Seems like more and more people have expressed curiosity about how to overclock (oc) and what kind of results they can expect.  As I read many of these forum posts and the subsequent answers, I too began to develop a growing curiosity.  Back in the 70’s I drag raced small block Chevies and that same curiosity drove me to see how much faster I could go each week.  The more I read about overclocking a computer, the more I realized that I needed to do this, too.  The experience alone was worth the expense. At least that’s how I justified spending the money!  Now I already had two Pentium 4 systems that were somewhat critical to my work and computer repair business and I could not afford to ruin one of them.  I decided to purchase the necessary parts that I could dedicate to an oc project.  That way, if something went wrong and I ruined some piece of hardware, I wouldn’t be out anything critical.  Same thinking applied as when I was racing cars:  If you can’t afford to break the car you’re racing, don’t race it! 

I had recently built a couple of AMD systems for my two children and was pleasantly surprised by the performance.  Both systems were based on an Asus motherboard, A7V8X -MX SE that was quite inexpensive.  When one showed up at Newegg.com in the refurbished area for $39, I jumped on it, thinking I had a motherboard for my oc project.  That was my first mistake!  The most recommended AMD processor for oc’ing seemed to be the Barton XP 2500+.  I ordered one with my motherboard.  It was a retail version, complete with heat sink and fan assembly.  Next I needed some memory.  Rather than buy any more, I opted to remove one of the two 512Mb sticks of Kingston HyperX PC2700/DDR333 from one of my P4 systems.  Next I needed a case to put these new goodies in, so internet shopping I went.   I already had one P4 system in an Antec P160 and the other in an Antec Sonata.  I knew the Sonata came with a 380watt power supply and was less money that the P160.  Plus, if I bought another P160, I’d have to buy another power supply as it doesn’t come with one.  So, I bought another Sonata; mistake number 2.  I had everything else I needed in hardware in my spare repair parts: an 80 GB Western Digital 8Mb cache hard drive, a Sony CD rom, a used Liteon 52×24x52 CD RW, and a new floppy drive.  I ordered a new copy of XP Home with some of the hardware and I was set to go – or so I thought!

Everything went together well and the system booted without any problems.  I used the stock thermal pad that came on the AMD heat sink.  I had some Arctic Silver 5 on hand but I figured I would compare the stock pad with the AS5 as a secondary project. Mistake number one, the motherboard choice, made itself known as soon as I booted to the BIOS.  To my shock and dismay the A7V8X – MX SE had no provision for changing the CPU clock or multiplier.  Lesson learned: pay closer attention to the equipment you have used previously before you select it for a different type of project.  I should have realized that a board that uses jumpers to select bus speed isn’t going to offer much in the way of adjustment.