Need bios config help P4C800-E Deluxe

[pyr0x]

Hi, first of all I'll just say I'm pretty new to overclocking. I've messed with settings in the past but just never had the time to deal tweak with it. I've searched forums all day for answers to my questions but no luck.

My main problem is I cannot raise my FSB higher than 240 I believe. After I save/close it just goes to a black screen and I just have to shutdown the pc completely and turn it back on. It always results in "Overclocking Failed!" Now I'm using bios version 1018. I have tried pretty much every version after this including the new one. It always upgrades successfully but this is what happens with ANY version above 1018:

No matter what settings I use in bios (even the defaults) It will result in the problem I described above: going to a black screen/OC failed!

So that is 1 problem but I figured it would be fixable just by configuring my bios correctly. My first goal is to be able to use a newer bios version and at least be able to boot. I need to know what exactly to put in my chipset config along with my CPU settings. This would in including timings, fsb, etc.

Now my second problem, once I get that first one fixed, is I can hardly even overclock without getting the black screen/OC Failed!

The highest I can OC my CPU to is 3.37 or something but it's not stable. The most stable speed I've been able to use is 3.31 but I want to go much higher. Changing my FSB to anything higher than 240 causes the black screen/OC Failed problem once again.

I would just really appreciate some advice on which settings should be configured to what. FYI: I have messed with my fsb and timings alot but I don't really know what it does too well. I just also educated myself with some sticky's on OC'ing and memory OC'ing.

Any help would really be GREATLY appreciated.

Setup:
Motherboard: Asus P4C800-E Deluxe
CPU: Intel p4 3.2 prescott 800fsb 1mb cache Socket 478
Memory: 1GB (512mb x 2) PC3500 Performance Series Dual-channel OCZ Optimized Kit
Video card: Sapphire ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb
Heatsink: Swiftech MCX478-V
Bios version: 1018
Temp: 46c Idle | 55c stressed

Thanks Again.

 

[Nebulous]

Welcome to O/C

This is a guide I first wrote some time ago when the P4C800 series boards came out. Maybe you can try some of these settings/tweaks and it may help you out. Every system is different so no one here can give you a 100% accuracy on ocing your particular system. Remember the prescotts run really hot so temps are an issue. The lower the temps, the better performance/oc you will achieve.


Go into bios by hitting the DEL key on your keyboard while it's booting up. Find your way to the ADVANCED tab. Now we have some fun:

In Jumper Free Config

A1 overclock : Disable- This will give you full access to all the manual settings to overclock.

CPU Frequency - (This is where you raise/lower your FSB) Hit (+) or (-) keys on your keyboard to adjust. It's default is 200.

DRAM Frequency - (This is the ratio setting of the ram). 1:1 = 400Mhz, 5:4 = 320MHz, 3:2 = 266MHz (I have mine set at 5:4)

AGP/PCI - This is your agp/pci lock. Set it to 66.66/33.33

CPU Core - This controls voltage to the cpu. Hit Enter to have full access to all the settings. Be advised Intel Cpu's cannot handle high voltage. As a rule I would not go over 1.6v without proper cooling (IE: H20, Tec/peltier, Prommy) USE WITH CAUTION!

DDR Voltage - This controls voltage to the ram. Hit Enter to have full access to all the settings.

AGP/ VDDQ - This controls voltage to the agp (Video card) & Vddq (Northbridge). It's suspected that it will give some degree of stability during high overclocks. Hit Enter to have access. I have mine set to 1.6. Be advised it may kill your video card! Use with caution!

PERFORMANCE MODE - Only 3 settings here ; Auto, Standard, Turbo. I have mine set to Turbo. You'll have to play with these in order to find out what works with your board. I suspect Auto & Standard don't do anything.

Chipset - These are your ram timmings.

SPD - Hit Enter to disable this. Now you have full access to all the rams timmings.

Now the rest of the settings are what I have set to my liking and what works best for me are:

Performance Mode - Enable
DRAM Idle - Infinate
DRAM Refresh Rate -7.8uSec
Graphic Adapter - AGP/PCI
Apeture size -( 1/2 your system's total ram) Mine is set @ 256mb
Spread Spectrum - Disable
ICH Delayed Transaction - Disable
MPS Revision -1.4

Now go onto the Onboard devices and disable what you don't use.
Then go to: USB Config and disable Legacy USB Support. This hinders performance during high FSB overclocks. Disabling it will give better performance and stabilty.


