i need help please....

[donuts are good]

I have a P III 800Mhz with 100Mhz FSB. My motherboard is a Abit SL6. I'm trying get the FSB to 133 and to use a divider of 4, but it won't boot. I've tried a higher voltage, but nothing helps. Is it my RAM? It is generic RAM from Fry's Electronics. It isn't the cooling for sure because I have a alpha pep66t with two delta fans on it. :)

[Jon]

Is it PC133 memory? If so then I'd say not. Hitting 133 with an 800 P3 is no easy task and would say that's just too much for that processor.

[donuts are good]

it's pc100 memory. Also, the exact values i want to get are (4:4:1) on 133 or higher, so my CPU will be @ 1064, SDRAM @ 133 (if RAM is problem, i will get Mushkin), and PCI @ 33 & 1/4

[Phil]

actually it would be 1066mhz, as the fsb isn't exactly 133mhz (unless you have spread spectrum set to make it so) it's unpredictable as to whether you would reach it, but without pc133 ram there is no way of knowing which is holding you back, I have had a lot of look with pc100 ram at 133mhz though, I have a cl3 100mhz dimm that does 133mhz cas3 and even 140mhz with some of the more exotic settings turned down. I also have a 64mb pc100 crucial dimm, and it turns out the memory chips on this are 7.5ns (133mhz) and it runs at 133mhz cas2 and even 150mhz cas3 so don't under estimate your ram. the cpu is another matter though, it may or may not reach that and you are the only person that can find out, you may need extra voltage and better cooling to do so as well.

[outhouse]

If you have this option in BIOS you can set your memory timing to minus clock speed and that may eliminate or confirm Ram as a problem there are also more settings that you may be able to slow your memory down enough to take the out of spec speeds if your BIOS or jumpers on MB eneble this, ive heard of guys moving there ram over to the farthest slot away from proccesor and they have said its worked for them its a quick and painless suggestion.

good luck

[Placid]

What stepping is your 800?
I have one that is a cB0 that wont go over 130fsb with good ram that I am now using at 150fsb with a different cpu.
The 800 will boot thou just stop before getting into windows.
Make sure you have the 5/7-7/9 setting for the memory to 7/9.

[donuts are good]

what is the stepping of a CPU and how can you find it?

[Phil]

the stepping is like the version numbers of software
you can find it using either wcpuid or sandra, in wcpuid it will report your cpu as either stepping 6 or 3, 6 is cCO and 3 is cBO, sandra will tell you the steping mask as either CO or BO.

[Placid]

Its the revision of the cpu. cB0's tend not to overclock as high a cC0's.
Its on the box the cpu comes in or on the green area below the core on a fc-pga cpu.
A section of the letters and numbers should match up to the ones here:
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/p3p.htm
Or you can use a program like Phil said:)
Hey donut how did you put 2 fans on your pep66?

[donuts are good]

turns out mines cBO :( so new ram will not help he OC more right? all i want is to get the divider @ 4 so my pci and agp won't be too high. Do you think i can get it to 125 FSB with Mushkin REV 2? Also, what company makes best ram for OC?

[Phil]

Don't count it out just because it isn't a cBO, it is just generally considered that cCO overclock better because they are a newer stepping. People still get over 1ghz with cBO chips. I would say that you should definately try it, but first find out how to reset your bios if it doesn't work.

[Placid]

Yeah mine went to 1042mhz.
But cpus are all different when you try to oc em some will go more than others even the same part number.
Dosent your motherboard have settings like 4:4:1?
Also how did you put 2 fans on the pep66?

[batboy]

Try setting the bus speed to 133 (4:3:1), that runs the RAM bus at 3/4 of the FSB and the PCI bus at 1/4. If it still won't go, then it's not your RAM. Will your computer run at 112 FSB? How high have you gotten it? You might need better cooling other than the CPU cooler, like extra case fans, etc.

It has to be an exceptional cB0 chip to go over 1 gig, I hate to say this, but the odds are against reaching 133 FSB, but there are people that have done it with that CPU. It's kind of rare though unless you use supercooling.

Two fans will work on a PEP it you side mount them, one blowing and one sucking. This is assuming you have the room on your motherboard to do it.

[donuts are good]

http://www.octools.com/articles/pep66mod/pep66.html
2 delta fans on my pep66. keeps idle @ 34 and full @ 40 with 800 @ 900 and SETI @ Home for 3 hours.
I can select the 4:4:1 option, but the comp doesn't boot up, just black screen. Probably ram?

[Placid]

Probably if it boots fine with the 4:3:1 setting.
Thanks for the link.

[donuts are good]

i tried 133 4:3:1, but black screen. I have enough cooling with the pep66 and two delta fans. I also have a 80mm fan blowing onto the cpu, ram, and mb and a fan in the front of my case. it should be enough cooling right? my system temp is about 38 C and highest might be 42C

[Placid]

That temp is pretty warm but its summer.
I guess youu will have to go 1fsb at at time from 124 and see where it quits.
The 4:4:1 setting runs your ram at the same speed as the cpu and the pci bus at 1/4 if you use 3:3:1 then the memory runs at cpu speed and the pci bus at 1/3.
Goodluck:)

[donuts are good]

i can't get anything at 4 being the divider :( i don't know why. I can get 125 @ 3:3:1, but PCI is too high and NIC card quits on me.

[Placid]

Maybe a bug or something with your board.
Look at abit and here:

http://fae.abit.com.tw/eng/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi

Maybe something common with the board.

[batboy]

Those NIC cards hate being overclocked. That might be what's holding you back. Yank that sucker out and try it again. How much will it overclock and work ok?

[donuts are good]

Can it be my voltage? The most i can set it to is 1.9 Is this too low?

