Amd athlon x2 4200 overclocking: Athlon Dual Core: Overclocking the 4200+

about your oc

hi,

i have the same setup as you and i was wondering if you oc your 4200 to 2. 9 on stock voltage?

thanks

Overclocking athlon 64 X2 4200

How I overclock…The Somewhat Complete Guide to A64 Overclocking Part I

I’m not familiar with what is controllable on your particular board so I’m going to give it to you generic. You can find a lot more information on this at;
www.extremeoverclocking.com

Critical Overclocking Programs you’ll need:

CPU-Z: General System Monitor and report.

Memtest86: You’ll need to run this from a Floppy or Bootable CD. This basic program is still considered the best for testing your RAM

SuperPi: Intensive mathematical program that stresses CPU/Memory pretty extensively. I like this program because it gives you a good indication of your overclock in under a minute’s time.

Critical Components for a Quality Overclock

POWER SUPPLY

Power Supplies are missed so often when it comes to figure out why your system isnt overclockig the way it should. DONT SKIMP HERE! Get yourself a quality Power Supply and you’ll never regret it. The Power Supply that comes with most cases is garbage. If budget is tight, Go with an ANTEC or ENERMAX case. These usually come with a pretty decent supply.

There are several more factors that go into a quality and Stable A64 Overclock, a few of the factors we need to take into Consideration are

CPU Multiplier

CPU Voltage

HTT Frequency

HTT Multiplier

Memory Divider (There is ALWAYS a memory Divider with a A64 system)

Memory Voltage

Ram Timings

Chipset Voltage

AGP/PCI Lock

COOL N’ QUIET

Finding the right combination of these settings is the only way to get the most out of your A64

CPU Multiplier

All A64s are at least Half Locked. This means that you can set the CPU Multiplier Lower than stock, but not Higher. This is a Good thing. Very rarely with A64’s would you ever need to raise the CPU Multiplier over the Factory setting. The exception to this are the FX chips, they are fully unlocked.

CPU Voltage

Most A64s have a default voltage of 1.4v to 1.6V. A64s are extremely efficient and usually can only take about 1.7v before they just start producing excess heat. I’ve run my Mobile up to 1.9v but found it did NOT help my overclocks and simply caused the CPU to produce enormous amounts of heat. These are NOT XP-M chips! While I doubt that running voltages between 1.75 and 1.9 will cause any permanent damage, it certainly has not shown to be beneficial in any tests I’ve seen so far.

HTT Frequency

A64s don’t use a traditional Front system Bus. Instead they use a HyperTransport. I can only assume its abbreviated «HTT» to differentiate between Intel’s «HT» and Hyper-Threading Technology. They are VERY different.

The HyperTransport is what controls the base frequency for communications and CPU speed in our A64 System. The CPU Speed is controlled by the HTT Multiplied by the CPU Multiplier, The HyperTransport or Memory controller is controlled by the HTT Multiplied by the HTT Multiplier, and Memory speed is controlled by the HTT Frequency, Multiplied by the CPU Multiplier and then DIVIDED by the Memory Divider. That’s a bit confusing for most folks. And it took me a while to grasp the concept as well.

HTT Multiplier

Most AMD Motherboards are designed to handle an 800-1000 MHz Hyper Transport bus. Factory Default on 754 CPUs is 800 MHz (A 4X Multiplier) and 1Ghz (5x) on 939 CPU’s this is a Critical part of Overclocking an A64 to the Max. Pushing the HyperTransport past 1Ghz can cause all kinds of system instability that is commonly misconceived as «I maxed out my CPU» or «My Ram is holding me back»

Memory Divider

This is one of the most Confusing aspects of A64 Overclocking. There is ALWAYS a memory divider. Setting the Memory to 1:1 means that the HTT bus is multiplied by the CPU Multiplier and then Divided by the CPU Multiplier to set the Memory speed. This means that it is OK to run your Memory at its peak efficiency and still go higher with your HTT bus if your CPU can take it. Take note that I said its «OK» not advisable. There are still sufficient tests out there showing that running a 1:1 ratio will garner you the best overall performance. I plan on adding a few test results in the next week or so showing the difference in performance using a higher memory divider than CPU Multiplier.

Since A64’s use an On chip memory controller, the Ratio must be calculated a bit differently than old. 5:6 is NOT always 5:6.

Memory Voltage

Most motherboards offer a degree of memory voltage options. The memory of choice lately has been Samsung TCCD Based modules with Brainpower PCB’s. These Modules run at 2.6v stock voltage, and can usually do no better with voltage up to about 2.8-2.9 volts. There have been a few reports of better settings with voltages over 3v, but these seem to be pretty rare

situations.

