FSB overclocking?

[Metalloid]

I have heard that oc'ing the FSB will give you the biggest performance increase. But what things are sped up when you overclock the FSB? I know PCI and AGP slots are sped up. What about RAM? What can I do to not damage my system when speeding up FSB? Thanks

 

[minendo]

If you use a good quality RAM (like Crucial) you really have nothing to worry about.

 

[MilkPowderR]

<< I have heard that oc'ing the FSB will give you the biggest performance increase. But what things are sped up when you overclock the FSB? I know PCI and AGP slots are sped up. What about RAM? What can I do to not damage my system when speeding up FSB? Thanks >>


Yes RAM too. Your Northbridge, Southbridge Chipset i.e. HDD controller chipset, your RAM, your PCI components, all will speed up. You want to keep the AGP/PCI frequency in spec or near in spec as possible by appropriately setting the ratio divider. Some mobo's do it for ya automatically. General rule: Keep the PCI frequency at or near 33mhz and AGP @ 66mhz.

You want healthy OC with no harm to the system files/registry, then you've better have plenty of voltage to maintain the x number of mhz OC'ed. Your PCI components don't get fried that easily. It is difficult to damage them unless your PSU is really hossed and not providing sufficient amount of voltage. So, don't worry too much about frying components.

 

[Wind]

<< General rule: Keep the PCI frequency at or near 33mhz and AGP @ 66mhz.

You want healthy OC with no harm to the system files/registry, then you've better have plenty of voltage to maintain the x number of mhz OC'ed. Your PCI components don't get fried that easily. It is difficult to damage them unless your PSU is really hossed and not providing sufficient amount of voltage. So, don't worry too much about frying components. >>


A good PSU helps...a lot in O/Cing...not just FSB O/Cing. Most modern PCI components take high FSB quite well. 37.5 Mhz on the PCI is always possible w/ the 40 Mhz being the limit. Of course, a better quality components will take u higher.

 

[Metalloid]

I'm planning on getting an Abit KR7A board. I think it has an option to overclock certain parts of system without others like RAM without overclocking PCI and AGP too much. Am I correct to assume this?

 

[MilkPowderR]

<<

<< General rule: Keep the PCI frequency at or near 33mhz and AGP @ 66mhz.

You want healthy OC with no harm to the system files/registry, then you've better have plenty of voltage to maintain the x number of mhz OC'ed. Your PCI components don't get fried that easily. It is difficult to damage them unless your PSU is really hossed and not providing sufficient amount of voltage. So, don't worry too much about frying components.
>>


A good PSU helps...a lot in O/Cing...not just FSB O/Cing. Most modern PCI components take high FSB quite well. 37.5 Mhz on the PCI is always possible w/ the 40 Mhz being the limit. Of course, a better quality components will take u higher. >>


Now you are talking about how far you can push the bus frequency off the PCI spec. Based on Metalloid15's first post, he didn't ask how far you can push the PCI off spec. He said about OC'ing the FSB will damage his PCI components or not. So, I told him in general, the PCI spec runs at 33mhz(33.33333mhz) and AGP@ 66mhz(66.66666) in case if he isn't aware of this. Go by this rule and OC. I told him try to stay at those speeds or near. I thought he wanted to play safe, so I told him safe way. Btw, I didn't mention it's only FSB OC related. Raising the clock multiplier or FSB will affect stability in OC'ing. FSB OC'ing isn't everything. Increasing the clock multiplier is still OC'ing. I already know that. it's not like I only know FSB oc'ing, he..he..he....
Yeah sure.. I have OC'ed the P3 600 to 1000(166.666mhz fsb)@ 1/4 PCI(41.67mhz) on the Abit SH6. Never damaged my PCI components. If I was in [H.]ardforum, I would not mention about 33mhz PCI and 66mhz AGP thingy, instead more of attention on hard OC'ing.

 

[ShinSa]

<< I'm planning on getting an Abit KR7A board. I think it has an option to overclock certain parts of system without others like RAM without overclocking PCI and AGP too much. Am I correct to assume this? >>




Your talking about the PCI divider. Unfortunately, Abit is not as generous on the KR7A as they were on old Bx boards. You only have 2 settings on the KR7A. 4:2:1 and 3:2:1 which means PCI runs at 1/4 or 1/3 and AGP runs at 1/2 the speed of the bus.

My old Be6-II gave me more option which was kinda scary. Example, 1/1 AGP!!!

So unless you're pushing a 100 Mhz Duron to 133, you'll be out of specs if you increase the FSB.

Currently there are very few boards that support 166 FSB and even fewer KT266A chipsets support them.

There were rumors that Epox board could but i think it fizzeled.


Dont let this info get you down though. This board LIVES to be run out of spec and very stable when overclocked. Push that FSB and increase your voltage accordingly.

 

[MangoX]

Is there any software that will tell me what my pci/agp buses are running at?
and what programs to tell me about my cpu voltage etc?

 

[ShinSa]

Try SISOFT Sandra. That should get you all the info you need.,

 

[Metalloid]

We now have stepped into new territory, voltages. Im a complete rookie in voltages. What voltages do I need to increase when I overclock FSB? The only ones I can think of are vcore, and RAM voltages. How much do I need to increase them in proportion to what I overclock?

 

[dunkster]

I have XP1600/KR7ARAID/Corsair XMS2400 DDRAM combo.

Generally, I'd suggest incrementally upping your FSB until unstable - and then increasing VCore for stability - until higher VCore does no good. Additional Vcore over what's necessary for stability only contributes heat, and possibly more instability.

In my case, my XP1600 (AGKGA stepping) is unstable at any VCore over 1.8V, currently stable at 1.775V at 148MHz FSB. Most amd xp cpus don't have this limitation. I suspect this system would stabilize at FSB well over 150MHz with a decent cpu.

My voltages are 1.775V VCore, 2.65V DDR and 3.50V I/O.

In my case, higher DDR voltage isn't necessary. The Corsair XMS2400 dram settings are maxed, except 2T command rate for game-stability. The Corsair XMS2400 is good dram, probably overkill in a system with this poor cpu.

Hope this helps!

 

[y2kc]

<< I'm planning on getting an Abit KR7A board. I think it has an option to overclock certain parts of system without others like RAM without overclocking PCI and AGP too much. Am I correct to assume this? >>



I don't know about the KR7A but on my Abit BD7 you can lock the PCI/AGP bus at 33, 37.?, and 44 (which I am doing @ 33)