Ok, abuse me!

[MasterDecker]

System is as follows.

Abit TH7 II motherboard (non raid)
Intel Pentium 4 1.6 GHz Northwood (a)
512 megs Rambus memory (4x128)
40 gig western Digital hdd
24x12x40 cd/rw
16x40 dvd
X-pider thermal monitor
floppy frive
PNY Geforce 4 Ti 64 megs DDR
dual 10/100 NICs
320 kbps adsl
STOCK HSF
5 intake 80 mm fans
4 exhaust 80mm fans (1 as a chimney fan over the CPU)
Windows XP Professional
Latest BIOS update.

Ok, here is the situation. I have not ever Overclocked a machine, and have been tossing around the idea of doing so to this one. I am sure that many of you have either used this similar setup, or at least know tons more about it then I do.

Would some one be so kind as to give me correct (stable) overclocking directions. The only way I can learn is by doing so. I would greatly appreciate. Thanks. Please send me an email, to masterdecker@yahoo.com

Again I thank you.

[THCi]

First, up the volts on the chip (couple of .'s V to begin with) then up the FSB bus, take it one step at a time. Restart, if it posts all good, then up the FSB by one Mhz again. Do this till it doesnt post, remember what it was set at , up the volts again.

Be careful when you do it, the only person that is responsible for breaking your gear is you! And, check that the temps on your chip are good, dont know what the standard is for p4s of that rating. But anything reaching 70^C is a no-no.

For more than that, you'll have to read up on OCing a p4, as Ive only ever done AMDA-XPs.

[Austin]

With any o/c'ing the simple rule is to take things VERY steady. Always use small steps up (FSB is the only way to go with Intel) and test thoroughly at each setting to make sure it is still 100% stable. Look for freezing, restarting, quitting to desktop and visual glitches as signs you've gone a little too far.

So you keep going up bit by bit (testing each time) until you find instability. Then you should try to work out the cause, it could be insufficient cooling (HSF & case airflow), RAM working too fast (look for ratios), PCI/AGP too far out of spec (should be no higher than 36/72), mobo can't handle the speed (NB cooling?) or you've found as high as that CPU can go without voltage increases. Be careful with voltage, it seriously stresses your CPU and produces LOADS more heat so be sure your cooling is up to it! I can't recall what the 1.6ghz P4 uses but I wouldn't take it much over +0.2v without checking what others have done/rec. When you find the fastest your CPU can go without instability drop it back a little way further in order to ensure long term stability and avoid overly stressing things.

IIRC you should expect to get around 1.9ghz (119FSB, QDR=475mhz) BUT there are no guarantees so take it steady and see what your partic setup can do. Rambus may be picky, you may need a little extra voltage for it but again check with those who have the same type of setup. If you're a gamer you'll find big gains in o/c'ing, GF4TI are great at stock but generally have plenty of headroom in them. Good luck!

[SilentDeath]

test mobo and ram with www.memtest86.com and prime95 for testing cpu