What is a Safe Overclock for XP 2100+ for a First-timer?

[HGC]

I just installed an Athlon XP 2100+ B from NewEgg, and am now tempted to overclock for the first time. What might be a safe, stable, moderate configuration to try? I read many threads here and guides on other sites, but I still need some advice.

Here are my other parts: Shuttle AK35GT2 KT333 motherboard, four 256 MB sticks of Crucial 2100 RAM, Zalman CNPS3100 flower heatsink/fan, Antec SmartPower 350 PS, PC Power case with two case fans, Matrox G400 AGP vid card, ATI Radeon 7500 PCI vid card, Lynksys LAN card.

I tried just setting the FSB to 166, but it would always reboot just as it was entering Windows. I thought about trying FSB of 160 or 154, but wouldn't this put the PCI & AGP busses out of spec? I want to be conservative. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[human2k]

You shouldn't run your FSB any higher than 150mhz, IMO anything over 75mhz AGP is too high and some devices are even more pickyier. Since your board lacks pci/agp lock, try using the 13.5x-15x multiplyers along with 140-150mhz FSB.

 

[skyking]

That ram will not likely go 160 very well, if at all. pull out all the sticks but two, or even one, and work your way up.
Multiple sticks do not OC as well as single sticks, as a rule. One bummer stick will hold you back.
you can set the pci/agp/fsb ratio to 1/2/4, and try 145 fsb or so.
After you get started, it is just a matter of trying different ram timings and the like, and swapping out mem sticks to see which ones are best. After a while, you will be wanting PC2700

 

[HGC]

Thanks for the input guys. If I set the FSB to 140, will the AGP be at 70, and the PCI at 35? Since PCI would now out of spec, my hard drives are under more strain now, yes? Data integrity is very important to me, and I only want to try an OC that will not risk that much, if at all. I tried 166 because I thought that would keep the PCI bus at 33. Is that correct?

I couldn't find in the BIOS a way to select the FSB-AGP-PCI ratio. Also, I seem to be only permitted to choose multipliers up to 12.5. At the moment I have it set to default, which I assume is 13. I flashed the BIOs to the latest one which is supposed to support Barton, etc, but it's an older board, perhaps I don't have as many features.

Thanks again for ideas!! I may give up but if I can find a safe way I will try.

 

[skyking]

Not familiar with that bios, I have an Abit that will let me set it all manually, with the 333 chipset.
EDIT: 1/2/4 is the standard ratio. 35 or 36 on the pci bus is usually not a problem.

 

[lobadobadingdong]

find a copy of prime95, up your fsb and/or multipliers slowly and run prime 95 for 2-3 hrs with each boost until you crash, then back it off a tiny bit and run prime95 for 12-24hrs if no crash and you're feeling lucky bump it somewhere between the crash and the long test, and run the long test again.

I've seen overclocks throw off things where it ran stable but the system was actually slower so running some bences might help as well. I run SETI at home and bench certain Angle Ranges, but bench what you normally use.

 

[Jeff7181]

My advice would be to get an nForce2 chipset motherboard and then really unleash the overclocking potential of that CPU.

*EDIT* By the way... to test stability I run Prime 95 in the background while I loop 3DMark overnight. If it's still running 3DMark in the morning, it's stable enough for me. For initial tests to find obvious instabilities, I run Prime 95 for 15 minutes to get the CPU up to it's max temp at that speed... then run PCMark... if it does both of those fine, I run 3DMark, if it does that fine, then I'll play a few games until I go to bed, then do the Prime 95 + 3DMark loops I mentioned.

 

[chocoruacal]

Originally posted by: HGC
I just installed an Athlon XP 2100+ B from NewEgg, and am now tempted to overclock for the first time. What might be a safe, stable, moderate configuration to try? I read many threads here and guides on other sites, but I still need some advice.

Here are my other parts: Shuttle AK35GT2 KT333 motherboard, four 256 MB sticks of Crucial 2100 RAM, Zalman CNPS3100 flower heatsink/fan, Antec SmartPower 350 PS, PC Power case with two case fans, Matrox G400 AGP vid card, ATI Radeon 7500 PCI vid card, Lynksys LAN card.

I tried just setting the FSB to 166, but it would always reboot just as it was entering Windows. I thought about trying FSB of 160 or 154, but wouldn't this put the PCI & AGP busses out of spec? I want to be conservative. Thanks for any suggestions.

Unlock the chip, drop the multi, and raise the FSB to 166. Since you're on kt333, its doubtful you'll be able to do much with the FSB. I have a kt333 (abit at7) and it QUICKLY starts acting up when you raise the FSB more than a few mhz. However, if you unlock the chip, you're almost certain to get 166 out of it...so you drop the multi, and go for a higher clock speed...11.5x166, 12x166, etc.

Or ditch the Shuttle and grab an nForce2

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181
My advice would be to get an nForce2 chipset motherboard and then really unleash the overclocking potential of that CPU.

*EDIT* By the way... to test stability I run Prime 95 in the background while I loop 3DMark overnight. If it's still running 3DMark in the morning, it's stable enough for me. For initial tests to find obvious instabilities, I run Prime 95 for 15 minutes to get the CPU up to it's max temp at that speed... then run PCMark... if it does both of those fine, I run 3DMark, if it does that fine, then I'll play a few games until I go to bed, then do the Prime 95 + 3DMark loops I mentioned.

What Nforce2 Mobo would you suggest for OC'ing XP's?