New PC here , hoping to do some OC for extra performance , anyone has any recommendations on how far I should go? Still a newb here , haven't even accessed the BIOS. Aiming to OC my graphic card first. Hope to do things safe. Using a Intel E6750 , MSI P6N SLi ( thinking of SLi in future ) , MSI 8800GT OC , Corsair 2GB RAM XMS2 DDR2 800 , Thermaltake V1 , Acbel 550W PSU. So far I've got Everest and Rivatuner , any software to get? I wish to find out the temps of my processor and graphci card too... TIA!
Get CPU-Z, to check out all your systems clock speeds, multipliers etc, get Orthos so you can stress test your CPU for stability, and get coretemp so you can monitor your CPU temps. Also, get nTune so you can monitor your temps. Also, get ATi Tool. It's artifact finder is great for testing out different core and mem speeds for your graphics card to find out what's stable. (I know you have an nVidia card, it works for both nVidia and ATi). Probably you'd wanna focus on CPU at first, as it's what's going to make the biggest impact on performance. I'd recommend looking for a complete guide to overclocking a Core 2 Duo, as there is much more than I have the time and patience to write out. Good luck. Tell me if you hit 5ghz
if you're worried about safety(which is assumed to be defined by the chip lasting several years past its obsolecence) basically keep the following in mind when in doubt DO NOT ALTER VOLTAGES OR DRIVE STRENGTHS. Slight adjustments are usually fine, but amperage kills and in most systems increases in voltage increase amperage dynamically. then basically just up your clocks and tweak timings as necessary. also, check the pinned threads. Namely the one that is titled enthusiast electronics. as for going about OCing, for the GFX card, that's simple, just use rivatuner or ATItool then do some stability testing. Great way to start out. After that work your way onto the CPU. Set the RAM 1:1 with the system bus(333mhz on the RAM to 333mhz on the FSB) jac up the ram timings high and see ow high you can go. Thens tart tweaking timings after you've begun to find your systems limits.
You'll probably find that altering RAM timings may not even be an issue. Lets work it out; Your CPU has a bus speed of 333 and a multiplier of 8. 400 X 8 = 3200. So you can hit 3.2ghz before RAM even becomes an issue. Say you run your RAM at 1000mhz (which should be easy with Corsair RAM) 500 x 8 = 4000 thats 4ghz. you'd be pretty lucky to get your chip to 4ghz (basically impossible on air.)
it's only easy if you've got D9s in the RAM or don't mind using relatively high volts and loose timings with promos. and judging by the age fo teh rest of his stuff that corsair RAM is likely a alter revision and therefor NOT D9.
That's true. However, even with non D9 chips, 1000mhz is still an achievable goal. I've gotten Generic DDR2 800 RAM to 1000mhz before. Regardless, he won't need to get as far as DDR2 1000. I'm sure he'll stop ~430 FSB.
well most in this case would stop before 430*8 as you start to encounter a fair degree of CPU limitations due to heat constraints, especially on the box cooler.
I didn't notice at first, but he says he's got a "Thermaltake V1". I'd never heard of it until now, but a quick research told me it's a fairly good cooler, so he has a bit more headroom as far as temps go.
ahh didn't read that. yeh the v1 is decent, off the top of my head, it's somewhat comparable to the other top coolers, not quite up there but not horrendously far which is something to say considering it doesn't weigh a ton like the other huge tower coolers. again, as you did, before you start OCing, atleast with the CPU RAM and motherboard(GFX OCing is so easy it's a joke) you need to read up.
get a Thermalrights Ultra 120 Extreme then even 4.2ghz wont be an issue dont get carried away and push 2 much volts thru the cpu.. u can fry it if u do. the max c2d chips take is 1.5v after tht it wont fail but its very risky.
I happily run 1.6v+ through my C2D 24/7 as long as the cooling is adequate. When sub-zero, I've had 1.94v before vDroop going through my chip. It's all about how safe you feel about doing it.
for a suicide run in a place with low ambient temps. but if you're thinking 24/7 you're sadly mistaken.
