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

[Scott5000]

Sorry to hog the forum, but read the info from a fellow named Promethious concerning the P4S333 and overclocking. I think I am going with the P4S333 for sure now. Hope it works out.

Asus forum

 

[Slacker]

Damnit all these posts about how good the 1.6a overclocks made me buy one from googlegear, $153 shipped, now I gotta sell my 1.6


I have a P4S333, going to go read the info in your link now

 

[whateverdude]

well, guess i should post here too. got a 1.6a and 266-c oem from googlegear.

boots and runs 3dmrk2k1, 8146 score at 2.4, 16x150, 1.6v, retail hs/f w/arctic silver

plugged my explorer mouse into usb to see if it would post and nothing, mouse just blinks. xtra usb ports dont work either. hopefully this will be fixed in an update.

heres a thread with my specs and other results

 

[whateverdude]

also, forgot to mention ive messed around with the asus hardware monitoring software and it does work. im running a looping sandra cpu bench going on 30 minutes now and temps have gone from 40c/104f to 46/114 in that time. been holding steady for half that at 46. but thats a little hot if ya ask me, but the hs feels only moderately warm.

mobo temp has gone down! from 28/80 to 26/78

 

[Expandable]

Scott, Very good links and lots of info. Thanks.

Just wonder if you aware of the user Promethious OC his 2.2 Northwood to 2.75Ghz (@125FSB) not the Northwood 1.6a.

 

[WheelsCSM]

C'mon guys keep the info coming, help me decide if I want a P4B266-C or a P4S333.

 

[THUGSROOK]

P4S333

 

[gregor1]

I've just ordered my P4 1.6A. What a deal this processor is! Virtually guarunteed 2.2 GHz. And ofcourse when you actually run it at that speed it's actually faster than a default 2.2GHz P4 due to the FSB. 512KB cache. We all know cache ain't cheap. Nice one Intel! Also DDR memory for a P4 at last. What more can you ask for from a £140 processor. One more thing - a BIOS update that gives you hyper threading technology. That's possible, is it not? What a deal this processor is.

 

[y2kc]

I ordered this chip last week before I found out about it's overclockability but I also ordered an Abit BD7 for it to ride on. Is the BD7 junk? I read a couple of reviews and haven't heard of any issues till I came here (CPU Forum).

 

[sep]

Anyone looking at the Abit TH7-II with the 1.6a? I'm looking to order within the next week.

 

[KenAF]

y2k,

Sadly, with its current problems, the Abit BD7 is junk. Abit will probably fix these issues with a bios update at some point, but for now I would avoid the board and its rebooting + other issues.

The consensus seems to go with the Asus P4B266 (get the standard version, not the -C version, if you want to use the USB ports with good overclocks) or the P4S333. For RDRAM, the P4T-E seems to be the best bet, if you can make sure that the board you are getting uses the ICS chips.

 

[KenAF]

sep,

Unfortunately, most TH7-II boards cannot do 533+MHz memory without modification. Unless you plan to replace two chips on the TH7-II, you would probably be better off with the Asus P4T-E, assuming you can get one with the right DRCGs clock generators. For more information, click here.

 

[whateverdude]

well, I had to knock mine back to 16x145, 1.5v and it still runs pretty hot. played MOH for about an hour and a half and it got up to 48c, but still ran. locked up after about 10 minutes at 150. guess I need to look into a better cooler

 

[kevman]

<< well, I had to knock mine back to 16x145, 1.5v and it still runs pretty hot. played MOH for about an hour and a half and it got up to 48c, but still ran. locked up after about 10 minutes at 150. guess I need to look into a better cooler >>



do you have the p4b266?

 

[Errtu]

Woohoo! Just ordered my 1.6A and the Gigabyte GA-8IRXP from Newegg. I should be posting my OC results by the end of the week. Thanks to everyone on the forums for persuading me to make this purchase.

 

[Expandable]

Kevman,

Whateverdude has Asus P4B266-C

His Rig,
1.6A@2133 mhz
1.5v
retail hs/f w/arctic silver
SL668
L148B286
Malaysia
1/16/2002
Asus P4B266-C
133
256 Mushkin high perf PC2100

 

[sep]

KenAF,
I followed that link to gamepc reviews PC-1066 and DDR400. It says the Abit TH7-II will do 533 keeping the AGP/PCI speeds in check, but the Asus board failed. This review looks great for me and the TH7-II. Anyone know exact what RDRAM will do these speeds?



