Wanna build an overclock system........help!

[doodelsak]

Hi all, i decided to build my own system{first time] id like to get some reccomendations from some people who have.Id like to shoot for at least 800mhz maybe more.I need to know what combos work well and which sound video cards will work with this set up.I appreciate your help......

[gyoung]

I had an AMD K6/2 400 and I thought it was time for an upgrade and to learn something new. I decided to build my own system.

I bought an Abit KT7-Raid and a Duron 600. I bought the Duron 600 from ocz.safeshopper.com (it was a pre-tested chip). They did the connecting of the bridges for me (for a nominal fee). The chip cost me around $85 shipped. I also bought an Alpha PAL6035 heatsink and fan.

I reused my old components with the intention of slowly upgrading the components. I just bought an IBM 75GXP 30GB hard drive that should be on its way soon to replace my 8GB drive. I've been up and running now for a couple of days. I've got the chip running at 800Mhz at around 35C. I've cranked it up to 950Mhz and it was stable at stock voltage (1.6V) and the temp went up to 39C. I'm going to run it at 800 for a couple of weeks then go for 950.

It really was a good experience. I didn't have any major problems. There is a incompatibility with Vortex 2 soundcards. I have a Diamond MX300 which uses the Vortex 2 chip. I was able to fix it by using the Vortex 2 reference drivers. It may still lock up, but I haven't been running any intense apps yet.

It is nice that I am finally maxing out my TNT. The Duron pushes it to its limit. I am now able to get 60fps in Quake II (I was getting 26fps with my K6/2) at all resolutions. That tells me that the TNT is the bottleneck. That's my next upgrade.

I'll plug this site again because it was so useful to me: http://go.to/kt7faq

[BC]

Yes my 1st overclocked system I too bought a pretested chip worked well. And I was pleased. Basically what you are doing is have an "expert" pretest the chip or to see if it will o/c for you. Not a bad trade off for a new person to do. True you pay a little more put you get that "quality assurance" that it will do what you want it to do.
just my 2cents of this. Later what you will want to do after this system is too "slow" for you you will get the itch to do it again that time be more "care free" and don't get a pre-tested chip.
But this time pick a line of cpu you want to continue with and get a very good MB I bought a very good MB and the only thing that I have had to change was the CPU over the past year. I am looking at a new video card right now but I think I will get a CPU again 1st.

[gyoung]

That's what I'm hoping. I started out with a Duron 600 and I got the board when it was relatively new. The KT7 is AMD approved for a Thunderbird 1Ghz, so I have a pretty good upgrade path. Hopefully as AMD cranks up the speed, this board will be updated (with bios updates) to allow for higher clocked chips.