2.8c unoverclockable

[maxxpehling]

hope this is relevant enough for the CPU section, I never get a response in the mobo section. rig in sig. my 2.8c won't even post if I set FSB past 201. could it by some absoulty wild chance be because I don't have the "Intel(R) Chipset Software Installation Utility" installed? I am also having severe problems with my motherboard not working if I use both sticks of my memory.

~maxx

[Alpha_One]

P4PE? If I'm not mistaken that's a 845 mobo. The 845 chipset doesn't even officially support 200MHz in the same way the BX doesn't support 133MHz. 200MHz was made possible through some clever BIOSes made by the mobo makers and the fact that the chipset overclocks from 133MHz quite well. I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's causing your problem.

[maxxpehling]

meh, this is why I hate computers :) correct that it is 845. I just screwey'd with it and I was mistaken. it goes to 205 and at 206 it freezes LOADING windows, 207 it won't even post and gives me frequency error in BIOS.?!?!?!?! it goes up to either 230 or 240 max. as far as the memory it's just weird and I don't want to explain it :) but ASUS says that you can use a 800mhz chip IF and ONLY IF you use pc-3200 ram, so whats the issue here? the p4pe-x page elaborates on what a good overclocker it is. I dont think so. temps are in the mid 30's which obviously is not my problem, unless the temp sensor is wacked. and clockgen ALWAYS gives the error of "PLL Interface Not Found"

[Alpha_One]

ASUS says that you can use a 800mhz chip IF and ONLY IF you use pc-3200 ram, so whats the issue here? the p4pe-x page elaborates on what a good overclocker it is. I dont think so.

The board most likely doesn't support memory speeds that are slower than the FSB. Most 845 boards I've seen run at 133MHz (533) with the memory at 166MHz (DDR333). As for overclocking, if your 845 board is at 200MHz then if we consider Intel's official specs it's already waaayyy overclocked! Technically then, the board is an excellent overclocker.

P.S. NetBurst likes lots of memory bandwidth and it would be insane if you set the memory Mhz lower than the FSB Mhz. If you're running single channel memory, DDR transfer rate is only half that of the FSB's transfer rate at the same clock speed. Sure, the first 845s ran PC133, but that was only because of Intel's agreement with RAMBUS.

[Zuzzz]

Sounds to me like you have the divider set to 1:1. PC 3200 RAM will only clock up to about 205 or so at 1:1. Change the divider to 5:4 and see where your overclock goes.

Z

[batboy]

I don't think there is a 5:4 memory ratio. Think those i845 only had 1:1 and 3:4. Alpha is correct, those motherboards were designed for 400 and 533 bus processors. They were a good overclocker with what they were designed for. But, a 800 bus CPU is overclocking the motherboard a lot, even though the processor is running at default speed or barely above. It's definitely the motherboard holding you back.

[microfire]

There were few i845 boards designed to handle 800C chips. Almost no overclocking could be done, already at the limits of the chipset.

I could get my old Abit IT7 max2 v2 to boot with a 3.2 800C chip, stable as around 190-196FSB, yet I did max out the posting sometimes booting around 209FSB (using the 1/6 divider was the trick, otherwise 200 and more was impossiable).

example:
http://www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/motherboards/ABIT_BH7_1.html

[Lancelot]

I also don't think that you can get any more than 200FSB out of that board, cuz that chipset is OCed 66Mhz and will only do 200FSB 1:1 However if you have the version with S-ATA onboard and are using S-ATA you should check if there's a PCI/AGP lock enabled. If not the ICH4 won't go a tad over 133/166/200FSB...

[bridank]

Some help please? I have a IT7 running a 2.0ghz P4. And am lookinga at getting a Pentium P4 2.8 GHz 533 MHz Socket 478 CPU SL6PF if it will run on my board. Has someone here had success with this combo?

Dan

[batboy]

As long as the 2.8 you get is a 533 bus Northwood, then it will work ok. Looks like s-spec SL6PF is indeed a 533 bus Northwood.