advice on pc

**dx8976** · October 26th, 2003 06:39 PM

if it's just punching in some numbers into the bios, i should be able to do that. i figure i'll just match your settings and that should be fine? do i have to switch some of the jumpers on the motherboard as well? can you help me identify which ones?

pati video card naooverclock?

**pajerokid** · October 26th, 2003 06:45 PM

everything is in your prospective mobo's manual.

I'm confident you can do it dude! And yes, all you have to do is select some numbers and your done

Yung video card overclocking only gives performance improvements in 3D games, as 2D apps dont greatly benefit from this.

I'll try to search for good newbie overclocking guides over the internet. post ko links later.

**mbt** · October 26th, 2003 07:26 PM

dx8976,

the tough part is determining if your PC is completely stable at a certain overclocked setting. yung mga talagang hardcore tinetesting yung pc for days with intensive diagnostic programs to check if the machine is 100% stable. hindi guaranteed na magagaya mo yung settings ni PK even if you have identical hardware. your mileage will vary ikanga :D if complete stability is essential for your machine or if you won't be using or needing the additional speed (for example, your machine is a home server or used for some other non-entertainment purpose or the only game you play is minesweeper :D), it is HIGHLY recommended not to overclock any component of it. but otherwise, you can get more for WAAAAAAY less with overclocking components.

most motherboards now are jumperless, so overclocking is just a matter of changing a few settings in the BIOS. any decent high-end motherboard now should let you overclock easily and safely.

up the FSB to 400 MHz (if you've got PC3200 memory, and if you have an nForce2 ultra400 mobo) and then up the CPU multiplier a few notches, and that's basically it. then test at the new settings, if it's stable, congratulations :D. if the system crashes (whether at boot, at POST, at windows, or at games), decrease the CPU multiplier one notch until the machine is stable (you may wish to increase the FSB speed to fine tune the final CPU speed, but unless you've got extremely high-quality RAM, it's not recommended).

keep in mind that overclocking will increase the heat output of your CPU... and heat limits overclocking and excessive amounts will kill your CPU outright. that's why the hardcores (like PK :D) use copper or composite heat sinks that weigh a ton and cost about as much. optimizing airflow inside your PC case is particularly important when overclocking.

video card overclocking is simpler... change the speed of the video card's core processor and RAM in windows (through a third party program like Powerstrip or through the driver settings if its available), test out stability in games, then adjust until stable.

**dx8976** · October 26th, 2003 10:20 PM

pk: buti you're confident... kaw na lang magsetup :D

mbt: if the mem is pc333, then cannot up fsb to 400?

**krscla** · October 26th, 2003 10:24 PM

+10% is recommended when overclocking. :D

**mbt** · October 26th, 2003 10:43 PM

dx8976,

nope. technically, you can run your RAM at a different speed from the FSB, but overall performance will be significantly lower. konting konti lang naman yung difference ng DDR333 sa DDR400 na ram, about a couple of hundred bucks lang

**dx8976** · October 26th, 2003 11:19 PM

in all the reviews i've read, pc333 was recommended as being faster than pc400. i don't get it, but that's what they say. any ideas?

**dx8976** · October 27th, 2003 12:39 AM

DDR400 memory from TwinMos was available for testing the first KT400 arrivals, but it could not be used reliably with a CAS latency (CL) of 2. We are therefore unable to say whether CL2 would boost performance over CL2.5.

We ran all the tests for this article using a different memory module:

The crème de la crème: PC3200 DDR400 memory from Corsair, CL2-capable.

The operation of this DIMM module, with demanding timing settings, was no problem with most KT400 motherboards. However, we were brought right back down to earth when we realized that even this memory didn't boost performance much over DDR333 (also with CL2); see our benchmark section for more details.

Therefore, the editor's choice for the most useful memory is definitely DDR333. The modules for operation in CL2 mode are affordable and, by today's standards, certainly not any slower than DDR400. The latter is still hard to find for CL2.
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This has to do with two factors: the first factor is that the manufacturers still seem to have trouble getting maximum performance with the new chipset - most likely due to the JEDEC specification for DDR400, which are still missing. This means that each manufacturer must test and validate as many memory types as possible, otherwise the differences and problems cannot be ruled out. The consequences are that conservative memory timings are the order of the day for now. The second factor is that the reliable timings are anything but fast - in light of the results, the advantages of high memory clock speeds are completely nullified by the slow timings.
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Probably the most important step forward for the Athlon was changing from SDRAM to DDR RAM. Further performance increases were brought about by boosting the clock from 266 to 333 MHz, while the DDR400 was proven to offer very little in the way of extra performance. The reason for this is that the time it takes to synchronize the memory and the FSB clock negates the time gained by the faster clock speed.

in any case, what's been the experience of people who have used the ddr400? medyo luma na rin kasi yung mga articles.

**pajerokid** · October 27th, 2003 02:18 PM

dx, i strongly suggest against doing any memory overclocking. I did that last week and my pc did not boot. i had to reset the bios.

Yes, you need DDR400 memory to be stable at DDR400 Speeds. Kaunti lang naman matitipid if you get DDR333 eh. The benefits definitely outweigh the small premium.

Back to overclocking....

If you do get a Barton 2500+, you can safely overclock it to 10.5 x 400. This will give you the performance of the AthlonXP 3000+.

You can test stability by downloading SiSoft Sandra and using its burn-in wizard. pag nag-hang, hindi stable yung system.

For sure, the Barton 2500+ can handle this. Its one very good processor. You can run the proc like this for a week. after which you can try moving up to 3200+ speeds!!! Of course kung satisfied ka na sa 3000+, then you can stop then and there :D

If hindi stable, the remedy is to increase the voltage from 1.65V(default), to 1.7V. This is the only scenario wherein an increase in CPU temperature occurs. If you dont increase the voltage, the CPU temp will remain the same.