Reassurance needed

I've been browsing these forums for over an hour trying to learn how to overclock and I think I'm pretty much ready to have an attempt.

The only thing I'm unsure about is if it is absolutely necessary to increase the speed on my RAM (currently 200mhz [400mhz DDR]) when I increase my FSB. I am very cautious as I do not want to do any damage to my system.


In short, my main questions are:

Will my RAM be damaged if I increase my FSB (at a 1:1 ratio) to an amount over what my RAM can handle, or will it simply just not perform to that level? Or, is it OK to simply increase my FSB and not worry about my RAM.

~ How do you determine how high you can put your RAMs speed? - Is it just trial and error?

Also could anyone give me a rough estimate as to what speed you think I could achieve with my system... spec as follows.

Abit IC7-G Motherboard
Intel Pentium 4 2.6ghz (800mhz FSB)
1024MB DDR400 RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro (Hercules)
(Built myself)

Also, is there any danger of damaging other hardware ie. my graphics card by overclocking my CPU?

Any help regarding any of my questions would be GREATLY appreciated as my friend has baught and AMD 2800+, so naturally I need to overclock so my rig's faster

to answer your first question, no, raising FSB will not hurt your ram at all, but raising voltage to your ram could result in damage, same for your cpu. Im not sure what your limit is but your ram will hold you back. first, try disabling the last two GAT settings (under mem timings in advanced chipset menu in bios) so it reads auto-auto-auto-disable-disable. then fix your agp/pci frequency to 66/33 under softmenu. then up your fsb by 1mhz at a time until your rig runs unstable (freezes, reboots, etc.) try SiSoft Sandra, prime95 and 3dmark to test its stability. what are your ram timings? try setting your ratio from 1:1 to 3:2. Im new to this as well, but i hope i helped a little. Hopefully batboy will get online soon and fix any booboos i may have spoken. good luck and WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

i forgot to mention, that if you increase ram speeds (that is lowering timings say from 3-3-3-8 to 2-2-2-6, the sticks will want more power.) It shouldnt hurt to bump it up one notch but when overclocking your rig, be aware that you are putting it at risk no matter what, that is the price to pay (i hope i dont any time soon ) for a faster rig.

Thanks for your reply Edge. What you have said is a big help because I was really unsure

I dont understand what any of those settings do but I'll change them as you've said, hehe

I've also started downloading those programs - have wanted to get 3DMark for a while anyway but damn, 178MB - gonna take me a while on my 56k modem lol.

Not sure wot u mean by my RAM timings (I hate being a noob) but maybe I'll know after I've visited the bios to make those changes

i skipped the 3dmark download myself, and i have cable, i just been shooting from the hip with my cpu. Im a noob too, and am just trying to give advice thats been given, hope it works out for you

Edit: Go a little at a time, you're gonna need nerves of steel for this, just when you think your rig is stable, 5 hours into use it will reboot. it takes a lot of practice and patience. Id wait to screw with RAM timings until nothing else avails. remember, just bump it up 1-3 mhz at a time and TEST IT TEST IT TEST IT. once you've reached your limit, burn it in for a night or two, even three or four. take your time, thats your baby and you cant force it to grow up you should also get motherboard moniter 5 to keep an eye on your temps. if you go past 60c i would take it easy and maybe bump it down a notch. Thats a personal reference of mine and im sure many others. over 60c = BAD (just for translation 60c=140f want fried eggs?)