2.4b Preparing To O/C

Hey Everyone:
Well, I'm getting ready to OC my Intel Pentium 4 2.4b (533 Buss) on my Abit IC7-G motherboard using the SwifTech H20-120™ REV. 3 Water Cooling set....
So far, I got these points nailed down, tell me if I have missed anything out.

My multiplier is locked at 18 so I will have to slowly increase my Buss. Now besides that, I have understood that I have to also set proper RAM ratios. Since I have 2 sticks of Kingston DDR333 PC2700 RAM, both run at a FSB of 166 stock.

To not loose any performance, I will have to adjust correct RAM ratio's to not loose any performance. Correct?
Meaning:
166 STOCK Running @ 1:1 Ratio = 166 FSB
166 STOCK Running @ 5:4 Ratio = 207.5 FSB
166 STOCK Running @ 3:2 Ratio = 249 FSB

So basically, with my RAM, the most I can go is to 249FSB on my RAM to not loose any RAM performance with my overclock, thus limiting my Buss speed to 249?

Basically, if I run my memory at 3:2 ratio at 249 FSB, and I set multiplier to 18x249=4482, I can O/C that much without loosing any performance in RAM? Of course that is, if I have proper temperature readings/VCORE stays below 1.6 volts to play it safe, right?

Have I basically nailed everything down? I guess I have learned that besides overclocking my processor, I have to also set my memory the correct way, and I hope I have understood the concept thus far. Help me if I'm wrong, please! Thanks. See you all later.

Hey Everyone:
Well, I'm getting ready to OC my Intel Pentium 4 2.4b (533 Buss) on my Abit IC7-G motherboard using the SwifTech H20-120™ REV. 3 Water Cooling set....
So far, I got these points nailed down, tell me if I have missed anything out.

My multiplier is locked at 18 so I will have to slowly increase my Buss. Now besides that, I have understood that I have to also set proper RAM ratios. Since I have 2 sticks of Kingston DDR333 PC2700 RAM, both run at a FSB of 166 stock.

Click to expand...

Not exctly true, ratios are important, but for starters leave it at 1:1. Make SURE to lock your PCI/AGP bus. That is VERY important.

To not loose any performance, I will have to adjust correct RAM ratio's to not loose any performance. Correct?
Meaning:
166 STOCK Running @ 1:1 Ratio = 166 FSB
166 STOCK Running @ 5:4 Ratio = 207.5 FSB
166 STOCK Running @ 3:2 Ratio = 249 FSB

Click to expand...

While this is correct, we don't want to keep our memory at stock speed. We want to increase the memory speed, bus speed, and the clock speed. Most memory can run faster than it is rated. My chips are PC2100 (rated at 133) but will run perfectly fine up at stock voltage until 169 MHZ. To give you an idea, at 1:1, my chip hits the wall before my RAM does. A slight .1v increase (about 3% extra voltage) allows me to max out my chip and actually run the ratio 4:5, meaning the Memory is faster than the new FSB!

So basically, with my RAM, the most I can go is to 249FSB on my RAM to not loose any RAM performance with my overclock, thus limiting my Buss speed to 249?

Basically, if I run my memory at 3:2 ratio at 249 FSB, and I set multiplier to 18x249=4482, I can O/C that much without loosing any performance in RAM? Of course that is, if I have proper temperature readings/VCORE stays below 1.6 volts to play it safe, right?

Click to expand...

I hate to break it to you, but, there is no way that 2.4 is hitting 4.48 at <1.60volts, even if it is on water.

Have I basically nailed everything down? I guess I have learned that besides overclocking my processor, I have to also set my memory the correct way, and I hope I have understood the concept thus far. Help me if I'm wrong, please! Thanks. See you all later.

Click to expand...

In short, I wouldn't even touch the voltage right away, just start raising the FSB in say, 5 mhz increments. Prime test it stable for 2 hours, if it is, bump it up another 5 mhz, retest, repeat until you hit a wall.. When you hit the wall, back down a bit, and see if you can get a prime stable OC for 12 hours. This would be your max "stock" over clock, then decide if you want to start messing with voltages, etc. and go from there.

