what can be done with a pentium 120??

[Strife3]

I have this old gateway 2000 sitting in my room and it sucks. So i was wondering if i could maybe get it pushing say about 300 mhz or is that impossible. Also i am new to this so explain yourself if you answer this. Thank all who reply. :)

[funnyperson1]

hmmm, first of all Gateways dont oc that well, and youll have to do it using jumpers on the motherboard, also a reasonable expectation for that cpu should be like 150 at the most, more asking for a 100%+ overclock, and i dont think that poor pentium 1 can take that torture....but 150 should be quite noticeable...

[dugans]

Welcome to the Forums!

You will find lots of help here, and some good fun! But if you haven't already, allow me to suggest reading the Announcement at the top of each thread!:)
That out of the way: I haven't done much on Gateways, or many OEM pcs, but they tend to be "unfriendly" to overclockers! OEM pc makers don't like people to mess with the rigs they sell.

But all is NOT lost! There is hope: you will have to do some research, unless someone happens to know Gateways well.

You need to know what the jumpers on the mobo (motherboard) do- you MAY be able to increase clock speed this way. You may even be able to adjust in the bios, but most older systems used jumpers.

Even if you can't adjust clock speed in bios or with jumpers, you might be able to use SoftFSB or CPUFSB: these are software programs that will adjust the FSB (Front Side Bus) and oc that way. You will need to know which chipset you have to be able to use these. ( I never have used them myself)

There is a wealth of information in the beginners' guide to- try reading through them and see what you can figure out.

Any problems :D let us know and we'll try to help!

[Yodums]

Dont bother ocing you won't notice much ..

I would turn it into a linux box! and crunch folding prob can finish wu in 48 hours ;P

[Gabertooth]

Strife,

I feel your pain, I'm sitting in front of a Gateway Pentium II 233 MMX here at work...and I couldn't stand it..so I used Soft FSB to OC it to 282.. It was really easy..just download Soft FSB and when it askes for your chipset download WCPUID to get the Chipset... It's cake..It's also not much but it helps.

-Gabertooth

[CalsonicGTR]

i wouldnt spend too much time trying to overclock such a slow CPU. i ve been in your position. i have an older Gateway which was hard to oc. i got my 133 to run about 175 before it started failing. if you got about $150, you can get a 1Ghz Celeron w/ new motherboard ond overcock that with success. whatever path you choose, good luck

[dugans]

personal opinion here:

even though I might not get much I hate not overclocking any of my pcs! I used to run my pair of k62 450s @ 500 and 550 just because I could!

Its kind of a challenge thing: can I tweak my os and hardware, without spending extra money, to get FREE speed and still be 100% stable? and I HATE losing!!!:D

And hey: what better rig to learn the basics on than an old one?

[Strife3]

My basic plan here is to learn how to overclock on the old gateway 120 and get experienced. Then maybe i can move on to the computer i am typing this from right now. It is a pentuim III 866 with 133 fsb. It has 192 megs of ram right now. so any advice on oc'ing the good old gateway is appreciated. also any other usless input is welcome. Thanks again all you helpful people!

[dugans]

Originally posted by Strife3
also any other usless input is welcome. Thanks again all you helpful people!

You are in the right place! lol

Your best bet will probably be with Soft FSB (Gabertooth's post).


Good Luck!

[Yodums]

Originally posted by Strife3
My basic plan here is to learn how to overclock on the old gateway 120 and get experienced. Then maybe i can move on to the computer i am typing this from right now. It is a pentuim III 866 with 133 fsb. It has 192 megs of ram right now. so any advice on oc'ing the good old gateway is appreciated. also any other usless input is welcome. Thanks again all you helpful people!

Hate to break it to you but its sorta hard to get experience from overclocking branded computers since they made they're settings so secure.. :/

[funnyperson1]

yeah, but back in the day they werent as stringent with the jumpers...

[Strife3]

ok so i see that my overclocking is very limited. These jumpers you speak of, are they little switches on the board somewhere or what?

[funnyperson1]

they should look like little pins sticking out, with plastic covers on them, also it should have a table labeling which ones to change...

[Strife3]

well the only problem now is to know which ones to switch
and i am actually using the old gateway right now to replay so i will have to shut down open and then come back online for more help. Before i shut down any more advice like what not to do or anything else?

[dugans]

.....although it is also possible that the mobo has a dip switch for adjustments: either way most of the older boards have the assignment tables stenciled on the mobo somewhere.

[Strife3]

alright off to mess with my comp now hopefully ill be back.........

[Strife3]

after opening computer here is what i got:
this is the little chart on the mobo
sw funct on off
1 ISASPD 1/4 1/3
2 PROC V2 V1
3 PASSWD EN DIS
4 CMOS CLR NORM
5 SETUP DIS EN
6 BF 1/2 2/3

then another chart
sw 75 90 100
7 off on off
8 off off on

i cant make any sense of this since i am new any help would be appreciated.

[dugans]

OK: I am banging my head on the wall trying to get memory working!

