How To Overclock

[czGLoRy]

Odd, i looked at FAQ and it doesnt say how to overclock actually. Can anyone tell me the basics?

 

intel pentium 4 3.4 ghz

radeon 9800 xt graphics

2x512 kingston ram pc3200

 

I think the graphics card is fine the way it is, but maybe Ocing the rest would help, i have NO IDEA how to do this.

Edited January 6, 2005 by czGLoRy

[CmpFreak88]

Might want to check the helpful Overclocking FAQ. Lots of great stuff and tells you all the basics. Good luck.

[czGLoRy]

Might want to check the helpful Overclocking FAQ. Lots of great stuff and tells you all the basics. Good luck.

388784[/snapback]

 

hm, i guess i could use the tool, but i dont know what settings to use for the MOBO, and i dont know how to open the bios for ram either, dont know what to set, but the FAQ is pretty useful.

 

thanks

[CmpFreak88]

Can you help us out a little bit and post your complete system specs?

[czGLoRy]

Can you help us out a little bit and post your complete system specs?

388789[/snapback]

 

processor:

Intel Pentium IV 3.4 GHz

800 MHz FSB

1MB Cache

478-Pin Socket

Support Hyper Threading

 

motherboard:

ECS 848P-A Pentium 4

Support Hyper Threading

5 PCI, 8x/4x AGP, 1 CNR

6 USB 2.0

Realtek LAN, Serial & LPT Port

 

ram:

Kingston 1GB DDR

PC3200

400 MHz

 

video card:

ATI Radeon 9800 XT

DVI-Out, TV-Out, CRT

VIVO

256 MB DDR

 

3 fans, efficient case,

35* celcius cpu with avg workload on idle

26 * celcius hdd idle

 

Windows XP PRO

 

IOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG

Processor: Intel® Pentium® 4 CPU 3.40GHz (2 CPUs)

Memory: 1024MB RAM

Page File: 382MB used, 2079MB available

Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicod

 

 

is this enough?

Edited January 6, 2005 by czGLoRy

[cybergrunt69]

you got the basics, but you'll prolly also want to post what type of mobo you have (make/model), as well as what type of cooling.

 

In general, the main parts to OC'ing the cpu is to change voltages, freq, and the multiplier (I think it's locked on intel though - i'm an amd guy).

[czGLoRy]

you got the basics, but you'll prolly also want to post what type of mobo you have (make/model), as well as what type of cooling.

 

In general, the main parts to OC'ing the cpu is to change voltages, freq, and the multiplier (I think it's locked on intel though - i'm an amd guy).

388797[/snapback]

 

im guessing you said this while i was typing the specs ><

i dont know anything about amd, they seem to be more expensive for a slower processor

[Vampire]

AMD's Athlon 64 CPU's may seem slower in cycles per second wise, but in fact the architecture makes up for them and makes then faster for gaming and other apps, hence the pricetage.

 

Back to your question though, you obviously overclock through the BIOS. In there you can change a range of different things, the main ones you will need to look at are Front Side Bus (FSB) and the CPU Core Voltage (vcore). You want to be cautious when upping the vcore, you can damage your cpu if you go too high, but if you're careful and dont go to high you'll be right. Ok, the way your CPU speed is calculated is FSB x multiplier, which in your case should be 17, you cant change this since you have P4 and the multiplier is locked. Thats ok though, you do your overclocking by changing the FSB.

 

Slowly increase the FSB (probably 5mhz at a time, ie 85mhz overall [17 x 5]). Once you change it, go into windows and run a program that loads your CPU to 100% such as prime95. Leave it for a while, if it does not crash then your system should be stable. Keep an eye on your CPU temps during this time, if they get too high I wouldnt suggest overclocking any higher. If however it freezes, then your system is unstable and you need to raise the vcore (raising vcore = heat).

 

One important thing is to keep the AGP:PCI frequencies as close to 66mhz:33mhz as possible, you can find this in your BIOS.

 

Any further questions just ask.

[czGLoRy]

AMD's Athlon 64 CPU's may seem slower in cycles per second wise, but in fact the architecture makes up for them and makes then faster for gaming and other apps, hence the pricetage.

 

Back to your question though, you obviously overclock through the BIOS.  In there you can change a range of different things, the main ones you will need to look at are Front Side Bus (FSB) and the CPU Core Voltage (vcore).  You want to be cautious when upping the vcore, you can damage your cpu if you go too high, but if you're careful and dont go to high you'll be right.  Ok, the way your CPU speed is calculated is FSB x multiplier, which in your case should be 17, you cant change this since you have P4 and the multiplier is locked.  Thats ok though, you do your overclocking by changing the FSB.

 

Slowly increase the FSB (probably 5mhz at a time, ie 85mhz overall [17 x 5]).  Once you change it, go into windows and run a program that loads your CPU to 100% such as prime95.  Leave it for a while, if it does not crash then your system should be stable.  Keep an eye on your CPU temps during this time, if they get too high I wouldnt suggest overclocking any higher.  If however it freezes, then your system is unstable and you need to raise the vcore (raising vcore = heat).

 

One important thing is to keep the AGP:PCI frequencies as close to 66mhz:33mhz as possible, you can find this in your BIOS.

 

Any further questions just ask.

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would it be more effective to overclock ram or processor for max performance? how do i open the bios? (sorry... i probably have worked in it before just dont nokw its called a "bios" my best guess would be the f8 function while rebooting to modify stuff)

[guzzidom]

Thats right, F8 (or f2 or ESC, depends on mobo), not sure if your ECS board will allow you to manually step up your fsb (most do) thats probably the easiest way for a nooby to get a bit extra, like the man says above do it in baby steps, on your stock cooling I doubt much more than 10% (eventually) will be practical, you may have to raise your vcore 0.25v or so to get much further which may get things a bit too warm...

[czGLoRy]

Thats right, F8 (or f2 or ESC, depends on mobo), not sure if your ECS  board will allow you to manually step up your fsb (most do) thats probably the easiest way for a nooby to get a bit extra, like the man says above do it in baby steps, on your stock cooling I doubt much more than 10% (eventually) will be practical, you may have to raise your vcore 0.25v or so to get much further which may get things a bit too warm...

389288[/snapback]

 

ok well, i had a 3.4 ghz and its not 3.6 and its not heating up at all... actually... its 3 degrees lower somehow confusing me but ne ways lol

 

i did something with ram (i saw no 80hz thing to raise to 85) that was "normal, double turbo ultra" selections, io picked turbo. I didnt know ram had preset abilities to overclock!

[smokeysz4]

hey i have the same motherboard, but a different processor, i have the ECS 848P-A motherboard (which i think is the same) but my processor is the 3.2GHz.

 

I found my BIOS but I can't find the FSB options, maybe my motherboard doesnt support the manual change, unless you can find it and i cant, im kind of a noob at OCing so if you could help that would be great.