stupid question but can a sound card be preventing me from reaching higher speeds

[bigslammer]

all other parts are conducive to oclocking just wondering if my sound is holding me back. I don't think it can but I'm desperate now.

[MadMatt]

If it's a PCI sound card and your FSB setting is resulting in your PCI bus being overclocked, then yes it could be the sound card.

[Exacerbateman]

What sound card?

Some sound cards do take PCU proccesing power mine for example, diamond sonic impact takes up 25 to 30% of CPU load. I think this is due to aureal simulated suround sound etc. I guess card was cheap, got really good sound but hungry in performabce!

[WhoKnowsWho]

Exacerbateman, I think you are a bit confused, (or I am if I misunderstood the question) but I think MadMatt's answer was right... different devices on the PCI bus respond differently to being overclocked... some stop working, and some work like normal. bigslammer... to find out if your sound card is having a bad time with an overclocked FSB, just remove it and try overclocking again... simple enough right? Sadly, if that works, you will probably need to get a new sound card that isn't bothered by a higher FSB...

[bigslammer]

yes sounds simply enough but my problem is that it is integrated sound card. crystal audio(don't know much about them), just a really cheap mobo I guess.

[Ilya_S_K]

Look at your mobo instruction book, if you have one. There should be a jumper that allows you to disable sound card. I have a simular motherboard. By changing the settings on one of my jumpers I can disable my sound card, unfortunatelly by disabling it the modem disables as well. If you don't have an instruction book try posting your specs, some one might recognize your mobo and will help you to determine what jumber it is.
I hope this helps...

[FireStorm]

I had the same problem, with a old Diamond Technologies sound card so I switched to my old sound blaster 16 and now it works fine