Overclocking Basics? I'm such a n00b.

[coremortality]

I'm looking to overclock my computer as far as i can before it becomes unstable. I've got an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ Barton Core 400mhz FSB running on an ABIT NF7-S 2.0. I'm running Kingston Valueram 512MB Kit 2×256 PC 3200 Non-ECC 400MHz 184-pin Unbuffered DIMM (SDRAM-DDR, 2.6V, CL3, Gold) and an Antec 300W PSU. My cooler is a Thermalright SP-97 with a Panaflo 92mm M1A.

What is a good motherboard monitor and what is the best way to go about this? I am a complete and total n00b when it comes to O/C. Where can i get a copy of Prime95? I've seen people post about using it to test for stability?

Thanks!
-Eric

 

[Shimmishim]

for prime95, do a search in google and you should get plenty of links to it

motherboard monitor? do you mean a program to track voltages and temps and those sort of things?

you can mbm5.x.x.x or you can use the hardware monitoring program that comes on the cd...

you may also have a locked barton and you will have to overclock with the fsb only which isn't a problem...

 

[coremortality]

Thanks for the info! So I've got MBM and Prime95 now and my system seems to be running between 37C-39C when idle and no higher than 50C under the Prime95 torture test. Some one in the General Forum said they wanted to know what i get for rails specifically 12v & 5v? Does that mean what the actual voltage is that i am getting?

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: coremortality
Thanks for the info! So I've got MBM and Prime95 now and my system seems to be running between 37C-39C when idle and no higher than 50C under the Prime95 torture test. Some one in the General Forum said they wanted to know what i get for rails specifically 12v & 5v? Does that mean what the actual voltage is that i am getting?

It's the voltage your psu (power supply unit) is putting out (what is available to your system). Both MBM5 (open the dashboard) and your bios ("PC Health" or similar) will tell you this.

 

[coremortality]

I'm getting 11.61v on the 12v rail and like 4.6 on the 5v rail and its the same for the -12v and -5v rails

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: coremortality
I'm getting 11.61v on the 12v rail and like 4.6 on the 5v rail and its the same for the -12v and -5v rails

Well, within 5% is considered w/i spec's. So you should be OK. Use the sys log feature in MBM5 to keep an eye on them when OCing to make they don't dip further.