soft menu on abit be-6 mobo

[Matt]

I got my p3 550 cpu to benchmark through "sandra" at 568 from 551 by changing turbo frequency to enabled. Can't seem to go any higher by trying different combinations when I change settings in soft menu to "user defined"

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Matt

[Howard]

Matt I would assume that your trying to overclock your PC. You need to do that by changing your FSB. If your not familiar with that I would suggest you go to the beginners guide on overclocking first. If you are familiar with changing your FSB and just trying to "tweak" your bios let me know.

PIII 700E@1030 w/alpha, Abit BE6 II, Mushkin PC133 Rev2.0, Leadtek ddr, Maxtor 20gig 7200RPM

[Matt]

Thanks for taking the time to answer back to a dummy. I have been to beginners overclocking forum and all I'm trying to do is act half ass intelligent to my son in regards to PC'S. He asked me about overcocking our system and I said, okay, let's do it. I am a general contractor by nature, wood and nails. Can you help me out? I downloaded Sandra software to get info on our system.

I got model numbers, serial numbers and whatever else that's important to overclock our system.

Please help

Thanks

Matt

Matt

[Tim-]

Turbo mode is changing the FSB slightly. Typically from 100 to 103MHz. The PIII-550 has a 5.5times multiplier which is locked within the chip. Overclocking is acomplished on Intel CPU's by changing the FSB only.

In "user defined" mode you should be able to select varying FSB's such as 105, 110, etc. Try increasing this setting a step at a time and see where it becomes unstable- system hanging, crashing to desktop from programs and the like.

Once you determine where it becomes unhappy, try increasing the Vcore setting in the bios to a higher value and see if it stabilizes. Then repeat the first part. The downside of overclocking AND increasing Vcore is that the CPU heat dissipation increases rapidly, so an eye must be kept on CPU temperature. The program Motherboard Monitor is a common method of doing this, and it's widely available.

In most cases successful overclocking in involves the use of optimized, oversized CPU heatsink/fan assemblies. Heat is the first enemy of stability and must be controlled if success is to be achieved. If you are lucky enough to have a cooperative CPU, the heatsink you are currently using may be adequate. Nonetheless, it is important to watch the temperature closely in the beginning, until you have established what is happening with the changes you are making.

The process I have documented here is the slow method, but it is sometimes the best for beginners, and the "interaction" can be beneficial to understanding the process.

Good luck- let us know how you make out!

Tim

[Matt]

Thanks for your help. Played with soft menu for a couple of hours and this is the best I can come up with. This is how soft menus looks at the present in my A-bit be-6 mobo with p3 550 chip:
ext clock (pci) : 120mhz (1/3)
Multiplier factor: x5.5
Sel 100/66# signal: high
Agpclk/Cpuclk: 2/3
L2 cache latency: Default
Speed error: disabled
CPU power suply: user defined
Core Voltage: 2.30V

This set-up has produced a 661mhz performance rating through Sisoft Sandra.
The boot screen now says PIII 600 MHZ processor.

Very stable.

Do you see any more speed gains in the above setup?

We have one 128 pc100 memory chip and a Voodoo AGP 3000 video card on board.

Thanks again for your help

Matt