How much can I pull out of the 2800+?

[H&h]

OK so I decided to do a bit of an overclock. The FSB clock is currently at 167mhz. How much can I raise it? My tempreature is 40C idle. And what about those memory timings? What the heck are those? Please help me out. Oh, I'm running on a K7N2 Delta ILSR mobo

[rpertusio]

Memory timings? You should read OCFaq's Guide to RAM latency. Generally lower numbers are better!
Lower memory timings mean you can't increase the FSB as much. Some people have found that high (slow) memory timings allows them to reach a very high FSB.. which ends up being faster than if they had low (faster) memory timings a and a low FSB.

I typically hear people overclocking the Barton to 2.4ghz or less. You could gradually work your way up to a 14x multiplier at 166mhz FSB. (Or, a 13x multiplier @180mhz FSB might be more attainable.. hard to say.)

A higher core voltage will help you overclock better, *but* it increases the heat produced by your processor. You'll want to keep an eye on your temperatures. Once you start nearing 45-50c idle temps, you are getting too warm. You might think about investing in some cooling for your system, or maybe a new heatsink (and some thermal compound!)

Before you continue with any adjustments, be sure you know where your CMOS reset jumper is! If you overclock too far, you may be unable to boot your system. You will need to clear your CMOS, which defaults all your BIOS settings.

These are just some general suggestions. You might want to look around the web for some overclocking instructions.. which can go into a lot more detail than what I have briefly mentioned.

- rp

[H&h]

Thanx for your help!BTW I can't seem to find the multiplier but I know it's 12.How much can I increase the FSB if the multiplier is 12? Please be patient with me

[VHockey86]

you should be able to go into the BIOS and simply increase it... however this depends somewhat on the motherboard. Some are more overclock friendly than others. You might see an option near the FSB for like "mhz stepping" or something of that nature. Your motherboard manual's BIOS chapter would probably a good referene for "how do I change this or that"

[rpertusio]

Originally posted by H&h
How much can I increase the FSB if the multiplier is 12? Please be patient with me

This may sound like I'm avoiding your question, but I'm not. Just keep raising the FSB until you can go no more. You may have to reset the CMOS and try it a few times, until you get a good stable speed.

Most people tend to increase the Mhz by "8mhz" at a time. (I don't know how '8' is the magic number, but whatever works.)

*In Theory*, you could set a high goal of 200mhz FSB. It is unlikely you will reach that high, but it might give you a good idea of what the theoretical limit is.

It is also important to have good RAM when overclocking. Increasing the FSB will increase the RAM speed too. If your RAM cannot handle it, your overclock will not work. I would recommend at least PC3200 DDR at the minimum.

- rp

[H&h]

The problem is that if I open the case, I lose my guaranty (the PC is 4 monts old).I have the Kingston HyperX PC3200 at 400 Mhz.I'll try increasing just a few Mhz and see what happends.
Thanx for your help, I appreciate it

[VHockey86]

does the case have some sort of a seal on it?
I'm just curious how they'd ever know you opend it lol

[rourkchris]

Your multiplier is 12.5 I believe. What type of cooling do you have? Proper CPU and case cooling is required for a successful overclock. Sounds like your mobo and RAM can handle 200MHz FSB. With adequete cooling, a good chip, and a little luck you might be able to get 2500MHz out of that XP2800+. I'm not saying that you'll hit that speed only that it's reasonably possible with what I know of your setup. Good luck and keep us posted.

[rourkchris]

Your RAM timings for your Kingston HyperX PC3200 should be 2-3-2-6-1T.

[John Prophet]

I dont do much overclocking but I know a little of the theory of it....what happens is that when you raise the fsb you are raising everything else also...in other words you are pushing the ram, the pci cards etc etc. So some of it depends on the motherboard and the "dividers" etc...some motherboards have different dividers so that when you raise the fsb you can use a different divider to keep from pushing the video/pci cards too much.

In general you have 2 different ways to over clock...you have fsb and you have multipliers....if the cpu is "locked" that means the multiplier cant be changed (unless you can find a way to unlock it)...so you only have the choice of fsb. So basically you raise it till something fails...then you usually have to reset the bios to get it to reboot and you go back to the setting you had just before it locked up or whatever.

At that point you can leave it alone or you can try to figure out WHAT locked up...thats where the ram memory settings come into play....cuz the latency settings etc can themselves be 'agressive" or "mild" etc......if the ram is the thing locking up then you need to find some more conservative settings and then maybe you can push the fsb a bit higher.

Then you can also get into increasing the cpu voltage slightly and/or increasing the ram voltage slightly etc.

raised voltages usually allow slightly higher speeds but they also make more heat.

If it boots ok at a certain spped but then locks up a bit later..it could be a heat issue...so you have to look at cooling issues etc.

I suppose what you want to do is set everything at its most conservative settings....see how high you can push the cpu...find its limit..THEN start to also push the ram and video settings etc.

Of course there are a thousand and 1 overclocking sites, lol.

JP

edit------------

if you can "unlock" the cpu multiplier you have a better chance of really ringing out the cpu speed..cuz you can play with the fsb/multiplier so that you are really pushing the cpu but not the rest of the stuff such as pci cards and video cards....so by keeping those things in line you are more or less only worrying about the cpu.