This xp 2200 is getting a bit long in the tooth so I thought I'd try to OC it a bit and see what I could get.

I'm currently at 1970mhz and it seems stable enough to run a game for a few minutes. There is absolutely no noticable performance increase, however. =\

I'm at 13.5 for the multiplier and 146/36 for the fsb.

Anyway, I've got an Asus a7v8x mobo I'm using and it comes with a probe program to monitor temps, fan speeds, voltages etc. This program will notify you if anything goes under/over a threshold and it's going crazy right now. Fan speeds, temps, voltages are all spiking wildly.

I had to up the vcore to 1.825 in order to get it to boot to windows without locking up. How much vcore is too much? My temps seem nominal at around 38-40c for the cpu and 33c for the motherboard. cpu-z says the vcore is anywhere from 1.872 to 1.888 and I saw it spike to 1.92.

Anyone have any other suggestions on how to take it over 2ghz or should I chuck this piece of sh1t in the parts bin and get that opteron soon?

Thanks for any help.

The board you are using is a via kt400 chipset which means it doesnt support dual channel memory or the overclocking features the nvidia nforce 2 chipset has to offer.
Active hardware did have this to say

"As we imagined, the Asus A7V8X reflects the many faces of the Asus line-up. In short, it comes with a plethora of features and options, and works well when Overclocked. With the release of the A7V8X, Asus has made an excellent addition to its list of motherboards; the mere fact that it was able to operate comfortably at FSB speeds of 140MHz speaks volumes."

One of the more important things when it comes to CPU speed is week and stepping your current 2200+ is. You have 300+ posts so I assume you understand the importance of this.

Your motherboards voltages spiking like they are could be due to a weak powersupply. Getting a new one for the opteron system is going to be a good idea so maybe a newer, higher quality one now (to use on this system) is an even better idea. Dual purpose

Please list a few system specs like memory, coolers, and video card so that I can better help you with your system

Getting 2ghz out of that chip with decent memory, and voltages shouldnt be a problem at all.

Updating the bios may be a good start. Asus has a beta version out
Description: A7V8X Beta BIOS 1015.003
Latest beta BIOS
Update all your boards and video card drivers

Im reading your manual right now.
Ive noticed you are using an extreamly high multiplier wich leads me to believe you are running a very low fsb.
146 * 2 isnt even 300 system bus. I highly suggest a lower multiplier and a much higher fsb. this is the best way to get any performance out of your cpu.
I know your chip runs stock at 266fsb, but it should very well be able to run much much higher.
I have a duron 950 (original duron) that was in my brothers computer that I was running at 400mhz fsb.
First try a multiple of 11.5 * 333 (166). Then you can slowly edge towards 400mhz (200)
Also if you want to hit higher fsb's try 11*xxx. 11*200 would yeild 2.2ghz.
Depending on your memory speed, your board does offer a divider. if you dont know the limits of your memory try to get a setting that is closer to your stock memory speed (I assume you are using ddr 333/400) Also your memory latencies can hinder an overclock gratly. Read up on this, as my posting in this in this reply would make it HUGE
Give the memory a lil more voltage than stock to allow you to deviate from it a lil.
Since you are overclocking, setting the system performance option to optimal rather than turbo would be a good idea. gives more flexability to the memory.
Hope this helps, good luck

To be honest, I've only been interested in case modding as an artform rather than overclocking, benchmarks and the extreme performance numbers game.

But thanks for the replies man, I really don't know a lot about the most intricate of technical details. Slowly educating myself.

As for my system, heres what I have in detail:

420w enermax psu
2x 512 sticks of corsair pc2700 XMS (I guess at 333mhz, manual says it can only reach 400mhz with 1 stick of pc3200 IIRC)
audigy 2zs
agp 6600gt with zalman
xp 2200+ with a zalman as well

also 2 custom led circuits but I cant imagine they draw anywhere near as much power as the rest of this stuff.

Certainly my psu should be able to handle it, but it could be faulty. It's still under warranty so I might look into that.

well try to follow some of that guide. Im sure it will help.