Overclocking ASUS P2B

[_ ronin75_]

I have an Asus p2b mobo and a PII 350 proc and I want to OC it
(64 MB ram , but I am going to upgrade that to 256 MB as well )
Should I buy an PII to PIII convertor and a celeron processor or just stick with the
same processor and just OC the mobo ....
and if so ...
what kind of PIII should I buy .

in theory the Mobo could OC all the way up to 7 x 100 Mhz
but what would be a reallistic clock speed to aim for ???

without blowing up my pc / house / neighborhood ;)

[Dark Illusion]

It depends whether you have an old revision of the P2B or not. 1.02 or later have native support for coppermines. That way you could get the PIII 1ghz since they made slot1 versions of those. Check your jumper settings, if there is one that sets to 133FSB you're set. If it only goes to 112FSB, you've got a fogey=)

I would work if you had a bios flash but I wouldn't depend on that too much. Personally I don't know how well PII's do for OC so someone else will help you there. I'd go 1ghz, 256MB ram, and add a 8500 for a quick inexpensive upgrade.


**From personal experience with a bunch of P2B boards(I loved BX) The older revision of the board would run my 700E coppermine but it just wouldn't cold boot consistantly. It just annoyed me when I spent 30mins trying to get a computer to boot when I needed it. At the time there was no Win2k so it was a big problem=) However, once up and running there was no problem.
Later revisions(like the one I'm using) take coppermines with no problems.

[Digga]

I just did the same thing. I have a P2B-F rev. 1.02. I just bought a 933MHz CU and updated the Bios to 1014 set the FSB to 150 and it seems to run fairly stable so far. It is running at over 1GHz.

I had to get a slocket and found an Asus slocket which works great.

The only thing I was somewhat dissapointed about was when I ran some benchmarks (Passmark) and compared it to a 1GHz Athlon on a A7V and the Athlon was about twice as fast as the Intel.

The BX is a very easy and stable board but I am afraid that the newer technology is overall faster. But for under $200 I have a much faster system without the worry of compatability.

If you have the 1.02 or later you can get some good spees out of it.

[D2DM]

Like said before..
It depends on your mobo revision.


but there's more to it :)


P2B (I don't know about P2B-F) is a special case in that 1.00 to 1.10 are only capable of a minimum CPU corevoltage of 1.80Volt.

A slot1 Coppermine will not work because it demands 1.75V (or less depends on stepping type) and the mobo cannot supply that.

So best bet is a convertor and put it on 1.80.
If the convertor is on 1.75Volt on an older revision mobo the cpu will still not work.

1.10 is a transition product. Some 1.10 have minimum of 1.8V others have 1.3V.

> 1.10 has a minimum of 1.30Volt so in those you are fine with Slot1's and fcpga versions.


---
ps. I have an asus P2B rev 1.04 with P2-350 @ 3.5x112.

In this case I would have to get a convertor with voltage jumpers in case of an upgrade to a P3 class chip.

---
the revision can be seen between the ISA slots.



gl.

[Yodums]

Originally posted by D2DM
Like said before..
It depends on your mobo revision.


but there's more to it :)


P2B (I don't know about P2B-F) is a special case in that 1.00 to 1.10 are only capable of a minimum CPU corevoltage of 1.80Volt.

A slot1 Coppermine will not work because it demands 1.75V (or less depends on stepping type) and the mobo cannot supply that.

So best bet is a convertor and put it on 1.80.
If the convertor is on 1.75Volt on an older revision mobo the cpu will still not work.

1.10 is a transition product. Some 1.10 have minimum of 1.8V others have 1.3V.

> 1.10 has a minimum of 1.30Volt so in those you are fine with Slot1's and fcpga versions.


---
ps. I have an asus P2B rev 1.04 with P2-350 @ 3.5x112.

In this case I would have to get a convertor with voltage jumpers in case of an upgrade to a P3 class chip.

---
the revision can be seen between the ISA slots.



gl.

believe you are right.. depending on your rev .. if you got a good one go for the slotket

[_ ronin75_]

OK Guys

Checked the mobo out yesterday .
It turns aout to be a P2B and NOT a P2B-F
rev 1.02 ...

and it only goes to 112FSB, so I am stuck with a fogey =)

will a convertor like this
Asus Slot 1 to Socket 370 FCPGA Conversion Card [S370-DL]

provide the right voltage for me if i want to upgrade to a celeron ..
or would that be just too plain simple ;)

and if that allows me to mount a celeron on the Conversion card

WHAT kind of celeron should I buy given the fact that in THEORY
I can overclock to 8 * 112 (sounds spectacular to me , but not to healthy I guess ;) ).....

