New to OCing - need input on my Abit V17 mb

Hello
I am an experienced computer user/programmer/builder, but am a baby when it comes to overclocking. I would appreciate some input.

I think I tried overclocking by setting the CPU operating speed at 210. After rebooting, everything seemed to run OK. CPU temperature increased from 41.5 C to about 55.5 C.

Not much later, I rebooted and increased the CPU operating speed to 220, however, there was a high-low alarm that sounded before the computer could boot. So I went back to the BIOS and set everything back to Default.

My computer has a heat sink and fan cooling the CPU, plus I have two other fans, one blowing air over the CPU to wards the exit fan, and the exit fan. I also have data castles with fans for each of my (2) hard drives

Processor
Pentium4, 2.8 GHz, System Bus Frequency: 800 MHz
L2 Cache: 512 KB

Motherboard
Abit V17, Via PT800 + VT 8237
Bus Clock: 200 megahertz

Operating System:
WXP-Pro SP2

BIOS
Phoenix Technologies, V 6.00 PG 12/25/2003

Video Card
Matrox Millenium G400 Dual Head

Memory:
1024 Megabytes DDR 3200 unbuffered

BIOS
Phoenix – Award Bios

CMOS Soft Menu Setup info

CPU Operating Speed [2800(200)] or, I can select [User Define] Min = 100, Max = 255
CPU FSB Clock (MHz) 200 (this is locked)
Multiplier Factor 14 X (locked)
DRAM Clock By SPD or I can set this to DDR 200, 266, 333, or 400
AGP Ratio Auto (6:2:1) Or I can set to 3:2:1, 4:2:1, 5:2:1
Voltages Control [Default] or I can set it to User Define
CPU Core Voltage By CPU or VID* 105%, 110%, 115%
DRAM Voltage 2.5, 2.55, 2.6, 2.65, 2.7, 2.75
AGP Voltage 1.5, 1.55, 1.6, 1.65

Well, I love Abit mobos, but you have a VIA chipset on that one. Ok, so it's not the best overclocker, however, it should still give you a modest O/C. The high/low alarm is probably high temp (it could also be voltage or fan speed out of range, but I doubt it). The first clue is the big jump in temp from just a small O/C of 210 FSB. You might need to remove the heatsink, clean it up and reinstall it with a good thermal paste.

Batboy
Thank you for the input.
I removed the heatsink and cleaned it up. It had a lot of dust caked in the fins. I have not tried any OC stuff since then, as I wanted more input. When I had the heatsink removed, I found that there was thermal paste "squeeze-out" beyond the edges of the CPU. I cleaned this up and made sure the chip and heatsink both were covered with a thin coating of thermal paste. I did not replace the paste, as I had none. I checked the price for a small tube (probably less than an ounce) at Circuit City and it was priced at $13.00. That seemed a bit pricey to me, so I am looking for another source.
As for cooling: Do I need to add something like a water cooling system to my computer?
Also, what temperature is too hot? Right now, my CPU temp is 41 C. I have read in other forums that people are striving for temps in the 20's. Should 41 degrees centigrade be something to worry about?
Do I need to tweak any other settings? Like CPU Core Voltage, DRAM Voltage, AGP Voltage.

also, you stated that you're running 3200 memory. BIG HINT 3200 = rated for 200 mhz.
you may need either better memory or higher rated timed memory to overclock much over 200mhz fsb. you might try relaxed timings first though, or even a 5/4 divider if your board has it.

aw crap i forgot your new to this. ok, first off get a good heat sink, something copper preferably.. if you can, get as5 (arctic silver 5, anything from them is good really) for your thermal paste or TIM (thermal interface material) i believe newegg has some for around 5-7 $ much better then that 13.00 you found in circuit city. IF the idea doesnt scare you, consider lapping (sanding) the bottom of your heatsink you have now, alot of times they will have rough or imperfect surfaces, which isnt ideal for heat transfer.
its quite simple really to do homejob of it. you can get the piece of flat glass and start with 600 grit sandpaper (wet or dry) and work your way up to 1500 , or 2000 grit. a good TIM, good heatsink, with a nice FLAT (not necessarily shiny) surface should drop some temps for you maybe as much as 10c, and 41 is normal at stock anyways for intel stuff nowadays. really good is anything 30's on air, high low medium etc. that should help your temps alot if you dont want to mess with watercooling just yet. if you plan to OC over your stock 200mhz fsb chip though you WILL need some good memory. check out the forums for heatsinks, and memory, after that you should be up to speed on how to get good OC's yourself!

oh yeah, in your bios look for a setting to FIX your agp/pci at 66/33, that will keep them running correctly even when you overlcock.. if your board has that setting.

good luck

rdaves said:

Batboy
Thank you for the input.
I removed the heatsink and cleaned it up. It had a lot of dust caked in the fins. I have not tried any OC stuff since then, as I wanted more input. When I had the heatsink removed, I found that there was thermal paste "squeeze-out" beyond the edges of the CPU. I cleaned this up and made sure the chip and heatsink both were covered with a thin coating of thermal paste. I did not replace the paste, as I had none. I checked the price for a small tube (probably less than an ounce) at Circuit City and it was priced at $13.00. That seemed a bit pricey to me, so I am looking for another source.
As for cooling: Do I need to add something like a water cooling system to my computer?
Also, what temperature is too hot? Right now, my CPU temp is 41 C. I have read in other forums that people are striving for temps in the 20's. Should 41 degrees centigrade be something to worry about?
Do I need to tweak any other settings? Like CPU Core Voltage, DRAM Voltage, AGP Voltage.

Click to expand...

