Overclocking and RAM

[Cronie]

I've put machines together before but never really dealt with overclocking. Read so much info from the articles and the forum that my brain is full... however, still have a couple of questions:

(Planning to buy a TBird 800 and overclock to 1Ghz, 256MB RAM, GEForce2, IWill KK266-R. For office apps and some 3D gaming.)

1. Should I get PC-133 or PC-150? Does PC-150 allow me to overclock (safely) higher than the PC-133? Is there any other reason to get PC-150? At 150, would I still be able to use the IWill mobo?
2. I hear a lot of good things about KingMax RAM. What RAM, in your opinion, has the best price/perf ration?
3. Would there be any downside to getting a TBird 850?

Realize (if you haven't already) that I don't fully understand yet how the multipliers work.


Also, does anyone have any recommendations on a mid-sized case? Doesn't have to be real pretty.

 

[richieaok]

Well... I'm not really very knowledgable about computer hardware but I'll try to help with whatever I can. A T-bird 850 is only a couple bucks more, at many places, then the 800 so it wont hurt to get it. It's possible that they are the exact same processor with the 850 just set to run higher but in that case you would only lose a couple bucks of value (considering price/perf ratio) for over-clocking. You can find some reviews on cases at either ars-technica.com or neoseeker.com. I hope that helps a little bit a least.

~Richieaok

 

[Guest]

Buying pc150 ram will ensure that you will be able to get the memory running at 150mhz fsb. Check to see if the Iwill will support 150mhz fsb, I think it does but not sure. What might stop you from reaching 150fsb is other things like sound cards/nics and vid cards. I'm not sure about KingMax but curcial is good ram and they have free shipping right now. www.curcial.com
I think that the tbird 900 is at the sweet spot right now. I think i've seen the 800-850 be 10 dollars and the same with the 900. When you go 950 you pay $30 more.

 

[Cronie]

Ok... but assuming again that I don't understand the multipliers... to overclock an 800 @ 1000, will the fsb be running at 150Mhz or 133Mhz? I'm guessing, based on Tom's do-it-yourself article, that it only goes to 133 as he only recommended 133SDRAM. Also, he was using a TBird "B" - is he assuming that this will run okay at 133?