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Pentium n00b

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[FOE]4NIK8R

Registered
Joined
Aug 24, 2005
Location
Earth!!!
Ok here goes i am a bit of a n00b when it comes to pentiums as i have always favoured AMD ..but recently i have gone over to the darkside and obtained a P4 2.66 northwood and a P4P800-e motherboard ( thx wookie and tatmonsta)..

i have attempted to overclock this lil bugger and got it to 3.2 but was scared to leave it as i am totally unsure what i am doing....i have now manged to get it to 3gig and its stable...

So i know this fing can go higher so was wondering if any of you kind people are willing to help out a n00b.. i am using a thermaltake bigwater cooling kit and my idle temp is approx 32 degrees..load temp is approx 42-45......

i have 2x512mb 333mhz pc2700 ram and very little knowledge of what im doing i have attached a few screen shots and if any of you can give me some advice please do....thx in advance..... :santa:
cpuz1.png

cpuz2.png

cpuz3.png

asus1.jpg

asus2.jpg

asus3.jpg
 
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Looks ok to me so far. Temps are good, RAM is well within spec. My old 2.66 didn't do much more than 3.2 gig either. If I remember correctly, that mobo will overvolt at idle and droop under load. What do you have the vcore set at in the BIOS?
 
Safe as can be. I'd try working the memory timings down, and walk the fsb up if you can. Not going to damage anything at those voltages/temperatures.
 
If you raise the vdimm to like 2.75v, I bet you can improve timings since you are under spec.

I don't like going higher with vcore than about 1.625v on a Northwood, although with watercooling, you could probably get away with 1.65v actual measured (not BIOS setting).
 
Thx for the response ...My current vcore is set to auto in bios but it runs between 1.536 and 1.552....also i have noticed that my ram frequency is set to auto as well and it should be running at 333mhz... but in post it reads as 266mhz when i try to change it to 333mhz i cannot boot to windows......

It gives an error about a config file being missing and it trys to boot from cdrom..like i already said i am a n00b to pentiums and what i have done so far is trial and error...im not to sure what im doing with the ram timmings and havent messed about to much as i didnt want to kill my machine...

I have also noticed i dont seem to be able to change the multiplyer from 20x will this give me any problems?.....thx again for any help given :)
 
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I have lowered the timings and upped the fsb to 160 x 20 and am running now at 3.2ghz...im not sure if the timings are correct but it seems to be ok at the moment no testing has been done at this time and vcore is still on auto and seems to be the same as b4 1.5 ish ...and not to much diff in temps either :attn: ..here are some updated pics..

cpuz-2.png

cpuz-1.png

asus-1.jpg
 
The 266 memory setting in the BIOS is the 1:1 ratio. When you are at default speed, then your FSB=133 which means the RAM is running DDR-266 at the 1:1 ratio. At default speed the auto setting probably runs at the 3:4 ratio (the 333 setting) when you have PC-2700 RAM. But, as you overclock, then you go above spec of the RAM, the auto setting will drop the ratio back to 1:1. So, it's doing what it's suppose to do.

You have a good overclock if the voltage is still on auto. Try manually setting the vcore to 1.55v and see what the vcore shows in CPU-Z. What would be ideal for your system is to run 166 FSB which runs your RAM at the full DDR-333. Also, try 2.5-3-3-6 timings.

Looking good.
 
batboy said:
The 266 memory setting in the BIOS is the 1:1 ratio. When you are at default speed, then your FSB=133 which means the RAM is running DDR-266 at the 1:1 ratio. At default speed the auto setting probably runs at the 3:4 ratio (the 333 setting) when you have PC-2700 RAM. But, as you overclock, then you go above spec of the RAM, the auto setting will drop the ratio back to 1:1. So, it's doing what it's suppose to do.

You have a good overclock if the voltage is still on auto. Try manually setting the vcore to 1.55v and see what the vcore shows in CPU-Z. What would be ideal for your system is to run 166 FSB which runs your RAM at the full DDR-333. Also, try 2.5-3-3-6 timings.

Looking good.

I tried a 166fsb with the settings you said and my comp didnt like it...I have now set the timmings to 2.5/3/3/6 and the vcore is set to 1.55 in bios and the fsb is back to 160 it seems stable....and not much diff again in temps
i could probably get it to 166fsb if i change a few fings ..... The vcore now seems to be fluctuating between 1.550 and 1.616 is this safe?

1-55vcore.png

2.5-3-3-6.png

1.55asus.jpg


HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!!!!!!!!
 
