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AMD AthlonXP Processor 2600+

Join the community - in the OCAU Forums! Date  21 August 2002 Author  James "Agg" Rolfe Manufacturer  AMD Overclocking and Conclusions For FSB-based overclocking, I replaced the TwinMOS PC2700 C2.5 with some Corsair XMS3000C2 kindly provided by Realtime Systems. I set the RAM to default to 133MHz and conservative settings, to eliminate RAM instability from limiting the CPU. UDMA was disabled from the HDD for similar reasons - high PCI speeds can corrupt UDMA data in transit, producing instability. 1.85v (+0.2v) was the highest I would run the CPU core voltage with this cooler. I found boosting the DDR voltage by 0.2v (to 2.7v) helped also. The best I could achieve was 149MHz FSB, or 2.398GHz core speed, at 1.85v core voltage. One advantage the AMD chips have over P4's (although I doubt AMD are particularly proud of this) is that they can be multiplier-unlocked. Steady hands, a keen eye and some conductive liquid are needed, but it can be done. However, in this instance I decided to forego multiplier-based overclocking. Partly, I'll grant you, because there's an element of risk and I don't like risking expensive peices of silicon that I don't own. Mostly however, because there's not a lot of point. In the FSB-based overclocking we hit the limit pretty early, well before the limits of the motherboard (easily demonstrated by dropping my AGIOA-cored 1600+ in and running it happily at 155MHz FSB.) This gives us a clear indication of the core limit of the CPU without needing to unlock it. Secondly, we would only be unlocking the CPU so we could get past any FSB limitation. We've already established that the FSB is not the limit - the CPU core is. Let's keep some perspective here, though - an AthlonXP running at a smidge under 2.4GHz with a stock aircooler is seriously impressive. I can already hear the Intel zealots muttering about the very high overclocks currently being achieved with Northwood-based P4's, though. We'll have to see how the Thoroughbred core continues to improve. Conclusions At the end of the day, there are no big surprises here. AMD have produced another very quick processor and when benchmarks focus on the CPU in isolation it's without a doubt the quickest CPU you can get for your PC today. When viewing overall performance, though, it seems as though AMD have merely stepped up to the same level as Intel's current top-end offering - not bested it. As the pendulum swings back towards Intel, who we assume will be next to announce a higher-speed CPU, they will edge away slightly. The CPU war rages on and, in the meantime, it's you and I who benefit, from crazy-fast CPU's at ever-dropping prices, no matter which camp you're in. Added your PC to the PC Database yet? << Back OCAU Main Page Select Page Page 1 - Page 2 - Page 3 - Page 4 -

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