FRY's B&M e4300 + ECS Mobo - $149+tax

[R64]

I am looking at the bios and there is an option to change FSB.

Also look at http://www.ocworkbench.com/2006/ecs/P4M800PRO-M-V2.0/g4.htm

 

[atlr]

I am wondering if the BIOS on the ECS board sets dividers for the AGP and PCI clocks based on the CPU's BSEL[2:0] value of 200MHz. So, when FSB is increased to 266, the AGP and PCI buses get overclocked into instability.

If this is what is happening, I wonder if ECS would tweak the BIOS to allow an override of the BSEL[2:0] value set by the CPU. One could try a pin mod but I'd rather ECS work some BIOS magic.

 

[Markfw]

If you run sata or scsi forget anything over 1.9... Mine is OK at 210 instead of 200 (SCSI) anythig over and disk corruption. Oh well, the CPU alone is work $149

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: atlr

Originally posted by: jpeyton
Using electrical tape to isolate a pin would be used to pull it from low to high, which is the opposite of what we're trying to accomplish, right? Correct me if I'm wrong.

J, I believe that you are correct.

You insulate a pad to draw it High and ground a pad to Vss to draw it Low.

Okay, if you need to connect to VSS, then just connect to one of the other BSEL pins.

Note the time stamp on my previous post. I was up all night at a LAN party.

Anyways, guess I got it wrong. Been a while since I messed with the datasheets.

 

[atlr]

This thread is good reading.

BSEL modding thread at 2cpu.com

 

[Doh!]

Currently at 2.2ghz. The board does not have a agp/pci lock.

 

[highwire]

Whee!

I did a BSEL mod on this combo. With stock settings in the bios, that got me 2.4Ghz. Bumped the FSB to 300, and its setting there at 2.7Ghz like it is nothing. How about that for a low bucks OC? I guess the E6300 combo can go back to Mr. Fry's store.

Thanks Zap for mentioning the BSEL thing.

Now a question: How can I tell what speed the PCI, etc is running? I tried to get tech info out of Via on this chipset, but they seem to be a bit anal about it. I don't want to run some screwy freqs on the rest of the board. I know some divider setting automatically come in at various points, so it may be OK.

All in all, though, I think I got what I wanted out of this combo.

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: highwire
Whee!

I did a BSEL mod on this combo. With stock settings in the bios, that got me 2.4Ghz. Bumped the FSB to 300, and its setting there at 2.7Ghz like it is nothing. How about that for a low bucks OC? I guess the E6300 combo can go back to Mr. Fry's store.

Thanks Zap for mentioning the BSEL thing.

Now a question: How can I tell what speed the PCI, etc is running? I tried to get tech info out of Via on this chipset, but they seem to be a bit anal about it. I don't want to run some screwy freqs on the rest of the board. I know some divider setting automatically come in at various points.

All in all, I think I got what I wanted out of this combo.

Please post details! I would love to try the BSEL mod if I had some instructions.

 

[highwire]

Well, I do thing the hard way. I didn't have any conductive paint - which might not work too well anyway, I took a poly capacitor out of an old PSU, took the mylar/foil and fashioned a tiny C shaped piece and glued it , conductive side away from the chip, from BSEL1 to Vss 3 dots above it. It is all on the edge of the chip so the C shape allowed it to be over just those two dots.

 

[highwire]

This is how I did it . You might find an easier way, but it only took me a few minutes to do after a couple of false starts.

First, I have made no actual connection to the chip. The metalized film piece merely sets on the chip.

The ends of the little piece lies over H30 to L30 on the edge of the chip. I cut a rectangle shape then cut the center away on one side to make an elongated C shape which clears the two dots in between.

Its function is to insulate the chip's H30 dot to the board and bridge the socket connections H30 to L30. It bridges a Vss (ground) from the board back to the board on H30 to confuse the bios into upping the FSB.

As a minor side effect, it also isolates L30, one of very many Vss dots. Since there is about a 100 or more VSS connections, I don't think it is critical.

I used what I had available tonight, a nice new single edged razorblade to make the teeny piece. The glue was some Honda auto touch-up paint appied on the very edge of the chip to hold the piece in position.

Aluminum foil or conductive paint might work OK, too, instead of the metalized mylar. But you should somehow insulate H30, at least in theory, to avoid shorting the chip's BSEL1 driver. This is no concern with the mylar as it is only conductive on one side.

 

[jpeyton]

Great explanation, thank you.

I may try to use conductive paint instead (I don't have any old PSUs to scavenge some mylar from), but I'll insulate BSEL1 first with electrical tape and draw a line of conductive paint around the edge of the CPU from BSEL1 to VSS. VSS would still be an active ground site, but it probably doesn't matter either way.

 

[atlr]

Originally posted by: highwireNow a question: How can I tell what speed the PCI, etc is running?

