Hey i just bought a AMD X2 4200+ aswell as Gigabyte K8N-SLI mobo and wondering how far i can OC this without damaging it. Thanks if you can help.

2.6 Gig safely if you up your CPU frequency to 236MHz, drop your HT Multiplier by 1, change RAM divider to 333MHz and up your CPU voltage slightly.

Well actualy no one can guarante you that you wont damage anything. In all probability you wont.
I would say it is very unlikely that you will damage your CPU from overclocking, only if you push its voltage too much (that would be beyond 1.65v according to some and 1.5v according to others).
I think the mobo is in most cases the first to go but that usualy happens if it's a bad mobo anyway and they are using cheap components on those things so you never know.
I suggest you lower your HTT to 4x and push the FSB. You will probably hit around 2,4 - 2,7GHz it all depends on the proc.
After you have pushed it as far as it goes and you can boot up windows run prime95 on both cores and see if it's stable. (use small FFTs 8kb to test proc and 1024kb and beyond to test memory).
If it fails prime95 then push up the voltage in 0.025 increments or even 0.05 to try to stabilize it.
Then it's all a question of how comfortable you are running the thing at what voltage and what freq.
There comes a time when you push the freq. just a bit and you need to push the voltage too much to stabilize and it's the part thats not worth it.

I have x2 3800 at 2,45 and 1.4v. At 2,5 it needs 1,45v and I could probably push it to 2,6 but I would need much more voltage about 1.55 and thats a bit much for me. I dont need the extra 100-150 Mhz when my comp is running 24/7.

Also use dividers to stay within spec of your memory. Try to find the max of your CPU and memory then balance.

Also, lest I forget; as you raise your CPU voltage heat goes up as well. If you’re planning on OCing you might think about upgrading your CPU heatsink/fan if you’re running a stock one now (however I have to say the one that came with my X2 +4400 I just received is a very nice 4 heat-pipe unit).

Search the internet. There is more than enough information for you. You do not need to post this quesiton. There also some stickies that you should read before posting.

What do i do with the HT multiplier as it says automatic or something in BIOS

Auto is a setting, you change it to manual and select X5, X4, or even X3 if you decide to drop your CPU multiplier and raise the CPU freq higher.

I upped the CPU frequency and put the HT multiplier at 4x and the maximum frequency i can get 212mhz, thats only another 12mhz. What else do i need to change so i can get it higher?

Another thing is there is a setting called K8 CPU clock which is set on Automatic, but it has all these numbers such as 3x, 4x, 5x, 6x all the way to 11x do i need to adjust any of them.

The MOST IMPORTANT thing to remember about 64's is that all system timings’ are derived from the CPU clock, i.e. CPU, HTT Bus, Memory, even PCI/e.

And all those other system resources have some type of Multiplier/Divider associated with them that takes the original 200MHz CPU frequency (The Master clock if you will) and makes it;

2200MHz CPU (200MHz X 11 CPU Mult) or

2000MHz in the case of the HTT Bus (its really 200MHz X 5 HTT Mult =1000MHz, the HTT uses one clock cycle to both transmit and receive), or

400MHz in the case of Memory (its really 200MHz, but DDR uses both the leading and trailing edges of a single clock pulse to operate at twice the speed). In the case of memory a divider is used to generate the memory clock, ie.
1:1 = 200MHz(400MHz theoretically),
5:6 = 117MHz(333MHZ, that’s 200 X 0.83)...

The other buses are usually locked in Nf4 MB's, but don’t have to be, so make sure your bio's is set to LOCK the PCI Bus.

So when you raise the CPU master frequency, you also raise the HTT and Memory as well. So you need lower the Memory frequency as well as the HTT. To do that you need to be familiar with your Bios setting in-regards to Memory, which can be quite confusing.
I would recommend looking for a sticky in the forum that talk about memory timing and what they do.
My guess is you will have a setting that allows you to select AUTO or MANUAL memory timing and either allow setting a specific memory timing i.e. 400, 333, 266… or it will be a divider as indicated above. You need to set it to 333MHz or 5:6.

yeah i need some help too. im also very new at this. how much will i be able to overclock with stock cooling? as soon as i get a chance i am going to buy a better heatsink/fan...but for now whats the best i can overclock my 4200+.

am2 4200+ windsor 2.2ghz
ECS ka3-mvp v1.0a
2x512 geil ddr 800
antec sonata II case (450w)

also got an extra fan: thermaltake smart fan II 120mm 2ball case cooling

thanks

I'm new at OCing also and I've been looking for OC info for several days, but there is very little actually about OCing AM2 - lots of 939, C2D, etc. Lot of it spills over, but it would be nice to find some smart guy who puts together an AM2 guide.

I just put together the following:
x2 4200
Epox MF570SLI
1MB Kingston HyperX 5400 (667)
Sapphire x1800GTO2 (yeah I know ATI in SLI board??? - don't care about SLI, just like epox)


Using the stock HSF (which is light years ahead of the ones that came with my old Socket A CPUs years ago)

I'm running prime stable at 2.5 and never go above 36' C even after running prime 12 hrs or 4-5 hrs of COD2. The only change I've made so far is bumping the FSB to about 228 (leaving the multiplier at 11x). No voltage changes yet, because I really don't know what I'm doing (hence the search for info)

I had it up to ~2.7 at like FSB 250x11 (or close to that), but the memory keeps crashing the system (I really wish I would have paid the $$$ for the Corsair XMS 800 - maybe in a couple months)

I'm looking for the sticky that goes into memory settings - I know I saw one, just can't remember if it was in this forum or another. If anyone knows where to look I'd appreciate the link.

Okay, so I have been reading and reading and reading about OC'ing, specifically AM2.

I understand the multiplier and the FSB, and how to change that. How does that affect the RAM. I have a MOBO that does not allow me to change the RAM Voltage, how badly will this hurt me?

My MOBO is in my profile, and I have a 3000+! Is my goal of 2.2 without uping the voltage possible? In many threads, I have read about people getting the 3000+ to 2.7 on the stock cooling, and 2.9 with freezer pro. I guess the main thing I am confused about is RAM.

My FSB is set to 200Mhz now, not sure about my multiplier, haven't checked it. How much would I need to bump the FSB to get 2.2Ghz?

I'm new to this, also. I've been using the AIBoost feature on my Asus board which is great for beginners like myself.
I'm using the stock cooling on mine and have it at ~2.4GHz and it is 28C when it is idle. I had it at 2.6GHz for a while but it was getting around 45C-50C with Prime95, a little too high for me.

Okay, after some more reading, I think I understand all this.

I'm waiting on a new SATA cable right now (I broke the other one... don't ask), but as soon as I can get my OSs (Ubuntu and XP) loaded, I am going to play around with this. I will let you guys know when I blow something up!!

Hopefully I can reach my goals without uping the voltage