Overclocking
For our overclocking tests, I swapped out my test system's OCZ PC3200 2-2-2-5 memory in favor of some of the company's PC4400 sticks, which are rated to 550MHz at 2.5-4-4-8. Memory rated to 550MHz nicely removes memory speed as a possible overclocking bottleneck. The PC4400 sticks carry higher latencies that could hinder performance at stock speeds, though. I've provided scores for the A8V Deluxe system running at stock speeds with 2-2-2-5 timings, 2.5-4-4-8 timings, and overclocked speeds with the 2.5-4-4-8 sticks.

In testing, I was able to get the A8V Deluxe stable with a CPU bus speed of 220MHz. To keep CPU limitations out of the equation, I dropped our Athlon 3500+'s multiplier down to 10 to ensure that the chip didn't exceed its 2.2GHz stock clock speed. As always, overclocking success is never guaranteed. Your mileage may vary.

Our overclocking performance results are mixed, but Sphinx definitely sees a performance boost running at faster system bus and speeds. The PC4400 memory's higher latencies result in lower overall performance than the PC3200 at 2-2-2-5, though. There's definitely a trade-off.

In DOOM 3, the picture's a little clearer. Neither lower latencies nor higher CPU/memory bus speeds make a difference, even at a resolution and detail level low enough to hit nearly 100 frames per second on a Radeon 9600 XT.

I can't help but wonder if an AGP/PCI bus lock could have enabled us to hit higher CPU/memory bus speeds with the A8V Deluxe. Higher bus speeds could have made up for our PC4400 memory's higher latencies, and we might have even seen a performance boost in DOOM 3.