tnt27

hello people,

this is the first time i will attempt overclocking on a computer. I have read a lot of overclocking 101, but i am still a bit confused about the memory overclocking and the agp/pci going overcoard. ill write what i sorta understand about all of it.

ok so i want to overclock my p4 2.8ghz to about 3.3-3.4, being cooled by an XP-90 with a 82mm fan on it, in this case http://www.casepower.com.tw/english/...ts/SL/0408.htm. i will be changing my Packard Bell motherboard to an ASUS P4S800-X, which i was recomended for overclocking, while not being too expensive. i would like to get another 2-2 1/2 years outta this system for gaming on the latest games .

well FINAL SPEED = FSB/HTT x MULTIPLIER, i no that. and in the BIOS u have to usually go up by 5% everytime to see if its stable. but what happens to the RAM ? i got a bit confused in the 101. also, when overclocking. do u do it by 5%, then go into windows to check out the stable-ness, then overclock it more or what? thanks everyone, help will be greatly appreciated!!

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Bunchofstuff

In bios just raise the FSB up by like 5 everytime and then let it boot all the way to windows, and you need to get Everest Home Edition, in there it will tell you the current proc speed and ram speed, and if you raise the fsb to high sometimes when it restarts it wont even show anything on the screen and ull have to reset the C-MOS to get it to come back up and then u'll have to start over...hope this helps, sorry i cant answer ur other questions about the ram...

tnt27

thanks for the reply, bunchofstuff.

well u increase the FSB but what about the multiplier, what do u do with that? i already have everest for monitoring my computers temperatures.

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Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz with Hyper-Threading
Kingston 1024mb DDR PC3200 RAM
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce 6600 GT 128mb AGP
Maxtor 80GB Hard Drive
Pioneer DVD R/RW DVR-105
Belkin Wireless 802.11g
SB Live! 24-bit
Logitech Z-5300 5.1 Speakers

CBizzle

I also want to try overclocking for the first time. I have read the OC 101, RAM 101, and several others... just a few questions:

How easy is to damage parts, and what parts could potentially be damaged(not including video cards, I wont be overclocking that)?

How will I know if something is damaged (other than it not turning on)?

What would be the best route to experiment with for a "n00b" overclocker?
^For this question let me explain... (I could be completely wrong, and please correct me if I am... this is just what I got from reading the 101s). One way is to change the multiplier, I've already check that, mine won't go higher than 11.0 but will go lower by .5. Another way is to lower the latency, so for a CAS of 2.5, I would change that to 2.0? And would that make a significant difference?

As always thanks in advance for help.

Edit: This post is in general, I'm not looking for an answer specific to me.

apj101

you will probable find that you cant increase your multiplier anyway, you may however be able to decrease it.

if you take it easy then it is unlikely you will damage your other components. And your apg/pci will be locked and 33/66 so you wont screw your other bits and bobs.

keep an eye on the temperature of you cpu, if it gets stupidly high (about 65 - 70C) then either get better cooling or cut back on your overclock

i doubt you can

you’re now talking about overclocking your ram which is different to your cpu.

Ok I’m quickly going to write a quick guide to overclocking and hope it will compliment overclocking101 enough to answer your questions.
Ok lets assume your working on Pentium4 system.
You computer (the whole thing including cpu and motherboard) works on a clock speed called "core clock speed" as determined by your MOTHERBOARD
The "core clock speed" can be 100, 133, 166, 200 or 266.
Most likely yours is 200 (it doesn’t matter if it is not the principle is the same)

You may have heard the term FSB (front side bus), avoid it. FSB can be confusing because....
In reality it is just another term for "core clock speed"
But.....
Pentium quad pump the core clock to give an overall bus speed
which comes to 800 in our example. NOW marketing companies market this 800 as the FSB, so the box will say 800FSB - which really is 200FSB/Core Clock Speed and 800BUS speed

The net clock speed of the processor (so for instance with a Pentium4) is a product of that core/FSB clockspeed multiplied by a scalar (called your multiplier). So we have:

Pentium4 550 = 200MHz x 17.0 = 3400MHz (These are the ONLY 2 variables that determine the net clock speed value, however they are not the only factor determining cpu speed, but that is a different topic all together often titles AMD vs P4 or something to that extent)

Now it’s unlikely that you will be able to change the multiplier upwards

No how does your ram fit in. Well your ram is attached to your motherboard, which as we know runs on a core clock speed of 200, just like you cpu.

