I'm a n00b & I have dumb questions

[strummer]

New to overclocking, not new to building. The latest build, which I want to OC, is as follows:

Opteron 146 (CAB2E)
Epox 9NPA+ Ultra
G Skill 2 gb DDR500 (3-4-4-8)
FSP Group AX450-PN
Cooler Master Centurion 5 CAC
Lite-On Combo drive
Samsung Floppy
Micro$oft Home XP

POST'ed right up, loaded the O/S, changed the timings to 3-4-4-8, default they were 3-5-5-10. Also default vCore was 1.5V so I set that down to 1.4 and default vDIMM was high (2.7V) and I set that down to 2.5 Temps were 31C for the CPU and 32C for the MoBo.

I have read numerous threads on OC'ing for beginners in here, and I think I get the gist of it - find the max your CPU can handle by easing the throttle on the RAM (increasing vCore when necessary), then find the max your RAM can handle by easing the throttle on the CPU (and increasing vDIMM when necessary). Tweaking the memory seems to be the trickiest part. Cooling of the CPU is also a major consideration. For the time being - I'm gonna use the stock cooling. But before I can get to any of the good stuff - I need to know how to use the diagnostic tools or utilities - Memtest86, Prime95 and SuperPi. Here is where the dumb questions start...

#1 - Memtest? - downloaded to a CD (using my old HP Pavilion), unzipped, and tried to run it from the combo drive in the new build as a boot disk. Did not work - went right past the combo drive to the HDD and a normal windows start up. What am I doing wrong here?

#2 - Prime95 - do I need to be have an online connection to use this? And further - there seems like there are multiple tests - which one should I use? And finally, how long should it run before considered stable and able to step up?

#3 - What other diagnostic or utility programs am I going to need?

Thanks for any replies.

 

[Unkno]

1. Did you download the .iso image one? If it still doesn't work, try using floppy version on a floppy
2. Use small FFT and depending on how stable you want it, test it for at least 16 hours. I tested mine for 24hours since i would rather go stabilty over speed
3. speedfan or another temperature monitor and get cpuz.....these two programs would save you some time

 

[iRONic]

#1 - Is that drive set as the first boot device in the BIOS?

 

[strummer]

Originally posted by: iRONic
#1 - Is that drive set as the first boot device in the BIOS?

Yes - the combo drive is set as the first boot device

 

[strummer]

Originally posted by: Unkno
1. Did you download the .iso image one? If it still doesn't work, try using floppy version on a floppy
2. Use small FFT and depending on how stable you want it, test it for at least 16 hours. I tested mine for 24hours since i would rather go stabilty over speed
3. speedfan or another temperature monitor and get cpuz.....these two programs would save you some time

#1 - Yes. The one designated for boot CDs
#2 - Do I need to be on the net to run this? At the Prime95 site it looks like they are using Prime 95 for that Mersenne Prime collective computing effort, and they want users to be connected so they can use the data output. I am not tied into the net on the new build.
#3 - CPUz - I'll get it. thanks.

 

[strummer]

Still having some problems creating a boot disk from mem86. Help would be appreciated.

 

[strummer]

6 coasters before I figured out you had to burn it, not copy it.

Running memtest right now.

 

[strummer]

Memtest results -

No errors (2 passes) at stock - HTT=200, CPU = 2.0 GHz

No errors (2 passes) at HTT = 215, with CPU multiplier at 8 (1.72 GHz), vDimm up to 2.6V.

stepping up

 

[Unkno]

i'd say run it more than 2 passes....leave it for like 5 hours at least....i left mine on for 16 hours (yea, somewhat overkill, but i like having all the parts of my system tested for stability so if something crashes, i know it's software issue and not hardware)

forgot to mention in last post....prime95 doesn't require internet, just use the torture test