Very Simple Question, Feel free to laugh at me if you give me an answer

Hi, I have a mobo [model in sig] thats only rated at 1066. I can push the FSB to exactly 1203fsb before windows becomes unstable, its 100& stable before this point.

The heat temps are fine, I've played with different volatges and 5-5-5 memory timings. I can set any mem and fsb speed as I have a nForce 4 board, so it's not PCI freq's either.

Why is this, is the just the limit of my board? Or am I overlooking something else, I feel I can push my E2140 to around 2.8-3ghz but I reach that number and nothing will seem to stop it freezing about 5 secs after windows loads.

BTW, which rails does my cpu run off, is it 3.3v?

It would be nice to find a solution but come december i'll be getting a Q6600 G0 and i'll be buying this either before or after

http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product...+nForce+650i&seriesId=989307&productId=989811


Thanks

Have you updated the bios recently? That may help as it sounds like a limit of the board somewhere. You may also want to update the chipset drivers.

I havn't updated the bios, there's an update availble too. My bios is dated oct 2006 so maybe I should update it now, i'll post back and let everyone know if it makes a difference.

My chipset drivers are up to date as far as I know.

You''re probably reaching the limits of your Ram if you are in fact running it 1:1 as indicated in your signature.

Don't get that board. Go w/ a P35 chipset board, or the new revision 680i boards if you "must" have SLI. By December X38 boards will be out too (nVidia may have a newer solution as well), so you have some decisions to make.

nF4 mobos for Intel aren't great overclockers - chipset issue I believe.

& the CPU largely runs off 12V.

If i recall correctly, thats the worst board for OCing.

Buts first, run your ram at 400 or as low as it will go.

It was a cheapy yes. It looks like my limit is reached.

Anway, i'm going to get a q6600 g0 around december time. I have a couple of questions you may be able to help me with:

A: Do you think it will be worth buying another x1950pro to run in crossfire? (with dx10 looming)

B: If not, is this a fair board for oc'ing a q6600 g0 http://www.xfxforce.com/web/product...+nForce+650i&seriesId=989307&productId=989811
It's a NVIDIA nForce 650i if you don't want to click the link.

C: Or should I dig deeper in my pocket for a mobo, my max budget would be $200 or 100GBP

Thanks for the info.

A: no...sell it, and buy a new card when you're ready to upgrade.

B: Don't get that board. Go for a P35 chipset, or 680i (make sure to get the newer revision and plan on doing a pencil mod) if you plan on running SLI. Don't think of SLI as something you will do next year. If you're going to wait to buy a 2nd card then don't. Just sell your card when you're ready to upgrade.

C: For $200 you can get an excellent P35 MoBo. I'm not sure what the 680i boards cost, though. Take a look at these.

I don't know if you can get NewEgg in the UK, but it's a good reference none-the-less.

Then around December time get your self a new Mobo as well. And that time a good P35 mobo will cost you under $180 quid.

Dont waste any more money on another VGA card, sell yours, and get your self a true DX10 card.

By December time, prices would have dropped a good 10-15% on many things and you should have enough money saved up for a really nice new system. But buy it after new years, and not before X-Mas. Prices drop a great deal after New Years, and they they go up before X-Mas.