Got an unlocked 2500+ last night (yay!) - advice?

[Tabs]

Well I was gonna buy a 2600+ we had at our store yesterday, but one of the guys I work with suddenly goes "Wait I have a 2500+ I bought earlier this year that I haven't used in a few months - I'll sell it for $100 with a Vantec Aeroflow hs/fan. I went over to his place and looked at it and here's the stepping and week codes:

AQXDA 0320SPBW

Everything I've read tells me this is one of the good ones, so I bought it!

Went on newegg last night and ordered an Abit NF7-S 2.0, 1GB of Mushkin Level One PC-3200 and a new Antec case (Super Lanboy with 2 120mm fans).

Here's everything that's going into the system:

Case - Antec Super Lanboy
PSU - Enermax 431W
CPU - XP 2500+
RAM - 1GB Mushkin Black Level I PC3200 2-3-2 (2X512 matched)
Video - Radeon 9800 Pro
Sound - Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro
HD - 80GB WD SE, 40GB Maxtor as backup
Optical - Plextor 52X32X52, Pioneer DVD-106S

Couple questions:

1. I should be able to very easily reach 3200+ speeds with this correct? I'm not looking to do an insane OC, but rather just get a lot more than I paid for out of this CPU.

2. Is my PSU good enough? It's about 2 years old I think, but it did cost quite a bit, and as far as I can tell, Enermax is still making it. If it's not gonna be enough, what should I get? Antec True Control 550?

3. Is that Vantec HS gonna be good enough?

4. Anything in general that I need to look out for? This is my first real attempt at OCing and I don't want to do something really dumb that fries the whole system or something! Basically what I'm planning to do is get the system up and running at the stock 2500+ speeds, then lower the multi, raise the FSB to 200, make sure it's stable (should be dependent only on the RAM right?), then raise the multi back up to 11 or 12. Any potential pitfalls in this approach?

Thanks!
Ryan

 

[Tawcan]

1. I should be able to very easily reach 3200+ speeds with this correct? I'm not looking to do an insane OC, but rather just get a lot more than I paid for out of this CPU.

Yes you should be able to. Either try increasing the multi or FSB. I recommend the FSB.

2. Is my PSU good enough? It's about 2 years old I think, but it did cost quite a bit, and as far as I can tell, Enermax is still making it. If it's not gonna be enough, what should I get? Antec True Control 550?

It should be good enough. Try using it. If you experience any stabilities prolems and your rails are a bit low then it's time to change the PS.

3. Is that Vantec HS gonna be good enough?
For minor overclocking with limitedd Vcore increaes it should be.

4. Anything in general that I need to look out for? This is my first real attempt at OCing and I don't want to do something really dumb that fries the whole system or something! Basically what I'm planning to do is get the system up and running at the stock 2500+ speeds, then lower the multi, raise the FSB to 200, make sure it's stable (should be dependent only on the RAM right?), then raise the multi back up to 11 or 12. Any potential pitfalls in this approach?

Flash your BIOS or either the hacked d10 or the 20 BIOS. The latest BIOS (21) just came out and some ppl are experiencing problems.

Use these settings in BIOS:
System Bios Cacheable : Disable (For better stability)
Video Ram Cacheable : Disable (For better stability)
AGP Aperture size : 128MB (For me that is sufficient)
FSB Spread Spectrum : Disable (For better stability when oc:ing)
AGP Spread Spectrum : Disable (For better stability when oc:ing)
CPU Thremal Throttling : Disable (For better stability when oc:ing)
Enhance PCI Performance : Disable (For better stability when oc)
CPU disconnect feature : Enable (For lower idle temp)

Best ram timing is 11-2-2-2.