Why can't this AMD Duron overclock to a higher speed?

The AMD Duron CPU that was used in the #Overclockingbuildoff PC, was only able to give us a small overclock. Lets try and find out what was holding it back from going higher and faster!
Original #overclockingbuildoff video here: • Overclocking an AMD Du...

[@matthewday7565]

Last try... look for "INTERACTIVE AMD SOCKET A THUNDERBIRD AND DURON PAINTING GUIDE VER 2.0" to tweak voltages on a board without BIOS tweaking

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Ah, that's really useful, thank you. Maybe I need a re-visit on this with the
Vcore boosted to see where it end's up.

[@vswitchzero]

Great video! I was half expecting the re-cap to improve things, especially since they were bulging. Would love to see if a board with some voltage adjustment would allow you to break the 1GHz barrier. I suspect it would be possible! 👍

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks! I thought the re-cap would improve things a bit too, but I suppose this particular Duron had just had too hard a life to go any further. When I've got a board out with voltage adjustments on it, I'll drop it in and see it can be pushed a little further. I reckon one of the other 2 Durons would have hit 1GHz with a bit of voltage.

[@Shmbler]

I did that with a 700MHz Duron back in the day, but I had to increase the core voltage for it to run stable at 900MHz. Same with the Celeron 300A@450 I had before. It needed higher core voltage to run at that clock.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

I don't remember having to adjust the voltages on the Durons as much as I did on the Athlons, but then it was a long time ago and my memory is not as good as it was! I'm going to try this Duron on another board with voltage adjustment to see what it will ultimately end up.

[@cocusar]

I think cooling the CPU die with dry ice or something like that used to help. But yes, Durons were like the "bad quality"/rejected Athlons, so I would assume you'll get a variety of processors that could or couldn't be overclocked. Great video!

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Thanks! I guess it was also bad luck that I picked the worst over clocking chip out of the 3 I had.

[@RuruFIN]

Those older Durons were totally their own chips, as they had only 64kB L2 physically. The 1400-1800MHz Durons were cut-down Athlon XPs which could be modified to their full 256k with some luck.

[@Fredjoe5]

Can you provide a list of the parts you used to construct the mounting frame? At very least the standoffs you used? I can't find those anywhere I look online. Thanks.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

I got the whole frame including screws and standoffs as a kit from eBay. I can't find the exact listing anymore for it, but there are lots on there that look identical.

[@Fredjoe5]

@@RetroSuperhighway Thanks, I'll check again. Couldn't find much first time I looked, mostly mining frames, which aren't suitable.

[@centigrams]

If you want to go extreme, the ASUS A7N8X-Deluxe, GIGABYTE GA 7N400 nF2 Ultra 400 (or GA 7N400 Pro 2) and DFI LanParty nForce 2 Ultra 400 are all great boards for overclocking. I have the GA 7N400 nF2 Ultra 400. Sadly my Athlon XP 1700+ (OC to 2000+) died so I'm actually with a Duron 800 :DD

[@RetroSuperhighway]

I had a couple of the DFI Lan party boards back in the day, they were awesome motherboards!

[@lukasz_st]

I had a Duron 700 and Soltek SL-75KAV (KT133A with ISA slot) motherboard back then in 2001. I was able to get 910 (6.5 x 140) with slight voltage bump (1.7 V IIRC), but 933 (7.0 x 133) required around 1.75 V (and a better cooler than the stock one) to be perfectly stable. TBH I was a bit disappointed with my chip, but it looks like that I could won much worse chip on a lottery... :)
Is this 850 fully stable? If so, then probably a healthy bump of voltage (1.75 - 1.8 V) will allow it to run on 900. :)

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Yep the 850Mhz was stable, I'd like to revisit the chip one day on a top quality motherboard and with voltage adjustment too, to see what speed it could ultimately do. Maybe try all the Duron 750s and see which one is best?
910 back then on a 700 chip was a good OC, especially at that bus speed. Fast for such a cheap CPU.

[@retroianer3835]

Tried out with a higher CPU voltage? 1,65V is the stock, and until 1,85V should be not a problem with a good cooling.

[@RetroSuperhighway]

Unfortunately the version of that motherboard I used doesn't have the CPU core voltage dip-switches / jumpers installed, just solder pads. I would like to put that Duron on a better motherboard and see how far it could ultimately be pushed.