Overclocking the K6-III+ 400ATZ

Discussion relating to Socket 7 hardware.

Applying 2.1Volts to a 1.6Volt K6-III+ 400ATX is a:

Bad Idea - You were ripped off on Ebay badly dude!!
2
29%
Phhhfffttttt!!! No pain no gain! The CPU can take it man!!!
5
71%
 
Total votes: 7

Jim
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Post by Jim »

The original problem was so long ago that I cannot be specific about it. Recently w/ SP 2 I have had problems accessing my E-Mail inbox, and the occasional diseased avian operation. If you are using a heatsink fan combo, what size is it? The ones I prefer have a heatsink 1 5/16 " tall and are 2 5/16" square, w/ fins spaced about 3/32" apart. Stick a fan on top of that and temps can go as low as the high 20s C; as I write this Sandra is reporting 30 C.

You can get sinks that will fit socket 7 boards, that have fins about 1/32 apart. These will initially give better results because of increased surface area; but they are dust traps extraodinaire; and will either soon become worse than the ones I use, or alternately require frequent cleaning.
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

Memory is funny, @ 50 C I now remember freezing. (fan failure).
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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halfpennies
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Post by halfpennies »

I bought one off Ebay and replaced the K6-2 380 in my Compaq with no problems so far . Runs at 600MHZ (2.1 volts) with no problems. Motherboard is set for 100MHZ bus and 4.0 multiplier. I use central tweaking unit for higher speeds. I don't use this computer much so I don't know the long term effects of the 2.1 volts yet. The cpu should have sufficient cooling with the hsf and case fan mounted next to it (the stock K6-2 was heat sink only).

Image
Last edited by halfpennies on Thu Feb 02, 2006 3:27 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Compaq Presario 7360
K6III+ 400 ATZ @ 500MHZ/2.1 volts /128 RAM

Compaq Presario 5184
K62 500MHZ/64 RAM

PC Chips M599LMR
K62+ 533MHZ/160 RAM
sylvan2626
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Post by sylvan2626 »

My 400ATZ is currently running at 1.8V core voltage, 4.5 multiplier, and 124MHz FSB.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

Very nice! What temp is it at like that?
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
sylvan2626
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Post by sylvan2626 »

With light to medium CPU activity, temp runs upper 30s to low 40s C. Heavier CPU usage, and temps creep up into mid to high 40s C. (Still have not replaced my small HSF, Jim. :roll: )

An interesting note here:
While I can run at 124MHz FSB, I cannot use the motherboard's L2 (now L3) cache. However, if I run at 112MHz FSB (core voltage of 1.7 or 1.8V), then the board's L2/L3 cache works! I have not yet figured out how to sort out which will be the best.
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Post by Jim »

You should replace it; (the fan heatsink combo that is). Though maybe I am just a nut about cooling. Which board are you using to get those results? They are pretty good in my opinion. As for the sorting out, see Don Pedro's posts about "OSMark" in the software and tweaking section as responses to my post "Overclocking the DFI K6BV3+/66"

NOTE: from my experience, you will get best results @ 5.5x112 if you can swing it. The Everest & Sandra numbers will peak w/ that setup, though I have never tried 124 so I can't say what that does to things. But for some reason memory write works best w/ the 5.5 multiplier, that much I know.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
sylvan2626
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Post by sylvan2626 »

I am using an EPoX EP-MVP3G2 board with a BIOS picked up from the EPoX German site. BIOS dated August, 2001. I am an EPoX fan, especially for the SS7 boards, and have a growing collection of EP-MVP3C2, EP-MVP3G-M, EP-MVP3G2, and EP-MVP3G5 boards.

The 5.5 x 112MHz setting is where I would like to get to, but something keeps tripping me up on that road. It may be some of my other installed software - programs like InCD have given me problems when overeclocking the K6-III+ CPUs.

When you (and others) "take a measurement" using Everest and/or Sandra, are you looking at the Memory Bandwidth only or looking at the Cache and Memory Benchmark?

Are you killing off other running programs before taking the measurements?

My Everest Memory Read/Memory Write is 303MB/s and 122MB/s with no programs killed. The Sandra Memory Bandwidth is 182/183 and the Cache & Memory Bandwidth is 642/25.3.
Jim
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Post by Jim »

K, 1 thing at a time. Epox are good boards so that explains that. As for what is tripping you up @ 5.5x112, could be voltage. Keep in mind that is 616 MHz. as for Killing other programs to run Everest & Sandra tests, I suppose you should, but I don't bother. It isn't like I have a DVD playing in the background or anything; but I leave my taskbar icons open, and sometimes have a window or 2 open as well.

As far as the Sandra "Cache & Memory Bandwidth" test is concerned, I must be missing something; because all I get is a graph, which invariably shows my machine to be terrible. Worse than the comparable machines that I select from the comparisons available. The only way I can get meaningful numbers out of that test, is to open the report and add up the numbers of MB of various sized blocks processed to get a total number of MB processed throughout the test.

