P4 Voltages?

[adelphia83]

I'm new to Intel, but will be building a new P4 rig shortly.

The system will consist of the following:

Epox EP-4PDA2+ (Rev 2)
P4 2.4C or 2.8C?
Kingmax DDR500 (hynix D5)
Fortron 530W

I read in several reviews that the maximum CPU Vcore is 1.6V in the Epox board. Is this sufficient to allow either CPU to reach 250fsb or better?

I have no idea what voltages the P4 tolerates, and what voltage corresponds to a decent overclock. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[veryhumid]

Northwoods have 3 different voltage settings from the factory. 1.475, 1.5 and 1.525 i believe. Depending on what chip you have and if your memory is good you can get 250 on 1.6 volts. I and many others are. And there are certain batches and stepping functions that are better than others. Go to http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/default.asp to find all the variants available of your chip. Northwoods are .13 micron, and you want one with an 800MHz Bus. Also 30 capacitor variants usually do better than 12 capacitor variants. It is up to you to figure out what chip you want. You can order it from www.pcsupplysource.com by providing them with a batch number or S-code. Otherwise you can order from other retailers and get what you get. The max people run northwoods is 1.65 on air. Some chips have been found to die if run at voltage higher than this. You can read the sticky S.D.N.S. at the top of this forum for details.

I recommend this utility to identify information about your cpu and the voltage it is running at (this voltage will be lower than the 1.475-1.525 setting in the BIOS)

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-123.zip

[batboy]

I'd get a different mobo. The Abit AI7 is a better mobo that's a couple bucks cheaper and has all the same features. The AI7 has an actively cooled northbridge and more overclocking settings than you can shake a stick at. Having a 1.6v limit would suck to me. If the mobo undervolts like most do, then you won't even get an honest 1.6v out of it.

[adelphia83]

The AI7 only has two SATA ports, I need at least four. Additionally the case has a side window, so I'd like something other than Abit's ugly ass brown / orange. The epox is a little more aesthetically pleasing, as if that matters any.

I'm trying to find some reviews on the Epox revision 2. Most sites mention the revision 1 only, and note the possibility of increased voltage beyond 1.6V in Rev 2.0

[veryhumid]

the IC7-MAX3 is pretty black with green lighting. it also has 6 sata ports. you know you want it! :D

[Home-Chicken]

I have an Epox 4PCA3+ and i'm running 3.85 at 1.6v
tonight when i get home i'm going to try for a max overclock with voltages above 1.7v
i'll let you know if i'm successful. I am using the lastest bios btw. I hadn't heard about the vcore problems with the new bios until after i flashed them. Hopefully all goes well.

[Home-Chicken]

my epox board is version 2 btw