Xp2500 overclock and temp questions

-ADREN-

Havent got the system yet but just trying to get all the "know how" on board.

The way I see it is that you just raise the FBS in your BIOS to 200Mhz, and that then will bring you roughly up to the xp3200 clock speed, correct?

How much do I raise the FSB by each time? after each time I do it do I restart the PC?

Is there some way of knowing what temp my CPU is running at via a program on the PC?

What temp should a CPU be under?

What is the significance of temps in the PC? I have a Kühler SA Arctic Copper Silent 2L LED to cool the CPU.


What is this Prime 95? Do I run this each time I raise the FSB or something?

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Side question not so important,

If I go to overclock my Radeon 9800 to roughly the XT mem core speed, should I buy the Artic Cooler for it first, or is it possible to safely overclock it with out need for extra cooling?

Also if I choose to do both of these overclocks, is my psu capable of doing both of them? How will I know if it cant or not?

Many thanks,
-Coz.

davkav

i have a 2500+ (1.6ghz) myself but it runs at 3200+(2.2ghz) no problem. The MB i got had a rated FSB of 200Mhz and my CPU temps never went above 50Degrees. After that i just kept bumping it up one by one mhz until it wouldnt boot up, cleared the CMOS and increased the Voltage to the cpu and repeated the increase of the FSB. Mines at 218Mhz now but i only got that byu increasing the CPU Voltage frm 1.6 to 2.025. The FSB still will go higher but it starts to get too hot then and conk out but i do have a **** fan (aero lite 7 ).
The temps and voltages should be shown on all new MB's on the boot screen or may have to be enabled to show on boot in the BIOS.

-ADREN-

i just kept bumping it up one by one mhz until it wouldnt boot up,

So each time you increase the FSB you must restart your PC, and enter into the bios again, and keep repeating this, correct?

cleared the CMOS and increased the Voltage to the cpu and repeated the increase of the FSB

Dont understand this bit, whats CMOS and do you only have to increase the voltage of the cpu if you want to go past the 200mhz which the MB is maxed at?

davkav

alot of people adjust the FSB go into windows and run some tests. I literally overclocked mine today, first i set the timings of the memory to norm. my multiplier doesnt change its stuck at 11 i dont really know why trying to find out. anyways my FSB has been at 200 for the last 4 months. today i adjusted the FSB up to 201 saved the settings the computer rebooted (i had my harddrive disconnected so that it wouldnt boot to windows every time) if it went to the boot screen it should show your new clock speed e.g. the way mine shows is (218 * 11.0x)2400Mhz. i kept bumping it up 201, 202... and at 204 the comp wuldnt boot so i removed the battery took out the power supply actually do them in reverse order lol., waited till the power drained out of the comp and restarted, this should have returned your bios to default values. I then increased the VCore voltage up one step and continued the same as before until it wouldnt boot took a note of the settings before it wouldnt boot i.e. 210FSB @ 1.9Volts or sumtin similar. i started gettin peed off of adjustin the voltage every time so i set the FSB back to 200 and adjusted the VCore to 2.5 not the best of ideas but i find myself taking chances all the time. this time it wouldnt boot, adjusted the Vcore down till it would and started adjusting The FSb up again think my Vcore was highest at 2.125, but at that it was too hot i got the FSB up to 230 but as i said too hot so i brought it back down to 218 till i get some better cooling. just remember to watch the temps all the time..

davkav

oh yeah the Vcore shouldnt need to be adjusted on a 400 MB to get 200mhzFSB

-ADREN-

Ahh right so I can do a simple job of increasing the FSB to 400 and then I have achieved an xp3200 overclock?

What was that you mentioned about memory timings? and I can see the cpu temps on start up is that right? what should the cpu temps be, ie whats "too hot"?

Redrocket

word of warning adren, DONT put the voltage over 2v unless you read around a lot more, you might smell something cooking

davkav

Originally posted by -ADREN-
Ahh right so I can do a simple job of increasing the FSB to 400 and then I have achieved an xp3200 overclock?

What was that you mentioned about memory timings? and I can see the cpu temps on start up is that right? what should the cpu temps be, ie whats "too hot"?

yeah thats all there is to it xp2500 to 3200 and the FSB is at 200Mhz.
cpu at startup should be seen.

dont know too much about mem timings but the lower the better cant remember the link for the settings i used but it started at 6-3-3-2 and then the lower the better 5-3-3-2, 5-3-2-2, 5-2-2-2 anything below and your doin well.

well like i said when i had my FSB over 225mhz it was goin over 60degrees wasnt happy with that think processors can stand up to 70 - 75 not sure though. just get good cooling and you'll be fine and maybe heat sinks for your ram.

-ADREN-

word of warning adren, DONT put the voltage over 2v unless you read around a lot more, you might smell something cooking

Ok thanks, but I dont have to touch the voltage settings at all unless i want to break the 400FSB right?

Dav, do I have to, have to get heatsinks for the ram or are they ok when the Cpu is running at 3200?

Also, when the xp range say they are an xp2500 or xp3200, do they mean they are comparing against the likes of the p4 2.5Ghz and the p4 3Ghz? Or does it have some other meaning completly?

Regards,
-Coz.

Col_Loki

word of warning adren, DONT put the voltage over 2v unless you read around a lot more, you might smell something cooking

Good advise, unless you know what your at dont go over 1.8v.

Ok thanks, but I dont have to touch the voltage settings at all unless i want to break the 400FSB right?

You probably will have to adjust your voltage up. It depends on how lucky you get with the chip and how good your cooling is. Theres no way you can say that you wont have to increase the Vcore voltage........ sometimes your lucky and you dont have to , sometimes your not and you have to up it.

Main thing is to test your overclock with Prime95 (a stress testing program) for mabye 30mins - 1hour on each overclock. When you've found your limit or what your happy with then run prime95 for roughly 8hours....... if there are no errors your overclock is fully stable and it wont crash!! Always keep an eye on your temps, there is a nice little program usually included with the motherboard to do this for you.

Dav, do I have to, have to get heatsinks for the ram or are they ok when the Cpu is running at 3200?

If memory is rated for Pc3200 (DDR400) then it will run at that speed. No need for heatsinks, ram doesent get that hot anyway - its more for show TBH.

Also, when the xp range say they are an xp2500 or xp3200, do they mean they are comparing against the likes of the p4 2.5Ghz and the p4 3Ghz? Or does it have some other meaning completly?

Thats the idea alright. The Xp3200+ doesent actually compare to a 3.2ghz Intel, AMD were just stuck and poped a stupid rating on it. Its roughly a 2.9ghz intel....... on the older chips like the Xp2000+ and 2400+ etc then they match up pretty well with AMD mabye slightly ahead. But the higher FSB of the intels kicked the XP ranges ass TBH.

Different story with the AMD64.......

-ADREN-

Ok thanks, guess that is as much as im going to get into my head with out the system infront of me.

Thanks again,
-Coz.