ok i have a 450 watt psu, a P4540 (3.2gHz)LGA775, 1 gb ddr2 PC2-533 RAM,a 6600GT, an audigy 1 sound card, like 3 fans, 2 cold cathodes....i think thats about it....

the question is, i cant OC my cpu farther than, 3.48 gigs...is this because my psu is not powerful enough to power all my hardware...

also, when i even OC my 6600GT a litle bit, far cry starts messing up (little green and red thingys all over the screen) but nothing else messes up (not even half-life 2)...

thanks...

PS: like the new sig?

Quote: Originally Posted by Triple8 ok i have a 450 watt psu, a P4540 (3.2gHz)LGA775, 1 gb ddr2 PC2-533 RAM,a 6600GT, an audigy 1 sound card, like 3 fans, 2 cold cathodes....i think thats about it.... the question is, i cant OC my cpu farther than, 3.48 gigs...is this because my psu is not powerful enough to power all my hardware... also, when i even OC my 6600GT a litle bit, far cry starts messing up (little green and red thingys all over the screen) but nothing else messes up (not even half-life 2)... thanks... PS: like the new sig?

First......the sig is a lil much for me...........I like your avatar though......

Second..........what makes you think it's your PSU?................I'm not a Intel man myself, but it might be either your ram or a cooling issue..............3 fans is not that many for an air-cooled rig.......

Quote: Originally Posted by Triple8 ok i have a 450 watt psu, a P4540 (3.2gHz)LGA775, 1 gb ddr2 PC2-533 RAM,a 6600GT, an audigy 1 sound card, like 3 fans, 2 cold cathodes....i think thats about it.... the question is, i cant OC my cpu farther than, 3.48 gigs...is this because my psu is not powerful enough to power all my hardware... also, when i even OC my 6600GT a litle bit, far cry starts messing up (little green and red thingys all over the screen) but nothing else messes up (not even half-life 2)... thanks... PS: like the new sig?

Those little red and green things you see are called artifacts. They only occur when you overclock you GPU too much, but usualy its ok to have some artifacts (not alot).

3 Fans..isnt enough...in my book anyway...If you have dont think you have enough power (you really should) disconnect the fans and see if you can overclock more. If no, you know its your temps holding you back (OR ram, but lets go with the obvious first) If yes, you need a bigger PSU

Are you running on a stock cooler for the CPU?

ok, maybe i should be a bit more specific about my cooling...i have a thermaltake cooler with heatpipes and a 90mm fan on it, and my case is the thermaltake Shark, if u havent seen one, it has mesh grill over the window instead of plastic. the cpu cooler sucks air directly from the outside of the case...i have a 140mm fan on the psu, and 2 120mm fans, one on the front and one on the back. the cpu temp is usually at 35-45 degrees Celcius...

Err I dunno what speed PC2-533 nor what your fsb/multi is at..So Im going to say 2 things:

1) Its your PSU,
2) You've reached your max you can overclock this core.

Why do you think its your PSU anyway?

haha, oops its PC2-4200 sorry.
also my psu is a superblower 450 watt

thanks for the help guys...

In my book ThermalTake is a mid to low range heatsink. Regardless of the price you paid for them that is my opinion. Spend some more cash and go with one of these name brands if you seriously plan on overclocking your equipment.
ThermalRight, Zalman or Swiftech
If you just can buy one now then you need to "Lap" what you've got. Get a mirror or piece of glass that's bigger than a piece of sandpaper. Buy 4-5 sheets of various grades of sandpaper from around 200 -1000 grit sandpaper. Now tape up the outside edges of your heatsinks so the paint won't get all over them. Spray a light coat of paint over the entire bottom of the heatsinks. And using a slow, even pressured cirular motion sand the heatsink until the paint is gone. Repeat this with each grit of paper working your way from rough to smooth (200-1000). The Mirror/Glass is used to hold the paper as it's as close to something perfectly flat that mankind has at a reasonable price.