Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

I have a antec true power 430 watt psu. I think i have enough power.. but i am starting to wonder. I know 430 is a lot, but I have been wondering with my overclocking whether it is enough. My system is as following:

AMD Athlon 64 3500+ (130nm)(2.2ghz) - normally overclocked to 2.4+ghz
Asus A8V deluxe motherboard
2x Western Digital 74GB 10000rpm raptors (raid 0)
BFG OC'ed (stock) Geforce 6800gt 256mb
1 gb (2x512mb) OCZ 3200DDR EB platinum
Sony 52x optical drive
Sony 12x Dvd Burner
Sony Floppy drive
5x 80mm antec case fans (all 12v power rail, not the fan power)
1x 92 mm sunom (sp.) fan for cpu heatsink.

also, sometimes i have my backup ide 80gb western digital harddrive connected

Thanks for comments/suggestions!

JonnyBlaze

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Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

Do you experience freezing in 3D Games? Crashes during system intensive tasks?

If you answered no to all of the above, then you should be fine. I run the same power supply on an overclocked P4, 9800 Pro, 2 optical drives, 2x 512Mb sticks of RAM, 2 SATA hard drives, and 5 fans.

Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

Do you experience freezing in 3D Games? Crashes during system intensive tasks?

If you answered no to all of the above, then you should be fine. I run the same power supply on an overclocked P4, 9800 Pro, 2 optical drives, 2x 512Mb sticks of RAM, 2 SATA hard drives, and 5 fans.

No, I dont experience crashing really. Other than that I Have general stability issues with overclocking at the extreme end of my overclocking spectrum(which is expected.. i think?) . I guess the only issues i have seen were my harddrives not being found sometimes when i had a large overclock. i coudltn figure that out. I was wondering if I was just drawing too much juice? Also, when i overclock my video card a lot (to the optimized values found by coolbits or whatever it is called) i get a lot of artifacts and it has frozen once or twice in doom 3.

Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

That's what you get for overclocking - instability if you're not careful! It can also affect other components, as you've noticed with the hard drives not detecting. Graphical artefacts will occur if the video card is overclocked too far, so clock back until the screen is clean once again.

But honestly, why overclock on that system? It's a beast, and should play any game at smooth framerates. On the other hand, if you're cranking it for the challenge and benchmark figures, then I'll shut up. ;)

Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

That's what you get for overclocking - instability if you're not careful! It can also affect other components, as you've noticed with the hard drives not detecting. Graphical artefacts will occur if the video card is overclocked too far, so clock back until the screen is clean once again.

But honestly, why overclock on that system? It's a beast, and should play any game at smooth framerates. On the other hand, if you're cranking it for the challenge and benchmark figures, then I'll shut up. ;)

Heh, thanks for the warning. I do realize there is a a risk of instability as long as other risks. I do, however take the best precautions that I know how.

I mainly overclock for the bragging rights. Overclocking to the point where sandras cpu aritmetic score murders the pentium 4 4ghz ... priceless.

Otherwise, I just overclock my system bus by 15 (30mhz equivalent), I do think that I notice a little quickness to it, but its probably just me. ANyways, my cooling is pretty legit on my comp and nothing to worry about. so no biggie. I just wish I had an unlocked multiplier!

Member Avatar for Catweazle

I guess the only issues i have seen were my harddrives not being found sometimes when i had a large overclock. i coudltn figure that out.

PCI bus not 'locked'? If you allow PCI bus speed to rise along with front side bus settings when overclocking, then interaction between components is adversely affected.

Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

PCI bus not 'locked'? If you allow PCI bus speed to rise along with front side bus settings when overclocking, then interaction between components is adversely affected.

That is a very valid point. I have considered the pci bus, but I cannot find anything about it in my bios. So i strongly fear that I do not have a pci bus lock. In that case, if I do not, am I totally screwed for options? Other than a new motherboard? I have an asus A8V deluxe (i believe revision 1, not revision 2. *sigh*) If I do have a pci bus lock, where should I look in my bios? I am pretty sure I dont have it.. because I have looked through it quite extensively. I also never saw anything about it in the documentation. THere is no software alternative i am sure? Or bios flash.. or physical change?

Oh, I thought maybe my overclocking was limited to the bus.. but because of heat issues, i was going to purchase a thermalright NB-1c for my northbridge.. but that makes me wonder if that would help at all, because it probably just is the pci bus.

Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

Apparently there are issues with AGP/PCI locks on the Asus A8V - a BIOS update should introduce a menu option for it and allow you to set the speeds at 66/33. This isn't guaranteed to work however!

Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

Apparently there are issues with AGP/PCI locks on the Asus A8V - a BIOS update should introduce a menu option for it and allow you to set the speeds at 66/33. This isn't guaranteed to work however!

Are you sure that this is for all revisions of the board? I have my fingers crossed and I am hoping that this will be true for my revision one board... Because I am sooo out of luck if this isnt the case!

Maybe I should have an "accident" with my revision one board... and have them ship me a revision two! :twisted:

Member Avatar for Coconut Monkey

I think the problem (AGP/PCI not present or not working properly) occurs on all revisions, but the second was supposed to have fixed it (I'll need to further look into it later). Regardless, you should try a BIOS update first.

Member Avatar for JonnyBlazexx

I think the problem (AGP/PCI not present or not working properly) occurs on all revisions, but the second was supposed to have fixed it (I'll need to further look into it later). Regardless, you should try a BIOS update first.

Thank you very much. I have scoured in the internet in vain. :cry:

The revision two actually does have the locks.. but by reviews.. they arnt sure how efficient they are? It is still a semi-new technology. I have the newest bios. 1.008. i also have two versions of betas.. but i havnt heard anything good or bad about them..

So if you managed to come across something, I would appreciate it greatly!

Thanks again

-Jonny

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