Overclocking Socket A 2.0Ghz and 9600Xt

[ToG]

I have a lan coming up and my computer is just short of running games how'd i'd like them. As you can tell the parts are old and i've basically worked out that my next pc upgrade will be 20times better than this is.

So i've decided to overclock this a bit, but i'm not that well informed. I've done overclocking before but only upping the FSB or changing multipliers, Never Voltages.
I was wondering if someone could help me with this a bit, I know i could reduce the system lifespan but in 6months or so i'll have a whole new pc.


Specs

Processor: Amd Sempron 3000+ (Socket A) Barton core Voltage ~1.6

Motherboard: Msi K7n2 Delta2- LSR

Ram: 512mb, 1x256mb Corsair Value select pc3200, 1x256mb Kingston Pc2700

Graphics: 256mb Saphire Radeon 9600XT.

Psu: 400watt Coolermaster xtreme something psu (haven't actually got yet but soon)

Cooling: 1x80mm Outake fan, 1xAkasa Silvermount Cpu Heatsink with a 80mmCase fan attached to it. 1x80mm intake fan and one pci extractor fan.



Queries

Firstly, right now i'm 40degrees on cpu and 30 on case temp (clocked to 2ghz). I tried using ATI tools to overclock the gpu. As soon as i try and push the memory past 200mhz i get artifacts, and if i do an optimization test on the core speed as soon as it goes to 510 the test is flooded with artifacts and died.
Why is this, temps are good and it seems stable but then it fails, is there anything i can change like the AGP voltage to squeeze a bit more out of it.


Secondly, I have a third stick of ram, 256 pc2700 random brand. The pc won't post with it but if i up the voltages across the ram before trying it, does it have a chance?


Thirdly, I was thinking of reapplying the thermal grease to the cpu, Gpu and chipset heatsinks, is it worth it? As well as this i'm rebuilding the pc to get the case free of dust etc.


And finally, Is it feesable for me to put the cpu voltages up in order to push the clock speed just that little further, bearing in mind i can't change the multiplier, just the FSB.


Thanks to anyone that can help, the lans about a week away so i'm open to all suggestions.

[Pob255]

Umm that graphics card OC sounds odd, I looked for the specs of that card and came up with this
VPU Core clock: 500MHz
Memory clock: 600MHz
128-bit DDR memory interface

So failing at 200mhz?? or do you mean 200mhz OC or 800mhz?

As to overclocking the FSB, your cpu is 166mhz with a x12 multiplier, that Corsair Value select is rated to 200mhz so there should be some room there for an OC however the Kingston is only rated at 166mhz so that might cause problems.
Now if you think it's worth a little cash to kepp this pc going, 1Gb Micron DDR PC3200 £34.06 that'll get you up to 1.256Gb of memory (with the corsair) which should help a bit in keeping this pc going for another 6months. (turn off dual channel with memory this missmatched )

Reseating your HS&F wouldn't hurt for OCing as long as you don't much it up by smothering it in paste or simular, as will going over and getting rid of dust build ups on fans, heatsinks and board.

Scan have got a 512MB ATI Radeon X1650 Pro, AGP for £57.50 which would be a boost but I don't know if you'd want to spend that sort of cash on an AGP card only to ditch it in 6months.

Sorry I cannot help with the voltages other than saying get a good PSU into your pc before starting to OC.
Although after a quick dig I found this

hello there friend, i can lend you a hand at this. ok if you are running the latest bios which is 11.5 or b50 then you have to have DOT or dynamic overclocking technology enabled in the bios cell menu settings.

if running a 200fsb i advise you to set the bus speed to 198mhz and set the DOT to the private setting which is 1% overclock. so under load your 198mhz bus will shoot up to 200mhz and be perfectly in spec wit your ram.

from here
Hope it helps

[ToG]

Umm that graphics card OC sounds odd, I looked for the specs of that card and came up with this
VPU Core clock: 500MHz
Memory clock: 600MHz
128-bit DDR memory interface

So failing at 200mhz?? or do you mean 200mhz OC or 800mhz?

As to overclocking the FSB, your cpu is 166mhz with a x12 multiplier, that Corsair Value select is rated to 200mhz so there should be some room there for an OC however the Kingston is only rated at 166mhz so that might cause problems.
Now if you think it's worth a little cash to kepp this pc going, 1Gb Micron DDR PC3200 £34.06 that'll get you up to 1.256Gb of memory (with the corsair) which should help a bit in keeping this pc going for another 6months. (turn off dual channel with memory this missmatched )

Reseating your HS&F wouldn't hurt for OCing as long as you don't much it up by smothering it in paste or simular, as will going over and getting rid of dust build ups on fans, heatsinks and board.

Scan have got a 512MB ATI Radeon X1650 Pro, AGP for £57.50 which would be a boost but I don't know if you'd want to spend that sort of cash on an AGP card only to ditch it in 6months.