Most other memory can benefit from having additional voltage run through it. The king of this is the elusive Winbond BH-5 based memory modules. If you’re lucky enough to have some of these, you may want to invest in an OCZ Memory Voltage Booster if your motherboard is compatible as these can run some very impressive timings with a lot of voltage. …

Speaking of Timings…

Memory Timings

There are 5 Numbers in our Timings that we need to worry about a lot. Personally, I would like to learn more about the other numbers, but as of this writing, I’m pretty much in the dark there.

What we do need to worry about are CAS Latency, RAS to CAS Delay, RAS Precharge, and Cycle Time(Tras), and CPC (command Per Clock)

Ideally, we want these timings to be 2-2-2-5 1T. Most TCCD based module does this at 200 MHz (DDR400) and can usually go up to 215-220 with a Bump in Voltage to 2.7, and then we need to loosen them to go higher. 2.5-3-3-7 is still considered reasonable memory timings for an A64 system, and some people even go out to 3-4-4-8, but I would personally advise against using timings that high with an A64 System. We ALWAYS want to use CPC (1T) this means the Command per Clock interface is enabled. 2T performs extremely poorly on A64 systems. But since our memory controller is on the CPU, the Double Sided memory problem that plagues XP Motherboards is not evident. Give AMD a WOOT for that one…..

Chipset Voltage

Usually just a small bump in Chipset Voltage will stabilize a flakey HTT bus. 1.6 is Stock on most motherboards, but 1.7 to 1.8 is acceptable as long as you have decent cooling on your Northbridge chip. Many A64 Motherboards use Passive heatsinks on these chips so before you install your dandy new A64 system, take off your NB Cooler and replace the Factory thermal past with some AS-5. This is usually enough to keep the MB Cool enough to run the extra voltage. Placing Ram Sinks on your Southbridge and any other heat producing chip is never a bad idea either.

AGP/PCI Lock

The AGP and PCI Bus’ are tied together on all motherboards that I know of. They are also derived from the FSB (Or HTT in the case of AMD) frequency by a divider. NVidia NForce chipsets have whats called a PCI/AGP Lock. This keeps your PCI and AGP Bus at a constant speed no matter what your HTT bus is. This is CRITICAL. If y our PCI bus is too fast, you WILL corrupt hard drive data. If your AGP Bus is too fast, you WILL have Video problems. Via Chipsts have been known to have Faulty PCI locks. This appears to be corrected in the KT800 Pro Chipset, but KT800 and below SHOW a PCI Lock in most bios’s but it doesnt do much… This is a Primary reason why overclockers stay away from these boards.

On your Nforce or Via KT800Pro board you want this setting at 33Mhz if its listed as a PCI lock, or 66-67Mhz if its listed as a AGP Lock. Pushing this offers absolutely no benefit as the bandwidth provided by these frequencies is more than todays Hard Drives or AGP Video cards can use.

COOL N’ QUIET

Disable this. This is a feature that will automatically UNDERCLOCK your system if it feels it doesnt need to run so fast…. WHo are «They» to tell us how fast out CPU should run?

Now…. What do we do with all this Information??? Start Overclocking of course…..

First Thing First… Let’s see how fast our Processor can go.

Set your Memory Divider at its lowest setting. (Usually 100 or 133) This will give us a LOT of headroom to push out CPU.

Next, Drop your HTT Multiplier to 3x and your CPU Multiplier 1 Notch (If you have a 2 GHz CPU, drop your Multiplier down to 9x)

With these settings most AMD systems will boot and run at a 230HTT so go there first. Once you get into Windows, Run a 1Million run of SuperPi, and then a Prim95 Max heat test for about 10 Minutes. If it passes both of those, its time to go further.

Go 5 MHz at a Time and Repeat. During this we’ll want to raise the VCore of our Processor to maintain stability. Once SuperPi and/or Prime95 fail, raise your VCore .05 Volts and Try again. SEE CPU Voltages Ademdum at the end of this guide for processor specific Voltage recomendations.

This is a Slow Time Consuming process, so have a few Mountain Dews and some chocolate bars handy.

Once your push your HTT bus back over 800 MHz (267HTT Bus) raise your Chipset Voltage up to 1.7

with any luck, you’ll hit 260-280HTT Depending on your CPU.

Write this info down and then we move on to testing out Memory.

CPU TEMPS ADDDENDUM

As stated above, A64s are VERY efficient, there have been reports of outrageous overclocks using the stock AMD Heatsink. But I would still recommend a high quality Swiftech or Thermalright Unit. (Dee DavidHammocks HSF Guide for specifics)

Anyway, Standard Desktop chips should be kept under 55c in ALL cases. It should NOT be hard to keep then under 45-48c with good quality cooling. Running higher than that is a good indication that you have misapplied your HSF and/or AS-5 Remount.

