Ok im currently running a middle spec system (in my opinion)
6200gefoce graphix
1.2gb of ram
and my crappy xp2000+ procceser

Now on some games on LOW graphics (thinking of mainly css here) i can run down to about 15fps :| im guessing this is down to a 1.7ghz procceser...would it be possible for me to overclock this to get an improvement? and how noticable would it be?

Cheers,

Edit: from first post,
Im running the standard cooling system which came with this pc...which im guessing isnt good... if that helps at all,
Edit2: Cheers Jak for that, ill have a look and see what i get

Overclocking it would give an performance boost, but it all depends on how much the processor can take. I dont know alot about that processor, but im guessing it wont be able to take alot if its quite old. Also depends what kind of cooling your on.

Wait for PC techno jakg to come along, he will provide a good answer.

The performance increase really depends on whats holding you back - try gaming and have task manager open in "Performance" view, and see if the CPU is hitting 100% or not - if it's not, then it's something else holding you back.

Overclocking also requires that you have a decent mobo, although i have no idea about overclocking a Skt. A CPU.

As you may of geussed, i'm the LFS Forum's overclock whore

EDIT - Age has nothing to do with it, they do overclock, but afaik they may need you to more... radical things like use Jumpers and Pin-Mod.

Im currently in the pitlane on demo with my car got a few steam things running and firfox (with a memory leak) and im pulling 25 fps :| theres about 7 people in the server

Screenshot of what im my procceses running:

EDIT: I went into lfs and started drifting around and started pulling 40-50fps

Click the performance tab and go for some laps, and then go back and look at the pretty graph task manager should have drawn. If the CPU is maxxing out (which it probably will do in LFS) then thats the limiting factor, if not then it's the 6200 that's the problem.

Ok i went and did a short lap switching views once in a while and so forth...to me it looks like its the procceser but here it is anyway:

Then it'sw the CPU holding you back - overclocking it would help, but i REALLY recommend you do a LOT of reading up first - it's not hard, but it is dangerous if you don't know what your doing.

Yeah, I figured i better, i dont trust my self with stuff like this, :P

Cheers for all your help

Are you on a 6200 Turbocache? If you are upgrading to any non-turbocache graphics card should free up processor room, especially helpful if you're being held back by the processor.

By overclocking that CPU, you would have only gained maybe 1-3fps overall making it an unnecessary risk, especially when old Palomino and Thoroughbred Athlons don't overclock that well without extreme cooling.

By the way, processor usage graph on Task Manager doesn't tell you if your CPU is a bottleneck or not as the usage should be at 100% when game is running.

The usage should be 100%, but if the GFX card is only processing 5 fps the CPU won't get as much load as if the GFX card was doing 500 fps.

Better way to figure it out is to reduce graphic details step by step (resolution is easy one) and run some replay to see when average FPS stops increasing. That's when your CPU is limiting the game performance and reducing more GPU workload doesn't give any more FPS.

Edit: Well, CPU and GPU aren't exactly "sharing" the frames, graphics card takes care of the visual aspect and draws X amount of frames per second while your CPU is taking care of the other stuff like car physics and handling the network code such as providing you the information about opponent car location and behavior.

The obvious solution would be to buy a 7.4 Ghz Octi-Core processor and then overclock it to 9.8 Ghz. That way you could get 999 fps...

...ask our resident uber-expert Harjun for more info.

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

...ask our resident uber-expert Harjun for more info.

Ok dude you aren't showing yourself any smarter if you keep doing these posts, I really suggest you too to stop it. Thanks.

Yea I know, sorry. I'm done now.

On a serious note, I really don't think you're going to be able to get much more out of that processor by overclocking it. I don't know how hot its running now, but without an after-market cooler it's probably not going to go much higher. At this point, I think it would be worth upgrading to something faster. You wouldn't have to spend that much to get a decent upgrade. You are a bit behind (no offense) with what you are running, which means you have lots of headroom to upgrade before you start having to pay and arm and a leg. However, I think you're pretty much going to need a new mobo, before you get a new CPU, and that will likely mean new ram, but with today's deals, you could get all that at decent specs for less than $200. If you can do that, I really would recommend it. You will gain a huge performance boost, not only in LFS but everything else as well. It would be well worth it.

If not tho, good luck with the OC. Let us know how it turns out if you do, I'm curious to know how far you can get it.

