Some complicated PIII overclock questions

[moosedick]

Well, these are somewhat complex to me. See what you think. Here is my system:
Asus Cusl2-C Mobo (Intel 815ep chipset)
PIII 700mhz cB0
256 MB Corsair PC150 RAM
Alpha PAL6035 heatsink
Geforce2 GTS

Here are my questions.
--- When I first got my mobo, I was able to get 1000mhz from the processor. However, after installing some things I could not get 1000mhz anymore. So, today I uninstalled the Intel Ultra ATA storage driver and can once again get 1000mhz. Will removing this make my system any slower (concerning the drives and such)?
--- Sometimes, at 1000mhz and 1.95V, windows will have errors when it starts and some applications will terminate. How can I get more stability at 1000mhz?
--- In the BIOS, what is SDRAM Cycle Time (Tras, Trc)? The two options are 7T,9T and 5T,7T. Which would be better?
--- If there is anything else you think would help, then let me know.
Thanks

[Placid]

moosedick (May 19, 2001 09:49 p.m.):
Well, these are somewhat complex to me. See what you think. Here is my system:
Asus Cusl2-C Mobo (Intel 815ep chipset)
PIII 700mhz cB0
256 MB Corsair PC150 RAM
Alpha PAL6035 heatsink
Geforce2 GTS

Here are my questions.
--- When I first got my mobo, I was able to get 1000mhz from the processor. However, after installing some things I could not get 1000mhz anymore. So, today I uninstalled the Intel Ultra ATA storage driver and can once again get 1000mhz. Will removing this make my system any slower (concerning the drives and such)?
Yes somewhat.
--- Sometimes, at 1000mhz and 1.95V, windows will have errors when it starts and some applications will terminate. How can I get more stability at 1000mhz?
Try burning in the cpu, lower ram timing.
--- In the BIOS, what is SDRAM Cycle Time (Tras, Trc)? The two options are 7T,9T and 5T,7T. Which would be better?
Its the time your ram has to refresh for a cycle.
5/7 is a faster timing but may cause instability try 7/9 if your system is unstable.
--- If there is anything else you think would help, then let me know.
Thanks

[[Oc]acaridans]

what are the temps your running at?
and it seems that your controller card dosent like being overclocked, thats why removing it brought you back up to 1Ghz...i had the same problem with my memory sticks...i had to remove 1 of them to run at the 150fsb level...

[chromedout64]

You can try reading the fourms at cusl2c.com. Most of them don't like the Intel ATA100 drivers.

[batboy]

First, I'll answer the last question since I know about it for sure. RAM cycle timing choices in the BIOS are usually either 7/9 or 5/7. The 7/9 will give you the best stability, but is a tiny bit slower while 5/7 is faster, but might be a bit unstable in some systems. It's like CAS2 and CAS3... 2 is faster, but 3 is more stable.

Sounds like your system is right on the ragged edge of stability-instability. I know you have a good CPU cooler, but at high voltage like 1.95v, all must be perfect. What about thermal paste? What kind did you use and did you apply it properly? What about additional case cooling? Do you have a cooler on the motherboard's northbridge chip?

I'd work on getting your rig to run cooler. With summer on the way, cooler is better. If that doesn't work to gain you back stability, then you might consider backing off the FSB a tad? I know, you want to stay at 1 gig. I also have found that a harddrive reformat and a clean Windows install works wonders and really helps overclocking stability. It's amazing how after several months of use, all those corrupted Windows registry files start making the system pop up error messages. Also, maybe you can find another or newer ATA100 driver. Download the most recent set from the Asus website.