Overclocking Legacy overclocking (with pics!)

I have a couple of old systems which both have AMD K6-2 CPUs. I recently swapped the CPUs around and at the same time put some fresh thermal paste in (that was really needed, it was like chewing gum).

Please excuse the not-perfect pics.

Here are the complete specs of the machines:

System 1 (from around 1998):
- AMD K6-2, stock 500MHz
- Some random Compaq OEM mobo, says Foxconn UZI on it
- SiS 530 chipset
- Integrated graphics with 8MB VRAM
- SDR SDRAM: 2x Toshiba 128MB 100MHz + 1x Dell 256MB 133MHz = 512MB (thanks to my friend for grabbing these from work for me to upgrade the stock 64MB)
- Realtek RTL8139 10/100Mbit/s PCI network adapter, really low profile
- Currently using a WD 40GB HDD
- Mitac 110W PSU
- Pic:



System 2 (from around 1995, propably upgraded in ~1998):
- AMD K6-2, stock 400MHz
- Asus P/I-P55T2P4 (am I sick when I remember that?), Baby-AT form factor
- Intel Triton 430HX chipset
- Nvidia Riva TNT2 M64, PCI model with 32MB of VRAM
- 2x EDO 32MB + 2x FPM 32MB = 128MB RAM
- Creative SoundBlaster AWE64 ISA sound card
- 3Com EtherLink III 10Mbit/s ISA network adapter
- Currently using a Seagate 3GB HDD
- Real Power 200W PSU (talk about overkill!)
- Pics:
WARNING! Do not blow chunks when you see the PCB color...



You can also see the fan I'm using in these experiments in this last pic in the lower left corner.


Studied a bit before starting. I found out that the Asus mobo on system 2 is relatively limited. Only supports bus speeds of 83, 75 and 66MHZ (and lower but I'm not interested in those); voltages of >=2.5V and with hacks down to 2.0V; and multipliers of 2.5-3.5 and 6.0 (the K6-2 interprets the 2.0 multi as 6.0). So basically I could only control the CPU speed with the FSB, and only in large steps. A very helpful and recommended site: http://web.archive.org/web/20040805122822/http://www.jump.net/~lcs/kalle/rev3.htm

The Compaq thing, then, I didn't find any web resources, but examination of the board physically tells me that various bus speeds ranging all the way from 66 to 133MHz, all useful multipliers, and voltages <=2.3 (and then jumps to >=2.8V) are supported.


Okay, let's get started with overclocking. But wait, I've already done it! Well I'll just explain what I've done then.

Results so far:
I started with system 2. Tried it on stock (2.2V; 6x66MHz, a beast of a configuration) after the CPU swap to test if it works. It sure did.

6x75 was a bit unstable so I bumped up the voltage to 2.3V.

Wanted to go higher. Put it to 6x83, but the CPU didn't even start. Tried at 2.4, same result. Then tried at the maximum AMD allows (CPU can get damaged after this), 2.5V. Now it started, but it was just way too unstable, usually didn't even finish POST. I thought "Well I guess I can't go higher than 450MHz then " but later I decided to try at 2.7V (the mobo doesn't allow 2.6V for some reason). I worked abolutely fine! I'm a bit worried about the voltage though. I think I'm going to manually force it to 2.6V by using a resistor (read more on Kalle's page).

Okay, onto system number one.

Problems from the beginning. POST took ages! After a year it showed me a message: "The following configuration options were automatically updated: No physical disks present." even though the 40GB WD was connected and spinning. Then restart. After another year it showed me "The following configuration options were automatically updated: Disk1 WD 40GB". Restart once again, and yet another year waiting for it to POST. I thought the system was broken or didn't handle the higher FSB required by the 500MHz CPU. But I was wrong: after the third reset it booted succesfully to Windows and it was rock stable!

Well, tried with a lower FSB, same result. After a while of tinkering I tried with another HDD, a Seagate 4GB, and POST took about 10 secs and it booted straight out. I guess the problem is somehow related to the 40GB disk (dying?).

