ASUS P4T533, A newbie challenge

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
Hi guys, a newbie here. Recently I've decided to build my new system, and after many days of searching, following is the specs that I'll order in a day or two. I've been visiting this site quite often, but I couldn't really post anything because you guys seem to be all-experts. ;) I know how aggravating it is when newbies keep questioning same thing again and again, so I've tried to learn as much as possible before I post here. (Not that I'm an expert now though :D)

CPU: P4 2.26B
Motherboard: ASUS P4T533
Case: Antec Performance Plus 1080
Memory: 2 pieces of RIMM4200 (Samsung, 256MB)
HDD: Western Digital WD800JB (80GB)
Sound Card: Audigy w/IEEE1394
LAN Card: Linksys LNE100TX ($10 Rebate!)
DVD-ROM: Lite-on LTD-163 or Toshiba SD-M1612
CD-RW: ASUS CRW-4012A OR Lite-on LTR-40125S
Video Card: .... (To be determined.. probabaly a GF4 4400)

Since it's my first try and I do not consider myself habitual overclocker (at least *for now*) , my goal is rather modest. :D (Looking at you guys' rigs makes me feel so) That is, FSB 150MHz - which will boost the 2.26Ghz CPU to 2.55Ghz. That also is the reason I picked the 2.26B. I know 1.6A has been very popular, but personally i don't think I'll be able to reach such high speeds in which many of you have been successful. I'm building this computer for the next 2~3 years, so I was just looking for something decent, and 2.26B was the one that I could find within reason - in terms of its price. (I DO NOT understand how Intel justifies the $400 price difference between 2.26 and 2.56) Anyway, with that said, here are my questions.

1. I'm not couting mod'ing the retail products' cooling EXCEPT using Artic Silver II(or III) for thermal paste. With the default voltage (1.56V, ASUS), increasing FSB from 133Mhz to 150Mhz will be possible/safe?

2. In the same sense of Q1, will this motherboard allow me to keep AGP and PCI clock speed at around 66Mhz and 33Mhz, respectively, at 150Mhz FSB?

3. In theory, 133Mhz Bus speed naturally supports PC1066 RDRAM, and I've seen some people managed to overclock their PC800 RDRAM to PC1066 when they increased their FSB from 100 to 133. If so, and if I successfully increase the FSB of this motherboard(P4T533) to 150Mhz, again, in theory, it will(?) push the memory to work at such speed..... (150x4=600, which is on PC1200, or RIMM4800 level) Simply, will it work that way?

4. I've seen a few posts where people saying something like "my memory seems stable at 10xx (1086, 1162, or whatever) speed." All I know about memory control in the BIOS is the x3 or x4 ratio.... How can you tell a potential speed of your ram? Is their a way to control the memory speed in Mhz-incremental?

5. Also, I've heard about "Turbo-RDRAM" mode in ASUS motherboards (including this one). What exactly is it?

6. Any TI4400 recommendation? It'd be great if it's an overclock-able one out of the box (no additional cooling).

OK, that's it for now. My questions may still sound newbi-sh (I know :p ), but I'd really like to know about them. Any input is appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Nice to meet you all!

lopri

I have nothing but love for you guys.
 

CrazySaint

Platinum Member
May 3, 2002
2,441
0
0
1 - I'm not as familiar with the 2.26Bs as I am the 1.6As, but if the 1.6As can hit 150FSB at or near default voltage, I would expect the 2.26Bs to do the same, since they are practically 1.6As with a 133FSB (17x multiplier instead of 16x) :)
2 - Yes, in fact I think you can independently adjust all three busses (FSB/PCI/AGP) for maximum control, or at the very least you can do so on the P4B533.
3 - Yes, increasing your FSB automatically increases your memory speed, so 150FSB = PC1200.
4 - The only way to know what your memory can handle is by finding out ;) Just keep increasing your memory speed through FSB and mem ratio adjustments until your system becomes unstable. You can get an idea of what your memory should be capable of by reading memory reviews.
5 - I'm really not sure about this one, but I'm guessing it sets more aggressive memory timings or something.
6 - I would guess the Gainward cards would be good for OC'ing.
 

