The best programs for overclocking an AMD processor. The best programs for overclocking an AMD processor Basic parameters of motherboards

Overclocking Athlon II X2 250 3.0 GHz.

Having failed to unlock disabled cores on the dual-core Phenom II X2 550BE, I tried to overclock it. The result was not the most impressive. Phenom X2, with a supply voltage of 1.425V, was able to show a very mediocre overclocking potential of 3.625 GHz. After carrying out the necessary tests, the processor was returned to the company that provided it, and I was offered a choice of other equipment to take for review. Since I still had the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P motherboard at home, which was used in previous testing, I first of all inquired about the recently announced dual-core 45 nm AMD Athlon II X2 processors. All the processors of this X2 240/245/250 series were already in stock and, without any problems, I was given the oldest representative of this family, the Athlon II X2 250, that I requested.

Photos of the Athlon II X2 250 processor

The Athlon II X2 250 processor operates at 3 GHz (clock frequency 200 MHz * 15x multiplier). The CPU is produced using 45 nm technology. L1 cache size - 128KB, L2 - 1MB. Codename - Regor. Design - Socket AM3, compatible with AM2+ and in some cases with AM2, with proper support from manufacturers motherboards. Memory controller - DDR2-533/667/800/1066+ and DDR3-800/1066/1333/1600+. The area of ​​the dual-core processor die is 117 mm2. The number of transistors is ~ 234 million. TDP is 65W.

Having looked at the previous characteristics of AMD Athlon processors, I discovered the single-frequency brother of the twin Athlon II X2 250. It is the Athlon X2 6000+ processor, which was produced using 90 nm technology and was based on a dual-core Windsor crystal. The area of ​​this crystal was 230 mm2 (1.97 times larger than Regor), the number of transistors was ~ 227 million (7 million less), and the TDP approached 125W (1.92 times higher). In my case, it turned out to be impossible to compare them with each other. The basis of the system, the Gigabyte MA770T-UD3P motherboard, can only work with Socket processors AM3, while the Athlon X2 6000+ has an AM2 design:(

To briefly describe these two CPUs, AMD has released a copy of its two-year-old processor, which differs from its predecessor only in support for DDR3 memory, lower cost and less fiery temperament. In all other respects, this is the same well-known K8 architecture to all of us, which has changed little by changing the name to K10.5, but with support for some newfangled bells and whistles. Therefore, in terms of productivity, there was no strong breakthrough. On same frequencies, due to some architectural improvements, a processor based on the Regor core turns out to be faster than Windsor by 0.5-3%, to which, depending on the type of DDR2/DDR3 memory used, another couple of percent can be added if high-frequency DDR3-1600+ is used .

But the most important “advantage” of the new 45 nm Athlon II processors should have been their overclocking potential. If you take a short excursion into history, the following picture will emerge. The Athlon X2 CPU based on a 90 nm Windsor chip using air cooling was able to work stably at frequencies of 3.3-3.4 GHz, while the most productive model of the X2 6400+ processor operated at a frequency of 3.2 GHz. This was a clear indication that Windsor's full frequency potential had been exhausted. The 65 nm process technology that replaced 90 nm also led to a core update. A dual-core representative of the K8 architecture - Brisbane (65 nm, two cores, L1/L2 - 128/512KB) entered the ring. But he also could not conquer higher frequencies than Windsor. The 65 nm Athlon X2 6000+ Brisbane operated at a frequency of 3.1 GHz, that is, even lower than the 90 nm Athlon X2 6400+ Windsor, whose operating frequency was 3.2 GHz. The four-core Phenom X4 processors released a year later, which were based on the Agena crystal, also produced according to 65 nm process standards, were subject to even lower frequencies. Most powerful processor of this line, the Phenom X4 9950BE operated at a frequency of 2.6 GHz and had an overclocking ceiling of 3.0-3.3 GHz when using an extraordinary air cooler.

With the release of its new Phenom II X4/X3/X2 processors, based on 45 nm Deneb/Heka/Callisto crystals, AMD managed to significantly increase their frequency potential relative to their predecessors on 65 nm cores. In addition, these products have acquired very solid overclocking potential. Only a few manage to reach the 4 GHz threshold, but results at 3.7-3.9 GHz in air are quite common. You can expect a similar result from the new 45 nm Athlon II X2.

