XP 1700+ and UT2K3 Demo Problems

[lucasc]

I'm only just starting to get into oc'ing my chip so here are the system specs first:
XP 1700+ Palomino
512MB PC2100 DDR, 2 sticks
Shuttle ak31 rev3.1 mobo, Via KT266A chipset
Leadtek GF3 Ti200 oc'd to 225mhz core, 500mhz mem - runs stable for everything even with aax2 turned on.
40gb Samsung 5400rpm hdd
SCTB sound card
Volcan 9 with white goop on the cpu
2 intake fans, 3 exhaust in the case
WinXP Home

Now the situation... I haven't unlocked the bridges yet (will do so in a few weeks with the Unlocking Kit form HighSpeedPC) but upped the fsb to 140 and ran the usual benchmarks. 3dmark went up 400 (w/o aa turned on), pcmark went up 200 on the cpu. Ran Sandra CPU burn in wizard for CPU Arithmetic, CPU Multimedia, and Mem Bandwidth looped 10 times. Everything turned out peachy with no system problems. This is with no cpu voltage increases. Running seti@home in the background for hours on end with no problems. CPU temp never goes above 42 C.
Then I play UT2k3 Demo and crashes after 10 min in ourtdoor DM map. Will not even load indoor DM map (Asbestos). So I up the voltage by increments of .025 till I'm at 1.85 (.1 above stock) and still ut will not run. UT Benchmark won't get past the indoor flyby and will even crash the system trying to run the botmatch benchmarks.
Should I give up and consider my system un-overclockable? Is it just ut demo?
Admittedly I haven't tried any other games with this oc. I was so aggravated I couldn't play the demo that after it crashed with voltage of 1.85 I backed the fsb and volt back down to stock.
Any ideas? Questions? Advice? Ridicule?

Instead of saying Stranger, couldn't it just say, "New to the Area?"

 

[RoverT]

I think I may have had the same problem as you. When my UT2k3 demo wasn't working, I updated my XP to service pack 1. The service pack had DirectX 8.1b, which i think you need to run UT2k3. After that i had no problems

 

[lucasc]

I had already instaled the sp1. And I'm running the 40.72 dets. I'll be unlocking the bridges by the end of this week so I'll see how that goes. Since virtually every other test i ran on the system showed it to be stable (3d mrak, etc) I think it's the demo at fault. But I haven't had the time to rule out everything else yet, ie. different dets, etc.

"It's my sexy zoo and I can do wahtever I want!" - Frank O'Hara

 

[ARGON]

The EXACT same thing happened to me! First, I have essentially an identical system. I overclocked to 140 MHz FSB. I ran all the burn in software and all the benchmarks and they came out just fine.

As you I wanted to check the UT2003 gameplay. The first time I got a NASTY video problem and the second I got the good old blue screen.

I would guess that the problem is one/both the memory and the graphics card.

 

[lucasc]

I've unlocked my bridges and tonight I'll fire it up (had to get some AS3 first). I'm only going to increase the multiplier at first (11.5, 12, 13) and will see how that goes with the demo, adjusting cpu vcore as needed. I'll also test with some other games before judging whether it's the systme or the board. My goal is 13*140 with a vcore no hiher than 1.85.

"It's my sexy zoo and I can do whatever I want." - Frank O'Hara

 

[lucasc]

I'm now running at 12*133 without increasing the cpu voltage and everything is stable. UT2k3 demo runs perfectly, the benchmark runs through fine. PCmark and 3dmark run without problems asd well. I'm even running my crucial pc2100 ddr at cas2 without peoblems. I'll try a mulitplier of 13 next. I'm not sure if I'll increase the fsb or not.
Any comments or questions are welcome.

"It's my sexy zoo and I can do whatever I want." - Frank O'Hara

 

[pcchip]

The problem with UT2k3 crashing could have been your ram when running it at 140*2. I bet if either raised the timing values or bought better ram (and only 1 stick at that) you could get it to 140 or higher, but that's just my guess...