2500+ OC, can't pass 2.21Ghz, 3dmark scores

I recently got a Tornado 12, and can now continue overclocking. These are my current settings:

vCore 1.8
vDIMM 3.0
Chipset voltage 1.8

... which is running at 200 FSB now. I have the DDR DRAM Clock ratio set at "By SPD". Should I run my RAM at a different speed? I have Kingston HyperX PC3000 512MB RAM. You can see all my specs in my sig. I have gotten a top temperature of 3.8 so far... and when the thermal paste settles in it should go down, right?

Also, about the 3dmark03 scores, I actually get a lower score with these current settings at 200 FSB. What is causing this, is this considered "instability?" Suggestions? And also, for some reason it was not detecting the right CPU speed... it said anywhere between 1.6 and 1.9 GHz.

Also, whenever I benchmark with 3dmark03, I close everything in systray and disable auto-protect on my Norton AV 2004. Sometimes, I notice it has become enabled when 3dmark03 finishes. Would Norton alter my score this much? Is there some recommended way to benchmark, with every program but the required ones closed or something?

Thanks for any help.

i think your memory might be holding your overclock back. your ram is rated to run at 370 mhz but by increasing your fsb to 200 it's running at 400 mhz now. it probably can overclock that high but you can try changing your ddr:cpu ratio and memory timings and see if that works with a 200 fsb. your timings should be 2-2-2-6 but if it won't run at that loosen your timings. 3.0 for your vdimm seems a bit high also so your ram might be overheating. 2.6v is the default voltage. most people overvolt their ram only to 2.7 or 2.8. what are your idle and load temps? i'm not sure norton is interfering with your benchmark but my guess is that it's not. you can just disable it from starting up when you plan to benchmark. what is your total 3dmark03 score? try comparing it with other similar systems online to see what you should be scoring. goodluck!

I've never change the DDR:CPU ratio... what should I run the RAM at? At 370 (or is it 370/2 = 185?) or higher? Basically... how much can I increase the RAM speed? Do you know which ratio I need?

Right now on 200 FSB, the RAM timings are 2.5 3 3 11
With these settings, I got a 4763 in 3dmark03. Although, as I mentioned, it said my CPU speed was 2.068GHz, while it is really 2.205.

With 185 FSB, 2.04GHz, I reached my highest score of 4986. Those timings were 2 2 2 6.

Right now my idle temp is 38. Before the OC with the Tornado 12, I had idle temps of 32. Before the OC with stock heatsink, I had a normal idle temp of 42-45.

My RAM has heatspreaders, would that help with the voltage being high? I'll lower it to 2.8 for now though.

I now have my timings at 2 2 2 6, and I have the memory at 400MHz (up from 370).

I got a 3dmark03 of 4989 now, 6 more than before the OC. But Windows seems faster

Should I be satisfied... or can I get more? If my 3dmark score isn't much further from before the OC, is something unstable? Should I go back to 185 FSB? Is there something I can improve?

well if your ddr:cpu is at 1:1 and your fsb is 200 then that's probably the best that you can do. you should always run your components at the lowest stable voltage. you really don't want to produce unnecessary heat within your components. if it's stable at that setup then just leave it at that. if you want to get more out of your system to score higher you might want to try overclocking your graphics card at this point in time. you have to be a bit more cautious here and overclock in 5-10 mhz increments at a time.

3DMark 2003 is almost entirely video card based. You can see that from the 6 point increase. If you do a 3DMark 2001 benchmark (which I consider a system benchmark) you will notice a very large difference with the extra overclock you just achieved.

In other words: Don't expect much increase in 2003 3DMarks from RAM timings and FSB.

I get 5800 with my 9800 Pro and 1800 @ 1.82GHz (13*140mhz)... Yes, I'm replacing the CPU very soon!

Your scores on 3dMark 03 are similar to mine when my 9700p is on stock speed with my system in sig. When I OC my 9700p to 370/360, my scores hit about 5600. My ram is at 2-3-3-7.

To measure cpu OC increases, I always use 3dMark 2001 and lower the settings to 640x480/16 bit, which gives you a better read on your fsb and cpu.

Some guys did a test with a Pentium2 with a 9800pro vs a new cpu(cant remember what one, maybe an XP) with a 9600pro, and guess what scored higher? The pentium 2 system.