[Phil]

no 1.9v is the most I would safely recomend, especially if it is only an intel cooler.

[Placid]

Do you have speed error hold disabled in the bios?
I know a basic question but never know.

[donuts are good]

yes speed error hold is disabled. I took out the NIC and it still doesn't OC more than 125 FSB. My MB can go 3:3:1 and 4:3:1 on 125 FSB, but anything with 4:*:* doesn't work. I put a post in the Abit forum to see if there is a bug. Any opinions of how this isn't working? the rest of my specs:
SB live mp3, Leadtek geforce gts2 32 mb (not OC cus of high pci frequency :( ) and a SIIG USB 2.0 pci card.Creative CDRW 4x,2x,24x and pioneer dvdrom 16x 40x, ibm harddrive and quamtum harddrive (both at most 2 years old.)

[Placid]

Well if it goes with 4:3:1 then back to memory.
Can you look at one of the memory chips and see what number is on them.
4:3:1= 1/4 pci bus and memory running 2/3 of cpu.

[donuts are good]

ok... i messed up... scrap what i said on the post before.... it could not run at 125 4:3:1 but could run at 125 3:3:1. My ram says Toshiba s61705 00 15 a x taiwan tc59s6408cft-80. this ram isn't too great huh... just got @ Fry's.
Also, where can i get Prime 95? is it free?

[Placid]

http://www.toshiba.com/taec/components/Datasheet/7216e1b.pdf
Everything you ever wanted to know about the memory.
8ns isnt too bad.
I dont know what to think.
If you have more than 1 stick of ram maybe try only 1.
Maybe someone else will read this with more knowledge about what 8ns ram should be able to do.

[Placid]

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm

Prime 95.
When you start it just select cancel then go into options and pick self test or torture test.

[donuts are good]

If i do need new ram, what do you sugest for OCing, Mushkin, Crucial, Corsair, or other?

[Placid]

The I815 chipset dosent like 256mb ram modules very much. I would get crucial or mushkin rev 2. I can run the mushkin rev 2 @150mhz cas2
I belive the crucial will do 150@ cas2 as well.
The mushkin rev 3 is better than the 2 but it is pretty expensive and I wpuld not think you will be puching that cpu to 160mhz but if you get another cpu for that board in the future you may have use for it.

[donuts are good]

since it does not like 256 modules much, should i get 2 rev2 128? Thanks for all the help

[Placid]

Yes 128s work better with the abit 815 boards.

[batboy]

Placid, I hate to correct you, but a setting of 4:3:1 runs the memory bus at 3/4 the FSB. Take the first number and divide it into the rest, 4/4:3/4:1/4 (of course 4/4 equals 1. The first number is FSB speed, the second is memory bus speed, and the third number is PCI bus speed.

Also Placid, where did you get that info about 815 chipsets not liking 256 meg RAM modules. I ran a 256 meg stick of PC-133 in my old Abit SE6 mobo and am currently running a 256 meg stick of Kingmax PC-150 in my new Abit SA6R. I don't seem to having any problems. The problem with 815 chipsets is that they don't like all the RAM slots filled up. Leave one empty for best results.

Isn't 8 ns RAM like PC-100? I was thinking my PC-150 RAM was 5.5 ns.

[Placid]

batboy (May 29, 2001 06:42 a.m.):
Placid, I hate to correct you, but a setting of 4:3:1 runs the memory bus at 3/4 the FSB. Take the first number and divide it into the rest, 4/4:3/4:1/4 (of course 4/4 equals 1. The first number is FSB speed, the second is memory bus speed, and the third number is PCI bus speed.

Also Placid, where did you get that info about 815 chipsets not liking 256 meg RAM modules. I ran a 256 meg stick of PC-133 in my old Abit SE6 mobo and am currently running a 256 meg stick of Kingmax PC-150 in my new Abit SA6R. I don't seem to having any problems. The problem with 815 chipsets is that they don't like all the RAM slots filled up. Leave one empty for best results.

Isn't 8 ns RAM like PC-100? I was thinking my PC-150 RAM was 5.5 ns.

Yes its 3/4 not 2/3 opps.

After I got my SH6 815 and having nothing but problems I finally replaced me crucial 256mb ram with some crucial 64mb ram I had in another pc and the thing started working like a champ.
I tried different dimms slots reseating many many times.
After searching alot of web forums I was able to find many others who were having problems with 256mb ram.
The 256mb crucial is in my BX board now and working well as it always did in that board.
As I said it tends not to like 256mb ram as much as 128mb.
As many people have no problems with it yet others cannot get it to work at all.
So if asked as I was I tell people to avoid the 256mb ram so they dont find themselves with the same problem as me and others.
Yes I think 8ns ram is pc 100 as the 7.5 crucial and 7.5 mushkin I have are 133.

[donuts are good]

Anyone else can tell me info about why i can't set the divider to 4? am i pushing my CPU too much or is it my ram? i don't think its cus im pushing too hard cus 125 3:3:1 works fine, but 4:3:1 won't even post.... black screen. Also, anyone know how to create a bootable floppy without any resident programs, so i can flash my bios? And anyone know which bios version is best for an Abit SL6 MB? another thing... anyone know how to get to 2.0 volts for a PIII cpu if my MB doesn't support it?

[Placid]

Make a startup disk then delete everything but command.com, io.sys, msdos.sys
Then copy the bios and flash to it.
Probably the most recent bios version.
Wire the pins on the cpu to get more voltage but you can easily mess up a cpu if not very very carefull.
I personally would not want to run at 2.0v no matter what.
Unless I did not care at all if the cpu was to fail.

[outhouse]

I guess you cant try to turn ram down in bios? have you tried moving it to the farthest slot yet, for some it has worked for me not yet. It still sounds like ram but its hard to pinpoint anything exactly.