I'm surprised that no one has jumped on this, but if you don't want your system to crash then don't attempt to OC.

But if your going to, MSI has a good system stresser bundled with the mobo's, Fuzzy Logic is the utility but should be on the install disk. IF not you can download it from MSI directly.

Drop that multi to 10 and start bumping the FSB up. Take it SLOW and watch your temps. I like to stay under 50C, but others run em up to 60C. Once you start to see some instability drop the FSB back a bit.

This is a good time to run memtest. If you get any errors you either have to raise voltage or drop the FSB back some more. WARNING. More voltage = more heat

After you find the sweet spot for your bus speed, then raise the multi.

BABY STEPS. Raise it by half a point, boot up and run prime 95 for a while to check your load temps. Once you can't go anymore then usually you would start upping the voltage. On stock cooling though, I sure wouldn't give any more volts to my cpu.

first this I would do is drop the multi to around 5 or so and pump the fsb to 200 straight of the bat. reboot and run into windows..test stability with FAH if you can complete a work unit without failure then that fsb is stable. your running stock cooling so your going to be serverly limited. other than the fact you have a VIA chipset instead of the famous Nvidia is going to hold you back some. after we get to 200 fsb we start the multi upwards. up it once and then try folding another workunit for Folding @ home. please use your computer as normal while folding..thats the key here anyways. once you get thru a WU up the multi again..once you find instability try upping the voltage a tick to your CPU...try again with an eye on your temps.

why folding @ home for stability testing.....it's just supirior to everything else I have used. I can run memtest, benchmarking programs..heck you can run everything under the sun and still crash while folding...it's going to really work that CPu and find out if it's unstable..and hey you'll be using the power of that new OC to do some good to

I guess I will explain a few reasons why I do what I do.

First of all, I highly recomend memtest. Your system can feel stable, and even run FAH, and sometimes Prime 95 while having mem errors. These errors can lead to all kinds of problems down the road. Can even corupt system files wich just plain sucks.

Secondly, while I run FAH 24/7, I find that prime 95 is a far superiour OC stress test. I have ran FAH for hours before on an OC attempt, shut down FAH and Prime 95 only ran for 3 or 4 minutes before crashing. Most of your hard core OC's are validated by "Prime stable"

I don't know if I would run that FSB to 200mhz right off the bat. IMO, this guy has a ton to learn before he can expect to tweak his system to get that kinda performance out of 333mhz ram. Plus I don't know much about the chipset he is working with. If its only a 166/166 board then he will probably require some more juice to the chipset which may be a little over his head at this early stage.

At any rate Fizzled, if you take any advice that I give you, read the following 3 times.

BABY STEPS. Take it slow, watch your temps, and test. Your not going to go far on stock cooling, I highly recomend the thermalright line of heat sinks. The creme-de-la crop of air cooling IMO.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduc...109-120&depa=0

under 50 bucks at newegg

DISCLAIMER: Increasing the voltage to your components WILL increase heat. It could very well destroy or damage a component, do so carefully and at your own risk.

have to disagree about the memtest and priming part...course this is what i find on my system. we all know different systems work out to different things. i find folding @ home with BP and advmethods on seems to be the best for stability for me...mind you I am running the gammut of task while folding. Everything from phto and movie editing and surfing the web all while listening to MP3s..anywho lets agree to disagree shall we?

Quote: Originally Posted by FizzledFiend have to disagree about the memtest and priming part...course this is what i find on my system. we all know different systems work out to different things. i find folding @ home with BP and advmethods on seems to be the best for stability for me...mind you I am running the gammut of task while folding. Everything from phto and movie editing and surfing the web all while listening to MP3s..anywho lets agree to disagree shall we?

While i agree with you that F@H kicks ass for testing stability, its only cause its like using your computer on load for days on end. when I OCed my deleron to 3.6 i went through the whole PR ultimate bench multiple times as well as ran several other benches, and nothing could slow it down. so i decided it was stable enough to keep there. nope. took 4-5 days, but the deleron finnally buckled at 3.6 so i knocked it down to 3.5 While sure, yeah i found i was unstable, that took for freaking ever. Use something else when OCing it to get a handle on what the CPU can take, find something that seems good, THEN run F@H (which you should be doing anywho, go team PR! w00t) and see if it craps out after awhile. it might, it might not.

The blend torture test on Prime95 can detect instability even before it is readily occuring, it's the best stability
tester, in my opinion. Anyway, I don't think you'll get too far overclocking that 2500+ on a KT400 board, zerok.