Some info needed!

[dreamnite]

Hello all,

Im new to this forum, so hello from me to you

My 3D score is 3377 on 3dMark2003, 2001se is 11243.

I was wondering if there was any tweaks i can do to my system to overclock, speed it up a bit my spec is:

AMD 2600+
2x512mb PC3200
DFI Lanparty NF2 Ultra Mobo
Radeon 9600pro 128mb
1x 40gig 7200rmp HD
400w PSU

Cooling:
on the AMD i have a coolmaster Aero 7
Case i have the Thermaltake V1000D case with 7 fans running at 2krmp

My mean temp of the comp is around 33-38 depending on the exnternal temp in the room.

Is there anything i can do to it?
I Have OCd the CPU from 166x12.5 to 166x13.5 but dont seem to have any performace increase from doing that. Can i OC my video card? my ram? etc. if so how do i go about that? is there any software for doing this, if so where do i get it from and how much does it cost!!?? lots of Q's i have no clue where to get the A's.!

Im new to this, so any help would be greatfully recieved.

Many thanks

Dreamnite

[daveymark]

sell the 2600 and get a 2500

[littlebird]

My 3D score is 3377 on 3dMark2003, and atm i cant seem to get 2001SE working on my comp, due to DX9b being installed on it.

It doesn't matter if DX9 is installed on your system. That doesn't necessarily mean that you can install an older 3d mark.
I have DX9 installed and I can run both benchmarks.!

ABout your scores, that's basically the level of performance that card has.! I think you can probably tweak the card more but you will not get more than 300 additional 3dmarks.

[The Real Bingo]

You can overclock your video card here.

[beppodmime]

One thing I would do to help performance, is to bump the multiplier on the CPU back down to around 11.5, and instead, increase the CPU host clock (Front side Bus) to 200, instead of 166. And make sure your RAM clock is set to auto, or sync it, or set it to 1:1 ratio (all doing the same thing, setting the memory clock and the CPU host clock to 200MHz). Running your FSB and memory clock in sync will give better performance than running the FSB at 166, and the memory clock at 200. Doing that basically increases latencies between the RAM and the CPU, degrading performance. Heck, you'd probably get a better score just by setting the memory clock to 166MHz, instead of 200MHz.

So, increase the FSB speed to 200MHz, and lower the multiplier to 11.5 (or less, if there are instabilities or random crashes). You may also be able to increase the core voltage of the CPU to help with any stability issues (VCore) in the Power options in the BIOS. Watch your heat, too. Increasing voltage or speed of the CPU will generate more heat.

[dreamnite]

thanks for the feedback.

New: 2003=3850 2001=12400

This setting was 166x13.5 166mem card at 470core/330mem

I got the setting for the video card from the fact the screen went funny if i uped the memory ne more than this. (It has full heatsinks and uprated fan on card)

I liked and understood your post about the FSB/Mem speed, makes sense (hence above was set at 166)

BUT, when i change to 200x11.5 or 11 or 10.5 or 10 and set the mem to auto and / or 1:1, each time i booted it came up with a "physical memory dump"

So i uped the coreV from 1.65 to 1.675 (same thing happened) then from 1.675 - 1.70, thne it happened again, at this point i was getting a little worried to damage something so reset it back to the above.

Is there something i am going wrong? or is my CPU just at it limit?

Also, what would you recommened as a nice core/mem for the video card? is what i have OK, or not, im not sure how far you can push the R9600pro

Maybe im being picky there has been a nice jump with this evenings play.

thanks again

Dreamnite

[beppodmime]

Wow, that's not a bad increase in scores with just sync'ing the FSB speed and memory speed.

Ok, first thing you need to do, is figure out what's causing the problem. From what you posted first, your CPU will seem to handle 2.2GHz just fine, so 11x200 should work. Upping the voltage will probably get you 2.3-2.4GHz, but let's just stick with what you know is good right now, without playing with too much. This does, however, indicate that it is not your CPU that is holding you back.

Assuming that the LanParty board is capable of serving up a 400MHz FSB (which it is), the only other thing I can think of, is that the default voltage to the memory isn't where the manufacturer recommends it be at for stable operation. What brand is the PC3200?
If it is Corsair, or Geil, or another higher performance module, you should probably set the Memory voltage (VDimm) to 2.77. I'm pretty sure most boards default memory voltage to 2.5 or 2.6, and to run the agressive timings of the high-performance DIMM's at their rated speeds, more voltage is usually necessary (My corsair XMS is warranted all the way up to 2.8VDimm, and from the looks of Geil's site, most of their stuff should be fed up to 2.8VDimm, with their higher performance stuff ok to 2.95VDImm). However, you should always keep voltages as low as you can get away with.

Try upping the VDimm to 2.77 or 2.8, and re-boot at a 200MHz FSB, with the multi at 11. The voltage for the RAM should be right next to the CPU voltage. And I'm glad to hear that just tweaking a setting has given you much better results from your system. Hopefully this will help even more. As far as the video card goes, though, I'm afraid I don't know much about overclocking the newer cards, as I don't have any experience (GeForce3 over here). But, I'm sure someone else here does.

EDIT: Oh, and as far as hurting the CPU goes, if you increase voltage a smidge at a time, you aren't really in danger of hurting anything. There are quite a few people here who are running their CPU's with up to 1.85-1.9VCore and are pretty much fine (I've run mine with up to 1.95Vcore, albeit briefly). It's all about how cool the CPU is running. You want to keep a good eye on your temperatures when first testing an overclock, I'd recommend running a burn-in program and monitoring a temperature utility for the CPU and system temps for a bit while the CPU is really stressed.

[dreamnite]

Hey, back again after lots of messing about.

To get to the point, my memory seems to be the problem here. It is the only non branded peice of kit i have in my computer. It is PC3200, from the bargain basements sale of non branded cheapo stuff! Soooo, i dug the reciept out and took it back to the shop, got money back and bougth 128mb of ram to tide me over. Which leads me to the next question.

What ram should I buy ? (Im from the UK if this makes a difference)

I have seen Corsiar or something talked about, I can seem to get XMS pro from my local supplier (Scan.co.uk) at around £100-150 per 512mb ram slot. Also heard of GEIL memory, now not seen this for sale from where i buy my stuff, but took a look at Ebay.co.uk and found that someone selling a lot of them from £72.00 per slot again PC3200 etc etc.

So help me out i dont really know what is what. I mean before this whole thing, i thought ram was ram, and it clearly is not.

The error message i spoke about b4, well i looked it up on Microsoft's website and it stated it was "Ram modual damaged" OR "Memory incorrectly configured for Windows XP" now i know the mem was not damaged. So this is why i took it back, i could not seem to run it at the Volts and speed recommened by you guys and gals.

So, what do you all think? Is the XMS or GEIL better or are they the same, so then i get the best priced one. there is so many different types, varying in price should i buy some really good stuff? or does my system not hit the level where this would be worth it. Im so new to the memory thing.

Any help from you guys would be great, and thanks for enlightening me this far.


Sorry for the baffle and the spelling, dinner is cooking, so in a bit of a rush!

Thanks again.

Dreamnite