Run <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=
">Sandra Lite</a>, click on the Hardware tab and then double-click on the Mainboard icon to show the various bus speeds. I am not sure if Sandra queries the clock generator or runs a test.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: highwire
Thanks Zap for mentioning the BSEL thing.

No problem. Too bad I got the specifics wrong. Harkens back to the days that I was overclocking socket 370 and 478 chips on non-overclockable motherboards.

 

[highwire]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: highwire
Thanks Zap for mentioning the BSEL thing.

No problem. Too bad I got the specifics wrong. Harkens back to the days that I was overclocking socket 370 and 478 chips on non-overclockable motherboards.

You got it out there. The left-right image thing is something to be always doublechecked anyway.

Re: the old Intel 370, I as well as about half the world OC'ed one from , what, 250 to 400? My OC'ed Abit BX was a favorite. It was totally trouble-free. I thought I would have it forever. Then one day the crap power supply went unregulated and took out everything in the box, harddrives and all except the CPU. Ironically, that PS is the source for the cap I mentioned using for the foil for THIS overclock. If my junk could talk...

BTW, this chip is running exceptionally cool. The heat rise of the air through the heatsink is measuring 1 deg C or less . I estimate the flow @ 1 M^3/min. (close) this works out to about 20 watts for this E4300 @ 2.7Ghz.

Now, since at least 1 of these boards has proven it can run at 1.2 ghz FSB, someone should do it right with a BIOS hack.

 

[Doh!]

Thanks to you guys (Zap & highwire), I've successfully performed the pin mod.

Previously, I simply connected BSEL 1 and BSEL 2, thinking that will work but no success. It only took me a couple of min. to connect BSEL 1 to Vss & it worked on the first try. I've used the defogger repair paint by the way.

Again, thanks a million.

 

[Doh!]

Originally posted by: highwire
Now, since at least 1 of these boards has proven it can run at 1.2 ghz FSB, someone should do it right with a BIOS hack.

Now, at least 2 of these boards can run at 1.2 ghz FSB.

 

[mhartsel]

OK.....I think that I am almost there, but wanted to clarify a couple of things first.

1st- BSEL 1 needs to be isolated so that there is no actual connection from the motherboard to the CPU ???

2nd- BSEL 1 needs to be connected to VSS which is 3 Pins above it....So in affect connecting H30 to L30 on the motherboard side....which in affect tells it to go from FSB of 200 to FSB of 266 ???

I see in some of the pictures posted of the mod that it appears that BSEL 2 has been isolated...does this need to be isolated or can it be left open ????

 

[Conroe]

Originally posted by: mhartsel
OK.....I think that I am almost there, but wanted to clarify a couple of things first.

1st- BSEL 1 needs to be isolated so that there is no actual connection from the motherboard to the CPU ???

2nd- BSEL 1 needs to be connected to VSS which is 3 Pins above it....So in affect connecting H30 to L30 on the motherboard side....which in affect tells it to go from FSB of 200 to FSB of 266 ???

I see in some of the pictures posted of the mod that it appears that BSEL 2 has been isolated...does this need to be isolated or can it be left open ????

I have a pic of the mod from a German site I don't remember attached to a post.
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showpost.php?p=2624109&postcount=5

I think it's right. I will have my E4300 soon to test it out.

 

[OldPueblo]

I picked up a 4400 and the P4M800 frys combo board for free from my brother, and have been reading up on how to do the pin mod to get it to 266Mhz FSB. Cross-referencing the below thread in another forum I'm still a little confused as to which is the right way to do it. I tried to register for those forums but my registration is borked for some reason. So figured I'd ask here. Below are two images from people that have it working. Do I need to just connect BSEL1 to VCC:

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4908621&postcount=1

Or do I also need to cover that pin right below BSEL1?

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4919011&postcount=40

Mucho thanks for any replies. I've probably just read it too many times and missed the final answer.

EDIT: Nevermind, I saw this after reading through it all again:

http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4923173&postcount=73
http://www.ocforums.com/showpost.php?p=4923173&postcount=74

 

[techmars]

got the combo form Fry's for $99 bucks in the 1 day sale
plan to sell the motherboard for $30+

 

[smthmlk]

not a good deal, considering the motherboard is worth $0.00. You can pick up an e4300 minus the crap motherboard from newegg for $115 The one-day sale a while back had the same proc for $99+crapmobo didn't it? I guess so, according to the previous poster

 

[jpeyton]

Originally posted by: smthmlk
not a good deal, considering the motherboard is worth $0.00. You can pick up an e4300 minus the crap motherboard from newegg for $115 The one-day sale a while back had the same proc for $99+crapmobo didn't it? I guess so, according to the previous poster

The motherboard is fine. It's pathetic you power users and overclockers think the computing world revolves around you.

 

[zagood]

UH, guys, that was a good price back in January.

Like the original post.

-z