Previous Rig:

Pentium IV (Willamette) 1.7 Ghz. @ 1.96 Ghz. (460 FSB)
MSI 850 Pro5 Motherboard @ 115 FSB
Samsung 256 MB PC-800 RDRAM @ 944 MHz.

3DMark score = 8500 (using a GeForce3 Ti 500 @ 250/550)

Sold these 3 components for the same price i got the stuff below (CPU + RAM + Motherboard) >>

Intel Pentium IV (Northwood) 1.6A @ 2.46 GHz. (612 FSB)
Hercules 3D Prophet III Titanium 500 @ 250/550 MHz.
ABIT TH7II Motherboard @ 153 FSB
Samsung 512 MB PC-800 RDRAM @ 918 MHz.
Samsung SyncMaster 753DF 17' Inch Flat CRT
Seagate Barracuda 40GB 7200 RPM HDD

First of all, this motherboard is THE BEST MOTHERBOARD I EVER HAD.
very nice overclocking features. Best of all, you can set the AGP/PCI divider to 2/3 or 2/4 or even FIXED!! Amazing really!

Viva and ManojM told me i MIGHT be able to hit 140 FSB with the motherboard. So i wasn't all excited about that, didn't think i would get to 140 FSB since i always get not very overclockable things

Anyway, the moment i installed everything. I booted at 2.13 Ghz. straight away, didn't even try 1.6 Ghz. to see if the thing even works and......VOILA! boots perfect, ran 3dmark successfully. and got a score of 9240 3DMarks!! a VERY LARGE increase over my previous setup and still using the SAME video card. i guess i'm pumping every bit of performance out of it now! Motherboard was running at 133 MHz., and CPU FSB was @ 533 MHz. and RAM was running at a STUNNING 1064 MHz!!

I ran the system like that for 6-7 hours...VERY STABLE! i was so glad i reached 533 FSB and was able to overclock to 2.13 Ghz. with just air cooling and run very stable straight out of the box! i didn't even try higher.

Then the overclocking temptations start coming into my mind

i reached all the way to 2.5 Ghz. but the temp was kinda high.

I booted at 2.46 Ghz (612 MHz. FSB), Motherboard @ 153 MHz, and i set the RAM to 300 MHz. instead of 400 MHz. so the RAM is running now at 918 MHz. (3 * 153 * 2 = 918 MHz.)

Whoa!! i was blown away!! the motherboard is reaching 153 FSB and even 160 FSB STABLE without any mods or anything!! this motherboard is just AWESOME! anyway, i had a feeling that i won't be able to even see the 3dmark screen since i was at a very high speed for CPU AND the motherboard. and i was only using the stock HSF. Well, i ran 3dmark and whoa!! it is VERY stable in everything, 3dmark, games, etc... just like i had bought a 2.46 GHz. Northwood (running at 612 FSB)!!!!

my final 3dmark now is 9573!!! VERY large increase over my previous rig since i am using the same video card. I was never pleased about a purchase like this before!! i would recommend this setup to anyone who wants high performance without breaking the bank!

PS: compare link for 3dmark score is in sig (3DMark score u see below is when i benchmarked at 2.4 Ghz.... not @ 2.46 GHz., will post final 3dmark later)

i get 231 FPS in Quake III @ 1024*768*32 High Quality Details