Hear that, Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability...

Long time Lurker, first time poster here...

I'm just trying to hold out a little longer, just a few more months. Then, the Palomino will be out and it will be time for a whole new mobo/cpu/ram. My old BX chipset and slot 1 Celery 300a has been good to me, overclocking stably to 450 for YEARS with no problems at all.

But it is time- I have to do SOMETHING. Tribes 2, Black and White, Serious Sam... My poor Celery is a loss. So, I'm ordering a shiny new P3 700 cCo for $100, and I'll (hopefully) be able to get it to a 933. Running an old ASUS v3400TNT, I probably can't go much over 133 without knocking my AGP card senseless. If needed, a GeForce2 MX pci can be had for $100, but that is more money. For now, this is a budget OC to stave off the inevitable.

My question is this: Do I need to sink the $50+ bucks into an Alpha P3125, or can I get by with a generic three fan hs from coolerstar.com for $18? I'll be using Arctic Silver either way, and I might try to lap whichever one I get. Obviously, when I'm only spending $100 on the processor, spending $55 on the heat sink seems... a bit silly.

Opinions? Flames? Death threats for switching to AMD? Let's hear 'em!!!

I would go for a Global Win VOS-32 they perform as well as the Alpha and cost a lot less. I got mine from 2cooltek for $29.95

Look you're only going to 933 MHz with a cC0 PIII 700. They don't really get that hot. Save yourself some cash and pick up a much maligned slot 1 GORB here for only $14:


Take the money you saved and pick up an AGP GeForce2 MX for $53. Why in the name of God do you want to spend $100 for a PCI version? GeForce AGP cards run fine on BX mobos with the AGP at 150 MHz. Mine ran with the FSB at 155 MHz.

First off, the Golden Orbs are not as bad as people say. My friend is very happy with his slot 1 GORB. I tried his slot 1 PIII 533 on my system. It only ran a few degrees hotter than my FC-PGA PIII 700 gets with an Alpha PEP66. For gaming, you're much better off spending your cash on a better video card than wasting it on a $50 H/S fan. If you were trying to run the PIII 700 at 1050 MHz or something like that, then the Alpha would be a must. But 933 MHz is possible even with the crappy Intel H/S fan. BTW, KD charges really cheap shipping and has a top rating over at resellers.

Welcome to the forum fig!

please please tell me where you're buying that cC0 PIII 700... if it's from an online reseller. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday looking for one with no luck

dadx2mj (May 01, 2001 11:33 a.m.):
I would go for a Global Win VOS-32 they perform as well as the Alpha and cost a lot less. I got mine from 2cooltek for $29.95

Click to expand...

That might be an option also, I'll go do some research.
Thanks!

Dave B. -

I have nothing against the GORB, I just was citing the 2 extremes I would go. I thought a GORB would be nore $$$ than a generic triple fan heatsink. I also did not know how hot the OC'd 700 would run... Thanks for the input!

I wasn't sure how far I could push the AGP, so I had the backup plan of going to a PCI vid card. If the AGP will cope, so much the better. For all I know, the one I have will run at that speed, which is good. I'm buying either a GF2 Ultra or GF3 soon, but that will move to the new box when it gets built, so I need to plan on running this setup with a cheapie VID card. That is after all what it will end up with.

Thanks for the info though, I'll look at the GORB as an option now, too. If you feel it will handle it. I might not get lucky enough to have a cC0 stepping. Would the GORB work for cB0? cA2? Will I really have to crank up the voltage? I'm only running PC133 memory on a BH6-II rev1.1 mobo, so I doubt I can get much past 133 FSB. I'll go as far as I can though.

Shadow ÒÓ (May 01, 2001 01:24 p.m.):
Welcome to the forum fig!

Click to expand...

Thankies! Kind of odd to have something to post for a change! You guys will hear a lot from me in the coming weeks, mostly questions I'm afraid.

drowned (May 01, 2001 01:39 p.m.):
please please tell me where you're buying that cC0 PIII 700... if it's from an online reseller. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday looking for one with no luck

Click to expand...

I am woking my way down the pricewatch list, so far no luck. I may not be able to get that stepping code after all.

I have a few more places to look, and I will post any good results here. If you score one, please do the same!

I think you're right about the BH6. It's an older design, so the components and layout weren't optimized for 133 MHz+ operation. They will run at 133 MHz, but generally not much higher. But if you have PC133 SDRAM, it should be fine at least up to about 140 MHz set at CAS3, so I wouldn't worry about that.

