What to expect from my 1600+ shuttle??

[RoskO (_!_)]

I just bought a 1600+ XP, PC2400 Micron (256mb), and shuttle KT266a board (AK31 rev3 I think).
What can I expect as an overclock using FSB alone? Please let me know what luck you have had if any with PC2400. If my brain is working right, I should be able to overclock the FSB up a lot more than with pc2100, is that correct? Please shed some light from experience. Thanks.
Jeremy

[nikhsub1]

Well you have it in theory at least! Every component in the system will contribute to overclocking. You can only go as fast as the weakest part will allow. Nothing is ever certain. For instance you may get your FSB to 148 and be running fine. Go to 149 and then no post. It could be the PSU, NIC, Video, RAM, CPU, Hard Drives, etc., etc. This is the reason for unlocking the CPU. When you change the Multiplier and not the FSB you take a lot of the other components out of play for failure. The biggest factors here are the CPU, PSU and MOBO. Hope this helps!

[RoskO (_!_)]

I have a Fong Kai case with 300w psu......and damn good I might ad. I can almost guarantee my psu won't be the problem. The reason behind not wanting to unlock my new XP is because the athlon was pain enough.....just unreliable sometimes. I am an experienced o/cer and from what I have seen, unlocking the XP is just for bragg. I used to do this a lot and go to the trouble, but now I'm just to the point where if the FSB doesn't work. I'll probably just let her sit at 1400mhz. After all, it about compares to the P4 2ghz anyway. But, if I can squezze another 100mhz by FSB I'll do it. I just don't want to unlock this one, after the duron and tbird I had. I don't want to go that route. So really I was looking for an answer on what yields the pc2400 can give me as opposed to the 2100. Thanks again.

Jeremy

XP 1600+
256mb PC2400 Micron
Shuttle AK31 rev.3 KT266a using integrated sound (ditched the sblive)
3com 3c905c 10/100
Elsa Geforce2 Gladiac Ultra
WD ATA100 7,200rpm

[nikhsub1]

Well I don't know if the 2400 will get you any higher FSB than say good 2100 ram like Crucial. There have been numerous tests where 2100 crucial outperforms or performs on par with various 2400 ram. The ram is usually NOT the limiting factor when upping the FSB (unless it really sucks). In my experience it is usually the Hard Drives which fail first. You should most likely have no problem getting to at least a 150 FSB (1.5 gig).

[RoskO (_!_)]

:)

[Hamham]

Does the shuttle have them 1/5 and 1/6 pci dividers to make higher fsb's reachable?

[RoskO (_!_)]

:)

[nikhsub1]

Originally posted by RoskO (_!_)
:)

No it does not.

[Arkaine23]

I've got the same setup, except my RAM is OCZ PC 2700... Just got all the parts today and haven't put it together or even unlocked the CPU. If you want info on your mobo, I suggest looking through the spacewalker website's FAQ. It's got a forum format where people post their problems and fixes. I've been browsing it in advance of building my system so I can tell you a few useful things...

Summary of tidbits:

Yer FSB will be limited to 166 by the mobo, and about 138 if you want to use the onboard USB (Via South bridge to blame). Get a PCI USB card or don't use USB at all if you want higher than 138 FSB. Also place your RAM stick in slot 4 if it is the only stick, in slots 1 and 4 if you have two. (People say it works better this way.) If you want to use all 4 DIMMS, you'll have to use registered DDR RAM, otherwise you can only use 3 DIMMs. Try not to use PCI 4 since it shares IRQ's with the AGP. (more on IRQ sharing for this board can be found at the spacewalker F.A.Q. forum. Sorry I don't have the link for you.) I think the PCI fraction only goes to 1/4 on this board. I'm holding out on putting mine together until I can get some rubber washers for the mobo screws as some people have fried boards (better safe than sorry). If you have trouble with video or getting it to post, you may want to try a new PSU, as many people have had these problems and reported that new PSU's helped. Finally be sure your VIA drivers and your Bios are current (new ones at the Spacewalker site). There is even a beta performance BIOS, but I don't know much about it and you'll have to dig to find both it and the requirements for it.

Sounds like a lot, but then, this is my summary of hours and hours of reading about peoples' problems and solutions. Most will still say it's a great board! When you do get it set up, post your stats. I'll be doing the same in the next few days.

[Arkaine23]

FSB can go higher than 166 on AK31, but you need the prog CPUFSB. I saw it on the spacewalker faq newsgroup. at podien.de or something like that... people say it can go up to 180-190 if the rest of your hardware doesn't fail. Might require voltage mod though. There's supposed to be a way to turn up or down the Ram by 33 MHz, but I haven't found it in the bios yet.

[Arkaine23]

Some good ram settings in that newsgroup too. Improved Sandra memory bench by 20-30% over "by spd" settings.

[DaveB]

The USB 138 MHz limit doesn't apply to the Rev 3.1 AK31. The KT266A chipset fixed that.