So I have an AMD Athlon XP 2200+ Processor, running at 1.81 Gigahertz, and I’d like to overclock it. Only problem is that I’ve heard a lot of ‘horror stories’ about people frying their processors by doing this. What would be the maximum I can get out of this processor (now 8 years old) without any harm done? I also have 1.5 gigs of RAM and an NVidia GeForce 6800. I mention that simply because I also heard that it depends on your RAM and other specifications. Help would be appreciated!
I dunno about the maximum that’s possible, but the CPU OC’ing technique I know of is to bump the speeds up a few at a time and test them, and keep doing it until you blue screen, then you know your maximum. That’s all I’ve heard, anyway.
I would advise against it myself. 8 years is old for a processor, and they do wear down over the years from what I’ve heard.
Processor isn’t the slowest link in that machine anyway, you need 2gb’s of RAM and a better graphics card, but the whole machine could use an overhaul really.
with a single-core <2ghz processor, the RAM in this case shouldn’t be the bottleneck in most games, and probably neither will the GPU. But overclocking really won’t help that much, it’s usually only beneficial in games that are cpu-heavy or that need that couple of FPS boost.
8 years old? That probably means your computer has no built in overclocking tools in the BIOS. I strongly advise against it, overclocking with stock cooling is never recommended. If you desperately want to OC your CPU I suggest you try to find an alternative cooling solution. Older CPU’s are more power hungry meaning you’d have to bump the voltage quite a lot, this will increase the temperatures a lot not to mention you could easily burn those voltage regulators which by now must be pretty worn down.
tl;dr - don’t do it
edit:
About those ‘horror’ stories, overclocking only goes bad if you increase voltages to the extreme (way above the recommened Intel/AMD specs) in combination with inadequate cooling (90+ C) and crazy clock frequencies (+4 GHz)
Pretty much everyone I know that has a decent setup uses overclocking, infact you’d be wasting a lot of money if you didn’t overclock the newer CPUs (like an Intel i7 running at 2.6 GHz stock but overclocked stable to 4 GHz daily use using water cooling, in the end giving a massive performance increase)
I can confirm that, along with other review sites. i7 920/930 at 2.6/8 GHz OCed to 4.0GHz can give about 20-30 frames depending on the program. Though a lot of games are GPU dependent, still doesn’t mean you can get a mediocre CPU. Your 2200+ is looking for an upgrade, and if that isn’t viable then I would save up or make a sacrifice for the time being. My previous computer used an AMD Athlon 2800+ at 2.08GHz. It kept up and I could still probably get away with some things on it for another year or so.
About OCing that CPU specifically though, it depends on if you have access to it in the BIOS. My computer with the 2800 didn’t grant me access to do so. Certain CPUs have a maximum voltage they can handle under stable conditions. The i7 line requires memory to be no greater than 1.65v - Not sure about the 2200. So that does play part yes, just need to figure out the number.
If you [what sounds to me] have a stock PC you bought and then upgraded the graphics card, I would look up that computer, figure out what motherboard you have and see if it’s BIOS allows you to edit the frequency. OR, just reboot your computer and hit what ever key it is to enter ‘setup’.
This is all knowledge I’m assuming is accurate to about 90%. Though at this point man, I wouldn’t even worry about OCing. Pinch a portion of your paycheck/allowance/money intake and work on upgrading within a few months to a duo core/i5/i7.
I’d recommend first replacing the thermal paste on the CPU, after that. Then you can overclock it.
However. It does look like your computer, overall, needs rebuilt. Right now, it’s getting quite outdated.
I didn’t have any thermal paste when I replaced my CPU so I used some industrial lube. Then I overclocked it.
Using new thermal compound doesn’t mean you can overclock it, don’t forget that stock cooling always sucks and is only able to ‘cool’ the CPU running at stock speeds - even then temperatures will be on the high side. Custom (copper heatsink) cooling is a must. Stock coolers are usually made of aluminum, which isn’t nearly as good as copper in conducting heat.