Pentium Overclocking Problems...

[Darren]

Hi, after a few weeks of overclocking my pc its gone extremely slow, i dont know whats wrong with it. Its not unbearably slow but just not as fast as it should be if you know what i meen.

And for some reason the DRAM frequency options have dissapeared in my bios, i have just 133Mhz and 200Mhz options, i used to have all the other options, anyone know why they dissapeared?

I've ran prime 6-8hrs a day a few times and no errors there.

THIS IS SOME DATA FROM EVEREST APP:

CPU Type Intel Pentium 4
CPU Alias Northwood, A80532
CPU Stepping D1
Engineering Sample No
CPUID CPU Name Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
CPUID Revision 00000F29h

CPU Speed
CPU Clock 3464.77 MHz (original: [ EVALUATION ] MHz, overclock: 24%)
CPU Multiplier 21.0x
CPU FSB 164.99 MHz (original: 133 MHz, overclock: 24%)
Memory Bus 206.24 MHz

CPU Cache
L1 Trace Cache 12K Instructions
L1 Data Cache [ EVALUATION ]
L2 Cache 512 KB (On-Die, ECC, ATC, Full-Speed)

Motherboard Properties
Motherboard Name Asus P4P800 SE (5 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 WiFi, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN)

Chipset Properties
Motherboard Chipset Intel Springdale i865PE
Memory Timings 3-4-4-8 (CL-RCD-RP-RAS)
PAT Enabled

SPD Memory Modules
DIMM1: Kingston K 512 MB PC3200 DDR SDRAM (3.0-3-3-8 @ 200 MHz) (2.5-3-3-7 @ 166 MHz) (2.0-2-2-6 @ 133 MHz)
DIMM3: Kingston K [ EVALUATION ]

BIOS Properties
System BIOS Date 02/17/05
Video BIOS Date 03/11/14
DMI BIOS Version 080009

Graphics Processor Properties
Video Adapter Sapphire Radeon 9600 Atlantis
GPU Code Name RV350 (AGP 8x 1002 / 4150, Rev 00)
GPU Clock 385 MHz (original: [ EVALUATION ] MHz, overclock: 19%)
Memory Clock 226 MHz (original: 189 MHz, overclock: 20%)

------------------------------------------------------------------


Field Value
Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Winbond W83627THF (ISA 290h)
Motherboard Name Asus P4C800 / P4P800 / P4P8X
Chassis Intrusion Detected No

Temperatures
Motherboard 33 °C (91 °F)
CPU 36 °C (97 °F)
Maxtor 4R160L0 39 °C (102 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 4141 RPM
Chassis 2428 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.60 V
+3.3 V 3.36 V
+5 V 5.05 V
+12 V 11.61 V
+5 V Standby 5.09 V


Is there something wrong there? ... am i using a setting that shouldnt be used? ... Please help, i think my pc is dieing, lol

Thanks
darren

 

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Everything looks fine to me, have you tried reformatting? If it still lags, then something hardware is messing with you. Have you run memtest, p95, stability proggies to determine what is "dying"? If it fails prime within 5 min, lower your clocks until something stable. If your memory gets millions of errors at stock (Memtest), then you might wanna consiter some new ram. First, reformat. If that isn't fixed, then look at hardware issues. GL.

 

[mdameron]

Have you seen anthing in your bios about a FSB to DRAM ratio? It looks as though you're running a 4:5 ratio... your memory bus is faster than your FSB. See if you can change it to 1:1 or 'full', that'll lower you memory speed back down to your current FSB, then you you should be able to scale higher. Your RAM might be holding you back.

If you want to see how hard core your cpu is, set you ratio to 5:4, and raise your FSB from there, this will help you see how fast your CPU can go without worrying about your RAM holding you back.

By the way, what are your current temps and also what does 'it doesn't feel fast' mean?

 

[Darren]

Hi, when i meant it doesnt feel fast, i meant its not as responsive as it was before... i know that over time i cant expect it to run fast when i have alot of programs installed... so today i formatted and its running ok now, though i havent installed dreamweaver/ps and my usual programs...
the bf2 stutter isnt so bad too.