Initially, the overclocking potential of the Athlon II X2 250 processor was tested on the motherboard Gigabyte board MA770T-UD3P with installed version BIOS F2 dated June 24, 2009.

With a supply voltage of 1.525V, the processor was able to operate stably at a clock frequency of 3705 MHz (FSB247 x 15x).

After conducting tests on the motherboard with BIOS F2 version, the recently released BIOS F3 version dated August 6, 2009 was tested.

Alas, there was no “miraculous” improvement in overclocking potential. The processor was only able to conquer the previous milestone of 3705 MHz.

Conclusions.

On at the moment time, in model range There are three models of AMD Athlon II X2 processors - X2 240 2.8 GHz, X2 245 2.9 GHz and X2 250 3.0 GHz. The cost of these CPUs is 50, 55 and 60 euros respectively. Having looked at the characteristics of the processors, a reasonable question arises - Why did it have to be so small? The difference between the youngest and oldest Athlon II X2 models is only 200 MHz! In this regard, another question comes up - is it worth paying an extra 10 euros for the older model X2 250, or saving and taking the younger X2 240? My advice - It’s not worth overpaying for the X2 250! The youngest of the X2 240 processors has a 14x multiplier, while the older one has a 15x multiplier. This minor gap can be compensated for by overclocking with a slightly higher clock generator frequency.

But we should not forget about intra-family competition. The price niches of 75 and 85 euros are occupied by the Phenom II X2 545 3.0 GHz and X2 550BE 3.1 GHz processors. If you successfully unlock the disabled cores in them, they become an unsurpassed choice in their price niche. Well, if they fail with their rather high price, they look extremely mediocre compared to the AMD Athlon II X2. At the same clock frequency, the Phenom II X2, mainly due to the presence of a 6MB L3, outperforms the Athlon II X2 by up to 5%. The cost of the youngest Phenom 545 is 25 euros higher than that of the younger model Athlon 240. In percentage terms, this means that for 8-10% the advantages of the 545, taking into account more high frequency, you will have to overpay as much as 50% of the cost of X2 240!

Based on the results of my short testing, the Athlon II X2 250 processor made a very favorable impression on me. However, this same expression can be applied to all Athlon II X2 processors. While being moderately priced, these AMD processors deliver quite interesting performance for their price range. The overclocking potential of 45 nm Athlon II X2 processors, as mentioned earlier, does not differ from their two-three-quad-core Phenom II counterparts and in most cases is 3.7-3.9 GHz.

In general, AMD has created worthy competitors to processors Intel Pentium series E5x00 and E6x00, which can compete with them, both in nominal at equal frequencies and in overclocking. But no more.

The Athlon II X2 250 processor for testing was provided by the company

The following configuration was collected:
1. MSI 890FXA-GD70
2. AMD BOX cooler
3. 2 x 2048 MB OCZ Platinum PC-16000 DDR3
4. ATI Radeon HD 6870
5. FSP 620 Watt
6. Operating room Windows system 7 Ultimate 64-bit

The following processors were selected as competing products:

1. Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 operating frequency 2.93 GHz, second level cache L2 3 MB, no third level cache. The processor is manufactured using a 45 nm process technology, maximum heat dissipation is 65 watts. The cost of the processor is around $125. Finding it on store shelves is quite difficult.

2. Intel Core i3 530. This processor operates at a frequency of 2.93 GHz and belongs to the modern generation of processors from Intel based on the Clarkdale core. The processor is dual-core and has 256 KB of L2 cache on each core. The maximum heat dissipation does not exceed $73. The cost of the processor is around $120.

3. AMD Phenom II X4 945. The processor is based on the Deneb core, about which we wrote so much above. It operates at 3 GHz and has 512 KB of L2 cache per core. Distinctive feature This generation of processors has a 6 MB L3 cache common to all four cores. The cost of the processor is around $140, which is $15 more expensive than the tested Athlon II X4 645 processor.

4. AMD Athlon II X4 630. These processors, like the Athlon II X4 645 test solution, are based on the Propus core. A distinctive feature of this processor is its operating frequency of 2.8 GHz. At the same time, the cost of the processor is around $100.
All prices indicated are at the time of writing the article for OEM options. The tested Athlon II X4 645 processor could be purchased for $125 at the time of testing.

