Northwood 3.0ghz... potential ?

[TigerLord]

Hi There !

I arrived here two days ago (see my 1st thread with all info: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=393442 ) and since I installed my XP-90C yesterday (my last OC attempt was stopped by a BAD heatsink).

Since yesterday, I managed to Prime95 my CPU oc'ed at 225FSB ... Ive raised it up to 228FSB, still haven't Prime it, will do later. Temps at idle are still 33°C. Mobo is Asus P4C800 Deluxe, and ram are Corsair DDR400 512MBx2 in Dual-Channel.

http://www.jadeentertainement.com/images/OCforum2.jpg

Right now it is stable, will see with Prime95. But I have no experience, so before pushing it ANY further, I wanted to know what sort of sign I will have when it will be time to up the voltage ??? Btw, my mobo is set a turbo performance, AGP 66/33 and the rest default (FSB 228)

Thanks for helping me not destroy my computer :)

[David]

:welcome: to the forums!

I'm not a Northwood expert but I can offer a few tips on overclocking in general.

When it looks like the PC wont overclock any further, try a little extra voltage. Don't take the voltage too far though, and keep a close eye on temperatures.

Also if you want to stress the CPU try Folding@Home - Download the client from http://folding.stanford.edu/ and enter team 32 (its Overclockers.com's team :)) as the team number. Folding at home puts a lot of stress on the CPU and runs it at full load, as well as processing scientifically important data. Should give you an idea of what temps are like under heavy load :)

[TigerLord]

Is Prime not a good program too?

And what are the actual sign of my computer not wanting to actual overclock ? And finally, there are many options for voltage ! Which one's the right to up?

[meionm]

disable turbo mode, it doesn't give any extra perfromance

also run your memory at 5:4 ratio, you select in bios 400=1:1 333=5:4 266=3:2

you can up voltage in bios upto 1.6v, I don't know if this moded or undmoded mobo but if it unmoded there will be vcore drop.

[TigerLord]

Okay, I'll disable Turbo mode :)

I've been running Folder@Home for ca 10minutes, and full load temp is 44°C and steady. I don't know if Céramique has kick-in capabilities like AS5, but if any, I should win 2-3°C right?

I'm just not sure how long I have to burn-in the cpu at each try though... I've read 8-9 hours, some people said 15minutes and see if it crashes....

Anyway, It seems the computer is stable, so I'll try upping to 230 right away :)

Edit: Here's the screenshot, fixed the 5:4 ratio ... I'll be doing 30min on Folding@Home before I attempt boosting up the FSB... but nobody told me which sort of sign I'll get when the FSB is too high???

http://www.jadeentertainement.com/images/OCforum3.jpg

Thanks!

[David]

Okay, I'll disable Turbo mode :)

I've been running Folder@Home for ca 10minutes, and full load temp is 44°C and steady. I don't know if Céramique has kick-in capabilities like AS5, but if any, I should win 2-3°C right?

I'm just not sure how long I have to burn-in the cpu at each try though... I've read 8-9 hours, some people said 15minutes and see if it crashes....

Anyway, It seems the computer is stable, so I'll try upping to 230 right away :)

Edit: Here's the screenshot, fixed the 5:4 ratio ... I'll be doing 30min on Folding@Home before I attempt boosting up the FSB... but nobody told me which sort of sign I'll get when the FSB is too high???

http://www.jadeentertainement.com/images/OCforum3.jpg

Thanks!


Once you think you have your highest stable speed I recommend stressing for 24 hours to make sure. If it lasts 24hours I think you should be fine :)

[TigerLord]

Well if a computer that freezes while running Folder@Home is a sign, looks like I've hit a wall...

a 230FSB it hung... tried it again after reboot, hung again ...

Is there anything I can do to pass the 230 barrier ?

[David]

Well if a computer that freezes while running Folder@Home is a sign, looks like I've hit a wall...

a 230FSB it hung... tried it again after reboot, hung again ...

Is there anything I can do to pass the 230 barrier ?


Increasing voltage, loosening RAM timings or changing CPU:RAM ratio may help a little?

[TigerLord]

As I was writing to say I upped the Vcore to 1.6V, it crashed... so I just upped it to 1.625 and we'll see...

I think I need to keep my ration at 5:4 because I've only got DDR400 memory. That's what I've heard anyway ... anyway, to which point can I up the Vcore before burning everything? Temperatures are still stable at load (between 44°C and 49°C).

