oldfart
01-27-02, 10:17 PM
A couple of people have PM/emailed me asking how my system is doing. I've been traveling the last couple of weeks and haven't had much time to post.
First off, I only test for a 100% stable system. If I can boot at some high FSB speed, but am not 100% stable, It doesn't interest me.
My system specs:
GA6OXET-C F9 bios
PIII-S 1.26
Stock HS/Fan - ASII compound
(2) 256 PC133 7ns CL2
Win2K Pro
The rest doesn't really matter for this post
My CPU doesn't seem to be as good as some others here. I've seen posts of 160 FSB stock Vcore. Mine wont do that. I can get to ~ 153 FSB stock Vcore. To get to 160 FSB, I need ~ 1.575 - 1.6 or so Vcore for a stable overclock. For some reason, my CPU has a steep Vcore increase need to get just a few more MHz <shrug>.
160 poses some other issues besides the extra Vcore.
If I run "normal", my PCI is @ 40 MHz, which is higher than I like. My nic stops working above 38 MHz PCI. Other than that, the system seems pretty stable.
If I run PLL/16, my nic works again, but I have instability. I get random BSOD stop error crashes that I don't get in "normal" mode. I've seen others post with the same issue.
The other issue @ 160 FSB is I need to use 3-3-3 ram timings, which is also not good for performance. I can see a big hit in Sandra mem benches with 3-3-3.
What I run now is 152 FSB, 1.44 GHz, 3-2-2 ram timings, and undervolt to 1.425. Yes, 1.425 has no stability issue at all overclocked to 1.44 GHz. The lower Vcore helps to keep things cool. I'm pretty pleased being able to do that!
To test stability, I run Prime95 torture test, while running Photoshop applying complex blur filters to very large bitmap images. I also have Norton Antivirus running in the background. If I can run this for 1 Hr, I consider it stable. Next (more fun) test is to play Serious Sam. That game will crash if there is the slightest hint of instability.
I'm very happy with the system. It is very fast and perfectly stable. With my setup, going to 160 FSB doesn't work out. The increased Vcore, slow ram timings, too far out of spec PCI or PLL instability are not worth it for a minor 76 MHz CPU speed increase.
My ram is supposed to be able to run 150 MHz 2-2-2. It is only stable @ 150 3-2-2. I'm trying to get that resolved. If I could run 2-2-2, that would be a nice improvement.
That's it for now. If anyone is interested in any benches or any other info, LMK and I'll post the answers.
First off, I only test for a 100% stable system. If I can boot at some high FSB speed, but am not 100% stable, It doesn't interest me.
My system specs:
GA6OXET-C F9 bios
PIII-S 1.26
Stock HS/Fan - ASII compound
(2) 256 PC133 7ns CL2
Win2K Pro
The rest doesn't really matter for this post
My CPU doesn't seem to be as good as some others here. I've seen posts of 160 FSB stock Vcore. Mine wont do that. I can get to ~ 153 FSB stock Vcore. To get to 160 FSB, I need ~ 1.575 - 1.6 or so Vcore for a stable overclock. For some reason, my CPU has a steep Vcore increase need to get just a few more MHz <shrug>.
160 poses some other issues besides the extra Vcore.
If I run "normal", my PCI is @ 40 MHz, which is higher than I like. My nic stops working above 38 MHz PCI. Other than that, the system seems pretty stable.
If I run PLL/16, my nic works again, but I have instability. I get random BSOD stop error crashes that I don't get in "normal" mode. I've seen others post with the same issue.
The other issue @ 160 FSB is I need to use 3-3-3 ram timings, which is also not good for performance. I can see a big hit in Sandra mem benches with 3-3-3.
What I run now is 152 FSB, 1.44 GHz, 3-2-2 ram timings, and undervolt to 1.425. Yes, 1.425 has no stability issue at all overclocked to 1.44 GHz. The lower Vcore helps to keep things cool. I'm pretty pleased being able to do that!
To test stability, I run Prime95 torture test, while running Photoshop applying complex blur filters to very large bitmap images. I also have Norton Antivirus running in the background. If I can run this for 1 Hr, I consider it stable. Next (more fun) test is to play Serious Sam. That game will crash if there is the slightest hint of instability.
I'm very happy with the system. It is very fast and perfectly stable. With my setup, going to 160 FSB doesn't work out. The increased Vcore, slow ram timings, too far out of spec PCI or PLL instability are not worth it for a minor 76 MHz CPU speed increase.
My ram is supposed to be able to run 150 MHz 2-2-2. It is only stable @ 150 3-2-2. I'm trying to get that resolved. If I could run 2-2-2, that would be a nice improvement.
That's it for now. If anyone is interested in any benches or any other info, LMK and I'll post the answers.