When is a good time to upgrade and possibly overclock?

[Link19]

I'm thinking about upgrading my current computer. My system specs are as follows for my current PC.

-ABIT IC7-G motherboard
-Intel Pentium 4 3GHz Northwood CPU (800MHz FSB)
-2*512MB DIMMs of DDR PC3200 Corsair RAM in dual channel configuration for 1GB total system RAM
-ATI Radeon 9800 Pro video card (128MB)
-2 Seagate SATA HDDs (80GB and 120GB)
-3 CD/DVD drives
-Antec TruePower 550WATT PSU
-Windows XP Pro SP2

I've been thinking about overclocking my system to gain a performance increase. Now, I just tried overclocking the FSB to 215MHz, and my RAM can't handle it according to the results I get when I run MemTest 3.1. I get like thousands of errors at the end of Test #5. Does this mean it is for sure my memory that can't handle it that fast, or is it my CPU or FSB that can't handle it that fast and causes failure in MemTest? I have heard that my motherboard is one of the best for overclocking Pentium 4 systems and that I should easily be able to achieve a decent overclock without needing a new CPU fan/heatsink, or NB fan/heatsink. So is it my memory for sure which can't handle any speed faster? I checked the default SPD timings and they were 2.5-3-3-8. So I think that if I set them any lower, that would really hurt performance? Am I right on that? I;ve heard that it's not very important and isn't worth the money to buy RAM where CAS latency timing is lower than 2, but I've heard that performance can be signifcantly hurt if the CAS latency is 3 or higher? I'm also looking at upgrading my video card. I've had this system for about a year and 4.5 months. I just bought a new ABIT IC7-G motherboard to replace my Gigabyte GA-8IK1100 motherboard. I have a fairly decent budget to spend, so do you think now would be a good time to construct a whole new system? Or is it not worth the money based on my current system, and it would be better to just overclock my system and upgrade the video card to improve performance? I intend to play some of the latest games with good performance. So upgrading the video card would really give a boost for that I would think, but how much longer do you think it will be before PC games start to benifit from the PCI-X video cards with the faster PCI-X bus than 8X AGP? ANother words, do you think buying a new 8X AGP video card is a good buy for my current motherboard, or would it be better to wait until I get a whole new motherboard that includes a PCI-X slot for a PCI-X video card, and then buy a PCI-X video card as a new video card?

Advice greatly appreciated.

 

[cyberfuzz]

is that value ram? cause i plan on OC my ram to about 220 fsb and was wonderin in XMS was worth the extra money.

 

[Link19]

Originally posted by: cyberfuzz
is that value ram? cause i plan on OC my ram to about 220 fsb and was wonderin in XMS was worth the extra money.

It's not value RAM. It is Corsair XMS RAM rated at 400MHz DDR. I thought it would overclock much better than that because it is XMS RAM.

 

[gwai lo]

value RAM is the RAM that isn't supposed to oc well...interesting...sounds like someone got some bad RAM..

 

[Gamingphreek]

No he is probably just making some error. We all do its all good.

Well max out your VDIMM voltage and try again. Then try running async, then synced with the VCORE up a bit.

Also what readings are you getting for your PSU? Are they stable, or spiking, or low?

-Kevin

 

[Link19]

For a Pentium 4 system like this, I think running asychronous would prety much limit the whole point of overclocking because I've heard that the memory running synchronous with the FSB is one of the most important things for optimal performance unlike with the Athlon 64. The DIMM volatge is set at 2.7V and the highest I can set it to is 2.8VOLT. Would .1 volt higher make that much of a difference? And I did bump up the CPU VCORE to 1.57. The default CPU VCORE is at 1.475 or something close to that. Also, does anyone know anything about my video card question. Is it a good buy to upgrade an 8X AGP card right now? Or will an equivelent PCI-X video card chipset blow away the same 8X AGP video card chipset in performance in the next 6 months? Another words, when will video cards take advantage of the bigger PCI-X bandwidth and faster speed?

 

[Gamingphreek]

PCI-E not PCI-X.

Secondly AGP 8x has PLENTY of bandwidth for the mainstream user... no need to upgrade just yet. Wait it out until you upgrade your whole system.I say try running async to eliminae your processor as a limiting factor. Dont keep it that way lol.

Sounds like you do have bad memory. The only other thing i can think of is check PSU readings and loosen memory timings.

-Kevin

 

[Link19]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
PCI-E not PCI-X.

Secondly AGP 8x has PLENTY of bandwidth for the mainstream user... no need to upgrade just yet. Wait it out until you upgrade your whole system.I say try running async to eliminae your processor as a limiting factor. Dont keep it that way lol.

Sounds like you do have bad memory. The only other thing i can think of is check PSU readings and loosen memory timings.

-Kevin

It does pass perfectly at stock speed with MemTest 3.1. It also passes perfectly when I set the timings to 2.5-3-3-6 when they were SPD default at 2.5-3-3-8. So could the RAM be a bad for overclokcing, but perfectly fine at stock speed even thought it is DDR400 XMS? I have measured the +5V and +12V wires in my PSU, and the readings were almost exactly 5V and 12V respectively.. I just got a new replacement CPU from Intel because my old one was the cause of my random system reboots and BSODs. With my new CPU, I have yet to have a single BSOD or random reboot when running at stock speed. I haven't tried a full bootup with it overclokced to 215MHz yet. I decided to run MemTest just to make sure things were at least reasonably ok, so I wouldn't risk booting into Windows and having some serious system crash.

 

[gwai lo]

Originally posted by: Gamingphreek
No he is probably just making some error. We all do its all good.

Sometimes I like to think that if people can do that much already they should know about all the other stuff (the voltage stuff in this case).

Sometimes I'm wrong...most of the time I'm right =P

 

[Link19]

I'm successfully able to overclock to 215MHz with the DIMM voltage at 2.8. At 225MHz, it fails miserably with MemTest. Is that about right that XMS RAM is usually overclockable only about 15MHz (30MHz DDR)?

 

[LordPhoenix]

My My,you're on a 3 Ghz P4 with 1 GB Ram and a 9800 Pro with 200 GB space and still not happy?

 

[Link19]

Originally posted by: LordPhoenix
My My,you're on a 3 Ghz P4 with 1 GB Ram and a 9800 Pro with 200 GB space and still not happy?

I never said that. All I wanted to do was improve performance a bit. I didn't say that performance wasn't already good. I just wanted to improve it a bit with all the new stuff they have out now.

 

[Gothgar]

Originally posted by: Link19
I'm successfully able to overclock to 215MHz with the DIMM voltage at 2.8. At 225MHz, it fails miserably with MemTest. Is that about right that XMS RAM is usually overclockable only about 15MHz (30MHz DDR)?

no, I have that RAM, and with voltage increase I got it to 250+ no problems... did you loosen the timings?

I did get the Samsung TCCD memory modules though, and I am on the DFI board, I don't know how your board performs...