# Athlon II X2 Series Overclocking



## Urbklr (Aug 27, 2009)

Hello, I ordered my AII 240 this mourning, and it will be here tomorrow. Just wondering if anyone has one or knows what these things can do? 4GHz on air by any chance? I ordered an Xigmatek 1283 and plan on lapping it(very little) and the cpu to keep the temps down. Will have it in hand tomorrow after work, have first results by 11-12 my time(-4 Alantic).


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## WSP (Aug 27, 2009)

Maintain sub 30c,and it will give you plenty of OC headroom.provided you got a decent supporting hardware like mobo,ram,psu,etc.

And do not hesitate to give enough vcore.i'd say 1.6v on air is max safe vcore.

Dont give more than 1.65v vcore on air cooling.cpu death is imminent


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## 1Kurgan1 (Aug 27, 2009)

My PII 240 just arrived for the gf's comp, I'm in the process of moving right now though so I won't get to flog it for a few days. But I would assume like any of the other PII products out there, 3.5ghz on air should be what to aim for.


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## Velvet Wafer (Aug 27, 2009)

WSP said:


> Maintain sub 30c,and it will give you plenty of OC headroom.provided you got a decent supporting hardware like mobo,ram,psu,etc.
> 
> And do not hesitate to give enough vcore.i'd say 1.6v on air is max safe vcore.
> 
> Dont give more than 1.65v vcore on air cooling.cpu death is imminent



isnt that a little high for 45nm?

even 65nm shouldnt get more than about 1.6 even with water...

i say: these arent k8or k9. try to reach the clocks with low voltage... if its not enough, it will simply restart. bsod´s and freezes are mostly related to overheating of the processor, or more badly, the pwm area. keep your mosfets cooled.


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## Urbklr (Aug 27, 2009)

I plan to not use more then 1.5-1.55v on air. I'm going water next pay. My board and PSU should take the beating and the cpu should stay cool. I'm off to work now, and there should be a box waiting here for me in 10 hours. Very excite!


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 27, 2009)

Congrats Urb! You need to give me some benchmarks because I've been contemplating switching out for a Regor.


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## Urbklr (Aug 27, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> Congrats Urb! You need to give me some benchmarks because I've been contemplating switching out for a Regor.



No problem man, what games/benchmarks would you like to see? If I can do it I will


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 27, 2009)

Everest Mem Bench and Sciencemark 2, if you don't mind.


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## Urbklr (Aug 27, 2009)

Link me for when I get off


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 27, 2009)

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/170/

www.lavalys.com


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## Urbklr (Aug 28, 2009)

There you go Jr. Will run the other tomorrow....today I mean. I just got the computer working half right, LAN doesn't work at all so I'm using the boards wifi lol. That OC was a first attempt, so there is much more to come.

Edit: RAM was at 1036MHz CL5-5-5-15


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 28, 2009)

Thanks Urb!!!! That does help me in my decisions. 

http://img.techpowerup.org/090617/Capture082.jpg

Looks like our rigs are rivals! Your 4770 would outbench the GTS in benches aimed toward newer gaming. But from the looks of things we are performing very similar.


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## Urbklr (Aug 28, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> Thanks Urb!!!! That does help me in my decisions.
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/090617/Capture082.jpg
> 
> Looks like our rigs are rivals! Your 4770 would outbench the GTS in benches aimed toward newer gaming. But from the looks of things we are performing very similar.



And I'm 150MHz behind you


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 28, 2009)

Too true man too true. Guess me n you will have to create a bench off thread eh? xD


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## Urbklr (Aug 28, 2009)

Whats wrong with this thread?


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 28, 2009)

Devoted strictly to your benches and overclocking help for others.


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## Cheeseball (Aug 28, 2009)

Would I be able to overclock higher if I moved from DDR2-800 (833MHz, 5-5-5-15-23-2T-1.8v) to DDR2-1066 RAM? My sticks are Team Elite DDR2-800s, planning to go to Team Xtreem Dark DDR2-1066s at CL5.


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## Urbklr (Aug 28, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> Would I be able to overclock higher if I moved from DDR2-800 (833MHz, 5-5-5-15-23-2T-1.8v) to DDR2-1066 RAM? My sticks are Team Elite DDR2-800s, planning to go to Team Xtreem Dark DDR2-1066s at CL5.