As far as numbers for the other tests go, I have posted them in my "K6-3+ 450ACZ under / over clocking Results" post. The best I have gotten so far was on an ASUS P5A-B Rev104 @ 5.5x105 Everest Memory Read = 340 Memory Write = 165 Sandra Memory = 224/220

I edit that post from time to time to put in new results, so just because there is no new post there, doesn't mean there is no new data.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
sylvan2626
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Post by sylvan2626 »

Quote from Jim: "As far as the Sandra "Cache & Memory Bandwidth" test is concerned, I must be missing something; because all I get is a graph,..."

Could be a difference in our versions of Sandra - I'm using 2005 Lite and I think I remember you are using an earlier version.
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Stedman5040
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Post by Stedman5040 »

I have just got one of these cpu's off e-bay with a GA-5AX M/B for a reasonable price. I just tried it out in an AX59PRO board at 1.8V and get 550MHz no problems. The hardware monitor onboard reports 21C when idling and doing mundane surfing. I'll run something like cpuburn tonight to torch it and see what I get. This is stupidly low and makes more sense if I employ the ASUS P5A policy of using a +8C offset. This would then set the temp to 29C. I am using a big copper cooler on the cpu. I am sure that if I dump this cpu into the P5A board I have that the operational temp will be around 36C under the same conditions (except voltage is set to minimum on the board of 2.0V). I find with my K6+ cpu's I can go to 46C on the Asus board before I start getting errors.

I have to use the +8C offset within MBM to record the same temp as recorded by the bios in the P5A board when using a K6 cpu. However in Sandra if I run a normal K6-III cpu it records the same temp as the P5A bios (ie Sandra records the offset and it also tells you it has implemented the offset). When I run a K6-III+ or a K6-2+ in Sandra no offset is reported and the temperature reported by Sandra is 8C lower than recorded in the P5A bios.

This of course means that the temperature stability of any cpu on a board is probably dependant upon the of reporting the temperature. So on some boards probably 38C maybe top whack for the K6 before faults occur.

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tazwegion
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Post by tazwegion »

Weird... not having ever owned a K6III+ a jump in Vcore from 1.6 -> 2.1 seems quite 'insane in the membrane' more than 0.3v added to my K62's ended their reign of terror (@600Mhz) quite prematurely :(
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Jim
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Post by Jim »

Yeah, but K6-3+s (supposedly all from the same wafer) come with a range of of permissable voltage that goes from 1.6v. up to 2.0v depending upon type. Given that they are all made to the same specifications, they should all be able to take the same voltage, which is why it is less dangerous than it sounds to push a 1.6v processor up to 2.1v.
Superpuppy 3
K6-3+ 450 ACZ (6x100)
DFI K6BV3+/66 Rev B2 (2 Meg) w/ 2x28mm Chipset Fans
2x256 Meg PC 133 Hynix SDRAM
1x 20G Maxtor (7200)
2x 80G Maxtor (7200) Ducted w/ 2x486 Fans Mount
52/24/52/16 LG CDR/RW/DVD
8/4/3/12/24/16/32 LG Super Multi
ATI 9000 aiw Radeon AGP
SB Audigy 1 MP3 Sound
CMD 649 IDE Controller
NEC USB 2 Card
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halfpennies
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Post by halfpennies »

Put my K6-III+ 400 ATZ in a Compaq 7360 and works great. Downed the voltage from 2.2 to 2.1 and run it continuously at 500 MHZ (speed of original K6-2). Runs very fast with no problems.

Image
Overclocks to 600 MHZ no problem.
Image
L3 cache shows up in the Sysid program but not in CPU-Z.
Compaq Presario 7360
K6III+ 400 ATZ @ 500MHZ/2.1 volts /128 RAM

Compaq Presario 5184
K62 500MHZ/64 RAM

PC Chips M599LMR
K62+ 533MHZ/160 RAM
sylvan2626
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Post by sylvan2626 »

A quick update for my 400 ATZ...

Still using the MVP3G2 mobo and a mismash of 3 x 128MB RAM modules, but did finally put a larger HSF on the CPU. Never could get the CPU/mobo/RAM to run stably at 600MHz (or above) using W2KPro. Got a "little" miffed with Microsoft and all the continuing virus/worm patches. I loaded SuSE 9.3 on an old HDD and SuSE 10.0 on another old HDD I had setting around (still have W2KPro on my HDD, just installed the SuSE versions on older and smaller separate HDDs). Installs done in the last 10 days.

Strange thing is that the PC seems to "operate" faster at the same (5.5 x 100MHz) settings that I was using in W2KPro. Also, the CPU will now run at 600MHz. Still may be too early to say for sure, but my PERCEPTION is that my PC is running faster at its 550MHz setting (screen changes, software loadings, etc.). Will be looking at the future 600MHz system stability - and may try a higher FSB just for kicks!

Now if I can find software utilities that are Linux-friendly! I am just starting the Linux learning curve, but interesting so far.
EP-MVP3G2 Rev 1.0 (8/6/01 BIOS) -- K6-2+ 550ACZ @ 618MHz (103MHz FSB) 640MB PC100

EP-MVP3G5 Rev1.4 (8/6/01 BIOS) -- K6III+ 500ANZ @ various MHz
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