How do you overclock?

rabbitinlights

I will soon be taking ownership of the following:

Mobo: ABIT BH7
CPU: P4 2.4Ghz (Pc533)

What is exactly involved in overclocking?
Is it done by software or by changes in hardware?
Any examples of software or links to hardware walkthroughs?

Im not too sure if i will need to overclock this but it would be nice to know thats is possible?

Thanks
Sean

Col_Loki

It involves going into your BIOS (ie when you press del at startup) . When your in there you will have an option to change your FSB speed , increase your FSB 1mhz at a time and keep starting up your machince to make sure it will book and run ok on the new settings. When it crashes , decrease the fsb by 2-3mhz and start to increase the multiplier bit by bit in the same way.

Your cpu speed is determined by the FSB x The multiplier , ie on my machine (xp2500+) multiplier = 11.5 and FSB 200 = 2300mhz. When your multiplier crashes leave it the same and increase your Vcore by 2-3 increments. The more Voltage (Vcore) the more stable the cpu is. Its a bit hard to say what settings as im use to AMD. In some cases the settings are locked - search the web for tips if this is the case. - Erm hope thats sorta clear , i found it hard to understand before i actually tried it. Good thing is the pc will reboot to previous ok settings if you go overboard so i think your safe enuf.

Enjoy

ozt9vdujny3srf

P4 multipliers are practically impossible to unlock afaik, so fsb upping is the way forward methinks

www.overclockers.com is a good place to look

Cyrus

depending on the stepping of that p4 u could be in luck, if u download wcpuid and check the stepping, if its 7 its a c1 chip if its 6 its a B0 chip

what u want is c1.

if its a c1 cpu then 3-3.2 ghz plus is not an unreasonable expectation, if its a B0 cpu then 2.9 or so will lilely be the max overclock

the bh7 also reads temps about 10-12 degrees too high

if uve any qns pm me, ive a bh7 and a 1.8a c1 @ 3 gigs

Wavey

Cyrus, Is there much difference between BH7 and BG7 with regards to overclocking?

I see in my BG7 bios the option to increase the multipier is greyed out. But you can increase the total speed.

Is there anyway to unlock this?



Just checked my stepping id with wcpuid and its 4.
Would i be right in thinking this is bad for over clocking?

Cyrus

bg7 not bad had one ages ago , u cant change the multi on a p4 thats why its greyed

not sure re the stepping what cpu is it?

Wavey

It's a P4 2.0gig

I just downloaded and updated my bios and that enables me to the fsb and the multiplier separatly.

Deadly:D

Is there any good programs for testing the machines performance and stability while i am overclocking?

Or is it good enough to run a big game like bf1942 or a heavy cpu prog like cubase sx each time i increase the speed?

Cyrus

well i can guarantee u wont be able to change the multi

use prime 95 and run the torture test for a few hours to check stability, is the cpu a williamette 256k l2 cache or a northwood 512k?

Wavey

its a northwood

and please dont piss on my cornflakes:p

Cyrus

my old 2.0a did 2.7 gigs but it was a good un, try for 2.66 (20*133 on the fsb) invcrease the cpu volts to say +10% never higher than +15 and see how she goes in prime 95

Wavey

Yep you were right about the multiplier.

I did increase the fsb to 133 but i had to switch off and on the power at the wall to get the pc to start ( I tend to get this problem anyway). Is this due to a crappy power supply or is it a sign of instability?

Also, when i did start the pc at 133 fsb I used WCPUID to check the speed but it gives me the same reading i had with a 100 fsb, 2009 Ghz.

Does this program actually check the speed or just tell you what you should be running at?

EyeDeeOne

hey
i have an epox 8rda and 1.3ghz duron

would i do that the same way

Cyrus

dont bother with that programme, use the bios to overclock, wcpuid tells u ur actual speed so if that says 2009 then thats all ur runnin at

havin to plug it out i think is a cold boot problem, latest bios should fix it tho, have u flashed the bios on it before?

rabbitinlights

After a bit of research im actually gonna go for the following:

P4 2.6Ghz (PC800)

Abit IC-7 (800Mhz FSB)

2 x 512MB DDR PC2700

Should have it in a few days
Will let you know how i get on
As far as i know i should be able to get 3Ghz with stock cooling?
Ill post Results!
Sean

Cyrus

ull need pc 3200 ram at the very least

rabbitinlights

Cyrus,

Would PC2700 be a bottle neck or would it just not work?
Would the PC3200 off crucial be ok, Cus im really streching my cash for the others as it is!!
Or i may just buy 1 X 512Mb PC3200 now and get another stick next month.


