The adventures of Newbie Overclocker

[cyborgbuddy]

So I'm new to overclocking but here's my attempts to date....

System is a Gigabyte GA-7DXR+ with an XP1800+ and 512megs, with a 3Dblaster GF4Ti4400 and a 40gig hd.

I have a standard case (no fans) and a coolermaster hsf. FSB is set to 133, core voltage is set to 1.675, giving 1530MHz and my 3Dmark2001se score is around 8820.

So I got two Thermaltake 8025a 80mm case fans and mounted one at the front sucking in and one at the back blowing out.

Swapped the Coolermaster for a TT Volcano 7+ with the all copper hs. WOW! What a difference in my temps!! They are down by 15-17 degrees!!! (CPU was hitting 59 on load, now around 42)

I also got an Enermax PSU (EG365P-VE) and I'm hoping it will deliver more stable voltages to the mobo. (Not that the standard PSU was giving me any real cause for concern, but the Enermax just LOOKS better dammit!!)

Oh and I also got a couple of those rounded cables, don't think they'll make ANY difference but hey, they look nice!

So I start steadily, slowly, ever-so-carefully changing the FSB and voltage settings....

It's ALL good. The mods must be working because I wasn't able to get the FSB up above 136 without the machine crashing. But that's a distant memory now...

(So far) Got the FSB up to 142, voltage up to 1.725, giving me a stable 1633MHz. POST and SiSoft Sandra are both showing an XP2000+ and windows system information sees a 1900+. Cool! (Literally!!)

Got the 3d mark up to 9447, but I think I need to look at the drivers. I am currently using 4.13.01.2942. Does anybody have any pointers on the best ones to use?:B

[Bigal]

cyborgbuddy:

Welcome to the overclocking side of life. You were smart to address the cooling issues first, and the power supply swap is equally important. I had a machine that just wasn't stable until I swapped out the lame power supply for a quality unit. I think it's the higher current capacity on the 3.3 V, 12 V, and 5 V lines that makes the difference.

Regarding the drivers, I don't know if you are talking about video drivers, system drivers (like Via 4-in-1 drivers), or what. Generally, the latest drivers improve on the previous version, but that's not always the case. I have seen people have problems with bios driver updates, and then the mainboard manufacturer subsequently removes that version and posts another one soon afterward. Just do some searching on your manufacturer's web pages, download the latest versions, and do some scanning of these postings for issues with those drivers.

Good luck working your way up the MHz ladder. You can probably go higher in the winter time, due to a lower ambient temperature. Some of us back off a bit during the summer, just to ensure our machines are stable.....

[cyborgbuddy]

Thanks for the tips BigAl,

I had a good look at the forums here at PCA before I attempted anything (other than cooking my old K6-2 - see other posts - which I could 'afford' to lose anyway) so it gave me a good grounding on the best way forward.

I was referring to the video drivers for my GF4 Ti4400, I've been getting better results with older versions as you suggested might be the case. Other than that most of the other non video drivers on my system are up to date and not giving me any problems.

I'll post my updates (if there are any to report!) and let you guys know how much more I can get out of my XP1800.