Help A Newb With Overclocking

[LiquidFlame]

I'm completely new to overclocking, I've never done it before, but it has always interested me. I've read a lot of guides and posts on the forum and I have gotten a lot of info. Right now, I just want to make sure that I have the general idea on how to overclock your PC. From what I understand you you need to do these steps:

Step 1: Lower memory frequency as low as you can so you can find the CPU's max speed at first. Along with this,
make sure all your AGP, PCI's, SATA, PCI-E's frequencies is set to normal. Normal frequency's (PCI bus:
33.3, AGP bus: 66.6, SATA & PCI-E: 100)

Step 2: Reduce the HyperTransport frequency to 400 or 600MHz (2x or 3x)

Step 3: Find the frequency/voltage control page and then find the cpu host frequency or cpu/clock or external
clock. Raise the FSB little by little by 10MHz.

Step 4: Reboot and check to see if it did in fact overclock with CPU-Z utility. Then check to see if its stable with
programs like SuperPI, Prime95, S&M. Make sure that the cpu temp doesn't exceed 60c and make sure the
cpu isn't throttling by using programs like ThrottleWatch, RightMark CPU Clock utility. If everything goes ok,
then you can increase the FSB a little more.

Step 5: Once your cpu hits max, start raising the memory frequency.

So, are my steps and understanding of overclocking right or am I missing something. Please give me advice and let me know if I have something wrong. I really want to learn as much as I can. I plan on trying to overclock my old PC before I try to do anything to my new build that I will building soon like everyone else. Thanks for the advice in advanced.

 

[MarcVenice]

I think you got the basics down pretty much. I'm assuming you want to overclock a a64, single/dual core? Because if you want to overclock a core 2 duo, intel, then you will probably have to increase the NB voltage as well, somewhere along the line.

Btw, cpu-z can tell you just fine wether your CPU is throttling or not, throttling simply means the cpu multiplier gets lowered, so if you have it at 10, and your fsb is 250, but cpu-z tells you your cpu is running at 2000mhz instead of 2500mhz, then it's obviously throttling.

Btw, you should just try and boot into windows with your overclock, if it boots into windows, shut down, raise FSB some more, rinse and repeat till your pc will no longer boot. Back down 5-10mhz, try booting again. Then start running orthos, blend. If it fails fairly quick, you should look into raising the vcore, different chips have different maximum core voltages, with a x2 you don't really want to go past 1.45vcore.

After that, you should indeed try and tighten your timings and/or run your memory at higher speeds again with the use of a different divider. If you elaborate on what kind of ram/cpu/mobo you have though, things might even be easier for ya.