I've done a prime test and a memtest and no error's there, but i have a feeling that a setting is not right, im new to this, its difficult to understand everything, sorry

I tried to find "FSB to DRAM ratio" and i havent got that, i've got "Configuire DRAM Timing by SPD", ?

Can someone please check my settings i've used please, i exported a cpuz html file and attached it here.

Thanks very much for help

 

[mdameron]

Yup you're in 4:5... you'll be able to clock higher if you change that to 1:1

 

[Darren]

ok thanks for replying, im unable to set the ratio to 1:1 (400Mhz), as for some reason i have not got a 400Mhz setting in the bios. (133Mhz & 200Mhz i have, i think)

But i do remember having these options... kinda weird they have dissapeared.
Any suggestions ? or a bios fix? (PS: i have the latest stable bios, not beta)
thanks
darren

also: this is my memory x2 http://www.ec.kingston.com/ecom/configurator/PartsInfo.asp?ktcpartno=KVR400X64C3A/512


To change to 1:1 i have to configuire the CAS Latency/RAS Precharge ETC... settings yeh?

the settings I have:

DRAM CAS# Latency
[2.0 Clocks] - [2.5 Clocks] - [3.0 Clocks]

DRAM RAS# Precharge
[4 Clocks] - [3 Clcoks] - [2 Clocks]

DRAM RAS# to CAS# Delay
[4 Clocks] - [3 Clocks] - [2 Clocks]

DRAM Precharge Delay
[8 Clocks] - [7 Clocks] - [6 Clocks] - [5 Clocks]

DRAM Burst Length
[4 Clocks] - [8 Clocks]

I set all of those to the lowest number (cas=2.0 , ras=2.0 ETC) and it wouldnt boot, so now i set them all to the highest options, which is the lowest performance i presume... which it did boot with those settings.

Also "Memory Acceleration Mode" was set the enable, dont know if thats right.

What settings should i be using here?
Thanks

 

[mdameron]

Did you check everywhere for a ratio? check the 'soft menu' part of the bios if you have one... you need to find that because at the moment you're running your ram faster than your FSB and limiting your OC by far

 

[Darren]

Ah i think i got a problem, after a good browse in the bios i couldnt find any options to change the ratio, BUT what i did notice is "Cpu Ratio status: LOCKED".

Is there a way to unlock it?
many thanks

Ps: there was the number "21" next to the ratio thing.

 

[Know Nuttin]

no, you can't unlock it if it isn't already unlocked (Engineering sample). That is not your problem though, pretty much all intel's have been multiplier locked for the past 5 years. Engineering samples are the exception.

 

[Darren]

Ok cool, thanks.
I dont know what to do now, lol.


I cant raise the FSB and theres no 400Mhz memory option in my bios.]
dar

 

[Know Nuttin]

200mhz is the real memory freqency. set it to that.

with memory, a higher value = lower performance. so CAS 3 is slower than CAS 2.

 

[Darren]

ok thanks
So my memory is 200Mhz and my FSB is 169Mhz, so in order to achieve a 1:1 ratio i would either set the FSB to 200Mhz or set my memory to 133Mhz yeh? ... Please correct me if i am wrong.

I dont think my cpu will go much further than 175Mhz... so now i need to decrease the mhz on my memory?

thanks for helping


here are the timings im using:

Chipset
------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Northbridge Intel i865P/PE/G/i848P rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801EB (ICH5) rev. 02
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Revision 3.0
AGP Transfert Rate 8x
AGP SBA supported, enabled
AGP Aperture 64 MBytes
Memory Type DDR
Memory Size 1024 MBytes
Memory Frequency 187.5 MHz (4:5)
CAS# 2.5
RAS# to CAS# 3
RAS# Precharge 3
Cycle Time (tRAS) 7
Performance Mode enabled


One Question please: Changing the CAS# / RAS# to CAS# /RAS# Precharge / Cycle Time settings will give me a 1:1 ratio? ... if not how do i obtain a 1:1 ... ?

