Abit BX6 Original -- CPU Options?

I am looking to juice up an old PC... looks like it is running a Abit BX6 orginal as I can't find the words Version 2 or Pentium III anywhere in the manual. Currently it's got a PII 400 in it that I hope to bump up to 533 tonight by sliding the FSB up to 133. Not sure how this is going to turn out though.

What are some realisitic SLOT-1 CPU options for this baby? I don't know much about CPU types but some suggestions would be great. If one of your suggestions needs a converter please note this.

Thanks.

Help needed...

Well... I tried oc'ing this PC last night and had no success.

Stock Specs:
Abit BX6
PII 400 (100x4)
2 x 256MB PC133 SDRAM
SB PC128 (PCI)
Crapola Datalink NIC (PCI)
ASUS Geforce2 MX400 (64 MB)
2 x Monster Voodoo2 12MB in SLI mode (PCI)
Windows 98 SE


I tried the following combinations starting at a voltage of 2.00. My AGP only supports 2/3 or 1/1 and I could NOT find a PCI multiplier anywhere. I used an AGP ratio of 2/3 for all my tests and I imagine the PCI multiplier is either automatically caculated or just locked at 1/3. *shrug*

112 x 4 @ 2.0v (Didn't get past the initial Windows98 640 x 480 screen)
112 x 4 @ 2.05v (Windows Protection Error - dos-like error before Windows loaded)
112 x 4 @ 2.1v (Loaded windows to the login prompt. After login complete it rebooted)
112 x 4 @ 2.2v (Loaded to the login again, blue screen of death when loading desktop)
112 x 4 @ 2.3v (Loaded to login again... blue screen of death when loading desktop)
* I am scared to try 2.4

I will have to redo these tests... my memory is surprisingly unclear as to my results last night.
133 x 4 @ 2.0v (CPU Unuseable error *I think)
133 x 4 @ 2.05v (CPU Unuseable error *I think)
133 x 4 @ 2.1v (Can't remember - didn't boot)
133 x 4 @ 2.2v (Blue Screen of Death)
133 x 4 @ 2.3v (Blue Screen of Death)
* I am scared to try 2.4

Every time I went into SOFT MENU II to change the settings I checked the CPU Temp... started around 32 degrees and was 30 by the time I finished and had put things back to normal.

Any suggestions? Are my PCI cards possibly causing the failure due the fact (unless the PCI ratio is set automatically somewhere) they are running at a higher speed - 44 Mhz?

hey welcome to the OC forums

well I'd say the reason that you can't bump it to 533 is that the P2 series topped out at about 500mhz if you were lucky. 533 is probably pushing it too hard. You should have some lower speed to try, give em a shot. But- from your failure at 112 even with all that extra juice tells me yer chip is probably a dog, no good for OC. Have you tried better cooling, like a bigger heatsink/fan unit(HDF)? Too much heat makes OC impossible. And, even with a big HSF, I was never able to push a P2 CPU past 475 stably. Is 'stably' a word? It is now.

You could score a Slotket convertor card and a Celeron 566 for maybe $75 shipped, I ran mine to 995! Pretty darn good investment IMHO Actually with a converotr slotket u should have access to a whole boatload of CPUs, most P3s and Celerons will work for you.

Bah!

i rember my p2 400, i got that sucker to 533, and even got it to post at 600 but it wouldnt get into windows.
but of course i had a 150 watt peliter and a 130 watt peliter on it and it was watercooled. (-5c full load! ) and i beleive i had to max the vcore at 2.3v, lol.
a bit overkill just go overclock a p2, but oh well

i rember my p2 400, i got that sucker to 533, and even got it to post at 600 but it wouldnt get into windows.

Click to expand...

whoa, you win dude! that's a great OC! Mine would only hit 500 with water cooling, and then I got a Slotket, so I gave up on it.

Recommendations then?

Ok thanks for the info... I decided that OC'ing is probably not going to get me much on this PC. I'll probablyget a slotkey converter and upgrade as cheeply as possible.

For 3D gaming performance (yes I know this PC would still be a far cry from anything current...) would you recommend:

1. Celeron running around 800Mhz
or
2. PIII Running around 600Mhz?

I am looking for overall framerate here... not worried about load times etc.

Thanks.

why not a p3 1.1ghz cpu. works perfect for bx boards. you could get 1300 mhz out of that board. i have a 1000E in my bx6 rev2


and you can tell the difference between the one and two by the number of ram slots. the bx6 has 3 and the rev2 has 4. the rev2 board also has an additional pci or isa slot. cant remember.

the chipset is the same though.

I was just looking to upgrade this box cheeply...

- Celeron 800 for around $100 CDN (possible overclock to 900+)
- P3 600-800 will cost me $200-300 CDN respectively

Obviously a Celeron 800 is going to be a lot fast for 3D gaming than my PII 400... but is double the money for a P3 at only 600Mhz worth it performance-wise?

I haven't used a celeron for a long time... I really hated them before... if they haven't improved much in the last couple years I am probaby still going to hate them. =)

well, I got a Celron 566 and Slotket for just $50 total. I ran that puppy to 995, no problems. A Celeron 800 should be good for 1200 mhz or more.
Either would be a great upgrade from a P2 300.

A P3 is NOT worth the extra money. One more time- it's not worth the cash! seriously, at equal speeds a P3 is 10 to 20% faster than a Celeron, for double the price. A stock Celeron is not much of a match to a P3, but once you OC it the game is over- My Celeron 995 is faster than a P3E 1gig by just a hair. For less than half the price. The majority of the speed difference is in the FSB. Celerons start at 66, P3 starts at 100. Boost a Celeron to a 100+ FSB and same clock speed and watch the performance difference melt away.

If I could get a P3 at a good price, I would- but since a modern Celron is basically a slightly crippled P3 for maybe 1/3 the price, there's no contest.

BX6 rev 1 boards do not have a 1/4 PCI divider like a BX6 rev 2. 133 FSB = 44 MHz PCI on this board. Not a good idea.

First of all, the Celeron 800 is already running on a 100 fsb, so you won't be able to reliably overclock too far with that board because of the lack of a 1/4 pci divider. You could run a cD0 P3 1000E or 1100E in that board though. I ran 1 in my old BH6 board I sold a few days ago; could run that 1000E @ 1240. I bought it over at star-components.com. I just checked and they still have the 1000E for $136.
I just looked at the Celeron s-spec page and the 766 Celeron still run on a 66 fsb. That would be the 1 to get to overclock with. They even have a cD0 stepping version out; SL5EA is the retail s-spec and LS52X is the oem s-spec Celeron 766.