Arctic Silver is the best as Spade said, but if you want to find something that works ok for a good price, go to Radio Shack and get the silcone based thermal paste. They might call it heatsink grease. It's pretty cheap, like maybe $2 or $3 for a tube. I don't like reusing old thermal paste. It's often partly dried out.

Naw, you don't need watercooling, but a better heatsink might be a good investment eventually if you decide to keep overclocking. A Northwood P-4 will be perfectly ok up until low 50's C. load CPU temp (not idle temp).

Increasing core voltage often allows for a higher O/C, but it also raises temps, so don't do that yet. Wait until you have a little better cooling. Leave AGP voltage at default for now, that's for more hardcore overclocking. DRAM voltage (vdimm) can be raised to 2.7v no problem.

The RAM might be struggling a little like Spade said. Try using the 5:4 memory ratio temporarily to see if that helps. With a little higher vdimm and relaxed RAM timings, maybe you can still use the 1:1 ratio and get a modest overclock.

Batboy writes: "The RAM might be struggling a little like Spade said. Try using the 5:4 memory ratio temporarily to see if that helps".

Where does one go to set this ratio?

Batboy writes: "With a little higher vdimm and relaxed RAM timings, maybe you can still use the 1:1 ratio and get a modest overclock"

Sorry to be such a dummy, but what is a little higer vdimm and relaxed RAM timings?

STOP RIGHT THERE! are you sure its a v17 and not a vt7???

if it's the vt7, your pci/agp frequencies are unlocked and thats about as high as you go. they need to be locked at 33/66. abit has not released an updated bios to fix this, and i don't think it will ever happen.

i have this mobo too

I doubt the VIA chipset will allow you to lock the PCI bus, but 214 FSB (3 gig) should be easy and even up to 220 FSB should be ok if the temps are ok.

Memory ratio should be in the same menu as the FSB settings. RAM timings will be in the advanced chipset menu. Run CPU-Z (a free download) and tell us what timings it says under the RAM tab. Higher the timing numbers, the more relazed it is... for example if the RAM is set at 2.5-3-3-6, then maybe try 3-4-4-8. Try DRAM (vdimm) voltage of 2.7v.

my vt7 will only take about 2 MHz increase in the FSB to barely be able to get into windows...

Maybe you had a PCI card or HDD that was overly sensitive to high PCI bus speed.

Mdameron: My mb is a V17
Spade: You write: "also, you stated that you're running 3200 memory. BIG HINT 3200 = rated for 200 mhz". A Crucial memory scan reports 3200 memory. Looking at the label on the chips, I see DDR 400. Doesn't this mean that the chips are rated for 400 mhz?
BatBoy: I looked at My heatsink and couldn't determine what brand it was, however, it has two sets of 17 each copper fins affixed to a copper base and topped off by an AeroCool fan running at 42,188 RPM. The heatsink is about 3-inches square. Based on my description, do you still think I need a better heatsink ?

Spade: Here is something I found on the Crucial Technology website: PC3200 DDR (DDR400) has a bandwidth of 3.2GB/sec and is designed for use in systems and motherboards which require a 200MHz front-side bus with an effective front-side bus speed of 400MHz.
So my memory is designed for a speed of 400 mhz. My FSB speed is locked at 200, so it appears that my memory is more than capable of handling the FSB speed...yes?

I am thinking that I am getting into an area that I did not build my computer for. It looks like the Via chipset won't allow much beyond modest OCing and technology has moved forward. It looks like I might want to buy a mb that supports OCing. Further, It looks like I need to get the speediest memory now available and also a really fast video card. I need to continue studying OCing before I buy anything.

Spade is right, PC3200 is rated at 200 FSB using the 1:1 ratio. DDR speed is double the frequency, so 200 X 2 = DDR400. Most high quality RAM will O/C a little higher than it's rated, especially if you bump up the DRAM voltage a little and perhaps loosen the timings a little.

I had assumed you were using a stock Intel heatsink, but what you described makes me think it's an aftermarket cooler. I would probably not bother getting a new heatsink under the circumstances. I would try to clean up the heatsink and reapply thermal paste to see if that helps lower temps. You can also try improving case ventilation (check out the links listed in my signature).

With your current system, you are correct, the motherboard is the bottleneck. You are at the point where it might not be worth upgrading this system. It's a snowball effect, new mobo and then you need new RAM and vid card. Then you need better cooling and a faster harddrive, etc. Maybe play around with what you have to get a stable 3 gig O/C and learn a little more in the process. That way you can save up for a platform change, like maybe a nice 640 socket LGA775 P-4 with 2M of cache teamed up with a PCI-E vid card and DDR2 RAM. That'll give you an easy 4 gig and lots of performance.

i think this might help.

DDR400 = 200 REAL megahertz. DDR = Double Data Rate.
there for, ddr 400, IS running @ 200 mhz. (doubled, get it? )

YOUR CPU = 800 MHZ FSB.
p4 = QUAD Front Side Bus. there for, 800mhz = 200 (ddr) X 4.

your "chip" is running the front side bus (200) X 4.
and since youre already running your ram @ 200, you may only have a few extra
mhz to overclock.
this is what is known as the front side bus, and its what transports most of the info in the system to and from things like chipsets and peripherals.

the real cpu speed goes like this:

200 X (multiplier, which i assume yours is 14) 14 = 2,800mhz or 2.8 gigs.

by overclocking that FSB, everything runs faster, and your chip speed should show up in the bios as your new "overclocked" speed. on the whole your system should feel a little quicker, stuff should load a little faster, games play more smoothly etc.
thats why people do it. that , and it beats buying a new faster CPU

keep asking questions! its how you learn. and good luck!