[Yodums]

Whats the most your mobo and support if you can find a 533 chip it'll most likely overclock to 1gig and its slot 1 and pretty ancient now.

[D2DM]

P2B rev 1.02.. slightly older than mine.

I think you'd be ok with that asus fcpga convertor.
It also means you'll have to set the convertor to 1.80Volt.

112 mhz max.. than you're better of with a high multiplier.

8x112 not to healthy..? Just go for it! :)

Or even better.. a Celly2 900mhz or 1000 @ 112fsb.


one other thing.. make sure the bios is at least 1012.

[_ ronin75_]

"one other thing.. make sure the bios is at least 1012."

ok so I have to flash the bios
been to the ASUS site , and downloaded the latest one ..

but which tool am I supposed to use
the AFLASH (PnP)or the FLASH tool (not PnP)?

becouse i could'nt seee whether the Mobo was plug and play

thx

[D2DM]

ok checking..

Looking at the specs.. http://www.asus.com/products/Motherboard/Pentiumpro/P2b/spec.html

Enhanced ACPI Bios
Award® AGP Bios with Enhanced ACPI Feature for PC98/ Win98 Compliance
Anti Boot Virus
-> PnP Bios in 2M-bit Flash EEPROM <- taadaa! :)

Aflash.exe <-

---------------------

I had downed this one
bx2i1012.zip
P2B BIOS Ver. 1012. 04/20/2000
Add microcode updates.

includes hardware monitoring. (this may be a "must have..")

Here's the guide for flashing.. No doubt an url can be found on asus site also.. but i can take only so much from my 33k6 hehe.
(local HD copy)


WARNING! ***READ ME FIRST FOR MB BIOS FLASH ****WARNING!

**********************Important Notes:**************************

If you use the wrong flash BIOS, or have a power outage, or have a defective chip, there is chance that your computer WILL NOT BOOT.

Only update your BIOS if you have problems with your motherboard and you know that the new BIOS revision will solve your problems. Careless updating can result in your motherboard having more problems!

Important Notes:*****Before Flashing your Motherboard BIOS.

By flashing your ASUS motherboard, you agree to accept the possibility of a BIOS flash failure. If your ASUS motherboard is working and stable, and there are no major bugs that are fixed by a later BIOS revision, we recommend that you DO NOT try to upgrade your BIOS.

By doing so, you are taking a risk of a BIOS flash failure. If you indeed intend to upgrade the BIOS, PLEASE BE SURE to use the right BIOS revision for the right motherboard model.

The new BIOS upgrade will permanently replace your original BIOS's settings and PnP information . You may need to reconfigure your BIOS settings Add-in cards and re-install Your Operating System, so that your system can go back to work in normal condition.

To update the AWARD BIOS only, please do the following procedure:

Step#1. Read the WARNING before continuing to flash your motherboard bios.

Step#2. Please use plain DOS6.x , Win95, or Win98 to make a Clean Bootable Floppy Disk.. Please Do not use NT4.x, Windows2000, or Windows ME Boot disk.

Step#3. Prepare a bootable floppy disk. Using Win98 or Win95 or Dos 6.0 (or higher) WITHOUT an Autoexec.bat and Config.sys files .

Prepare a bootable Floppy Disk for DOS.
1) Turn on your computer
2) When system at C prompt insert blank floppy diskette.
3) At C prompt type: FORMAT A: /s then press ENTER. Follow instruction then wait until it finish. (Do not use QUICK format)
Prepare a bootable Floppy disk for Windows 95
1) At the Desktop double click on "MY COMPUTER" icon.
2) Select "FLOPPY A"
3) Right mouse click on "FLOPPY A"
4) Select "FORMAT"
5) FORMAT TYPE: Select "FULL"(Do not use QUICK format)
6) OTHER OPTIONS: Select " COPY SYSTEM FILES"(Do not use QUICK format)
7) Select "START"
8) Follow instruction then wait until it finish.
Prepare a bootable Floppy disk for Windows 98
1) At the Desktop double click on "MY COMPUTER" icon.
2) Select "FLOPPY A"
3) Right mouse click on "FLOPPY A"
4) Select "FORMAT"
5) FORMAT TYPE: Select "FULL"(Do not use QUICK format)
6) OTHER OPTIONS: Select " COPY SYSTEM FILES"(Do not use QUICK format)
7) Select "START"
8) Follow instruction then wait until it finish.
Step#4. To flash your BIOS you'll need a) AFLASH.EXE , and b) a BIOS file. The flasher executable loads the BIOS file into the BIOS chip.

