PC Built! Can an Overclocker help me?

[Rbstr]

thats the one i would go for then

BTW you have to post benches of you machine, and you PS fps

[Ait'al]

Him or me?

[Rbstr]

him

[Marsman]

As someone suggested, you may wish to ramp up your FSB freq slowly and not try to jump all the way to 250 in one step. Try in steps of 10 or 5 as you get closer to the magic number.

In AMD's a least, as you get near the unstable point, you can extend the upper end by making a "slight" increase to the CPU core voltage. (.05 to .1 volt increments) Each increase will create more CPU heat so good cooling is a must. I'm assuming P4's will go a little further with a higher core voltage like AMD will, but a P4 guru may want to confirm this.

[Rbstr]

yeah they do, sometimes

[Electrofreak]

::Electrofreak senses Marsman encroaching on his AMD territory...::

[Vitter]

Ok, after looking through the cooling systems I decided to get:

A Thermalright SP-94 - Socket 478 w/ Mounts for the CPU cooler with a 80mm Panaflo U1A Fan which puts out 46.9 CFM @ 3450 RPM w/ 38.2 db level. The fan was untailed so I got a 3-pin Panaflo Fan Tail to connect it to the MB (it came with the option to get a 4-pin, but I want the 3-pin for processor fan, right?).

In addition I got a vial of Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste - 3.5 Grams.

Combine all this with the 4x80mm fans I already have (2 in back, 2 in front) and i'm hoping this will provide sufficient cooling.

I'm going to hold off ordering the stuff until tonight to give you guys time to look this over and decide if it will be satisfactory or not.

[Rbstr]

i would get the 3 pin, liek you got, as thats what most fan controlers need, as you can always get a 3-4 pin adapter.

You should have decent cooling, two up front are intake and the two in back are exhuast? if not flip em around as that will hamper airflow the other way.

That should cool just fine, make sure with the AS5 that you don't get it on the mobo or anything else but the heatsink and the integrated heat speader on the CPU(the top) if you do you can short the circuts on the mobo.

Th eonly other thing i can think of is a Fan controler thing, so you don't have to have it on full blast constantly.

[Vitter]

Cool, thanks RBSTR.

Question 1: If I cannot get my FSB all the way to 250, let's say I can only get it to 240, should I keep my DRAM Frequency at 500? Or should I lower it down to 480 for 1:1? Keep in mind that I will be attempting to lower my timings as much as possible.

Question 2: What would prevent me from going all the way to 250? Does it just start becoming unstable? I'm thinking so based on the advice you gave. So do you recomend I increase it slowly (by 10 maybe), then test it (what do you recomend testing it with), and raise more if it's stable?

Question 3: If, in question 2, I reach a point where it isn't unstable what should I raise my CPU VCore Voltage by? .05? .001?

Question 4: Before I even begin overclocking what should i set my CPU VCore Voltage to as a base? My CPU is a P4C 2.8 GHz and, according to NewEgg, is Voltage:1.525V.

Question 5: Do you recomend I tighten my timings as much as possible first (perhaps requiring the DDR Referance Voltage to be increased), and then increase the FSB? Or should I do it the other way and increase the FSB first?

[Rbstr]

#1 i would test it at each and see what's best

#2 Yes it would give BSOD's and can even make CTD's happen more often. Your chip should be able to handel it as most can but all chips are a little bit different. the memory coudl cause it, and the heat could cause it, its realy hard to say.

I woudl first run it though Aquamark3 and 3dmark 03. Then play PS, or COD, some newer game you have on it for a while. Basicaly turn it on and clock it up, do some benches and then play some games, for and hour or so, when you normaly do, if its stable OC it a bit more the next day or the one after.

#3 i woudl raise it by the smalles amount possible, but i think if its on auto the board will acctualy keep it at the right spot for you

#4 same as up ther, keep it on auto at first, if that has stability problmes up it as little as possible to make it stable. and if you get goin up higher than a few times you may not want to risk the CPU over the sweet oc, thats for you to decide

#5 i would wait till you have your OC done then get yout timings low

[Vitter]

Originally Posted by Rbstr

#3 i woudl raise it by the smalles amount possible, but i think if its on auto the board will acctualy keep it at the right spot for you

You mean the Asus P4C800-E Deluxe will actually increase my voltage automatically when it detects things getting unstable?

[Rbstr]

i'm not sure but it has an auto mode.

ASUS realy made this board with the intention of OCer so it may up it according to the OC or something like you said. if it doesn't work just do it manualy

[Vitter]

Ok, cool. Thanks a ton for your help with all this Rbstr (and everyone else). My cooling stuff will be here in a few days and i'll post how the OCing goes.

Thanks again!

[Rbstr]

No problem