Not necessarily, just try bringing the voltage up to 2-2.1v and see if they go farther.


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## kenkickr (Aug 28, 2009)

After I purchase my 965(Its sitting waiting for me) I should pickup a 245 that came in the other day just to help this thread along...then SELL IT.


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## Urbklr (Aug 28, 2009)

Do it, these things are kind of fun lol. 3.8GHz right now with very little tweaking, just a voltage bump. I haven't tried it at 1.4v yet, just 1.45v.


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## WSP (Aug 28, 2009)

Velvet Wafer said:


> isnt that a little high for 45nm?
> 
> even 65nm shouldnt get more than about 1.6 even with water...
> 
> i say: these arent k8or k9. try to reach the clocks with low voltage... if its not enough, it will simply restart. bsod´s and freezes are mostly related to overheating of the processor, or more badly, the pwm area. keep your mosfets cooled.


amd 45nm handles voltage way different than amd k8/k9,even intel's 45nm.

For example:my PII X2 550 run@4ghz with 1,525-1,55v on air (thermalright ultra 120extreme,dual fans) and it never goes beyond 45c at full load (F@H smp).it idling @28-32c.

I even run it@1,6v just to see how's the temp,and it still maintains below 55c load.but do not try that lol

and yes,the mosfet area should be cooled with active cooling when Oc with >1,45v.that's why I never use prime95 or orthos for stability test.i simply use it to folding or gaming/benchmarking


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

I found out that the Athlon II series can really only handle up to DDR2-800/DDR3-1066 (which is in it's official specifications). I just got a pair of G.Skill Tridents that run stock at DDR2-1066 (1066MHz) @ 5-5-5-15-48-25, 1.8v, EPP. Sexy coolers, BTW.

Using the stock CPU speed of 2.8GHz, I tried forcing the RAM to run at 1066MHz instead of 800MHz (which I guess the CPU forces the BIOS to set it to), and the system will not POST at all. It's only when I overclock the CPU that I can get the RAM higher than 800MHz, but obviously it'll still be running slower than it's rated timings. I guess I may have to move on to a Phenom II which natively supports DDR2-1066.

*EDIT*: I just noticed that Urbklr and I may have the same G.Skills. Are you forcing them to run at 800, then clocking the CPU to compensate?


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## ASRockIQ (Aug 29, 2009)

^It's best to OC the CPU first then the RAM.


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## El_Mayo (Aug 29, 2009)

erm.. sidetracking question:
i'm getting one of these soon (as opposed to Phenom II 550)
are they still.. you know.. capable in gaming and how long do you think they can go before needing an upgrade?


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 29, 2009)

Very capable in gaming El Mayo.  Also, it depends on your multitasking, if you multitask heavily than you game you may want to look at something else.


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## El_Mayo (Aug 29, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> Very capable in gaming El Mayo.  Also, it depends on your multitasking, if you multitask heavily than you game you may want to look at something else.



no.. no multitasking
im using.. turion X2 2.0ghz
no slowdown whatsoever


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

That's... uh.. mobile chip?

Are you asking for a performance comparison? The Turion X2 2.0GHz will be drastically left behind compared to the Athlon II X2 240.

I forced my RAM to run at DDR2-800 @ 866MHz with 1.8v, then the BIOS automatically set the timings to 5-5-5-13-20-2T. It shouldn't be stressful at all considering that it's underclocked from stock 1066MHz. However, now I'm able to run at 3.6GHz at stock voltage. HT Link is forced to 2,080MHz with HT Frequency at 2,600MHz, automatically set by the BIOS.


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## El_Mayo (Aug 29, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> That's... uh.. mobile chip?



my point exactly
i don't really need that much processing power


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

If anything, that's the equivalent of a Athlon 64 X2 3600+ which is at 1.9GHz. It's okay for games, but you'll notice the bottleneck.

Here's my SciMark @ both single (2GB) and dual-channel (4GB) as well:


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 29, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> It's okay for games, but you'll notice the bottleneck.