Step#5. Go to ASUS website to download the motherboard BIOS for your Model# ."http://www.asus.com/products/motherboard/bios.html" for your motherboard BIOS. (Make sure to Download the correct Bios file for your Motherboard Model#)

Step#6. Go to ASUS website to download the motherboard BIOS Flash Utility . "http://www.asus.com/products/motherboard/bios_tools.html" for your motherboard BIOS Flash Utility."AFLASH.EXE

Step#7. UNZIP the Motherboard BIOS download file onto a Clean Bootable Floppy Disk. (go to www.winzip.com to get the software to unzip.)

Step#8. Copy the AFLASH.EXE to the same Clean Bootable Floppy Disk.

Step#9. Do NOT flash under Windows or any OS other than plain DOS.

Step#10. Copy the downloaded BIOS file that match your motherboard and AFlash.EXE Utility to diskette created in Step3 .

Step#11. Reboot the system with the diskette made in Step10.

Step#12. At the DOS prompt, type: AFLASH .<ENTER>TO RUN AFLASH.

Step#13. AFLASH will ask you to save the current BIOS. Choose Yes, so that you can always flash back to the original version if you're having problems with the new one.

Step#14. Under the AFlash Memory Writer prompt, the program will ask you: BIOS File Name to Program enter the BIOS filename that you UNZIP (including the extension). Then follow the instruction on screen.

WARNING! If you encounter problems while updating the new BIOS, DO NOT turn off your system since this might prevent your system from booting up. Just repeat the process, and if the problem still persists, update the original BIOS file you saved to disk above. If the Flash Memory Writer utility was not able to successfully update a complete BIOS file, your system may not be able to boot up. If this happens, your system will need service.


gl with flashing..
the warnings Asus gives above are for a reason...

[_ ronin75_]

OK I finally got my hands on the good stuff ;)

Bought me a cellie 1000 , and 256 MB DIMM , a leadtek Geforce3 Ti 200
(the asus dl-370 , or any other slocket was nowere to be found in belgium-holland)
so I got me a 2nd hand slotket from a pc store

but here is the big issue
the slocket I got does not have any jumpers on them , not even a brand name
I know that it is made in china
and got a "370 CPU rev 1.0"printing on it
right under the cpu foot there is an onther printing "H034013A"
but no documentation .......

Can I measure the CPU voltage with a multi meter before plugging in my CPU , dont want to blow that Cellie up ......
Is it safe just to plug it in and check whether it works or not ??, or is that a little too simple ?

Or does anyone know where to buy a good slocket online ????
(I know someone in Canada who could ship it to me )


btw thanx to everyone for the support so far ....

[_ ronin75_]

Ok I've done some research

according to the following sheet
http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/icp.htm
it appears that my cellie 1000 can only handle 1.75 v

but in an article on this site
http://www.overclockers.com/tips296/

my mobo can not provide this voltage ....
(it can only go to 1.8 (p2b rev 1.02) i think ..........)

Can i use that slotket ??
or better not ??

[D2DM]

goed lezen..

quote:

but there's more to it


P2B (I don't know about P2B-F) is a special case in that 1.00 to 1.10 are only capable of a minimum CPU corevoltage of 1.80Volt.

A slot1 Coppermine will not work because it demands 1.75V (or less depends on stepping type) and the mobo cannot supply that.

So best bet is a convertor and put it on 1.80.
If the convertor is on 1.75Volt on an older revision mobo the cpu will still not work.
------------

You need a voltage changable convertor.
Or change the voltage chips on the Asus P2B mobo itself.

For the convertor:
Perhaps look around in the UK...
Or ask around on tweakers.net
in the wanted section perhaps..?

gl.

[_ ronin75_]

phew!!!!

I found a website where they still had ONE slotket left
and its in the mail at the moment ...
So I think I'll take my chances with the Asus S370 -133
instead of turning py proc into a overpriced frying pan ........

[_ ronin75_]

OK guys I finally got the slocket in the mail ...

so its a ASUS Smart slot1 with adjustable vco voltage between 1.8 and 2.6 (I am not sure about the upper boundary though)

but according to the intel specs of my cellie 1000

http://support.intel.com/support/processors/sspec/icp.htm

its vcore voltage is 1.75 I dont think this 0.05 difference will do much harm , but I heard this story of someone who fried his proc by setting the vcore jumpers on default for more recent (what ever tose procs may be)....precessors (as is preferred according to the slockets manual).........

should I set it on default vcore or stick with 1.8 v ???

thanx:D

[_ ronin75_]

damn
precessors == processors :beer:

[_ ronin75_]

Damn the darn thing wont boot ...

encountered a couple of problems
first for some reason I couldt get any power from the fan at the designated connectors at the mobo , so i had to tap it off from the hard disk

that went fine (at least my fan was working)
The next problem was the slocket ...
The vcore jumper settings were default but coudnt get a sign of life out of my proc.
So I tried the next best thing to 1.75 V which was 1.8 V...(the minimum Vcore the slocket could supply..)

now I heard the HD spin up (at least I thought ) but thats it .....

