Making gaming comp, need help

[maximan1]

chances are no, most likely you can't overclock at all. Big computer manufacturers make computers geared towards long life and outlasting their warranty which means overclocking is generally disabled in the BIOS. What you need to do is get into the BIOS and tell is what controls you have (if any).

To enter your BIOS turn off your comp and turn it back on when the BIOS Load screen comes up (probably going to be the compaq logo) hit the "Del" key.... er at least that is the default key sometimes it is also "esc" or possibly one of the function keys but it should tell you what to press. Go through it, explore, look for something that say's "Advanced" or "chipset" or "CPU Configuration" something along those lines.... if you can't overclock tell us exactly what model your CPU is and I'm sure someone on here can find somewhere you can purchase a more powerful processor to replace it with... I know you can still get K6II's for like $20 new and unused so there is still hope.

Sorry I'm new here. Whats BIOS?

[AKA_RA]

sounds like you wanna run before you learn to crawl. i hate to say it, but if you dont know the term BIOS, you may have a hard time overclocking. you may need to read a few guides. or better yet, do you have any friends that know about this sort of thing? thats pretty much where i learned the basics. guides and friends. which, of course, you can find both of them right here in these forums. and i must apologize, i just noticed the time and i should prolly get some rest, other wise id find you some good links. in the mean time, i suggest using google to find what you need to know about the wonderful world of overclocking.

[maximan1]

I don't know what I need to know about the wonderful world of overclocking. I used to have friends but they all moved away I NEED ENCOURAGING WORDS PLEASE

[Cevinzol]

http://www.hardocp.com/
You have a lot or reading to do my friend.
You will also have some setbacks (ie. toasted boards) If you can't afford to lose and replace the components don't try to O/C them.

[maximan1]

*WHINY VOICE* I HATE READING UUUUUUUU MOMMYYYYYYY *End WHINY VOICE* I have a motherboard, 1 pentuim processor, and 2 heatsinks laying around. I think it'll be good. After all I bought this computer at a thrift shop and at any time I could go there and buy another one for $20.
So, no sweat.

[Rankenphile]

The best way to learn is to go some research, do a lot of reading, and jsut dig in. There is only so much that you can learn from reading about it, so getting your hands dirty and actually doing some is going to be a good way to learn.

Before you do, however, know that overclocking can, and probably will on your first attempt if you are not very very careful, permanently damage your hardware. It doesn't sound like you've got a top of the line, super expensive rig on your hands, which will probably be perfect for learning on, so I say go for it, but do your homework first or else you'll have no clue what you're doing, won't know why you're doing it, and will end up frying something and not learn much in the process.

[maximan1]

Gee you all are so helpful thank you!

[FyR]

from 233mhz to 700mhz is a BIG overclock, and tbh not worth it at all, you will probably end up burning it out and wrecking your mobo or worse burning down your house. I remember my first overclock on an athlon 2400, i read an article about linking contacts on the rear of the chip using a lead pencil to unlock the multiplyer to allow for serious overclocking, like an idiot i did it and oh how sweet the air smelt when it fried, it took out my Mb and RAM! I was so pissed! Im nore careful now (hardware being more expensive these days). Rankenphille is right tho, this machine, being old and inexpensive would be a good place to learn.

I think you should use the money you plan to spend on a water cooling setup (around £80) and get a secondhand mobo of ebay (ASUS K8V SE Deluxe socket 754 on at the moment for £20) get a second hand sempron processor (about £40), again from ebay and then get yourself an ATI 9800 graphics card for around £20 AGAIN of ebay (no i dont work for them ).

You will then be able to play halo

[maximan1]

I have a mobo and a pentium processor (I don't know which pentium processor it is, I can take pics if you need) and 2 heatsinks lying around at home, AND my dad told me he found a bunch of computer stuff in the garage, so, I'm pretty much good.
I think...
-Maxime

[archmaille]

BIOS = Basic Input/Output System you get to the BIOS by following the instructions I gave you earlier. Chances are you have no controls for overclocking with that system, and only will have overclocking controls if you purchase a motherboard from a company such as Asus, Biostar (crap boards but they do have OC controls... er... kind of, the very basics at least), MSI, or other. FyR has a pretty good idea for starting out in the overclocking business, and water cooling with that system is slightly overkill. You only need water cooling for EXTREME overclocking. Right now I've got an AMD 3700+ which runs stock at 2.2ghz and on air cooling I have no problems getting it to 2.75ghz but this is a little different than your situation if you can get your chip to move 10% you're doing pretty good. Another thing to consider when overclocking is your RAM I'd say go with either OCZ, or Corsair. If all you really want to do is play Halo then get some new parts to put in that case you got... and a new power supply. I killed a good motherboard and some RAM once because I had a shotty power supply when overclocking... OC is not necisary... and in all honesty rarely brings huge rewards it's just for us speed junkies that like to push the limits of everything we've got. When overlocking there are a few things that generally fail 1) Motherboard - pretty much the most common 2) HDD's - I know it sounds odd but yeah Hard Drive crashes are very common with overclocking 3) RAM - this is easy if you don't have good stuff 4) Power Supplies - under powered? expect a failure, or worse an explosion 5) Processor - mainly will only occur with overheating, but it's not uncommon. As you've listed the only thing that you've got excess of is your heatsinks... uh... heatsinks rarely burn up as I know

Anyways, get into your BIOS and see if you have any OC potential first and then we'll see what needs to be done, or if you should just purchase something new