Overclocking the Athlon II X4 645 processor

Many computer users have heard that you can significantly improve the performance of your computer by overclocking its processor. In this article we will talk about how to overclock an AMD processor (AMD), let us introduce you to the features of this operation.

As a rule, a newly purchased computer becomes obsolete within a year to a year and a half, due to the rapid development modern technologies. Very soon after purchase, it begins to be unable to cope with new games that require large computing resources and to slow down. Overclocking the processor will extend the life of the computer, saving a significant amount on buying a new one, or on replacing its main parts (upgrade). In addition, some people use overclocking immediately after purchase, trying to increase its performance to the maximum, because in especially successful cases it can be increased by 30%.

Why is overclocking possible?

The point is that AMD processors They have a large technological reserve built into them by the manufacturer for reliability. To understand how to overclock an amd processor, you will have to say a few words about its design. The processor operates at a certain frequency, which is set for it by the manufacturer. This frequency is obtained by multiplying the base frequency by the internal multiplier that the processor has and can be controlled from the BIOS. For some of them, this multiplier is locked, and these are not very suitable for overclocking, while for others you can change it yourself. The base frequency is generated by a generator installed on the motherboard. The frequencies of this generator are also used to generate other frequencies necessary for normal operation computer. This:

• Frequency of the channel that connects the CPU and the northbridge. Typically this is 1GHz, 1.8GHz, or 2GHz. But in general case, it should not be greater than the Northbridge frequency. This channel is called HyperTransport.
• The frequency of the North Bridge also depends on this generator; the frequencies of the memory controller and some others depend on this frequency.
• Frequency at which it operates RAM, is also determined by this generator.

From here we can draw a simple conclusion - maximum overclocking of a computer is possible only when choosing components that function reliably in extreme conditions. First of all, these include the motherboard and RAM.

The question arises — how to overclock an amd phenom or athlon processor? There are two ways to do this - you can increase its multiplier, or you can increase the frequency of the base generator. Let's say our generator has a standard frequency of 200 MHz, and the processor multiplier is 14. Multiplying one by the other, we get 2800 MHz - the frequency at which the processor operates. By setting the multiplier to 17, we get a frequency of 3400 MHz. True, whether our processor will work at this frequency is a big question! The second way is to increase the frequency of the base generator. By increasing its frequency by 50 MHz, we will have a processor frequency of 3500 MHz (with a multiplier of 14), however, the frequencies of all board elements that depend on the generator will also increase.

System heat dissipation

As the frequency increases, the heat generation of any element always increases and a limit comes when it refuses to work at a given frequency. In order to restore its functionality, the voltage on it is increased. This, in turn, increases the heat it generates. Ohm's law says that increasing the voltage by 2 times increases heat generation by 4 times. Hence the simple conclusion - in order to successfully overclock an amd processor with a hair dryer (athlon), you need to take care of it good cooling. Moreover, if overclocking is carried out through a generator, then the motherboard must also be cooled. For cooling, both high-performance coolers and water cooling, and in extreme cases - liquid nitrogen.

CPU overclocking

This can be done using the AMD OverDrive utility, which allows you to overclock the processor and test its operation. This utility is produced by AMD and is designed to facilitate this process.

But many users prefer to carry out such overclocking through Motherboard BIOS fees. True, this path requires some theoretical preparation and knowledge. You will also need a utility that will allow you to evaluate the result - this is CPU-Z, it will show the new processor frequency and Prime95 - a utility that allows you to evaluate the stability of the system under overclocking conditions, as well as some others - to monitor temperature and performance.

BIOS settings

Depending on the type of motherboard, the settings in the BIOS may change, but we recommend setting some of them like this:

1. For Cool ‘n’ Quiet, select Disable.
2. For C1E select Disable
3. For Spread Spectrum select Disable
4. For Smart CPU Fan Control select Disable

You should also set the power plan to High Performance mode.

Remember that you perform all actions to overclock the processor solely at your own peril and risk!

