update: I have reached my goal 1.6a@2.66ghz (166fsb) 333mhz ddr w/ 1.725v...posted at 2.88ghz with 1.85v

[Duvie]

update: as of sunday....I just installed a fresh winxp to see if the acpi of win98 fe is the problem and I am now successfully running 166fsb with no lethargic HDD action and all at 1.725v set in bios...stressed for 8 hours....I tried 1.7v after that and it got rounding errors awhile into it...

Board posted into windows and benched:

170fsb at 1.75v
175fsb at 1.8v...had to lower ram timings to normal...kingmax just doesn't like this epox board...
180fsb at 1.85v...1.8v didn't work

everything scaling fine....I did not stress test as I was only trying to see if it would post. I am not confident in my cooling and likely the 1.85v would not be enought to prime test. I said I wanted to stay under 1.7v this time and with my undervolting mobo I am running 1.65-1.68 now and good idle and load temps...

I also had usb disabled from the onset of this install so I don't know 100percent for sure that isn't a factor...

Also radeon 8500 froze in 3dmark2k1 again at 2.46ghz but winxp said it was due to ati radeon display driver....surprise surprise!!!

Ok

First I am using epox 4bda mobo and it sizeably undervolts...when set to 1.5v it will read 1.42-1.44 in bios...I have updated to latest bios....350 watt antec PS for p4

I ran 2.13ghz (133fsb) at 1.55v in bios or 1.48 actual

I ran 2.4ghz (150fsb) at 1.65v in bios or 1.58v actual...prime tested overnight...

I am running 2.46ghz (154fsb) at same 1.65v (1.58 actual) for reasons I will explain later....prime testing...looking good

For some reason!!! A lot of things...


1) My +12v starts at 11.8v and actually climbs when running prime95 to 12.04v...strange...

2) If I increase by 1mhz I start windows but acts lethargic...temps reported are well below my high in prime full loaded now...so temps don't seem to be an issue...ram is pc2700ddr which ran 406mhz in my asus p4s333 mobo and is only runing 1:1 or 308mhz here. Also it ran 354mhz fine when I was testing 133fsb on the epox board.

I up the voltage .025v and it will freeze after windows splash screen...any voltage up to 1.8v will do nothing. I used wire mod trick to 1.7v still no go. I had to - 0.05v in bios to get it to start. I can run 154fsb with 1.65v but not 1.7v.

3) all voltages are much diferent then asus board....

4) temps at idle and default are about 6c higher then my asus board reports...I know some boards report different...I hate that epox did not come with a monitoring program to check voltages and temps in windows...Guess I need MBM program...



Is it my PS??? I mean it runs fine on asus with 12.04v on +12v rail and would drop only to 11.93v when loaded at 2.4ghz with my 1.8a


Also my ram which ran fine at 406mhz ddr on asus board will not even run 400 on this board...I am using 2.7v as I did on asus mobo and no go...Should I boost any higher in case it is undervolting that as well????

Failure to boot from ram on this board and you have to clear cmos....I never got a failure to boot on my asus mobo. even when I took the ram to 394mhz ddr at 2.5v it just would have errors in some programs until I boosted it to 2.7v...


Any ideas???

Also at 2.4ghz I start developing a freeze up in 3dmark, though it ran prime95 overnight and encoded a divx 3 hour divx movie...agp voltage is at default 1.5v but I have tried 1.6 to 1.7v with no fix.......


It is like a wall with this chipset and 155fsb...any other epox owners get past 150???? I have ran with usb disabled..no help...but did not disable in windows..hmmm would that help???


Edit: I ran 3dmark2k1 several times at 2.133ghz iwth ram at 1:1 (266) and 3:4 (354mhz)...score increased 300-400 pts. I went straight to 2.4ghz after that. Using radeon drivers (this is an le) that came with drivers disk. I also same problems with 1.8a at higher speeds. However in this case I have an agp/pci lock and so nothing should be out of spec. Voltage may be an issue.


My ultimate goal is to run 150fsb with 400mhz ddr or try to get to 166fsb and 333mhz ddr...otherwise this board is crap to me and I will use my asus p4s333. I just hope it can stable up to 160fsb which is what I will need since it has a 4:5 ratio. But at least at 150fsb I can use the 4:5 and get 375mhz ddr. I would like to have this i845d work cause I like its ide and agp performance better.

This is my second i845d mobo and I haven't been to impressed considering both were called the "most overclockable" when I bought them.