AlexKN1

Member
Jun 20, 2002
108
0
0
Originally posted by: lopri
Hi guys, a newbie here. Recently I've decided to build my new system, and after many days of searching, following is the specs that I'll order in a day or two. I've been visiting this site quite often, but I couldn't really post anything because you guys seem to be all-experts. ;) I know how aggravating it is when newbies keep questioning same thing again and again, so I've tried to learn as much as possible before I post here. (Not that I'm an expert now though :D)

CPU: P4 2.26B
Motherboard: ASUS P4T533
Case: Antec Performance Plus 1080
Memory: 2 pieces of RIMM4200 (Samsung, 256MB)
HDD: Western Digital WD800JB (80GB)
Sound Card: Audigy w/IEEE1394
LAN Card: Linksys LNE100TX ($10 Rebate!)
DVD-ROM: Lite-on LTD-163 or Toshiba SD-M1612
CD-RW: ASUS CRW-4012A OR Lite-on LTR-40125S
Video Card: .... (To be determined.. probabaly a GF4 4400)

Since it's my first try and I do not consider myself habitual overclocker (at least *for now*) , my goal is rather modest. :D (Looking at you guys' rigs makes me feel so) That is, FSB 150MHz - which will boost the 2.26Ghz CPU to 2.55Ghz. That also is the reason I picked the 2.26B. I know 1.6A has been very popular, but personally i don't think I'll be able to reach such high speeds in which many of you have been successful. I'm building this computer for the next 2~3 years, so I was just looking for something decent, and 2.26B was the one that I could find within reason - in terms of its price. (I DO NOT understand how Intel justifies the $400 price difference between 2.26 and 2.56) Anyway, with that said, here are my questions.

1. I'm not couting mod'ing the retail products' cooling EXCEPT using Artic Silver II(or III) for thermal paste. With the default voltage (1.56V, ASUS), increasing FSB from 133Mhz to 150Mhz will be possible/safe?

2. In the same sense of Q1, will this motherboard allow me to keep AGP and PCI clock speed at around 66Mhz and 33Mhz, respectively, at 150Mhz FSB?

3. In theory, 133Mhz Bus speed naturally supports PC1066 RDRAM, and I've seen some people managed to overclock their PC800 RDRAM to PC1066 when they increased their FSB from 100 to 133. If so, and if I successfully increase the FSB of this motherboard(P4T533) to 150Mhz, again, in theory, it will(?) push the memory to work at such speed..... (150x4=600, which is on PC1200, or RIMM4800 level) Simply, will it work that way?

4. I've seen a few posts where people saying something like "my memory seems stable at 10xx (1086, 1162, or whatever) speed." All I know about memory control in the BIOS is the x3 or x4 ratio.... How can you tell a potential speed of your ram? Is their a way to control the memory speed in Mhz-incremental?

5. Also, I've heard about "Turbo-RDRAM" mode in ASUS motherboards (including this one). What exactly is it?

6. Any TI4400 recommendation? It'd be great if it's an overclock-able one out of the box (no additional cooling).

OK, that's it for now. My questions may still sound newbi-sh (I know :p ), but I'd really like to know about them. Any input is appreciated, and thanks in advance.

Nice to meet you all!

lopri

I have nothing but love for you guys.

1. You can probably run up to 2.80-2.85ghz with P4 2.26 at 1.6V
2. I tried to run my RIMM4200 at RIMM4800 speeds, no luck. People are saying the mobo limits it something to do with the clock generator or so.
3. No you can't control memory speed it is controlled by the FSB...i wish they had that...I am
getting a feeling SoftMenu 4 or something from abit will have this option.
4. RDRAM Turbo...i don't see it do anything at all at sandra benchmarks..but 100 point increase in 3dmark2001
5. no don't get ti4400 , wait for the Radeon 9700 or 9500, just backorder it.

