vid card issues on overclocked cpu

[monkey1504]

recently i upgraded my mobo and cpu, then i over clocked the cpu from 700 - ~900mhz. since then, as i clocked above 900mhz the video card started to freeze and crash forcing me to reboot. i am assuming that this is a problem with my power supply (250W)

System Specs: -

Pentium 3 Coppermine 700mhz @ 900mhz
Soyo Tek motherboard (VIA 694X)
WinTV card
1 x 6.4gb old samsung hdd
1 x 60gb seagate new hdd
1 x cd rom drive
1 x cd-rw drive
Hercules 3d prophet 4000xt video card
Soundblaster PCI 128 sound card
256 mb pc100 ram (in one stick)
floppy,modem,mouse,keyb etc...
original 250W psu (originally budget celeron pc) (here i think is where the problem is)

could someone please give me some info on whether a new psu would solve this problem (like 400/450W)

any reply is very welcome.
thanks.

carl.b@blueyonder.co.uk

[Midknyte]

What bus speed are you using? I'm guessing 128mhz or so (900/7). That's putting your agp at 85+ mhz. This is way high for AGP, since it's only supposed to be 66mhz. You're just going too high out of spec for the video card to handle. Getting a new power supply probably won't help. Check the bios to see if there is a way to set the fsb separate from the agp/ram. This will probably do the trick. Check if you can set the pci multiplier from 1/3 to 1/4. That should keep you in spec for both agp and pci cards. :D

[monkey1504]

thanks this seems to have done the trick. although i am assuming this the same thing as "CPU multiplier" as i changed this from 3x to 4x as you specified and it seems to have done the trick. my vid board is pci. one other note: would altering this allow me to up the fsb to maybe 133 (933mhz) (assuming the cpu is stable at this speed, which it will be.) or would this call for further changes. now i dont need to shell out the cash for a psu. thanks.

carl.b@blueyonder.co.uk

[Midknyte]

Yeah, that was the one. it's listed differently on different bioses. If you were running at 3x, then your pci was running at 42+mhz! this is very high for pci.

I think you could probably hit 133mhz bus now. :D

[monkey1504]

ok.. another problem. the problem has returned. this worked for a while. but now the system keeps crashing again. im still using the 129mhz bus and i have tried other cpu multipliers (3x - 8x).. any other ideas? :\

[Midknyte]

Hmmm. Did you try another video card? You might have already damaged your pci since it was running at such a high pci bus. CPU multipliers don't do any good on Pentiums because the multipliers are locked within the cpu itself.

I reread your post. Are you sure that the pci multiplier is set to 1/4 or 4x? this is the setting you want. if you're using 1/3 or 3x that will be too high.

[monkey1504]

ok i have tried my tnt2 pci card in there, it doesnt crash but games are PAINFULLY slow and almost unplayable. also that fan is faulty (this is why i replaced it) the whirring sound is driving me insane. might it be slow because the old drivers are still lurking.. any input?

[gibsinep]

yeah you probably still have your oler drivers installed and they are conflicting with the new.

go to device manager and see if you have an error by your video card.

[Midknyte]

you might want to remove the old ati drivers and install the latest tnt2 drivers. heck, you might just want to put out some dough for an agp card.

[monkey1504]

nope no conflicts or anything any ideas about cleansing the system of the other card's drivers? i used the uninstaller for them but no difference, i might try re-installing gta3 and seeing what difference it makes.

[monkey1504]

hi again.. one more question. i decided it was time i bought an agp card, so i have got an ati radeon 8500le coming on thursday (bargain at £75 :D ) my question is will this rid me of my bus speed changing issues? it wont crash when the cpu is oc'd will it? (as the pci one did) are there any other settings i need to know about to ensure correct operation, like when i needed to alter the cpu multiplier.

thanks in advance.

[Midknyte]

You agp bus will also be overclocked. it is either 2/3 (100) or 1/2 (133) of your fsb. basically, agp runs at 66mhz. If you run your cpu at 133fsb, your agp/pci should be ok at 66 and 33mhz respectively.

the same rules apply as it did for pci. if you go too high on the bus, then the video might start to freak out.

You already did the 1/3 to 1/4 change, so i think you'll be ok. :D

Doh! I gotta go to a meeting. BBL

[monkey1504]

help!

ok.. i just got a brand new ati radeon 8500 agp card. works fine.. great graphics etc.
but
Same problem!
freezes after about 10 minutes during games. cpu multiplier is set to 4x and has been since i installed the card.
:mad:

any other suggestions?

[Midknyte]

Are you still running at 133mhz bus? try setting your system back to normal specs and run it again. if it's ok, gradually bump up the fsb. keep going up if everything is ok. If it still freezes at the normal speed, then it's not an overclocking problem.

Did you download the newest drivers or just use the one that came with the card? you might want to check if there are newer drivers. you don't know how long that card has been on the shelf. also remove any old video drivers. :D