Mobile chips are rated a bit higher, but there is still no reason to ever see temps higher than 55c. The lack of an IHS provides better contact with the Heatsink and it’s very possible to keep temps at 45 and lower with quality cooling. Even with high overclocks.

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ overclocked: detailed tests

Whatever processors appeared on the arena of military operations, the overclocker principle remained unchanged: you need to buy a junior processor of the family and overclock it to the limit. For, as the song about the Komsomol volunteers stated, «this is the only way to find happiness» :).

However, someone bought the junior processor of the family for other reasons — it was not possible to spend money on buying more productive models. Or, when buying a new system, the user solemnly swore that as soon as he paid off his debts for this computer, he would immediately replace the processor with a more productive one. Subsequently, either overclocking, or healthy self-sufficiency, or banal laziness came to the rescue in the fight against this desire — «it works and all right.» nine0003

Meanwhile, an active part of the overclocking community has always wanted to know what the processor of the new family is capable of in terms of overclocking. Moreover, they were interested not only in dry numbers in the form of megahertz, but in very specific performance indicators in typical applications or games.

After the release of dual-core processors, the natural interest in overclocking potential was supplemented by other factors: processors with two cores worked at lower frequencies than their single-core counterparts, so overclocking could largely equalize the chances. nine0003

A similar attitude was applied to dual-core Smithfield processors from Intel, but the test found that they overclocked quite hard. There is nothing surprising in this — if there were no barriers to increasing the frequency of dual-core processors, Intel would not limit itself to the 3.2 GHz bar, which distances the performance of Smithfield processors from the achievements of faster single-core counterparts by a significant distance. High heat dissipation forced not only to limit the frequency of serial Smithfield processors, but also to switch to the use of energy-saving technologies such as EIST. As it turned out later, Smithfield processors often go into throttling with one of the cores during overclocking, which makes it difficult to select the optimal frequency during overclocking. Plus, Smithfield processors required the use of powerful cooling systems for maximum overclocking, and this scared away overclockers suffering from water and freonophobia. nine0003

Athlon 64 X2 processors pleased overclockers with their frequency potential comparable to single-core processors of E3 and E4 steppings. Using an air cooler, they overclocked to 2.7-2.8 GHz, with the help of a freon or water cooling they reached a frequency of 3.0 GHz and higher. Moreover, at the nominal frequency they lagged slightly behind the older single-core processors, which made it possible to maintain a consistently high level of performance regardless of whether the application was optimized for multithreading or not. nine0003

Colleagues from the American site Anandtech have published a rather concise and informative review of the Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (2.2 GHz, 2 x 512 KB) processor, during which they compared its performance with the Athlon 64 4000+ (2.4 GHz, 1 MB) at the nominal frequency , and then — in overclocking at a frequency of 2.7 GHz. Thus, they made it clear whether it makes sense to buy AMD’s most affordable dual-core processor for $537 and overclock it.

recommendations

Perhaps it is impossible to give a categorical answer. In all applications, overclocking strengthens the position of Athlon 64 X2 4200+, which confidently competes with Athlon 64 4000+. Only in games with a high dependence on the level of performance of the video card, the role of the central processor fades into the background, and even single-core processors after overclocking give games more advantages than dual-core ones. Meanwhile, in the near future the situation will change: nVidia will introduce optimizations at the driver level, AGEIA will start promoting its «physical accelerator» PhysX, which will also emphasize the strengths of dual-core processors. Finally, Intel will make every effort to force software developers to optimize their products for the features of dual-core processors. In other words, very soon dual-core processors will start to get stronger in the eyes of users, and overclocking can only strengthen this impression. The problem is that Athlon 64 X2 processors have more overclocking headroom than 0.09micron processors Pentium D.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200: characteristics and tests of the processor

AMD started selling the Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 4200 on December 1, 2006 for a suggested price of $309. This is a desktop processor, it has 2 cores and 2 threads, the processor is made according to the 90 nm process technology.

Processor made for socket 939, TDP 89W. nine0003

Specifications

General information

Release date

December 2006

Launch price

$309

Market price

$195

Purpose

Desktop

Architecture

Manchester

Process

90 nm

Crystal size

220 mm²

Number of transistors

154 million

Processor capacity

64 bit

Frequencies and performance

Clock speed

2200 MHz

Maximum frequency

2200 MHz

Number of cores

2

Number of threads

nine0036 2

Level 1 cache

256 KB

Level 2 cache

512 KB

Unlocked multiplier

+

Compatible

Socket

939

nine0038

Heat dissipation

89W

Maximum number of processors in configuration

1

Windows 11 support

No

Benchmarks

Interesting to know:

Microphone test online voice recording.