If I get anything wrong SOMEONE ELSE CORRECT ME!

First of all: if you have or can find, any sort of user manual for the pc/mobo DO IT! There should be info on just what switch/jumper does what- this is MUCH better than even educated guesses!!

That said- here are my (un)educated guesses:
1 ISASPD 1/4 1/3 adjusts ISA Bus Speed to CPU bus Speed-1/4 or 1/3
2 PROC V2 V1 CPU Volts?????
3 PASSWD EN DIS Enables/disables BIOS password
4 CMOS CLR NORM Clear CMOS- Clear/Normal Resets the BIOS data to default if you screw something up (When, in my case lol)
5 SETUP DIS EN ????
6 BF 1/2 2/3 ????

sw 75 90 100 CPU Speed
7 off on off sets speed to a freq
8 off off on sets speed to a freq

There may be something saying which settings (7 and 8) set what speed.

I would really try to get more info on the settings: my first few overclocks were done before I heard of overclocking, and I let the magic Smoke out of some stuff!

I'd say take another look: mobo numbers/rev #s, any descriptive model indicators that might help find this info.

[D2DM]

Hi,

Pentium1 pc's benefit most from a high FSB because then you oc the onboard (motherboard) L2 cache.

So the best is to go to 2x66=133. That should be do-able oc for the cpu and will boost ram, pci, L2 and isa speeds with +10%.
If there's a 75mhz setting that is great.. but then it may give problems with the ram.. Then you maybe would have to increase ras/cas settings in the bios.


Experience for the P3-866.. The principles stay the same..

gl.

[jazztrumpet216]

The BF jumpers are the multiplier adjustments... and on the Pentium 1, they are adjustable. See if that will adjust your speed any.

[Yodums]

Try moving the jumpers around ..!

[Strife3]

well thanks for the help guys my gateway is now running at 133 mhz. Although it stull sucks i am happy i at least did something. i didnt add any cooling or anything but i dont think it is going to overheat since that is only 13 mhz more but what do you experts think? Also i was wondering about my sony pIII 866 with a asus mobo i thought i heard they were very good for oc'ing? :D

[jazztrumpet216]

Nah, I don't think you're in much danger of overheating with 13 Mhz, but still keep an eye on the temps in the BIOS every once in awhile. My mom's (her future computer, see what happened to the old one in my thread "A Fitting End"... this is the one I'm building to replace it) P200MMX is now runnning at 225 with no problems at all. Unfortunately, the multiplier is not letting me go any higher, and this blasted board does not have an 83Mhz setting!!!

Those 866's are good OCers, make sure you have good RAM though because you're already running on a CPU that uses a 133Mhz bus. You'll need to go to 140 or 150 for any results, so make sure you have some quality PNY or Crucial or Samsung or something (many on here use Kingmax or Kingston). Make sure that Sony VAIO has jumpers or a BIOS you can adjust... as mentioned earlier, many branded computers don't.

[Strife3]

well ill have to do some checking...
but i just purchased some ram last night i hope i didnt make a mistake though it is rk-byte brand it was right next to the pny:eek: what do you think should i return it? also can i get the gateway to oc any more? by doing something in the bios? also is it easy to update the bios? I downloaded a new version but i didnt update it yet because im afraid(remember im a newbie at this yet)

[jazztrumpet216]

K-Byte is usually decent stuff. I'd stay with that. I'd be more concerned about wether or not that Sony mobo will overclock... I don't have any experience with Sony mobos so I can't tell you what they use or anything like that.

With the Gateway... you probably could. I'm guessing you increased your FSB from 60 to 66 to get your current overclock... can you mess around with the multipliers any more?? Likewise, do you know if you can get your FSB to 75 Mhz??? These would be the two options. If you can raise your multiplier from 2 (2x66=133) to 2.5 (2.5x66=166), you'll get 166. Or you can lower the FSB back to 60 and go to 2.5 for 150 Mhz. If you decide to raise your FSB to 75 Mhz, you can expect 150 Mhz. Whichever you choose (I'd try bumping up the multiplier if I were you), good luck!

[Strife3]

just one question how do i change the multiplier?

[jazztrumpet216]

Those BF jumpers you talked about... those should adjust your multiplier. Toy around with them a bit and see where you post at.

[Yodums]

Fool around with the jumpers..

Try 75x2..

2=Multiplier
75=FSB..

The jumpers should be around your CPU.

Good Luck.

[Strife3]

ok i can set fsb using jumpers to 75, 90, 100
settings for BF are 1/2 or 2/3 when at 75 with 1/2 it is 90 when at 75 with 2/3 it is 75 when at 100 with 1/2 it is at 133 and when at 100 wit 2/3 it is at 100 So does this mean i cat go above 133mhz eith this thing?

[Yodums]

Yes you'll definitly probably go over 133.

Like I said try 75 FSB x 2 Multiplier = 150mhz

It should work.

[Strife3]

how can i set the multiplier to x2 ? i cant to it with jumpers on the motherboard cause the only settings on there are 1/2 or 2/3. so im stuck.