What bottleneck? The processor would be fine, the word bottleneck sounds scary but when you look at it. A faster GPU is more important in a gamer's rig. Any modern dual @ 3Ghz will not bottleneck unless you put like a GTX295 with a 3800 X2, but then again you wouldn't notice it as much @ 1680x1050 and higher.


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

Yeah, but his Turion X2 is at 2.0GHz and a 3600+ is at 1.9GHz. It is obvious in many modern (2006+) games that those CPUs will cause a slight slowdown, especially during loading screens and/or in games with dynamically loading objects.

I know bottleneck sounds very INTENSE and DRASTIC, but it's not. It is noticeable though, depending on how low your CPU speed is.

Try lowering down the multiplier and compare the different CPU speeds, you will definiately notice a difference between, say 2.0GHz and 2.5GHz. I did when I moved from a 3600+ (1.9GHz) to a 5000+ Black Edition (2.6GHz), then I noticed it again when I upped it to 3.0GHz, and then I noticed it even more when I moved to this Athlon II X2 (3.6GHz).


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 29, 2009)

Didn't notice much difference at all between an e1200, e5200 and e8500. Gamed with all 3 paired with a 3870. 

EDIT:

Oh and hence why I said modern dual @ 3Ghz.


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

Oh, well, you see what I mean then. Coming from 2.6GHz+ and up, yeah, it's not noticeable past that in most games, but coming from 2.0GHz? You're gonna see it.

Shit, I spoke too soon. 3.6GHz isn't stable for me. I just tried playing GTA4, and 15 minutes in the game I got a BSOD about my second processor not being able to send a signal in a certain interval.  Back to 3.5GHz again.


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## Urbklr (Aug 29, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> I found out that the Athlon II series can really only handle up to DDR2-800/DDR3-1066 (which is in it's official specifications). I just got a pair of G.Skill Tridents that run stock at DDR2-1066 (1066MHz) @ 5-5-5-15-48-25, 1.8v, EPP. Sexy coolers, BTW.
> 
> Using the stock CPU speed of 2.8GHz, I tried forcing the RAM to run at 1066MHz instead of 800MHz (which I guess the CPU forces the BIOS to set it to), and the system will not POST at all. It's only when I overclock the CPU that I can get the RAM higher than 800MHz, but obviously it'll still be running slower than it's rated timings. I guess I may have to move on to a Phenom II which natively supports DDR2-1066.
> 
> *EDIT*: I just noticed that Urbklr and I may have the same G.Skills. Are you forcing them to run at 800, then clocking the CPU to compensate?



Right now I am just trying to find the cpu's max while keeping my RAM near its stock spec(1000MHz CL5-5-5-15). Once I figure the CPU out then I will tinker with the RAM and Northbridge and stuff

As for Gaming on the AII 240, at 3.8GHz I noticed no difference between it and my old PII 920 at 3.6GHz. Awesome for $67. I also do audio recording and some multitasking and it has been rock solid, not quad like, but very good.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2009)

Very nice chips from what I've seen, going to be getting a 250 once I get a little more funds built up.  I kind of wish AMD would have made a quad-core version also.


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## Urbklr (Aug 29, 2009)

AMD is releasing an X4 version of Athlon II


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

Yup, they will be the second revision of the Athlon II X4. The first revisions were Phenom IIs with the L3 disabled.

I tried 3.6GHz @ 1.45v, after 30 minutes of GTA4, it froze up. No BSOD, but the system just froze up with stuttering audio. Back to 3.5GHz.


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## WSP (Aug 29, 2009)

Are you sure that it was your cpu and not ram?
1.45v should be enough for at least 3.8ghz

Amd's IMC handles ram differently than intel.and one thing I learn while playing around with amd AII & PII:

the IMC goes like this:
High end quad:best
mainstream quad:2nd best
tri-core:3rd
high-end dual:4th
mainstream dual:5th
low-end dual:6th

it may not always like that,but generally it goes like that.
You may found a mainstream dual which its IMC can handles 2000mhz 7-7-7-20-20 1T@1.9-2.0v though


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## WSP (Aug 29, 2009)

And speaking of AII X4,it already out:X4 630.looks like the first batch (or maybe a whole line-up) is using a salvaged deneb core.just like PII X2 550,X3 710,X3 720.some were able to unlock the locked L3 cache with ACC


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## Cheeseball (Aug 29, 2009)

I should mention that I'm using the stock HSF with this Athlon II of mine.  I'll switch over to the Vendetta later. Another dude on XS said the stock HSF gets the same results as I do, but when he uses his custom HSF (I forgot what it is), he can make 3.8GHz stable.


