What can I do(OC) with this hardware?

[Staz]

I used to be into overclocking, but got out of it when I fried both a mobo and CPU a couple of years back. I am getting back into it, but with all the new info, it's a slow learning curve.

I have a couple XP systems, and want to know which hardware I could use to max OC my primary system. My available hardware is:

Retail XP(Pal) 1600+ CPU
Retail XP(Pal) 2000+ CPU
OEM XP(TB-A) 1700+ CPU

3 - 256MB Cosair PC2100 DDR
2 - 128MB Generic PC2100 DDR

Asus A7V8X(KT400) mobo
Soyo Dragon+(KT266) mobo

Alpha PAL 845 Heatsink

Many Panaflow 80mm fans
2 - High preformance 80mm fans

ATI 8500 AGP
2 - GeForce2 GTS AGP

IBM 120GXP Deskstar 80GB 7200rpm/ATA100 HD
IBM 60GXP Deskstar 45GB 7200rpm/ATA66 HD
Maxtor 40GB 5400rpm/ATA66 HD
Western Digital 30GB 7200rpm/ATA66 HD

2 - Cheiftec Dragon steel cases

rounded cables

330W Antec TruePower PS
380W Antec TruePower PS

Windows XP Pro will be OS. Out of the above hardware, could you recommend the fastest possible system, OC or not, that I could build. Also let me know approx how fast I could OC and where my weak points are, ie slow memory. Thanks!

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

Originally posted by: Staz
I used to be into overclocking, but got out of it when I fried both a mobo and CPU a couple of years back. I am getting back into it, but with all the new info, it's a slow learning curve.

I have a couple XP systems, and want to know which hardware I could use to max OC my primary system. My available hardware is:

Retail XP(Pal) 1600+ CPU
Retail XP(Pal) 2000+ CPU
OEM XP(TB-A) 1700+ CPU

3 - 256MB Cosair PC2100 DDR
2 - 128MB Generic PC2100 DDR

Asus A7V8X(KT400) mobo
Soyo Dragon+(KT266) mobo

Alpha PAL 845 Heatsink

Many Panaflow 80mm fans
2 - High preformance 80mm fans

ATI 8500 AGP
2 - GeForce2 GTS AGP

IBM 120GXP Deskstar 80GB 7200rpm/ATA100 HD
IBM 60GXP Deskstar 45GB 7200rpm/ATA66 HD
Maxtor 40GB 5400rpm/ATA66 HD
Western Digital 30GB 7200rpm/ATA66 HD

2 - Cheiftec Dragon steel cases

rounded cables

330W Antec TruePower PS
380W Antec TruePower PS

Windows XP Pro will be OS. Out of the above hardware, could you recommend the fastest possible system, OC or not, that I could build. Also let me know approx how fast I could OC and where my weak points are, ie slow memory. Thanks!

OEM XP(TB-A) 1700+ CPU (2nd choice= xp1600+, 3rd= xp2000+)
Asus A7V8X(KT400) (good mobo with nice features)
corsair pc3200 ram, the ones you have wont oc too high...corsair might but anything over 133 isnt guaranteed
Alpha PAL 845 Heatsink (i think you mean 8045) paired up with any good amount of cfm fan
2 - High preformance 80mm fans (use both, one intake, one exhaust)
ATI 8500 AGP
IBM 120GXP Deskstar 80GB 7200rpm/ATA100 HD (its only ata100....but im not sure about overclocked ibm drives lol, so probably western digital if you have any problems)
2 - Cheiftec Dragon steel cases (either one)
rounded cables
380W Antec TruePower PS

 

[Staz]

Thanks, but what I was really looking for was a goal or an idea as to how far I could take it when I do OC...

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

well with xp1600+ and the right stepping people have gotten it to ~1800mhz or higher

the tbred "b" steppngs are better overclockers than the "a" steppings...do you know the information stated on the sticker of the tbred, and teh cores ofthe palomino's?

pc2700ram=166mhz atleast
only thing keeping you down would be cpu and the pci/agp bus (although if you can get it to 166fsb cpu, the 1/5 divider should kick in and set the pci bus back to default)

 

[Staz]

AXDA1700DLT3C

It's the one from the Newegg special ($58 shipped). I know it's a TB-A and not TB-B. I think they are factory unlocked up to 12.5 multiplier, so was thinking about 12.0x166(1992MHz) once I get some decent memory.

 

[EKAtBzboyz]

An old TBred has a CPUID of 680, while a TBred2 has a CPUID of 681.
thats something i came across on the net

sounds like a good goal

just drop the mult to like 9 or 10
then jack up the fsb then raise mult
dont forget vcore and vdimm

 

[Staz]

Quick question. Looks like I would need to buy some good memory to do this OC'ing. Most good 512MB PC2700 or higher sticks run $175+. Instead of spending that money on better memory, why wouldn't I just buy an XP 2400+ for around the same price? It would run about the same speed as the OC'ed 1700+ and I wouldn't have to worry about any OC'ing. Are there any actual preformance benefits in buying the memory and OC'ing the 1700+ over just buying a faster XP CPU?

 

[jaybee]

Originally posted by: Staz
Quick question. Looks like I would need to buy some good memory to do this OC'ing. Most good 512MB PC2700 or higher sticks run $175+. Instead of spending that money on better memory, why wouldn't I just buy an XP 2400+ for around the same price? It would run about the same speed as the OC'ed 1700+ and I wouldn't have to worry about any OC'ing. Are there any actual preformance benefits in buying the memory and OC'ing the 1700+ over just buying a faster XP CPU?

Well, if you want to hang on to your PC2100 you have some work to do. Ideally, you'd test each module independently for max oc (each in bank 1). Take the two highest clocking modules and test in bank 1&2, then 1&3. That should cover your most likely scenarios for max oc. This assumes a 512MB system btw. Also test max clock speed under different latencies -- don't even bother with the strictest.

jaybee