I have a PIII 700 cB0 FC-PGA running at 994 MHz on a BX mobo. It's been running rock stable since last July. But, because it's a cB0 it needed 1.95V to get where it is - it needed 1.85V to get to 933 MHz. And it was able to run at that speed with the crappy retail H/S fan. I had to get an Alpha to get to 994 MHz though, but IMO the GORB should get you where you want to go. Especially since the newer cC0 stepping versions don't need as much voltage to O/C so they run cooler. Most everything available today will be a cC0. Forget cA2, they've been out of the distribution channels for at least 6 months. I was trying to get a cB0 for a dual rig and had trouble finding one. High volume resellers like Googlegear only carry the latest cC0 stepping CPUs. Just go to a high-volume dealer.

I actually have two friends at work running slot 1 PIIIs at 133 MHz with GORBs. So, IMO they're fine for what you want to do. If you were trying for 1 GHz, they would not be a good choice. But for only $14 plus about $6 shipping, why not.

You will have no problem with any GeForce card running at 133 MHz. So just get an AGP version. If you get your PIII 700 running at 933 MHz with a GeForce card you're gonna get great gaming performance. As many tests have shown, going to a 1.4 GHz Athlon system will not do much for your gaming performance anyway. When you get to 900 MHz or so, with the FSB at 133 MHz, the limiting factor becomes the video card, not the CPU.

Fig (May 01, 2001 02:25 p.m.):

drowned (May 01, 2001 01:39 p.m.):
please please tell me where you're buying that cC0 PIII 700... if it's from an online reseller. I spent the entire afternoon yesterday looking for one with no luck

Click to expand...

I am woking my way down the pricewatch list, so far no luck. I may not be able to get that stepping code after all.

I have a few more places to look, and I will post any good results here. If you score one, please do the same!

Click to expand...

Try www.pcnut.com

Humphrey is selling FC-PGA cC0 P3-700s for $100 and he has an Excellent reseller rating. I must caution you that they are labelled NOC which means that they do not overclock (or overclock as easily) as the ones he sells for more. It doesn't mean that it WON'T overclock, just won't do say 933 at default voltage for example. The cB0 celeron2-600 (retail) that I bought from him was represented as a chip that didn't overclock very well either. I am running just fine at 945Mhz (watercooled). True, this wasn't as easy as some peoples experiences, but it is still a respectable overclock, and I could have gotten there with aircooling but I wanted to get my feet wet, so to speak.

I suggest that when you call DaNut, let him know that you want to overclock the chip anyway and see what pointers he can offer to you. Otherwise, his pretested chips ROCK when pushed.

Just my $0.02

Well, I needed a slot 1, personally. But pcnut seems sound for the guys needing FCPGA processors!

I ordered a slot 1 from Compubuzz, they sell a lot of chips. And they get a good percentage of them straight from Intel, so hopefully they are selling cC0's.

I also tested my mobo and vid card with a borrowed 533 P3 that runs standard on a 133 FSB. The agp card (1st generation TNT) was fine, but I had to raise I/O voltage to 3.6 to get my UDMA66 controllers to work properly. I was suprised about the vid card though.

After I proved to myself the BX set and vid card ran well at 133 FSB, I started to play. I got a stable 142 FSB in 2 tries, and ran it like that until I had to pull the CPU back out. :-( I can't wait until my new CPU gets here.

I also ordered a chipset cooler and a "better" fan to put on the good vid card, after I get it.

Well, just to let everyone know:

I got my PIII 700, it was a cC0 stepping. I got it online from www.compubuzz.com.

Right out of the box, stock voltage, runs 100% stable at 933!!! I had to bump up my I/O Voltage, but that is my BX board not my chip (I think).

I'm a happy camper! W00T!!!!

I have personally overclocked a PIII700 to 933, a bit hot, but stable with stock intel hsf.

Don't bother investing more in cooling if it could be avoided -- the point is to save money by overclocking, not spending the difference in excessive aparatus.

It's best to stick with GF 256's for many popular 440BX mainboards. A lot of them won't run GF 2's, whether MX, Pro or yadda. The GF 256's are hard to find now.

Personally, I suggest skipping Orbs of all colors. A GlobalWin FOP/WBK-38 isn't expensive. The beauty of the FOP's, as well as a Vantec HS that looks like a FOP is that you can strap an 80mm case fan to them. Baddabing, almost the cooling power of the Delta 38 from hell, without the freakin' noise.

A Slocket will hold an FC-PGA(Socket 370) P3E, just fine. Remember, Slot 1 mainboards are almost extinct. I suggest an Asus S370-133 or an Iwill Slocket II.