Overclocking

[SawTooTH]

OKay I dont usually do this although I believe I have the right kit in place to do this.

I have an NForce 2 board (Chaintech Zennith)
Water cooled cpu, Northbridge and graphics card,
I have geil 400MHz Ultra, 1Gb matched set (2X500) http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/ultra3200.jpg
and an XP3200+

Currently Im running them at supposedly "agressive" values but have little idea about how to overclock safely. Whats the best setting to change safely/incrementally. I know from the bios that I can increase memory by 1MHz steps. I feel this is safer than say altering the multiplyer as I imagine the changes are bigger this way.

Also Im not sure Im running my RAM under Idael circumstances, Its CAS 2 btw but Im just using the Noddy aggressive mode in the Bios. If I use expert mode it brings up another level of difficulty but Im willing to give it a try (if only I knew precisely what I was doing) It says CAS 2 6-3-3

Do I need to do any modifications to the 3200 before further overclocking can be done (Im not sure this is neccesary as I thought most of these mods were to downgraded chips whilst mine is a genuine 3200?)

Any links to useful sites or direct advice would be appreciated.

Ta

 

[wyrd_fish]

try changing the multiplyer (down rather than up, for the moment)

if the multiplyer resets itself when you reboot then you need to unlock it

google can help with unlocking

(and a good tip is to make a note of the origional settings)

PS, as long as you leave the front side bus, or CPU external frequancy, alone I'd leave the RAM settings alone

PPS, the clock speed = multiplyer X external frequency

PPPS, i'm sure there's alot more people here with more experience than me

---------------------

i managed to overclock my 1800 duron (1600mhz) to 1700mhz* but i did change the external frequency quite dramatically, all teh way up to 200, from 133, so my RAM and chipset are now pulling there weight

*it won't go any faster with any amount of over volting

 

[SilverHood]

Messing with the RAM hardly seems worth it to me.

On your 3200 - 3 ways of overclocking it safely - upping clock multiplier, upping FSB and upping voltage (vcore).

How much do you want to OC it by?
And before you do anything, write down your
FSB speed
Clock Multiplier
VCore

These forums are quite handy:
http://forums.devhardware.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

Some real nerds there, squezing every last mhz out of their CPU's

 

[wyrd_fish]

but if you up you FSB, you need to sync it with your RAM, other wise you get a major performance hit, or so i've heard, not tried myself

 

[MrBlack]

Jam your FSB up to 350MHz, then turn your PC on with a long stick from behind the sofa. The keening noise it makes is just your PC being happy.

 

[wyrd_fish]

dude, with a 3200+ hiss FSB should already be at 400

 

[Danya]

I dunno if 3200+s are locked like the newer 2500+s but they may well be. On an nforce2 board you shouldn't need to do any multiplier unlocking - the board will do it for you (if it's possible).

 

[wyrd_fish]

it does!!!

wow, this changes everything...

 

[SawTooTH]

Its running at 400 fsb but I believe people do push it a bit higher.

 

[Mr.Monkey]

Messing with the RAM hardly seems worth it to me.

On your 3200 - 3 ways of overclocking it safely - upping clock multiplier, upping FSB and upping voltage (vcore).

How much do you want to OC it by?
And before you do anything, write down your
FSB speed
Clock Multiplier
VCore

These forums are quite handy:
http://forums.devhardware.com/forumdisplay.php?f=7

Some real nerds there, squezing every last mhz out of their CPU's

I'd just like to add that upping the voltage won't make any difference to your cpu speed. Not one bit.
It can, however, make a system more stable if you have upped the multiplier and FSB (ie needs more power).

 

[wyrd_fish]

On an nforce2 board you shouldn't need to do any multiplier unlocking - the board will do it for you (if it's possible).

hold on, are you sure....

a friend of mines 3000+ wasn't automatically unlocked, you could change it, but it just reverted when you rebooted

 

[SawTooTH]

When I clocked it slower it always says its a 2500+, however when I return it to 400 it says 3200.

 

[wyrd_fish]

what where you changing, the FSB or the multiplyer?

 

[Danya]

When you say changes back, do you mean you change in the bios and then it resets when you reboot? Cos that sounds like a locked chip to me.

If you up the fsb it'll overclock regardless of locking or not. And a 2500 and 3200 only differ by fsb (chips are 11x166 and 11x200).

 

[SawTooTH]

I tried lowering the FSB (This when I discovered my so called PC3200 wasnt up to much) to gain some stability.

Having read the NV40 benchmarking thread Im wondering whether Id be better off just upgrading the old graphics card (9700pro) when the newer cards come out next month.