I would like to overclock my P3 700, but there are no overclocking options in the BIOS. Are there any software programs that are good to use for overclocking. I seem to remember reading somewhere that software overclocks are bad.
The main thing against software overclocking is that it's software, and bugs in that have caused problems in the past. [google]SoftFSB[/google] is probably your best bet...although you probably won't have voltage manipulation---which can really help.
Unless the software is manipulating a hardware component (like MSI's Core Cell or Abit's uGuru), I don't believe so. Soft FSB is tied into your OS's booting, but I recall there being an option to set it back to normal if you have trouble. However, if you OC slowly in small increments and test for stability with something like [google]Prime95[/google], then you shouldn't run into this issue.
I use softFSB, but the changes are never saved. Do you know how to save them? I googled it, but found nothing that I could understand. Also, is there a way to flash the BIOS with a different version that will allow me to overclock from there? If there is how do I back up the current BIOS?
You'd have to know what motherboard you have. You can't simply grab any BIOS you want and slap it in there, but, yeah, you can put a different BIOS version in there. Depending on the board, someone may have a modified BIOS out there.
The motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-6VXE+ and I will look for a different BIOS for it, but how do I back up the old one in case I screw it up?
You should be given an option to save the old BIOS when flashing from a floppy (make sure it's not write protected). You may also be able to use something like [google]Winflash[/google] to flash BIOS from within Windows. The main thing is to make absolutely sure the BIOS is for your motherboard or you could be left with a board that does not boot up. It can be fixed, but you'll need to send the BIOS chip away if you can remove it, or pack up the entire motherboard and send it in for repair if the chip is soldered onto the motherboard itself.
now that i think about it will flashing the BIOS acctually give me the overclocking options that i do desperately seek?
Given that Gigabyte hasn't even been really gung-ho about overclocking until now, I'd wager not. If there was a modified BIOS for the board by some 3rd party, it might be an option. If you're gutsy enough, you could get a BIOS image editor and fiddle around with that. But, under the norm, no, a BIOS image from Gigabyte will most likely not allow over overclocking. You might try hitting [Ctrl]+[F1]. Gigabyte has been known to hide extra settings that aren't accessible without unlocking them like that.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/awdbedit/ Now, according to what I've seen, your board uses an Award BIOS. This is important, since an AMI or Phoenix BIOS are designed differently. You also will need to have a copy of the BIOS to edit, as no BIOS editor allows you to edit the BIOS on the BIOS EEPROM chip itself.