Well, that's pretty much it. Like I mentioned before, you'll have to play around with each setting to see what gives your particular setup the best overclock/performance. What works for me may not work for you.

If anything happens like a lock up, BSOD or refuses to boot, DON'T PANIC! Just clear the cmos by:

A) Removing the cmos battery
B) Via cmos jumper

This will clear the bios and set evrything back to it's default settings.


Have fun

 

[pyr0x]

I already came across this guide earlier. I pretty much know most of it but just can't seem to get any combo right to prevent my black screen problem. Thanks though.

 

[Nebulous]

It seems you may have already hit the ram's limit @ 240 running the 1:1 divider. Maybe by runnin the 5:4 divider you can get more cpu speed and thus not max out the ram.

In my sig you can see i have a 3.2GHz prescott running 4.2Ghz. I'm using mushkin ram with BH5 modules. I have my FSB @ 265, but with the 5:4 divider my ram is running @ 212 with 2.9vdimm.

 

[pyr0x]

Ok, would you be able to tell me how I would could change my multiplier? mines currently set to x14. Sorry for being such a novice at this.

 

[Nebulous]

Ok, would you be able to tell me how I would could change my divider? Sorry for being such a novice at this.

Did'nt you just mention after reading my guiide somewhere else you already knew?

DRAM Frequency - (This is the ratio setting of the ram). 1:1 = 400Mhz, 5:4 = 320MHz, 3:2 = 266MHz (I have mine set at 5:4)

Read the guide:

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4169863&postcount=2

 

[pyr0x]

Hah, sorry I misread what you said. Wow I just changed it to 5:4 and I'm able to go higher than 240 now. I can't believe it was something that stupid. I just never tried changing it because I always wanted it to run at 400mhz. I have 4 more questions for you since your an expert .

1. Would you say it was a waste of money for me to get pc3500 ram?
2. Is this board even capable of running any RAM at it's proper speed above pc3200?
3. What benchmark/oc testing programs would you recommend for me to test stability.
4. how I would could change my multiplier? I cant seem to find the option in bios. My multiplier is grayed out. mines currently set to x14. Would increasing it improve performance?

Thanks alot for your help.

 

[Nebulous]

Hah, sorry I misread what you said. Wow I just changed it to 5:4 and I'm able to go higher than 240 now. I can't believe it was something that stupid. I just never tried changing it because I always wanted it to run at 400mhz. I have 4 more questions for you since your an expert .

1. Would you say it was a waste of money for me to get pc3500 ram?
2. Is this board even capable of running any RAM at it's proper speed above pc3200?
3. What benchmark/oc testing programs would you recommend for me to test stability.
4. how I would could change my multiplier? I cant seem to find the option in bios. My multiplier is grayed out. mines currently set to x14. Would increasing it improve performance?

Thanks alot for your help.

lol

1- Would you say it was a waste of money for me to get pc3500 ram?

Ans= No. The PC3500 ram will give you headroom for higher fsb.

2- Is this board even capable of running any RAM at it's proper speed above pc3200?

Ans= Yes. You'll have to adjust the FSB in the bios for it to run @ it's native speed. 99.99% of the boards made are setup to run default PC3200, unless otherwise noted they will run slower ie: PC2100.

3- What benchmark/oc testing programs would you recommend for me to test stability.

Ans= I suggest Prime95, Toast, HotCpu, Sisoft Sandra

4- how I would could change my multiplier? I cant seem to find the option in bios. My multiplier is grayed out. mines currently set to x14. Would increasing it improve performance?

Ans= No. The multiplyers on the intel chips are locked. Unless you can get your hands on an E.S> ( Engineering Sample) there's noway of unlocking it. I also believe with the E0 stepping of the 3.2 prescott and the 1018 bios you can lower the multiplyer to 12, but that's it.

And no i'm not an expert ( lol), I just had a lot of time to study the P4Cxxx series boards and with trials and errors found out what works best. This rule applies to all the boards if you're patient enough and have time.

Hope this helps you out

 

[pyr0x]

Oh, so do you have an engineering chip? . I got it graphically stable at 3.5ghz with 5:4 ratio. Anything above 3.6 though freezes/reboots after booting into windows. Any recommendations?

 

[Nebulous]

No mine is not an ES.

Try raising the vcore and vdimm a notch.

