Wondering if I should Overclock or not...

Hi, I have been hearing a lot about overclocking lately and it sounds pretty cool. I have an Amd Athlon XP 1800+ so it operates at just about 1515mhz. I know that cooling is a huge factor in all of this and I recently purchased a new case which houses a case fan and a side fan. I also have a fan on the processor. Both of my fans are running pretty loud so I know that they are fast. The air coming out of them is pretty cool air also so I know its doing a great job so far and could probably handle overclocking. I also know that if I do this I will void all warranties on my hardware but thats not a problem seeing as i built this thing myself.

My question is whether or not I should be doing this (considering how hard it is and my hardware). I also wondered if someone could give me a link or some information on how to overclock. I know it may some hard to do but I need a place that explains it to a beginner since I have never done it before and I haven't heard of it since about two weeks ago. Also, if someone could direct me through it that would be great, like give me a few pointers and crap. Since I don't have another pc I could talk to you on I would need to print the information out. Thanx everyone for any help you can give me.

 

Check in overclocking. ACE should be able to help you out (if he's here...)

That chip ive seen go to 2000+ speeds fairly stable, if thats what you're looking for.

What exact HS/F do you have? Some are better than others. I hope its all coper, and with at least a 60mm fan (or radial equivilant, of course )

 

both of the fans i have are huge 90mm. probably why they are so loud.

 

also, if you're not already using a temperature monitor, try Motherboard Monitor (MBM 5) available here on MG. it will let you customize a little dashboard that reads your motherboards temperature sensors so you can be sure you're not running too hot.

for your processor, you want to aim for under 60 degrees C, but you're not in danger until about 85 or 90

 

bigger fans can be quieter since they dont have to spin as fast to move the same amount of air, but if they are loud 92mm fans, they might be even better than a loud 80mm (standard size) fan.

you will also need to take into account the speed of your RAM. if your RAM is pc2100 (DDR266), or the same FSB as your processor, overclocking your processor will also require you to overclock your RAM, which can be a very limiting factor to how far you can go.

 

i think i need a new motherboard to change it since i can't cahnge the multiplier on mine

 

omg, i hate this motherboard, just the other day i was trying to upgrade my processor and i was looking around and stuff and then i realized my motherboard only supports up to Athlon 2200 so i have to get a new motherboard as well. i can see this is going to be a good christmas this year.

 

Get an Abit or an Asus. They're good

Oh and also, you can't measure the performance of how loud a fan is Just because it's loud doesnt mean its efficient (quite the opposite, usually)

 

mutliplier isnt as important as FSB if you want a performance overclock.

if you're going to upgrade at christmas... you may as well go for a new socket 939 amd64 motherboard and chip

 

yeah right, like im gonna get that. i'll probably just go with an amd athlon 3000 xp or something and i wanna get more ram also. not to mention the motherboard, i think im gonna go with asus only because i like what they have. winter is gonna be all about the games too, im gonnna get all the new games out like half life 2 and what not.