Need some pointers OCing a P4 3.0C!

[Kelly Keyboard]

Firstly my specs:

P4C 3.0GHz
Abit IS7 Mobo w/ 24 BIOS
2x 512Mb OCZ PC3500EL (2-3-3-7)
OCZ PowerStream 520W PSU

Stock Cooling on CPU and N/B (w/ AS5 on CPU and N/B)

I’m not an absolute newbie when it comes to OCing (I OCed my old Barton 2500 to 2.2GHz and I’ve OCed my 9800 Pro plenty of times) but I do need some pointers on where to start.

Now I want to OC as far as possible on stock cooling (I don’t want to buy a new HSF). So what is a maximum safe load temp. for a Northwood P4 3.0GHz?

So should I even bother enabling this Abit game accelerator thing. My RAM can handle this setting when it’s on turbo but I don’t know what it does. Is this P.A.T? (like on i875 boards)

Also do I enable/disable/auto for Command Per Clock? What does this setting do?

Do I leave my RAM at default timings (2-3-3-7)

Should I leave my RAM in a 1:1 ratio?

Or should I leave the game accelerator on auto and just raise the FSB until my RAM is maxed out (or should I continue to OC and thus OC the RAM as well?) Would my RAM handel being OCed?

Also if it’s necessary to get a half decent OC I could swap this ram for 2x512Mb Corsair XMS PC37000 which I have lying around?

Thanks for any and all help in advance,
KellyK

 

[billiam]

The northbridge should be fine, they usually stay pretty cool. Depending on your chip, its hard to say how high you can overclock. Some people can hit 3.8ghz on stock voltage. The safest voltage, imo, for your stock heatsink is 1.575. For your ram, you should have 5 options. It should be set to AAADD.

For your ratio, i would try doing a 5:4 to see what your max fsb on your cpu is. Just keep increasing the fsb. Keep monitoring your temperatures too, try not to let the cpu exceed 55ish. Once you find out what your max fsb is on that chip, see if your ram can run a 1:1 timing. If not try increasing the ram's voltage and see if that stables it. You might have to set looser timing if you can get a high fsb with that chip.

Goodluck

 

[batboy]

For best long term results, full load temps should be kept to no more than the low 50's. Using stock cooling, that means you won't be able to raise voltage up much which will limit your O/C a little. Since Abit tends to undervolt a little, I would only use 1.55v.

The Game Accelerator can be tweaked during final fine tuning, but to start out, I have found the most stable settings are "auto, auto, auto, disable, disable" or "auto, normal, auto, disable, disable." Whatever you do, always leave the last two settins to disable.

Obviously, using the 1:1 ratio is the best for performance. That OCZ should O/C pretty good. Like Billiam said, you could try finding the limits of your CPU by temporarily using the 5:4 ratio. But, if you raise the vdimm up to 2.65v or 2.7v (OCZ can easily handle the higher voltage) and use 2.5-3-3-7 timings, you might be able to stay with the 1:1 ratio.

My guess is you'll make 3.4 to 3.5 gig with stock cooling and low voltage. I have a 3.0C and with good cooling and vcore of 1.6v, it'll do 3.8 gig.

 

[KingNapalm]

My IS7-E setup took some work. I had some old computer laying around so I salvaged some heat sinks, cut them up and used superglue and thermal paste to glue them to my mosfets, its important on the IS7 series to do this, or find some other way of keeping them cool if you are overclocking, heck they run too hot in my opinion at stock speeds, at least with a prescott maybe your northwood will be ok, I dono cus I have never had one. I can run at higher than the 3.75ghz that I currently have, but dropping my ram ratio from 1:1 to 5:4 decreases my performance, even if I run my proccessor at 4ghz I lose around 100 points in 3dmark01se which isnt alot, but still it is a decrease.

 

[batboy]

He said P4C, so I assumed this was a Northwood.

 

[KingNapalm]

I know, I said he might be ok, and that I never have had a northwood. Just pointing it out that I had to sink my fets to overclock. Its probably a smart thing to do anyways.