Nothing on my screen ....
So I shoved m y PII350 back in there and the pc bootes just like normal ...(hence this reply on the thread)

any ideas slocket problems or did I buy a dead proc ??

ps the slocket is an asus 370 -D rev1.00
and the Proc is a cellie 1000
mobo asus p2b rev 1.02 with bios 1012(needed the coppermine support)

[Bender]

Did you get a slocket that supports the coppermine core? Not all slockets will work but they can be soldered to work.

[dr0p0ut]

wrong slotket. i believe the one u have doesnt support fcpga pIII.

also on my p2b-s there is 133 setting :)

good luck to u.

dr0p0ut

[_ ronin75_]

Could you explain a little more about that Bender

I thought the asus s-370-d did support that processor

but on the box it only states that it supports coppermine processors it doesnt say anything about fcpga cpu's....
I presumed it did cous all the other slockets did as well ..
silly me ...


I hope there is a way to work around it because I was lucky to find a slocket , it seems these things are out of stock everywhere and are not produced anymore ...

thanx in advance

[Bender]

_ ronin75_ if it says it supports coppermines it should be fine. I just wasnt shure that it was compatible since I don't know much about that exact slocket. If its not the slocket giving you trouble I have no idea what the problem could be.

[Bender]

After reserching it seems that you will need to mod the card in order to get it wroking or you can just get a new card. Mayby I'm missing something; are you shure your card suports coppermines. The card could be packaged in the wrong box. There is a way you can probably tell. Does the card have a jumper to switch to coppermine?

[_ ronin75_]

I'm afraid your correct

Dont know how that could have happened ...
but there is no coppermine jumper on the slotket
only jumpers for vcore regulation

I feel pretty ****ed ...

well the problem with geting a new card is that this is the last one in belgium / holland where I got my hands on
when you usually call a store for something like this
they sont know what the heck you're talking about :(

so i bought this one online
once again silly me :)

[Bender]

Check out this article if you want to convert your card. Here (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q1/000229/socket370-to-coppermine-07.html)

[_ ronin75_]

Thanx bender

That article gave me some hope in getting this thing to work
found a guy in belgium who is selling a slocket
but he isnt too clear about the type and whether the thing supports coppermines and vcore regulating etc...

So I will try to modify the slocket first ..
and I will try to drill out the ah2 pin on the slocket instead of breaking it off the CPU

coz I am a bit sceptic about breaking of pins of a brand new CPU even though the cpu doesnt use that pin according too the article
;)

Thanx for the article bender

[_ ronin75_]

Hi Guys maybe a dumbass quiestion but hey you never know ...

Does anyone know whether the pin out diagram of
this (http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/00q1/000229/socket370-to-coppermine-04.html) pIII fc-pga coppermine CPU ...
(Couldnt find a pin out of the cellie 1000 on the intel site )

is exactyle the same on a celeron fc-pga coppermine CPU
Problably they are since theyre both socket 370 but hey you never know
I allready ****ed up by buying the wrong slocket right ;)

and how neccesary you think it is to bring down the voltage on those rttctrl and slewctrl pins ?
the outhor didnt do it , but should I do it just to be on the safe side ?

[Bender]

I would suggest cutting the trace on the slocket leadint to pin AH2 instead of removing the pin on your cpu or drilling out the slocket. You should be able to tell what pin it is by the pic at tomshardware. I'm about to do this to the same slocket so I'll let you know how it turns out.

[_ ronin75_]

Iwill bender
next thursday I will give it a try (If i can solder it with my solering bolt , otherwise I will have to contact one of the pcb fellows at work...)

If it works i'm still free to solder those 2 resistrors on those pins ..
but first I've got to get that slocket FCpga compatible ...

But I will let you know what happened ...

[_ ronin75_]

Hi bender
plugged tyhe Slocket in my mobo and it works like a charm
at 1003 mhz

beware I used 2 330 ohms resistors to bring down those 2 pins after all ....
maybe its best to do that anyway (at least if you got a steady hand an a fine soldering tip ;) )

thanx for the support everyone , and pointing me in the right direction