I recently updated my bios to ver.1014 which gave me better overclocking functions. Now I can manually set my multiplier which I couldn't do before and I can also set my fsb/pci bus. I left the fsb/pci at 166/33 and changed multiplier to 13.5. Asus probe still says 2166MHz while XP reports as 2.25 GHz and Everest & CPU-Z report 2249 MHz 13.5 x 166 Why does asus probe not report the proper current speed? Should I trust the 45c cpu & 30c mb temps that asus probe is reporting? Also what would be a comfortable place to set my multiplier? would 15x be too much? I currently have 768MB of ddr2700. What is the best way to get performance out of ocing a cpu? Jump up the multiplier or buy faster ram and and increase the fsb? What do they lock on cpu's generally the fsb or multiplier? Since I have a 2700+ would it be that it is possibly locked at 333? My motherboard will support Samsung & Kingston ddr3200 "400fsb" but what good would that be if it doesn't support 400fsb cpu's. Is there a list of unlocked cpu's? It was nice to boost it the extra 83MHz but should I try for 2.6Ghz? 2166 x 15.5 = 2573 which is approx %20 increase. If this works I may try oc'ing my old 2000+ to 2Ghz @ 15.5 x 133 Bare with me i'm still new to overclocking and not sure which is better to raise for better performance / but without adding excess stress on mobo, cpu & ram then necessary. ASUS A7V8X AMD XP 2700+ 2.17ghz 768mb ddr 2700 nVidia 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb SE DVD R/RW

Q: What's the best way to get performance outta ocing a cpu? A: Buy faster ram and increase the fsb. Error 404 - Oops !!!.

"I left the fsb/pci at 166/33 and changed multiplier to 13.5. Asus probe still says 2166MHz while XP reports as 2.25 GHz and Everest & CPU-Z report 2249 MHz 13.5 x 166" I'd go with XP, Everest and CPU-Z. It is very obvious here that ASUS probe is wrong. BTW what is reported in the BIOS ? "Why does asus probe not report the proper current speed? Should I trust the 45c cpu & 30c mb temps that asus probe is reporting?" I know I wouldn't. "What do they lock on cpu's generally the fsb or multiplier? Since I have a 2700+ would it be that it is possibly locked at 333?" What is locked is the CPU multiplier but luckily you've got a 2700+ (Thoroughbred-B core) that's unlocked, otherwise you would not have been able to change the 13x multiplier, so enjoy. "Also what would be a comfortable place to set my multiplier? would 15x be too much? I currently have 768MB of ddr2700." I'd suggest somewhere between 9x and 10x, and then start ramping up the FSB @ 1-2MHz increments, since your board does not support the 400 FSB and you have PC2700 ram, I think you should try as far as your (DDR333) will get you, but keep in mind you have no AGP/PCI lock so your clock threshold is going to be around 190MHz-195MHz, and along the way you may need to bump up the Vcore for added stability. When you figure out your overclock limit for the FSB the you can try raising the multiplier then. Error 404 - Oops !!!.

A couple of quick comments... Your CPU is most likely multiplier locked...you may be able to change the setting in the BIOS, but when you reboot, you'll find that it's reverting to the default (13x). Overclocking via the multiplier is not the way to go anyway. The advantage of having an unlocked multi is so you can LOWER it, then raise the FSB even higher, while still keeping the CPU at a "reasonable" speed. Overclocking via the multi does very little to improve overall performance, overclocking via the FSB improves the performance of the entire system. If you wanna test your multiplier theory, try lowering the FSB to 133MHz & raising the multi to 15.0x...save the settings, reboot, & watch the screen...your new CPU speed will be displayed. Is it reported as 2000MHz (2400+) or 1733MHz (2100+)? My money is on the 2nd one....which would mean the multi is locked. You should keep your CPU's FSB & RAM speed in sync (both at the same speed). Make sure your BIOS setting for the RAM is either set to "SYNC" or 100%, not "BY SPD". I don't think your board allows the AGP to be locked at 66MHz (PCI at 33MHz), so when raising the FSB, don't let the PCI go above 37.5MHz. That means your max save FSB setting would be 188MHz. The question is, will your PC2700 handle that speed? You won't know until you try. Always raise the FSB in increments of 3-5MHz at a time, then reboot & test the system for stability...if all is well, go back & raise it some more, then reboot again & test it. Continue doing this until you run into stability issues...then you have the choice of either raising the CPU voltage & trying for more, or backing off to your last stable setting & leaving it there. Run thru each & every BIOS setting & adjust as necessary...do not run with default settings, they're not optimal. The BIOS should always be tweaked to "compliment" the hardware you're running. Asus Probe tends to report the CPU temp lower than it actually is. Check your temps in the BIOS & see if it agrees with Probe. If they match, you're good...if the BIOS temp reading is higher, go with the BIOS. Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 768MB PC3200 Asus A9550 128MB/128-bit Gamer Edition WinME/WinXP Pro

Chad, How about confirming that one, is your 2700+ locked or unlocked ? List of Lists.

Well I lowered the fsb to 133/33 and set the multiplier at 15x and it reports as a 2100+ when booting and by cpu-z, but the cpu clock speed is still 2000MHz. This is also confirmed by xp My Computer properties. Everest Home Reports as AMD Athlon XP 2000MHz (15x133) 2400+ Thoroughbread B here is what cpu-z reported. CPU-Z version 1.26. CPU(s) Number of CPUs 1 Name AMD Athlon XP Code Name Thoroughbred Specification AMD Athlon(TM) XP 2100+ Family / Model / Stepping 6 8 1 Extended Family / Model 7 8 Package Socket A Core Stepping B0 Technology 0.13 µ Supported Instructions Sets MMX, Extended MMX, 3DNow!, Extended 3DNow!, SSE CPU Clock Speed 2000.0 MHz Clock multiplier x 15.0 Front Side Bus Frequency 133.3 MHz Bus Speed 266.7 MHz L1 Data Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L1 Instruction Cache 64 KBytes, 2-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L2 Cache 256 KBytes, 16-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size L2 Speed 2000.0 MHz (Full) L2 Location On Chip L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes L2 Bus Width 64 bits Mainboard and chipset Motherboard manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer INC. Motherboard model A7V8X, REV 1.xx BIOS vendor Award Software, Inc. BIOS revision ASUS A7V8X ACPI BIOS Revision 1014 BIOS release date 04/21/2004 Chipset VIA KT400 (VT8377) rev. 0 Southbridge VIA VT8235 rev. 0 Sensor chip Asus ASB100 Graphic Interface AGP AGP Status enabled, rev. 3.5 AGP Data Transfert Rate 8x AGP Max Rate 8x AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled AGP Aperture Size 128 MBytes Memory DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM DRAM Size 768 MBytes DRAM Frequency 166.7 MHz FSB:DRAM FSB + 33 MHz DRAM Interleave 4-way CAS# Latency 2.5 clocks RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks RAS# Precharge 3 clocks Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks # of memory modules 2 Module 0 DDR-SDRAM PC2700 - 256 MBytes Module 1 SpecTek Incorporated DDR-SDRAM PC2700 - 512 MBytes Is this thing a locked cpu or what? ASUS A7V8X AMD XP 2700+ 2.17ghz 768mb ddr 2700 nVidia 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb SE DVD R/RW

Well I decieded to try it at this setting for a while. 13.5 x 170 2300Mhz which is reported by everest. XP reports as 2.29GHz and CPU-Z 2295MHz @ 13.5x 170fsb. ASUS A7V8X AMD XP 2700+ 2.17ghz 768mb ddr 2700 nVidia 128mb FX 5200 WD 80gb SE DVD R/RW