What is a good setting to start oc'ing?

[KhanAlf]

Here are the specs on my computer (also found on my sig):

-Athalon 2700+ XP cpu
-Asus A7N8X non-deluxe
-Corsair XMS 400 DDR 512 sticks (2)
-Win XP Home
-Ati Radeon 9700 AIW
-430 watt Enermax p/s

Ok, I am completely new to overclocking. What would you recommend is a relatively safe setting to start? I was playing with it last night and iirc, the last setting was 168 fsb on a 13 multiplier with the memory at 8-3-3-3-2.0 (is that the right format to explain memory settings? I dunno).

Are these settings too aggresive or just plain wimpy? I am completely new to this; I just got my computer working properly only 2 weeks ago after I swapped out my mobo for the Asus. I am not considering playing with the voltages yet until I understand the principles behind it due to fear of frying random parts. Any input would be appreciated. I did play Ghost Recon: Isle of Thunder for an hour on 1600x1200 rock stable so I can't imagine it pushing the envelope. What is the threshold for "aggresive" in your opinion?

 

[Killrose]

Is the Corsair you have the XMS PC3200LL? If it is you should be able to do: 2.0-2-2-5 1T settings (not sure what your board allows, but that is pretty normal), but the XP 2700+ is already pretty tweaked and probably does'nt have much headroom for total Speed in MHz, but you should be able to use lower multipliers with high FSB speeds to get better performance from it.

Something like 12x185MHz, or around that. A limmiting factor being the Nforce2 chipset might not make the 200MHz FSB, not all do, but should be able to handle 185MHz with no problem as a starting point.

 

[KhanAlf]

I just tried running 185 * 12.5 and I am crashing when I run PCMark2003. I seem to be running 185*12 just fine so for now I am going to stay with that for now. My ram seems to be just plain Corsair XMS DDR 512 3200 with heat spreaders. When I purchased them, I thought they would allow me enough overhead as far as oc'ing but maybe not. When is a good time to up the voltage? I dunno why the system is crashing: heat, power or not enough juice to the cpu? I have 2 case fans, plus the one on my Enermax 430 p/s. I don't think my cpu has exceeded 58* C while I was running the test. My computer just shuts down even with the power light still on which is a new behavior, has happened only since I have I tried tweaking it the past few days so I can only assume it's been caused by my toying with the settings. Thanks for your advice, been a big help =).