from pc-world, was on a budget then). I was able to run 195*10.5 stable no more but i got the fsb up to 205 this morning, will try again after work

jozi

Woden

follow that thread and see how you get on anyway, the antec is a good psu and you have ram capable of 200mhz and decent cooling so if you can't get to 200*11 or whatever then it will be down to the chip.

i have to give my chip 1.75vcore to make it stable at 200mhz just keep an eye on your temps and it should be fine.

if the ram ain't great and it probably aint from pc world i may have dicussed this with you before was it the pny ram you have from pc world and we where looking for what vdimm you could take up to with it?

anyway if you find your overclock being limited by the ram even when upping the vdimm to say 2.8v so you've maxed out you fsb you can always up the multi, but its better to find you fsb limit first.

data

tuxy

the chip i got seems to be a good one for the new locked ones
http://members.boards.ie/tuxx/2500.jpg
prime stable on air cooling and still room to push her a little more i think

COL_LOKI do you know a good page to look up with stepping it is?

Woden

thats a nice overclock there very nice, with regards to the stepping if you mean finding out your own i think the only method is to take of the heat sink and have a gander but perhaps there is a way

tuxy

oh u can use cpu-z to find it wirh a p4
so u have to look at the core on an xp?
cant be bothered taking it off since i seem to have it seated very good

Woden

Originally posted by tuxx

so u have to look at the core on an xp?

yeah i'm of that opinion i don't know if there is a software method to check it but it would be handy if some one had one

tuxy

i see ya i notice now in cpu-z it shows 0 for stepping
with a p4 it gives a number and you can lookup online to see what stepping that number is

jozi

if the ram ain't great and it probably aint from pc world i may have dicussed this with you ....
[/B]

That's right.

I got it to 205 fsb so i guess the ram can handle that bit extra, not stress tested yet, will see how high i can get the multi and fsb later when i get home.

jozi

Col_Loki

COL_LOKI do you know a good page to look up with stepping it is?

Some good info Here , you have to take out the chip and read the stepping, no software can do it AFAIK.

jozi

Damn forgot to take down the steping of my chip when i was putting on new past doh!

Running 200*10.5 at the min, had to up the voltage a little to get this far into windows.

Going to run prime now, will post if it's stable

jozi

ps whats agp vddg? and then i have 3 settings presumably voltages

jozi

Had great fun with the pc yesterday (yeah right), got it pretty stable 200*10.5 so i upped the voltage a bit (1.8) and tried 11 multi.
Well i got into windows once for a second, tried upping the voltage another little bit but it kept crashing on me before getting into windows.
Noticed the bios was not responding to the keyboard several times, can't be good!? And i had to reset the bios once cause it wouldn't post!
So everything is stock again and windows wont work! Just keeps rebooting, lucky i had linux instaled to!
Temps stayed pretty good @ 200*10.5, below 50C 48C was the highest mbm recorded and 10C lower for idle (thats with the fan at full speed)
I'm going to leave it alone now for a while or maybe at 200*10.5 now. Waiting on a hd i ordered last week to arrive before i install windows again.

Jozi

Col_Loki

Generally if that happens again it just means your very unstable (not a big thing), power down your system for a while let it cool down. Power back up, go into BIOS reset to lesser settings and restart (do it quick enough).

200 x 10.5 isint bad, thats Xp3000+. Id say the other chip might overclock more as your temps are good and so is your setup........ still not a bad start !!

jozi

Happy enough with what i got.

We'll not know what the other chip would have been like untill he lets me rebuild his pc and swap chips, lets me swap chips or get a mobo that will let him oc.
Going to get it running stable 200*10.5 during the week and leave it at it.
(windows works again!)

Cheers,

jozi

Jammer

Didnt want to start a new thread as this is on the same subject;

I just overclocked my 2500 to 3200, but im still getting low-ish temps, wondering if it'd be safe to go up a bit more.

i have it at 200 x 11 and my idle temp is 43, load is 49/50...its completly stable at 1.8 vcore. would it be worth going to 200 x 11.5 ?

I'm using a CoolerMaster Aero 7+ at full and two Antec system fans, one sucking, one blowing.

Woden

you should try upping the FSB again before you go upping the multi, ideally you should lower the multi right down and find your FSB limit for the highest voltage your ram can handle and then go about upping the multi.

data

Col_Loki

Well you could reduce the speed of the Aero7, especially if you dont want your system sounding like a hoover?

Your doing well so far anyway!

Jammer

it resembles a jumbo jet more so then a hoover. It doesnt really bother me though, the room is noisey enough as it is.

Lower the multi, up the FSB, i'll try that out 2morro!

Col_Loki

Well if you leave the multi the same and try to raise the FSB to ~210mhz then you will be at 2.3ghz and have better performance. But i doubt your Ram will do anymore, you will be lucky if it goes to 210mhz so lowering the multi and upping the FSB isint an option TBH.............

What data ment was keep the multiplier lower and up the FSB . This means the memory is working faster and improves your overall performance. You mite just have to overclock with the multiplier if the RAM gives you trouble at higher mhz........ try and see how it goes.