Overlocking PCI/AGP

[Sniper82]

My 1600+ does 2100+ 166FSB below default voltage without a problem. Well I just got some PC3200 OCZ ram(had PC2700) and am curious if I push my CPU to its limits weither it be 170 FSB or 190 FSB how hard would it be on my AGP/PCI components? I would hate to burn my new Ti4200 up.

Have a Epox 8k3a+ KT333 mobo.

 

[boyRacer]

170 = 34 PCI
190 = 38 PCI

Some cards can handle 40 PCI... sometimes your HD just pukes on you and it gets corrupted. Personally 37 is enough for me... some people have been running it at 40 for 2 years or so and never ran into a problem. Us Via people are out in the cold with the nforce and intel chipsets having a pci/agp lock. As for the videocard... most of them generally don't have a problem with an out of spec AGP... i would think your HD would get corrupted before your run into problems with your videocard. but as always... don't quote me on that.

 

[Sniper82]

Would I see enough performance increase to justify the risk? Would it kill the HDD or just corrupt it(have to redo windows)?

 

[orion7144]

Originally posted by: ^Sniper^
Would I see enough performance increase to justify the risk? Would it kill the HDD or just corrupt it(have to redo windows)?

It usually just corrupts the data. Not much of speed increase though.

 

[maluckey]

The KT333 and KT266a are first cousins, and share most of their architecture, so heres the deal. You will get more performance, and if you are a gamer, you get significantly more performance. The PCI can handle 50 mhz (see sig below) without issues, but the cooling to the PCI and IDE devices must be adequate. Otherwise, it's instant re-partition and format time. I haven't seen below 43 mhz PCI for two years, and never had any issues.

My Gainward Ultra 650 XP (Golden Sample GF4-Ti4200, 128 mb), overclocked to 324/600, easily runs Unreal Tournament 2003, even at 86mhz AGP, (344 mhz data rate at AGP 4x). At about 180 mhz FSB (360 mhz data rate), I begin to have issues with AGP stability at ultra tight settings, and I have to lower the hardware settings to regain stability. The absolute lowest framerate is higher at this level, but the absolute maximum is lower, as the video card, or AGP bus is becoming saturated. A faster card might alleviate this, but it's just a guess. By 200 mhz FSB, everything (hardware) is at slowest timings, and settings, to stay stable.

Just aword of caution....Heat is the real enemy. You would be foolish to try cranking up the FSB without quality Video card cooling, CPU cooling, and certainly better case cooling. Go slowly, monitor temps, and test at each stage, for errors and stability.

Good luck!