First time and nervous :p

[Allio]

Hi all. Recently I've been hit with an overwhelming urge to overclock my 'budget system' - which is actually my normal system, because, well, I'm on a budget. 😀 I'm running a Duron 900 on an Epox 8KTA3L+... as you can see, budget stuff. At present the only thing I've attempted to overclock is my video card, a lowly TNT2 Vanta. I managed to push that from the default 100/110 to 150/170 with no additional cooling, a result I'm quite proud of 🙂

o/cing the video card made a big difference in games, but I'd really like to do some cpu/system bus overclocking as well. Problem is, I'm not really sure to begin. I assume that I'll have to unlock my CPU by connecting the L7 bridges with a pencil... something I'm nervous about doing, but I have several friends who are itching for the chance to be set lose on my 'virgin' cpu, as they call it 😛

I'd also really, really like to run a 133mhz system bus, something my chipset is capable of, but I've read Anand's article on the difficulties of doing it with my type of board and cpu. Is it worth it? A friend says that when he did it with his Duron 750, he only got about a minute of stability before crashing out.

So my question is this. What should I do? 😉 Would changing the bus speed option from 100/33 to 105/35 in the CMOS make a noticeable difference, if any? Should I hire a goon to unlock my cpu for me, so I can twiddle with the multipliers? The Duron's only running at about 35c average, 37c @ load i believe, so I think there's a bit of room for o/cing.

Secondary question: How DO you change the multiplier? 😀 I don't see any option for it in the CMOS, even though a menu is entitled CPU Multiplier/System Bus Frequency. Would it appear after unlocking the CPU? Or would I just do it though jumpers on the motherboard?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[o1die]

You need to raise the cpu vcore to at least 1.65 or 1.7 to overclock your cpu. If your mobo has a "clock speed" setting in the bios, you can try raising it to 110-115, and see if it will post. You can also connect the L1 bridges on the cpu if your mobo has a multiplier option, and try for a multiplier setting of 10 or 11 and see if it will post. I use a number two pencil to connect the L1 bridges; if you don't succeed the first time, simply erase and try it again. A correction pen is a better long term method; you can get them at some computer electronic stores for about $12.