Well, as most here know the Barton was rather a good overclocker, especially in the XP-M variety. When I put together this PC, I had absolutely no idea about overclocking, or any other variety of tweaking for that matter.
But as time goes by I became more proficient with Computers, their inner workings etc. This is when I started regretting some of the choices I made - why did I go for 1.5gb of value ram instead of 1gb performance ram, etc.
Well, working with the components I had, I tried overclocking. Lets just say the memory craps out at 210,
and running 3 sticks at ddr-400 pushes the memory controller a bit...
Anyhow, i got thinking, what would be the best way to use a relatively good overclocking processor, without being able to overclock (I had considered dividers, but they cause a large bottleneck in the system). So I decided to see how low the vcore could go while being 100% stable. Remember that Socket A Athlons can take a fair bit, and indeed start with a fair bit.
After reading up on my processor, I found that it takes a standard vcore of 1.65v. Mine for some reason was recieving 1.8 from the bios, so I knocked it down, and down, and down, 0.025v at a time. I was actually supprised at the figure it ended up at.....
....1.525v. not bad eh?
Well, what were the benefits?
As most oc'ers know, more volts = higher temperatures. Recently I had replaced all of the fans in my rig for variable speed Silverstone ones, and found that on their lowest setting, processor stayed at around 46-47oC, and with them on full, it rarely broke 40. (all measurements at 100% load)
Well, with the lower vcore I managed to drop my full load temps on the quietest cooling these fans have to 39oC, and with them on full, I'm down to 34. Not bad really, considering it only took a half hour. I can finally watch films in peace without worrying whether my processors about to become melted silicon
Dave
But as time goes by I became more proficient with Computers, their inner workings etc. This is when I started regretting some of the choices I made - why did I go for 1.5gb of value ram instead of 1gb performance ram, etc.
Well, working with the components I had, I tried overclocking. Lets just say the memory craps out at 210,
and running 3 sticks at ddr-400 pushes the memory controller a bit...Anyhow, i got thinking, what would be the best way to use a relatively good overclocking processor, without being able to overclock (I had considered dividers, but they cause a large bottleneck in the system). So I decided to see how low the vcore could go while being 100% stable. Remember that Socket A Athlons can take a fair bit, and indeed start with a fair bit.
After reading up on my processor, I found that it takes a standard vcore of 1.65v. Mine for some reason was recieving 1.8 from the bios, so I knocked it down, and down, and down, 0.025v at a time. I was actually supprised at the figure it ended up at.....
....1.525v. not bad eh?
Well, what were the benefits?
As most oc'ers know, more volts = higher temperatures. Recently I had replaced all of the fans in my rig for variable speed Silverstone ones, and found that on their lowest setting, processor stayed at around 46-47oC, and with them on full, it rarely broke 40. (all measurements at 100% load)
Well, with the lower vcore I managed to drop my full load temps on the quietest cooling these fans have to 39oC, and with them on full, I'm down to 34. Not bad really, considering it only took a half hour. I can finally watch films in peace without worrying whether my processors about to become melted silicon
Dave
