Overclocking confusion, please help!!

[Freshbrain]

Well, the thing is that I have my XP 1700+@153x11. runnin stable in my Soyo Dragon+ (Kt266a) with Corsair 2100 mem.

If i set it to 155 it would start to become inestable, mainly closing programs and being kicked to the desktop, never bsods or hard freezes. I know 155FSB means pushing peripherals to the limit too, but what i don't know is where my oc problem is, I mean, is 155 my CPU's limit?, memory limit? HDs? what!?.

So, if I can be sure it is not my CPU then it would be worth unlocking it, right? So that I can increase the multiplier and lower a little my FSB. But, how can I know that? Any special signs I should notice?

BTW, my CPU is runnin at 1.75V, setting it to 1.80 or 1.85 would not solve the problem. My temps are 37C idle, 44C load.

Besides that, would a high FSB shorten the life of my HDs too? Thanks a lot

 

[Barrei]

No it won't affect your Hdd at all, Yes it would appear 155FSB is your CPU's limit , make sure your PCI bus stays at 40 or under otherwise you can fry your PCI cards.

 

[rogue1979]

The only way to be sure is to unlock you cpu, lower the multiplier well below the limit of your maximum cpu speed and then tweak the fsb. Find out what the maximum stable fsb speed is and then raise the multilpier close to your known stable cpu limit while lowering the fsb down to 133MHz. Inch the fsb up until you cpu stability is reached, (this should be with the fsb well below the max) and then adjust the fsb and multiplier to match the maximum cpu speed at the maximum stable fsb speed. I prefer to give the max fsb the priority, even if I have to lose a few Mhz of cpu speed. In the meantime you could try raising your DDR voltage, adding a little cpu core voltage and lowering the memory timings to see if you can get above 153 stable.

 

[WarCon]

High FSB's can cause problems with hard drives. What kind of memory settings are you using? Have you tried to put them all to SPD settings and increase your DDR voltage (if its an option)?

 

[Freshbrain]

Thanks for the imput guys...

I've tried setting the Vcore to 1.80 or 1.85 and there is no change, that's why I think my CPU hasn't hit it's limit yet.

My mobo doesn't have a Dimm voltage setting, so I'm stucked at 2.5V. I'm running pretty agressive timings for my DDR, By SPD it stays at CAS2, and if I set it manually to CAS2.5 the problem remains, so, I think the problem isn't the mem. But, what is it then? I've also read that most of the Soyo dragon+ mobos run above 160 with no probs. So, I'm baming it on peripherals.

I'm still confused about the HD lifespan getting shortened or not... so? Thanks