# Need Help First OC on Athlon 64 X2 5200+



## SavageNorseman (May 3, 2011)

Hello, 

I need some expert advice on what cooler to buy and how to overclock my processor. My main rig was built at the very beginning of 2007 (January) and the processor is starting to really show its age. I want to overclock my system to a safe level with a goal of 3.0GHz from the stock speed of 2.6GHz. I will look into a higher overclock if temps and stability work out OK and offer a significant performance increase in games (FPS). 

My system specs are: 
Case: Thermaltake Armor with 25CM Side Fan (Please note when suggesting CPU Cooler options) 
Mobo: Asus M2N-SLI Deluxe with BIOS flashed to the latest release 1804 beta. 
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 5200+ 2.6GHz Windsor Core F2 Stepping (Stock Cooling) 
RAM: 4x1GB Corsair DDR2 800 XMS2 LED Series at DDR2 800 5-5-5-12-2T 1.9v (Corsair's Specs) 
PSU: Corsair 750TX 750W 
GFX: 2x Asus 8800GTS 640MB 
HDD: 2x WD Caviar Black 640GB in Raid 0 
Optical: Samsung CD/DVD Burner 
Floppy: NEC 
OS: Windows XP Home Edition 32-bit 

I have never really overclocked a processor before, but I have played with Riva tuner a little to adjust fan speeds and down-clock a factory overclocked GPU that was failing... So I do have some experience. I am not totally new at BIOS settings because I had to  adjust my RAM timings myself to get them to run at their specified rating, as well as performing the BIOS flash procedure on this and several other motherboards... I have just never intentionally increased the FSB/Multiplier/Voltage/HT Settings on a processor before. 

Because I have never used the actual overclocking settings on my rig before I am not real familiar with the different options and what they do - so that's where you guys come in









If you have experience with this particular processor, great! - With this specific motherboard - even better! 

I think that 3.0GHz should be very achievable especially if I replace the CPU cooler beforehand (and maybe even on stock cooling)? 

I had my eye on a Zalman HS/Fan setup because they look cool, are affordable and will probably work fine for my purposes, but I have not actually measured anything inside my case and I know that the 25CM side fan can interfere with huge coolers like the prolimatech. 

Link to Zalman on Newegg Newegg.com - ZALMAN 9500A-LED 92mm 2 Ball CPU Cooler

However if this fan won't fit or just plain sucks let me know, I'm open to suggestions. I guess I'll probably want a fanspeed controller/temp monitor while I'm doing all this so I'm taking suggestions on that as well. 

The only other thing to consider I guess is that the overall age of the rig is 4 and a half years... Including the MOBO and CPU, so they already have quite a bit of wear and tear on them. The PSU unit had to be replaced this year however and is only a few months old (Originally I had a Thermaltake Toughpower 700W Modular and it died). I hope that overclocking will not just send my system to an early grave because I am basically on a 5 year upgrade cycle and would like to hand down the rig to a family member when I retire it from my use. If the CPU Goes bad I guess I can always upgrade it (there are many AM2 compatible processors out now for cheap), I just hope nothing else goes wrong like MOSFETS on the motherboard or something else... 

My current temps are pretty good: I will attempt to post a pic of HWMonitor at idle below:


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## AlphaPhoenix (Feb 25, 2011)

The Zalman 9500A is a terrific cooler! I have read some good reviews for it, mind you the reviews I saw were on based on were based on some newer processors that being said the should cooler should work very well with your CPU, can't advise you on the overclock as I don't have a lot of experience with AMD cpu's. There's my 2 shillings worth of information, tbh I'd say you go for the Zalman. Also check out the Akasa AK-CCX-4002HP Venom, it has also recieved brilliant reviews. Good luck :grin:


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