AMD XP 2000+ OC help

Hey all I just started playing around with OCing since I was upgrading some parts in my PC and the cpu was the only part I havent upgraded yet. My current system is an AMD Athlon XP 2000+(thoroughbred, revision A0 in cpuz), A7V8X-X asus motherboard and PC2700 ram. So far from what I can tell the processor is unlocked since I am able to change the multiplier in the bios. I have been able to change the multiplier and fsb and have peaked out at about 1915mhz at 166/11.5x, the other setting I was trying for a bit was 1883mhz with 145/13.5x. I haven't messed around with changing the voltages or memory settings yet, so that is mostly why I am posting.

First question is of the 2 choices above which is actually better? I am thinking the higher FBS and speed is better but I wasn't really sure with the lower multiplier like that. I was thinking with the higher fbs my memory is actually running at its proper speed(333mhz) so that would really effect performance.

My other question has to deal with the voltage settings. When I try upping my fbs or multiplier from either of the 2 settings above windows won't boot. I tried going in and then just upping the vcore 1 setting and that doesn't help. Do I need to change the memory settings also or are they ok? Currently the memory frequency and voltages are all on auto in the bios.

I would try lowering the multi even lower say 11 or even 10.5 ands raise the fsb. now with anything heat is always an issue so lower the multi = lower the heat , fsb = free mhz .
Now with more fsb you would need to raise the voltage on your memory and chipset and possibly the agp slot , just start out slow , go in .1 incraments .
Do you have a temp program to see what your temps are? MBM5 works well for most people and you can get it Here
install that before trying anything else , so you can see what temps you have right now . Compare with bios and add a degree or 2 to offset in MBM5 and bois .
good luck use this info at your own risk , I am not responsible for fried copmuter parts

thanks for the fast reply. I am already running that to monitor the temp =) With my case closed up I was peaking out at 46C, with the case open it was around 40C. How high should I attempt to raise the fsb though without stretching the cpu too far? I mean for stock it was only at 266(133 in bios). Should I attempt to reach 200 and call it a day if I get there? As for the voltage increasing I don't see anywhere in the bios to change the agp or pci voltages or any ratios. The only spots I seen to change voltages was the vcore setting and I think I seen a memory voltage somewhere but can't remember. What is a relatively safe voltage to stick under? The vcore is set to 1.65 stock I believe.

Ok just went looking around and the only voltage setting I can find is for the vcore. I found a spot with 4 different memory settings but none of them was for the voltage. So I guess I am just stuck with editing the vcore for voltage?

I took your suggestion and tried bumping the fsb up to 175 for now and the most I can get the multiplier to is 10.5 then(1837mhz). If I try setting it to 11 I can get into windows sometimes but I freeze up. I tried bumping just the vcore up 1 setting(to 1.7) and that didn't help. Should I give the next vcore setting a try?

Also when comparing these different setting should I go by just the mhz I get, the cpu tests from a program like sandra or a benchmark program like 3dmark?

Try using 173 x 11. and see if your ok at that. Keep the multiplier at the same. Only raise the fsb in 1 mhz increments otherwise you will be raising your clock speed to quickly. Run prime95 tourture test if you get no errors raise the fsb by 1mhz. when you get errors raise the vcore by the smallest increment and then try priming again. If you are then stable with no errors raise the fsb again And so on.

Thoroughbred A's usually don't go over 2 GHz so you have little, if any, room above 1.9 GHz while remaining Prime 95 Torture Test stable. What cooling are you using?

You say you're at 46 C? You can up the voltage a little bit to try the best low multiplier/high FSB combo but watch your temperature as you up the voltage.

You've come to the right place, ask lots of specific questions and there'll be many people giving you pointers, welcome to the forums.

Post your power supply brand.