Sorry I cannot help with the voltages other than saying get a good PSU into your pc before starting to OC.
Although after a quick dig I found this from here
Hope it helps

The card was given to me by a friend so i'm not 100% on it's origins but it's definetly only getting what i said.


The psu thats going in is a Coolermaster 380Watt Xtreme something. It's not as good as the seasonic or corsair i'll get when i upgrade but it doesn't really have to be. I'd rather not pay anything now, but when i get a job save up and get a few gigs of DDR2 for my pc build so this pc is really nothing more than a transitory computer.

[Pob255]

Well all the sources I've seen so far quote the gpu at 500mhz and memory from 580mhz to 650mhz
However there are two versions of this card by sapphire the 9600XT and the Ultimate 9600XT
I had a look at Sapphire's data sheet specs and although at first glance it wasn't there, I discovered it (most of the older cards are still one it, they've just changed the coloum width to 0 )
Although there is no Ultimate mentioned the 9600XT is listed as gpu=500mhz mem=580 to 650Mhz DDR1
Closer inspection of the infor on the two cards on sapphire's web site and it looks like the Ultimate version is just a fanless/improved cooler, looking around on google I can find pictures of 3 differnt boards, I'm guessing these One and Two are the standard 9600XT And this is deffinately the Ultimate version (was listed as such on the web page)

Now the numbers showing on the ATi tool could be before the double rate, so 202.5 would be 405 I've seen this before, esp with newer drivers for some reason.
But this is still low for the given clock rates of this card, might be just that it's old and knackered, you could try removeing the HS&F giveing it a good cleaning and reatach it with some new thermal paste.
Also could try increaseing the AGP voltage in the BIOS.

That PSU should be ok for that PC, the only Cooler master 380Watt eXtreme I could find was on Eclipse for £24.62 + what ever there shipping costs are (I really hate it when website don't list there shipping cost anyware )
If you've not ordered it yet can I sugest 350W FSP ATX-350PNF @ £25.84 from Scan (details here )
Basically the same but slightly stronger on the +12v rails.

You really could do with some more memory, esp for games, Some cheap no brand pc3200 should be fine, because if you OC your FBS to 200mhz your memory will be running at spec on 200mhz (a 1:1 ratio) Which means it shouldn't die on you.
A cheap 256mb stick is around £10-15 and 512mb is around £15-20

One other thing to do is keep windows very clean with a bare minimum of stuff running in the background, your harddrive defragged and the swap space manually set.

[ToG]

Well all the sources I've seen so far quote the gpu at 500mhz and memory from 580mhz to 650mhz
However there are two versions of this card by sapphire the 9600XT and the Ultimate 9600XT
I had a look at Sapphire's data sheet specs and although at first glance it wasn't there, I discovered it (most of the older cards are still one it, they've just changed the coloum width to 0 )
Although there is no Ultimate mentioned the 9600XT is listed as gpu=500mhz mem=580 to 650Mhz DDR1
Closer inspection of the infor on the two cards on sapphire's web site and it looks like the Ultimate version is just a fanless/improved cooler, looking around on google I can find pictures of 3 differnt boards, I'm guessing these One and Two are the standard 9600XT And this is deffinately the Ultimate version (was listed as such on the web page)

Now the numbers showing on the ATi tool could be before the double rate, so 202.5 would be 405 I've seen this before, esp with newer drivers for some reason.
But this is still low for the given clock rates of this card, might be just that it's old and knackered, you could try removeing the HS&F giveing it a good cleaning and reatach it with some new thermal paste.
Also could try increaseing the AGP voltage in the BIOS.

That PSU should be ok for that PC, the only Cooler master 380Watt eXtreme I could find was on Eclipse for £24.62 + what ever there shipping costs are (I really hate it when website don't list there shipping cost anyware )
If you've not ordered it yet can I sugest 350W FSP ATX-350PNF @ £25.84 from Scan (details here )
Basically the same but slightly stronger on the +12v rails.

You really could do with some more memory, esp for games, Some cheap no brand pc3200 should be fine, because if you OC your FBS to 200mhz your memory will be running at spec on 200mhz (a 1:1 ratio) Which means it shouldn't die on you.
A cheap 256mb stick is around £10-15 and 512mb is around £15-20

One other thing to do is keep windows very clean with a bare minimum of stuff running in the background, your harddrive defragged and the swap space manually set.

I got the psu from a local store for about £25 for another pc, i'm just swiping it from that. Besides scan are raping people over here (northern ireland) for postage right now.

I've a few fans coming in the post tomorrow as well as rounded ide cables (the one's i have are a mess). I had two CCFL fans and a 10cm CCFL strip as awell an LED bubble light and another led thing. I've stripped that all down to just the two CCFL fans.

Tomorrow i should be taking everything apart, resetting/greasing everything and generally cleaning dust. I'm going to hunt down that semi broken ram i was talking about and try it again. Get that new psu and install the new bits and bobs. (pci extractor fan etc.). Then i'm reinstalling Windows and just general tweaking.