I don't know how to loose the RAM timing, but, is it better to up the Vcore or loose the timing?

[TigerLord]

Well, 227FSB is definitely the maximum I can hit...

vcore is at 1.6, dimm voltage (Im not sure if that was actually it, but on my P4C800 Deluxe, it was the third voltage option) is at 2.5v ... AGP 66/33, ratio 5:4

Temperature are steady, but from 228FSB it crashes on desktop after running Folder@Home ....

So, what can I do now ?

[TigerLord]

Ok, so I said to myself... as I wait for an asnwer, I'll read along myself and try to find the damn problem. Then I thought, it might be my memory...

Went in bios, disabled SPD, and saw that the timing was weird... 2.5-4-4-8 ? I changed it to 2-2-2-5 like I read in many posts, but then, it wouldnt boot, or when, Overclocking fail, please go in setup bla bla bla... so I had to reset it to default !

Right now, I just dont know what to do... could it be that 225FSB is the max I'll OC at???

Just to make sure you all know what's going on:
vcore=1,55V
AGP 66/33
RAM 5:4 Ratio
FSB 225x15

The rest all at default...

Please tell me there's still hope :rolleyes:

[larva]

Set the ram back to the way you had it and increase Vdimm to the board's maximum. 2.5V just isn't anything for Vdimm.

[TigerLord]

Well I just set the FSB to 230 and vdimm at 2.85V (maximum that the mobo will allow) and see and hope that it will work

this isnt going to burn my rams will it?

[TigerLord]

Well, I had to downclock to 225 again, because even with the vdimm at 2.85V it hang in Windows when running Folding@Home

anything else?

[orionlion82]

about the ram? not if you have good cooling. allso, you might want to slow your ram down even more.

remember : with a northwood, anything at or over 1.6V is really pushing it.
i have allso found ( check sig, i have simmilar hardware) that northwoods generally dont like to run above 3.4GHZ stable. sometimes people get lucky though.

allso remember that your board may overvolt at idle, pushing it over 1.6V - scary.
it may allso droop at full load, going down to 1.56-1.58.
maybe look into a droop mod if you feel like being hardcore about it.

with your worries about frying hardware : remember with all overclocking, you are gaurenteed to shorten the lifespan of your hardware, as well as fry things now and then. if you arent ready, willing & able to buy new parts, you should re-asses the risks you are taking. that being said, in 2 or 3 years of overclocking, the most i have fried are 3 BIOS chips. lucky for me, they act like a $15 fuse. not sure why.
Happy Overclocking - and good luck! :santa:
Edit: i allso have found that sometimes too much voltage causes instability. be aware of that as well.

[hUMANbEATbOX]

don't use the by spd option. set your ram manually to the 5:4 option to take it out of the equation. what kind of ram is it? at the 5:4 ratio at around 225 your ram is around 180mhz, so it shouldn't be a factor at all. the thing that might keep it from booting would be the timings, which at 2-2-2-5 are too tight. loosen them by going to 2.5-3-3-5 for now, you can work on finding the best settings later. now, you can focus on the cpu. if the ram is at its slackest, and you can't get more than 3.4ish on 1.625v, then i'd say its maxed. you get to a point of diminishing returns, voltages higher than 1.6 isn't really worth it in most cases, especially with a 3.0c (which were the hardest hit by G.N.D.S., or gradual northwood death syndrome). the only other thing i could think of would be your psu isn't cutting it (check for wild voltage fluctuations with MBM5), or your ram doesn't like deviders. we could maybe rule those out if you provide some details on what ya got.

[TigerLord]

So, I've set the RAM at 2.5-3-3-5, vcore at 1.55V (I heard too many horrifying stories about getting at 1.6V ...) , 5:4 ratio, FSB at 230, and it crashed again under Folder@Home.

I seriously doubt it's my PSU. I've got an Enermax 460W, and MBM5 didnt report anything special. My rams are DDR400 Jade Star Technologies 512MBx2 running in Dual channel.

Now my question is, would it help buying new high-end RAM, or is 3.4ghz the best I'm ever gonna get out of my cpu ? I DO not mind buying new ram if it could get me to 3.8ghz ...

Last thing: since my vcore is at 1.55, would pushing it to 1.625 like humanbeatbox siggested really make a difference ?

Thanks for your help !

[RJARRRPCGP]

The lock up crashing problem may mean that you're required to get more air into the case!

