Athlon Dual Core: Overclocking the 4200+

Overclocking the 4200+

Like other "performance-rated" AMD processors, the 4200+ is locked at the top. In this case the 4200+ multiplier is fixed at a maximum of 11. As with all AMD Athlon64 processors, however, you can select ratios below 11. Only the AMD FX chips are unlocked at both the top and bottom of their range.

Front Side Bus Overclocking Testbed
DFI LANParty nF4 SLI-DR
Processor	Athlon 64 x2 4200+ (2.2GHz, 512KB Cache each core)
CPU Voltage	1.55V (default 1.30V)
Cooling	Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heat sink/Fan
Power Supply	OCZ Power Stream 520W
Memory	OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev. 2 (Samsung TCCD Memory Chips)
Hard Drive	Seagate 120GB 7200RPM SATA 8MB Cache
Maximum OC (Standard Ratio)	245x11 (Auto HT, 2.5-3-3-7, 1T, 2.8V) 2695MHz (+22.5%)
Maximum FSB (Lower Ratio)	326x8 (2608MHz) (Auto HT, 2.5-4-3-7, 2.9V) (1:1 Memory, 1T, 2 DIMMs in DC mode) (+63% Bus Overclock)

For an early x2 Athlon64 processor the overclocking performance on air is impressive. The next speed step of 2.4GHz (4600+) was easily reached, and we moved on past the next logical step of 2.6GHz to 2.7GHz. This is faster than any of the currently available Dual-Core Athlons. We should mention that 240x11 (2.64GHz) was an extremely easy and stable reach. That speed required just 1.45V, was exceptionally stable, and ran quite cool. The last 55MHz required a great deal more voltage and generated a lot more heat. For day in and day out the 240 setting (2.64GHz) would be our choice with this CPU (stock 2.2GHz) on air.

In testing for the highest CPU Frequency a new record for TCCD memory was achieved. 326 or DDR652 is the highest yet achieved with these double-sided 512MB OCZ PC3200 EL Platinum Rev 2 modules. This improved performance of the TCCD memory is likley the result of an improved memory controller on the dual-core CPU.