A few questions about RAM and a CPU

[StrangeFellow]

About overclocking, this will be the first comp i have EVER built, i will be more than satisfied if the thing works in the first place, i dont really wanna go and blow something up, but i'll think about it..

as long as you have a good HSF (heat sink fan combo) and good airflow within your case you have nothing to worry about as the northwoods can do wonders for overclocking with out adding voltage or anything
for the HSF i suggest this its not the most powerfull cooler there is but it does have a good cooling/sound ratio imo

i'm curious as to what case you plan on getting

[Greeny]

Rbstr - Thanks for the link

Strangefellow - The case i was planning on getting was one i found on www.overclockers.co.uk - CoolerMaster Centurion 2 - Black (No PSU)

It has slots for two 80mm fans 1x Front Intake and 1x Back Panel

I'll be sure to fill them to keep the computer nice and cool..

Also, if i use a SATA HDD can i put a CDRW IDE1 and DVD Drive on IDE2? would that work?

If i HAD to choose between ATI and Nvidia i'd probably choose Nvidia as i have a Nvidia card now and it never failed me so i know they're reliable (although i'm sure ATI is as well) But the card (GeForce 2 64MB MX) is now way out of date like the rest of the computer..

I should hopefully have the comp going within the next few months (money pending)

Thanks for the help btw, Very much appreciated..

[Rbstr]

No problem, amid all of our squabaling thats what we aim for.

[Electrofreak]

Yeah, overclocking isnt as dangerous as one might think. Most decent motherboards have systems that will prevent CPU overheating damage and the like. Basically, the better a board overclocks the better it sells, and mobo manufacturers have figured that out and have recently been making very overclock-friendly motherboards. It used to be a dangerous business but its becoming quite safe and common now.

[Greeny]

Thanks Electrofreak..

Anyone help with IDE question please?

Hope you know which case i mean btw Strangefellow

And if anyone is interested here is a good article on the 6800GT - http://www.guru3d.com/article/Videocards/135/1/

There you go..

[MattxMosh]

Originally Posted by Greeny

Also, if i use a SATA HDD can i put a CDRW IDE1 and DVD Drive on IDE2? would that work?

Theres no reason that you shouldn't be able too.

Just make sure you have up to date SATA drivers for your windows install, or it can be quite a bitch.

[Vitter]

Not having the proper SATA drivers is a bit more than "quite a bitch". You could wind up having to take your HD to somoene else's PC just to get the right drivers.

Thankfully my Asus P4C800 E Deluxe recognized them right off the bat (my old HD got fried so i had no chance to download and transfer drivers).

[DeepStrikeck]

I'm thinking about overclocking my AMD Athalon XP 3000+ "Barton" 2.1GHz 512k Cache 400FSB, anyone know of any software/guides to do so safely with a 5500rpm 73CFM fan? (Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12) (on an Abit NF7)

[MattxMosh]

Originally Posted by DeepStrikeck

I'm thinking about overclocking my AMD Athalon XP 3000+ "Barton" 2.1GHz 512k Cache 400FSB, anyone know of any software/guides to do so safely with a 5500rpm 73CFM fan? (Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12) (on an Abit NF7)

Dont use software if you can avoid it, always use the bios.

We bums at http://www.extremeoverclocking.com have some good guides on the forums, check it out.

[Daleon]

Mattx - first find out if your cpu is multiplier locked or not. More than likely is though, which means all you can do is raise your fsb. Being already at 400 mhz though doesn't give you much room because you are going to be limited by your ram mostly. OC'ing is generally better for lower/midrange chips to get them up to higher end ones. If you bought a mobile 2400 or something you could OC to hell.

If you got good ram, you can lower the timings pretty lax, pump up the voltage on it some, and prolly get it to 225/450. I think your chip is 10.5 x 200, giving you 2.1/400. So 10.5 x 225 would be 2.362 ghz. So prolly start around 210 and make sure you can post. From them go up to 215, 220, 221, 222, etc. If you post at 225 no problem start using memtest86 and prime95 to make sure its stable, run it through some 3dmark's in windows, etc. If it is, you can try and keep going higher. Just keep an eye on your temps, and try not to go over 55 under load.

Can also go through nforcershq.com in the abit forum for specific nf7 bios settings.

[Electrofreak]

^ well said

[MattxMosh]

Well said indeed, but his is definatly locked.

[StrangeFellow]

once again very well said...if my memory serves correctly you can not unlock barton core processors anymore (after the week 42 batch i belive, i'll check it out) but there are some cheap unlocking kits that you can buy to easily unlock the muliplier if it is a pre week 42 (or what ever it is) cpu

greeny- good choice of case, coolmaster is a good company

forgive me if that doesnt make sense it's 1:30 in the morning

[Daleon]

Yea, I seriously doubted he would have an unlocked xp3000. Would be able to sell it for a nice profit though if you did.

Got my 2.8c running at 3.41 stable as a rock, hanging around 45c using some absolute POS hsf I got for $20 from CompUSA lol. All my good hsf's are for AMD only, so I am thinking a SLK-948U. An SP94 would be nice, but I am sick of mb mounted hsfs.

[MattxMosh]

Originally Posted by StrangeFellow

once again very well said...if my memory serves correctly you can not unlock barton core processors anymore (after the week 42 batch i belive, i'll check it out) but there are some cheap unlocking kits that you can buy to easily unlock the muliplier if it is a pre week 42 (or what ever it is) cpu

greeny- good choice of case, coolmaster is a good company

forgive me if that doesnt make sense it's 1:30 in the morning

Week 39, I think.