 

[gunf1ghter]

It is normal for the voltage levels of the PSU to fluctuate when the PSU is under heavy load. That is to be expected.

As far as monitoring goes, if you have not hooked up a fluke to your PSU, and you have not hooked up a calibrated thermistor to your CPU core then you don't really know what you are getting out of your setup. The fact that you don't even have the best free monitor program available (MBM) and are trying such a heavy overclock sort of surprises me.

Not every 1.6a core is going to hit over 2.4 gig. Some won't even do 2.13 gig. The weak point could be the RAM, Mobo, PSU or even the CPU core itself. If you are getting blue screens, system slow downs, etc, then I would say it's more likely RAM or motherboard is the problem... if you are getting hard locks then the PSU or CPU core would be more likely.

2.4 gig stable is very respectable... but if you want to continue to o/c you might need additional parts to try interchanging components to find out what the weak point is.

 

[oldfart]

Well, 150 FSB, DDR400 2.4 GHz is certainly very possible with that setup. I run that, and I know of at least 3 others here, and a bunch more @ [ H ]OCP that all have that running.

1) My +12v starts at 11.8v and actually climbs when running prime95 to 12.04v...strange...

Mine runs 11.92 idle or when running Prime95. I run an Antec True330 if that matters.

Couple of comments

All 845D boards seem to undervolt. My 1.6A needs 1.675 in bios for a stable overclock. It reads 1.63 - 1.65 in MBM5

I run the default 2.6V for my ram voltage (Samsung original PC2700) Is it better/worse/no change @ 2.6?

temps at idle and default are about 6c higher then my asus board reports...I know some boards report different...I hate that epox did not come with a monitoring program to check voltages and temps in windows...Guess I need MBM program...

How are you reading temps, voltages now? MBM?

 

[Duvie]

Actually the temp on the sissoft seems to be 1-2 c close to the bios....


I understand 2.4ghz is great but I wanted to take advantage of pc2700ddr I have at least...That is why I am heading up trying to get close to it....

It obviously isn't the core since it can run 2.46ghz at 1.58v..startup screen list 1.56v at beginning....


never a blue screen...if ram is set too high then it just wont start...I am using the most conservative settings allowed in te bios in those attempts....

Slow down occurs when increasing the fsb without voltage boost...It will run benchmarks fine and score corretly just that programs take longer to load up and make everything seem like it is a bigger prioirity to the cpu...


I ultimately will throw this on the asus mobo tonight....

 

[THUGSROOK]

sounds like a pci / HD issue.
UDMA and/or DMA might be going wacko

CPUs dont just stop overclocking - more voltage will always get them going again. if more voltage aint doin it then its not the CPUs fault.

 

[THUGSROOK]

a few tests you can try....

1) 133fsb, 1.8v
2) 166fsb, 1/5PCI or locked, 1:1, all your voltage.
3) remove all your drives except C, remove your sound card too.

 

[Duvie]

interesting you state that...I had to manually in windows check dma as the mobo failed to set them corretly with auto in bios...I guess I will try to set them manually...


Would that really limit the mobo wanting to take more vcore for the cpu??? I mean a pci/ hd issue???


Appreciate all yours thoughts and expertise, thugs!!!

 

[oldfart]

I am using the most conservative settings allowed in te bios in those attempts

Meaning normal, 2.5, 7/3/3?

Cant think of what else to have you try...PCI/AGP is set to 33/66, not auto?

 

[THUGSROOK]

if your ides are cr@ppin out for some reason - GAME OVER.

arent you using the intel inf drivers and application accelerator?

 

[oldfart]

I had to manually in windows check dma

What OS? That is normal in both Win98 and Win2K.

 

[Duvie]

1) 133fsb at 1.8v set to in bios...actual 1.72v...starts fine...

2) 166fsb at 1.85v and display shuts off and insert does not reinstate it...need to clear cmos...

3) only have vid card installed anyways...will unhook all other ide drives though...

 

[Duvie]

I did a fresh install and used the drivers that came with the epox board...I still think that can't be it all considering when I bump voltage at a certain point it will just turn off display...

How come it can run 154fsb at 1.65v but at 1.7v it wont go into windows...


By removing ide devices and trying one stick of ram each (each performed equally by themselves) I did boot into windows at 2.51ghz with 1.675v or 1.6v actual....

It still acts lethargic and I can explain it like this...At desktop setup when icons start appearing and systray loads it sort of stops and if I move the cusor down it will continue loading...sometimes it helps programs load faster as well...weird huh???

