Overclocking Question

[FigBat]

Hey guys. I recently put together a system for myself, here are the specs:

- Biostar M7NCD
- Athlon XP 2500+
- 512mb PC2700 (333mhz) ram
- Ati Radeon 9500 Pro
- 2x 40gb Seagate Barracudas
- DVD-ROM/CD-R combo
- 400W power supply

Now originally I didn't think of building this system for overclocking. I wanted simply to get parts that would work well with each other. However once I started reading about the 2500+ and how easy it can be to overclock it I got curious.

I did some basic research and decided to give it a go. Unfortunately like most Athlon chips these days the processor multipliers are locked. As well, my motherboard BIOS doesn't have a huge selection of settings when it comes to overclocking.

I am able to adjust the FSB and also the memory timings. There's also a setting to adjust the speed of the AGP mhz - which I currently have set at 67mhz.

Anyways, I upped the FSB to 200mhz, and set the RAM timings to a setting called "Optimal." To my surprise the system booted and ran fine. I was able to load XP, and surf the internet, listen to music, etc. Even the Sandra burn-in program was successful (i.e. didn't crash) for the one cycle I ran it for.

However Prime95, that's another story - it crapped out within a minute.

Long story short, obviously this isn't a stable system. From what I read now, I'll probably need to get some PC3200 RAM, and then hopefully everything will be stable.

I'm curious though, is there anyway to play with the RAM timings to make my current setup stable at any sort of overclock? I'm not really sure what RAM timings are...

Anyways thanks in advance for any advice you can offer!

 

[Tiamat]

Run memtest86 to see if it is actually your ram causing your instabilities. If you ram has no errors at 200fsb, then your ram is fine. If it has errors, try lessening your Latencies. something like 3:4:4:11 If this timing still doesnt work, try upping the voltage from 2.5 to maybe 2.75 or 2.8V. If still not stable, consider purchasing the 3200 Ram.

If your ram prooves to be stable, then up the CPU voltage from Default to 1.7V. If still not stable, 1.75V. If still not stable, 1.8V, but thats somewhat high voltage IMOH. Also, watch your temperatures. If they exceed 50C load, you may want to back off your OC, or buy better cooling.

If your motherboard is Nforce2 chipset, try your system at 175 FSB to see if it is fully stable. If it is, then try it at 185FSB etc.

HOpe this helps

 

[FigBat]

Thanks for the reply, I'll definitely check that out. Unfortunately I don't think I can adjust the voltages with this board so I may be out of luck altogether...