Overclocking newbie..

Nick119

Member
Oct 30, 2005
146
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Hey guys I just built a new system, here are the specs:

Motherboard: ASUS A8N-SLI Premium Socket 939 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD MOBO.
GPU: ASUS EAX800XL/2DTV/256 Radeon X800XL 256MB DDR PCI Express x16 Video Card.
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ Manchester 1GHz FSB Socket 939 Dual Core.
Memory: Kingston HyperX 1GB (2 x 512MB) 184-Pin DDR SDRAM DDR 400 (PC 3200) ECC Registered Dual Channel Kit System Memory.
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar SE WD2500JD 250GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA150.
PSU: Antec SmartPower 2.0 SP-500 ATX12V 500W Power Supply.
OS: Windows XP SP2

How much better can i make this system (without damaging it in anyway) by overclocking it with all stock fans. The case itself is a Thermaltake Armor and it cools really well and has 2 120mm fans and 2 80mm fans. Also how do i go about getting the right overclocking settings, Ive seen all the settings in bios and have read at various place that you can get the x2 4200 up to 2700 ghtz, pretty easily. If you guys can guide me in doing this that would be great.

Thanks so much for your time.
 

Nick119

Member
Oct 30, 2005
146
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Awesome!!! Thanks for the help and links. If I follow that guide exactly, am i safe? Following that guide won't damage any of the internal components will it?, even if im using stock cooling? Thanks again
 

Mogadon

Senior member
Aug 30, 2004
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Follow the guide and you shouldn't run into problems. Make sure you watch the tempertures though, make sure the CPU temperature doesn't go above 60/65C at load ... most people seem to think 55C is a good, rough limit.

Edit - overclocking is always a risk though by doing it the right way, ie following that guide, you minimise those risks hugely, we're talking very, very, very low (one in a million) kind of thing that you're going to fry anything if you stay within the stated limits.
 

Nick119

Member
Oct 30, 2005
146
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Also i wanted to ask, since im overclocking, is it necessary to install the amd x2 driver fix? because i read in one of the posts that someone said it wasnt necessary... Any ideas? Thanks.

Edit- one more thing, i'm going to do a fresh install before any overclocking and i wanted to ask what order she i install everything. Like 1. Partition 2. Install XP Pro 3. load motherboard fix? Whats the best order to do this... Thanks alot
 

RichUK

Lifer
Feb 14, 2005
10,341
678
126
yes install it, and create the registery key aswell, if OCing just disable cool and quiet in the BIOS, as everyone else does and you'll be fine. I talk from experience with my dual core
 

kwarkers

Banned
Nov 2, 2005
232
0
0
I got a A64 3500, what's the easiest way to overclock it. I've been playin round with Ai Booster but some ppl say dont bother with it.