hello i am looking to be doing my first overclock on my video card or anything for that matter. i have a Radeon x800xl agp video card and i was wondering is it safe to overclock it a bit on stock cooling ? and if so how much. also any insite on the easiest way to do this would be greatly appreciated.

My pc specs are
gigabyte socket 775 mobo
radeon x800xl vid card agp
512 megs of ram not sure if the brand ?
sound blaster audigy 2zs sound card
250 western digital hd

any help or links would be appreciated

also i do plan on upgrading cooling soon will still be running fans though.

Let me be the the first to welcome you to the "Mad Overclockers" club

I know you aren't after setting "World records" with this project, you are probably just looking for a nice boost in performance...but once you get bittin by the "Bug" there may be no turning back...Muahahahah!

Ok..well to get things rolling here, there are some basic tools you should pick up, and start by baselining what you have with a few Benchmarks so you can later see how much performance you have gained.

http://forums.pcapex.com/other_oc_ha...ollection.html

Grab the utilities CPUZ, Speed Fan, ATI Tool, OCCT and Sys Tool.

For Benchmarks, I reccomend Super Pi, 3D-MARK 05, and PCMARK 04.

Head over to "Mod the Box" and read these articles.

• Overclocking 103: Voltage Adjustments
  Date: 09/12/03 - Author: BigDaddy
• Overclocking 102: Taking Your Overclock to the Next Level
  Date: 11/27/02 - Author: BigDaddy
• Overclocking 101: Overclocking Fundamentals
  Date: 06/20/02 - Author: BigDaddy

http://www.modthebox.com/articles.shtml

They are a bit older, but the principals are still sound, we will help you apply them to your newer style rig later. They might not make much sense at first, but that's ok, I just want you to get familiar with the terminolgy and basic concepts at this point.

Take a few desktop screenshots of your 1MB Pi time, CPU speed, Memory timings (CPUZ, just click on the Memory tab) and post links to your 3DMARK and PCMARK scores (You will have to sign up, but that is quick)

Oh..and in CPUZ, the "SPD" tab should tell you what brand of ram you have, along with the "Rated" timings of your ram, wich can be different (Slower) then what the bios will set them to by default (They do that to make sure it's compaitable with most systems)

The "ORB" project manager will list your scores once you "Upload" them, they will need to be "Published" first (Check the box next to them and a link you can copy/paste here will show up below them)

This may seem like a lot of work, but it is the best way to get your feet wet, and will make things easier/less confusing for you in the long run...I have been at this a while, and this aproach seems to work best for the new guys, instead of telling you what settings to change and you ending up with a rig that crashes all the time, then you get mad, and end giving up to easy

well have wanted to do this for a long time but really had no clue untill i found this wonderful website but im off to work so ill defffinately check all your links out after work. i do plan on taken it farther once i upgrade the cooling just want to get a feelling for it first appreciate the help necro!!!!

ooooooohhhhh just thought of something for my cpu i have a pentium 4 524 3.06 cpu its got a 533 fsb socket 775
it was taken otu of my old hp pc i was just curious if it was worth overclockign as well ? I can imagine its most likeley not the best cpu out there

I Know someone with a 2.53 533 FSB that was able to reach 3.6GHZ with "Extreme" cooling, and around 2.8-3GHZ is common with decent air cooling.

One thing to remeber is that in order to get a good Overclock, the motherboard it's in has to be able to OC.

Dell, HP, Compaq, etc.. DO NOT HAVE OC OPTIONS!

If you have a "Performance" style motherboard from someone like ASUS or ABIT or DFI, then as long as your power supply is "Good" then you should be able to get reasonable results.

http://forums.pcapex.com/other_oc_ha...ood_power.html

The CPU itself is only one part of the equation, most people that OC plan around this, selecting a good motherboard, ram, cooling and power supply.

Typically the majority of overclockers will spend the LEAST amount of money on the CPU itself.

This is because a 100-200$ CPU with the right carefully selected components, can be made to perform at the same speeds of a top of the line 800-1000$ CPU!

Here is a link to all the threads I have written, you wil find many helpfull and intresting ones, with the majority of them aimed at newer Overclockers.

http://forums.pcapex.com/search.php?searchid=668549

well i have a Gigabyte Mobo that i just purchased like 2 months ago. so we should be good then i appreciate all the help and i cant wait to get home to try this out i just downloaded ati tool last nite but i figured I would see what you guys had to say before i just started clicking buttons its all appreciated

Hey Necro the link for your threads didnt work it came up with no matching results can you try and post it again please thanks alot really appreciate the help and illl be trying it out this sunday !!!!! im so excited

http://forums.pcapex.com/members/%25...4%2Bnecro.html

Just click on the link above, and then "Find all threads atarted by"

Hey thanks alot again I havent really tried yet im thinking i need to improve cooling and such. Its been overheating and such and i dont have the best cooling system by far > Im thinking water cooling but dont really wanna get two far ahead of myself ill probablly just get some more fans i just have one exhaust and one aluminum cooler master heatsink ..... but i did manage to paint my case this weekend . but i want to add an intake fan and maybe another exhaust fan and deffinately a new heat sink.

Todays high end ari cooling can pretty much equal a good midrange watercooing kit without the cost or hassle, and still be fairly quiet, only those that demand dead silence would even notice the noise.
The Thermaltake Big Typhoon, Zalman 9500, are among the top, Tuniq and Scythe also are at the top of the pack, depending on the model.

Having good air flow in the case is very important, if it's set up roperly, the case temps will only be a few degrees above ambient, I suggest an 80-120MM intake of around 40-80CFMMM, and a 120 EXH in the 60-100CFM range, that should be enough to handle whaterver you throw at it, and the larger sized fans spin slower and move lots of air, so it should be reasonably quiet.

Got any "In Progress" pics of you freshly painted case you can post?

Its all pretty much done but ill post it tonite thanks for all the help again

p.s it looks like i only have one spot for a case fan on my mobo can i by splitters for that ?