Ok, i'm not as computer savvy as most ppl on here :) My question is this:

How do I overclock a : x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6 797MHz computer? It is running Win XP Home Service Pack 2. 192MB memory 1K cache.

If you need any other info let me know!

Thank you in advance!

Bells

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<img border="0" src="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?userID=1292&amp;trans=off" />

> If you need any other info let me know!

The motherboard chipset, memory & CPU determine just how successfull an overclock will be, and the method used to overclock.

Old systems (P200) etc you could adjust the CPU multiplier directly, current ones require adjustment of the FSB.
Checking out Overclocking on sites such as Tom's Hardware Guide would be your best option.


BTW- once overclocked, the results you produce may no longer be valid & you will not receive credit for them- you will need to test the system with something such as Prime95 before resuming crunching to make sure it's not just producing errors.
Just because the system boots & runs doesn't mean it's working properly...

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Grant
Darwin NT

If it was built by a big manufacuturer (HP/Dell/Compaq/etc.) you CANNOT OC.

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> BTW- once overclocked, the results you produce may no longer be valid &
> you will not receive credit for them- you will need to test the system with
> something such as Prime95 before resuming crunching to make sure it's not just
> producing errors.
> Just because the system boots & runs doesn't mean it's working properly...
>
I ahve never had this problem. More than ahlf of my machines are overcliocked and I havent ever had that problem.

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> I ahve never had this problem. More than ahlf of my machines are overcliocked
> and I havent ever had that problem.

Some overclockers consider that just getting the BIOS up is a successfull overclock, even though it falls over when it tries to load the OS.
Others consider getting the OS to boot successfull, even though it falls over after about 3 minutes.
A successfull overclock IMHO is one where the system works, without error. Sometimes it is possible for a system to be stable, but still produce the odd error when it's right on the edge of it's stable point.

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Grant
Darwin NT

> > BTW- once overclocked, the results you produce may no longer be valid
> &
> > you will not receive credit for them- you will need to test the system
> with
> > something such as Prime95 before resuming crunching to make sure it's not
> just
> > producing errors.
> > Just because the system boots & runs doesn't mean it's working
> properly...
> >
> I ahve never had this problem. More than ahlf of my machines are overcliocked
> and I havent ever had that problem.
>

It depends on how sensibly you went about overclocking. If you really push the edge of what your machine can do, without adequate stress testing, you will likely have problems. If you back up a cautious amount when you find the point where your machine becomes noticeably unstable, you might be OK. But even stock machines have been known to fail stress testing. (usualy, due to cheap RAM)

I'm a bit obsessive over this, and pull my machine down for 24 hours each year to run prime95. This year it failed, I suspect the RAM is degrading. Still, up the voltage and I'm prime95 24 hour stable again.

Anyway, Bells, this thread:
http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=335813

Contains all you need to know about stress testing. For BOINC, prime95 is probably the important test, if you can run that for 24 hours, you can BOINC secure in the knowledge that you will be turning in valid results as reliably as is possible. You might also want to run memtest86. 3DMark2001 wont tell you anything about how well you can BOINC, but if you intend to game on this machine, it may be worth doing.

That forum should also contain anything you need to know about how to overclock your hardware.

>x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6 797Mhz

That would normally be called a "Pentium III 800Mhz" or possibly "Pentium III-Xeon 800Mhz". Depends on the ammount of Level 2 Cache.

You can get a program like CPU-Z to identify it more accurately. Everest Home Edition will even tell you the motherboard and give you a web link to its information page...where you can learn about overclocking it.

> Ok, i'm not as computer savvy as most ppl on here :) My question is this:
>
> How do I overclock a : x86 Family 6 Model 8 Stepping 6 797MHz computer? It is
> running Win XP Home Service Pack 2. 192MB memory 1K cache.
>
> If you need any other info let me know!
>
> Thank you in advance!
>
> Bells
>
>
>
>
>Overclocking a first glance may seem to be a good way to get something for nothing, BUT:

1. as u will have to increase the fsb it will also overclock all the other parts of your computer especially:
1a. Memory - usually matched for speed with fsb and very likely not like increase, although you could change this for faster memory (read up on timings first). You might be able to get performance boost by forcing in BIOS to CL2 etc. rather that accepting auto settings - but do test if it apears to work.
1b. Graphics card - guessing but your stock fsb is 100Mhz, therefore agp is 100/3=33Mhz, if you OC it will be new fsb/3 and graphics cards very rarely like anything aproaching 40MHz. More modern Motherboards allow agp to be set independently.

2. Installing/Updating software, especially from CAB's, Microsofts favourite way, is very risky. Computer can appear to boot OK before starting operating system and then crash. If this happens in wrong place then you will be wiping hard disc and reinstalling if it really goes wrong.

3. It produces more heat - its the transistions from 0 to 1 or 1 to 0 that cause it initially but to increase to stable time at 1 or zero the voltage has to be increased for the CPU and/or memory. Increasing the Voltage increases the Current(Amps) (Ohms Law) therefore the is a big increase in temperature as Watts = Volts * Amps.
3a. As the heat increase will affect most parts of the computer this needs to be extracted so more or faster fans (read noisier) would be a good idea.
3b. If you have to increase the Voltage you had better check that your power supply can handle it, I think Toms Hardware has a table somewhere that gives reasonable power requirements for typical components. Most major manufacturers tend to only allow a limited bit of headroom on their power supplies to allow the fitting of new HDD's, a bit more memory and maybe a few cards i.e. network cards etc.

If you still think its a good idea then do as the others have said, Test and test again before running Boinc and associated projects.

Andy
festina lente - make haste slowly

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Thanks all! Great help! I was able to overclock the P3 800 ( actually it was running at 797) to 824 Mgz with no problems--a good 3% gain! I ran all kinds of test from the links you gave me and it seems I am good to go!

Bells

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<img border="0" src="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?userID=1292&amp;trans=off" />

> Thanks all! Great help! I was able to overclock the P3 800 ( actually it was
> running at 797) to 824 Mgz with no problems--a good 3% gain!

Keep in mind that anything less than a 20% increase in clock speed usually isn't noticeable to someone using a system.

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Grant
Darwin NT

> > Thanks all! Great help! I was able to overclock the P3 800 ( actually
> it was
> > running at 797) to 824 Mgz with no problems--a good 3% gain!
>
> Keep in mind that anything less than a 20% increase in clock speed usually
> isn't noticeable to someone using a system.

TRUE, but noticable for crunching through put over time.

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- da shu @ HeliOS,
"A child's exposure to technology should never be predicated on an ability to afford it."