Heeeelp meee!

[Scumgrief]

I also made a thread at Beyondunreal (http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?p=1374393#post1374393)

Here are my system specs:

Enermax EG465P-VE FC power supply

AMD Athlon 2500+ Barton Core
- code is AQXEA 0347 XPMW

Abit NF7-S mobo, ver 2.0

Coolermaster Aero 7+ HSF (teh huge!)

768MB Kingston PC2100. I'll eventually buy matching pairs of either 256MB (512MB total) or 512MB (1GB total) of the Corsair XMS PC3200 depending on my cash flow.

So, atm my memory is clocked at 266MHz, my CPU at 333MHz, and my mobo at 400MHz? With my current setup, should I even try to overclock?

Say it's now the perfect world and I have 1GB of the PC3200 (DDR400) RAM. What do I do to get the thing running with a 400MHz FSB? I don't care how fast I can get it to go (clock cycle)... I just want the CPU bandwidth to match up with the memory & mobo capabilities.

I've never OC'd so I have no clue what I'm doing..

[spineblaZe]

Originally posted by Scumn00b
With my current setup, should I even try to overclock?

No, the actual performance gains you'll get probably won't be worth the trouble. When I say "actual gains" I mean Frames Per Second. If you overclock, sure you'll have bigger MHz numbers, but are you really going to notice a 3 Frame per second gain? Probably not.

My rule of thumb is if I can't get at LEAST 10 FPS more from a safe OC, I'm not going to do it. The other thing is money. Many people say they OC because they are trying to save cash, but they don't realize they are spending more cash to overclock than it would have cost to simply get a faster chip. You'll be dealing with excess heat, noisy fans and stability issues.



(BTW, that CPU fan rocks! I have the same kind :D (http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?t=121720) If you were to OC, that would be good enough for the processor at least)

[Swedix]

Ask 100 people and you have 101 expert tips :D

TweakTown have a pretty interesting guide you could start with: Read here (http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=guide&dId=376).
After reading this, you will better understand what you are doing. ( At least I hope so :) )

[edhe]

With that ram? No. With 3200? stick your FSB to 200 and you're sorted.

With that heatsink? fine. I've got the same.

You may require some minor voltage redistribution - talk to loib, he's done it.

That should instantly put your 2500 beyond 3000 speeds (i bought a 3200 'cos i could, and because there's apparently a crackdown on the 2500 unlockability... oh and naturally rated speeds are better than OCd ones)

I'm planning on taking my 3200 w/3200 ram up a few notches, seeing about touching 3500 ;)

5x case fans, + hdd cooler & fan controller w/fan + aero 7+ and antec powersupply w/ 120mm underside fan should keep things ok ...

Btw, with the external controller for the aero7 (tacky as it feels) and a fan controller, if you have one, and with intelligent overclocking software (like the ATi overdrive feature) and a little bit of help & specification knowledge, you can eek the max out your system without too much bother.

As one silcon chip said to the other... "Do you want to live forever?"

[edhe]

Oh.. and loud speakers....

[Pope]

If you've got a crappy video card, OCing the CPU is close to worthless.

[BigFolks]

I've gotten 10-20 fps for the lows when I benchmarked my UT2003 and 4. I have a 3200+ Barton, a Radeon 9800 pro, and 512mb ddr all 400 bus. Pretend I did overclock my rig, how fast would it be and would my lows still float around the 10-20 fps area or would they be well into the 20-30-40 fps range? Just asking.

P.S. Don't believe me about the lows, click here (http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=352949).