hey Im totaly new to overclocking and Im not very good with computer hardware so feel free to treat me like an idiot. (I will however do research on anything anyone might mentionthat I dont understand so that I dont seem so ignorant) With that said, Im looking to overclock my computer. I have a Hewlett Packard vl400 mt. Its a premade computer that my dad got for me, and since its premade, i can guess it wont be the easiest computer to overclock. The cpu on it is a PIII that, according to 3DMark 2001, is clocked at 997MHz. The mobo is a HP one. Will this be possible to overclock? if so, by how much can i overclock it while using a fan/heatsink combo to keep it cool (id rather not use liquid cooling or anything else for now).
good luck... Good luck bro. Can you even get into the BIOS? try holding "del" key while it boots up. Also, open her up and see what kind of mobo it has, especially if you can find the manufacturer/model number silk-screened onto it. Honestly though I would have to say your chances are not too good...sorry
Added to which, the PIII isn't the best chip for overclocking. Changing the multiplier is straight out the window, leaving the FSB as the only choice, if that is possible at all with that motherboard!
Further to which, a PIII at 1GHz is not going to overclock very far anyway, as that was about the limit of the coppermine core. I would give up hope now, and be happy with your machine as it is.
as has already been said, you cant change the multiplier on your chip, so youre looking at an FSB clock, which wouldnt be worthwhile as before a decent overclock is acheived you'd post likely hit instability
I really wished I could use the search function on the forums so I wouldnt have to ask such n00b questions. But anyways, i figured i wouldnt be able to do much with my cpu I guess Ill just wait until I get a summer job to buy a new Mobo + cpu combo. Thanx for the replies
You have 3dMark 2001 - which tells me your interested in games. What score do you get in 3dmark2k1 with default options (hit 'Change' then 'Defaults')? And also what video card do you have (Display properties >> Settings should tell you) You may be looking to overclock your video card. Don't gulp! Its very simple to do (provided its not an onboard/unheard of card) - You can get utilities to change the Core mhz and Memory mhz (most recent cards i.e. GF2/GF3/Radeon etc etc)... But anyways If thats where your headin' - try a search - if you dont find anything - Im sure the kind people at Bit Tech forums won't mind helping you If you got any questions at all dont hestitate to e-mail/msg me (although the forums will give you a much wider source of information and opinions) Have fun!
I did some research on your system: http://www.hp.com/uk/desktops/vectra/vl400.htm You either have Integrated graphics or a Matrox Millenium 400 or Matrix Millenium 450 - due to you acually running 3DMark 2001 I imagine that it is one of the latter two.
Actually i have integrated graphics (ewww), but since i am into gaming, I bought myself a decent GeForce 2 MX 400 a while ago. I guess Ill look into OC that then, but what kind of improvements could i get from doing that? Btw, my 3DMark 2001 score was 2063 Its lower than I had hoped, but i guess it aint that bad for a slightly modified premade comp...
The first thing I would do is get some kind of airflow going around there, before you even attempt to overclock the graphics card! Seriously the GF2 MX's get very hot to touch as there is no dynamic cooling on the card! I suggest something like the Asaka Icicle 311, for £8.22 from OCS (its the top one) or get the Thermaltake Crystal Orb off the same page in the link above... the best is the Icicle, as it happens to be able to cool a P3 866! Some say the TT Crystal Orb looks better, but IMO, and Ive got one of the icicles, they look sweet, the copper just looks awesome TBH! Also to do this you will need to remove your existing heatsink, you need to get a screwdriver under the corner, after sticking the card in the freezer for 5 mins or so (make sure you put it in a sealable bag!) I dont take responsibility if you ballz your card up... only do this if you can afford to if it goes ar$e over t!t Then you need to apply some ASTE to the core on your Graphics card, after cleaning the old stuff off carefully with something like a screw driver (thats what I used, and I took my time and was careful... the card still works, and overclocks 20% so I guess it worked ) When it comes to overclocking it, you need to download a registry hack called coolbits which can be found here read that page, and it tells you how... Take it slowly, and increase the core 1Mhz at a time. Now the question is, how do you know when you have reached your card's limit on core frequency? You will need 3D mark 2001 to do that, which I think you already have... and when your card refuses to display a picture in windows, take the core and ram clock down a couple, and then reapply the settings, then run 3D mark 2001, and if it runs that fine, then it will run anything! mess around with your clock frequencies, as sometimes a lower setting will get you a better score, if you have pushed your card too far in the first place, this will be the case. Then there you go, you have a sucessfully overclocked graphics card Hope this helps, and sorry for the almost lecture length post! BiGGiE
thanx for the help guys, Ill start as soon as I get a fan. Just a quick question: Why does 3DMark say my video memory is 0mb? Shouldnt I have some video memory on my GF2mx? Sorry if thats a dumb question.
Okay i have heard of this before - okay mate - If you dont mind try and find some details on your card - the Make/Model No AGP/PCI that will do... You probably have a cheap GF2 MX400 - Good job you got a MX400 not the MX200 - because MX200 is really, REALLY bad. a score of 2k is well - put it this way my TNT2 M64 PCI got 1500 - you should be getting around 3k-4k overclocked... Good luck.
Haha! Well im happy to inform you - that you dont own a piece of crap (applause) - on the other hand I dont know why your card hass 0 mb memory. 2063? Thats not very good. AFAIK a GF2 MX400 should get around 3000-4000 (overclocked) - okay a few things for you to try: Look around in BIOS, AGP 4x enabled (might be listed as AGP Turbo), AGP Aperature size 64MB (experiment with other values later), AGP FastWrites enabled. If you cant find them - dont worry - this may be the case as it is an HP mobo. Now to do some 'tweaking' that is changing the settings of the video card, you will need a tool, I can recommend RivaTuner, Geforce Tweaker and NVMax. They come with some help on the settings (a little) play around (just dont touch the speed (as in core / memory) settings till you got some cooling sorted out...) there are many settings to play with... Any probs gimme a shoot - Good luck
It is amazing the difference that the card can make.... A friend and I had near identical systems (same mobo, same CPU similar OC) and we both had GF2MXs. Mine was a creative, his was the cheapest he could find (and came in a box marked "Geforoe 2"). My system got around 2600 in 3dmark 2k1. His was outperformed by another friend's TNT2 Ultra on a PIII 600. As soon as he got his GF3 Ti500, his scores shot up.