Okay, I thought, onto overclocking, and put the 40GB back and I'll just have to live with the 3-year POST time.

Overclocking results: 112x4.5. I'm not impressed. The CPU is running at 504MHz...

The problem is the limited voltage selection I spoke about earlier. It can't go any higher than 2.3V which is just not enough for 560MHz (112x5), the system is very unstable then. I'd just want to get it one notch higher (or maybe two-three notches if I aim for ~600MHz) FFS! (Or more specifically it can go higher, but it goes TOO high (2.8V)!)


So, I guess that's it for today... Any comments, suggestions, questions are welcome! Also you can share any memories aswell. And I can take more pics if wanted.

I'm open to ideas on what to do with system 1, I don't want to have it at just 4MHz over stock. Any electronic gurus here who would have suggestions how to measure the resistances of the voltage selectors, or is it even possible?

 

Finally realised why POST took ages with the 40GB HD!

I am currently installing PC-BSD on system 1, and I realised when burning the disc that none of my spare optical drives (which I use with these occasionally) support DVD+RW. Well, I grabbed a NEC ND-1100A (flashed to ND-1300A) from the family PC. Checked if the jumpers were correct on the DVD and the HDD... and guess what? The HDD was set to "Master with Slave present" instead of "Single or Master"! Plugged the DVD in and it POSTs fast as hell. The poor thing was trying to poll the secondary IDE channel without success before.

 

hangs head in shame after jumping up and screaming, 'i remember them!' now feels old and useless! ROFL!!!


Mine was a K6-2 500Mhz that i pushed to 560Mhz it was a screamer! now 560Mhz is considered a low overclocking gain with clock speeds at least +50% of stock speeds.

 

Ahhh.. the memories...

 

Hummm installed PC-BSD on it, but it ran FCKING slow! You can never imagine how slow it was, just not possible! Was slower than Vista would've been for sure! Also there were MANY problems (all apps crashed all the time), like it'd be running out of RAM (but the min amount for PC-BSD is 256MB and this machine has 512MB).

I decided to put the Riva TNT2 from system 2 into it to replace the pitiful 8MB onboard thing. It booted to BSD, started to launch X, but then the card started outputting the image of the video POST ("Riva TNT2 Model 64 32MB PCI etc..." in the upper left corner). Also tried swapping the VGA cable to onboard but the screen was then filled with colours.

Got scared, hit ctrl+alt+del but it didn't restart, after a while it showed how BSD was shutting down (CAD is initiates emergency shut down in Unix-likes). No more video POST. I was like

I tried again, same thing.

Then I unplugged the Riva and booted. It was okay until trying to start X again. I get this:
X server startup timeout, terminating
X server for display :0 cannot be started, session disabled
I've tried multiple times; no joy. Also tried googling but PC-BSD ain't the most common operating system... I only found this http://forums.pcbsd.org/viewtopic.php?p=58892#p58892 but no joy there either, the file doesn't even exist.

I'll propably make a thread asking for a step-by-step guide for how to set up a *BSD system with a lightweight GUI.. Or maybe I should just start with Linux?

 

those where the days

 

lol, i think i have a few mobos with them up in the attic somewhere. Was of much amusement to find when starting to clear it out for a new office. Might get round to finishing it over summer, pull em back out n fire em up again

 

To put all this in perspective, the BlackBerry Bold has a 624MHz processor. Contemplate that for a second.

 

I tried installing Arch Linux on it, but on bootup I get

Found this:

Well it's time to dump nearly all Linux distros then... Most of them are compiled for i686.

 

I just remembered i have a Pentium Pro 133Mhz running Win95, but for some reason the floppy and CD drive have stopped comunicating with the motherboard on boot about 6 months back, once it did that on first boot i gave up as it was a distraction at the time and other more pressing matters to deal with.

I would love to drag out my old PII 233 or 333 and run as a firewall or something daft, most likely bottleneck more connection, lol!