Overclocking? Where to Start?

[lmponte 0]

I figured out somewhere that my P4 2.4 with 533 MHz of FSB was being successfully overclocked to a stable 3.0-3.2 GHZ with stock cooling.I wanted to try this out too. Where should I start? I know how to change the CPU clock speed in the BIOS, but is that the only thing I should change? What about voltage? When should I change it?I remember one day I tried changing one of these settings and my system wouldn't boot up, I had to manually set the jumpers to reset the factory CMOS settings. What have I done wrong? Can It happen again?Sorry if there are too many questions, but I am curious if I can step my P4 up a little more with stock cooling (i don't feel comfortable changing the cooling of the CPU)Thanks

[Guest JoeESSA]

3.0 to 3.2GHz sounds too ambitous to me for a 2.4/533 with stock cooling. I have that chip and have it running well at 2.96GHz, i.e. 164MHz FSB speed, with Vcore set to 1.6V. Apart from the CPU itself, core voltage and CPU cooling one of the most important limiting factors in what overclock speed you can attain is the maximum rated speed for your memory modules and memory timing settings and you will need to familiarise and understand those aspects before attempting to overclock your system's FSB. In addition you need to be aware of the impacts to AGP/PCI bus speeds as they are also dependent on FSB speed. I lock my AGP/PCI bus speeds to 66/33MHz so that they are always within spec independent of FSB speed. Not all BIOS's allow you to lock AGP/PCI speeds.If you do not understand everything I have said then do not attempt to overclock your system until such time that you have done a bit of research and do. There's plenty info out there.I use 3DMark2001 and Prime95 to determine system stability. There are more tools. In actual fact 3DMark2001 in demo looping mode is a good overall system stability test tool and will barf more readily than Prime95 with excessive CPU overclocking.Hope this helps,Joe

[Guest ChkSix]

I agree. There are a lot of factors that contribute to overclocking, from motherboard to memory to your actual batch cpu. Why don't you tell us what you have (with the exception of batc # for cpu since most throw away their intel boxes if they built the computer themselves) and we can go from there.3.0-3.2 is very high for a 2.4b processor with stock cooling.SixP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe1gb Corsair XMS PC3500 Asus V9950 FX5900 Ultra 256mb 500/950SB Audigy2 Platinum ExPioneer Trayless 16x DVDLite On 52x CDRSunBeam RaybusVantec Stealth 520watt PSULian Li PC-75 Modded BlackDTek TC-4 Cpu WaterblockSwiftech MCW50 Video WaterblockEheim 1250 318GPH pumpBay Res 5 1/4Black Ice X2 Radiator (quad 120mm)Sony CPD-G520 21"Klipsch Promedia 4.1Eluminx El KeyboardLogitech Dual OpticalSaitek X-45 HotasPics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

If you want to start somewhere.. try increasing the FSB speed, assuming your motherboard bios allows this..I'm running my P4-2.4 with stock cooling at 150 Mhz bus clock, up from the 133 default. (4 x 133 =533..) No other changes required.This turns your P4-2.4 into a P4-2.8.If your system does not run stable at this setting, cut back toward 133 in steps.. and/or start reading up on "serious" overclocking which involves voltages, cooling, and potentially terminal hardware problems..

[lmponte 0]

Ok, I might try that, changing just the FSB, right?BTW, how do I lock my PCI/AGP bus on 33/66? I don't think I have that option on the bios.My complete specs are as follows:Asus P4S533-E MotherboardPentium IV Northwood 2.4b512 MB DDR PC2100GeForce 4 Ti4200 128MBSoundBlaster Audigy 2 Platinum eXSeagate 40 GB hard driveLG 52x CD-ROM LG CD-RW 40-12-40300W Power Supply

[Bert Pieke 7,585]

Correct, just change the FSB... if you cannot lock the PCI bus, do not worry too much, I'm letting the PCI bus change with the FSB and it is still stable.. Your memory, however, may limit how far you can go..My specs:Asus P4PE board, Ti4200, but 512 Meg PC2700 memory!

[Guest ChkSix]

The ram might just been your bottleneck to supersonic overclocks.MikeP4 2.4C @3.44 285FSBAsus P4C800 Deluxe1gb Corsair XMS PC3500 Asus V9950 FX5900 Ultra 256mb 500/950SB Audigy2 Platinum ExWatercooled baby!!!Pics: http://community.webshots.com/user/chksix2002