Celeron info help!

[Goi]

Hi guys,
my brother is thinking of upgrading his system(C366@550MHz, Abit BF6 256MB SDRAM, CL TNT2U, WD 80GB HDD) with a cheap new CPU. He's thinking of the Coppermine128 Celeron 900MHz or 1GHz with a new FC-PGA slotket. Obviously, he wants to overclock the chip as much as possible, without spending big bucks. Now I'm quite out of touch on the Celeron scene, so I'm helping him ask a few questions and gain some knowledge.
Firstly, which chip has better overclockability? I'm thinking the 900MHz.
The BF6 has the ability to change the FSB in 1MHz increments. Will this ability be impaired with the use of a Slotket?
Which batch #, SL code, date, etc(Malay/Costa Rica?) of Celerons are better known for overclockability? Or has this become a myth?
Any other useful info that we should know?

The rest of his system will stay the same...due to a lack of funds.Thanks in advance!

 

[AndyHui]

900MHz is good.

Batches, dates and S-Specs don't really matter for Celerons anymore....just try to get one that is a cD0 stepping.

A brand name slotket will not make any differences to overclockability.

 

[Goi]

Thanks Andy...aren't all the 900MHz Coppermine128's of cD0 stepping though? I was under the impression that they were...but I could be wrong.
The problem with the slotket is not getting a brand name slotket, its getting a slotket! There don't seem to be many places selling them no more...and the old one my bro has probably won't work since its not meant for FC-PGA CPUs.

 

[yllus]

<< Thanks Andy...aren't all the 900MHz Coppermine128's of cD0 stepping though? I was under the impression that they were...but I could be wrong. >>

You're correct, all Celeron 900 CPUs are of the cD0 stepping. As far as I can tell, we're commonly seeing a limit of overclocking at 1150 MHz or so with stock retail cooling and voltage (1.75V). My own Malay (week 48, 2001, SL5WY) does 1143 MHz at 1.8V quite easily, and would probably do a bit more if bumping up the FSB even higher didn't put my AGP rate so hideously out of spec.

I had the same problem finding a Coppermine-compatible slocket that you're having, make you specify Cumine support from whomever you buy yours from! It's a solid, cheap processor for old BX boards. Also, think about picking up a cheap GeForce 2 card to match if he intends to do any 3D gaming on that system. That should only really run him an extra $50 USD and will top out that system pretty decently.

 

[Peter007]

I can help.

I "had" a Celeron 900 - SL5xx - Step D0 on my Trusty Abit Bx6-Rev2

It will do 1200mhz out of the BOX without any Voltage Modd (9x133mhz),
and it will even post at 1333mhz, but won't load window.

Sadly I killed this beloved processor in my FAILED VID-PIN Voltage Modification

However, I would be very careful on your AGP port. All BX Motherboard have an AGP divider of only 2/3.

That means at 133fsb, you will be Cooking your AGP Graphic card at 89mhz , and 99mhz at 148mhz

Just make sure you don't FRIED your card along with it.

I bought myself a Radeon PCI to avoid this pit-fall

 

[Goi]

0sully, where did you get your slotket then? Perhaps they still sell them now? As for the GF2, I don't think he'll upgrade. He doesn't play much 3D games anyway, just the occasional Half Life/Counterstrike that the TNT2U should handle easily.
Good call on the AGP speed...I'm not sure if the BF6 provides any 1/2 divider, are you sure its a chipset issue? If so, anyone knows if TNT2s are known to be tolerant to higher AGP speeds? I know my V3 is, but I can't remember about TNT2s.

 

[tazman94]

i had a cely 600 did the wire trick and got 1.1g's out of it easily ran the voltage at 1.85 but before i did the wire trick u could only get 1.65 volts which is default. had to put a golden orb on to help keep cool.but if going to run it like that all the time i would suggest a peltier.

 

[Goi]

what "wire trick" are you talking about? a C600A to 1.1GHz is really impressive...but then again, I'm assuming they're basically the same chip nowadays, just branded at different speeds...

 

[Poof]

You can try a Powerleap if you can't find others, don't mind the cost, and don't want to deal with fleabay... Also, you might want to check FS/T as people do sell them around here...

 

[Goi]

Poof, that's a great idea! I never thought of the FS/FT forums...but that seems to be one of the best places to get them now that they don't sell much of them new...

 

[tazman94]

the wire trick u do is take a piece of wire and on the bottom where the pins are u run it between the 2 pins can't remeber which ones though, that will take and when u reboot will up your voltage gives up to 2.volts that way u can overclock it like that.u need at least a golden orb though to keep cool.

 

[Bulk Beef]

<< Good call on the AGP speed...I'm not sure if the BF6 provides any 1/2 divider, are you sure its a chipset issue? If so, anyone knows if TNT2s are known to be tolerant to higher AGP speeds? I know my V3 is, but I can't remember about TNT2s. >>

It's a chipset issue. The BX does not offer a 1/2 AGP divider, and TNT2s are generally not very tolerant of high AGP bus speeds. A good, cheap Geforce GTS-V can be had at Newegg. Mod the bios and you have a GTS. It should be much more tolerant of the high AGP speed.

 

[Richardito]

<< 0sully, where did you get your slotket then? Perhaps they still sell them now? As for the GF2, I don't think he'll upgrade. He doesn't play much 3D games anyway, just the occasional Half Life/Counterstrike that the TNT2U should handle easily.
Good call on the AGP speed...I'm not sure if the BF6 provides any 1/2 divider, are you sure its a chipset issue? If so, anyone knows if TNT2s are known to be tolerant to higher AGP speeds? I know my V3 is, but I can't remember about TNT2s. >>


From experience my TNT2 M64 is much more tolerant to high AGP MHz's than my GF2 GTS.