OK, that's a KT400 board, which should be able to unlock your multipliers with no problems. First of all, what are your temps presently running with that Zalman flower hsf? That is not the hot setup for any serious overclocking, so the temp readings you are getting now are very revelant to what you will be able to run. You should be able to do some mild overclocking, but nothing serious.
First, you need to find out how fast you can go with that proc at stock vcore by just bumping up the fsb speed in bios. Up the fsb speed by 2-3 MHz in bios and run it a while while running Folding@Home or Prime95 to check stability and temps(minimum 3-6 hours) then bump it up again until you get around 150 fsb. If you are still stable and temps aren't too bad when you are at 150 fsb, then you will need to back the multi down to around a 13.5 so that you can bump the fsb speed past 166 to enable the 1/5 pci multi on your board and keep the AGP and PCI busses closer to spec speed. If you can get to this point, then you will be lucky IMO, with a Zalman flower hsf though. Once you find the max stable point at which you are able to run, you can then start messing more with the multipliers and fsb speeds. You will want to run as high a fsb speed as you can without running the AGP and PCI busses too far out of spec, which will probably be in the neighborhood of 190 fsb with that KT400 board..
Thought I would steer down the watercool route, as I was very impressed with the quietness of jimbo's new rig, even when OC'ed. It's quieter (or easily as quiet as my non OC'ed zalman air cooled system), and much lower temps too.
I'm running at about an average of 48oC at mid fan speed. This is when running various audio progs simultainously.
I'd like to get the temp down, and the CPU speed up, so a nice combination of water-cooling + OC'ing the CPU should do the trick.
Glad you like near enough to him to help out, Jim. That will definitely ease his mind about trying a little overclocking out.:) If he wants to get some serious overclocking going, you can help him out finding a good heatsink like an SLK800 in the UK, which can still run a fairly silent 80mm fan.
What you guys really need to find is a fellow UK'er that travels a lot to the US so you can get better prices for your hardware. The drilling rig I was just on a couple of weeks ago has several Brits that work a 21/21(days here/days home) schedule here in the US on the rig. Those guys could get your hardware pretty easily and get it back to you with no probs. I couldn't believe how much some of your stuff (non computer related) costs there in the UK.
Totally agree there.... to expensive here for sure. Trouble is, the cost of postage to/from US is huge.
I was looking at a US pc stuff web site, not bad prices really compared to here, but would have cost a fortune to ship over.... so it kinda works out cheaper to buy here!!
Still... I wish stuff was cheaper here in the first place.
That's why I was saying that you need to find someone you trust who regularly comes to the US to buy the parts and bring them back when he goes back home for you.;) I know that Derrickhand I worked with on that rig (who lives not too far from Newcastle) always buys his clothes and stuff here and brings it home.
Comments
M.:)
First, you need to find out how fast you can go with that proc at stock vcore by just bumping up the fsb speed in bios. Up the fsb speed by 2-3 MHz in bios and run it a while while running Folding@Home or Prime95 to check stability and temps(minimum 3-6 hours) then bump it up again until you get around 150 fsb. If you are still stable and temps aren't too bad when you are at 150 fsb, then you will need to back the multi down to around a 13.5 so that you can bump the fsb speed past 166 to enable the 1/5 pci multi on your board and keep the AGP and PCI busses closer to spec speed. If you can get to this point, then you will be lucky IMO, with a Zalman flower hsf though. Once you find the max stable point at which you are able to run, you can then start messing more with the multipliers and fsb speeds. You will want to run as high a fsb speed as you can without running the AGP and PCI busses too far out of spec, which will probably be in the neighborhood of 190 fsb with that KT400 board..
You should have called me, Mik
Seriously though, the Doc is right on the mark, any probs give me a call & I'll pop round for an overclock & cup of tea.
Thought I would steer down the watercool route, as I was very impressed with the quietness of jimbo's new rig, even when OC'ed. It's quieter (or easily as quiet as my non OC'ed zalman air cooled system), and much lower temps too.
I'm running at about an average of 48oC at mid fan speed. This is when running various audio progs simultainously.
I'd like to get the temp down, and the CPU speed up, so a nice combination of water-cooling + OC'ing the CPU should do the trick.
Mikim:)
What you guys really need to find is a fellow UK'er that travels a lot to the US so you can get better prices for your hardware. The drilling rig I was just on a couple of weeks ago has several Brits that work a 21/21(days here/days home) schedule here in the US on the rig. Those guys could get your hardware pretty easily and get it back to you with no probs. I couldn't believe how much some of your stuff (non computer related) costs there in the UK.
Basically everything costs the same in UK £'s as it does in US £'s, importers seem not to have figured out there's such a thing as the exchange rate.
Mik I'll call you tonite to see how you're getting on.
I was looking at a US pc stuff web site, not bad prices really compared to here, but would have cost a fortune to ship over.... so it kinda works out cheaper to buy here!!
Still... I wish stuff was cheaper here in the first place.