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## newtekie1 (Aug 29, 2009)

Cheeseball said:


> Yup, they will be the second revision of the Athlon II X4. The first revisions were Phenom IIs with the L3 disabled.
> 
> I tried 3.6GHz @ 1.45v, after 30 minutes of GTA4, it froze up. No BSOD, but the system just froze up with stuttering audio. Back to 3.5GHz.



Not disabled, removed.  They also had 2 cores removed, meaning they aren't quad-core CPUs cut down, they are actually dual-core processors.  The L2 cache per core has been doubled to make up for the missing L3.


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## Flyordie (Aug 29, 2009)

JrRacinFan said:


> What bottleneck? The processor would be fine, the word bottleneck sounds scary but when you look at it. A faster GPU is more important in a gamer's rig. Any modern dual @ 3Ghz will not bottleneck unless you put like a GTX295 with a 3800 X2, but then again you wouldn't notice it as much @ 1680x1050 and higher.



I learned something from my HD2600XT...
X2 3800+ bottlenecks it a little bit..
Going to a Phenom II X4 920 ramped my FPS up about 10-15% across the board.


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## JrRacinFan (Aug 30, 2009)

Flyordie said:


> Going to a Phenom II X4 920 ramped my FPS up about 10-15% across the board.



What res and what games?


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## mdm-adph (Aug 31, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Not disabled, removed.  They also had 2 cores removed, meaning they aren't quad-core CPUs cut down, they are actually dual-core processors.  The L2 cache per core has been doubled to make up for the missing L3.



Hey, been meaning to ask you -- what kinda 3dmark scores are you getting on your rig3, the one with the X2 4200 and the 4890?  Have an older computer that I'd like to upgrade with just a new video card, wondering if it's worth the time.


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## rizla1 (Oct 18, 2009)

i have a question, i just got my athlon 240 and started overclocking highest i can get is 3.5 stockvolts with the ram at 1/1 @250mhz witch leaves it alot slower than 3.4 with ram @780mhz , i know my ram is the problem (generic 667) but it is still good does around 800. if the bus speed is 250 will my ram try run at 1000mhz?


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## Urbklr (Oct 18, 2009)

Yes, it would be running at 1000MHz. Bring your RAM down and bring your CPU voltage up and you should see 3.6GHz pretty easy


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Oct 18, 2009)

newtekie1 said:


> Not disabled, removed.  They also had 2 cores removed, meaning they aren't quad-core CPUs cut down, they are actually dual-core processors.  The L2 cache per core has been doubled to make up for the missing L3.



How does an athlon II X4 work with 2 cores, unless I misread your whole post


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## Urbklr (Oct 18, 2009)

InTeL-iNsIdE said:


> How does an athlon II X4 work with 2 cores, unless I misread your whole post



This whole thread is based on Athlon II X2, not X4


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## InTeL-iNsIdE (Oct 18, 2009)

Urbklr said:


> This whole thread is based on Athlon II X2, not X4



Please read the post by newtekie1 I was quoting 

He was replying to a post by Cheeseball regarding *Athlon II X4's*


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## rizla1 (Oct 19, 2009)

Urbklr said:


> Yes, it would be running at 1000MHz. Bring your RAM down and bring your CPU voltage up and you should see 3.6GHz pretty easy



i already got 3.6 kinda  but unstable  il try some more . and mite get a set of good  faster ram and try for over 4ghz. these run so cool on this stock cooler even when you add more volts.


i got it up to 3.6 as u can see my gtx260 is underclocked and is also undervolted [ 26-30 watts idle i think] and for gaming i think 0.95-1v as my psu only has 33a on the 12v now i have no trouble with that.




gona try get more


i tried higher but when windows loads the screen is black and nothing happens so i assume that the gpu doenst have enough power to display anything with it overclocked that high . but im happy with 3.4ghz 1.4v witch is a bit high but temps are low 25c idle with 1 crappy diy case fan off an old psu i fried.


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