I'm a truly Noob, but I want to Overclock

[Miretank]

since the day I heard about overclock, I dream with the day I'll maximize my PC and make it lots stronger. I have read a bunch things about oc , but I really need your help, advises and suggestions. i'm completely stupid with this but I want to learn, then I beg patience
but let me start... my system is like this:
-MBoard: Asus P4S800 (FSB 800MHZ, DDR 400, AGP 8X, supports HT)
-Processor: Pentium 4 2.4GHz (FSB: 133mhz; Bus Speed: 533mhz; Bus Width: 256 bits)
-RAM: 512 DDR-SDRAM (Frequency: 166.7mhz; FSB: DRAM 4:5; Cycle Time: 7 clocks)

and yeah, I know I'll need to be aware with this, since OC decreases the life of the hardware. Also I'll need a powerful fan to keep things cold.
I have a bunch of question, starting with these:

-how do I do overclock? I'll just mess with BIOS or will I put my hands on the hardware? (expect putting a new fan)
-money: how much do I need to make a good overclock?
-what do i need to buy?
-about life decreasing: oc decreases, more or less, how many times the hardware life?
-with my specs, in which speed do you think my processor could reach?
-overclock worths (in my case)?

there are some OC foruns around the net, but they're ugly and scary, with people talking about things my mind still can't understand so I ask for you friends from ET hehe
please ask me in what I need to be more specific and correct me when I'm wrong. from now, much much obliged

 

[Chibi Nick]

Go into the bios and find the settings for the fsb. You can up it.

Up it only small amounts at a time(~5MHz). Run a temp monitoring program and at the same time (search google) put the computer under stress (run a CPU extensive program). If the temp reaches an acceptable maximum, you can try higher. You don't really want it going higher than say... 70degrees Celcius.

It won't be much money, that's why people over clock instead of buying new hardware.

You can over clock to your hearts desire, there is no real maximum... It all depends on the cooling and the chip.

You must carefully test it when you overclock it each time!!! You don't want to fry your chip/mobo (although your cpu with automatically shut off if it gets too hot). If you make too big a jump, it might fry before it shuts off.

 

[Eagle]

I wouldnt bother overclocking that system honestly. It wont get you much power as its already quite powerfull. Your best improvement would be to add 512 Megs more memory.

 

[Miretank]

thanks, i did not have time to do some changes, but i was messing the bios and i overclocked the processor to 3.03Ghz. i felt very happy when I did that!
but i did not make it for ever because i'm afraid if i need to:
-change the voltage (vdimm, vcore, ..) to PLUS (since i'll more power to make the cpu run)
-a better cooler (although my CURRENT VALUES - running without overclock - are:
CPU TEMPERATURE: 34 C°
MB TEMPERATURE: 35 C°
CPU FAN: 2860~2910 (rpm/s?)
(got all this dates with AsusProbe)

now I ask:
-which voltage i should use in vcore? or it is impossible to guess and i need to check carefully by myself?
-is my fan satisfactory to run 3.0~3.4ghz? (i'm not running any havey prog right now, only firefox and winamp)
-am i on thw right way?

@eagle: thanks for your opinion dude, but you know, one time you make it overclock... you get addicted! =D i'm just trying this but I don't know if will apply these changes forever, i just want to see how far my system can go. yeah, i'm about to get more 512mb, and *upgrade my gfx*, but the prices here are so abusive.. gf6600 gt about U$ 200 dollars! (R$ 460!), P4 3.2GHZ U$ 450~500 (R$ 1000!!) I think i'll get a 512ddr and a gf 5200 fx...

 

[RJARRRPCGP]

since the day I heard about overclock, I dream with the day I'll maximize my PC and make it lots stronger. I have read a bunch things about oc , but I really need your help, advises and suggestions. i'm completely stupid with this but I want to learn, then I beg patience
but let me start... my system is like this:
-MBoard: Asus P4S800 (FSB 800MHZ, DDR 400, AGP 8X, supports HT)
-Processor: Pentium 4 2.4GHz (FSB: 133mhz; Bus Speed: 533mhz; Bus Width: 256 bits)
-RAM: 512 DDR-SDRAM (Frequency: 166.7mhz; FSB: DRAM 4:5; Cycle Time: 7 clocks)

and yeah, I know I'll need to be aware with this, since OC decreases the life of the hardware. Also I'll need a powerful fan to keep things cold.
I have a bunch of question, starting with these:

-how do I do overclock? I'll just mess with BIOS or will I put my hands on the hardware? (expect putting a new fan)
-money: how much do I need to make a good overclock?
-what do i need to buy?
-about life decreasing: oc decreases, more or less, how many times the hardware life?
-with my specs, in which speed do you think my processor could reach?
-overclock worths (in my case)?

there are some OC foruns around the net, but they're ugly and scary, with people talking about things my mind still can't understand so I ask for you friends from ET hehe
please ask me in what I need to be more specific and correct me when I'm wrong. from now, much much obliged

Actually, if you have a good motherboard, you can try at least a +10 mhz FSB overclock. Processor cores usually can OC by at least around +250 mhz. But, don't jump all the way there. Work your way up there.

