**Update, now with Mainboard comparision** All about P4 1.6a Northwood here!

[Expandable]

Mainboard comparision to go with the P4-1.6a Northwood.

The Intel I845D and SiS645 chipset is king to go with 1.6a. The VIAP4X266a is a no go.

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Hi all,

This particular one (P4 1.6a Northwood) seems getting alot of attention because its overclocked capability.

Therefore, I think, it will be helpfull if we all put all (anything) related to this CPU into one theard and discuss about it in order to reach its full potiential.

Please report tips, boards, Rams, how, where, cost, I mean anything.

And let see how far this CPU can be pushed.

Overclock The P4 1.6a.
ASUS P4B266 Mainboard Review.
Asus SiS 645 Chipset Review.

Have fun!

*************************************************
Note: there are some threads over the hotdeal forums to get start it.
here.
here.

 

[shadow]

The EPOX 4SDA Regular or Plus are great motherboards ~100 shipped no need for the 12v line, so you can use you existing PSU, and stable as hell, also has some really high voltages for the core, agp and memory.

 

[Expandable]

Anyone has SIS 645 board and how is it perform on the P1.6a?

Newegg has MSI 645 Ultra for only $81 shipped. That's cheap!

 

[NucleusWDS]

P4 Northwood 1.6A overclocked to 2.3Ghz ... standard air cooling !!

@ 148FSB ... I think I could go further. Just needs to burn the chip in ...

Vcore @ 1.65v
DDR @ 2.6v
AGP @ 1.6v

- P4 Northwood 1.6A (retail box)
- MSI 845 Ultra
- 256Mb Crucial PC2100 DDR Ram
- 40Gb Fujitsu 7,200
- Geforce 3 Ti 500
- SB Live 5.1
- Tekram SCSI card
- 3Com 10/100 NIC

This is the NEXT generation "Celeron 300A" for Pentium 4 ... lovin' it

Check out the benchmarks so far .........
HERE

 

[Expandable]

Wow, congrad. NucleusWDS. I am very tempting. 2.3GHz standar air cooled, this is the next 300a!

Tell us where you got your CPU and the board at?

 

[Possum]

I just got my 1.6A and Asus P4B266 from MWave.com, and so far, it looks ok at 2479 @ 1.6v, and 2512 @ 1.7v. This is with the retail heatsink/fan, which looks quite massive to me.

 

[MilkPowderR]

<< I just got my 1.6A and Asus P4B266 from MWave.com, and so far, it looks ok at 2479 @ 1.6v, and 2512 @ 1.7v. This is with the retail heatsink/fan, which looks quite massive to me. >>


danggggg... @@)

 

[KenAF]

In the overclocking tests at Hardforum.com, members have had the best luck with the Asus P4B266. Many have achieved 100-150MHz or so more out of their Northwoods with the P4B266 than they have with other boards. Lots o folks over there with 1.6A's clocked at 2550MHz to 2650MHz with the stock Intel heatsink.

 

[tigerbait]

how loud is that retail heatsink/fan?

 

[kevman]

What is the default voltage for this CPU? Also how far can I go with this CPU at default voltage? 2.1GHZ? my proposed setup is p4b266, Crucial 512 PC2100, and northwood 1.6a, how can I OC without having issues with the RAM? Perhaps a Noob guide to how to overclock this puppy would help me. Thanks all!

 

[RadioactiveMagpies]

Just thinking of this being the next celeron 300a makes me wet in my pants with excitement! I thought I'll never see those days again.

 

[JimmyJoe]

<< What is the default voltage for this CPU? >>

1.5 volts is the default. You can check out the Intel spec here (includes default voltages)



<< How far can I go with this CPU at default voltage? 2.1GHZ? >>

Yup, from what I have read most 1.6A's can hit 2.13Ghz at default 1.5v (with 133FSB).



<< my proposed setup is p4b266, Crucial 512 PC2100, and northwood 1.6a, how can I OC without having issues with the RAM? >>

Well, at 2.13Ghz (133 FSB) you can set the ram at a 1:1 ratio, so it will be running at 133Mhz (266Mhz DDR PC2100). That would be the same exact speed as if you were running at 100FSB, so the memory is NOT overclocked at that point. Crucial is a good memory to overclock though, 150FSB is possible but you never know until you try it out. Also good to know is that on the P4B266 at either 100FSB or 133FSB you can run the AGP/PCI at spec 66/33 also. So, in a nutshell at 133FSB the only thing you are overclocking is your CPU, thats it.

I am anxiously awaiting my two 1.6A's and P4B266-C's that I ordered today from newegg. I have four 256MB Crucial PC2100 modules sitting here already. I'll post result when I get it all together and overclocked.

 

[BadThad]

It would be helpful if all of you would include the cpu info, i.e. stepping and origin.

 

[codehack2]

I just got my 1.6a setup put together and I'm humming along at 2.4ghz (16x150 @ 1.65v) in a Gigabyte 8IRXP with the retail box heatsink!! Intel has really got back on track with this one.. I echo the feelings of many in this forum in that 1) i845 is the next BX and 2) these 1.Xa p4's are the next celerons of old.

For those interested, here is some CPU info..

Made in Malaysia
Pack date: 1/25/2002
Family: 15
Model: 2
Stepping: 4

Good luck guys,
CH2

 

[Duvie]

Nice Oc....I pm'd you with some questions...