Overclocking technique

It is recommended to overclock an amd athlon (phenom) processor by gradually increasing its multiplier by one step. After each increase in the multiplier, you need to check the stability of the processor at the new frequency using the Prime95 utility, and if the test fails, make another attempt by increasing the voltage on the CPU by one step. After passing the test without errors at least three times in a row, you can increase the multiplier by one more step and try to pass the tests again. By doing this, you will find the value of the multiplier and voltage at which the processor will be stable, and the next increase in the multiplier should lead to the test failing. Once this value of the multiplier and voltage has been found, it is recommended, for continuous operation, to reduce them by one step. When overclocking, carefully monitor the processor temperature; it should not go beyond the limits set by the manufacturer.

If, by changing the value of the multiplier, it is not possible to achieve high overclocking, then it is worth trying the second way - increase it by increasing the frequency of the base generator.

In this short article, we talked about the very principle of how to overclock amd athlon and phenom processors, without dwelling on the details. For those who want to learn more about this, there is a lot of literature, both in paper and electronic form.

Instructions

It must be remembered that the process of overclocking a processor is quite dangerous and, without due care and attention, can lead to unstable operation, failures, and even system failure. If you are new to the topic of overclocking (from the English overclocking - overclocking), you need to understand the instructions for your processor and other equipment, it is also advisable to find jumpers/jumpers/items BIOS menu, responsible for the frequency of the FSB, memory bus, multiplier, divider for PCI and AGP.

"Filling" AMD processor The Athlon 64 X2 is a crystal that combines two cores, each of which has its own L2 cache. For AMD Athlon processors, this is relevant based on an increase in the multiplication factor.

To test the processor after overclocking, you will need S&M program or similar. It can be easily found on the Internet. Download the program and install it.

The overclocking process begins in the BIOS. To enter the BIOS, press the DEL key during the initial boot stage of the system. Open the Power Bios Setup tab, select Memory Frequency and set the value to DDR400 (200Mhz). Reducing the memory frequency will allow you to reduce the level of CPU overclocking limitation. Next, save the changes using the Save changes and exit option and restart your computer.

After rebooting, go into the BIOS again. Open the Advanced Chipset Features tab and select DRAM Configuration. In the window that opens, in each item, instead of Auto, set the values ​​that are to the right of the slash (/) sign. This will push the limit of stable operation for your memory even further.

Go back to the Advanced Chipset Features menu and find the HyperTransport Frequency item. This parameter may also be called HT Frequency or LDT Frequency. Select it and reduce the frequency to 400 or 600 MHz (x2 or x3). Next, go to the Power Bios Setup menu, select Memory Frequency and set the value to DDR200 (100Mhz). Save changes and exit again. After restarting - back to BIOS.

The most interesting part begins - directly overclocking the processor. Open the Power Bios Setup menu, select CPU Frequency. Next, you need to select an item that, depending on BIOS version, may be named CPU Host Frequency, CPU/Clock Speed ​​or External Clock. Increase the value from 200 to 250 MHz - this will directly overclock the processor. Save the settings again and load operating system. Launch the S&M program and click the “Start” button in the main menu. If, as a result of the test, the system shows high stability, increase the CPU Host Frequency value by a few more points and run again. Repeat the steps until you find the optimal balance between overclocking the system and its stability. You have achieved your goal - your processor is overclocked.

The word “overclocking” has firmly entered the vocabulary of PC owners, and it appears quite often in computer magazines and articles on the Internet. However, many users have no idea how exactly the processor is overclocked, or they experience difficulty in doing so when changing the platform from Athlon XP or Pentium 4/Celeron to Athlon 64. New motherboards have their own features that affect overclocking due to why attempts to force the processor to work in forced mode are sometimes unsuccessful. In this article we will give a number of recommendations for overclocking the AMD64 platform, which will be useful to “beginner enthusiasts”.

First of all, let's look at how the Athlon 64 fundamentally differs from the Athlon XP or Pentium 4/Celeron in terms of overclocking: this processor is connected to the north bridge on the motherboard by a special HyperTransport bus, which operates at 800/1000 MHz, and if earlier the frequency processor was the product of the bus frequency and the CPU coefficient, now this indicator is determined by multiplying the CPU coefficient by the frequency of the motherboard master oscillator. By default, the generator outputs 200 MHz, and the frequency of the HyperTransport bus, like the processor, is regulated by the corresponding multiplier. Nevertheless, some motherboard manufacturers continue to call the oscillator frequency selection item the bus frequency selection, which is not entirely correct.

