What do I need to know?

[jramsay61]

Hello guys, I've been researching documents online for some time now, and still dont grasp how to overclock my pc. Perhaps this community could help me out. First ill show screenshots to show you what processor I have (P4 3.0ghz Northwood), my mobo, ram (1gb x2 pc2700 DIMM SDRAM), and video card.

CPU

Mobo

Video card

What do I need to know before overclocking my pc?

What do I have to do, to make this work?

How much of a performance increase would an overclock usually yield?

Is it true if I invest in a really nice cooling system, I could overclock this system quite a bit?

 

[CrazeD]

http://techist.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=22031

 

[jramsay61]

When I go into my BIOS, my first thought is to increase the fsb by small increments. However, when I highlight over the bus speed, it does not allow me to press enter, so I can edit it.

As shown here:

Secondly, im not entirely sure what CPU ratio selection means. But when I do press enter, it pops up a screen, however im not allowed to scroll up, or down to edit and unlock the feature.

As shown here:

 

[jramsay61]

Now I raised the FSB about 13 mhz x 15 (multiplier) which yielded me an extra 195 mhz. Ran prime95 and something is telling me, its TOO hot.

If for instance, I bought liquid cooling, is there any limit on how fast I can make my CPU? is it possible to get 3.4 ghz, if stock is 3.0 depending on cooling?

 

[jramsay61]

Hmm, well I just added 2 fans. I placed both an 80mm in front and a 120mm on the side directly over the cpu, both intake. I also placed a 120mm in the back for outake, yet im still hitting mid-high 70's while running prime95. Any fan placement tips? Thanks guys.