Operating system for Overclocking

Hi.

I am so tired of trying to overclock my pc.
Im using the following parts

-P4 1.6a
-Samsung 512Mb DDR333
-MSI 645e Max2 LRU (645DX)
-350W PSU (for mobo, memory and pci cards only)
-300W PSU for all the optical drives
-water cooled processor
-WinXP Pro
-VID pin to 1.85v max


the only decent FSB i can reach is 133. above that, its always doing the BlueScreen. but very funny that during post and loading of the OS it works fine even at 145FSB.

could it be the WinXP Pro OS? do i need to change my OS for better overclock?

thank you for any help.

- Mighty ABACUS

Well if you can live with linux, go for it. It can handle a bit more than winblowz. (from my experience).

Well, Win2k/XP tend to crash more easilly when your system is unstable. You can switch to Win98se (which I don't recommend), and it may crash less often, but your system will still be unstable. Linux won't make any difference, it'll probably be similar to Win2k/XP in terms of how it is effected by instability.

So basically what I'm saying is your OS isn't going to make much difference if your hardware is unstable. Even when it's not crashing, it still may be unstable. You can use something like the Prime95 torture test to determine this.

Rather than switching OSes, it would make more sense to ensure your hardware is stable. Better cooling, more voltage, etc will all help stability. Even if you have an OS which manages not to crash due to the instability, other programs can be affected by it, especially those which stress the system, such as games.

BTW, in my experience, Linux is considerably more tolerant of hardware instability than Windows. But either way, I'd rather just have stable hardware to begin with.

Assuming that you have a legal copy update to SP1 if you haven't already..

I had a somewhat unstable system with Windows 2000 before I installed SP3, now it's rock stable.

And of course, install the latest drivers also.

Perhaps you could also tell us when the BSODs occur?

win2k with sp3 ROCKS Dude! fully stable no errors what so ever! to me xp blows cause too many bugs!

DOS and Windows 98 for Microsoft. NT kernals sometimes have hissy fits.

But also, its not really the OS that is causing the problem...even though they are crap...but if the motherboard is changing the divider to weird numbers, that will cause bad things to happen as well.

I can't do 160MHz FSB because my USB goes out and it corrupts Windows 2000 a little bit. But back it down to 159 and its fine.

The Hardware and Software must work as one.

Hi.

Thanks for the reply.

basically, i know that i have a fairly stable system, components wise. even the memory has its own external temp sensor + the copper memsink.

i really think its the the o/s. my winXP is licensed and it has the SP1. but man, the thing really sucks bigtime!

so i guess, based on your replies, the most preferred o/s for overclocking is win2000 + sp3.

i hope others can give "testimonies" on the realibility of win2K.

thanks.

I really doubt its the OS. When Win2k/XP crash its generally because your hardware is unstable. Your components may seem stable, but overclocked it may not be running stable, even with good temps. It really depends on how your components can handle the overlcock (which can be luck of the draw). Cooling can only help so much if your motherboard or CPU can't handle the overclock.

There was a really good article on www.overclockers.com on how to determine if your system is stable, this might be it, but it doesn't look like it:

http://www.overclockers.com/tips645/

Basically, run something like Prime95 torture test which does mathematical calculations that really stress your CPU. It tells you if there are calculation errors. I'm not sure how long you need to run it, I would run it 24-48 hours just to be sure. If you don't have any calculation errors, then and only then can you say your system is stable. At least until summer.

btw, that article mentions using Sandra burn-in wizard. I don't really like this as much, because it doesn't seem to report CPU errors. You can have CPU errors without having your system crash.

In any case, if you own a copy of Win2k you can try it. I use Win2k SP3 and its the best Microsoft OS in my opinion. When I have stability problems its always hardware. If its a software/driver issue I've always been able to solve things easilly. I've only used WinXP a little bit, but I tend to consider it the same as Win2k.

Yes, win98 seems to tolerate instability better than NT operating systems, but I'd rather know about instability then mask it through frequent GPFs or random bsod.