Overclocking my cpu, as the Windows XP desktop comes up I get warnings from
the 'Nvidia System Sentinel' saying it's reducing my graphics card
performance because the system isn't providing enough power. It repeats the
message several times per second so I end up with tens or even hundreds of
instances of this warning running and shown in the task bar. (I do have
extra power to the video card plugged in). The only course open is to
restart the computer and stop overclocking.



I assumed this was because my AOpen 300W psu couldn't cope with the extra
load of overclocking the cpu, so I just got a Q-Tec Big Fan 500W psu.
Annoyingly I still have the same problem!



When I overclock my Athlon 1.4GHz to 1.6GHz I need to use 1.85V and 3.90V
set in the BIOS. Checking the voltages I can't see much droop, so I can't
understand what's going on. Here are the voltages reported by the system
with and without overclocking:



Without oc With oc

1.81 1.89 (Raised in
bios from 1.75 to 1.85)

3.48 4.02 (Raised in bios from 3.40 to 3.90)

5.10 4.98

12.37 12.31





System:

Motherboard Abit KT7A-RAID

2 x 256MB PC133 ram

Gainward FX PowerPack! Ultra/1100 TV/DVI 128M (Nvidia fx 5900)

Network card

Sound card

2 x HDD

1 x CD burner.





I'm kind of suspicious that the sentinel is actually complaining because the
voltages are too high, or could it be the droop in the 5V line? Which
voltages does the sentinel monitor and what are it's criteria for triggering
a warning?



I don't want to spend a packet on another (branded) psu without being sure
this would solve things.



Any help appreciated.



Scrim