Hi all. I'm gonna overclock my rig but I don't really know how/where to start. My specs are below. Do any of you know of anywhere I can read up about overclocking the 3ghz P4 with 800fsb? I would also like the same advice for my graphics card, or, if anyone has any first hand knowledge, that would be great also. Thanks.

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

It seems like you have the micro-atx version of the 865 chipset for northwood with Integrated video card and labeled as 865G*... You need to answer few questions before I can give you advise on overclocking...

1. What is your CPU idle and load temperature?
2. Does the BIOS have a FSB and CPU vcore adjustment? If you don't have both, then the only choice left is to use softwares like "clockgen" but it won't get much very far with overclocking. i.e 210x15 = 3150Mhz...
3. Can you adjust the voltage of the RAM and is there a divider like CPU:RAM = 5:4 such that CPU FSB run at 250Mhz implies RAM run at 200Mhz? Can you also adjust the RAM latency? i.e change from 2.5-3-3-8 to 3-4-4-8? If you can't, then it will also limit your overclock...
4. Is there a AGP/PCI lock 66/33Mhz in the BIOS? Same as 2 and 3...
5. As for your graphic's card, what is the RAM latency? It should be labled on the video card RAM itself xxxxxxxx5 or xxxxxxxx-x5. The last number is the RAM's latency. Suppose your 6600 has 500Mhz on RAM and you have xxxxx-x33 or -3.3 on your RAM chips. Using formula of 1000 / 3.3 = 333Mhz x 2 = 666Mhz for the max therotical freq the RAM can runs. But if your RAM is only 4ns, 1000 / 4 = 250Mhz, you won't able to be overclock much from 500Mhz... But anyways, you can always download "coolbits" from yahoo.com and use the "detect optimal" to see how well it runs. I also suggest to download "ATI-Tools" to see if it has artifacts during overclocking, but you can also use 3DMarkxx or games to test out for artifacts, like weird color, missing texture or any abnormal image on the screen...

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE PAT
P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3625v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
MSI 6600GT AGP 550/1100

Hi TMP-Man, I'll just answer the questions for cpu/ram O/Cing if you don't mind, i'll leave the graphics untill after. Here they are-

1. 29'C-45'C(I have a 3 speed HSF on lowest speed with AS5)

2. Yes and No (although Vcore shows as 1.612 which seems rather high)

3. Yes, No and Yes(stock is 3-3-3-8, i've had it at 2.5-3-3-6 with no problems)

4. Yes(from what I understand, it auto locks it whem manual CPU frequency is selected)

Thanks man, it's appreciated.

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

If you can adjust the FSB but not CPU vcore, then I suggest first lose up your RAM timings to 3-4-4-8 and then do a 5Mhz increment on the FSB until the system become unstable. In your case, I think 225x15 is probally the max you can go without touching the CPU vcore...

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE PAT
P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3625v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
MSI 6600GT AGP 550/1100

Hi. Thanks TMP-Man. I'll try tomorrow as iv'e got a problem with another PC which keeps restarting all the time, so, i'm formatting that at the moment. I will let you know how it goes though for sure, cheers!

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

Why would you format a PC that keeps restarting?

I recently aquired it with a lot of things installed on it, so, not knowing what had been put on it and taken off. I thought it could have been corrupt software/drivers which a format would cure. Anyways. I had the intention to format it anyway, as I always do when I get a new computer.

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

BTW, the format did stop the restarting but it still hangs on boot sometimes.

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

Ordered some heatspreaders for my RAM, should be here tomorrow. Thought it would be better safe than sorry. Will keep you posted how I get on.

P4 3.0 HT 800mhz FSB
Asrock P4I65G M/B
2 x 512mb Kingston Value DDR 400 Dual Channel
80GB Diamondmax9+ SATA 160GB Diamondmax10 SATA
Club3D GeForce6600 256mb
SumVision 450W PSU/+12=21A

"Ordered some heatspreaders for my RAM, should be here tomorrow."

I don't think it's a good idea to put heatspreaders on your RAM because you can be voiding your lifetime warranty for it. As far as value series RAM goes, the stock voltage is lower than high performances one and the latency is much higher so the heat output will not be as much as high performances one. If value series do overheat and fail under normal conditions, then having a lifetime warranty = a nightmare for the manufacture...

TMP-Man

Asus P5P800-SE PAT
P4 506 @ 4009Mhz 1.3625v
Thermaltake CLP0024 w/ 1700RPM 92MM + AS5
2GB OCZ 2-3-2-5 DDR400
120GB/300GB 7200RPM HD
MSI 6600GT AGP 565/1100 VF700 ALCU AS5