 

[abaez]

Ok the only question I have is about PCI/AGP bus speed/dividers. What mobo allows you to safely overclock to 133 (I would be happy with 2.13 ghz) AND keep the pci/agp bus speeds in spec?

I read about the ABIT BD7 RAID actually *locking* the pci/agp bus speed in place at 33/66 at any bus speed, which is awesome, but I don't need raid, so is there another mobo that has this locking feature? Or which
mobo has the proper dividers for the pci bus speed? Thanks. Preferrably i845 but sis will do, I've looked at alot of mobo spec pages but they never seem to list the dividers.

 

[Presence]

Man I was pretty much set in stone in getting a new AMD comp together. Now it looks like Im gonna be going with a 1.6A Northwood and a MSI Ultra 845-ARU mobo. I just hope I will can hit 133 FSB easily, it looks like everyone is having good luck with pushing it even higher with standard heatsink and fan. Hopefully more people will put in results. I will come back and put mine in once I get everything together

 

[Degenerate]

All i can say is i am very impressed. It seems that the 1.6 is the best overclocker out of the northwoods?

BTW, even i dont plan to get a new comp for a year. where do i find information on overlcoking P4's?

 

[o1die]

Newegg has the new via boards with the 266a chipset. The one for $118 has raid and premium sound.

 

[CZroe]

I'm still happy running my dual Celeron 366A's at 550 (Using it right now). Dual Celeron As are such a good conversation piece at LAN parties

 

[kevman]

<< Dual Celeron As are such a good conversation piece at LAN parties >>



That's funny as hell!



<<

<< What is the default voltage for this CPU? >>

1.5 volts is the default. You can check out the Intel spec here (includes default voltages)



<< How far can I go with this CPU at default voltage? 2.1GHZ? >>

Yup, from what I have read most 1.6A's can hit 2.13Ghz at default 1.5v (with 133FSB).



<< my proposed setup is p4b266, Crucial 512 PC2100, and northwood 1.6a, how can I OC without having issues with the RAM? >>

Well, at 2.13Ghz (133 FSB) you can set the ram at a 1:1 ratio, so it will be running at 133Mhz (266Mhz DDR PC2100). That would be the same exact speed as if you were running at 100FSB, so the memory is NOT
overclocked at that point. Crucial is a good memory to overclock though, 150FSB is possible but you never know until you try it out. Also good to know is that on the P4B266 at either 100FSB or 133FSB you can run the
AGP/PCI at spec 66/33 also. So, in a nutshell at 133FSB the only thing you are overclocking is your CPU, thats it.
>>




JimmyJoe,

Thanks for the info. My additional question is, that how safe it is to run this CPU at 1.65 Voltage? It seems like everone is having good luck with that and really no issues. Should I be concerned with my AGP/PCI devices if I went overboard on the FSB and voltage? How would I chekc at what speeds they are running at?


EDIT: Also when I go to say 150Mhz FSB with 1.65 Voltage, do I keep the memory at 1:1, or Auto???

 

[Tom]

"Any one has SIS 645 board and how is it perform on the P1.6a?"

I'm using an MSI 645 Ultra with a 1.8a overclocked to 2.25(125mhz fsb). Works great except the cpu temperature reporting apparently doesn't work and vcore adjustment is limited to a max of 1.6v with a Northwood. On the other hand I think Northwoods run cool enough that the temperature isn't likely to be a problem and it's probably not a good idea to give Northwoods too much voltage anyway.

Other than those things the board is working great. Starts up ,reboots, shuts off, no problems. Runs everything I've tried perfectly stable and very fast. I am very happy with the performance so far.

I'd say it's a good deal for $73 if building a very fast system for the absolute lowest price is important to you. I just wanted something to play with until the new 533 fsb rdram boards come out in a few months, but as fast as this thing is I might not bother with them.

 

[JimmyJoe]

<< My additional question is, that how safe it is to run this CPU at 1.65 Voltage? It seems like everone is having good luck with that and really no issues. Should I be concerned with my AGP/PCI devices if I went overboard on the FSB and voltage? How would I chekc at what speeds they are running at? >>

That is really hard to say. The northwoods have not been out for that long yet, and not since the 1.6A and 1.8A have they started to become more popular. When I get mine next week (1.6A & P4B266-C) I am going to see how high I can get it stable at 1.6v and maybe bump it up to 1.65v. As far as the AGP/PCI speeds I am just going to increase it until something doesn't work. I am shooting for around 150FSB at 1.6v which would give me CPU/MEM/AGP/PCI 2400/150(300)/75/38.



<< Also when I go to say 150Mhz FSB with 1.65 Voltage, do I keep the memory at 1:1, or Auto??? >>


I don't think it matters. From what I have read if you set it at Auto for anything above 133FSB it will set the ratio to 1:1 anyway.

 

[Degenerate]

<< BTW, even i dont plan to get a new comp for a year. where do i find information on overlcoking P4's? >>



Let me rephrase that, Where do i find info on HOW to overclock a P4? Anyone?

 

[bonkers325]

<< I just got my 1.6A and Asus P4B266 from MWave.com, and so far, it looks ok at 2479 @ 1.6v, and 2512 @ 1.7v. This is with the retail heatsink/fan, which looks quite massive to me. >>



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