Solve MSI K7N2 overclocking problems before they start.
The MSI K7N2 Delta-L first appeared in 2003 as an AMD Athlon socket motherboard for desktop computers. It boasts the flexibility to allow the user to increase the clock speed of any AMD CPU. Several overclocker forums suggested a hardwire "fix" to jump the BIOS to allow for more voltage capacity increase that bumps up the CPU clock speed. However, several issues need to be addressed before this "fix" can be deployed with any consistent stability.
Power Supply
The K7N2 Delta-L motherboard demands a slightly higher power draw than was the average in 2003, even before any thoughts of overclocking the processor. A 150- to 200-watt power supply unit (PSU) occasionally causes instability complaints from some users, especially when running the AMD 2600+ series of Athlon dual-core processors. Replacing the lower-powered PSU with one in the range of 300 to 500 watts generally solves the stability issues.
Overheating
When attempting to raise the processor clock speed using the K7N2 Delta motherboard by 20 percent or more, many users reported overheating problems usually due to the inadequate heat sinks being used at the time. Two solutions for this issue include lapping the heat sink contact surface and increasing the number, power and efficiency of the computer case cooling fans. Lapping the heat sink entails using various grades of sandpaper to put a mirror finish on the heat sink surface where it contacts the top of the processor. This dissipates 5- to 10-percent more heat from the processor. The addition of more and better cooling fans also contributes to reducing the CPU temperature, thus increasing processor stability.
Memory
Two factors come into play when dealing with the effect that installed RAM has on overclocking the K7N2 Delta-L motherboard. Increasing the amount of installed RAM addresses the first issue. The K7N2 Delta-L motherboard comes equipped with six memory slots capable of employing up to 3GB of RAM. Too often, users attempt to get away with installing only one RAM chip of 512MB and run the front-side bus at the lowest speed setting of 2-3-3-6 or 2-3-3-8. By increasing RAM, memory speed settings can be significantly increased with relatively little strain on processor stability. K7N2 Delta-L motherboards also allow for dual-channel RAM to be installed. Besides being quicker, dual-channel RAM allows the processor to operate at increased clock speeds without increasing voltage and therefore CPU temperature.
Stability Testing
The most efficient way to avoid issues arising from attempting to run your K7N2 Delta-L motherboard and AMD processor at non-factory approved settings is to use stress-testing software such as Prime-95 to check stability. Such software can tell you in a few hours whether your overclocking settings will maintain for an extended period of time. When your machine comes through a stress test with no crashing, you can be assured that your games will perform flawlessly at the higher processor speeds you have set.
Tags: K7N2 Delta-L, Delta-L motherboard, K7N2 Delta-L motherboard, clock speed, heat sink