My celeron's limits, and getting past them

[Cruller]

The first decent computer I ever got was my HP Celeron machine (got it shortly after I retired my 386). Stock specs were as follows:
CuMine Celeron 766
Trigem Cognac (810 chipset)-a stable, cheap board with some obscurities
64MB PC100 RAM, later upgraded to 128
30GB WD
Mitsumi 4x4x24 CD Writer
LiteOn 48x CD Drive
WinME (I have never not run WinME on this and it hasn't crashed in just less than a year now)

I have used CPUCooL to overclock it, but whenever I go too far the onboard sound (and video when it goes up into the 900s) gives out. A restart usually fixed it all up, but I actually went quite a while without sound a while ago, and now I'm in that same state. I assume that getting PCI video and sound cards will fix this, am I right? If that is true, then I'll be able to get in the 900MHz range, and possibly up to 1GHz.

I had this OC/Upgrade quite well-planned, but things weren't so good when I found out that my favorite computer store doesen't stock CuMine 1GHz Celerons anymore. The best CuMine Celeron they have right now is the 850/100 which, though is significantly better than the 766 that's in here now, is still $30 more than the 1GHz was. So, now I'm in search of a place to get a late Copper for a decent price.


One last thing, I really like the way the forums are set up here. I have seen some absolutely horrible boards (and some nice ones) in my time but this one is by far the best.

 

[KaHNZa]

Are there no O/C'ing options in the BIOS, or switches/jumpers on the mobo?

 

[donny_paycheck]

Moved to Intel CPUs.

 

[batboy]

Trigem mobos are not all that good. I'm surprised you got that much out of it. The trouble with the 766 Celeron is it has a 11.5X multiplier, so when you overclock it, there is no way to reach 100 FSB so that the PCI bus goes back into spec with the 1/3 divider. You are stuck in no-man's land with the 1/2 divider. At 900 CPU clock speed, this is 78 FSB which means your PCI bus is 39 MHz. That's getting rather high and starts causing problems with things like vid cards, sound cards, and harddrive controllers (possible data corruption). About the best you can hope for and stay 100% stable is 75 FSB or so.

Don't put anymore cash into that obsolete system. A new CPU will be a waste of cash because there will be hardly any noticeable performance gain. That old SDRAM is hoding you back. You need to upgrade to a DDR system. If you are on a super tight budget, then maybe look for some used components. I see good used AMD XP1700+ CPUs, socket A motherboards, and PC2700 RAM selling pretty cheap nowadays. Another option that is cheaper and retains most of your components would be to find a Tualatin adaptor (like Powerleap) and get a Celeron Tualatin 1.2 or 1.4 and use on that mobo if it supports 100 FSB CPUs.

 

[Cruller]

No, there's not a single switch on there and the only jumper on it is the obligatory 'Clear CMOS' jumper. Nothing in BIOS either. This is an HP machine we're talking about here.

 

[Cruller]

Oops, maybe I shouldn't take 2 hours to finish a post.

Anyway, I already have a DDR system. 2500+, Shuttle MN31N, et cetera. I just want to be able to squeeze that last little bit of power out of my old system.

The options CPUCooL gives me are as follows BTW:
FSB 63.5 MHz PCI 31.8 MHz RAM 95.2 MHz
FSB 66.6 MHz PCI 33.3 MHz RAM 99.9 MHz
FSB 68.7 MHz PCI 34.3 MHz RAM 103.0 MHz
FSB 70.7 MHz PCI 35.3 MHz RAM 106.0 MHz
FSB 72.7 MHz PCI 36.3 MHz RAM 109.0 MHz
FSB 74.6 MHz PCI 37.3 MHz RAM 111.9 MHz
FSB 82.7 MHz PCI 41.3 MHz RAM 124.0 MHz
FSB 88.6 MHz PCI 44.3 MHz RAM 132.9 MHz

 

[batboy]

FSB 74.6 MHz PCI 37.3 MHz RAM 111.9 MHz

That's as good as it gets with your current system.

 

[Cruller]

FSB 74.6 MHz PCI 37.3 MHz RAM 111.9 MHz

That's as good as it gets with your current system.

That's as good as it got.

I'm still going to pour at least a little bit of money into this system. the onboard graphics is horrid, and the sound cuts out when I o/c. I'm getting a broken P3/Celeron (not sure which yet, just saw that it used S370) system in about a week and that will supply me with a CPU that may be a tualatin and may be broken (but hopefully is neither) and a sound card, and an adequate graphics card han be had for pocket change.
But though I'll keep my eyes out for a later model coppermine with a good price, I know that the Xbox uses a Celeron 733. I also know that a 100MHz increase on an HP Celeron (from the worst period for bad hardware in the big OEMs) is absolutely great.

 

[Lancelot]

The Xbox surely not uses a Celeron! It uses a specially produced P3-733Mhz wich is probably tualatin-based also and has a few special optimizations. I've seen pics of it and the die is also larger and rectangle compared to a coppermine's, and the chip is soldered to the mainboard.

 

[theguywiththeha]

the xbox chip is a celeron it has 128k L2 and its not soldered because its ment to be upgraded in the future

 

[Alice]

Some sources say celron and some say PIII. Some even say PIII/celeron. The chip is permanantly attached to the motherboard if I remember correctly.