Welcome to the Forums

Okie dokey....I've actually been helping someone with your exact same cpu, so if you want to read that thread and see if you can get anything out of it, here it is: Link

About the ratios.... here's the way that it works.

Say you're FSB and your memory are running 166mhz. If you want to set your FSB to 200, the cpu may very well be able to overclock to 200mhz, but most likely your memory will not be able to. That's where the ratios come in.... if you set your FSB to 200 mhz and use a 5:4 ratio, your memory will be running at (200 x 4)/5 = 160mhz. If you wanted to raise your FSB to 249mhz, you'd have to use the 3:2 ratio to keep your memory running at 166mhz.

That may be what you just said, but I wasn't sure.

Okay, on to overclocking. You'll want to raise your FSB slowly and test if your computer will boot up at the settings that you choose. Leave the ratio at 1:1 for the moment, you won't be going past 166 FSB for the moment, so you don't have to worry about ratios yet.

In your advanced chipset options in BIOS, there should be something called Game Acceleration Technology or GAT settings. Those should be at Auto-Auto-Auto-Disabled-Disabled for overclocking. If Spread Spectrum is enabled you should disable that as well.

I'm guessing you know that you should raise your FSB slowly and after a while test it with Prime 95 to make sure that it's stable. Just keep an eye on your temps to make sure they don't go over 58°C or so.


[edit]

You beat me ^^^

Thanks a lot! That helped me so much. I'm planning to run Prime95 like you said. Any other comments? Thanks again.

Just want to say, damn mtb856, that is one hell of a 2.4C you got your hands on there.

ewhenn said:

Just want to say, damn mtb856, that is one hell of a 2.4C you got your hands on there.

Click to expand...

Thanks It's been an awesome processor...... it's just fast enough to beat my brother's 2600+ mobile XP @ 2600mhz , so that's good enough for me

Thanks a lot man.
So basically, right now my bus is at 133 (18x133 = 2394 STOCK)
What you're saying is...leave ratio stock until I get my bus to 166 or higher?

If I get my bus to 166, I'll be running 2988 Ghz on 1:1 ratio...Anything higher will require memory ratio tweaking?

I was thinking about setting my bus to:
18 X 200 = 3600 Ghz
Running 5:4 ratio like you said.

However, I don't understand why I would have to run 5:4 to get 160 if my RAM is already at 166 stock. So basically, overclocking = I would loose some potential RAM efficiency? Why couldn't I just run it on 1:1 and have it at 166, is it because it won't work on 1:1?
By the way: I'm using Dual Channel

I read somewhere, where someone said that if my motherboard (IC7-G) supports 800MHZ FSB (which it does), then I don't even need to worry about memory ratios...Is this true?
Thanks for all of your help...I'm slowly getting this nailed down

I can guarantee that if you set your bus to 200mhz, your computer's not going to boot and you'll end up having to reset CMOS to restore your BIOS settings. You have to take this slowly, raise your FSB by 5 or 10mhz and boot into Windows and see if it crashes. If not, go back into BIOS and raise it a bit more. Once it doesn't boot, either raise your vcore from 1.52 to 1.55V or lower your overclock..... raise FSB again. After you think you've found a good speed (probably around 2.9-3.0 gigs), run Prime 95 to test if your overclock is stable or not.

What I meant about the ratio is that if you want the FSB to be 200mhz, your ram will be running at 160mhz with a 5:4 ratio..... the performance loss from running the ram slower is far outweighed by the performance gain from overclocking the FSB.

Thanks for the post. I appreciate all of your help. Well, just like you said, that's what I'm planning to do, to take this slowly...What I don't understand is, why not run RAM at 1:1 even on FSB 200 and get 166 versus 160...is it because 166 will not overclock?

