Help on overclocking

[stewsy]

I don't know wether I'm in the right thread but I need help to try and overclock my machine if it can be done. If anyone out there can help it would be much appreciated


:splease

[easy]

Some more details would be nice...... ? not really the right section aswell

[Gunnzie]

Post details of MB, CPU, Graphics card and memory and we'll try and help.

[stewsy]

Hi

I'm running XP Pro, with a Athlon 1800 processor,dont know about the motherboard,384 ram, and a 64 meg GFORCE 2 MX/MX 400 Graphics card. Anyway I could find more info on the MOtherboard

[danthescan]

At startup when you first turn it on the BIOS String should give you a clue start from there.

[easy]

Try finding a program called aida 32 mate, its free software that tells you everything you pretty much want to know about your computer

[stewsy]

Hope this helps guys

• VT8366-8233 Motherboard
• gforce2 64 mb graphic card
• 384 ram

[Gunnzie]

Yes you've got an Epox 8KHA+ motherboard. Now just need more info about the memory - we dont want to fry it i.e. manufacturer, code.

[Gunnzie]

First steps are :

1. Ensure you have a good heatsink. I recommend Thermalright SLK-800 or 900 for overclocking (but I'm sure others will have different opinions)
2. Make sure you've used a decent thermal compound (like Arctic Silver or Artic Ceramic)
3. Install a monitor such as Motherboard Monitor or similar which will read the thermal diode temperatures while running Windows.
4. Install some CPU burn in software which will ensure everything is stable at 100% load.

Then once up and running and we've got more info about the memory (at least what type it is like PC2100 or PC2700, etc), we can start exploring things like upping the FSB and increasing the vcore (if neccessary)

[easy]

Hope this helps guys

• VT8366-8233 Motherboard
• gforce2 64 mb graphic card
• 384 ram

Quite an old system then. Try reading this http://www.3dvelocity.com/reviews/xp2k+/2000plus_5.htm

Paying special attention the back page where it talks of overclocking.

[stewsy]

thanks for all the info guys. I got 2 sticks in my pc

1. SDRAM-PC133-256mb

2.lg SEMICONDUCTOR SDRAM PC100-128mb

Hope this is enough info

[Gunnzie]

Mmm are you sure you have PC100 memory in there ? Seems a bit of a bottleneck considering the XP 1800 has default FSB of 133.

Plus it is very bad practice to run two stick of memory with different timings.

Anyway, I would assume that the motherboard allows the memory bus to run at a different speed to that of the CPU (either that or you are currently running your XP 1800 with a 100 FSB)

I dont have any experience of Epox motherboards - I stick to Asus or Abit personally.

[Gunnzie]

Personally I wouldnt bother overclocking that beast of a machine. If you increase the FSB of the CPU successfully, you are still going to be bottlenecked by the memory.

I'd also be tempted to just remove the 128mb PC100 memory and live with 256mb which would at least then run at 133mhz. Surely thats better than 384mb running at 100mhz (the 256MB PC133 will just run at the lower 100mhz because of the PC100 in there).

If I was you, I would look at upgrading your system rather than trying to overclock it. The 1800 isnt the best overclocker anyway imo and it runs pretty hot. If you cannot afford it, I'd sell the memory youve got and replace it with PC2100. This runs at 266mhz so as you start increasing the FSB of the CPU, you'll know its the limit of the CPU and not the memory once you reach a stable limit. Plus you want your memory running at least the same speed as the CPU.

[Gunnzie]

Actually I think I might have meant PC2700 as PC2100 is just running at 133mhz but at double data rate. So PC2700 would be better.

[stewsy]

What would you recommend I get in sense of Motherboard,Ram and proccessor?????

[Violator]

What would you recommend I get in sense of Motherboard,Ram and proccessor?????

Depends entirely on your budget m8

[Gunnzie]

Assuming there isnt much of a budget (i.e. wanting to overclock the thing), I would stick with the motherboard for now. A bit outdated now but not too bad.

Having taken a quick look at the spec of that motherboard, it will take a max cpu of XP Thoroughbred 2600+. Plus I'd get some PC2100 mem for it - say 512mb.

You could pick up an Athlon 2400 for about 50 quid and 512mb PC2100 for about 70.

If you do, I would recommend updating the BIOS on the motherboard to the latest. Quite often later CPUs are not supported in the original BIOS and require it to be flashed. I'd do this before changing the existing system.

But I'm not sure if I would bother or not. Personally when I change my CPU, I change my mb at the same time.

My recommendation would be to get a newer motherboard and pick up a Athlon XP Mobile CPU. These are great ************ as they are multiplier unlocked. Although some desktop CPUs are unlocked they are hard to get hold of at the moment. The Mobile range are all unlocked. For example a Athlon XP M 2400 can be picked up for about 50 quid (same as desktop version) but will have a lot more overclocking potential. In fact you can pick up mb these days that have built in VGA that will outperform your current graphics card - hence you could sell that off too.

You could sell the current mb,cpu and mem as a bundle on ebay and then hopefully only be forking out a reasonable amount for the new parts.

For example :

Asus A7N8X-VM (onboard video Geforce 4 MX) = around £55
Athlon XP Mobile 2400 = Around £50
256Mb PC2700 = Around £45

Total around £150

Selling on ebay :

mb+XP1800+256 PC2100 mem = Around £50-£60 (theres a mb and 1800 cpu currently on £41 with half a day to go and thats without mem)
Geforce2 MX = Around £20 (judginf by finished items on ebay)

Total = Around £80

So total outlay is around £70.

That would be my suggestion rather than messing around overclocking the existing system. Only my opinion though.

Also, you would need to double check that the Athlon Mobile CPUs are compatible with the motherboard mentioned but I dont see why not. Plus you could also find an alternative motherboard with similar spec (e.g. onboard vga).

Now I dont normally recommend onboard vga but I assume you are on a tight budget and it is at least going to be better than that geforce2 mx. Plus you still get a AGP port for future upgrade.

[Gunnzie]

No idea why that got the *********** treatment. It only said "************" (now lets see if it gets ****'d out again.

[Gunnzie]

over clockers. Why does it get the *********** treatment when I post it as one word ?

[stewsy]

Thanks for the info Tridion, I'm going to have a look for products now on all the info you gave me, but one thing I don't understand is how to update the bios on my motherboard