how far can i go?

[The General]

okay heres what i have:

dfi lanparty sli-dr (ut/expert i cant remember and dont feel like looking it up)
X2 3800+
evga 7800gt
OCZ pc3200 ... uhh these: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16820227210
audigy 2 zs platinum


im running debian unstable and windows xp now (i just installed it, dont know much about windows xp so i might need help. i installed it cause i see that 99% of overclockers use it and i guess i need CPUz or whatever)

i have stock everything, dont know much about overclocking. i here i can get the 7800gt to perform as a gtx or soemthing, unlock some pipelines or something. the cpu is running at 2.0ghz, i'd like to see it at maybe 2.3 or 2.4 w/ stock cooling. hows that sound? i just dont feel like buying extra **** to put in there.

do you people use the bios to do overclocking, or is there software that i can change settings with? all i know about overclocknig is how to use nvclock for linux ( a command line tool that lets you OC your video card )


any help would be nice
im not a total noob when it comes to computers so you dont need to dumb down your tech lingo. but i am an overclocking noob.

someone help me lol


oh and wtf is dual channel memory? how does that work

 

[john3]

it basically utilizes the 2 sticks of ram in sync, and to make sure ur using it, color coordinate in the slots, put the 2 sticks in the same colour slots.

you should be able to hit 2.3 no problem. first thing you wanna do in the bios is go ahead and raise the FSB by 5mhz increments, and run stress tests, prime95 and memtest, when you see that ur computer is unstable, trying raising the vcore ever so slightly, if problems proceed its most likely your ram, so what you want to do is try overclocking the ram by increasing the voltage VERY minimally. or you can set a memory divider, it should be 1:1 default, and change it to 5:4, then continue OCing the CPU.

EDIT: KEEP I on TEMPS!

 

[Nitestick]

dual channel memory is running 2 or 4 sticks of memory across 2 memory channels rather than 1 giving it a 128 bit wide bus instead of 64 bit. you should be able to hit 2.4ghz on stock cooling. i would use BIOS to overclock. i suggest you read some of the stickies on cpu overclocking or do your own research then get back to us if you are stuck.

 

[The General]

so all i have to do is move one stick of ram to the one next to it (they are next to eachother right now) and then its automatically dual channel? or is there something else i need to do inorder to enable it or something?

 

[The General]

okay so i have it at 2.15ghz now

what should i use to check the temps? cpuz doesnt seem to do that

are these good timings for my ram? 2.5 - 3 - 2 - 5

and should i set the multiplier to 10 and increase the FSB to 240 in order to get 2.4ghz? i assume thats how it works....obviously going in 5mhz incriments.


i moved the ram over one slot but i dunno how to tell if its dual channel or not

 

[The General]

okay so 2.45ghz seems to be the sweet spot ... grub wont load if i set the FSB any fast than that, even increasing the voltage for that, i think its my ram though. i have to change it to 9:10 (ram/fsb) in order for the 2.45ghz to work. and when i boot it says its ddr360, not 400

here are some screenshots of cpu-z, please help me if im about to blow up my computer lol

 

[Lord AnthraX]

download eversest Home edition and look under sensors...it should give you an accurate tempeture.

 

[The General]

yeah the temps are good. its 34c idle, and like 20 minutes ago after i played a bunch of ET it was 45c so im assuming that counts as under load