Help with Overclocking my system

[Demon_of_Elru]

I've been wanting overclock my system for awhile now, after reading all these posts about people doing it. I aint got a CLUE how to do it, and I'm sure theres others like me who would like to know how, and I dont wanna break anything if I mess around with it.

Heres my system info:

CPU: Pentium 4 2400mhz
Bus Speed (whatever that is): 133mhz
Motherboard: ASUSTeK P4S333
Memory RAM: 512mb DDR333 PC2700
OS: Windows XP Pro
Vid Card: Geforce 4 Ti 4200 128mb

I understand that the fan has something to do with OCing but I dont know what

Can anyone help me out? like in idiot terms so I can understand? heheh. Also let me know if theres something I need to enable OCing.

I'm thinking of buying another 512mb stick of RAM and I'll be getting a Radeon 9800 pro soon...

Anyway if anyone can help me out, I'd be most greatful ^-^

Also I've tried looking through this forum for a post like this. I aint found anything, but if there is one, please send me the link and I'll delete this post.

[SSJChrono]

nice Sig yo.

OK here is the skinny on this mother. (Some one should sticky this cause i hate repeating my self)

Bus Speed = 133 x 4. 133 is the Front Side Bus.
The core clock speed is 2400. That is determined by the FSB(133) times the multipler. Which is obviosly 18. On intel systems (and even on the new AMD's) You can not change the Multi; it is locked. However you can change the FSB. Now Higher FSB will always be better than Higher clock rate, but since you have intel system and you can not change the multi, it does not matter.

Now Ram speed is always set in Ratio to your FSB. for example.
PC2700 = 333mhz. now Divide that by 2. and you get 166. 166 is measured against the 133. So a divide of 4:5 is given. unless you OC the bus to 166 then 1:1 is given. Its kinda of confusing, but you can only go as fast as your ram allows, until you have to go down a divider. But the ram should be able to hold for a little while, but iwould advise getting at least PC3200. I dont know but i think that the SiS chipset can supoprt dual channel. So buy your next ram in sets of two. (You cant really use two different speeds of ram effectivly, or even at all.)

Now Fans. As you OC, you may have to up the vcore. That makes more heat as more electrons are passing though the TINY microprocessor. Thus heat. (ThermalDynamics 101) So you have to disapate that heat with a heatsink. The best HSF(Heatsink Fan) is a ThermalRight SP-94. The best Fan for that is a Vantec or maybe even an Aeroflow. But i just use a smartfan II from thermaltake.

To do all this OCing you have to have a bios that allows it. Asus is preatty good at OCing P4's although you have a rather bad Asus board for it. But I'm sure you can do SOMETHING with it. Go into the bios and check it out. (Dont really change anything just look around) carefull if you do something the machine cant do you may have to clear the cmos.

Go here and ask me. The people there can help you alot more than i can. http://www.hardwarewiz.com/

[Demon_of_Elru]

Thanks for the info. I understand how it works a little better now.

I'm gonna buy a new motherboard: P4 MSI 865PE Neo2-LS

It has features that allow easy OCing for people who dont understand that stuff to well (just like me ). It supports DDR 400 aswell.

Also, I was looking at the "Thermaltake Xaser III" tower case. You know if thats anygood?

[Jaggers]

The system processor and memory speeds can be overclocked in the BIOS as Chrono said. If you want to OC your video card do a search on Riva Tuner. Careful though, it's a big file to download (I think it's over 400MB), so you'll need a big fat bandwidth. If you do decide to download it, you'll want to tweak the low level system settings. Keep testing it at different degrees by loading up a benchmark program or game to see how far you can OC the core clock and the memory clock without getting glitches and blips and various other witchcraft during gameplay. If you have any questions about how to use it, then just ask.

I was able to safely OC my video card from a core clock speed of 250MHz to 315MHz, and memory clock speed from 333MHz to 391MHz. That gave me an extra 10%-15% on benchmark programs. If there's a better way to OC the video card, I don't know it (which isn't saying much, lol).

[Demon_of_Elru]

I've just bought the "Sapphire Radeon 9800 pro 256mb" video card.

I removed my old vid card, the "Geforce4 Ti 4200 128mb" and replaced it with the Radeon. When I started my comp it kept saying "CPU failed test" over and over. No picture on the screen.

