Confusion about Vio on Durons/Tbirds

[Smingee]

I've recently purchased a Duron 700 and a Epox EP-8KTA2. I've done the pencil trick with great success to a point... I cant seem to get the thing stable over 800mhz. I get frequent lockups in Q3 and other 3D games. Heat is not yet an issue. At 800 mhz it runs stable at 1.65v at an average of 95F (sorry not sure offhand what that is in Celsius). Right now I'm at 850Mhz with a base temp of 40C with my core voltage cranked up to 1.78v and its still not stable in the least. Either its not core voltage or I'm incapable of going faster...
On the epox Mobo there are jumpers for Vio. the book lists no default for this(I doubt they would) But there is not option for auto detect nor can I discover what the recommended Vio is for a Duron. The board came shipped at the lowest setting, 3.4v. Is this satisfactory or should it be set higher? And if its not to much trouble, Tell me why this is even an option? I was under the assumption that Vio is BAD to screw with....

[Tachyon]

VIO supplies voltage to the DRAM, chipset, AGP and PCI. That's probably why you've heard that it can be bad to mess with. You can try upping it and see if it helps your overclock (without worrying about damage unless you have an old PCI card that may not like increased voltage). You also may have a cooling problem. What HSF do you have?

[Smingee]

Im using a generic I believe. Nothing very special... at least not yet. I think its a Supercooler or some junk like that. It IS aluminium and has a fairly good fan on it. so its not total crap but I dont realisticly think ill hit 1ghz with it though but im curious about the instability. I set it back down to 800mhz and its running at 36C now at 1.65v at 1.78v and 850mhz its only 4 degrees hotter. i ran a K6-2 450 at 40-45c for almost a year and never had an issue with it. A Duron surley handles more heat than that. Am i missing something?
Some detail about my rig:
EP-8KTA2 Mobo
Duron 700 (blue-does it mater?)
128meg PC100 + 32meg PC100(could this be bad?)
Creative annihilator2 (GeForce2 GTS)
onboard sound
Creative modem
3-com lan
All are PCI. No ISA's here
2 cd-roms, 2 hard-drives, blah blah
Oh yeah and a 250Watt PS(could this be an issue?)
Thanks for any help :)

[Tachyon]

It could be the cooling.

It could be that 1.78v isn't enough for that chip. Is that the max for your board?

It could be the mixed RAM

Have you tried increasing the FSB?

Do you notice a difference in your fans under load?

Do you have good case cooling?

Isn't this fun? :)

[Smingee]

of course this is fun i wouldnt do it if it wasnt ;p
ok I yanked the oddball 32meg module and at 850Mhz it still locks up on Q3 the second it goes 3D. I also just had a lock up with my PC when I was doing nothing at all at only 800 mhz. I was just browsing the net. My Voltage will go up to 1.85v Im scared of a FSB increase cause of the fact I only have PC100 Ram. Wont setting the FSB up overclack the ram too? I understand Ram is not fond of overclocking. Presently my case is wide open and as I mentioned previously the heatsink doesnt suck but its no Swiftech either. I think its a Cooler Master. And finaly I have not yet "heard" any difference of the fans under load. But from now on i'll keep my ears open

[Smingee]

Well color me stupid, I found out what (Most of) my problem was.
1 - Q3 was locking up cause i had my stupid GeForce Card set to force FSAA in 4x4 sampling. Not in Q3 i tell ya. Turned it off and now it flies. no hitches, yet.
2 - I NEED A 300 WATT + PS. No doubt about it... I pulled my NIC and unpluged all my fans and my 2 CD-Roms and my second HD and now my PC boots in HALF the time!!! AND the RPM on my CPU fan went up almost 400 Rpm from 4600-4700 to 4900-5000!!! hows that for proff positive. NEVER SKIMP ON THE PS!!!! I'm sold! Going to shop for one tomorrow right after work. Thanks for the help and keep the comments coming.
One last Question for anyone reading this... Exactly how long will the "Pencil Unlock" work? any figures?

[Tachyon]

I haven't seen any figures on exactly how long the graphite will "last". Conductve ink is more durable though for sure.

I'd recommend you get a QUALITY power supply. An Enermax or Sparkle would be (IMHO) your best investment.

[Rob Cork]

The longest I've gone without redoing the bridges is a few weeks - didn't need to redo them, I just make a habit of redoing them whenever I pull out the mobo (I have to reapply the arctic silver, so it's not much more hassle to do the bridges at the same time). I've got the hang of doing it regularly now, works first time every time :-)