[TigerLord]

The mobo's at 35°C and steady, and I've got 7 case fans... how can I get more ? If upping the vcore to 1.625 like you said wouldnt make a difference, then I've maxed out like you said !

I just want to know if getting new rams would fix that?

[hUMANbEATbOX]

i would try it at 1.625 and look at your voltages as you run prime or folding.

your mobo is probably drooping under load, meaning if you set 1.625, you'll get about 1.63 at idle, and it may dip all the way down to 1.575 under load. the p4c800's tend to droop quite a bit, and there is a mod for it. once you mod it, you would probably be able to set it at 1.6 and have it dle at 1.6, and under load, 1.6...

what does your vcore dip down to under load?

and i would say that 1.6v is safe, so long as it doesn't overvolt severely at idle.

[TigerLord]

Well, looks like you were right !

I ran Folder@Home for 30 minutes.... under load the vcore was at 1.575 , which is almost stock vcore. It usually idles at 1,6V, but sometimes it fluctuates to 1,68V , which I find to be hard. Is it hard to mod a mobo ? I'd feel safer knowing it would always run at 1.6V

Looks like I managed to break the 230FSB ... however, how far can I expect to go now?

5:4 Ratio (tried 1:1, no luck)
Timing is 3-4-4-8
AGP 66/33
vdimm is at 2.85V
vcore at 1.625V
FSB230

Should I still try and push it to 3.6ghz or 3450mhz is the max Ill get? I'm happy I broke the 230FSB now, but how far will it go now?

Thanks !

[hUMANbEATbOX]

here the droop mod sticky in the asus forums: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=324292

if you type "p4c800 droop mod" into google you will find some other useful guides/pics. hope you are handy with a soldering iron!

[TigerLord]

Thanks for the link !

However, what about my question about how far Ill be going to go?

[Foxie3a]

Welcome Tiger. :)

First off, I'd like to know the stepping of your processor. It is written on top of the heatspreader, reading it is the only way to know what it is. My 3.0C was SL6WU. That is a known great overclocker. On the bottom it had 30 capacitors instead of the usual 12 because it was a downgraded extreme edition(no way of enabling the cache). If yours is also a 30 capper you can probably go higher, if not... then that might be your max overclock. If you don't want to check, then that's fine. Looking at the CPU-Z screenshot I know that it is a D1, which in my opinion is the best. The M0 is newer, but I dont like it as much. My SL6WU was a D1 also. D1 is like the generic stepping, while SL6WU is the precise one.

The next thing you need to do is check out your voltages. Using the program "Motherboad Monitor 5"(MBM5" you can check them out. Sometimes motherboards lie, so a multi meter would be more accurate, but you can't see things like the Vcore. I would set it to update every second. Have it turned on all the time. Have it on during Prime95 and Folding at the same time! After a while, report the voltages back here. I want to see the lows, highs, and averages. That will help us determine if your PSU is having a problem, or if maybe your CPU is, or even your RAM!

Now for your RAM.... I dont think you understand what 2-2-2 and 3-4-4 means. It is the latency, so obviously the lower the better. But keep in mind that only some RAM can do 2-2-2 at any given speed. The higher the FSB, the higher the latency usually. My northwood was coupled with some G.SKill that at stock was 275 FSB 2.5-3-3, which was pretty damn good. The FSB and latency you are able to do is reliant on the chips on your stick of RAM, the PCB has a small difference if any. For our CPU FSB testing purposes, you should put the RAM as far down as possible, so using a 3:2 ratio and 3-4-4 latency. This will rule out your RAM as being the problem.

Your temperatures look good, so I'll skip that.

Vcore. 1.62 is too high. My northwood did not need anymore voltage to reach its max. It's max was hit because I was on air cooling. I usually ran it at 1.57v because under full load it would go down to 1.52-1.55 which is the suggested voltage for mine. Sometimes it would jump upto 1.6v when idle, but I was fine with that. If you are having jumps upto 1.7v on a regular basis, you might loose your processor, 1.7v is too high.

My results. I had an Abit IC7-Max3, 3.0C SL6WU, ThermalRight SP94, G.SKill PC4400LE, and a PCP&C 510 Ultra Deluxe. At 1.57v to compensate for a droop, I was able to be stable at 250x15. Pretty nice for a northwood on air. That was about 11.8 MIPS in sandra. Something like 22.5K in 3DMark01 with a pretty lousy overclocking 9800Pro(414/375). It was a nice system, definately more all around stable than my current system, but my mobo is the only culprit. P5WD2 will be bought soon.

