alex666
05-16-2001, 03:40 PM
I just upgraded my Presario 5220 with an AMD K6-2 380 Mz processor to a K6-III+ 450 Mz processor (had previously added more ram, a new hard drive, and a voodoo 3 2000 pci card). I had read how the K6-III was a significant improvement over the K6-II series. Now, my mobo actually supports the + series, and I was able to set the core voltage to 2.0, and left the I/O voltage at 3.3. The K6-III+ 450 installed flawlessly. I tried to use a larger heatsink, but I had trouble getting it on, and so I simply used the old heat sink and fan. Keep in mind that the core voltage for the K6-II 380 was 2.2. I installed the new processor, no problems, made the correct jumper changes, Sandra identified the processor as a K6II+/K6III+ running at 443 Mz. But I really did not notice any significant improvement in performance, despite all that I read about the K6III. Now, I had read via the AMDzone and Overclockers.com about this utility written by someone named UART. The utility apparently utilizes the special power management instructions written for the K6III+ series (the + series, II and III, were originally intended as mobile processors to be used in notebooks, with these special instructions for power management) such that you can easily overclock. Okay, so I download the utility, try it out, changing the multiplier within this utility (not on the mobo) from 4.5 to 5.0, then 5.5, then 6.0. Sandra tells me it is running at 500, 550, and 600 Mz (actually 493, 543, and 593). The whetsone and dhrystone (sp?) measures used by Sandra increase with each bump in processor speed, indicating that this processor is performing better at these higher speeds.
Two observations: First, the heatsink and processor remain very cool, even after running this thing at 600Mz for over an hour. Is this because the core voltage is 2.0, and actually lower than the original K6II chip? I had read that I should use a larger heat sink, even if I did not overclock, and I did not really intend to do any serious overclocking, but I am finding that I do get somewhat of a boost, and the thing runs cool. What's going on? This is too good to be true. Second, has anyone else upgraded a processor and really not seen a huge difference in performance? I upgraded my original hard drive to a Maxtor 30 gig, 7200 rpm, and immediately noticed a speed improvement, whereas with this processor upgrade, it is much less noticeable despite all I read about the K6III. I don't care that Sandra tells me it is running faster. I want to see it. I have measured boot time, and at 450 Mz, it takes 85", while at 600Mz it takes 77", but otherwise the changes are fairly subtle. What should I be looking for?
Any comments would be appreciated.
Two observations: First, the heatsink and processor remain very cool, even after running this thing at 600Mz for over an hour. Is this because the core voltage is 2.0, and actually lower than the original K6II chip? I had read that I should use a larger heat sink, even if I did not overclock, and I did not really intend to do any serious overclocking, but I am finding that I do get somewhat of a boost, and the thing runs cool. What's going on? This is too good to be true. Second, has anyone else upgraded a processor and really not seen a huge difference in performance? I upgraded my original hard drive to a Maxtor 30 gig, 7200 rpm, and immediately noticed a speed improvement, whereas with this processor upgrade, it is much less noticeable despite all I read about the K6III. I don't care that Sandra tells me it is running faster. I want to see it. I have measured boot time, and at 450 Mz, it takes 85", while at 600Mz it takes 77", but otherwise the changes are fairly subtle. What should I be looking for?
Any comments would be appreciated.