 

[Know Nuttin]

the reason you don't see a 166 is possibly because intel never released a 166FSB CPU. Manufacturer's do wierd things with bios'es sometimes, and this is just a guess.

In any case, set it to 133, run CPU-Z and check the memory tab to see if the FSB and memory clocks are the same.

changing those values (CAS, etc) does not initiate 1:1. What they control are the latencies, the clock cycles that it takes to access memory. Lower numbers are better, meaning that it takes less clock cycles to access columns/rows and transfer data. Higher numbers means more clock cycles are required.

 

[mdameron]

Memory Frequency 187.5 MHz (4:5)

THIS is what you need to change... I wonder where it's at in your bios...

 

[Darren]

Thanks alot guys, its set to 1:1. Heres my cpuz log.

Number of CPUs 1
Name Intel Pentium 4
Code Name Northwood
Specification Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.80GHz
Family / Model / Stepping F 2 9
Extended Family / Model 0 0
Brand ID 9
Package mPGA-478
Core Stepping D1
Technology 0.13 µ
Supported Instructions Sets MMX, SSE, SSE2
CPU Clock Speed 3361.0 MHz
Clock multiplier x 21.0
Front Side Bus Frequency 160.0 MHz
Bus Speed 640.2 MHz
L1 Data Cache 8 KBytes, 4-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L1 Trace Cache 12 Kµops, 8-way set associative
L2 Cache 512 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64 Bytes line size
L2 Speed 3361.0 MHz (Full)
L2 Location On Chip
L2 Data Prefetch Logic yes
L2 Bus Width 256 bits

Mainboard and chipset
Motherboard manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Motherboard model P4P800SE, Rev 2.xx
BIOS vendor American Megatrends Inc.
BIOS revision 080009
BIOS release date 02/17/2005
Chipset Intel i865P/PE/G/i848P rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801EB (ICH5) rev. 02
Sensor chip Winbond W83627THF
FSB Select 533 MHz
Performance Mode enabled
Graphic Interface AGP
AGP Status enabled, rev. 3.0
AGP Data Transfer Rate 8x
AGP Max Rate 8x
AGP Side Band Addressing supported, enabled
AGP Aperture Size 64 MBytes

Memory
DRAM Type DDR-SDRAM
DRAM Size 1024 MBytes
DRAM Frequency 160.0 MHz
FSBRAM 1:1
CAS# Latency 2.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks
# of memory modules 2
Module 0 Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes
Module 1 Kingston DDR-SDRAM PC3200 - 512 MBytes

Software
Windows version Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (Build 2600)
DirectX version 9.0c


I'll run Prime95 overnight and do a memtest tomorrow... then if its stable i can raise the settings up a bit yeh? or shall i leave it as it is now?

it seems more responsive now, but only time will tell.
Thanks for the help, appreciated

 

[mdameron]

Now that you're in 1:1, you should be able to OC a lot more. If you think about it, your ram was stable up to what, like 206 or something? Now that your ram is back down to 164 with your FSB, and you know that your ram is stable up to 206, you can set your FSB at whatever you want between 164 and 206. If it's unstable, then its either your chip can't hang with it, or bump the voltage a little. You've ruled the RAM out as the limiting factor up to 204... use that knowledge!

Once you decide how far you want to OC, you can tighten those timings. Timings are these in your readouts:

CAS# Latency 2.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# 3 clocks
RAS# Precharge 3 clocks
Cycle Time (TRAS) 7 clocks

Yours are 2-3-3-7. Lower is better with these. What I did, was just change them until it wouldn't post. I'd figure out whats the lowest I could go until it wouldn't post, then reset the cmos, then do it all over again. Its basically trial and error.

 

[Darren]

ok thanks alot mate for helping, prime didnt show any errors so im gonna have a fiddle with the ram timings and up the FSB a bit. I'll let you know how i got off.

Many thanks once again!!!!

darren