 

[Beginner]

pyrox thanks for starting the thread and nebulous thank your for answering, i'll be dealing with a p4c800 dlx and the -e version as well. i'm going to bookmark this, nebulous, i used the search function and looked for your original thread on this but couldn't find it. i want to read questions and answers in the thread so i can avoid spamming this forum

 

[Nebulous]

lol, not a problem Beginner You won't find my original thread onthis b/c it's not here. It's located on another forum Here .

 

[pscout]

glad to see you got a good 3.2E!

mine would never go past 235 stable on that mobo with good mem (sig rig and tried other good stuff before giving up) ... i even droop modded it!

But it has been stable the last year (when i respect its limits) and a good 724 folder!


Was a noob then, now i have some new stuff to play with.

Read lots here and on the other fora ... lots of fun stuff to learn....

 

[Randyman...]

Bump. Quick question on RAM settings in the P4C800-E Dlx BIOS.

Where is the "1t" or "2t" setting in its BIOS (you know, like "2-3-3-6 / 1t")? Is it the DRAM Timer? Because it does NOT list options of "1t" or "2t", the availible options are totally different.

Thanks for any clarification...

 

[Nebulous]

Bump. Quick question on RAM settings in the P4C800-E Dlx BIOS.

Where is the "1t" or "2t" setting in its BIOS (you know, like "2-3-3-6 / 1t")? Is it the DRAM Timer? Because it does NOT list options of "1t" or "2t", the availible options are totally different.

Thanks for any clarification...

Hmmm, I don't think there is a 1T or a 2T. Well not that I have noticed and I've had my boards for ages, lol.

 

[Randyman...]

So, is this setting just not availible on the P4C800-E Dlx? I know with 2 sticks of RAM, you should be able to run "1t", and when you add 4 sticks of RAM you have to run at "2t". I guess the Asus calls it something else with different numbering?

Right now, Sandra shows me at "1t" with 2 sticks of RAM. My "D-Ram Timing" is set to "Auto" in BIOS, so I assume that has something to do with it? (My SPD is manually set)

I'll start a new thread since I am straying off topic...

 

[RobSPVM2000]

Questions on RAM speeds

Hi Nebulous

Im currently using Samsung PC3200 because when I bought my Mobo, the store said it was the best for my board. However Ive tried every trick in the book, even prayers. I have my bios ram settings to 320 (5:4) and Auto timing by speed. But I just cannot get the Ram speed to go past 200Mhz with 3448 timing in cpuid. My CPU speed is about as fast as I can get it to go at 3.44Mhz. Cooling is a Modded Vapochill Micro. My FSB is 246Mhz giving me a Bus speed of 984Mhz. CPU Vcore set to 1.575v idle and 1.35v under load with Seti Boinc. If I increase any one of these settings even a little, it locks up within half an hour.

What I want to know is, if I upgrade my DDR memory to PC4200 will that solve my locking up and enable me to push past 3.5Ghz. If so what Spd/Timing settings would I need to use with that memory to get the best from it and my CPU.

Rob

lol

1- Would you say it was a waste of money for me to get pc3500 ram?

Ans= No. The PC3500 ram will give you headroom for higher fsb.

2- Is this board even capable of running any RAM at it's proper speed above pc3200?

Ans= Yes. You'll have to adjust the FSB in the bios for it to run @ it's native speed. 99.99% of the boards made are setup to run default PC3200, unless otherwise noted they will run slower ie: PC2100.

3- What benchmark/oc testing programs would you recommend for me to test stability.

Ans= I suggest Prime95, Toast, HotCpu, Sisoft Sandra

4- how I would could change my multiplier? I cant seem to find the option in bios. My multiplier is grayed out. mines currently set to x14. Would increasing it improve performance?

Ans= No. The multiplyers on the intel chips are locked. Unless you can get your hands on an E.S> ( Engineering Sample) there's noway of unlocking it. I also believe with the E0 stepping of the 3.2 prescott and the 1018 bios you can lower the multiplyer to 12, but that's it.

And no i'm not an expert ( lol), I just had a lot of time to study the P4Cxxx series boards and with trials and errors found out what works best. This rule applies to all the boards if you're patient enough and have time.

Hope this helps you out

 

[Stoner51]

This board droops real bad. That may be the problem. Doyou have enough of a power supply. Perhaps vdimm and vdroop mod will help your oc. I did the droop noticed a big dif. didn't do the vdimm I bought a ddr booster and ran the ram higher with that, 3.1 volts with 2 fans blowing on the ram. However you a .7ghz over stock that may be your limit on the cpu, most people think you should get about 1 ghz over