Good luck. :)

[TigerLord]

Hi There !

I tried to check , but ther eis nothing to see anymore. All characters faded away. That probably happened when I cleared the AS3 I used 2 years ago for my previous heatsink. Now that it was cleaned for the XP-90C, I can't read it. No other way to know ?

I must sincerely thank you for your long reply, it did put some light to my problem. I was confused however, since you gave me only 3 digits for the proposed timings you gave me, when in my mobo, I have 5 (DRAM CA# Latency, DRAM RAS# Precharge, DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay, DRAM Precharge Delay, DRAM Burst Lenght) ... the manifacturer is Jade Star Technologies... they look like cheap rams.

I had already MBM5 installed. I'm gonna lower the timing again, keep vdimm at 2.85V, and put ratio from 5:4 to 3:2 to see if it really was the ram ! Ill try lowering vcore back tp 1.575v, 1.625 seems to high.

I've read about the droop mod, but it makes me feel uneasy to think I would solder stuff on this mobo ! I could always practice on my old 8MB VGA Card.

Keep me informed please :)

Thanks

[TigerLord]

I had not the chance to post a screenshot while Pirme95 and Folder@Home ran, because it always froze. Even if the vcore is set a 1.625V in the bios, at full load, it was a steady 1.57V, and a max of 1.68V, with an average of a 1.6V if I remember well... that's because my P4C800 Deluxe mobo, according to other pepple, as major vcore drop issues. The droop mod was created to address this problem, but like I said, I feel uncomfortable doing it...

It's too bad I can't read what's written anymore... I could have known much before ! I'm pretty sure I've maxed out my cpu at 227FSB now... even with the ram at 3-4-4-8 and a 3:2 ratio, it didn't help much. Knowing the RAM is out of the question, that would leave the cpu or the PSU. But since I have a rather good one (it's an Enermax 460W, just to repeat myself :)) I really doubt that's it's the PSU.

Unless there is something I am doing wrong, I'll have to suit myself with a 400mhz clock :rolleyes:

Better than nothing I guess...

Edit: I might just get one of those for Christmas :) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116201 It will probably fit my mobo perfectly, and if I can get new DDR500 to go with it, I might just be able to reach a good 4.0ghz :) I will probably get 100€+ on eBAY.de if I join in the auction my past Heatsink, which wasn't bad at all to be honest. I could always throw in my artic céramique and everything. If I can get 100€ (120$US) I'd have a 3.2ghz for 90$ here :D Or should I get an AMD if I change CPU?

After searching, I would get this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16819116164R
Those chips still outperform AMD at encoding according to a review

[billiam]

I think your cpu hit the wall at 3.5. I also have a northwood, it can do 3.6-3.7 with 1.65 volts. 3.9 with 1.7 volts. It does 3.5 @ stock voltage.

You might want to look into getting a dothan + adaptor if you want to oc and keep the ram.

[TigerLord]

My target was initially 3.8ghz ... If I could get that, I would really be happy. 3.4ghz is still good, but I wont get more than 225FSB (really stable...)

whats a dothan+adaptor? Google wasn't very convincing

[batboy]

You can probably run a little less vdimm since you are using the 5:4 ratio and relaxed timings. Maybe try 2.7v or 2.75v and see how that works. Since that Asus mobo undervolts at load, 1.6v should be ok. That's about as high as you should go though. Sounds like you have pretty much reached the limits of your system. I doubt new RAM would help much. But, that's not bad for your first real overclocking adventure.

[TigerLord]

http://www.jadeentertainement.com/images/ocforum4.jpg

Here's a screenshot of MBM5@227fsb while running Prime95 and Folder@Home simultaneously. It was running for two hours and just as I was writing this message, it hang. So I just upped the vcore 1.6V and lowered vdimm to 2.65V for now and see if raising the vcore actually helped.

I still don't see how I can get further now. The ram's out of the equation running at 3-4-4-8 on a 5:4 ratio...

Anyway, still hoping somebody finds something :)

[Foxie3a]

Your PSU rails are a little more wild than I personally like. My PCP&C keeps them pretty steady, but I dont think that yours are a problem. To be honest, that MBM5 screenshot is pretty nice.