Quote from jimaxx :

Im currently in the pitlane on demo with my car got a few steam things running and firfox (with a memory leak) and im pulling 25 fps :| theres about 7 people in the server

Screenshot of what im my procceses running:

EDIT: I went into lfs and started drifting around and started pulling 40-50fps

If I was you, shut EVERYTHING down that is extra running in the background...then try and see what you get.

That CPU has locked multiplier (12,5x?) so the only way to overclock it is to increase FSB, which I doubt would go much further than 150Mhz. So with that it mind it would only increase CPU speed from 1,66Ghz to most likely unstable 1,875Ghz.

It is possible to unlock it but you must be damn sure what you're doing. In old Duron CPUs you could just use normal pencil to bridge two connectors together, but on Athlon XPs you have to find another way since there's drilled holes between disconnected points and based on my experience, any conductive material getting in there will disable the CPU. (althought not permanently, just need a drill for cleaning and very steady hand)

Quote from Stang70Fastback :

...ask our resident uber-expert Harjun for more info.

No pointoverclocking AMD, they don't overclock very well, and put out too much heat, and you probably won't be able to, unless you've built your Own PC...

No point, just buy another processor...

Well, not ALL AMD processors are bad for overclocking. However, the one he has is just too old to probably be efficient enough to handle the heat... and as was stated in a previous post, it has a locked multiplier. Most modern AMD processors can generally be overclocked a fair bit before things go awry, if you have a bit more than a stock cooler that is...

Quote from harjun :

No pointoverclocking AMD, they don't overclock very well, and put out too much heat, and you probably won't be able to, unless you've built your Own PC...

No point, just buy another processor...

Like you know, lol! You don't have the knowledge to give out advice like that and I thought you'd only tried to break Intels!? Don't give out advice, your reputation makes it meaningless and annouying. I've seen from previous threads it's had to be corrected by others when you have dished it out.

I don't think you'll get any worth while performance gain from overclocking my man, and even if you got a better CPU it would only be a short term fix. It all depends on what you can afford to do. If I were you I'd start saving for a major upgrade.

Quote from jimaxx :

Ok im currently running a middle spec system (in my opinion)
6200gefoce graphix
1.2gb of ram
and my crappy xp2000+ procceser

Now on some games on LOW graphics (thinking of mainly css here) i can run down to about 15fps :| im guessing this is down to a 1.7ghz procceser...would it be possible for me to overclock this to get an improvement? and how noticable would it be?

Cheers,

Edit: from first post,
Im running the standard cooling system which came with this pc...which im guessing isnt good... if that helps at all,
Edit2: Cheers Jak for that, ill have a look and see what i get

I don't think you can overclock it much. For me it is the bottleneck as well (XP 2000+, 756 MB ram andd an Radeon 9500@9700 pro).

Problem with this CPU it's already very warm (hot) at stock speeds. Last summer I had to underclock it to be able to use my pc. I've got a better cooler now, but it still doesn't overclock. For a 300/400 euro's you have a now PC with decent specs (amd X2 dualcore, 2gb ram and a videocart)

My pc does handle it well BTW. Decent framerates, but very low details with 30+ people on a track

Quote from harjun :

No pointoverclocking AMD, they don't overclock very well, and put out too much heat, and you probably won't be able to, unless you've built your Own PC...

No point, just buy another processor...

http://valid.x86-secret.com/show_oc?id=159307

Wish someone told me AMD's dont overclock before i went and did that...

just be careful and you will avoid being harjun'ed.

Quote from harjun :

No pointoverclocking AMD, they don't overclock very well, and put out too much heat, and you probably won't be able to, unless you've built your Own PC...

No point, just buy another processor...

AMD also sells something called the "FX" series... which is DESIGNED to be overclocked by the end user. Please, PLEASE don't offer unsubstantiated facts. It just confuses people more than need be. If you actually KNOW something, we're more than willing to hear it, but if you are just making up stuff based on your intuition, it's only that much more irritating.

lol, i probably know more about overclocking provessors than most people, apart from jakg, and a few other people, and definately you Garph, because i've successfully got 3.2Ghz on stock cooler, 12 hours orthos stable, and load temps of 55-60 C...so how about you stop with all of that..."dont listen to harjun" crap..ok?