Timings, the philosophy of the tight-timings people is to reduce the number of CPU clock cycles that are wasted before activity (reading, writing) can be performed. So if you drop (tighten) your timing then you will be able get your ram to work faster. Timing are a Ram phenomena and altering them will effect ram speed not cpu speed.

Now comes the link... Both the ram and the cpu are running on the core clock speed specifed by the motherboard. Increase that and you increase both net clock cpu speed (due to the formula above), and the ram speed (since it is running on the core clock speed)

Now pay attention, remember that I said you ram is based on your clock speed. Well i oversimplified. There is a ratio in place between the ram speed and the core clock speed. In an ideal world this ratio would be 1:1, thus keeping your ram in sync with your core clock speed. However some ram may not be able to handle the 200mhz that your cpu can handle. So you may run your ram at a ratio of 3:5 thus making your ram run at 166mhz. Got that! The ratio can vary but the principle is the same

How does this help overclocking.

Well you now understand that if you increase your core clock speed you will overclock both you ram and your cpu. Lets give an example (same cpu as above)
Pentium4 550 = 210MHz x 17.0 = 3570MHz
so you have overclocked you cpu by upping the core clock speed by 10, however our ram is now also running at 210

This is how we overclock, increasing the core clock speed bit by bit and then running the system through it paces to test for stability

But the saga continues, damn i didnt mean to write this much,

You may find your self at a situation were (after increasing the core clock speed too lets say 240mhz) your system is not stable, and thus you have to ask yourself, what is causing my instability, is it my ram or my cpu (could be both, or a few other things but this the general question)

Lets assume that it’s your ram that cannot handle the extra clock speed, the solution that will allow you keep pushing you cpu is to alter (lower) the ratio that we discussed above to allow the ram to work at a slower speed while keeping the cpu at 240. You can then up the core clock further and see how high you can push your cpu.

If we find that it is the cpu that is limiting the overclocking experience, and you would like to push you ram further then the again we need to alter (increase) the ram ratio, to allow the ram to run faster relative to the cpu.

Eventially you will reach a point were you can not push you core clock speed any high, nor increase your ratio any higher, this is you max overclock (well there are a few more little tricks but I am tired of writing, how praetor does this I’ll never know)

last point (i promise)

You may push your cpu and ram for little overclock but then find that it is not stable past a certain point, the thing to do here is to increase the voltage a touch to the cpu (or ram) untill you get a stable system. You will need to use a process of elimination to determine which of the two components need the extra volts. Be warned increasing the volts will increase your temps, and the stress put on the components, that’s not to say don’t do it, just do it sensibly.

You will need to get better than stock cooling in place to overclock.

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CBizzle

Reading that plus the 101 has helped a lot, and actually I think I will read the 101 again, but thank you for taking the time to respond with such detail. OK, so now thinking I understand it all... how will I know when my system is stable... and are there any general guidelines to follow for a first time OC (such as something like only raising the core clock by 10, and not touching the RAM, or is this going to be somethign very specific to each system?).

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Bunchofstuff

I personal only raise the FSB by 5 , until it becomes unstable then go down by 1 until its stable, you'll know when its stable...if it restarts by itself/ overheating / no display/ etc. it is unstable, and like i said before sometimes you will have to reset the CMOS by switching the jumper, unpluging the system, and takeing the battery out for 10 secs

CBizzle

So is that a safe way, meaning I won't fry anything or overheat anything raising it by 5,then lowering it by 1, as long as I don't let it run at an unstable OC for too long?

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AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer
ABIT AV8 (K8T800 Pro)
1 gig Kingston valure RAM (2x512)
ATI Xtasy 9600 256MB
SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
80 GB Seagate HDD
X-Dreamer II case
Zalman 7700-Cu 120mm CPU fan

Bunchofstuff

It's safe if you let it boot up to windows each time and see how the temps are doing 55 and under is ok , but 30 - 49 is prefered

CBizzle

I just finished with my first OC, tell me if you think it is a decent overclock or if i won't even be noticeable...

Before:
core clock = 200
multiplier = x11.0
FSB = 2200
Vcore = 1.5
Idle temp = 42C

Now:
core clock = 260
multiplier = x11.0
FSB = 2860
Vcore = 1.75
Idle temp = 52C (a little worried/dissapointed with this)

I did have it up past 3000 FSB but idle temp was around 56 - 58, so I took it back down. If i mis-used any terms please correct me, thanks.

__________________
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ ClawHammer
ABIT AV8 (K8T800 Pro)
1 gig Kingston valure RAM (2x512)
ATI Xtasy 9600 256MB
SB Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
80 GB Seagate HDD
X-Dreamer II case
Zalman 7700-Cu 120mm CPU fan