Denis

All CPU's are overclockable - some more than others' date=' the best AMD chips to overclock have the Winchester core which uses a 90nm architecture which run's cooler than the NewCastle 130nm cores and therefore allows more room for overclocking.[/quote']Thanks for that, Dave. I will be interested to see in due course which version of the 3500+ is fitted to my new PC.

As I am about to upgrade my current PC I'm not so bothered about knackering it up - I built it about 2years ago and it has given stirling service giving a very respectable 12' date='300 score in 3DMARK 2001SE.

So set about upping the score to.... drum-roll please 16,220 :eek:

Current spec :Athlon XP running @ 2430Mhz on 180FSB & 13.5 multi with 1.85v core

1Gb Corsair XMS PC3200 (2x512) Asus A7N8X Dual Channel Mobo

256Mb ATI Radeon 9700pro clocked @ 380Mhz GPU & 335Mhz memory

Had a few hiccups on the way - thought I blown it at one stage and had to reset the CMOS - took too big a leap - now step by step upping the load but still only running 40# CPU temp - probably due to the 5 fans...

Still finalising spec for new rig but so far :

Will be AMD 64 CPU(probably winchester core 3200)

Will be ASUS mobo (poss PCie version)

Will be ATi Radeon X800 XT or X800 PE

will have 2Gb PC4000 (2x1gb)

will have SATA Hard drive(s)

and will cost a bloody fortune [/quote']

I rekon theres at least another 1000 points in there

I see you have 3200 ram.. which is designed to run @ 200fsb

On athlons FSB is very important, as it dictates the speed of the entire cpu-memory system. what you need to do is lower the cpu multiplier and raise the FSB.. you should be able to get 220fsb out of that memory and then play with the multiplier. you may have to unlock the processor however coz i think 13.5 is the overlap multiplier.

I rekon theres at least another 1000 points in there

I see you have 3200 ram.. which is designed to run @ 200fsb

On athlons FSB is very important' date=' as it dictates the speed of the entire cpu-memory system. what you need to do is lower the cpu multiplier and raise the FSB.. you should be able to get 220fsb out of that memory and then play with the multiplier. you may have to unlock the processor however coz i think 13.5 is the overlap multiplier. [/quote']

Currently Running 200fsb on 12 multiplier with 1.7v - so far running stable.

have not been able to go above 200 yet - but maybe I need to drop the multiplier a bit or lift the vcore a bit - don't want meltdown only using air cooling.

Spent a bit of time yesterday tidying up all the cables with cable ties to try and give good airflow.Currently using 2 Intake & 2 Exhaust fans - plus 1 side intake for graphics card. Can't remember what CPU cooler I'm using but its copper and has 80mm fan.

Currently Running 200fsb on 12 multiplier with 1.7v - so far running stable.

have not been able to go above 200 yet - but maybe I need to drop the multiplier a bit or lift the vcore a bit - don't want meltdown only using air cooling.

Spent a bit of time yesterday tidying up all the cables with cable ties to try and give good airflow.Currently using 2 Intake & 2 Exhaust fans - plus 1 side intake for graphics card. Can't remember what CPU cooler I'm using but its copper and has 80mm fan.

You should drop your multiplier to 10 and your vcore back to normal.. and just push the fsb up 5 at a time.. is worth pushing the mem voltage up too, corsair stuff can take it. its also a good idea to loosen off your memory timings a notch... (except the CAS latency, keep that at 2)

once youve found the max your memory will handle, start to push the multiplier up until its unstable, then increase cpu voltage a step or two. you may not get the same high overclock as before, but the FSB is the big performance gain (ive got some old corsair xms2700 in at moment... running 6-4-4-c2 at 175fsb)

Overclocking works a treat - IF you cool the darn things enough they can always go faster. Older AMD K7s didn't like it much, original Athlons didn't OC much. Later versions (XP) work a lot better, and I reckon the latest chip may be ok too (although I havent got one yet).

The A64 is a mixed blessing for OCing, definitely check out the usual sites for info on that to get the best value for money. Good memory with low latency is more important for A64s, whereas higher clocks are more important for P4s.

Looks like you'll be getting an awesome system