• Welcome to Overclockers Forums! Join us to reply in threads, receive reduced ads, and to customize your site experience!

Prescott overclocking questions

Overclockers is supported by our readers. When you click a link to make a purchase, we may earn a commission. Learn More.

z0n3

Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2004
Location
Hoosier Land
Hi, after reading posts on the forums for about a year now I feel very confident in the fact that overclocking for me is the way to go to better system performance but I have a few questions first so I dont screw it up as is my trend. I did searches and reread articles many times but Im still confused abit on some things as Im still very new to overclocking and all things associated with it. Sorry if these questions have been asked before but I kept getting 8+ page long threads pop up when I did searches and thats a little to much reading for my taste.

What are the Prescott multipliers?( I know what mulipliers are I need numbers)
What are steppings, and what are good steppings?
At what FSB should I start to change the voltage?
Does the ram overclock itself when I set a ratio?
What is prime? Where can I get it?( Its a program for checking system stability right? or am I thinking of something else?)
What programs do I need to overclock safely and efficiently?Where do I get them?
Will they have 64 bit compatible prescotts that are socket 478?
What are the differences between Prescotts?( I keep hereing stuff like " :clap: Yeah D-0 Prescottttts is r0x0r,LOL :santa: " and "SL88B are screamers :drool: ")*

Im sure I can think of more tidbits that I need/ want to know.

*NOT actual quotes just examples of what it sounds like to me, poor grammer and smilies however... Well, thats a different story.
 
Last edited:
As a beginner, you might seriously think about trying a Northwood first since they run cooler and don't require as much hardcore cooling.

Prescott multipliers for socket 478 are: 2.4A=18X, 2.8A=21X, 2.8E=14X, 3.0E=15X, 3.2E=16X, and 3.4E=17X.

A stepping is just a CPU revision, sort of new and improved. Prescotts only have two steppings: C0 and the newer D0 flavor. S-spec codes are the SL7KC, etc.

The memory ratio is just that, a ratio of FSB to DDR speed. For example: the 1:1 ratio means the FSB and RAM frequency is the same. The 5:4 ratio runs the RAM slower than the FSB in case your RAM can't handle high FSB.

CPU voltage or vcore is only increased if you need a little more stability. There is no cookbook formula. Some CPUs go higher on default vcore than others. It's a trial and error thing. You shouldn't raise the voltage unless you have to.

Prime95 is a free download program that we use to test for stability. Do a google search.

Other programs? Not sure what you mean. Like benchmarking programs maybe? If so, then the typical ones are Sandra, PCmark2002, 3Dmark2001, and maybe Super Pi.

Don't know about 64 bit socket 478 Prescotts. Certainly not for a while if it ever does happens. Personally, I doubt it.
 
Doesn't 64-bit also require chipset support and a lot more pins/CPU connections? I don't think this comes with i865/875 and while LGA775 has a lot more connections, 64-bit probably not even comes with the latest i915/925 chipset...
 
Back