About to go over to the Dark Side

[Sentrosi2121]

After doing a little bit of contemplating on the fate of the universe, coming to grips that I am ready to do this, and are willing to suffer at the hands of a wife who will kill me if I spend another penny on my rig, I want to attempt to overclock my system. Here are my specs.

Abit NF7-S V2.0
AMD XP 2800+ 333fsb
1024Mb Crucial PC2700
ATi Radeon 9800Pro w/ Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer Rev3
Antec 400W Power supply


Is it possible to get some overclocking in my rig now? Without having to go out and spend $$? If it is possible, is it worth it?

Video Card. Using the 3rd party cooling, what could I expect from overclocking it?

Knowing I'll be having to replace the memory at some point to get some decent overclocking, I've been looking at these sticks for a while. PDP Memory Systems PC 3200 1Gb Dual Channel Can I trust those timings at all?

 

[Manzelle]

Since it's a life and death situation here is what I would do...

Update your BIOS with this file:

http://hslab.pl/biosy/ABIT_NF7..._Bpl_3.19_09.09.04.rar

After that is completed I would bump your FSB up to 200MHz (you'll have determine your own voltages but both the CPU and RAM will need a bump) and of course this could be problem with your current memory but it's worth a shot...

Depending on your CPU cooling you should be in good shape...great shape if you get that PC3200...
As for the video card well that is hit or miss...I had my 9800 Pro w/ AC VGA Silencer Rev3 @ 441/792 but you have to crawl before you can walk so start off slowly...

This should give your computer some new life if it all works out...

 

[Elcs]

For the Video card, I think you are most likely to be able to hit 9800XT speeds however its not guarunteed.

As Manzelle said, take it slowly and you'll get there. With stock cooling, I can get 420+ on the core and 720 on the Ram I think although its been a while since i tested it.

I used Aquamark to detect artifacts primarily although with all the sea plankton and stuff, its a bit hard on some of those tests. Then I played my favourite games with every graphically stressing option on including forcing the max AA and AF through the ATI Control Panel. Perhaps not the best way but I was happy with it.

 

[Sentrosi2121]

And some good software to use, in regards to the processor, is, Sandra, CPUid and Prime95, right?

I'll have to d/l the Aquamark. I usually look at the 3dmark2k3 demo and x2-the Threat benchmarking utilities. Powerstrip is still #1 as far as Radeon tweaking is, right? Any other benchmarking utilites I should be looking at?

Games I usually play are Planetside and the T:V beta right now.

 

[Bateluer]

Originally posted by: Sentrosi2121
And some good software to use, in regards to the processor, is, Sandra, CPUid and Prime95, right?

I'll have to d/l the Aquamark. I usually look at the 3dmark2k3 demo and x2-the Threat benchmarking utilities. Powerstrip is still #1 as far as Radeon tweaking is, right? Any other benchmarking utilites I should be looking at?

Games I usually play are Planetside and the T:V beta right now.

I think the Rage3D Tweaker is the best ATI tweaker utility, possible ATiTool for some things.

 

[Mullzy]

Should be able to get a good 10-15% more out of that 9800 Pro. My Sapphire does 435/730 with a Silencer rev3 (no ramsinks) and your frames per second rises accordingly. Use ATiTool to find your max core/mem settings then back off a little. Whatever tool you use to actually OC your card, it's a good idea to have it run at stock while not in 3D mode (theoretically will increase the life of your card.)

As for your CPU... I don't know AMD boards/cpus at all. As a rule you should be able to get another 10-20% out of it which will also show in games.

With any luck you can get a solid 15-20% increase in all games. So, good luck!