<< If your motherboard does not have this divider, there is a much larger risk in order to go to 533 MHz FSB, as you'll most likely damage your AGP and PCI devices by running them at these ultra-high speeds. The boards we used for testing were Abit's TH7-II motherboard, based on the Intel 850 chipset, along with the Asus P4B266, which is based on the Intel 845-D chipset, both of which can use these higher FSB speeds and keep AGP/PCI speeds in check. Asus's P4T-E motherboard also has these dividers, but failed to run at 533 MHz FSB due to an incompatibility with their clock generator chips. >>

 

[KenAF]

<< I followed that link to gamepc reviews PC-1066 and DDR400. It says the Abit TH7-II will do 533 keeping the AGP/PCI speeds in check, but the Asus board failed. This review looks great for me and the TH7-II. Anyone know exact what RDRAM will do these speeds? >>

The TH7-II uses the 400MHz parts. The verdict on HardOCP is that only a small percentage of the TH7-II boards, maybe 15%, will do 533. The Asus board they tested failed for two reasons: 1) they only used the bios options, and the AGP/2 and PCI/4 dividers are only available through the DIP switches, and 2) they tested a board with the CYP chips. Boards with the CYP chips will not do 533FSB; only boards with the ICS chips will do 533FSB. Again, for info, please see this page.

Here's the message from Chris Connolly over at GamePC (the guy that wrote the review):



<< Hi Ken,

I just did a quick check on our testbed board (which we've had for quite a while), and it uses the CYP chips. The guys at Rambus told us newer revisions of the board will have higher running clock generators.

I also checked a few of our Pentium 4 boxes in development with P4T-E motherboards, and they're using the ICS clock generators.

Thanks for the info!

Chris Connolly
Web Operations, GamePC
http://www.gamepc.com
chris@gamepc.com >>

Also, as you asked, the best RDRAM to run 533+FSB speeds is Samsung RDRAM (on Samsung PCBs) produced in the past four to six months.

 

[sep]

KenAF,
Thanks for the info. However, I checked the HardOCP site and couldn't find anything about the percentage of TH7-II motherboards. Could you please point this out to me.

On the Samsung RDRAM PCBs, how do I know it's been produced recently?

Thanks for letting me pick your brain. I just want to be informed before kicking out some bucks. -JC

 

[F155mph]

Hey guys,

Reading all this make me want to buy a northwood. Which one should I get the 1.6a or 1.8a? I don't mind paying the extra $50 if I can overclock it more. Also what board that support DDR with raid would be best? Giga 8IRXP?

Thanks

 

[BigJ]

<< Hey guys,

Reading all this make me want to buy a northwood. Which one should I get the 1.6a or 1.8a? I don't mind paying the extra $50 if I can overclock it more. Also what board that support DDR with raid would be best? Giga 8IRXP?

Thanks >>



If you have the extra cash to shell out, I would definitely go with the 1.8a. With a good motherboard, alotta people are getting to the 2.5ghz mark. With the 1.6A, the speed is usually more around the 2.3ghz-2.4ghz, and also with the 1.6A, you have to push your memory alot further then with a 1.6A. (1.6A @ 150mhz = 2.4ghz while 1.8A@ 133mhz 2.394ghz). A decent amount of people have also been able to push the 1.8A to 2.6ghz. There's been quite a few reboot issues with the Gigabyte 8IRXP after ppl attain memory speeds of 125mhz. Personally I think this is a fatal flaw in the boards design and value to an overclocker. The 125mhz memory speed issue has not arose in any other boards. I would personally go with the MSI 845 Ultra-ARU. Its got ATA133 raid and USB 2.0 like the Gigabyte board, and is about $30 cheaper also. Also, the 125mhz memory speed issue has not arose in any other boards.

 

[alkaprim]

Beware 1.8A . I've build 2 systems recently booth P4S333 based :
1' 1.6A running stock volts up to 2.32GHz (2.4 at 1.55v) stock fan quite stable.
2' 1.8A wont post at 2.4 even at 1.6v gave up at 2.23GHz 1.55v.

Booth retail boxed malays.
Compared to my 1.6A (CAD $250 ) 1.8A (CAD 350) is huge disapointment.

 

[bonkers325]

<< well, I had to knock mine back to 16x145, 1.5v and it still runs pretty hot. played MOH for about an hour and a half and it got up to 48c, but still ran. locked up after about 10 minutes at 150. guess I need to look into a better cooler >>



weird
i get 37c max @2.4ghz@1.675v with stock

 

[sulu17]

Hi,
I just got 1.8A and P4B266 too, but I am having problem oclocking. I can only get to 129 FSB with 1.725 V! I also get lock up when I reboot.

One thing I noticed in the Hardware monitor and MBM is that no matter what voltage above 1.65 I set, thevoltage stays at 1.65V. I have the board over-volted too. If jump the board for non-over-bolting then the voltage reads 1.5v no matter what CPU voltage I set.
When you set CPu voltage to 1.7V, does your harware monitor in the BIOS read 1.7V? Please help I think there is something wrong with my motherboard. I tried 2 different power supply. Please help!

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

Why go with the ASUS when the MSI Ultra 645 is priced so low? Doesn't it have official support for 133MHz FSB too?