 

Acanthus

Lifer
Aug 28, 2001
19,915
2
76
ostif.org
WARNING WITH THE GF4 TI SERIES ONLY CERTAIN BRANDS WORK WITH I850E!!!!

So far we know (my company has tested)

PNY - DOES NOT WORK
Visiontek - WORKS
MSI - WORKS

A PNY GF3 Ti500 was also tested on an Iwill I850E mobo and DID NOT WORK.
Iwill only has pretested ASUS brand crads with their I850E motherboard, so i would imagine they would work, but i havent personally tested ASUS cards.

Also over at www.overclockers.com if you check out their forums under Asus Intel Motherboards, there are some users there running over 150fsb with samsung rimm 4200s at default voltage.
 

lopri

Elite Member
Jul 27, 2002
13,310
687
126
Thanks for the input/link, guys. They were very helpful.

I did a little more search over the net, this CPU/Mobo combo (P4 2.26B/P4T533) seems very fast and stable. One thing that I noticed is that some people seem to have a difficulty with their RIMM modules - as the FSB speed gets faster, the RIMM4200s tend to be problamatic. As I questioned in my initial post, overclocking the FSB from 133Mhz to 150 doesn't necessarily ensure overclocked RIMM4200( in this case, RIMM4800s speed).

A couple people did a trick to increase the FSB speed to 170Mhz+ and set the memory multiplier at x3, but this doesn't look too good to me. So my question is now, how could I successfuly overclock the RIMMs? I've heard increasing the CPU voltage could do the job, but I'm not quite sure about it. If it's the case, how high could be the P4 2.26's volatage could be? Of course assuming stable running. (I'm not considering any specific cooling except using Artic Silver) Or are there other ways to overclock the memory modules??

Thanks!
 

BD231

Lifer
Feb 26, 2001
10,568
138
106
Originally posted by: lopri
Thanks for the input/link, guys. They were very helpful.

I did a little more search over the net, this CPU/Mobo combo (P4 2.26B/P4T533) seems very fast and stable. One thing that I noticed is that some people seem to have a difficulty with their RIMM modules - as the FSB speed gets faster, the RIMM4200s tend to be problamatic. As I questioned in my initial post, overclocking the FSB from 133Mhz to 150 doesn't necessarily ensure overclocked RIMM4200( in this case, RIMM4800s speed).

A couple people did a trick to increase the FSB speed to 170Mhz+ and set the memory multiplier at x3, but this doesn't look too good to me. So my question is now, how could I successfuly overclock the RIMMs? I've heard increasing the CPU voltage could do the job, but I'm not quite sure about it. If it's the case, how high could be the P4 2.26's volatage could be? Of course assuming stable running. (I'm not considering any specific cooling except using Artic Silver) Or are there other ways to overclock the memory modules??

Thanks!

There is really nothing you can do to OC RDRam outside of what it already cant do. You cant mess with RIMM voltage because RIMM's are voltage sensitive and require an exact voltage to work properly. When your OC'ing with RDRam, it's pretty much a luck of the draw type thing.

 

dexvx

Diamond Member
Feb 2, 2000
3,899
0
0
RDram overclocking requires more thought than DDR. Most RDram modules wont go past a 150Mhz FSB with a 4X multiplier. So most people stick to the 133 - 150 Mhz FSB range (to get 1066 - 1200Mhz RDram clock) or VERY high up in the 175Mhz + Range with a 3X RDram ratio to get over 1050Mhz. You either go really high with a 3X multiplier or "low" with a 4X multiplier.

I've heard some people on this forum using 256MB Kingston PC1066 modules and successfully reaching PC1200 speeds. And you CAN modify the RDram voltage, but you need to do a wire trick which i doubt you want to do.