# Overclocking An Old PC



## Jamie147 (Dec 27, 2009)

Hi,

I have never overclocked my machine before and am considering having a go to see if I can see improved stability when running graphics intensive games. Please could you look at my specs and advise if I have much scope for overclocking. The machine is about 6 years old so I don't want to put any strain on the CPU which could cause it to fail.

Mobo - P4SD-VX
NVidia 7600 GS with 512 RAM
CIT 650Watt PSU
Pentium 4 2.8 HT CPU
1 Gig RAM (1 x 512, 2 x 256)

GPU details:

Driver version: 260.99
Core Clock: 400MHz
Memory Clock: 266MHz (532MHz transfer rate)
Memory Interface: 128Meg
Memory 512Meg
Memory Type: DDR2
Video Bios Version: 5.73.22.33.52
IRQ: 16
Bus: AGP 8x

Advanced/Chipset Details:

DRAM Frequency: 266MHz
Configure DRAM Timing By SPD: Enabled
Boot From AGP Cards: Disabled
AGP: 4x Overide: Disabled
Internal Graphics Mode Select: Enabled, 8Meg
Graphics Apature Size: 256Meg


I'm not sure what other details I need to give an idea of my CPU status. I'm having stability issues with some graphics hungry games such as Oblivion and Far Cry 2 even with all settings on low. I'm hoping if I slightly increase the CPU and GPU settings it will make them run more stable.

Cheers.


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## Johnny1982 (Oct 15, 2010)

I didn't think a 6 year old pc would still be able to run Far Cry2. Does the game lockup/freeze/restart your pc. Define stability issues? If it restarts your pc, chances are that overclocking might actually make it worse. Looking at the recommended requirements for Far Cry 2 I'd say a upgrade would yield the best results. If money is a problem try overclocking and see what happens, your PSU can certainly handle it but I'm not sure about the make (CIT). How far you can overclock depends on your bios and temperatures the cpu will reach at 100% load. Have a look at the overclocking guide at the top of the page. The last upgrade I did was just changing my motherboard and ram to DDR2-800 and in the Far Cry2 Benchmark gained 12fps! Thats why i think upgrading might be better.


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

Is this a Sony PC? OEM PC's generally have the Bios locked or are very minimal to user adjustment. 
Colot IT PSU's are not good quality.


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## MonsterMiata (Jan 5, 2010)

You will not be able to overclock an OEM pc as stated above and nor should you try. The stock cooling will only be good for stock speeds. The psu will most likely not survive as it has no efficiency ratings and is rather old at this point. If the extra heat does not kill it the strain will. The most cost effective option will be to build a new pc. There is no part of that pc that can be upgraded without another becoming a bottleneck.


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## Jamie147 (Dec 27, 2009)

Thanks for the feedback you have convinced me I should leave the clock settings alone and tackle the overall problem of computer freezes rather than think I can cover up the problem. It's a Sony VAIO build and has been a solid friend over the years. I know I should be on dual core and I plan to have a go at building a gaming machine when I can afford it. I've been able to run games like Call of Duty 4 and Oblivion with no crashes on my system and that was with the old 295watt PSU that recently broke. I hope the £45 I spent for the replacement PSU was a good deal! It comes with a 12V connector that I can plug in to the mobo which I read is always worth doing as it assists with load management or something along those lines. On the PSU box it says dual 12v rails and ATX 12v v2.2 compliant. I'm hoping I can use it when I build a PC.

I've looked through the BIOS and there are changable clock settings that are on either the lowest or second from lowest. The GPU never exceeds 60 degrees and looking on hardware profiles in the BIOS it shows the mobo and CPU are always around 45 degrees. Even after a system freeze.

I've run scandisk and memtest and both show no errors. I defrag often and generally the computer is fast and responsive. Its just some games cause it to freeze. There is also a folder of MPEG2 files I created and if I browse them it will freeze at a random point. It does that a lot with this folder yet if I use software like power producer to load and play them it never freezes. 

Is there software to check for audio/video codec conflicts and can I use the event viewer to solve the freezing issue?

Sometimes Far Cry 2 runs fine for a few hours and other times it can freeze my machine several times when I try to run it, and then fun fine or lock up at random. It's on the lowest settings and it doesn't matter if I play it normally or in safe mode on the lowest resolution which iss 600 x 400. It locks up frequently. I've run games on higher settings all the way thorough without crashing once so I can't understand it.

Does the 512 Meg RAM on my GPU count for much?


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