Is it safe for me to overclock my Athlon 2200?

[Stephen Parnicky]

I have an Asus A7N8X Dlx Rev 2, 2200 XP, 384 DDR 166 MHz, 400 Watt PSU, with
no special cooling, All I have is a Dr Thermal CPU cooler. Would it be
safe to overclock it slightly to acheive a little over the 2 gig marker? I
forget what type of CPU I have, I think it is a Tbred, if that is important
let me know and I will get the ID string for it. Also if it is safe can
someone tell me what I should set the settings in the BIOS to, to achieve
the best performance, while running on the safe side of not burning my CPU.

 

[Stephen Parnicky]

Thanks in advance.

 

[peter]

Overclocking is never "safe"
Having said that I would suggest you go look at overclockers.com
The steps to achieving a safe OC are small and involve many
ingredients..type of cooler/fans/chipset/ram type/etc etc.I OC in small
steps..FSB from 166 to 170 to 175 to 180 and test each step.
I have my 2500 barton running at 200x11 where the original was
166x11.Results vary chip by chip,ram by ram.One of the biggest worries is
heat...good CPU cooler and air circulation is a major part of OCing.
http://overclockers.com/
http://www.aoaforums.com/index.php
http://www.nforcershq.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=13&sid=73e56e7b1a165ae4419125bd0b13e2f7

peter

 

[Mike Gorman]

Fact is that the 2200 didn't OC too well. I think that stock speed is 1800
(13.5x133). You might be able to get it up to 1995 (15x133) and depending on
the MB and RAM you may be able to boost the FSB some to get it over the 2gig
mark. For a bit more flexability you might want to look into a 2400. But
like the man said, Cooling is key.

I've seen the Dr Thermal CPU cooler and it's very similar to the Volcano 6
which served me quite well. I also like the ZIF lever on the Dr. Thermal for
risk free attachment. You'd think that style would be more widely used. But
the 2200 will likely do better with one of the newer Heat sinks. There are
tons to choose from. The Vantec Aeroflow is a good choice based on what
you've said. It's cool and quiet and a good all-purpose HSF. But look
around. Good Luck.