Abit BX6 help needed, mobo wont let me OC

[nadadogg]

I am running a p3-450 with an Abit BX6. i went into the menu in the bios and changed the fsb and multi, but the comp still runs at 450. Is there anything im missing, like perhaps i need a new bios, or what ? im at a wall here

 

[LimeyGreg]

CPU is multiplier locked - you can't make the chip do anything other than it was programmed for. Only thing you can do is change the front side bus, but that is limited to a few steps (100, 112 and 133 for the P3). I'm not sure if a new bios may be different, I put a BX6/P2-400 together for my son and have not looked at O'Cing it yet so I haven't looked into the bios. You can not use the predefined settings, you have to use the "user define" settings.

I see this is your first post, welcome to the board, may I suggest you invest some time reading the beginers guides on the home page.

 

[nadadogg]

I know about the cpu being multi locked, and i know how to OC using softmenu 2, but when i change the settings the speeds stays at either 450 or goes down to 366. I think i may need to physically change something on the mobo to let me OC it, or should i maybe change my voltage settings up a bit ? thanks

 

[LimeyGreg]

I just read through the manual and this board does not have any jumper settings for fsb or multiplier, it is only done through soft menu. You don't actually state that you are using the "User Define" part of the bios cpu operating speed, but it seems like all you are getting is either 100 mhz or 83Mhz based on your last statement.

The only thing left would be to flash the bios and see if that wakes up the other fsb settings. If you use one of the defined settings, say 333(66) do you get 300? I'm wondering if the celeron fsb is working.

 

[DaveB]

Did you disable Speed Hold Error in the BIOS? You must disable this in order to overclock the CPU.

 

[nadadogg]

yeah, i have been trying user define, i need a new bios i believe that will let me change fsb

 

[LimeyGreg]

Hey nadadog, did you check or change the cmos battery? I just had an e-mail from another guy with the same problem you have, I went to check the options on my son's comp and it had reverted back to 66mhz fsb and the date in cmos had gone back to Jan 1, 1999 - it looks like the battery is dead, maybe your is failing and causing your bus to drop to 82mhz. Just a thought.

 

[anvil]

DaveB (Apr 05, 2001 06:37 a.m.):
Did you disable Speed Hold Error in the BIOS? You must disable this in order to overclock the CPU.

Thanks DaveB!

I was asking the question on another forum of whether or not you had to go through setup everytime you booted with a P3 rated above 700. You just answered the question for me. The "disable speed error" did the trick!

Now the question is:

How long should you "burn in" (I am at 878 on a 750e) before you move on?

And must it be on challenging software like Seti??

anvil

 

[DaveB]

Well, I didn't do anything special, but I wasn't in a rush. When I got my PIII 700 cB0 back in June, I of course O/C'ed right away. But it wouldn't run stable over 868 MHz (124 MHz FSB). So, I just ran it at 868 MHz with my normal apps and games, and a few weeks later it went to 933 MHz, then 970 MHz a couple of weeks after that. I ran it at 970 MHz until October, and it's been at 994 MHz since. The core is currently at 1.95V but my Alpha PEP66 keeps the temp at 34C max. It never crashes and runs everything rock stable.

 

[anvil]

Thanks again DaveB!!

I downloaded Prime95, but I haven't tried it since the stock retail fan is only holding 42(Rt2)/47(Rt1).

I have built a home brew water cooler over the past few weeks out of plumbing parts at the local hardware, but I haven't tried to mount it yet. I'll wait to mount it before I stress the processor.

As it is, it went to 930, no problem, and I haven't tried higher. No rush.

So far it seems to play Diablo2 and run dvd and VCR without problem, which is more than I can say about my old P2 333 oc'd to 500. Heat is the main problem I've had, but the cooler should nail that.

Hopefully, with cooling, I'll reach the magic 133 fsb.

anvil

 

[nadadogg]

k, i disabled speed hold error, and i pushed the FSB up a bit, and the computer boots up at 504 mhz, but it wont load windows. the temp seems normal, i think its overheating, but im not quite sure.

 

[LutaWicasa]

You may need to bump up the Vcore. What cooling solution are you using??

 

[DaveB]

yeah, I agree with LutaWicasa, more voltage. You'll probably need 2.1V to get to 504 MHz and 2.2V to get higher. Plus, it depends on the cache chips in your PIII 450. Older PIII 450s had 4.5 ns cache chips if I remember correctly. Later ones had the 4ns chips used in the PIII 500s and even later ones had the 3.6ns chips from the PIII 550. Faster cache chips give better overclocking potential.