I really want to overclock my comp, but I am sorta having a hard time finding any "manuals" or websites that actually tell you how to overclock it in more understandable language. I just use softfsb, but its not stable at all and sometimes the higher settings give me lower speed. please help me. I know there is something to do with the processor and linking something together, and multiplier settings.

another thing i would really like to know is the speed my ram is running at. I recenetly bought 128mb of ocz enhanced pc150 sdram, but have no idea what it is running at. I went into the bios and changed many of the setting to the fastest setting and i do see a difference in performance but i am not sure what my ram is running at.

-kx

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1) Pencil in the Level 1 Bridges on the Duron with a pencil...duh (best option is to use Locktite from rear defogger repair kits)
2) Update the bios on the board to the most recent
3) Get a decent cooler, minimum of Globalwin FOP-32, preferably the FOP-38/WBK, or Monster 2 or higher OCZ.
4) Make sure your case has at least 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan besides the Power supply
5) Optional: Get some Artic Silver
6) KNOW HOW TO RESET THE CMOS
7) Either set the Ram speed to HOSTCLOCK, and overlclock slowly with SoftFSB, or start by bumping the multiplier .5 each time.
8) If the comp freezes in windows, restart, up the cpu voltage, try again. If it wont post (i.e. display the boot screen) reset the CMOS, bump the voltage, try again.
9) Use a program such as Prime95 for stability IF you make it into windows
10) Try/Try again! MIGHT have to bump the vio from 3.3 to 3.4/3.5 if you plan on doing heavy FSB overclocking. Also keep the settings at default UNTIL you find out if the CPU is stable at a certain speed, then try bumping up the memory and cpu settings.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

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Go to Soft Menu in the bios and set

cpu speed to user define
cpu power to user define
core voltage to 1.85
I/O voltage to 3.5

fast cpu comand decode to fast
dram clock to hclk+pciclk
enchance chip performance to enable
force 4 way interleave to enable
enable dram 4k page mode to enable
make sure speed error hold is disabled

Go to advanced chipset features and set

banks to turbo
dram bank interleave to 4-way
dram delay to no delay
md driving strength to hi
sdram cycle to 2

If its stable after the above changes and it should be then go back to the soft menu and start raising the cpu fsb plus setting up a little at a time until its no longer stable then back it down until it is stable. If you have unlocked your Duron then use the multiplier to increase it some more after you have found your fsb limit. If all goes well then you should get 900-1000mhz out of it. I was able to get 1100mhz out of my old Duron 600, but I had to do the voltage mod to get it stable at 1100. What version Bios are you using? Download Sandra 2001 to benchmark you memory and check your ram speed in the main board info section of Sandra 2001.

Here is a link to download Sandra 2001
http://www.apushardware.com/downloads/sandra/sandra.zip

Since everyone else covered the OCin' tips so well, I'll just concentrate on the RAM deal...the RAM you have is rated to go 150 MHz...the KT7 allows you to run your RAM at the default FSB, or at FSB + PCI Bus MHz, which under normal circumstances equals PC133. Now, when overclocking VIA the FSB, you're going to to raise both the FSB and PCI Bus values. So if you end up runnig at say a 113 MHz FSB, your PCI Bus is going to be at 41 MHz (Don't know if that's right, just pulled that out my ass)...which if you do the FSB + PCI Bus formula, your RAM's gonna be running at 154 MHz...to confusing? I hope not NERO!!

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hehe i got tired of messin with mah cpu in the software stuff so i just switched to the 900mhz duron i got from OCZ. got it running at 900 but i might change back to the other one now and do all that stuff y'alls talkin bouts. thanx for the replies.

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GOOD LUCK GETTING YOUR OVERCLOCK TO WORK I SPENT ALL NIGHT TRYING TO VERCLOCK MY THUNDERBIRD 650 IF YOU GET ANY INFO LET ME KNOW HOW TO DO IT.