From what I understand, comparing FSB of 133 and 200...3:2 ratio is basically always not of benefit, correct? In what case would it be good to use at?

So after passing 166 FSB, I should start tweaking memory ratio correct?
For now, all I will do is keep messing around with FSB and VCORE...

By the way, to get things straight with BIOS + Overclocking:
Right now I have "Optimized Defaults Set"
To start overclocking, the only things I will have to really mess around with are:
FSB
Vcore
and later on...memory ratios...
These three things + the advanced chipset options you mentioned earlier on, correct?

P.S. I just read the post you suggested earlier on, mtb856...interesting stuff. Well, hopefully I can go more with watercooling if it's the air colling issue that guy is having. Whoa! All that RAM timing etc. confused the heck out of me...I guess I have to learn all that besides ratio's before I start overclocking lol! Peace.

Prime95: I just ran Prime95 torture test on my stock 2.4b w/ air cooling for 7 minutes...got no errors, but when I opened Abit EQ, CPU temperature read 61'C, what the h-e-double toothpics! Or maybe it's Abit's screwed up temperature readings...;( It was funny because right after like one minute they suddenly droped to like 54'C...Anyways, could I have damaged anything?

abits about 4-6c high when it comes to temps. Your running a 2.4b 533 is so, you dont need to worry about ram ratios at this point, even if you did make it to 200fsb, you ram withsome voltage would probably go there.

Download a program called cpu-z and load that up, and by revision look to see what it says. B0 or C1 should be there.


I might be wrong, but it sounds like you are mixing up a 2.4c and a 2.4b, in the way inwhich ram runs with it, 1:1 with a 2.4b @ stock is 133 because thats the FSB, 4:5 (not 5:4) with a 2.4b @ stock is 166.

Just up the fsb, leave ram timings to stock and ratio 1:1 and give the ram 2.8v, up the voltage (go as high as 1.65 in abit EQ) and see how far you can go, like i said before i doubt the ram will have much inpack here, most pc2700 will overclock to 3200 (200fsb) from my experience.

Good Luck

What I don't understand is, why not run RAM at 1:1 even on FSB 200 and get 166 versus 160...is it because 166 will not overclock?

Click to expand...

If you wanted to leave the ratio at 1:1, the memory and the FSB would be at the same speed, so at a 200FSB your memory would be running 200mhz. If you wanted the ram to be running at 166mhz your FSB can be this: 166 (1:1 ratio), 207 (5:4) ratio, or 249 (3:2) ratio. I said that running a 5:4 ratio at 200 would give 160mhz on the ram b/c 6 mhz is not even noticeable for performance..... when people speak of performance loss on ram it's b/c it's running 40 or 50 mhz below what it should.

By the way, to get things straight with BIOS + Overclocking:
Right now I have "Optimized Defaults Set"
To start overclocking, the only things I will have to really mess around with are:
FSB
Vcore
and later on...memory ratios...
These three things + the advanced chipset options you mentioned earlier on, correct?

Click to expand...

Actually, all you should concentrate on right now is FSB..... most processors will overclock a few hundred mhz without having to raise the vcore at all. Change the Advanced Settings options before you start overclocking as those affect how high you can overclock.... especially the GAT settings.

What thermal paste are you using with your waterblock? You might want to remount the waterblock to make sure that it's contacting the processor correctly..... I don't think it should be getting that high with watercooling.

You might post a thread about it in the watercooling area and see if they can help you troubleshoot it as I'm an air cooling person.

Thanks Guys. Well! I'm on the cheap air cooling now. My watercooling kit is going to be ordered shortly. I am going to be using Arctic Silver 5 for my paste. So for the beginning, all I'm going to worry about is the FSB like you guys said, and then upping the VCORE if problems start to persist.
The only options I am going to change are Auto-Auto-Auto-Disabled-Disabled and Spread Spectrum correct? Nothing else. I will leave RAM on the settings that the "Optimized Defaults Set."