Yes, that vcore is perfectly safe so far. Just don't let it go above 1.65v actual. Ok, let's try putting the timings back to SPD (2.5-4-4-8 I think). This is temporary so the RAM won't hold you back. By the way, what is your vdimm (memory voltage) set at? Now bump up vcore to 1.575v and try overclocking a little more. Maybe sneak up to 166 FSB this time. What I mean is try 2 MHz increments and test for stability each time. Report back with your progress.
 
166fsb achieved

batboy said:
Yes, that vcore is perfectly safe so far. Just don't let it go above 1.65v actual. Ok, let's try putting the timings back to SPD (2.5-4-4-8 I think). This is temporary so the RAM won't hold you back. By the way, what is your vdimm (memory voltage) set at? Now bump up vcore to 1.575v and try overclocking a little more. Maybe sneak up to 166 FSB this time. What I mean is try 2 MHz increments and test for stability each time. Report back with your progress.


Hello again hope you all had a fantastic new year all the best for the future .....

lo again batboy my vdimm is set to auto...i have had a fiddle and this is the results

on a 162fsb using a 1.575 voltage and 2.5-4-4-8 timings all was fine and booted..and seemed stable

so i left the voltage and timings and used a 164 fsb and it booted ok and seemed a little slow on boot and the voltage is fluctuating between 1.575 and 1.632 in cpuz and asus probe.....

164cpuz.png


i left the timings and voltage the same again and tried a 166 fsb and the sytem wouldnt boot so i lowered the timings to 2.5-3-3-7 and tried again and still the system wouldnt boot..

i have now set the vcore to 1.5875 and left the timings on 2.5-3-3-7 and the system has booted up and running with an average temp of 36 and the vcore is fluctating between 1.5875 and 1.648...is this safe?

166fsb.png

166ram.png

166asus.jpg
 
Yippee. Nice job. Set the vdimm to 2.7v and try 2.5-3-3-6 timings. Vcore is ok right where you are now, but you probably shouldn't raise it much more. I think you are close to the limit with your current setup.
 
Nice clocks man... just remember, since you have pc3200, if you FSB is <200, you can basically rule out ram problems!

And :welcome: to the forums!
 
mdameron said:
Nice clocks man... just remember, since you have pc3200, if you FSB is <200, you can basically rule out ram problems!

And :welcome: to the forums!

Well, I had him tighten up timings a little from SPD and he is at 166 FSB (DDR333) using PC2700 RAM.
 
on the settings i did have at 166 it kept crashing when i tried to game( about 30 mins into game)..then after the first crash it kept freezing every 5-10 mins i am just going to try the settings u just suggested ill keep u posted....and thx for the welcome ;)
 
ok im now using 2.5-3-3-6 timing 166fsb and the vdim didnt have a 2.7 option it only had 2.55-2.65-2.75-2.85 so i have used 2.75 as with 2.65 it crashed on startup... is 2.75 to high?

if it keeps crashing i may just stick to 162 fsb the performance i gain from 166 isnt going to be that much is it?
 
No, as long as you have case ventilation, 2.75v is ok. If you still have stability problems, we might have to back off the FSB a couple MHz or raise vcore one more notch or go back to the default timing.
 
batboy said:
No, as long as you have case ventilation, 2.75v is ok. If you still have stability problems, we might have to back off the FSB a couple MHz or raise vcore one more notch or go back to the default timing.

:eh?: i couldnt keep it stable at 166fsb ...i went to 1.6 vcore and used 2.75 vdimm (i have case ventilation) with default timings and had the same problems.... so i have dropped back down to 160fsb as this seems a very stable setting ( not 1 crash)...also does DRAM Burst Length help anything mine is currently set to 4?....what would you recommend as the best setup for this fsb for maximum speed and performance?

im more than happy with this speed as i went from an AMD xp 1900 1.6ghz to what i have now so i am delighted at this speed :)

all i need to get is a better graphics card i am curently using a Geforce FX5200 256mb budget card and tbh its a pile of crap putting it politley and lets me down on most new games..once i have a better card i will be most happy with my machine (for a few months at least anyway;) )..

do you know any good cheap graphics card sites (dont have much money) in the uk..thx for all the help you have given :beer: ... couldnt of done it without your help :)
 
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not bad dude concidering your useing my old case my old mb my old hdd's my old wc setup my old psu and my old ram? .. dam im good to you
 
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sure was bud. im so glad it helped you out as much as it did. all that stuff couldnt have gone to a better home.
 
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