hi, ive overclocked my athlon barton 2500+ processer (1.8mhz) to 2.3mhz. fsb is 200, multiplyer 11.5, voltage 1.825 (i wanted the fsb to be set at 200 cause im using DDR 400 memory). my system runs fine on these settings, but the cpu temp hovers around 55 degrees (when not overclocked its about 40 degrees). is it safe to overclock a processer by this much? and is the temperature too high? also, would there be any benefits if i changed the fsb/multiplyer values to achieve to same result? any help would be much appreciated, claire

yes that is safe, but I would not increase vcore any higher without getting a better cpu cooler. If you are on a VIA or nforce2 chipset motherboard, try using vcool which can drastically lower your temps while not at full load. You have a good barton there and 11.5x200 is excellent. If you can get to 11x210 or 10x230 that would be a little better and asks no more from your cpu than its already doing, but the motherboard may not be able to do it, or may need a voltage increase itself (vdd). Odds are decent the memory can go higher, especially if you have voltage control (vdimm) for it.

when you start messing around with higher fsb values, your opening a whole new can of worms - 'memory timings'.

If your considering a new mobo, the epox 8rga is worth considering as the voltage regulator lowers the resistance to the chipset allowing up to 1.9v, as opposed to 1.6v on most of the other nforce2 boards.

I certainly like it claire. Time to update: 1.4 athlon duron/128 sdram You sure aren't running that now.

Appologies for not being more specific, (head's mashed), the voltage increase i mentioned in 'response 3' relates to 'vdd' voltage previously mentioned in your first post.