Athlon 64 3000+ S754 (Wondering if I made the wrong choice)

[Dax_Brandy]

Hi,

I recently bought an athlon64 3000+ S754 and MSI K8n Neo V2.0. For a long time since 2003, this is my 2nd upgrade for a processor. but reading most of the reviews around about this proc, i felt like i made the wrong choice of processors. Well, i should have chosen the S939 version but it's a bit expensive based on budget.

So, i have to live with this setup for the next 12 months, sigh. anyway, i want some thoughts from you guys who are using the same processor. how can i make the most out of it? is it overclockable? Is it unlock or lock? I can't seem to find any CPU ratio(multiplier) or FSB/DRAM option in the BIOS (maybe motherboard limitation)..

setup:

a64 3000+ s754 (10x200)
MSI k8n neo v2.0 (bios version 5.3 - official)
2x512mb DDR400
ATI Radeon 9550EE (432/554) (catalyst 6.2 softmod version)
80GB Seagate SATA
40GB Maxtor 7200rpm
Windows XP Pro SP2

3dmark2003 score: 3790 (is this bad?)

I want to feel at peace or go crazy and buy the S939 version and a new mobo.

thanks.

dax

[RamonGTP]

Well it is one of the slowest Athlon64's out there and S939 is definatly the way to go. However, its not a "bad" processor at all. Much of it depends on what you upgraded from. I've got two A64 systems. One based on the very same processor you have (s754 3000+) and the other a s939 3700+

I have both of them overclocked. The 3000+ is running at 2.4GHz and my 3700+ is running at 2.5GHz, but in addition to a 100MHz faster clock speed it also has a dual channel memory controller and a full 1MB of cache versus 512K for the 3000+ Obviously the 3700+ is a more powerfull CPU, but to be honest with you, there is nothing I can do on the 3700+ system that I cannot do just as well as on my 3000+ rig. The limiting factor for my 754 rig is that its using a 9800Pro videco card versus a much more powerfull x800xl. So gaming is better on the faster rig, but thats nearly 100% due to the video card and not CPU power.

The multiplier is unlcoked downward only. You can decrease it but not increase it. Your board will obviously have to have a multiplier option for you to do that. My s754 board is a ver budget ECS board which does not have multiplier adjustment options. All my overclocking was done by increaseing the reference clock to 240MHz and chaning my memory divider to run at 166MHz. Combined with a 240 reference clock, it brought my memory clock back up to 200MHz. I also had lower my HTT/LDT multiplier to 3 instead of 4.

Would a S939 have been better? Yes. Is what you got bad? No, I don't believe so, especially if you can get a pretty decent overclock as I was able to. A lot depends on what you're going to do. If gaming for example, it would make no difference if you got this 3000+ or a FX60 becuase both CPU's are going to be bottlnecekd by that 9550. So if you're goal is gaming, your money would be MUCH better spent on a better video card rather than spending more money on a 939 system.

[Dax_Brandy]

Thanks for the insight. Well, my rig is mostly used for gaming and some video capture/conversion. Talking about overclocking, this may require me to change the mobo. but as for the gaming performance, I believe the video card has more to do than the processor power. currently at this setup, the 3dmark score is a bit low at 3790. however, i can still play most of the games i have at a rather high video setting.

[RamonGTP]

You may not need a new board really. Mine doens't have any multiplier adjustments but I was still able to get a 400MHz overclock just by raising the external reference clock. Even if you had a borad that did let you adjust the multi, you'd only be able to lower it, not raise it.

[ZeR0]

Your processor can run any game out there fine. If you're getting slowdown and you're sure it's hardware specific seek upgrades in the RAM/Video department.

Eventually you will want to make the push to 939 because 1) PCI-e, 2) SLI, 3) All new AMD64s are on 939.

However; with AMD AM(?) coming out god knows what they'll use lol. It's a never ending, "OMFG I can't believe I JUST missed that" cycle with computers.

[Dax_Brandy]

Hey, i've got good news.

referring to RamonGTP's post, i was able to overclock the processor to 2.3Ghz by lowering DRAM fsb to 166. at 230 proc FSB, the dram frequency is at 191Mhz. yields a somewhat stable (no lockups/freeze) performance but needs to stress-test using prime95. i will change the stock HSF also for some more overclock.

current bios temp at 2.3 Ghz is 48C.

@ramon, thanks for the good information. btw, how about Vcore and DRAM Voltage? at which setting should i bump up those values? thanks.

[#43 fan]

I wouldn't push the voltage too far, definately not above a 1V increase. Often, you won't need a large voltage increase to make your CPU stable. Also note that raising the voltage increases heat a lot and voids your warranty.

[RamonGTP]

1 volt or .1 volt? A 1 volt increase will fry the processor in very short order.

My 3000+ @ 2.4GHz is running at 1.55vcore. I don't remember what the stock vcore is though.

[Dax_Brandy]

ok.

stock vcore is 1.4V. i currently set it to 1.55V in BIOS but CPUz sees it as ~1.45V. strange.

[RamonGTP]

Well you don't necessarily have to set it at 1.55 like I did... Have you tried lower values? What type of cooling are you using?

[Dax_Brandy]

it's the next value after the cpu vcore default value. there is no small increment values to set. currently, it's still using the the stock cooler. i'll scout for good hsf for this.

[#43 fan]

Some good HSF's are the Zalman CNPS9500, Gigabyte G-Power, and Thermalright XP120 [if it will fit] and XP-90.
I meant 1 Volt. Heck, even .5 volts might fry it.

[RamonGTP]

1 volt is excessive. Going from 1.5 to 2.5 is almsot gauranteed to fry it within a very short amount of time.

[Dax_Brandy]

im getting the xp-90rt. this comes with the 92mm fan. right now, im running it at 2.4Ghz. tried 2.6Ghz but already freezing. maybe it's at it's max now.

[#43 fan]

Perhaps it is. AMD CPU's don't have a lot of overhead. Although you try pushing the CPU farther by increasing the voltage, I wouldn't, but that's your decision.

[RamonGTP]

A 20% overclock is not bad at all.

[#43 fan]

Better than what my Athlon XP can get.

[Dax_Brandy]

my previous processor was an athlon xp 1700+ t-bred B. i overclocked it to 1.9Ghz (166x11.5).... vcore at 1.65 (default is 1.6)

20% is not bad.

[Dax_Brandy]

current settings:

processor: 2.5GHz (250 x 10)
memory fsb: DDR266
vcore: 1.55
AGP voltage: 1.55
DRAM voltage: default

HSF: Thermalright XP-90RT

[RamonGTP]

Only problem with that setup is that your memory speed is now only running at DDR333 speeds. You're probably better off with 2.4GHz (240x10) using a memory divider set to DDR333 which will give you an end result of DDR400.