Newbie To O/C'ing

[jacktesterson]

I have three comps and really none of them are the fastest in the world but they get the job done. A home network also is fun to play with. The fastest computer I own is a AMD T-Bird 1.2 GHz on a ECS K7VZA, 512 MB PC133, Kyro II 64 MB Card. Unfortunatly the ECS board won't allow me to change the bus frequency.

I do have a Pentium 233 MMX computer I want to use to get some experience overclocking. I can increase the FSB from 66 to 83.3 MHz, and change the multipliers all I want by jumpers on the AOPEN board. It has 128 MB of PC-133 ram in it, so increasing the speed should not hurt it. Im wondering about all the PCI things (aka 56k modem, sound, video)...Ive heard 83.3 MHz is not good for PCI.....the only other option I have is 75 MHz, and I tried that and its running at 262.5 MHz now stable. (thats all ive done just to see the results). Also I should be receiving a tube of artic silver 3 tomorrow, since the 233 does not have any on it, and using a cooler master fan/hs rated to only 200 MHz. What should i attempt to do....currently its on 3.5 * 75 MHz = 262.5 MHz. 3.5 is default for a 233...should I attempt to raise the bus freq to 83.3 Mhz or up the multiplier (and to how much) or a combo of both? Also all MMX's run at the same Voltage, but will I need to raise it?

Im a newbie at this, any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Buz2b]

Welcome to overclocking. Not a big expert here but I think you've done a pretty fair job so far. You are not going to get too much more out of the 233 though. 262 is pretty good I'd say. Things you can do: First, I'm concerned about the HS you said was "rated to 200 MHz". If that is true, then you should either add a higher capacity fan to it or at minimum keep an eye on those temps. Are you using a temp monitoring program? If not, that should be your first step. There are a few of them out there for free if you don't have one. The question is whether they will work on that board or not. Second, you may find that the CPU will balk at any attempts to change the multiplier. Many of the earlier ones did and in fact, most Intel chips will simply ignore your change in the multiplier. Do you have an ratios between the 75 and 83 MHz? If so you could try going in increments. That is the generally accepted practice. If not, the only thing you can do is try it and see what happens. If it doesn't work, and you have some time to play, you should pull out all pci devices and unplug any items except for the basics; CPU w/HSF, HDD, Video card (if applicable), RAM and floppy drive. Then see if it will boot. If it does (remember, this is at 83 MHz) then you will know that one or more of your other components is causing the trouble. Simply adding back one item at a time will eventually tell you what the culprit is. I would not try both the multiplier and the FSB change at the same time. If it balks you will not know for sure which one caused the trouble. As to the voltage, you should first get a "baseline" temp for that CPU running at stock (233 MHz) speed. Then go to 262 again and check for the increase in temps. Now try your other methods, FSB increase of multiplier, and if you can get it to boot but it becomes unstable, add small increases in voltage while maintaining a close watch on the temps. By small increases, I mean as small an increase as your MB will allow. And do not push the voltage too far; only until you can reach some stability with the OS. If you go too far you could fry your chip, but small increases can significantly add to the stability at higher speeds.
As I said, I'm not an "expert" overclocker but have had some experience. I'm sure there are others that can shed more light on this for you. Remember though, you might not be able to get much more than you have already from that chip. The first real good overclocker that I remember from around that era was the Celeron 300A (I think). That one would overclock with the best of them.

 

[jacktesterson]

thanks....it was my sound...im not going to push it any more...leave it at 262.....I want the PC, and anyways I was just looking for a little expierence

 

[Buz2b]

anyways I was just looking for a little expierence

Well, you just got it. 😉 You could try changing out the sound card to a "newer" version or even with one from one of the other systems you have. However, I'm betting you wouldn't get too much more out of it anyway. I'd say you did "OK" for your first try. 😀