With RAM latency, the lower is typically the better. Different motherboards allow for different changes, but the first 3 numbers are always better when they're lower, as long as the RAM can handle running at that. The 4th number is also better when lower, it's usually between 5 and 12 I think. The 4th I beleive can be better at different numbers depending on the system. There is a sticky in the memory section which covers all of this. Sounds like you have cheap RAM, I thought you said you had Corsair in your first post. Try running the VDimm around 2.65v, maybe your RAM does not like the high voltage, especially when your 3.3v line peaks at around 3.5v(3.3v supplies power to RAM).

Dothan is the name of a core, just like the Northwood is. You've also heard of the Prescott, which is what the P4-Es are, and all the new LGA-775 processors. Dothan is in the Pentium-Mobile line, or as you might know it, "Centrino". Centrino is actually the whole package including the cpu, and the special chipset which allows for really low power consumption. The first P-M core was Banias, then Dothan. It's possible to get really good powerformance out of a Dothan. Asus has made an adaptor which works for their socket 478 boards, it allows you to use a Dothan on your desktop. I wouldn't look into it though.

The two links you posted, one is a 3.2C, which is just above yours. The other is a 540J, which is an LGA775 processor with the Prescott core. You would need a new motherboard(Asus P5AD2-E Premium for 925XE chipset, or P5WD2 Premium for the 955X chipset, ONLY two Asus boards worth looking at). Also, if you got those boards you will need DDR2. DDR2 isn't bad, I like mine. It's $260 on newegg last I looked, but I got it for around $100 on ebay with a little luck. An overclocked LGA775 system might put too much strain on your PSU. The Enermax power supplies look tough, but they never seem to impress me.

That 3.2C is interesting...1.2-1.4v. It would probably overclock pretty well, but you do have the 16 multiplier to work with. Keeping your current 230 FSB you would be at 3.7ghz with it, which is definately getting high with an air cooled northwood. Do not expect a stable 3.8ghz on air with a northwood. Mine was stable at 250x15, not really any higher, but I put a lot of time into that system.

Your cpu is 2+ years old? Hmm, I remember mine's pack date was June 2004 I think. Yours might be a normal 12 capper.

I would not buy that 3.2C, the Prescotts on the LGA775 platform perform nicely, especially with that extra cache. You could also look into the 600 series, the 630 is the 3ghz version of it. It would give you 2mb of cache, EM64T which are 64 bit extensions(just like AMD has), some more power saving features.... and if you have an Asus board, you can go down to 14x on the multiplier.

Dont solder on your board if you arn't comfortable with it. My IC7 had no mods at all, just heatsinks. If you ever feel very comfortable someday, then maybe.

To give you some idea of LGA775, I do think it's faster than my northwood, not at this speed though. A 3.7ghz northwood is a large SUV coming towards a small 2 door car at 65 miles and hour on the highway. However, a 4ghz or so LGA775 prescott is maybe a semi truck.(cough, AMD is a motorcycle ;) ) I had a semi dead Asus P5AD2-E Premium for a day, newegg refurb, the southbridge was dead or dying, wouldn't detect any PCI slots, and kept giving me problems with my drives. With my 530J on air, I tried 275x15 at 1.5v, and it worked fine without any problem for some benchmarks and games for a bit. Without PCI slots though, I had to return it and go back to my 3ghz on my MSI board. At 4.1ghz I was beating my northwood in everything, except for of course, pure stability since the board was dead and all... lol

Soon, I will buy an Asus P5WD2 Premium. I want the 955X chipset and the extra PCI-E 16x slot(only runs at 4x though, NON SLI). I have two monitors, I want 3 now, maybe 4 in the future! Abit came out with a 955X board too, looks great, but only one PCI-E 16x slot! Oh well, I had Abit for a while, lets give Asus a chance.

Time for class! Gotta listen to my teacher talk about the speech I dont want to give in a few days. I'm stuck on the presentational aids part, not sure what I want to do.... Thinking maybe a powerpoint and a poster board, but I hate poster board.

Let me know if you have more questions, or ideas. I would ditch the northwood system, or atleast stop putting money into it, and look into LGA775 since it is the present and future. Also, DDR2 and PCI-E are becoming if not already the standard.

AHH! I'm late! :)

[TigerLord]

Well, right now I'm at 227fsb@1.625V. Right now it hasn't hang.I've set ram voltage back to 2.6V.