 

[oldfart]

did a fresh install and used the drivers that came with the epox board...

A fresh install of ???
If you are using Win98 or Win2k, you need the Intel inf drivers. XP has them included. You can aslo install IAA IDE drivers as an optional component. You should download the latest versions from Intel's web site.

You seem to be all over the place. Go back to 150 FSB, 2.6 VDIMM, 1:1 ratio to start. Find out if you are stable. Be sure you dont have some OS problem. Once you get 2.4 GHZ 1:1 going, then go to 3:4 and see how it goes. If and when you get that stable, go up higher.

Can you answer?
Normal, 2.5, 7/3/3 ram timing when @ 3:4?
What kind of ram do you have?
Auto or 33/66 for PCI/AGP options?

 

[gunf1ghter]

CPUs dont just stop overclocking - more voltage will always get them going again. if more voltage aint doin it then its not the CPUs fault

Ummmm..... wrong.

When reading hard core overclocking articles from just about any reviewer they will frequently refer to the CPU core just "giving out" at a certain speed. More voltage will NOT always get things going again... even when Intel and AMD employ massive liquid cooling to show off experiemental speeds with their new CPU cores there is always a limit in the cpu itself that more voltage will not overcome.

Additionally, every core is different, while some might hit 2.4 quite easily there will be others that will just not be able to do that speed regardless of the vcore.

 

[Duvie]

I will go get latest inf drivers but I though epox installed them...latest ide driver staes 4/14/2000...


I ran 150fsb last night..overnight with 2.6vdimm and 1.65vcore and 1:1 ratio....prime95 for over 12hours and divx encoded movie for 3 more....I think it is solid at 2.4ghz....


vdimm is back to 2.6 as 2.8 still didn't let m,e start at 150fsb with 3:4.....


I ran 154fsb (which seems to be last point without lethargic acting system) for 3 hours earlier today fine...temps look good and voltages looked fine..as I mentioned they increase under load, hmmmm....


My system is currently runing loops of benchmarks pcmark (scores did not fluctuate) and prime95...temps are only .5c higher then at 2.46ghz...using 1.675v or 1.6 actual....


I am using win98 first edition...not second edition....I have xp but not installed...

 

[oldfart]

What kind of ram is it??

 

[Duvie]

sorry, I have 2 256mb modules of Kingmax 5ns pc2700ddr.....cas 2.5 rated....I have ran fine and memtested this ddr at 406mhz...booted even higher...I needed to boost it to 2.7v on asus board to eliminate sone errors...ran flawlessly for 8-10 weeks until now basically...


I was using auto on agp/pci, but switched to agp66/pci33 and no change...

 

[oldfart]

hmmmm...all the 4BDA 150 FSB DDR400 setups I can recall are using Samsung PC2700. I've seen both single 512 and (2) 256 chip setups. Maybe this board/chipset doesn't like the Kingmax?? Just a thought.

 

[Duvie]

could explain why I can't hit 400mhz ddr...but does it explain why it ran fine at 354mhz ddr at 133fsb with 3:4 ratio and now I get lethargic action at ram only doing 314mhz ddr??? Maybe it has something to do with this as well.

 

[THUGSROOK]

gunf1ghter you are taking my quote out of context - i am talkin "at our level", not liquid cooling :Q

 

[THUGSROOK]

Duvie
try it all on your SiS board.
dont be too surprised when the board doesnt want to go over 150fsb tho

 

[Duvie]

Did your 1.6a not go over 150??? I would be happy with 150 on that board since I could get 375mhz ddr...I will likely do that tonight anyways...

 

[THUGSROOK]

my 1.6A only went 146fsb on that SiS645 board. (that same chip runs 180fsb on this i845E board)

 

[Duvie]

yikes 146!!!!


I think I may try a fresh install again or with winxp....I didn't do a fresh install with the 1.6...just popped out 1.8 and popped it in..maybe the 1.8 errored something with its problems??? It sure didn't like this board either...it was running 2.2 on the asus for 10 weeks and then didn't like 2.1 on this board...

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

yup my sis 645dx p4s533 hit the wall at around 150 fsb. I have mine at 145 fsb right now, but i don't really care cuz 2.32 ghz is fast as f*ck for me. I think its the pci/agp divider not being in proper spec that's holdin me back but i could be wrong. There is hope though, the p4s533 apparently supports the divider in the bios as well as more ratios above 150 fsb all the way to 200 !!!!!!!!! there are people tryin to hack the bios as we speak, hopefully they'll get it cracked soon!