please help a friend of mine OC his rig

Son_of_Thunder · Apr 3, 2005, 10:34 PM

a buddy of mine has been asking my help for upgrading his system for the last few days, and when it comes down to it, he just doesn't have the money right now. he'd stick w/ what he's got but it just isn't giving him the results he wants, so he's decided to overclock.

i don't know much about overclocking intels, so i guessed that you guys would be a great place to turn for info.

ok, here's what we know about his system:

Processor: Intel 2.4ghz socket 478
Mobo: Asus P4S533
ram: 512mb running at 100Mhz
Vid Card: TI4200
Direct X 9.0c

we don't know his PSU stats though.

thanks in advance!

btw, i just posted this because he didn't know what to say, hopefully he'll be reading this thread and responding on his own, but i'll keep an eye on it just in case

Geminiwave · Apr 3, 2005, 11:34 PM

you have to be joking. The ram is running at 100mhz? your first fix could be running that RAM at a better, more proper speed. its PC-3200 isnt it? I think the lowest RAM speed for DDR is PC-2100 which is 133mhz, so theres no way in heck his ram is running at 100mhz.

Now as I recall, the P4 2.4ghz is GREAT as long is it is a 2.4C model. I think that the 2.4C was a SUPER overclocker.

Next thing is that his TI could use some overclocking(BE CAREFUL THOUGH!) Unfortunately it is woefully underpowered and probably the main problem here(well...second to the RAM if it is really running at 100mhz. FIX THAT RAM SPEED!)

edit: Whatever you do, pick ONE thing to do(in this case, OC the CPU) and do it VERY VERY SLOWLY! Take it up a few mhz...test stability(with various benchmarks and running games for awhile) take it up a few more mhz and do the same. Once you've hit an unstable point, take it back a few mhz and test again. Then let the computer run under normal operation with the new clockspeed for a week or so and check for abnormalities.

be careful about raising voltages. As I recall, 1.7 Vcore is bad news. I might be wrong though(I dont use P4s often). It might also be for Northwoods.

Anywho, just be EXTREMELY careful. Watch those temps.

Good tools to use for stability testing: 3dmarks03 and 05. PCmark04. aquamark. UT2003 and UT2004(03 is less tollerant of OCing so its better, but it doesnt work properly in SP2 all of the time. 04 is easier to come across also. You can get free demos from their websites. use google). Any new game that you've played alot is good. Check for crashing, jerking\lagging, or any instability present. Oh yeah, and a great test is to take a HUGE folder and RAR it at maximum compression. Leave it going(make sure its one of those that'll take at least a half hour). If it finishes and you havent crashed, chances are pretty good that all is well with memory and CPU.

main point here: Take it SLOW!

Son_of_Thunder · Apr 3, 2005, 11:46 PM

his ram is running at 100mhz, it seems completely possible since his mobo has support for 168pin pc100 and pc133 as well as 184pin pc2100 and pc2700.

Geminiwave · Apr 4, 2005, 05:36 PM

...oh

dude...um...get better RAM. you really wont be able to OC much or anything without that.

In fact, you may not need to be OCing if you get some real ram.

Even cheap latency-ridden RAM would be okay if it was PC-3200.

Logla · Apr 4, 2005, 06:53 PM

they'll be SDRAM DIMMS @ 100MHz on that board with a 2.4b at most. The board only supports upto PC2700 as well.

Doesn't really look like any overclocks are going to gain that much performance and tbh with that RAM he has no chance.

Better off saving and getting a new rig.

Son_of_Thunder · Apr 4, 2005, 07:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Logla

they'll be SDRAM DIMMS @ 100MHz on that board with a 2.4b at most. The board only supports upto PC2700 as well.

Doesn't really look like any overclocks are going to gain that much performance and tbh with that RAM he has no chance.

Better off saving and getting a new rig.

yah, that's what i told him. he's pretty young, and his parents said they wouldn't help him build a new pc for another 2 years, but i don't think his pc will keep up that long.

i know that my old asus a7v8x-x didn't support pc3200, but when i bought some it just automatically adjusted it to run at ddr333. i would have just told him to get some new ram, but wasn't sure if his pc would handle the pc3200, and it'd be pointless to buy pc2700 now when he's hoping to upgrade his system after a bit.

so, do you guys think his pc would handle a gig of pc3200 corsair value select? right now it's only about 92 bucks for a twin set of it.

i'm actually thinking about getting another gig since it's so cheap.

*RyderOCZ* · Apr 4, 2005, 07:46 PM

Corsair!!! Lol, only joking.

Yes the motherboard would run the PC3200 at PC2700 or PC2100 speed just as you referenced your A7V8X doing earlier. This would improve things greatly for him. You would at least have DDR ram running 200 or 266 instead of SDR at 100. If you can come up with the bios settings, I will offer what I can for settings help

Son_of_Thunder · Apr 4, 2005, 08:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RyderOCZ

Corsair!!! Lol, only joking.

Yes the motherboard would run the PC3200 at PC2700 or PC2100 speed just as you referenced your A7V8X doing earlier. This would improve things greatly for him. You would at least have DDR ram running 200 or 266 instead of SDR at 100. If you can come up with the bios settings, I will offer what I can for settings help

sory ryder, OCZ's cheap stuff just has too high of a latency and too loose of timings for me

thanks for the advice though, i'll be sure to pass it on.

*RyderOCZ* · Apr 4, 2005, 08:33 PM

No worries

Let me know if you need anything