Ok, so I've got a system that has been around the block and has been serving as my htpc for a little over a year now. I'm looking to upgrade my main PC in April/May (a long way off, I know. I'm excited) at which time I will likely move my main system into my htpc box. So this current system has served honorably for MANY years and is of no real use to me or anyone after I upgrade, so I thought it only fitting to send it out in a firey blaze of glory!
I consider myself very knowledgeable in computer hardware and know enough about overclocking, but my overclocking experience has always been limited to stability. I've obviously never pushed so hard as to potentially harm a computer with overclocking. I would like to know a few things:
1) I would like to retain the PSU after this massacre is over, will the PSU be able to survive and be reliable? (I've got a Infrared reciever spliced into it for remote startup using my TV remote, and a power switch glued to the back of the PSU that will likely break if I try to remove it, the system is in a custom open sided case that I built from scratch)
2) I know these old AMD chips have no form of thermal throttling (hence why you can find many youtube videos of them smoking with no heatsinks). But I would like to leave the heatsink on and try to get the maximum overclock possible before it dies. What do I do after the point where Prime95 stress test fails and/or the system is only stable enough to boot to windows? How do I push it further and load the system enough to burn something up? Do I just shoot for a max overclock, then unplug the CPU fan and let 'er burn?
Here is a list of the system specs:
CPU = AMD Athlon 64 3200+ Venice C2 Stepping
RAM = 1.5 GB DDR-PC3200, 1GB PQI Corp, 500MB Micron. 400Mhz, 3-4-4-8 timings for both
PSU = Dell 170W NPS-250KB D Rev. 10. 5V = 22A, 5VSB = 2A, +12V = 16A, -12V = 1A, 3.3V = 18A
Motherboard = ECS nForce3-A
Adjustables:
Bus Speed = 200 - 250 MHz (200MHz current)
HT Freq. = 1x - 5x (4x current)
Vcore = +1.7% - +5.1% (1.4V current)
CPU Idle Temp = 34C