What do you think?

Also i will have to upgrade my GFX card soon aswell Next month or so i have a Hercules Geforce3 Ti200 64Mb at the moment but im guessing this will be another bottle neck on the system?

Any ideas 200-300Euros?

Sean

BabyEater

rabbitinlights i would get the 1 X 512Mb PC3200 otherwise you wont be able to get your ram and spu to a 1:1 ratio will mean that your P4 2.6Ghz (PC800) would have been a waste of money.
I have a Geforce 3 meswelf if i was buying a graphics card now i would be looking at the ATI9700 non pro

Cyrus

get some twinmoss pc3200 shouldnt cost much more than pc 2700, but def need pc 3200 at the least, might as well stretch and get two sticks whats the point of one in a dual ddr mobo?

Pugwash

while on the subject of overclocking, what's an acceptable running temperature for a processer and at what point, heat wise, sould you stop tweaking and let it be?

Col_Loki

Hey Pc3200 is €20 ish more than Pc2700 in the twinmos range. You will definetly need it, ur FSB with the 2.6 P4 will be 200mhz ur ram will be 166mhz it will keep crashing unless u
A) Lower the FSB
Change the ratio of CPU:RAM

Not a good idea.

If ur thinkin of overclocking go for the P4 2.4C 800mhz FSB, It will overclock to just about the same as the 2.6c , with the money saved get the pc3200 ram.

Pugwash: I have an AMD system (xp2500+ barton) its overclocked to 2300mhz , i wouldnt let the temp go over 55C at max load! Thats just what i stick to - think 60C is fine but feel safer under 55C. As a By the way - xp2500 @ 2300mhz is runnin full load for 3hrz at 47C! Will be tryin watercooler and a P4 in the next couple of wks - cant wait

BabyEater

If you are upping the voltages to overclock i wouldn't like my temps much over 50C

Diabolus

I have a P4 2.5 with an Abit IT7 with raid. I have tried overclocking mine but to no avail. With my AMD it was a matter of knocking up the FSB. But when i do that i continue to get 2.5 gigs @ 133. I also cannot knock up the fsb but only change its multiplier with the greyed out menu. Any ideas??

Wavey

Diabolus

I had that trouble with my P4 2gig and abit bg7. I had to update the bios so that i could change the fsb manually. And if you change it too much the pc will automatically revert to its normal setting so increase it 2hz at a time

Diabolus

I flashed the bios to the newest one - d7 - but i still cant change the fsb..

rabbitinlights

This is probably a really stupid question, but will buying the two sticks a month apart make a difference?

Sean

Diabolus

As long as they are the same make and model then it does not matter. Just make sure u have the same specs for each stick.

rabbitinlights

I found these two sticks so i think im just gonna fork out and get both of them, would it matter which Ram slots i put them into?

ie: 1+3,1+2...etc?

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.asp?action=info&p=36444&t=&l=&AvdID=1&CatID=&GrpID=&s=sr

(Mobo Abit IC-7)

Thanks
Sean

Col_Loki

Hey u would want to check the Abit manual, as far as i know the DIMM1 and 2 support the higher levels of memory speed and the other 1 or 2 only support pc2100 or pc2700. Thats the way it was on the last 3 amd mobos ive got.

Ie 1gb is the max of pc3200 (using 512mb dimms) or 1.5gb using pc2100 dimms. Thats AFAIK.

Wavey

Hey Col,
Quick question along the lines of ur last post.

I have an Abit bg7 with 1 512mb pc2700 and 1 512pc3200. Now I just looked at the memory spec for this board (for the first time :eek:) and it says it supports pc1600 and 2100.

So does what your saying about where chips of certain size go apply?

Or have i wasted my money::mad:

Cyrus

all memory is backwards compatible ur fine, it supports pc1600 and 2100 at default is what it means

Col_Loki

Hey Dont know why you went for the Pc3200 ram with the Pc2700. The ram will only run as fast as the FSB is set, ie if ur processor FSB is 266mhz then ur 333mhz ram will be running @ 266mhz (there is always an option to run your ram at 120%...etc of FSB - On a lot of boards).

The fact that you have 2 different speeds wont increase ur overall speed. The only way you will benifit is if u are running alot of programs that are ram hungry. Ie they require over 512mb ram.
If u set ur ram to run at the Pc3200 level (overclocking or whatever) chances are the Pc2700 wont be stable - Tricky situation.