problem with P4 2.0A o/c

[DarkOrca]

Hi guys,
I'm having troubles with setting FSB to 133Mhz, which I don't expect. My CPU is P4 2.0A NW and the mobo is Asus P4B266 w/ Micro PC2100 256M DDR ram. I've already tried setting the Vcore to 1.6-1.7, but no help. I've also tried upping the DDR voltage but doens't help too. So far it seems that the FSB won't go up anything larger than 120 Mhz...Any thoughts?

note: the PCI/AGP are running at their default speed (33/66) when setting the FSB to 133, according to my mobo.

My other components:
P4 Volcano HSF w/ Artic Silver2
Gainward GF3 Ti200 Golden Sample
Maxtor D740X 40G
IBM 30G (forgot the model, should be 75GXP)
Pioneer 16X DVD
Plextor 8/4/32 CD writer
Creative Audigy w/firewire
Intel based 10Mbps nic

Thanx in advance

 

[ST4RCUTTER]

Welcome to Anandtech!

Geez man, that's a 400Mhz overclock. Twenty percent is nothing to shake a stick at. It may just be that the CPU can't get any higher without better cooling. What are your temps by the way? I wouldn't suggest raising your Vcore above 1.65v. The .13um process can't take the same voltage increases that the .18um process can without breaking down. Those electrons will start "tunneling" and the next thing you know you've got a dead CPU or damaged transistors.

 

[DarkOrca]

Whether I run the CPU @2.0/2.2/2.4Ghz, the temp (shown in the AsusProb, the monitoring program) is always 40C (idle). I didn't run any benchmarking, but after hrs of playing CS and other stuff the temp is always 40C...dunno if it's good or bad. The mobo temp is 28-30C, in case u wanna know.

For the 400Mhz o/c, yes, 20% is quite good already. But for Northwood p4, I don't really expect it has difficulties running above 2.4Ghz tho, like just about every articles out there have no problem reaching 2.6Ghz whatsoever.

Anyway, thanx for the first reply from Anandtech

 

[xtreme2k]

What is the memory clock when you set the FSB to 133?

 

[ColdFlare]

yes 20% is quite a lot for a p4 .13 micron already. Note the sites that had their p4s up to 3ghz, asked to recieve chips that would hit that high. Not all p4s can make to 3ghz, as for your chip you might have just gotten a bad chip. For your fsb, it may just be that your motherboard cant take the frequencies. Also i would try to take out all your pci cards, and get a better heatsink as 40c is pretty high for a p4. I get 40c on my athlon, and i have seen p4s running at 20-30c with air.

 

[BadThad]

Does it not post or windows won't boot?

 

[Amused]

133FSB would put your processor at 2660 (133x20). That's a bit more than 20% which would be 2400MHz - (120x20). You're getting a little too ambitious there. I'm not surprised it wont work. Between 2.4 and 2.5 is probably the limit on that thing.

[edit] wait, are the settings different on a DDR board? I'm thinking of a RDRAM board.

 

[Rand]

While the Nortwood is a fantastic overclocker to say the least I'm beginning to think this NW overclocking phenom has been blown way out of proprtion. I just came from a thread in which people were saying "every 2.2GHz NW hits 3.0GHz at stock voltage", now I find another upset because his 2.0GHz won't do above 2.4GHz.

I'd say you should be quite happy at 2.4GHz, it's a very respectable overclock as it is.

Many of those 3.0GHz numbers were supercooled, and a large number of the review samples came directly from intel, and it's non unusual for a manufacturer to had pick an especially good chip to reviewers.

They overclock very well indeed... but I don't think it's too realistic to assume all or even half of the 2.0GHz NW's will hit the 2.66GHz your striving for.

 

[DarkOrca]

To extreme2k: The mem runs at 133Mhz (266 effectively), which is the default speed of PC2100 DDR. I even tried running the DDR @ 146Mhz (FSB=110Mhz and use 3:4 ratio for the DDR) and it runs fine.

To Cold: I don't really know much about CPU temp, but it seems that my CPU temp doens't really make sense to me much, cuz it's always the same: it's 40C right after power up the comp (checking via bios), and it's still 40C after hrs of gaming/working....and the Heatsink is always cool whenever I touch it (of cuz after power down)

To Badthad: it just won't POST, i guess, nothing on screen at all after the two CDROM drives leds are lit

Maybe I was really expecting too much from it
Another off-topic question, when I o/c the FSB to 110Mhz, I know that everything like the AGP/PCI/IDE is o/c-ed. For my Gainward GF3 Ti200, the program (that came with gainward) says it still runs at 200/450. shouldn't it be 220/495? Or the actual core/mem speed is independent with FSB for vid cards?

 

[bacillus]

<< the temp is always 40C...dunno if it's good or bad >>


this anomaly has been reported by other users.
suggest you use motherboard monitor for your hardware monitoring!

 

[tornadobox]

<< the temp is always 40C...dunno if it's good or bad >>



yeah, i have basically the same motherboard (P4B266-C), running a P4 1.5 and the ASUS Probe 2 reports the CPU at a constant 40c (seldom does it get up to 42c). anyhow, motherboard monitor reads it at 32c, but i'm not sure which one i believe (since the bios reports 40c).

anyhow just thought i'd let you know what i'm getting

 

[Rand]

<<
Another off-topic question, when I o/c the FSB to 110Mhz, I know that everything like the AGP/PCI/IDE is o/c-ed. For my Gainward GF3 Ti200, the program (that came with gainward) says it still runs at 200/450. shouldn't it be 220/495? Or the actual core/mem speed is independent with FSB for vid cards? >>



The core/memory clock on the graphics card is entirely separate from the FSB. It is only impacted by the graphics card itself. Now the AGP bus that the graphics card is utilizing is overclocked, but the core/mem clockspeed of the graphics card has nothing to do with the AGP bus, or the FSB as a whole.