I think I'm gonna stop losing time with this. I'll just have to accept that 3.4ghz is the best I'll get. 2 yrs ago I never thought about overclocking this anyway ...

If I ever hit a stable system at 227fsb@1.625V , can I put back ram to 1:1 and all default value or will that kill my oc?

[Foxie3a]

The question would be if the RAM can handle it. If it's PC3200 it probably can't. PC3200 is 200FSB, so 230 would definately be stretching it, especially if it's some no name brand. Keep in mind that as the FSB goes up, the latency will probably need to also. You might be able to manage 200 FSB 2-2-2, but it would have to be something special to do 230 FSB 2-2-2. Even my G.Skill could only do upto 210 or so at 2-2-2, but I really think it was the northbridge limiting me.

Your board should handle 230 1:1 just fine. I ran at 250 1:1 2.5-3-3, without any problems. Of course my ram was also $150 and I only got 256x2 of it, dont expect the same from your generic type stuff. Then again, latency doesn't do a whole lot. I dont care about latency at all now. I'm fine at 4-4-4-12 because it'll do ilke 375FSB at those speeds, and with that much raw power, no one cares about latency! Well, except for AMD which is still at only 200FSB on their platforms. :(

If I were you, I would put down that voltage. 1.62v is too high in my opinion, and I think my opinion matters. Try 1.57v and see if it's stable, but do not change any other settings while you perform this test. When testing for stability, you have to change things one at a time to come to a solid conclusion.

Did you see much of a performance gain going from 3ghz to 3.2ghz? Take that performance gain that you saw(probably nothing) and apply it to your current situation, that is what you will get if you make it to 240x15, which was very reasonable on my SL6WU. You can see that overclocking just doesn't do too much to performance until you get into the higher numbers. A 1ghz overclock is definately something. On my 530J I was going over a 33% overclock! It's really amazing....can't wait to replace this 915P board(limits me below 215FSB, but then even that isn't very stable).

I would set the RAM to 2.65v to allow for a little droop. Maybe 2.7 if 2.65 is not an option. I ran mine at 2.7v even though they only needed 2.6v to make it all the way upto 275 2.5-3-3.

[TigerLord]

Hi There !

Thanks for the answer ! Tonight I'll put RAM back to 2.65V, 2.5-3-3-8 timing, and 1.57vcore, and see if it runs at 230fsb ! Ill come back with the results, althought Im not very optimistic about it !

[Foxie3a]

Naw, it won't do 230 2.5-3-3, I doubt it will even do 230 3-4-4.

[TigerLord]

So what are you suggesting ?

[Foxie3a]

I am suggesting putting your Vcore at 1.57v and see if it's stable at 230FSB, keep your RAM as low and possible with the highest latency(3-4-4) to make sure that you are never meeting your limits because of your RAM. You must be consistant in ruling out different hardware like your RAM. When trying to get 230FSB on the processor, put everything else as low as possible so you know that the 230FSB limit is either a CPU, chipset, or PSU problem. Most likely a CPU problem though.

When testing for higher, or more stable overclocks, make sure you keep that ram at stock speeds to guarantee that it is not causing the problems. Remember, PC3200 is only 200FSB, so 230FSB is definately higher, 250FSB is PC4000.

So what I would do now is set your Vcore to 1.57v, and keep your RAM at or below 200FSB at 3-4-4. It's possible that 1.62v is hurting your overclock, even though the voltages are fine. Electrical componants are only designed to be able to withstand certain voltages, so going too high would definately lead to instability. I found that my northwood did not need any extra voltage, but I did give it a little more to compensate for a full load.

If you can think of anything else to do do reduce the computer load while testing, try it. Anything that would be harder to run at higher FSBs should be changed. Even having a powerful GPU will make more of a strain on the PSU, which might take power away from the CPU. You see how many things can make it harder to overclock?

Once you know for a fact that you can't go above 230FSB, you can work on bringing your ram upto 1:1, and play with lowering the latency...but again, dont expect much from it at all. I would always run the CPU at its highest FSB, and run the RAM at whatever it can, do not lower the CPU just to run 1:1.

[TigerLord]

I tried the OC at 1.57v , with ram at 5:4 ratio and 3-4-4 timing...

It hang under load after a 45 minutes burning session... it seems, for a fact, that 230FSB wont be recheable... my droop is 0.11V ...

Ill have it modded this summer and add some mushkin red xp4000 and see if it changes something