Now what I'm thinking is that, on the Radeon it has 2 cables which need to go somewhere..... but I dont know where there aint no spaces left. OR my motherboard cant take the Radeon....

Can anyone help me out? I'm pretty sure its one of those. Cause I put my old Vid card back in and it works straight away. I dont know where to put the cables into.... the guide I got with the card is pathetic. It doesn't help at all.

************** EDIT ******************

OK, I've been searching on the Sapphire website and it wants me to do this:

1. Remove the power cable from the hard drive.
2. Connect the 4-pin connector of the Power Extension Cable to the Radeon 9800 Pro power connector.
3. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the power supply connector.
4. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the Hard Drive connector.

I've done all that, but still the same old voice comes on saying "System CPU failed test" over and over. I left it doing that for about 10mins and finally the BIOS screen appeared. It was wanting me to alter the processor speed, and gave me a choice to choose from. I chose an option and left it, but after about 20mins nothing happened so I turned it off. I did notice that all of the availible options where lower than my normal processor speed 2.4ghz

I've tried doing it over and over, but nothing happens, I've even tried doing another cable swap but the same thing happens everytime....... could it be my power-box maybe? Does it need more power to boot everything? I've got a new 400w power unit in there which should do the job no problem.

These comps are so annoying.... the instructions for this card are terrible. Maybe someone with more computer knowledge than me would have no problem with it, but for people who aint.... they've gotta make it easier.

[John Crichton]

Ok well, first of does this happen with your Gforce? Have you tried to replace it? Second I assume you pluged in your Radeon into the the a main power line. make sure its at the end.... that way you can plug the end of it into a HDD if needed.

CPU Failed test eh? Are you sure you have.... OH your the one who wanted to OC. try clearing the CMOS. look it up in your book. there should be a jumper that says CLRCMOS or CLRRTC... or somthing like that.
Remove it from position 1 and put it in POS2.

like this
1 2 3[*]-[*] [ ]
to
[ ][*]-[*]

that means you move the jumper over. That may fix it. If not well. I need more info. Does it smell burnt or smokey? *crosses fingers*

[Demon_of_Elru]

When I put my Geforce back in, it works striaght away.

When the Radeons in, I turn on power and I see the fan on the Radeon spinning.

When I connect the power cable to the Radeon I use the cable thats connected to the HDD, cause its got another socket on the end, PLUS the instructions tell me to use that cable. I have tried changing it around so that the Radeon is first before the HDD, and I've tried the other way. I've even tried connecting it from other pwer cables, but still the same old voice comes on.

Is it because of the Motherboard maybe? my motherboard doesn't take DDR 400. What type of DDR is on the Radeon? isn't it DDR2? My motherboard needs a power cable attached to it. I dont think other boards have that right? I've attached a picture, you can see the power socket in the bottom right corner. Maybe its because of that?............... I dunno

I should be getting a better motherboard soon, so I'll just see what happens then.

[Demon_of_Elru]

**First off, sorry for the double post. Its just this thread is getting old and I didn't wanna start a new one to have my question answered**


Well... I have finally got my 'Radeon 9800 pro 256mb' working after buying a new motherboard. I have installed the latest drivers and changed the settings to the way I want them.

I start FFXI and the game looks really good, very sharp, great texture and all that... BUT.... when I start moving the game gets very, very choppy and a little laggy. Plus in some areas with lights or lampposts the 'lit-up area is all blotchy, like huge polygons. Not just near places like the AH, but in clear open spaces and in un-detailed hallways.

Its not so much as lag, but more frame choppy, graphics choppy (if you know what i mean) ......sooo, i turned down the settings and its still the same.

Its wierd, I can turn the camera around very fast in a place like the AH and the screen will not even flicker at all (even with the highest settings switched on!!), but as soon as I begin moving its a different story.

I bought this card because I wanted to play at higher resolutions without any lag, or loss of quality. I play at "1280 x 768"........ I was pretty sure the 9800 pro 256mb could handle that!

I have tried turning off mip-mapping but its still the same. I have also tried downloading new display drivers, but again its all the same....

Anyone know what to do? :sweat: or even better, can anyone who HAS the card tell me your settings?

cheers

[Jaggers]

I don't know if this is the problem, but if you downloaded Riva Tuner, please note that it only works with nVidia cards. You'll need a different program to OC a Radeon card. If you're not using Riva Tuner then I don't know what the problem could be. Good luck though.