Well, I'm off to my SATII testing for 4 hours! I'll be thinking about all of this! HeHeHe...Computers rule. IC7-G's also rule, right?

mtb856: Knowing that you also have the IC7-G board, (Mine is latest BIOS 2.7) the only things that I will need to tweak are the Auto-Auto-Auto-Disabled-Disabled and Spread Spectrum? Nothing else for overclocking?

1) In softmenu, the "AGP Ratio" setting should be set to locked with the speed at 66.66/33.33.

2) Change the AGP voltage to 1.6V

That's the only other settings that I can think about.... the IC7-G might not even have Spread Spectrum, I couldn't find it in the manual, so you might not have to worry about it.

and yes, IC7's rock

Good luck on the test.

Thanks Buddy. Just came home...it's funny how you think about RAM ratio's when you're taking an English Literature test regarding Thoreau. LOL. I'll check those settings out and I'll keep you posted regarding the results/any progress. Regarding the kit, I'm ready to order it, I just have to find the right time to do all of this.
I ran motherboard monitor for a few hours already while I was gone, computer at idle, these are the results I've received.

Core 0:
Current: 1.54V
Low: 1.50V
High: 1.55V
Average: 1.53V

Core 1:
Current: 2.62V
Low: 2.59V
High: 2.64V
Average: 2.62V

+3.3:
Current: 3.20V
Low: 3.15V
High: 3.23V
Average: 3.21V

+5.00:
Current: 5.00V
Low: 4.97V
High: 5.03V
Average: 5.00V

+12.00:
Current: 12.16V
Low: 12.10V
High: 12.28V
Average: 12.22V

-12.00:
Current: 1.30V
Low: 1.30V
High: 1.31V
Average: 1.30V

-5.00:
Current: 1.55V
Low: 1.55V
High: 1.57V
Average: 1.55V

Thanks for all of your support and help mtb856...You Rock!

AlcatrazT2 said:

Thanks Buddy. Just came home...it's funny how you think about RAM ratio's when you're taking an English Literature test regarding Thoreau. LOL. I'll check those settings out and I'll keep you posted regarding the results/any progress. Regarding the kit, I'm ready to order it, I just have to find the right time to do all of this.
I ran motherboard monitor for a few hours already while I was gone, computer at idle, these are the results I've received.

Core 0: This is your vcore....looks to be pretty accurate
Current: 1.54V
Low: 1.50V
High: 1.55V
Average: 1.53V

Core 1: This is your vdimm (memory voltage)
Current: 2.62V
Low: 2.59V
High: 2.64V
Average: 2.62V

+3.3: These last 5 are your PSU's rails.... MBM doesn't typically read these correctly on IC7-G's
Current: 3.20V
Low: 3.15V
High: 3.23V
Average: 3.21V

+5.00:
Current: 5.00V
Low: 4.97V
High: 5.03V
Average: 5.00V

+12.00:
Current: 12.16V
Low: 12.10V
High: 12.28V
Average: 12.22V

-12.00:
Current: 1.30V
Low: 1.30V
High: 1.31V
Average: 1.30V

-5.00:
Current: 1.55V
Low: 1.55V
High: 1.57V
Average: 1.55V

Thanks for all of your support and help mtb856...You Rock!

Click to expand...

Your welcome Glad I could be of some help..... and I hope your overclocking goes without a hitch.

mtb856: Recalling a statement you made eariler on "either raise your vcore from 1.52 to 1.55V"
I just noticed, from the results posted above that my vCORE already averages around there...So how high could I actually raise it to, to play safe since I can consider myself already running stock around those settings.
Thanks Pal.
As I've understood, I can go up to 1.6V and still be safe, correct?
So incriments such as 1.56, 1.57, 1.58, 1.59 won't do much?
Thanks again.

Hello...Can anyone hear me?

I'm pumping 1.625v through my 2.4B and that's on air. Also, your sig is a bit big. Mods might want that trimmed down a bit.