 

[DarkOrca]

<<

<< the temp is always 40C...dunno if it's good or bad >>


this anomaly has been reported by other users.
suggest you use motherboard monitor for your hardware monitoring! >>



Now my CPU temp is properly shown! cuz it's within 24-30 Thx for the info!



<< The core/memory clock on the graphics card is entirely separate from the FSB. It is only impacted by the graphics card itself. Now the AGP bus that the graphics card is utilizing is overclocked, but the core/mem clockspeed of the graphics card has nothing to do with the AGP bus, or the FSB as a whole. >>



That's great! I can o/c my Gainward if needed then! Currently, I mainly play CS, so there's no need to o/c the vid card yet! Thx Rand.

 

[JOSEPHLB]

2.0 Ghz.. 2.4 Ghz.. ITS STILL FAST.. Dont complain

 

[Rand]

<< The core/memory clock on the graphics card is entirely separate from the FSB. It is only impacted by the graphics card itself. Now the AGP bus that the graphics card is utilizing is overclocked, but the core/mem clockspeed of the graphics card has nothing to do with the AGP bus, or the FSB as a whole.

That's great! I can o/c my Gainward if needed then! Currently, I mainly play CS, so there's no need to o/c the vid card yet! Thx Rand. >>



Keep in mind the potential overclockability may be somewhat limited compared to what it would be if you were running your system at stock clockspeed, as the graphics card is already under considerably more stress then it normall would be due to the overclocked AGP bus.

 

[JackBurton]

Just feel good knowing your PC is faster than ANY computer you can pick up at Dell, CompUSA, BestBuy, and Gateway. Basically, you have a faster computer than about 98% of the population. You'll only come into competition with hardware freaks like us at Anandtech and other hardware crazy sites.

 

[Amused]

I'm curious, isn't the AGP and PCI bus separated from the FSB on the Asus P4T-E? I thought it was.

 

[Rand]

<< I'm curious, isn't the AGP and PCI bus separated from the FSB on the Asus P4T-E? I thought it was. >>



No, Asus tries to prevent it from getting "too far" out of spec, but in the end it is still directly dependent upon the FSB speed and associated PCI/AGP dividers.

 

[KenAF]

<< yes 20% is quite a lot for a p4 .13 micron already. Note the sites that had their p4s up to 3ghz, asked to recieve chips that would hit that high. Not all p4s can make to 3ghz, as for your chip you might have just gotten a bad chip. >>



That's not true at all. Most of the reviews didn't even receive processors from Intel, they got them from their retail/sponsorship sources. In other words, they were the same processors from the same vendors that sell the processors.

Tom is the only site that obtained a "choice" processor from Intel. Anand did not, nor did Hardocp, or the three sites that got their processors up to 2.6Ghz to 3.1GHz.

 

[Rand]

<<

<< yes 20% is quite a lot for a p4 .13 micron already. Note the sites that had their p4s up to 3ghz, asked to recieve chips that would hit that high. Not all p4s can make to 3ghz, as for your chip you might have just gotten a bad chip. >>



That's not true at all. Most of the reviews didn't even receive processors from Intel, they got them from their retail/sponsorship sources. In other words, they were the same processors from the same vendors that sell the processors.

Tom is the only site that obtained a "choice" processor from Intel. Anand did not, nor did Hardocp, or the three sites that got their processors up to 2.6Ghz to 3.1GHz. >>



While "not all" got them directly from Intel a number of sites did.
He is of course most definitely correct in saying not all, or even a quarter of them can hit 3GHz.

 

[DarkOrca]

<< Just feel good knowing your PC is faster than ANY computer you can pick up at Dell, CompUSA, BestBuy, and Gateway. Basically, you have a faster computer than about 98% of the population. You'll only come into competition with hardware freaks like us at Anandtech and other hardware crazy sites. >>



Well, I just want my computer being able to last longer (in terms of speed)! I had been stuck with my p2 400 machine for almost 3.5 yrs, I was like playin CS @ 10-20 fps at outdoors area! believe that or not
Nonetheless, it certainly feels good to use my new comp now

 

[DashK]

DarkOrca does the Asus P4B266 have PCI Locking/Dividers in bios? Because I'm looking at getting this board, and want this feature so I can run the FSB overclocked 24/7.

Thanks

 

[JimmyJoe]

<< does the Asus P4B266 have PCI Locking/Dividers in bios? >>



I dont think that it does lock the PCI at 33Mhz regardless of FSB. The only motherboard that I am aware of with this feature is the Abit BD7.

 

[RalfHutter]

Somebody said that the Gigabyte GA-8IXRP has the locking divider feature. Can you tell this by looking at the spec sheet? How can you tell?

 

[DarkOrca]

<< DarkOrca does the Asus P4B266 have PCI Locking/Dividers in bios? Because I'm looking at getting this board, and want this feature so I can run the FSB overclocked 24/7. >>



No, it doesn't have an option for locking the PCI/AGP ration regarding to FSB. However, it gives u several choices via the jumper settings (ie: FSB=120, PCI=30, AGP=60). If u set the FSB to 133 in the bios menu, it'll automatically set the divider to 4.
Hope this helps.

P.S. In the bios menu, it doens't list the PCI/AGP speed nor the divider value.