Struggling to get P3 800e stable

[Nex]

Alright, I'm getting somewhat annoyed with this now.
I have got a great cooling setup, with my Alpha P3125S Slot 1 Heatsink endowed with 2 60MM YS-Tech fans.
Between the CPU slug and the heatsink is a neatly applied layer of Arctic Silver II - 1 layer on the Processor, and 1 on the heatsink.
I am overclocking my FSB to 124 for a CPU speed of 992, and I am SO close to stability, but just NOT quite there.
Basically Windows operations are fine, but the problems I have are in some games, which simply lockup without warning.
I have tried 2 other processors at the same bus speed and they were fine and stable. But this P3 just won't quite make it.
I've tried at all 4 voltage levels at my disposal: 1.65V won't boot, 1.70 randomly locks up in Windows, 1.75 also occasionally locks up in Windows, 1.80 locks up in a lot of 3D gaming, and 1.85 locks up the least. But it still does
Am I to resign myself to the fact it just won't go to 992 stable.
You all know how it is, no one wants to give up, just wanna keep trying till you're blue in the face.
Any words of wisdom for me?
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Rig:

P3 800e (Clock speed varies)
Creative GeForce 2 GTS 32 MB (6.34's)
Voodoo II SLI
384 MB RAM PC 100 & 133 mix
Abit BE6
IBM Deskstar 13.3 GB IDE Primary
Western Digital 1.9 GB IDE Secondary
Win 98 SE
Directx 7
32X Samsung CD ROM
Soundblaster Live! Value

[It_The_Cow]

What stepping is it, and what are your temps

[Nex]

I don't monitor CPU temperature but I would have thought with this cooling that wouldn't be necessary.
Kind of useless anyway because I have it optimally set up in terms of cooling so if it's too hot there's not a lot I can do about it.
cBO stepping.
Actually, according to Sandra it's at 35C, but I don't have the lead attached to it to measure the temp, so I'm not sure how accurate that temp is.

[Endeavor]

you only need 1 layer of AS2 on your CPU, not on the heat sink

[Nex]

Will having a layer on both HS and CPU hinder things?

[Jon]

Too much can cause it to act as an insulator. It's more common with Radio Shack type grease than Arctic Silver, but that doesn't mean it won't insulate more than needs to be.

I would back off the FSB just a little, enough to make it completely stable and crank the voltage to its max and burn it in for a couple days. Hopefully by then you can turn it up where you want it and maybe at a lower volage setting.

Some say this type of "burn in" doesn't work but it has for me on two different occasions. At this point I don't see you as having anything to lose.

[Nex]

Well my latest venture is to do the following:

1: Remove both PC 100 sticks, leaving my 1 PC 133 256MB chip.
2: Re-apply Arctic Silver II, but only to CPU slug this time.
3: Reduce FSB to 105 and check for stability - keep going up in FSB till I run into problems.

Another question: On the Arctic Silver website it says that you are supposed to allow 48hrs for the compounds maximum conductivity to be achieved, and therefore its optimal performance.
What I'd like to know is: Is that 48hrs after you install it, or 48hrs of real-time use?
Secondly, is the 48hrs really necessary?
And finally, if one wasn't to give it this 48hrs 'burn in' time, would stability likely not be achieved in the time leading up to this?
Thanks

[Mictlan]

DId you apply the thermal compound or the thermal adhesive?????

The thermal compound is just like regular grease: just apply, fit and use.

[Nex]

Just the compound (Arctic Silver II) - don't like the idea of permament adhesive frankly.

[outhouse]

As far as burn in its best to run a CPU intensive program there are many to choose from and most all work I like Seti and run that 24\7 which really helps with burn in, remember CPU's will burn in at different times even the same make and size. The best amount of time to burn in is anywhere from 2 days to a month thats why i like seti just leave it running in the background and let it do its thing, i do turn it off for gaming but othert then that its allways running, i have burned this CPU in twice and each time it worked wonders and if your on the brink of stability it very well may work for you. As far as how long it takes AS-2 to break in i think different people get different results so put it on and give it a couple of days running your favorite burn in program and you should be fine I think most people that dont run there PC 24\7 still see results within two days.

[Nex]

I'm not going crazy here by thinking seti IS the program, to, um, monitor extra-terrestrial life?
Well I have just dowloaded this and it seems an extraordinarily absurd thing to be burning a CPU in with.
Yes it DOES use CPU resources, and I can see the logic, it just seems a weird choice.
What does it actually do?
Anyway, I have another program I'm going to use too - It's to directly test CPU stability. It's called 'CPU Stability Test' funnily enough.
Then again, my problems were never general system related - it was always 3D gaming that things went bad. Not every game either.
Any further advice fellas? Thanks for all your help so far I should add :)

[Mr B]

3D games are the first things to generally go flakey when you've pushed the chip harder than it'll run. I'd say you'll need to back off a couple of FSB for 100% stability. Back off one step at a time, until it smoothes out.

[Jon]

Anything that maxes out CPU cycles will work. There is a CPUMathmark with this feature built in that's in a thread in the AMD section. Download that and give it a try. No telling how long it will take though. Playing games all the time helps too.

It took me well over a month to get my first overclocked processor to reach its goal. A Celly 533a @ 800. Wouldn't get there for anything. took 7 weeks of burning in and then magically, one day, it popped in at 800 default voltage like it was meant to be.

Took my P3 1GHz about 2 weeks to hit 1.133 stable. It still won't even do that in my Soyo 7VCA...runs it like a dream in my VP6.

Same goes for a P3 700 I have. Won't do 933 in that old Soyo but when I put it in my VP6...BAM! Stable as she ever could be.

Another Celly 600 I have won't do 900 in anything BUT that old Soyo. Overclocking can make you pull your hair out sometimes...

[AmbientFiction]

Run two clients of Folding at home or seti at once that will be a nice little burn and still do the things you would do any ther time. If your going to play a game take it down to one Folding at home or seti client. In two days of running that it will be a true burn in.