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Recommendations: First Time OC

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PerlAddict

Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2004
Location
Murfreesboro, TN
Well, after reading these forums for a time, and needing a new computer anyway, I've decided to delve into the world of overclocking.

Before I try anything, though, I wanted to get some recommendations from the people here, as I'm always interested in the advice I've seen you give out.

I've only partially acquired the parts for my system, and I'm looking for recommendations on the remaining parts and realistic expectations.

I've purchased an unlocked AMD Barton Mobile chip with an XP 3000+ core. The guy I bought it from said he's been running at around 2.6Ghz stable with it (11x236) on air-cooling.

Here's what I have so far:
Unlocked 3000+
Abit NF7-S v2.0
Maxtor 120GB ATA/133

Here is what I had considered purchasing to finish it off:
OCZ Dual Channel EL Platinum PC3200 (or PC3500?)
Thermaltake 480W W0011 + PFC
Thermalright SP-97 Heatsink + Fan

What do you think about the yet-to-purchase options? Are there things with any of the above products that may not suit me very well that I should be aware of, and can you make additional recommendations instead (or in addition to)?

With the ram options, is it possible to get a FSB of 230+ fairly stable, do you think? I'm not planning on skimping in that area (or any others, really), so I want to make sure I have the most room possible to play with this thing and still keep speed and ram timings tight and stable.

Any suggestions for a first time overclocker are greatly appreciated, and I shall update you on my progress once the tax returns are in and I have some money for the last half of the parts. :)

I've attached a picture of the stats from the CPU that the guy I bought this processor from was running, in case anyone cares to look and thinks it would help as far as advising my next courses of action.

Thanks, you guys are awesome. Love the community.
- Dave
 

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The heatsink is GREAT. For best performance get a high CFM fan like the Vantec Tornado. But you won't want an engine running in your system 24/7 ...so get a Fan controller to turn down the fans when you don't need it.

If you can find it ..i suggest Mushkin Level II PC3500.
There's also Kingston HyperX PC3200 [@ zipzoomfly.com]. Like the Mushkin, these are also BH-5.
 
I found a guy selling some OCZ Dual Chan. Platinum PC3500 with BH-5's in them a couple of weeks ago ... what would you think about those?
 
Yeah, that's what I said. He said this was under load, but I don't know how much I buy that. Still, he said the things eat 100w easy without getting hot at all - said the chip came from the center of the fab disc according to it's serial number ... personally, I'm not knowledgable enough to know what kind of a difference that makes, but for $150, I was willing to take a gamble, as I was planning on paying around $120 for an unlocked 2500+ as it was.
 
Little update:

The guy I knew with the OCZ with the BH-5's ended up selling it for $330, so I thought I was gonna be out of luck.

But ... it turns out he has a friend with 2 x 512MB sticks of Mushkin Black Level II PC3500 2-2-2-6 with BH-5's that he said he'd most likely be willing to part with for $350. Sounded good to me, but what do you think?
 
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