Considering overclocking for first time, advice on what to get?

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Hi guys. I'm such a newbie on overclocking stuff since I've never felt the urge to do so, but these tbred B cores have me thinking about it seriously.

So, I wanted to get some advice on the components I have now and what I'd need to upgrade.

Right now I'm running an 1800+ on a k7s5a that I want to turn into a secondary SETI rig.

I'm in college, so budget is a factor for me.

I'm obviously going to have to get a new motherboard to take advantage of the new cpu. Is there a nice stable board that I can get that would allow me to overclock nicely? For features, all I really want is integrated LAN, and 2 usb 1.1 ports, but even that can be supplemented. I don't care about raid or onboard sound or firewire or usb 2.0 or serial ata or ata133. If there's a good board out there for like $100 that would be great. Suggestions greatly appreciated.

I also am wondering about using my current ram and psu. I have 512mb mushkin basic 2100 that I'd like to keep running with. Am I correct that if I get the 2100+ and focus on the multipliers and leave the fsb pretty low that I'll still be able to get a good overclock? (2.0 ghz or so) My psu is an Enermax 350w. I've never had a problem with it in the past, so I'd like to keep that too.

Oh yeah, one more thing. I have a Volcano 9 right now. I'm thinking about taking the fan off that (which i believe has a rating of over 75cfm) and puting it on an SLK-800 from SVC, I'd imagine that would do a very nice job cooling.

Thanks ahead of time.

 

[chizow]

Take a look at the 8RDA if you can find a NIC. Its no frills and in your price range at newegg for $93 shipped.

If you really wanted onboard LAN, you could get the 8RDA+ which also has firewire and 5.1 sound for not much more. I believe it goes for $108-$110 shipped at either Mwave or TCWO.

Your mushkin should be fine, and since the Nforce2 boards have a PCI lock, you may get a decent OC out of your FSB as well. (140-150FSB minimum is my guess). You'll have access to all the multipliers, just make sure you pick up a T-bred B 2100+. I think Newegg and PCnut are the only sites guaranteeing the B stepping atm. There's another one, ExcaliburPC, but no resellerratings = Not worth the risk IMO.

Yah that fan should do the trick, but with an SLK-800, it might be overkill. While you're at SVC, you may want to get one of those YS-Tech TMD variable speeds. Lots of people here use em and speak highly of them, and for a modest OC of 2.0ghz I don't think you'll need anywhere near 73CFM (and probably like 45dBA).

Chiz

 

[CaptnKirk]

The release of the T'Bred replacements - as the Paliminos are being phased out, has produced some interesting new twists on overclocking.
Seems that the XP1700+ & XP1800+'s do not have the upper bridges disabled, so if your Motherboard can provide multiplier selections above
12.5X/13X settings, you're in. There has been some info that they were being reccognized and run as a 2400+ by the autodetect.

Looking at the Big Three: Abit and Asus and Epox, oh my, Lions and Tigers and Bears.

The more that your motherboard will let you do, the more you find you can do.

But since you just want to start - Think about the XP1700+ going for $ 50.
Motherboard - for the price take a chance REFURBS always suprising what shows up there for under $ 100.
If by a fluke you get a bad draw - send it back and they'll replace it, again if necessary until you get a good one. Either way you're under $ 150.
You can get a heatsink and fan for another $ 30, about what the Retail CPU upgrade would cost, but get to pick better parts.
Your SLK-800 thoughts would make a good choice, but get a quite fan, as the noise can get annoying - quick.
I like adjustables, as you can turn them up when you have to, and hush them when you want to.

Clue here - MEMORY, everything posts and goes through it. Get good, lots of good. You're looking at Crucial and Samsung, a ton of the 'Other' brands
are really Samsung chipsets on other circuit boards, or even a Samsung re-label. Cut to the chase - get one or the other. Big 2 names = Lifetime Warranty.
Can't loose. Costs about $ 65 - $ 70 per 256MB, the 512MB costs about double.

So now you're in with a Motherboard, Processor, Heatsink, Fan, and Memory for under $ 250 - If you toast it, you're out the minimum, and have learned.
Get it right and you've got something that will flat-out fly!

You P/S should be fine, but you can go up later if you need to.

What you gonna put it in ? Cardboard box or a nice case ?
What can you transplant from another system without costing you performance?

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

Thanks for the input guys.

I'm really leaning towards the 2100+.
I also really don't want to get new ram.

I don't know if I was clear on what my plan is as far as components goes, but my current plan is:

(*** = new components)

Primary Rig:
***2100+
edit: tbred b of course
***motherboard (I was thinking 8RDA+ before, but 8RDA is looking like a better choice for my needs, thanks chizow (congrats on your overclock btw))
***network card (If I can't find one laying around)
***SLK-800 (or some other heatsink that does a better job than the one on my Volcano 9)
Fan from my Volcano 9 (which is already adjustable by the way, and I've gotten used to the noise, which often is drowned out by my z-560s anyway)
512mb mushkin pc2100
350watt enermax psu
64mb Geforce3 Ti200
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz
Promise Ultra ata133 controller card
80 gig WDSE
80 gig Maxtor ata133
Lite-On 40x12x48x
Generic 12x DVD
Creative 52x infra cd-rom (thanks for not supplying xp driver by the way creative)
4 thermaltake case fans
Chieftec Full Tower

Future SETI Rig:
1800+
ECS k7s5a
volcano 9 hs
*** some fan to put on the volcano 9
*** cheapo HDD off ebay or something (if better idea, please tell me, and yes, I do want an actual hard drive in this one with windows on it just in case i need it as a backup computer)
*** cheapo 128mb ddr
*** cheapo case / psu (that's decent enough for my 1800+ and k7s5a of course)
*** cheapo keyboard
*** cheapo mouse

I figure all this is going to cost me something like $350 shipped or so.