Overclocking advice

[Arcmanov]

I need some advice on overclocking.  My PC setup is as follows:

Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe motherboard
AMD Athlon XP 2600+ processor with Thermaltake Volcano 12 Heatsink/Fan
1.2 Gb Kingston PC3200 DDR RAM (512 Mb x 2, 256 Mb x 1)
Chaintech Geforce 6600 GT AGP video card (GPU 500 Mhz/RAM 900 Mhz)
80 Gb Western Digital IDE HDD (master)
120 Gb Western Digital IDE HDD (slave)

All software and drivers are up to date (WIN XP Pro SP2, Nvidia 77.77, forceware 5.10)

Need some info on RAM timings, CPU voltages and multipliers so that I can achieve a good, stable overclock.  The current setup gives a 3dMark05 score of 2602.  Real world gaming performance is splendid, but noticed some artifacting and downright crashing of games whenever I attempt to overclock the CPU to a speed of 2.25-2.3 Ghz.  The stock speed of this processor is 1.9 Ghz, but I have it running quite stable at 2.19 Ghz (a measly 4% increase).

Any assistance would be welcome.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

  basics : overclock cpu through BIOS if your mobo has the options , else check out Clockgen for your mobo chipset (google it , me too lazy) . Use Coolbits to unlock built in Nvidia overclocking software , or Rivatuner  .
 Tips : Don't pass 550 / 1.1GHZ on your 6600gt without extra cooling... basically just rip off the facepate and put a big fan there, if you feeling brave get some high end thermal grease , take off the heatsink and grease the core (preferably something non conductive, else you can fry the card) , factories grease the  cards carelessly  with cheap stuff, a manual grease should lower temps a bit .

  With the cpu a load of above 65 degrees celsius is unhealthy ish  , don't overclock if its at or near those temps..  overclock it  in small increments , like 2 mhz FSB ... Try keeping ram at 1 : 1 ratio with cpu ,  if it gets unstable give the cpu a little voltage  and try again , else back off the overclock .
   I won't go above 2.4ghz with the cpu if i were you , few athlons XPs other than the mobiles can make it there safely .
   

[Beomagi]

what is your fsb at right now?
One of the main bottlenecks for older athlons was the limited bandwidth of the fsb. Try dropping the multiplier and raising the fsb to try getting it up 1:1 with memory so that you're as close to the effective 400MHz as you can get.

[Arcmanov]

the FSB is set at 190 Mhz, with a 1:1 ratio to the memory clock.

[W1nTry]

I had a rig very close to what you've just described and here's my advice to you. Firstly you got some good components and my 2600+ Barton reached 2.3GHz and stayed there for the entire time I had that rig without a hitch. 2.3GHz==200x11.5 but that being said not all cpus are made equal. What you want to do is increase the CPU Frequency till you can't POST at all (start up and log into windows). Then back it down to the last POST speed. Then if let's say its 2.3GHz you can back it down a further 10% so you don't seriously decrease the life of the CPU by Ocing to the limit.
To reach higher frequencies it's very important to watch the CPU core voltages. Standard on that was 1.6V I believe, increasing will help add stability as u ramp frequency. So what u do in the BIOS is increase the FSB (u can't change the multiplier its locked so ur stuck with FSB OCing unless its and XP-M). When u start to get instability, raise the voltage on the core by say 0.5-0.75V. Then try again until u definitely can't get higher... or ur reach Voltages that are unsafe i'd say don't pass 1.85V. Ur cooling is sufficient I believe unless ur room temp is high. If the air going in is hot, then you ain't gonna be making proper use of that Volcano 12.
Another important thing is to LOCK the AGP frequency at 66/67MHz. If you don't the video card will cause the machien to crash and artifact and things like that. Basically you're looking for an AGP Lock or just set the AGP freq as i've mentioned above. Ur not OCing the RAM since the 2600+ has a 333MHz FSB and you're basically trying to get up to 400MHz. Ur RAM is already at that so leave that as be. Also don't mess with the timngs on the memory unless u surpass 400MHz.
Other things that could help are to increase the voltage on the AGP and chipset. ONLY by a small amt mind you. OTher than these, cooling is the only other issue. As I said if the room is HOT say ur machien runs at above 50 degrees under NO load and up to and over 55 under FULL load... u need to do something about cooling. My 2600 ran at 52 under FULL LOAD. make sure ur cables are neatly tucked away to promote air flow, make sure u have sufficient cooling fans in the case and make sure there isn't any significant build up of dust to strangle air flow. I am positive you should in the least hit a 2.2GHz stable. Enjoy.

PS if you need info on your rig you can use Asus Probe to see the voltage and temps (also in BIOS) also use CPU-Z and Everest to see detailed info on ur mobo, CPU, video, etc.

[Arcmanov]

Very good suggestions there W1ntry.  They are duly noted,  I will implement some of them when i have the time.  I recently did a thorough cleaning of dust and used Artic silver 5 thermal compound on the CPU core. Here's a little more info though:

From CPU-Z:

Code name=Barton
Multiplier=11.5
CPU core voltage=1.74 v
Current Bus speed=380 Mhz
Memory timings= 3,3,3,8


From Speedfan:

CPU idle temp=48 C
CPU load temp=53 C