Overclocking the Athlon64 3200+ on the MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R is very much like overclocking a Pentium 4 processor now that AMD has multiplier locked the processor. It may take a while for a seasoned pro to get use to the new process.

Now don't get too upset about AMD locking multipliers, if I were them I'd do the exact same thing. I believe it was the fake/modified AthlonXP's selling for inflated prices that prompted this move.... but don't quote me on that.

Anyway getting back to the fun stuff, because the memory controller and clock generator are built into the core of the Athlon64 3200+ processor, overclocking the processor can be a lot more tricky as memory controllers tend to max out very quickly. Also, not much is known about the integrated clock generator and about how high it can go.

Using the stock AVC HSF we started to raise the clock speed of the entire motherboard. At around 210 MHz 'FSB' we ran into a few stability problems but raising the memory voltage to 2.8V fixed that. At 221 MHz 'FSB' we again ran into memory related issues and had to run the memory at 6:5 memory divider (DDR333 mode).

We were a bit surprised that the Corsair XMS3500 CAS2 DIMM's maxed out so quickly as they easily ran at 225-230 MHz 'FSB' in dual channel mode with the most aggressive timings on an nForce2 based motherboard. Perhaps the Athlon64's integrated memory controller was starting to max out?

With the 6:5 memory divider enabled we seemed to hit a wall at 223 MHz FSB. No matter what we tried we couldn't get the Athlon64 3200+ processor to run any faster. Another interesting aspect of trying to figure out the sweet spots of a new processor; no matter what the Vcore was set to, the voltage the processor received stayed at 1.5V. I'm not sure what the explanation for this is, but I'm sure the situation for enthusiasts will be clearer in the upcoming weeks.

On a side note, I found myself reading the K8T Neo-FIS2R's manual because the Athlon64 and accompanying peripherals are so new, so thankfully MSI did a good job describing every little trivial thing. It's hard to find much not to like about the K8T Neo-FIS2R; dual BIOS' would have been nice to have for one. MSI bundled in four Serial ATA power connectors but only one actual Serial ATA connector... which was a bit odd. Any way, on with the benchmarks of this K8T800 socket 754 Athlon64 motherboard!

Test System Spec's

pcstats test system specs:
computer hardware:
processor:	pentium 4 3.2c* athlonxp 3200+ athlon64 3200+
clock speed:	16 x 200 mhz = 3.2 ghz 11 x 200 mhz = 2.2 ghz 10 x 200 mhz = 2 ghz
motherboards:	intel d875pbz albatron kx18d pro-ii msi k8t neo
chipsets:	i875p nforce2 ultra 400 k8t800
videocard:	ati radeon 9800 pro
memory:	2x 256mb corsair xms3500 cas2
hard drive:	40gb wd special ed
cdrom:	nec 52x cd-rom
floppy:	panasonic 1.44mb floppy drive
heatsink:	thermalright sk6 w/36cfm delta avc sunflower avc z7ub301
powersupply:	vantec 470w stealth psu
software setup	windowsxp build 2600 nvidia nforce 2.45 intel inf 5.02 via 4in1 4.49 catalyst 3.7
workstation benchmarks	sysmark2002 business winstone 2002 content creation 2002 winbench 99 sisoft sandra 2003 pcmark2002 3dmark2001se aquamark 3 quake iii arena ut2003

* - hyperthreading was enabled during the intel tests.