 

[Miretank]

one thing I think I can't do is to set the bios option "hyper threading technology". the mobo manual says that option ia only visible if the processor supports this feature, and i'm not seeing it. am i losing much if my processor does not support ht?
and aham, being careful with changes.

 

[Clements]

Depends what type of Pentium 4 you have. A CPU-Z output can determine which core you have. Most likely your CPU is the older 533MHz FSB variant which has no HT. With a 533MHz FSB, HT is only available on the P4 3.06GHz.

Also, since you are massively bottlenecked by your video card (which is weaker than a GF2 GTS released more than five years ago), do not expect to see any improvement in most gaming applications by overclocking your CPU. You may notice a difference in synthetic benchmarks and video/audio encoding.

 

[Miretank]

aham, i have cpu-z and tested.

INTEL PENTIUM 4 2.4 GHZ/ FSB: 133.4 MHz

so.. no match for HT huh?
i liked this:

your video card (which is weaker than a GF2 GTS released more than five years ago), do not expect to see any improvement in most gaming applications by overclocking your CPU.

i must put it on my sig
will i gain speed in emus such chankast and pcsx2, by doing the oc?

 

[cooliscool]

PCSX2, not much. Chankast, definitely.

As your board and its chipset are only single channel parts, you're bottlenecking your CPU quite heavily. With single channel DDR, you're not getting nearly what that CPU has to offer. Granted, a 2.4B @ 3GHz isn't the fastest on the block, but it's definitely strapped for memory bandwidth.

 

[Miretank]

then I need to buy more 512mb?

 

[dukenukem]

have you run prime95 to see how stable that 600mhz oc is? Also if you need extreme help you can get it at extremeoverclocking.com as they know tons about overclocking.

 

[WhiteX]

for some info on OC in your language go to www.babooforum.com.br
There you will see many tutorials in portuguese for your viewing pleasure.

 

[cooliscool]

then I need to buy more 512mb?

No, your board/chipset don't support dual channel.

 

[Miretank]

ohhh shite cursed mobo...i've seen that now.. just one place for RAM.
then i need to buy a 1GB stick?! shit, buying something more expensive...
@WhiteX: i've already read those tutorials thanks anyway

edit: hey! i am all confused now! lain:
cooliscool, are you right about this? i'm reading the manual and there goes:
"DDR DIMM sockets: These three 184-pin DIMM sockets support up to 3 GB system memory using unbuffered non-ECC DDR SDRAM DIMMs"

but below there is:

"PC2100/1600 support up to 3 DIMMs; PC3200/2700 support up to 2 DIMMs; 1GB PC3200/2700 with 32 DDR chips support to 1 DIMM only"

i already have opened my case to clean, etc but I have never paid attention to the RAM sockets :blush:
do I have or not dual channel?

 

[Clements]

No.

 

[Cönker1]

You need to get faster ram. 512 is fine, but you need faster timings. Try to get them with CAS latency at 2 and everything else pretty low. PC3200 or even 4000 works, good for upping the FSB. Once you get better ram the overclock will be more stable and you can OC more. tinker around.

 

[ScottJC]

It doesn't matter if your ram is Dual-Channel or not if you put 512mb more memory in your system would still run faster because of having to do less hard drive writes (the page file being used heavily and all).

Still, dual channel is great for P4's... you should buy a new motherboard maybe and then use dual channel

 

[WhiteX]

buying dual channel ram here is suicide, for our reality, he could buy more 512 MB and save for a better video card.

 

[Miretank]

aham, i think it will be harder for me to buy a 1GB stick, and then, buy a new video card.
but may you guys tell me which mobo I should buy to use the dual channel? or it won't make difference, which is better? a dual channel has more effectiveness than the ones with just one?
(however i don't think it is good.. if I buy a new board+512MB, it will be more expensive than 1GB... instead with a new mobo i should upgrade my RAM easier)

 

[Miretank]

i messed up some more around here and I got 3.378Ghz. I have some questions:
-when I up the processor, I need to up the Vcore, it isn't?
-is safe to use the processor maxed out? i mean, if its safer to use the processor in, hmmm, 2.8 than 3.4?
-on the last thing I did, I've got 3.378GHz and 72 Cº, assuming that I up the Vcore from 1.53V to 1.55V. i heard that 50º is the max to get a safe run, but how I decrease the temperature? i get 30~40 using a fan around the opened case! :evil:
and I don't want to be annoying by discussing this, but put on my head why my mobo does not support dual channel. I have 2 more sockets for RAM, but my memory limit is 1GB