New to OC. Please Advise.

[slimbim]

I just ordered the following parts:

P4 1.6A GHz
MSI 645 Ultra MS-6547
KingMax DDR333 256MB
Thermaltake Dragon 478 CPU fan
Antec PP352X ATX 350W POWER SUPPLY
VisionTek Xtasy Geforce 3 Ti/200

I have never overclocked my computer before, and I am trying to overclock this one. All I know is that you increase the FSB. Can anyone give me a crash course on what to do?

Main questions I have are:

1. Is there a optimal temperature for the CPU and others that I should not go over?
2. Is overclocking as simple as just increasing the FSB to 133Mhz?
3. I read on other posts about frequencies for PCI and AGP etc. How does this change and how do I control it?
4. What does changing voltage for CPU do? Is this necessary?
5. How do I make sure the system is stable and that it will last long time without decreasing the life time of parts?

Thank you very much for your time and input.

Slim

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Ok crash course raise your fsb up and try and boot if it boots raise it some more, keep going till you cant boot then back it down a bit. Now raise your voltage a bit also to try and help it stableize if it doesnt try more voltage most of the 16 chips can run around 1.6 volts and be stable. As for you AGP and PCI bus speeds you need to keep those at 66/33 mhz your mobo should do it automatically by changing the divider to keep the speeds in spec. If it doesnt then you need to set it yourself. Whe you overclock you overclcock everything so thats why you need to get those PCI and AGP settings in spec. As for system temps and stability you can run programs to check it like 3DMark2001, or Prime etc etc. Or you can just go play games and see if it locks up. After looking at what you bought I might be concerned about your RAM being a bottleneck for your overclock. Now for CPU temps the cooler the better mine runs at 28c if you get over 50c I would start to worry. Dont just jump in and go to 133 fsb start with small jumps at a time.

 

[slimbim]

Thanks for the kind reply.

About my ram being bottleneck, you think I need more ram? like 512MB? or is it just wrong type?

Thanks again

 

[jiffylube1024]

Why are you crying, you just got a new machine! You should be happy!

 

[MentalAtrophy]

how is the RAM a bottleneck... it's DDR333... might not run at the fastest timings because it's not corsair or crucial, but it should still be fine!

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Its just sometimes we see better overclcocks with a brand like Crucial ,I just wanted him to be aware. I am not saying its bad ram I just know what combos work well and Crucial does very well in the o/c department.

 

[slimbim]

Thanks a lot guys for your input. I am not planning on overclocking toooo high....just around 2GHz, 133MHz fsb at max. If the ram gives me problems, I can just get a new one. I'll post again when I get my parts, and if I have problems.

thanks again.