Now let's move on to the features of overclocking. Firstly, the PCI and AGP bus frequencies are also tied to the generator frequency by default. Therefore, if you do not set them explicitly in the appropriate BIOS items, they will increase during overclocking. The video card, hard drive controller, and network card and other devices do not tolerate high frequencies well and may fail. Unfortunately for owners of motherboards based on VIA K8T800, this chipset is not able to fix PCI/AGP bus frequencies during overclocking. Owners of nForce3/4 boards can change these frequencies manually in the BIOS.

Another feature of overclocking the Athlon 64 is the way it sets the memory bus frequency. If owners of nForce2 boards could strictly set this parameter regardless of the processor bus frequency, now it is also tied to the generator frequency. Therefore point in BIOS Setup, called Memory Frequency - DDR400, actually means that the frequency of the memory bus coincides with the frequency of the master oscillator and will also increase during overclocking. The remaining memory modes - DDR333, 266, 200 - are implemented using divisors that are approximately 1.22; 1.55 and 2. Let us explain this with an example: setting in BIOS frequency generator 244 MHz and setting the memory type to DDR333, we get a frequency of 244: 1.22 = 200 MHz (DDR400).

For overclocking, it is useful to reduce the multiplier for the HyperTransport bus to three, since its frequency also increases and becomes additional reason instability. For those who are concerned about the question “Will lowering the HyperTransport frequency affect the system performance?”, we can reassure you – the throughput of this bus is sufficient even in this version.

Let's now look at overclocking the Athlon 64 processor in practice. The motherboard was used as a test bench ASUS board A8N-E on the nForce4 Ultra chipset, AMD Athlon 64 3000+ processor with a real frequency of 1800 MHz on the Venice core, two Transcend DDR400 memory modules (timings 2.5-3-3-8), video card NVIDIA GeForce 6600, overclocked to 430/630 MHz.

So, in the BIOS we go to the second tab, called Advanced, and then to the CPU Configuration item. Here we lower the HyperTransport bus multiplier by changing the HyperTransport Frequency value from Auto to 3X. Next, go to the DRAM Configuration sub-item and change the Timing Mode value from Auto to Manual. After this, the Memclock index value item becomes available. We install DDR266 in it instead of DDR400, so that the memory does not turn out to be a limiting factor during overclocking, which will allow us to achieve a generator frequency of at least 300 MHz.

We return to the top level and go to JumperFree Configuration. By default, the master oscillator frequency settings are not available, but after setting the Overclock Profile to Manual, the CPU Frequency item appears. The processor frequency that can be achieved during overclocking depends largely on the luck of the user - it is different for each instance. IN in this case In preliminary tests, the processor started with an oscillator frequency of 285 MHz instead of the standard 200 MHz. In general, the frequency should be increased in increments of 20 MHz, raising it until the system passes stability tests. After this, it makes sense to reduce the step to 1 MHz and more accurately select the maximum operating frequency. In addition, to increase stability, you can raise the processor voltage in the CPU Voltage item to 1.55 V. Also here you should set the maximum CPU Multiplier value instead of Auto (in our example it is x9) and change the PCI Clock Synchronization Mode item from Auto to 33. 33 MHz (never set To CPU). Since this board does not have an AGP port, nothing else needs to be changed. IN otherwise I would also have to fix 66 MHz in the AGP Clock item. On some motherboards, however, due to errors in the BIOS, the AGP and PCI frequencies may increase during overclocking, even when manually selecting standard bus frequencies. This can be easily avoided by setting the frequencies for them to 67 and 34 MHz, respectively. Also, often the items for AGP/PCI frequencies are combined into one, but the frequencies, despite this, are fixed for both buses. The name and location of the above-described BIOS items on other motherboards may differ, but, nevertheless, the principle remains the same, and finding the settings necessary for overclocking will not be difficult.

As a result, the actual processor frequency increased from the standard 1800 MHz to 2565 MHz, i.e., an increase of 42.5%. Growth rates in common applications are presented in diagrams and depend on the specific task.